Indiscretion (33 page)

‘Ah, there you go again, my sentimental little cousin.' He favoured her with a patronizing grin.

Infuriated, her chin came up. ‘My reaction has nothing to do with sentimentality,
señor
,' she retorted heatedly. Shadows of old
apprehensions loomed in her mind. ‘I dislike cruelty and you seem to revel in it.'

Salvador laughed shortly, without humour. ‘I didn't see you objecting to anything at the
corrida
the other day,' he retaliated, obviously nettled by her remark. ‘On the contrary, you appeared to be enjoying yourself.' He gave her a sidelong glance. Alexandra could read a hint of mockery in his eyes but also something else … She felt trapped. She'd asked for this. Her gibe had been unjustified and, though impelled to defend herself, she realized that, if she wasn't careful, their casual conversation could degenerate into another heated argument, one that would destroy the pleasurable morning they had enjoyed so far.

‘
Touché
,' she said good-humouredly instead, and quickly changed the subject. ‘Has the family been training horses long?' she asked, slipping back to his favourite subject.

Salvador smoothly recovered himself. ‘No, this riding school is all my own work, my dream, but the family has been breeding horses for two generations. My father and his father before him reared stallions, which they sold to the riding school at Jerez. Eleven years ago, with the help and encouragement of my great-aunt, I set about founding a training school. It was a lot of hard work, but today we can boast a professional riding school with a very good reputation in Andalucía.' His expression relaxed. ‘It's the one thing the de Fallas are expert at.' he continued. ‘They know about horses.'

‘What does the training consist of?'

‘It's essentially about the co-ordination of movements between horse and master. Our riding masters are both grooms and riders who take full responsibility for their mounts. There builds up a certain understanding between the man and his mount and they come to complement each other. Look over there,' he said, pointing to a bay being led along by a young man in a yellow shirt. ‘That colt is in the very first stages of training. His instruction will be carried out on the end of the
cuerda
, until he learns the meaning of an order.
This must be done gradually and gently. I suppose it's much the same as teaching a child to walk.'

They watched silently while the riding master exercised his four-legged pupil, holding the end of the rope, trying to get the animal to walk slowly round him. Now and again the colt backed up jerkily, head high, shaking his mane nervously to free himself. Unruffled, the master brought his pupil to order by giving a sharp tug on the rope, which had the effect of quieting the animal. Alexandra had seen this done once in Hampshire, with New Forest ponies.

‘Your colt isn't happy,' she observed, laughing.

‘Perhaps not, but he must learn who's in charge.' Salvador straightened up, resting his hands on the fence. ‘He's now being taught how to walk, trot and canter. In a few months he will be fitted with a girth, then a saddle. Only when he has satisfactorily assimilated all these stages will he be mounted. A horse can be ruined if any are neglected or missed out.'

Alexandra looked up at him, eyes brimming with admiration. ‘It's a wonderful thing to feel such passion for one's work. It must bring you so much joy and fulfilment.'

He gave a bitter apology for a laugh. ‘I don't know what my life would be like without my horses,' he admitted. Then he turned his head towards Alexandra and his expression changed. He grinned at her, the lights in his eyes flickering with something warm but unreadable. ‘But let's not dwell on that. I've promised to show you the neighbouring countryside and that's exactly what I'm going to do.'

Salvador waved at the young groom, signalling him to bring out the mounts he had saddled up for them. If Alexandra had harboured any misgivings about riding that morning, they vanished as soon as a grey mare and a bay horse emerged from the stable block and were led towards them. ‘El Cid and Reina,' Salvador said, pointing at each of the animals. Once again she marvelled at their beauty and grace. As the groom handed her the reins of El Cid, she suddenly felt exhilarated at the idea of mounting such a creature and her pulse quickened in anticipation.

‘
Gracias
, Diego,' Salvador said. ‘I'll give the
señorita
a lift up,' and before she had time to realize what was happening, he had helped her up and into the saddle. ‘Are you comfortable?' he asked, letting his hands linger just a moment longer than was necessary on her waist.

‘Yes,' she breathed, paling at his touch. Their eyes met and something passed between them in a flash, a brief and vibrant emotion that left her disconcerted. He had turned away in no time and she watched as he hoisted himself into the saddle of the grey with the easy elegance of the
hidalgo
he was. As he patted the side of the powerful animal, Alexandra was aware of his strong, masculine hands and she couldn't help but think of how they might feel on her again. With that thought, her mouth went dry.

They set off with the late spring sun behind them, through avenues of eucalyptus, the hot, still air made fragrant by the fallen leaves and button-like fruit that carpeted the ground for stretches on end. They cantered gently past orange groves and grey-green olive plantations. At intervals where there was shade, they would see an old man or woman standing motionless, or herding a few goats. Small, dark-faced children playing on the side of the road stared fixedly at them with their bright, black eyes. Sometimes a passer-by, carrying a tool or driving a mule laden with maize, would raise his hat in greeting.

‘The Spanish are so polite and friendly,' Alexandra remarked, as a man sitting in the doorway of a whitewashed cottage half-lifted himself from his stool on observing their approach.

Salvador lifted an enquiring eyebrow. ‘Is that not the case in England?'

‘No, I don't think so. Anyhow, not in the same way. We run a much more equal society. These days, there's no longer the same deference and courtesy in England.'

His blue-grey eyes glinted teasingly, his expression momentarily boyish again. ‘I'm glad that we meet with your approval then.'

As they rounded a bend, the soil became sandy with banks of
prickly pear and cactus plants studding either side of the road, with open fields stretching as far as the eye could see.

They stopped their horses under the deep shade of a jacaranda tree to watch the peasant women in their black scarves and voluminous skirts, plodding barefoot up and down the arid soil, attempting to work the land. On a trodden patch of hard earth and stone, a patient blindfolded ox turned and turned. Its pole was attached to a toothed wheel of primitive wooden cogs carrying a chain of buckets that repeatedly drew up water from a wide, shallow well to tilt it out between the lips of an irrigation channel. They watched in silence, savouring the enchanting hush. For Alexandra, the scenery, like everything she had encountered in Spain, was suggestive of a bygone age redolent of romance. This was a land of dreams; Salvador was next to her, relaxed and happy. What more could she ask?

And then, all of sudden, El Cid, stung by a horsefly, bucked and surged forward. Alexandra gave a sharp scream as the bay tore off into a wild gallop. He went at gale-force speed, churning up sand into her eyes, gathering momentum by the second.

She tightened her grip on the reins and tried desperately to hang on to the pommel, her old riding instructor's words revolving in her head: ‘
Keep calm, don't panic, keep calm, don't panic …
' She could hear the thundering hooves of Salvador's mare as he rode hard on her heels, trying to catch up with them. Soon, they were riding side by side. In an instant, he had reached out for the reins, snatching them up and curling them round his fingers in a tight grip, before skilfully pulling the horse to a halt in a cloud of dust and sand.

In a flash, Salvador slid off his mount and rushed to Alexandra's side. She had wasted no time in dismounting, stumbling as her feet touched the ground, her whole body shaking from shock.

‘Are you all right,
querida
?' Salvador stared down into her pale face, and gripped her shoulders to steady her, his strained features betraying his concern.

‘Shaken, but not hurt,' she managed to say faintly.

Alexandra felt the warmth of his breath on her cheek and the pressure of his strong palms through her riding habit. Her breathing had become ragged. She hoped that he would put this down to the riding incident; only she knew it was not, as she gazed into his worried cobalt-blue eyes.

He raised a hand to brush away a rebellious strand of hair that had escaped from the net holding the neat chignon at the nape of her neck. There was such gentleness in his gesture, so much tenderness, that she felt her head swim
.
She shut her eyes momentarily and reason deserted her as the physical awareness of him engulfed her entire body.

Once again she felt vulnerable. She could tell that Salvador was conscious of her need, silently urging her to release the pent-up dam of their mutual longing. His eyes were like molten silver, burning into hers, and in them she saw his noble intentions struggling with raw desire.

Salvador ran his thumb slowly over her bottom lip and a strange tingling sensation rippled along her skin. He gazed at her with a fierce hunger that made her tremble uncontrollably. As he drew her to him with a deep sigh, her hands instinctively met behind his back. Wrapped in his embrace, feeling the hard contours of his lean body against hers, she intuitively arched, surprised, almost afraid by the powerful physical response she felt in him. He pulled her against him again, almost ferociously, his eyes never leaving her face, and she gave a soft gasp at his obvious arousal. Once more she was enthralled, at the mercy of the unbridled call of her desire, alive, on the edge of an unknown magical world, never wanting this moment to end.

And then suddenly he was avidly claiming her lips, her willing surrender stimulating his urgency. Passion exploded between them like wildfire. Still ravaging her mouth furiously and encircling her waist with his arm, he let one hand brush over the swelling curve of her breasts so that she felt their centre pulsate under his butterfly touch. He stroked and massaged sensually, his powerful fingers
erotically provocative, until, aching with desire, white-hot flames licked through her and Alexandra's entire body was consumed by this terrifying inferno that Salvador had lit within her. She could not get close enough to him, returning his open-mouth kiss with a feverish abandon that matched his own.

Finally, they reluctantly disentangled their embrace, tearing their mouths from each other, panting, trying to release themselves from the fire that consumed them and from the compelling influence of their hands. They knew that soon they would be crossing the point of no return and though their bodies drew away, each could still feel the burning imprint of the other.

Salvador gazed silently into her green eyes as Alexandra tried desperately to fathom the meaning in his. For a fleeting moment, she thought he was going to say something but he shook his dark head, clenched his fists tightly at his side and turned away, still breathing raggedly.

The horses had moved off a little and were happily munching grass and weeds. Salvador brought El Cid over and she let him help her back into the saddle, blinking slowly as his hands dropped away.

His smoky grey eyes were deep but brooding as he looked up at her. ‘Are you going to be all right?' he asked with concern. He offered to walk by her horse but she shook her head.

‘I'm quite capable of handling the journey back, thank you,' she said softly, though her hands were trembling a little.

They rode side by side in silence, each recognizing that something wonderful had just passed between them, knowing they could not ignore the towering rage of emotion they had shared.

Still shaken and bewildered by the experience, Alexandra knew, more than ever, that what she felt for Salvador was not sheer uncomplicated lust. Like their bodies, their souls had touched, and though she was still not convinced, she had the notion that he burned with an equal fire. The power and strength in his kisses … the piercing sweet demand … these were not the lightly given caresses of a man acting merely at the whim of his senses.

How could he make love to her with such life-giving warmth if his feelings were not so passionate and all-consuming as hers? Surely it was love she'd read in his eyes when they had pulled back from that scorching kiss? Had he not been trying to ask or tell her something important? A look, a kiss, a caress from Salvador said so much more than words could ever do. Would the fantasy end with their kiss, as it had in Ronda? And would reality then intrude, once again tearing them apart? He was what she wanted; he was everything she had ever wanted; and somehow she knew that if he only let her, she would prove to him that she was what he was looking for.

They arrived back at El Pavón in the afternoon, having missed lunch. As they came into the hall, José informed them that the
Marquesa
of Aguila and her brother,
Señor
Felipe Herrera, had called at the house that morning and would come back again in the late afternoon.

‘Instruct the cook that there will be two additional places for dinner,' Salvador instructed the major-domo as he strode off towards his apartments without a backward glance.

Alexandra's heart sank. Salvador had been less than talkative on the way back to the hacienda and she had hoped to catch him alone in the afternoon, or after dinner, for a serious heart-to-heart about what was happening between them. Besides, Doña Isabel and her brother were the last people she fancied seeing tonight, even though, not so long ago, she had admittedly enjoyed the attentions of the dashing
matador
. After such an eventful morning, she needed to think things over quietly and found the prospect of facing polite conversation all evening quite unbearable. There was also the question of Don Felipe's expectations to deal with. Tonight she would need to tread cautiously.