Night of the Condor (22 page)

'I'm tougher than I look,' she had told him over and over again, and at last he had reluctantly accepted that her claim might have some truth.

She had been interviewed by Pedro Morales, who had been more understanding than she deserved. He had confirmed what her father refused to discuss— that Evan's body had been found at the base of the canyon, with the rucksack nearby. Leigh had wept a little then, rather for what Evan had once been to her than for what he had become. Wept for the waste, and the pity of it all. His parents, she knew, were dead, but he had an older sister married with a family.

'Do they—need to know the truth?' she had asked haltingly.

'By no means,
seňorita
. They can be told there has been a climbing accident.'

She was content with that.

Justin Frazier came to visit her each day, his presence an invigoration in itself.

He, of course, knew everything, and he made it clear Leigh's halting explanations were unnecessary.

'They shouldn't have sent for you,' she had protested tearfully at the beginning.

'Nonsense,' he had said robustly. 'You're my only child, Leigh, and even if you are behaving like a complete fool, as long as I live I'll be there for you.'

He told her too all the things she was still in the dark about.

'My arrival was a blessing,' he said matter-of-factly. 'Because when the radio message came through to the camp advising I was on the helicopter with Morales and the police contingent, Martinez went to look for you up at the citadel—and there of course was that unfortunate young woman, who was able to tell him exactly what had happened.'

'Poor Consuelo! Is—is she all right.'

Justin Frazier shrugged. 'She's helping the police with their enquiries, and she'll have to face charges,' he said shortly. 'But Morales himself admits that they're only on the fringes of the drug-trafficking— she and this cousin of hers. But they may get some lead to guide them towards the big boys.'

'Who shot Evan?' she asked in a subdued voice.

'As easily as you or I might swat a fly, my dear. It seems they'd begun using him as a courier—a mere pawn in their activities—and when he cheated and robbed them, it couldn't be allowed to go unpunished.' He looked at her gravely. 'It would have been better if he'd stayed in the camp, and waited for the police to come for him, Leigh.'

'I know—I see that now.' The tears were scalding her cheeks. 'But—he was so scared—of prison.'

Her father sighed swiftly. 'Then perhaps it was for the best. Who can say?' He patted her hand. 'Now rest, darling, and get those grazes healed so I can take you home.'

The question she wanted to ask but dared not was, 'Where's Rourke?'

She had been aware of him on the trip back to Atayahuanco, before Jim Holloway's sedative took effect. But he wasn't there when the helicopter took off, and although she had waited with painful eagerness each day at the clinic in Cuzco, he hadn't appeared.

She tried to tell herself she hadn't imagined the tenderness she had heard in his voice, sensed in his hands during those brief moments on the ledge, but as the empty days passed she began to wonder if he hadn't simply been showing her the kind of reassurance he would have shown a panicking child, or a frightened animal—soothing her to make things easier for her rescuers, to make their task easier.

Now, she and her father were back in Lima, and the following day they would be flying out. And still no word from him.

She couldn't avoid the thought that he was punishing her for helping Evan to run away in the first instance, although he must surely know that she had suffered enough.

'
Don't ask
,' he had warned, '
for what I cannot give.'

Leigh sighed, turning away from the window. He had given, of course; she could not deny that. He had needled her into a courage she hadn't known she possessed. He had shown her new horizons. He had shared with her, briefly, a warmth and passion beyond her wildest dreams.

If she had wanted more, then that was her problem, not his. He had promised nothing.

Perhaps he had been intuitive enough to guess what she was feeling, and had decided that a clean break was the kindest way to end it, without difficult explanations and confrontations.

She had once ventured to ask how the search party had happened on the right place.

'Apparently Gilchrist had left a trail a child could follow,' Justin Frazier had said dismissively. 'But Martinez seems to have a genius for that kind of thing. Although at one time I wondered if that damned altitude sickness one hears about had got to him,' he added frowningly. 'Kept ranting on about some blasted great bird—convinced that if we followed it, we'd find you.'

'Ah,' Leigh had said quietly, her heart doing a great tumultuous somersault for joy. The magic, at least, had been real for both of them. She that to treasure always.

There was a knock at the door of the suite, and she glanced at her watch. She supposed it would be tea arriving. Justin Frazier had arranged the little ritual each day, and always came to have tea with her.

She smiled rather sadly as she crossed to the door. Poor Daddy! He was so determined to restore normality to her life as soon as possible, even in small ways like this.

She opened the door, and stood motionless, feeling the colour drain out of her face.

'You seem surprised to see me,' Rourke said quietly. He walked past her into the suite, dropping his jacket carelessly on to the nearest chair. The chambermaid appeared in the bedroom doorway, obviously agog at the sight of him, and he reached into a pocket and gave her some money, adding a few succinct words in Spanish which had her scuttling for the door.

When they were alone, he gave Leigh a narrow-eyed, comprehensive assessment from head to toe. 'You look better,' he commented. 'Have all your bruises healed?

'Most of them.' She looked back at him, transparent as glass, unable any longer to conceal what she felt, and not caring either.

He groaned softly. 'Leigh, I came here to talk rationally to you,
querida
, but when you look at me like that, all I can think of is how long it is since I held you in my arms.'

Once in a different lifetime, he had picked her up in his arms and carried her through to this very bedroom, put her down on this very bed, and lain beside her, just as he was doing now. She had thought she hated him then, but she hadn't been able to deny the excitement his touch had engendered. And now she didn't have to deny it.

As he reached for her, she surrendered eagerly, her mouth seeking his. If this was to be their last goodbye, then it would be a memorable one, she thought deliriously as her lips parted for him.

Rourke kissed her as if he would drain her to the depths of her soul, as if the parting of the last few days had been as great a torment for him as for her.

Then he held her, tightly, closely, wrapping her in his arms as if he would never let her go.

He said huskily, 'I thought I'd lost you.
Dios
, Leigh, if you know what I went through, knowing you were with him—knowing the danger you were in!' He kissed her eyes. 'Once before, in the river, you were nearly snatched from me. It will not happen a third time.'

She said, 'I don't understand…'

'I cannot live without you,
querida
. Nor will I. Tell me it is the same for you. Tell me you will marry me.'

'You want me?' She couldn't believe it. 'You really want me—like that?'

'In all the ways there are, my Leigh.'

'Why didn't you tell me before—why didn't you let me know? I was so unhappy…'

He sighed. 'Because I promised your father I would give you some time—to recover mentally as well as physically from what had happened to you. And although I have given Fergus my resignation from the Atayahuanco project, I could not leave him to deal with the police enquiries unaided, and so…'

'You've done what?' Leigh was no longer lying pliantly in his arms, but sitting upright staring down at him.

He lifted himself on to one elbow, his brows raised in surprise. 'I have resigned,' he said matter-of-factly. 'Your father is, of course, perfectly correct. The project is no life for a woman, as he made clear when I told him I wanted to marry you.'

'When did you tell him this?'

'Your last day at Cuzco. I had flown down with Morales. You were asleep, but I sat with you, and knew that whatever the cost, I could not let you go.'

She said stupidly, 'But the project is your life— everyone knows that.'

Rourke shook his head, his eyes holding hers steadily. 'You are my life,
querida
. Without you there is darkness and emptiness.'

'But Isabella—you didn't marry her because she hated it at Atayahuanco.'

He sighed. 'I didn't marry Isabella,
mi amada
, because we were totally unsuited to each other. We enjoyed a glamorous relationship, all parties and candlelit dinners. It was not destined to survive the kind of reality Atayahuanco provides.'

'And you thought I wouldn't survive it either,' she said huskily.

Rourke nodded. 'That's true. I thought you were another social butterfly, even more pampered than Isabella.' He grinned. 'But first, I found a shrew. Then a would-be siren, whose lips told me a very different story. Then a stubborn, pigheaded little fool,' he added a mite grimly.

'Well, thank you so much.' She lay back on the pillows, watching him under her lashes. 'And when did you begin to change your mind?'

His grin widened. 'Who says I have?' he asked unforgivably, dodging laughingly the punch she aimed at him, and capturing her clenched fist to kiss it. 'I began to change my mind,
querida
, when you were so gallant about the contents of Maria's stew. And it disturbed me to find, also, that I could not rid my mind of how you had felt in my arms. I had started to make love to you that night to teach you a lesson, yet in the end I was the one who was punished. I spent the rest of the night fighting the kind of fantasies I haven't had since adolescence, imagining you hadn't pushed me away, and that you were there in bed with me, naked and beautiful and willing. I began to think I would never sleep again.'

Leigh said slowly, 'But it was her name you spoke—that morning in the tent.'

His mouth twisted wryly. 'I'm sorry,
querida
, but our relationship wasn't just glamorous—it was also—very physical. My dreams that night had been a little confused.'

She said, 'I suppose I can forgive you. After all, I was a little confused myself for a while.'

'I know.' He stroked her hair back from her face. 'I was so afraid for you, my darling, so terrified that you were going to be hurt. I wanted to protect you from the knowledge of what Gilchrist had done, but it was impossible. And when I heard he had come back to the camp, I was in agony.'

'But you must have known I wasn't in love with him any more,' she protested. A slight flush rose in her face. 'I thought I'd proved that quite conclusively.'

'Because of one night?' Rourke shook his head. 'For all I knew, you might have been carried away by the magic of the condor dance into some brief madness. After all, up to then you'd talked of little else but being reunited with Gilchrist.' His face grew sombre. 'As well as loathing him for his drug-running activities, I then had to cope with being furiously jealous of him. After all, it was him and not me you were engaged to. I had no real claim at all, whereas he had the right to touch and kiss you—even though he'd been having an affair with Consuelo Esteban almost since his arrival on the project.'

'And I thought she was in love with you,' Leigh said ruefully.

He looked at her in amazement. 'How could you have believed such a thing?'

'I was jealous too—and miserable.' She swallowed. 'You see, Greg had told me about Isabella, and how the project always came first with you. And he implied that you only went in for casual affairs.'

'Was it a casual affair when I gave you my ring?' The topaz eyes were very tender.

'No—at least, I didn't think so. But when you took your ring back, I didn't know what to think. Why did you?'

'Because in the cold light of day, I felt I'd made a fool of myself,' Rourke admitted. 'However much I might hate the idea, your engagement to Gilchrist was still a fact. I had to come to terms with the fact that I might just have been a casual affair to you.' He paused. 'And at the camp, you seemed to avoid me.'

She carried his hand to her cheek. 'It was you avoiding me,' she accused tenderly.

'What did you expect me to do? Treat you as an acquaintance when I wanted to tell the whole world you belonged to me?' He shook his head again. 'And I was so proud of you—so proud of the way you adjusted—took the camp and the valley in your stride, and made yourself part of it. And yet at the same time, I wished you a thousand miles away—safe from Gilchrist and his criminal intrigues. I thought when you found out what he was really doing, you would turn from him in disgust. But you never did.'

'Because I didn't know.' She sighed. 'I was so fixated on this treasure hunt he'd once talked about that I couldn't think of anything else. And no one actually mentioned drugs. If Consuelo hadn't followed us to the temple that day, I might still be in the dark.'

'In a way, she is to be pitied,' Rourke said quietly. 'She was infatuated with him. Up to that time, she had been a good worker—an expert member of the team. It seems it was a chance remark that revealed to Gilchrist her cousin was marginally involved in the cocaine trade. He persuaded her to introduce them— and it all began.'

'And now it's ended,' said Leigh in a low voice.

'For some it is. For us,
querida
, there is another beginning—if that is what you want. You have not yet told me that you will marry me.'

She twined her arms round his neck. 'I'd marry you tomorrow if it were possible. Or preferably tonight,' she added thoughtfully.

Rourke kissed her. 'That would be my preference too,' he whispered. 'But there are unfortunate formalities which must be observed. However,' with studied casualness, he began to unfasten the tiny buttons of her silk shirt, 'there is no reason why we should not—rehearse a little.'