My God, Nicola thought, he's going! She ran forward.
'Señor-please! You-you can't just leave me here like this!'
Her movement startled the horse. It threw up its head and began to sidestep, only to be brought effortlessly back under control by its rider.
He said coolly, 'I have told you where the road is, señorita. To walk that distance should not be beyond your powers. You seem young and healthy.'
Nicola stared up at him, wondering how on earth she had ever found him attractive. His face was dark and forbidding under the shadow of his hat, his mouth harsh and uncompromising.
She hated him more than, she had ever dreamed it was possible to hate anyone, but she made her voice pleading. 'I'm tired, and hungry-and very frightened, señor. There must be some shelter of some kind that you know of.' She paused, and then said flatly, 'I'll pay you to take me there!'
'Aren't you afraid \ might ask the same price as the truck driver? You wouldn't rid yourself of me quite so easily.'
Nicola swallowed. 'That's a chance I shall have to take. I-I don't want to spend the night alone in that truck.'
'I think you already take too many chances, señorita.' His tone was soft and chilling.
Nicola shivered inside the jacket. This was a side of Ramon she had not seen before. No sign now of the charm, or the sensual teasing which had so embarrassed and disturbed her.
Her hands gripped together. She said in a low voice. 'Please help me.'
There was a silence, then he shrugged slightly. 'Very well. Tonight we will find some shelter, and in the morning we will see what is best to be done. Are you travelling quite alone?'
'No,' she said hastily. 'I'm joining friends. In Monterrey. That's where I was heading for.'
'Then you are well off the track, señorita.' Again that faint amusement. 'At the moment you are on your way to La Mariposa, the hacienda of Don Luis Alvarado de Montalba. You have perhaps heard of him?'
She forced herself to say casually, 'I think I've heard the name-yes. Is this his land?'
'It is. And he would be desolated to know that he was harbouring unsuspected so charming a guest. Perhaps I should take you to the hacienda.'
'No.' She hoped he hadn't picked up that note of panic. She tried to laugh. 'Please, señor, I'm not really in any fit state to meet any great Spanish landowner. I've behaved like a complete fool, and I know it. If you could just guide me to where I can get transport for Monterrey, I'd be eternally grateful, but I don't want to meet this Don Luis.'
'Very well,' he said evenly. 'What luggage have you?'
'Just a bag.'
'Then I suggest you fetch it, so that we can be off.'
She was pulling it out of the truck when the thought struck her that if nothing else he might recognise the bag. But she could hardly pretend that she had lost it, and there must be a million similar bags in the world, she told herself, slinging it over her shoulder like a satchel. If the worst came to the worst, she would brazen it out.
But he never gave it a second glance. 'The horse has good manners. You need not be frightened.'
I wish I could say the same for his owner, Nicola thought as she unwillingly prepared to accept his assistance. She'd expected the use of a stirrup and perhaps a helping hand into the saddle, but instead he bent towards her, his arm going round her waist and lifting her as if she was a featherweight. And she was to sit in front of him, she discovered to her dismay.
She ventured on a protest. 'I know how to ride, señor.'
'I have already commented on your resourcefulness, señorita. Unlike the unhappy driver of the truck, I prefer to keep you where I can see you. And I should warn you that Malagueno accepts you on his back because I am here, but you should make no attempt to ride him alone.'
Nicola stared straight in front of her, glad that he could not read her expression. Her paramount wish was that she had pushed jeans instead of a dress into her bag, although the skirt was full enough to allow her to ride astride without too much difficulty. But it still revealed more of her slender legs than she could have wished under the circumstances, and this made her feel nervous and vulnerable and acutely conscious of her femininity. But then that was how she had been feeling from the moment she had met him, she thought in self-accusation.
'Relax, señorita.' His voice was mocking. 'I am told that rape on horseback is not merely dangerous but impossible, so you need have no fears.'
She didn't deign to answer, but instead caught hold of the edge of the saddle to steady herself, while gripping a handful of Malaguenos mane with the other hand.
She was held in the circle of his arms, but casually. He made no attempt to hold her more intimately, and she was thankful, because she was finding their present proximity, the warmth of his breath on her neck and ear quite disturbing enough. The truck seemed suddenly a much safer bet, but she could hardly say at this stage that she had changed her mind.
A weird inhuman sound broke the stillness of the night air, and she shuddered, tightening her fingers in Malagueno's mane. 'What was that?'
'A coyote,' he said. 'Or did you think they existed only in movies?'
That settled it. The truck would stay where it was, unattended, although she would have to make arrangements of some kind for its recovery in Monterrey. But what, she couldn't even begin to think.
All she could in fact think about was the strange workings of fate which, had brought Ramon back into her life when she had been sure she would never see him again. In fact, she'd counted on it. His dark and dangerous attraction had roused feelings and emotions in her which she wanted no part of. And if some foresight could have warned her that she would be spending the night in his company, even if it was on horseback, then she would never have embarked on her flight in the first place. It would have been preferable to have allowed Lopez to convey her to La Mariposa and the wrath of Don Luis, she thought. She stifled a little sigh, and looked up at the dark velvet of the sky with its spangling of stars.
'No moon,' she commented, half to herself.
'Alas, no. Nor a balcony, nor a mariachi band.' The mockery was open now, and she scowled, remembering that moment in the restaurant when he had sent the musicians away.
'It was just a remark,' she said, glad that the darkness hid the sudden colour in her cheeks.
'And the sigh?'
Was there a trick he didn't miss? she wondered.
'Let's just say I've had a bad day and leave it at that.' She paused. 'Malagueno's a beautiful horse-very surefooted.'
'He suits me very well/ he said laconically. 'He bears his name because his sire came from Malaga.'
Another silence. She hastened to fill it with words. 'You said that ail this was Montalba land. It must be a vast estate.'
'It was once. Now much of it belongs to the ejidatarios, peasants who are given free grants of land by the government. Here in the north much land which was once pasture for cattle is now being turned into small 'arms.'
'You don't agree with government policy?'
'All men must live,' he said after a pause. 'And the Montalbas could well spare the land. Some of the ejidatarios work hard on their holdings, but others do not. They find the life too hard, and prefer to remain peasants, selling their labour as they can.'
'As you do yours?' Nicola asked slyly.
'As I do mine,' he agreed.
She was disconcerted. She had expected at this point that he would tell her that he was Ramon de Costanza, cousin of the great Don Luis. She could see no point in his keeping it a secret. The thought that perhaps he was not communicating his identity because she was not of sufficient importance was a riling one.
Meanwhile this ride through the darkness was playing havoc with her unaccustomed muscles, and she moved restlessly.
'Is it much further-wherever we're going?'
There was a smile in his voice. 'I thought you were used to horses, chica. But no, you will not have to suffer for much longer.'
'Where are we going?'
'So many questions.' He sounded faintly exasperated. 'We are going to a nearby ejido?
Nicola's spirits rose slightly. It sounded hopeful. A house, however primitive, occupied by a farmer and possibly his wife and family too. Food and warmth, and somewhere to lay her head. But most of all, other people, she thought with sudden unease.
She began to peer forward into the darkness, looking for a lighted window, but there was only the night, which made it all the more surprising when her companion said, 'Your ordeal is over, señorita. We have arrived at our destination.'
Malagueno had stopped, and lowered his head to crop at unseen grass. Nicola found she was being lowered to the ground beside him, and she ran her fingers caressingly down the satiny neck. 'Gracias, Malagueno,' she said under her breath.
Dismounting, her companion looped the horse's reins over the branch of a nearby tree.
'Where is this place?' She stared round her helplessly.