Betrayed(28)

His breath steamed in the early-morning air, swept into her face, metallic with garlic and beer.

She said, “I’m sorry...”

“How many times I tell you this? Caramba! You no understand? No comprende, eh?”

Kat shook her head. “I’m sorry. If I had known then I...”

“Then what?” he shouted. “Make idiot of me. Again you make idiot? I no like.”

“Pardon?”

“I already tell you, no want you here. Claro? No want.”

Kat, although frightened by his anger, simply couldn’t walk away. She said, “I tell you I haven’t been here before.”

“You no business here. Go!”

“I’m sorry.” Kat gulped and began to back away.

“Your memory is short,” he yelled after her.

“I tell you I haven’t been here before. I’m sorry if I’ve disturbed your privacy, but I assure you that it won’t happen again.”

“You stay with Señor Saval?”

“What is it to you?”

“You take off your clothes …” He stepped toward her.

Kat stared in horror, turned, and ran.

“No come again,” he roared. “Keep away.”

Weeds tore at Kat’s legs as she ran through the woods. Twigs tugged at her, whipped at her face, but she didn’t stop until she was back on the road again, heart thumping, chest heaving.

The scent of pine was heavy, mingled with the earthy smell of the forest. It looked safe, sounded safe, but Kat would never again think it was safe. Who the hell was that man, and what was he talking about?

She had never been to that place in her life, yet he was adamant she had. What was going on?

He thought he knew her, but how? She started to walk to the villa. She knew there would be no need for panic now but she just had to gain the security of the hacienda.

Aliaga looked up briefly as she opened the kitchen door, a cursory glance in which Kat saw the hostility she’d seen before.

“I’ve been into the woods.” Kat said, fighting for breath. “A man was there, by a cabin; a huge man. He was very rough. He frightened me.”

“You should not go there, it is privado,” Aliaga muttered. “Not for you.” She turned her back and walked into the lounge.

Kat followed her. “But there was nothing there to tell me it was private, no signs, nothing.”

Aliaga said pointedly. “People, who belong here, they know.”

“He was very hostile. I was scared.”

“His brain…” Aliaga turned on her. “Not his fault.”

“He said he’d already told me not to go there.”

Aliaga walked to the fireplace and adjusted a vent so smoke no longer puffed out. “I tell you. His brain. He imagines, yes?”

“He was adamant.”

“What you want me say?”

Kat drew a chair from the kitchen table and dropped onto it. She knew she should be walking from this woman, yet pride made it impossible.

“You don’t like me, do you,” she said abruptly?

“Like you? I don’t know you.” Wood burned brightly in the open fire basket. Aliaga gestured noncommittally, and sat close to it in an old rocking chair.

“But you resent me being here.”

“You are guest of Señor Saval. I am housekeeper; it is nothing to do with me. I am here to do what he asks.”

“Like searching through my handbag?”

Aliaga avoided her eyes. So she was right. Her bag had been rifled, but for what, and under whose direction, Rafael’s, or had Aliaga done it by herself?

She leaned forward. “And tell me why that… caveman talked to me the way he did. Have you said something to him? Have you said something nasty about me?”

Aliaga stood abruptly and walked to a wall cupboard and took out a bottle of sherry. She poured out a single drink, without offering one to Kat.

“Tell me!” Kat demanded. “I have a right to know.”

“I told him nothing.” Aliaga sat again and sipped at the glass. “He see it for himself.”

“See what, damn you.”

Aliaga’s face became spiteful. “They were tramps, every one.”

Kat suddenly felt as if a rubber band had been tightened around her chest. She said carefully, “Who were?”

“Plenty girls, eh? Photo, photo, laugh, sing, and take off clothes. Poor Pepe, he not understand, eh? Never before see girl with no clothes.”

Kat stared at her. The rubber band squeezed blood from her heart.

Aliaga said viciously, “It is not the first time, it is not the last. Party, party, is no good.”

Kat suddenly had difficulty in drawing breath. The heat from the spitting fire seemed to suck air from her lungs. Aliaga’s garbled message was clear… so was Billy Mellor’s.

“She is precise, the one in charge,” Aliaga said. “She tries to cover the trouble, but I see. Nothing happens here, except I see, yes? She thinks it is hidden, but I see all.” She shot a pointed glance in Kat’s direction.

The silence became distressing.

Kat felt numb. This bitch of a woman was talking about Francine. Bile surged from the pit of her stomach, and she struggled to not throw up.

Words needed to be said, but none would come, feelings she should have, but there were no feelings.

Some girls, maybe Fran included, must have gone into the woods to the caveman. God knows what they had been up to.

“Party, sing, dance,” Aliaga said brutally. “Girls make fun of poor Pepe. He shout, he wave hands. No harm in poor Pepe. His brain is cooked. Girls bad. Take off clothes and dance around him.”

Kat gripped the arms of the chair, anger surging through her. Somehow she pushed herself from the chair and walked to the door. Pride kept her upright.

When she reached the door, Kat turned and looked at Aliaga. Aliaga stared with arrogance, firelight bathing her cruel face. Her eyes held real malice. “Party, party, sing, shout. My poor Pepe not know what to do.”

“Your Pepe?”

“He is my son. Poor Pepe.”

Kat made her way into the corridor, gulped in great drafts of air, tried desperately to bring her mind under control, but there was nothing to find except panic.





Chapter 9



He had his back to her, inaccessible, staring through the window. “I don’t need to explain anything,” he snapped. “So don’t tell me I do.”

“You condescending shit!” Kat hardly believed her ears.

“You should trust me!” He suddenly swung around, annunciating each word carefully. “We can’t continue if you don’t trust me?”

“Trust?” Kat looked incredulous. “That’s exactly what’s been broken.”

“Of course it hasn’t.”

“Don’t you understand, I did trust you. You’ve let me down. I feel… sullied.”

“Don’t be so hysterical.”

“Don’t you dare.” Her voice sounded brittle. “Don’t ever tell me I’m hysterical.”

“Then calm down.”

“Are you denying there was a party? Are you denying you threw a party for Francine and her… her tarts?”

He shrugged.

“And are you denying the stupid bitches ran around naked?” Kat balled her fists, close to breaking. “You’ve been laughing at me behind my back. You took me for a fool. The two people, I needed to be sure of, let me down.”

She searched his face for remorse but found none. He wasn’t listening. He didn’t understand, or didn’t want to understand how much he’d hurt her. It would mean accepting responsibility, and he didn’t intend to. What sort of man had she become involved with?

“I can’t answer for anyone else,” he said, “But I did nothing to hurt you.”

“Well you have, damn you.”

“I’m telling you I haven’t.”

“It isn’t the first time is it?” Kat could not stop shaking. “How often do you hold orgies? A regular thing, once a month at Rafael’s? Have a ball, girls, take your clothes off, let it hang out at Rafael’s?”

“I would breach a confidence if I explained.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “Are you crazy or what?”

“For Christ’s sake stop making an issue. I made a promise, accept it. I never break a promise.”

How could he behave like this when she was so distressed? He didn’t even try to ease the pain. “Perhaps you don’t,” she said furiously. “But you don’t mind hurting people, do you?”

“This is beyond a joke.”

Kat drew back her hand and with all her strength, slapped him across the face. She had never hit anyone before and was surprised to see she left a blotch across his cheek, white, fast turning red.