Vistaria Has Fallen (The Vistaria Affair/Vistaria Has Fallen #1)(16)

Perhaps she could convince Minnie to go home. She needed peace and time to think. Yet when Calli reached the table, it was empty. She spotted some of the occupants on the dance floor. Elvira, with her up-swept hair and black crepe dress, waltzed with one of Duardo’s men. Calli couldn’t see Minnie or Duardo anywhere.

*

Nick stood in the gallery alcove with his head down, his eyes closed, listening to the party below, while tension clamped his body into stillness. He could still smell a hint of her perfume, something light and clean. While standing next to her, her warm scent and the touch of perfume had wreathed his head, making him giddy with an explosive arousal.

The need to touch her had been almost overwhelming. Only the knowledge of how unfair it would be to indulge himself had stopped him.

I dreamed of you, Nick. Her voice was smooth and mellow, like brandy.

At least he had wiped the desperate shame from her eyes. He’d managed something constructive. True, anger had replaced it. He could live with anger. Better that she be filled with fury. It would give him the edge he needed to hold onto his sanity. While he clung to sanity, he could avoid any lethal decisions.

As long as she hated him, he could stay away from her.

*

Calli circled the upper floors then searched the service rooms on the lower floor. She found them in a small, unused kitchen, tucked away on a back corridor. Calli paused with her hand on the swing door. She didn’t want to interrupt them, only she couldn’t move. The first glimpse had caught at her heart and throat.

If she had been asked to find a phrase to describe that first astonishing sight, she would have said without thinking: pure, driven passion. The image would stay with her forever. Minnie lying on the wide steel counter, her back and hips a taut curve, offering herself as Duardo slid his tongue the length of her throat.

Her hands were in his hair, encouraging him, as she gave a low groan. He stood with his thighs against the table. His jacket was gone. His shirt was unbuttoned and half off, revealing smooth brown shoulders. Firm rounded muscles bunched and moved under his flesh as he slid his hand up Minnie’s thigh, pushing the dress up with it. He gathered the fabric around her waist, revealing garters and stockings, smooth bare skin and nothing else. Duardo made a deep rumbling sound of appreciation.

As Minnie reached for the fastening on his trousers, Calli’s heart picked up speed. She was caught in the spell, mentally a part of their pleasure, her own body responding. Her breath quickened.

To be loved like that, to be the object of such longing...oh, she wanted it! Her body trembled with the imaginary joy of taking a man.

As the pair came together, Calli forced herself to turn away. Her heart trip-hammering, she took a step on legs that seemed weak.

Behind her she heard Duardo’s voice, thick and slow. “One sip of you is not enough.”

“Drink your fill, if you dare,” Minnie said, very low.

Calli quickened her pace, heading for the ballroom.

When Minnie and Duardo returned to the table fifteen minutes later, she had herself back under control. She made no comment about their absence and they gave no hint of what they had been doing. Duardo treated Minnie with utmost deference, bowing over her hand when Calli said they had to go, uttering polite expressions of regret and gratitude for their company this evening. He gave no hint of the passion that had gripped him moments ago.

He’s a soldier and used to staying in control. Just like Nicolás Escobedo.

The comparison rankled, for Duardo had chosen to take the moments he wanted, unlike Nicolás.

*

“You going to tell me what’s eating you?” Minnie asked as she steered the car around another group of fiesta-goers wending their way home.

Calli stirred, her attention drawn from her dark reflection on the side window. “No,” she said, as gently as she could.

“Duardo thought he’d upset you.”

“He did? I’m sorry, I didn’t intend that.”

“Then you do like him?”

Calli roused herself, trying for Minnie’s sake to give an honest answer. “He’s an honorable and loyal officer. But, Minnie, he’s in the army. They lead such precarious lives. Especially now. There’s danger for him, being with you. Are you aware of that?” The echo of Nicolás’s words set up a pang of sadness in her.

“The army people don’t mind Americans,” Minnie said. “No one was rude to us tonight, just as Duardo said.”

“There is more to Vistaria than the army,” Calli pointed out.

“Lots of civilians work at the mine Dad is setting up. They don’t hold grudges either.”

Calli shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”

Minnie thumped the wheel. “Damn it, Calli, I have to live here. While Dad is working the mine, I have to live here. I have to find acceptance where I can. Do you think I’m so stupid I don’t know what they think of us? I can’t do anything about what they think, because they don’t know me. The only thing I can do is ignore them and find the few who don’t think I’m a parasite. Quit trying to depress me, because I don’t want to hear about it, okay?”

“Okay,” Calli agreed. “I’m sorry, Minnie. You seem to move through life with so little concern.”

“I get concerned,” Minnie muttered.

“About the latest dress length.”