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‘Never,’ he confirmed, thinking her the most infuriating woman he’d ever met, as well as the most appealing. ‘When you’re ready, come and sit with me,’ he tempered, feeling confident that she would.
‘If there’s space at your table, I will,’ she said.
‘There will be space,’ he assured her. This was torture. From a distance the traditional clothes had made Sadie appear alluring, but this close up they made her irresistible. ‘Our flamenco clothes suit you.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, and without further ado she left him to continue serving the food.
‘Annoying woman,’ he breathed as she walked away. The urge to know Sadie more intimately was eating him alive. Adaptable and capable, she appealed in every way. Her self-control was admirable, which led to the next question: would self-control desert her when his hands touched her naked body?
He could think of nothing else throughout the meal. No woman had ever preoccupied his thoughts as she did. When his sister and Sadie left the table arm in arm, he felt pushed out. But not for long. Fingers snapped and feet were already stamping out a rhythm as old as time as the musicians began to tune up. Rising from his seat, he strode up to Sadie. ‘Dance with me.’ His tone was abrupt, and his expression must have been a thundercloud at the thought that she might say no.
‘Why not?’ she said.
Her cheeks were flushed from all the rushing about, and her lips were full and moist from the juice she’d been drinking. She walked towards him with all the dignity of a gypsy queen and moved into his arms as if she belonged there. But then she tensed.
* * *
Why must the past intrude now? Sadie wondered tensely as she stiffened in Alejandro’s arms. Because the past could not be so easily dismissed, she concluded as an icy shiver gripped her. Just because she was in a different place with different people, didn’t mean that childhood memories would simply float away. She had to fight them, she determined, or be crushed.
‘I’m...just worried about treading on your toes,’ she lied when Alejandro, sensing the change in her, asked if she was okay.
‘Let me worry about that,’ he said, drawing her closer still.
Gradually and incredibly, she began to relax. The magic of the music, she supposed. Now she could appreciate every contour of his body...and what a body.
‘Stop worrying about the steps,’ he advised in a husky whisper that tickled her ear. ‘Just let the music take you where you need to be.’
That could be dangerous, Sadie thought as a quiver of arousal snatched the breath from her lungs, but somehow Alejandro made her forget the danger of being in his arms and concentrate on steps that had looked so intricate but, with him guiding her, suddenly became possible. The deeper she delved into the intoxicating culture of his people, the further her neatly ordered life in Madrid slipped away.
‘And now you dance for me,’ he said as the musicians began to play a wild tarantella and everyone whooped.
‘When you cook for me, I’ll dance for you,’ she fired back.
He laughed. ‘Touché. We’ll dance together.’
Everyone was watching them, Sadie realised. They had been on the dance floor quite some time, and it was bound to cause interest when the Gypsy King danced with his young female chef. Feeling suddenly exposed and on show, she pulled away, only to have Alejandro bring her back. It was all too easy to fall under his spell as she stared into his eyes. She was soft and he was hard. They were complete opposites but, like two sides of the same coin, it felt as if they were meant to be together.
The next melody wound its way around her heart. It was a slow, plangent tune that made her yearn to belong somewhere, and to someone. Alejandro’s brazenly sexual body pressed against hers only added to the ache inside her heart. The musky scent of horse and leather and warm, clean man clung to him, driving her senses wild. She had never imagined feeling this sense of belonging in any man’s arms, but even that was dangerous. She had always avoided rejection by never getting too close to anything or anyone. The one exception to that rule, until just a short time ago, was Chef Sorollo, and yet now she was in danger of falling in love with Alejandro and his people.
Face facts. You don’t belong here and never will.
Breaking free, she threaded her way through the dancing couples without looking back, only knowing that she needed space from a man who possessed the power to lay her emotions bare.
The sounds of celebration were soon left behind, and Sadie found herself clambering over rocks, not really knowing where she was heading. Hitting a patch of shale, she slid out of control for several moments, and was badly shaken up by the time she finally managed to dig her heels in and slide to a sitting halt. Only then did she see the lights of the village twinkling far below her, and a looming precipice just feet away. The drop must have been a thousand feet or more. Whimpering with shock, she planted her hands behind her to act as an anchor, and, inch by torturous inch, she slowly dragged herself back up the treacherous slope.
‘You little fool!’
Strong arms yanked her to her feet. Senses heightened in that instant, and she noticed everything, from the wind in her face, to the scent of the moss beneath her feet and the rustle of the leaves in the sparsely furnished trees above her. And above all, the fury of the man in whose arms she was being held securely.
‘If I hadn’t followed you—’
Clearly fighting an inner battle between rage and relief, Alejandro swung her off the ground. He was furious, while she was shivering uncontrollably at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t come along.
‘What made you think it was safe to go exploring in the dark on mountains you’re unfamiliar with? Must I put you on a lead rein?’ he demanded.
Knowing she’d made a fool of herself, she said nothing.
‘Can you walk back to camp, or must I carry you?’
‘I can walk.’ She might have lost her sense of direction, but she had lost none of her determination to stand on her own.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked in a gentler tone that made her hesitate.
‘Certain,’ she bit out, fighting back the alluring thought of having someone to rely on, someone to trust completely, a homeport where she would always feel safe. If she allowed Alejandro to coddle her, she might start to believe all sorts of things, and that could only make her weak.
‘I’ll show you around in daylight,’ he promised grimly. ‘Until then, you stay in camp.’
‘I’ve kept you away from your friends l
ong enough.’ She longed to escape the piercing stare that seemed to see right into her soul, which was brimful with insecurities already, before she had just added to them with more.
‘They can live without me. I’d rather make sure you’re okay. You’re still shaking.’
‘I’ll be better on my own,’ she insisted on a tight throat.
‘You don’t know that, and I’m not going to give you chance to find out. This will be your last adventure for tonight.’
She felt like a child being scolded, but she was in the wrong, and had no clue about a safe route back. ‘Just show me the way and I’ll follow you.’
Alejandro started off, but the fall had taken more out of her than she expected.
It was lucky his reflexes were whip-fast, allowing him to catch her before she hit the ground. ‘I’m not waiting for you to decide how you’ll get back to camp,’ he assured her, and with that he swung her into his arms.
How had an evening that started so well ended like this? Sadie wondered. She’d never been so confident away from her beloved kitchen, or so happy, and now she just felt like a chump. She was also extremely aware of Alejandro’s powerful body as he carried her along as if she weighed nothing in a grip that was both secure and unthreatening. In spite of all her hang-ups, she wanted to know him better. Was that wrong? Was that dangerous? And had she blown any chance of that happening now? Would the fact that they were, quite literally, worlds apart remain an impenetrable barrier?
‘Could you let me down?’ she asked when they arrived back in camp.
‘No. I’m taking you to Marissa’s caravan, and making sure you go inside.’
So much for romance, Sadie thought dryly, but why would he want to be with such a numbskull, when Alejandro could have any woman he wanted? Spain’s most eligible bachelor, Marissa had called him. ‘I’d like to go back to the party, if only to prove I can get through the rest of the evening without a hitch.’
