A Scandalous Midnight in Madrid Read online

  It would take more than a dress and a pair of castanets to help her out, Sadie thought, but the excitement of being invited into one of the beautifully decorated caravans really helped her to forget her embarrassment at misunderstanding Alejandro’s suggestion.

  Marissa was so easy to get along with that they were soon chatting easily. It turned out they had a lot in common. They were both ambitious, and both equally wary of men—Sadie because her childhood had been so unhappy, forced to watch her father beating her mother when he was drunk, and Marissa because, she explained to Sadie, she was so unlucky in love.

  The compact space was packed with clothes in every colour of the rainbow, hanging on rails and spilling out of wooden trunks. ‘Sit down,’ Marissa invited, ‘while I find you something to wear. Who needs men when we have music and dance, lots of clothes and good food? Let them ride their horses, and fight and swear. We know what matters, don’t we?’

  Love, Sadie thought as she sat down on the small sofa while Marissa rifled through the various options on the rail. Love mattered, though friendship mattered hugely too, and for some reason she felt confident she and Marissa would become firm friends. There was something about the other woman that seemed familiar. She was certainly warm and couldn’t have been more welcoming.

  ‘I’m glad Alejandro brought you to us,’ she said, turning to smile at Sadie. ‘He is regarded as our King, but I’m lucky enough to call him brother.’

  ‘Your brother,’ Sadie exclaimed, realising now why Marissa seemed vaguely familiar.

  ‘We had different fathers, but the same mother,’ Marissa explained. ‘My parents were childhood sweethearts. I was born when my mother was barely eighteen. My parents broke up when she met Alejandro’s father. The price she had to pay was leaving me with my father’s family in the mountains. No one could have predicted that Alejandro would grow up to be a man who loved me as his sister from the start. I couldn’t have a better brother if I searched the entire world.’

  Time passed swiftly as they chatted on, until Sadie realised they’d been talking for over an hour. Alejandro was with his friends and wouldn’t miss her, and just being with Marissa had made her feel confident in this new and very different environment, so it was time well spent.

  ‘For me?’ she exclaimed with pleasure when Marissa decided Sadie should wear a fabulous turquoise skirt. Heavily decorated with gold embroidery, it looked amazing with the fine white lace blouse she chose to go with it.

  ‘This will suit your colouring,’ Marissa promised as she held it up.

  It would certainly showcase her assets, Sadie thought with amusement. The fabric was so fine it was completely see-through, and the flimsy garment tied in a bow at the neck, leaving very little to the imagination.

  ‘You wear it like this,’ Marissa said, demonstrating how the neckline should sit off the shoulders. ‘Provocative, huh?’ She laughed. ‘I used to work in an office in Madrid, so I know how it is there, but when you’re here...’ Marissa grinned. ‘Anything goes.’

  ‘Isn’t there anything more discreet?’ Sadie asked, losing courage briefly when she viewed her profile in the mirror.

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Marissa exclaimed. ‘Why aim for discreet when you can achieve fabulous? Or are you afraid of causing too much interest?’

  ‘I’m not afraid.’ Sadie laughed. ‘But I do work for Alejandro, and I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Marissa’s eyes twinkled. ‘I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I can’t believe you’re not lovers yet.’

  ‘Whoa!’ Sadie exclaimed. ‘Not lovers ever,’ she assured her new friend.

  With a shrug, Marissa smiled. ‘If you say so.’

  ‘I most certainly do say so,’ Sadie insisted, but then they both broke into laughter, and the moment was forgotten in the excitement of wearing such colourful and glamorous clothes.

  ‘And wear your hair loose,’ Marissa advised as she cast a critical eye over her protégée’s appearance. ‘For me, it is different,’ she added, as she smoothed her neatly pinned hair. ‘I’m taking lessons, while you’re—’

  ‘Not taking lessons,’ Sadie confirmed dryly. ‘I’m here to learn about recipes.’

  ‘Of course you are,’ Marissa agreed, straight-faced.

  ‘No, really, I am—’ She gasped as Marissa plucked out the pins from Sadie’s hair and ran her fingers through the gleaming red-gold locks.

  ‘That should generate some interest,’ Marissa commented as she stood back to admire her handiwork. ‘Alejandro will certainly notice you now.’

  ‘That is not what I want,’ Sadie said firmly, wondering whom she was trying to convince.

  ‘Then, it should be,’ Marissa insisted with a mischievous grin. ‘My brother is the most eligible bachelor in Spain. Take a look at yourself in the mirror. You should never tie your hair back. He’s going to go mad when he sees you.’

  Sadie couldn’t believe the transformation and wasn’t sure she had the confidence to pull it off.

  ‘You look great,’ Marissa insisted, seeing her uncertainty. ‘Come on—we’ve wasted enough time in here already.’

  So, she’d try out the new look on Alejandro, and let him try and mock her if he dared.

  CHAPTER SIX

  HE RODE BACK into camp just as Sadie stepped out of one of the oldest and most beautifully renovated caravans, where his sister Marissa kept her prized wardrobe collection. His reaction was sheer incredulity, mixed with a very primal urge to stake his claim on a woman who couldn’t have looked more incredible if she’d tried. Ditching jeans for a traditional flamenco outfit had brought about the most unbelievable transformation, turning Sadie from hot into stunning.

  He took his horse to rub it down. It had been a short but vigorous ride with his friends, and the animals were steaming. The men gave no quarter, and he’d found the fast pace invigorating. His hackles rose when he realised his companions had also noticed Sadie. How could they not when her figure was shown to best advantage in the clothes she was wearing, with her unusual hair glittering in the sun as it cascaded to her waist in a thick fall of shimmering, fiery waves? Who wouldn’t want to tangle their hands through that? A group of admiring youths were starting to show her attention, he noticed, and some things were too special to lose. Having settled his horse, he bid goodbye to his friends.

  * * *

  Sadie had joined the team carrying platters and bowls for that evening’s feast to rough-hewn tables erected in front of the stage. She could feel Alejandro watching her as intently as she had watched him ride into camp. He looked every bit the Gypsy King, with his thick black hair barely tamed beneath a black bandana. The heat of his stare shot fire through every fibre of her being. She’d had enough! Turning suddenly, she levelled a stare at his arrogant face, only to have her heart go crazy when he acknowledged the challenge with an amused dip of his head.

  His bronzed and muscular arms remained folded across the impressive width of his chest as he continued to stare at her, while low-slung jeans, secured by a heavy-duty belt, drew her gaze where it absolutely shouldn’t wander.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Marissa asked, snapping Sadie out of the trance. ‘Do you need some help with those dishes?’

  Sadie had stalled on the path with her arms laden with platters of food, she realised now.

  ‘Oh, I get it,’ Marissa added in a voice ringing with humour. ‘My brother’s distracting you!’

  ‘Don’t be silly.’ Even to Sadie’s ears her laugh sounded unconvincing. ‘I’m here to collect recipes and organise your brother’s kitchen...and absolutely nothing else. What?’ she queried, when Marissa cocked her chin to give Sadie a disbelieving look.

  ‘I’ve never heard lust described as organising a man’s kitchen before,’ Marissa admitted. ‘I hope you get his pots and pans in order soon.’

  * * *

  It was good to see t
he two women laughing together. Sadie had fitted into camp life well. Heat surged between them as he stared at her and she stared back. She wanted him. Animal instinct, always a close ally, told him that. But delay was good, though it could turn into the very real physical pain he was suffering now. Even so, he wouldn’t rush her. Sadie would come to him in her own time, and he was tired of easy conquests. She was unique in that she was both refreshing and a challenge, and she couldn’t care less if he was a duke, a billionaire or a stevedore from the docks. Added to which, for the first time in his life, the outcome of any approach he made was uncertain—which only made the challenge of Sadie Montgomery all the more appealing.

  He strolled across the camp to join the two women, and was only halfway to his goal when Marissa, seeing what he was about to do, slipped away, leaving him and Sadie alone. Straightening up, she lifted her chin to stare him in the eyes, as if demanding he explain himself. What was the situation? Sadie’s straightforward expression seemed to ask. Were they a duke and a professional chef, or simply a man and a woman? He knew which he preferred.

  ‘Join me at my table,’ he said as he halted in front of her.

  ‘I’m going to dance with Marissa first,’ she told him, ‘and then I can only sit down when everyone else has eaten.’

  ‘Can’t you forget your duties for once?’

  ‘Do you forget yours?’

  ‘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.’