The Blackmailed Bride Read online

  What he lacks in looks she makes up for in personal­ qualities father's kinder assessment.

  Kate felt these were essentially accurate assessments, and she hadn't done so badly out of the deal. Sensible had given her a lifestyle she enjoyed; but just occasionally, es­pecially when she saw the way men reacted when Susie entered a room, she wished that she'd been standing a bit closer to the front of the queue when they'd handed out the sex appeal factor.

  A spasm of sulky annoyance passed over Susie's pretty face at this impatient dismissal; her tears in general evoked a more sympathetic response.

  Kate dropped down into the wicker chair and pulled her knees up to her chin; her irritation bubbled to the surface. `What on earth possessed you to get involved with the man in the first place... ? You're supposed to be engaged to Chris... Are things all right between you and him, or are you having second thoughts?

  'Don't start on about me being too young to settle down again, Kate!' Susie scowled. `I'm not like you; I don't want a career and being engaged doesn't mean you can't have any fun,' she announced with a toss of her blonde head.

  Kate didn't swallow this hard-nosed attitude for one min­ute, Susie was willful but she was a long way from being as callous as she liked to pretend.

  `Fun! Couldn't you have stuck to beach volley-ball?'

  This evoked a watery smile. `Well, if you had arrived last week, like you were meant to, I wouldn't have been so bored...' Susie stretched one long sun-tanned leg in front of her. The complacent contemplation of the smooth ex­panse of shapely golden flesh made the sulky line of her lips lift attractively.

  Only Susie, Kate decided. could turn this thing around so that her sister had the ultimate responsibility-Susie re­ally was totally impossible, Kate reflected with rueful af­fection.

  `I had to work, you know that.'

  `Work?' Susie snorted in disgust. `It's all you ever think about. No wonder Seb dumped you.' She lifted her head, pushing a strand of long blonde hair from her eyes, and grimaced apologetically. `Sorry, that was a bitchy thing to say,' she admitted. `But,' she added swiftly in her own defence, `this was the holiday from hell, even before Luis turned out to be a low-life, what with Mum and Dad spend­ing every day traipsing around boring churches and things, wanting me to come along.' Her horrified expression was an accurate indicator that these pastimes weren't Susie's idea of pleasure. `I always said a family holiday at our age was asking for trouble...'

  `I thought you decided it wouldn't be so bad when you realized Dad was footing the bill,' Kate couldn't resist ob­serving.

  `I just thank God they didn't book that awful place in the mountains you fancied so much. There wasn't anything to do there but watch the grass grow.'

  'There also wasn't a Luis.'

  'Actually, Katie,' Susie began with an awkward rush, 'the photos…I think he might have spiked my drink when we were by the pool. I mean, I'm not one hundred percent positive,' she added hurriedly, `but l know a girl who had her drink spiked...'

  Kate's horrified gasp went ignored as her sister, oblivious to the fact she'd said anything to send chills through Kate's blood continued, `Oh, she was all right. Fortunately a gang of us arrived as the stuff was kicking in and the guy in question made a quick exit. She collapsed in the loos and we had an awful job getting her back home,' she recalled. 'It’s just that her symptoms-' Susie corrected herself with a display of discretion that surprised Kate `-I felt a lot like that. I could hardly get back to my own room, I felt so woozy, and I'd only had a glass of white wine...'

  'What a total sleaze'' Kate exclaimed in disgust. `We should call the police.'

  'Get serious, Kate!' Susie responded scornfully. `I could kick myself. I'm normally really careful about things like that-I never leave my glass on a table, I carry it around with me. Of course. I never accept a drink from a man I don't know...'

  `Of course,' Kate responded faintly.

  As she had listened to Susie casually outlining the list of precautions which were obviously second nature to her, Kate wondered if she was herself extraordinarily trusting or just plain reckless, because even though she'd heard of such things happening since the advent of the so-called date rape drugs, she had never dreamt of taking any of these measures... But then she had never dated a stranger; her boyfriends such as they were had always been friends of friends or work colleagues.

  `What really gets me, is that he didn't even try and touch me... It was Dad's money he was interested in all along, not me!'

  `Well thank God for that!'

  `I just feel such a fool. I was wondering how I was going to let him down lightly; I thought he was potty about me. God, Katie!' she wailed. `What am I going to do...?'

  Placing a comforting arm around the younger girl's shak­ing shoulders, Kate hugged her tight. She crossed her fin­gers. 'Don't worry, Suse, it'll be all right.' I hope!

  `Then you'll lend me the money to pay him off... ? Susie lifted her tear stained face eagerly.

  `We're not giving him a penny,' Kate responded, her tone outraged at the idea of giving into a blackmailer. `I'll get the photos and the negatives.'

  `But how?

  'That,' admitted Kate frankly, `I haven't worked out yet.'

  `Listen, Kate, I don't think this is such a good idea. I mean, Luis isn't going to hand them over, is he'? And once or twice I've seen him talking with some shifty-looking types. Actually, I think he could be quite mean himself...' She gave a shamefaced little grin. `I suppose, if I'm honest, that was half the attraction ... the danger thing,' she sniffed. `You know what I mean...' She looked at her elder sister who pushed her specs up the bridge of her nose. `I don't suppose you do. I know you think I'm a selfish little cow but even I might lose an hour or two's sleep if you got hurt because of me.'

  Kate pulled a tissue from the pocket of her shorts and dabbed her sister's pink nose. `Don't fret. I've no intention of getting hurt, Suse.'

  Kate had waited an hour in the darkness watching the staff bungalow until she was satisfied there was nobody home. The wait had taken its toll, by the time she tentatively tried the door she felt physically sick with nerves and her heart was pounding so loud, its frantic, echoey thud cut out all other sounds. She couldn't recall ever feeling this scared, not even the first time she'd made her court appearance as a newly qualified barrister.

  She could hardly believe her luck when the door opened at the first try. Relieved she wouldn't have to put her ad­mittedly hazy knowledge of lock picking-second hand, naturally-to the test, Kate slid the credit card she'd brought for the purpose into the back pocket of her dark jeans and adjusted the dark hood on her head so that it covered all her pale hair.

  Shining her torch around the darkened room, she picked her way stealthily through the discarded garments littering the carpet. Her skin crawled and she stifled a scream as her foot got entangled in a shirt. This whole enterprise was making her feel grubby. After this is over I'll need a stiff drink and a bath not necessarily in that order she thought as she carefully balanced the torch on top of the chest of drawer.

  Her hands were shaking so much, it took her two goes to slide the top drawer open. Concentrate, Kate she told herself, taking a deep fortifying breath. It's my lucky day she decided as her fingers closed around an envelope-the shape of which felt very promising...

  Her newly fortified wits fled gibbering in panic as the room was suddenly flooded with strong light from a pow­erful flashlight that dwarfed her own feeble beam. Before she even had a chance to turn around, a pair of strong arms snaked around her, pinning one arm to her chest as, arched backwards by the tight embrace, her feet were lifted off the ground.

  Her rudimentary Spanish could not cope with the stac­cato burst of furious-sounding words which hissed like bul­lets in her ear. With Susie's warnings about this blackmailer and his shady friends ringing in her ears, she began to struggle wildly. With her free arm she flailed backwards, trying to inflict as much damage as possible, enough at least to make her captor loosen hi
s grip. A chair and several sundry items, including her glasses, were casualties of her frenzied efforts to free herself.

  Only this captor wasn't letting her go, not even when she brought her trainer-shod heel-stilettos would have produced much more satisfactory results-down viciously onto his instep, the way they'd taught her in self-defence class. She took small comfort from the fact it must have hurt like hell because he cursed-at least it sounded like a curse.

  Kate wasn't a short woman and, though slim, she wasn't delicate-she kept herself fit, she ran and enjoyed playing sports-but it soon became clear to her that she was vastly outclassed. It was obvious that restraining her was not overly exerting her captor, who wasn't even breathing heavily. A pragmatist, she quickly accepted she couldn't fight her way out of this situation-that left talking her way out, and she was good at that...

  'Please… let me go!' she panted, forcing her body to go limp.

  `English?'

  The startled exclamation across the room was the first indication to her that she wasn't only outclassed but out­numbered too.

  `You're English?' The low, cultured voice close to her ear had only the faintest husky tinge of an attractive accent.

  This must be one of the waiter's sinister friends, she reasoned, recalling Susie's comments on Luis's charming broken English-unless that too had been part of his scam.

  `Of course I'm English!' she exclaimed at her most haughty.

  `A woman... ?' The voice from across the room ex­claimed.

  `I had noticed,' her captor replied drily before switching to rapid Spanish.

  Probably issuing instructions about where to dispose of my body, Kate thought, as she struggled in vain to catch the gist of what was being said. Her mind was working furiously. How long will it be before anyone misses me...? Not until morning at the earliest, she realised with dismay.

  She'd excused herself early from dinner with her parents, pleading a headache, and if Susie had carried on drinking wine at the rate she had been when Kate had left she would now either be dead to the world or dancing the night away in the nearest night-club.

  'I'm going to put you down now. Do not try to escape.'

  Kate nodded her head compliantly whilst privately vow­ing to do just the opposite should the opportunity arise.

  Released from the iron grip and with her feet back on the ground, Kate's knees displayed the consistency of cot­ton wool. Fortunately her spirit was more resilient. Chin up-not too much: she didn't want to come across as bol­shy, more an innocent victim of circumstance-she turned to face her aggressors.

  `Will you take that thing out of my eyes?' she appealed, lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the glare of the torch.

  After a moment someone responded to her request.

  She could now see, though the loss of her specs meant the one standing some way away was nothing but a blurred woollier suggestive of threatening bulk. The one who had field her was another matter! He was close enough for her to see quite well. Like herself, he was clad from head to toe in black. There the similarity ended!

  The hard, lean, muscle-packed torso Kate already knew about from her struggles; the rest of the package reduced her to a stunned silence. She blinked several times as she assimilated the attributes of her assailant, who ironically turned out to be the most physically perfect specimen of manhood she'd ever come across. These numerous attri­butes included ridiculously broad shoulders, snaky slim hips and long legs, and then there was his face... !

  And what a face! God I'm thinking in superlatives, some objective corner of her mind observed as she drank in the details of his long, arrestingly attractive, angular features. His was a starkly uncompromising face-a high intelligent forehead, an almost hawkish nose reminiscent of the strong Moorish inheritance she'd seen reflected in many parts of Spain, his beautifully sculpted slashing cheekbones stretched his even golden-toned skin taut and his mouth was an intriguing combination of control and passion. The jut­ting angles and sculpted planes married sweetly, giving their owner a countenance that could never be overlooked in a crowd, but combined with his incongruously blue eyes, fringed with extravagant lush lashes and slanted ebony brows, the exceptional became the extraordinary.

  The deep-set, startling blue eyes narrowed as he sub­jected her to a scrutiny just as thorough as her own of him-he didn't appear overly impressed by what he saw. `Now, senorita, where is Gonzalez?' he demanded impa­tiently.

  CHAPTER TWO

  MUTELY Kate shook her head.

  He subjected her to another glare of biting derision be­fore abruptly firing a quick sentence in Spanish at his com­panion who immediately extinguished the light.

  For a moment there was total inky darkness. Kate, her brain working frantically, began to speculate on her chances or getting to the door before she was caught. It had to be evens or better? What did she have to lose? Quite a lot, actually, came the instant reply, and besides you haven't got the photos yet.

  Don't even think about it.'

  She jumped as the wry voice emerged from the inky blackness, slicing through her frantic thoughts of escape.

  The owner's powerful profile that matched the dark dan­gerous drawl was revealed as the second man pulled back the curtain, allowing the moonlight to filter into the room.

  Kate blinked, dazzled, as the flashlight once more swept across her face; it moved past her and she saw the second man shake his head.

  `Are you expecting him tonight?' The tall one, who had boss written all over him, recommenced his interrogation.

  'I've never met Gonzalez,' she rebutted honestly.

  Kate suspected she might be in the middle of a falling out bemeen villains; she didn't want to accidentally reveal anything that might make her position even more precari­ous.

  Under the circumstances, playing dumb might not be so hard, she decided bitterly, because only someone spectac­ularly stupid would have blundered in here like this! They must, she reasoned-now I can reason!-have been lying in wait.

  Her guileless response evoked no softening in the mag­nificently moody face of her sinister interrogator.

  `You just wandered in here by accident...?' His eyes skimmed the outfit she'd chosen for her first foray into breaking and entering. `Dressed like that?' A derisive snort emerged from between those fascinating lips-cruel lips, she thought, unable to control the fearful little shudder that chased along her spine.

  `You're one to talk,' she retorted, peering myopically from one man to the other; both their muscular bodies were sheathed in close-fitting black outfits. We must look like a convention of cat burglars; her full lips twitched at the men­tal image of a social gathering of black-clad thieves.

  `You find something funny about this?' he grated in­credulously.

  The second man had faded into the shadows, apparently content to let his partner in crime do all the talking-per­haps he was the muscle. Not that this guy looked like he needed any help in that area, she mused, as her eyes slid over his impressive torso-not an ounce of spare flesh any­where that she could see. In fact, in that close-fitting top, if she squinted she could just about make out the slabs of individual muscle across... Stop! The warning voice inside her head shrieked.

  Kate took a deep breath and pushed her fear and lustful speculation aside as she tried to view the situation objec­tively-or at least without gibbering fearfully or drooling lustfully. If she was going to get out of this, he was the one she had to talk round, she decided, weighing up her opposition objectively. What she saw was not wildly en­couraging. She'd seen rock faces with more give than that chiseled jaw line.

  `Oh, yes, I'm just wild about being jumped on in the dark by some stupid big thug,' she was frustrated into com­menting bitterly. She prodded her aching ribs tentatively. `I'll probably be black and blue tomorrow, which isn't a good look in a bikini...' she grumbled, even though she favoured one-piece bathing suits. Talking, even if she was talking rubbish, gave her time to think... At least, that was the theory...

&nb
sp; 'If I'm such a vicious thug of limited intelligence, shouldn't you be treating me with a little more respect...?'

  The man had a point and, as for the intelligence part, if those alert eyes were any indication at all he had a brain like a steel trap.

  'Is that a threat?'

  `If I threaten you, you'll know about it.'

  `I see not a threat, just a boast.' With dismay, she saw a flicker of interest enter those laser-like eyes-she didn't want his interest. Her release from this depended on him considering her harmless and an air of stupidity wouldn't do her case any harm either. Despite this conviction, she couldn't stop herself adding, `I'm normally prepared to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, but in this instance I don't think there's any if about it. You are a vicious thug and yes. I probably should shut up, but when I'm nervous I babble.., always have done...'

  'I don't think you're nervous,' he cut in smoothly. `I think that under that wide-eyed candour you're as hard as nails. Did you arrange to meet Gonzalez here? Or did he perhaps ask you to pick something up for him? Does he know we're on to him? Well?'

  'It won't do you any good to bully me.' She saw a flicker of amazement chase across his strong-boned features and wondered if she was being daring or just plain stupid to antagonise him. The truth was she couldn't help herself; something about this man made her want to score points...

  `I am not a bully!' he refuted in an irritated steely drawl.

  She smiled in polite disbelief and heard what might have been his even white teeth grinding. `And it won't do you any good,' she elaborated. `Because I've not the faintest idea what you're talking about.' She shook her head so emphatically that the hood of her sweat top slipped off her head.

  One dark brow rose as her silver-blonde tresses tumbled free from the loose knot she'd hastily confined them in on her head. Her stomach lurched as, with studied insolence, those electric-blue eyes moved over her body pausing overly long in significant areas.