The black invader Read Free Page B

voluntarily, meeting his eyes for a moment, and then quickly lowering them to his mouth, although it was hardly less disturbing.
    Her pulse was thudding rapidly and her legs felt strangely unsteady, yet she found it hard to attribute the way she felt entirely to the proximity of Miguel Montanes. There was no shred of doubt about his mas-cuHnity, but she had never before been quite so stunningly aware of it as now, when he stood close enough for their bodies to just lightly touch. It was an inescapable contact because the mare was pressed against her back, and one shattering to her self-control, but there was nothing she could do about it.
    The mare shifted restlessly and nudged her still closer and his hands curved about her upper arms, holding her for a moment to the pulsing warmth of his body, while he looked down into her face with an intensity she found unnerving. 'I hope I haven't made a mistake by suggesting you have this job,' he said in a curiously rough voice, and Kirstie caught her breath when a long forefinger Hfted a wisp of hair from her neck briefly before letting it flutter back. 'You're very young and so determinedly—touchy I wonder if you'll do after all.'
    'You can't change your mind now!' she objected.

    anxious, now that there was a chance of losing it, to have the job with his uncle.
    Miguel Montanes studied her for a moment longer, then shook his head, letting his hands drop to his sides. 'No, I can't,' he agreed, and reached to untether her horse. 'Are you ready to ride back?' he asked, and was waiting to help her mount, Kirstie realised, if she agreed.
    'Not yet—thank you.'
    Her response was instinctive and for a moment he regarded her steadily, then he shrugged his broad shoulders resignedly and turned to fetch his own horse. 'Of course,' he said, as if he understood her reluctance.
    Kirstie watched him mount and when he eventually sat, tall and impressive in the saddle again, she realised for the first time that her attitude towards him, her wary suspicion, did not entirely stem from his having been the one to negotiate the purchase of Casa de Rodriguez. It was something about the man himself; an aura of menacing virility that was frankly disturbing.
    Pulling the stallion round where he could look directly down into her face, he held her eyes for a moment. 'Don't be nervous of meeting my uncle, Senorita Rodriguez,' he told her, 'we're not alike.' Briefly she glimpsed that faintly cynical smile again as he turned away. 'You'll like him!'
    He jabbed hard with his heels and applied the quirt to the stallion's rump, and the animal sprang forward eagerly, taking the way between the ranks of twisted olive trees at a speed that raised little spurts of dust in his wake. Miguel did not turn his head, but very briefly the quirt was raised in a gesture of farewell, and Kirstie watched him go with dark, thoughtful eyes.
    There would Be advantages to working at Casa de Rodriguez, she could not deny it. For one thing it would entail no travelling getting to work, since it was literally on her doorstep, but there could be disadvantages too. If the uncle she was to work for proved to be more like him than Miguel Montaiies said, it wouldn't be easy

    working for him, and then there was the question of whether his two brothers resembled him as well. Nor was she quite sure how she would feel about walking into her old home every day as a stranger with no voice in the running of it. Turning to remount her horse, she sighed as she swung upward. She could only hope that she wasn't getting into something that she couldn't cope with.
    It was the first time that Kirstie had been required to earn her living, and the prospect of her first interview filled her with misgivings as the time approached. It had nothing to do with not being fully qualified, for she had passed all her tests at school with flying colours, but rather the fact that the man who was to interview her was a Mpntaiies; someone she was going to find it hard