At the Spaniard's Pleasure (3 page)

If only! A vivid image of a naked Nick at her disposal filled her head and, ashamed of her sexy thoughts, she answered hastily. ‘I was going to return to my hotel and laze around the pool.' She was still slightly wary of this new, charming Nick. Over the years she'd worked hard to block out any sign of emotion where this man was concerned, and she wasn't sure she liked the way he cut through her defences like a knife through butter with just a smile.

He had been scathing in his contempt of her, brutally so, in the past. So why the turn-around, the flattering comments now? she wondered. Nick was a powerful, dynamic man; add wealth and looks, and it wasn't surprising he was so arrogantly sure of himself. But surely he must be married by now with a handful of children, yet her mother had never mentioned it. ‘And maybe your wife, Sophia, would object.' Fool, fool, she castigated herself as soon as the words had left her mouth.

Hooded eyes narrowed intently on her slightly pink face. Nick was a man of considerable expertise where the female sex was concerned, and despite her cautious reserve he sensed an underlying attraction. She wanted him, and the question on his marital state confirmed it. ‘Sophia and I parted years ago. I have no wife, no ties, and I like it that way. Now, no more argument.' Nick rose to his feet and held out his hand. ‘Come on, you know you want to,' he opined with sheer masculine arrogance and a wicked grin. ‘I have been reliably informed I am a charming companion. Surely you would not want to disappoint me and dent my fragile ego.'

Liza grinned back; she couldn't help it. ‘That would be an impossibility,' she mocked. ‘But surely a man in your position must have better things to do than spend a day
sightseeing with me,' and she nearly added
of all people.
Memories of the past made her super-cautious; Nick had made his dislike of her very plain, and she was still not convinced of his sincerity now.

‘Are you still angry with me?' Shrewd dark eyes bored down into hers, guessing the reason for her hesitation. ‘For lecturing you as a child?'

Lecturing her! So that was how little he thought of crushing her burgeoning sexuality under a diatribe of insults and a savage kiss and grope. But with the benefit of maturity Liza wondered if maybe he was right, and she had made too much of what had happened. ‘No, of course not,' she denied. If he could be so casual about their fight, then so could she, and, putting her hand in his, she allowed him to pull her to her feet. Liza was tall at five feet nine, but Nick towered over her, and she had to tilt her head back to look at him. ‘Why should I be?' she asked, and suddenly she was conscious of the nearness of his great, virile physique, but was incapable of moving away.

‘No reason at all,' Nick drawled throatily, pinning her with a smouldering glance, and after a provocative pause added, ‘not now.' He lifted her hand to rest on his broad chest, and she felt the heat of his flesh through his shirt, and involuntarily she shivered. ‘What is not acceptable in a girl of sixteen does not apply to the beautiful woman you have become,' he declared huskily and gazed at her, his eyes smouldering with an explicit sensual promise.

Liza stiffened slightly. Nick was as arrogant as ever; he would not come on to a teenager, but an older woman was fair game. Why was she surprised? In a way he was quite moral, she thought wryly. Then his long fingers tightened on her hand, the pad of his thumb caressing her palm, and she stopped thinking altogether.

‘So unless there is somewhere else you need to go,' he urged her along the pavement, ‘any shopping or more errands to run for your boss…?' He stopped and trailed off.

‘No, no,' Liza denied, not quite sure what she was de
nying—his question or her helpless response to him. ‘Work finished when I dropped a package off for my boss at Daidolas in the town this morning, just before I met you actually.'

‘Daidolas the opticians?' Nick asked swiftly.

‘Yes, that's right, I think it was probably some glasses,' she babbled on, intensely aware of him with every beat of her heart. ‘My time is my own from now on.' She saw his dark eyes flicker with some emotion she did not recognise, and felt the sudden tension in his tall frame, and her hand trembled in his. ‘So thank you for your kind invitation, Niculoso,' she heard herself say with ridiculous formality in an attempt to hide the chaotic feelings his nearness aroused in her, and snatched her hand free from his, dying with embarrassment.

Then she gasped as two large hands closed around her waist, and she was lifted off her feet and spun around, a hard, warm mouth briefly brushed her lips, and then she was in the Jeep.

‘So polite, Liza,' he drawled mockingly. ‘Please, we are old friends and my friends call me Nick.' And, chuckling at her flushed, bemused expression, he added, ‘Fasten your seat belt,' before strolling around the front of the car and stepping into the driving seat.

‘My friends call me Liza,' she muttered distractedly, still reeling from the touch of his mouth on her own, as he started the engine.

Nick cast her a glance, a broad grin lighting his tanned face. ‘I did know that, Liza,' he mocked her. The speed with which she had offered the information he required meant his mission would not be as difficult as he had thought. ‘I just have to make a call.' He gestured with his mobile. ‘The reception is better away from the traffic.' And he jumped back out of the Jeep and strolled a few yards to the beach. He was taking no chances on Liza overhearing. Damn! But she was good. By revealing her actions so read
ily, either she really was simply an innocent messenger, or a consummate actress.

It may have been glass in the package! But not of the optical variety…he would bet his last cent.

Quickly he called Carl and gave him the information about the drop-off point and then talked Carl out of having Liza picked up immediately by persuading him it made more sense for Nick to keep her with him on the off-chance she had more information of use to them.

What troubled him slightly as he leapt back into the Jeep was why he was so keen to believe in her innocence. A man of his wealth, and bachelor status, he was used to the adulation of women and was wise to all their tricks to entrap him; consequently he had a very cynical attitude to the female sex in general, but Liza confused him… Not an emotion he was comfortable with.

Liza wriggled deeper into the seat as Nick flashed her a brief smile before driving away. She glanced down at his elegant, bronzed hand wrapped around the gear stick, saw the sinews in his strong arms flex as he changed gear, and thought of the same hand on her breast.

Oh, hell! She silently groaned. What a time to start having erotic thoughts about the man. She must remember Nick thought he was miles above her in every way; he had made that very plain years ago. She had to try and relax and enjoy the day for what it was. Two old friends sharing a tour of the island. It was sheer coincidence they had even met again. But in that she was wrong…

‘F
IRE
M
OUNTAIN
; I can see why,' Liza said softly, staring around in awe. After a brief visit to a building site, Nick had driven Liza into the national park, passing a trail of about fifty camels, provided to give rides to the tourists. But Nick had taken them up into what looked like a lunar landscape. At first she had thought it was the sun shining off the lava that made it appear red, but the further they went she realised it was the rock itself that was red.

Nick stopped the Jeep and lifted her down, keeping one hand around her waist, and she stood in the crook of his arm, not sure which affected her the most—the man or the mountains. She had never seen or felt anything like it in her life. Craters, some huge, some small, the rock red and black and even a trace of green, but not a blade of grass grew there, and the silence was almost spiritual.

‘Impressive, hmm?' Nick prompted. ‘Some people thought the gods were laughing when the eruptions started on April the first in 1730. It is known as the greatest volcanic holocaust ever witnessed. Thirty-two volcanoes rose up and erupted, spewing forth great quantities of molten rock.' His hand tightened around her waist, his fingers against the bare skin of her midriff guiding her towards a view of five mountains in a line. ‘Those five erupted one after the other like Chinese firecrackers apparently. What finally wiped out most of the vegetation was the last eruption in the 1850s.'

Liza felt a bit like erupting herself; she had never been so conscious of a man in her life. She had had boyfriends and one she actually thought she loved, until they'd got engaged and made love for the first time and it was a di
saster as far as Liza was concerned, and the end of the relationship. No man had ever affected her the way Nick's simplest touch seemed to do. She had to make a deliberate effort to fight down the stirrings of desire just the sound of his voice aroused in her. Ruthlessly she clamped down on her wayward thoughts, and turned in his hold to look up at him. ‘I have never seen anything like it; it is absolutely fascinating.' She smiled.

His heavy-lidded eyes darkened softly on her upturned face. ‘So are you, Liza.'

Suddenly the atmosphere was thick with tension. Liza was aware of his hand on her bare midriff, his fingers flexing on her skin, and she knew he was going to kiss her, and then to her surprise he stepped back, setting her free.

‘But you ain't seen nothing yet,' Nick joked in a mock-American accent.

Hell! He had almost kissed her. How could he even think of making love with Liza Summers until he knew exactly what she was? The answer came with a tightening in his groin, and, shoving a hand in his trouser pocket, he spun around. ‘Come on back to the Jeep.'

She did not know whether she was disappointed or relieved, but from then on the atmosphere between them slipped back into the easygoing camaraderie of years ago.

Nick was an excellent guide and drove them to another tourist vantage point set high in the weird hills. First he dropped some gravel in her hands that was red hot, and she squealed in surprise, and then they watched as an attendant dropped a bush down a ten-foot hole and it immediately caught fire. Then they walked up to the Vulcano restaurant, the only building for miles around.

‘I don't believe it.' She shook her head, her blue eyes laughing up at Nick. They were standing by a large circular well in the restaurant, the heat from the earth below rising to barbecue the chicken pieces spread on the iron grill on top.

‘Believe it.' Nick took her arm and led her into the din
ing room. ‘You can't visit Lanzarote and not eat volcano-grilled chicken.'

He was right and lunch was a jovial affair shared with dozens of tourists. Liza was amazed how well Nick mixed in; she would not have thought it his scene at all. The jet set were his usual companions according to gossip. But she did not have time to dwell on the point as Nick drove her all around the island. They stopped at a small lagoon, and then it was on again to a great volcanic tunnel and deep caves with pools where tiny blind white crabs lived, the only place on earth other than miles deep in the sea.

Back in the Jeep, the daylight quickly failing, Liza turned laughing eyes up to Nick. ‘I can see why you have a villa here; you really love this place.' The hours had flown— Liza had had a great day, and the company had been superb, and all the better for being so unexpected.

‘Yes, I come here a lot; it is ideal, as one of my hobbies is seismology,' Nick admitted honestly; he wanted her to feel secure with him and by giving a little more of himself he might get her to trust him, and reveal the depths of her own involvement with the thieves, if any… She was the daughter of his mother's best friend, for heaven's sake, and the longer he spent with Liza the more difficult he found it to believe she was guilty of anything underhand. It was up to him to discover the truth of her involvement, but he was beginning to think she was the unwitting messenger for her sleazy boss.

‘That figures, I suppose.' Liza grinned; his effect on her was certainly seismic, she thought privately. And in a way it made sense; at thirty-five perhaps he had swapped extreme sports to study the extremes of nature. ‘But do we have to see everything in one day?' she asked, hoping Nick would take the hint and ask her out again.

Nick glanced at her smiling face, his hooded eyes masking his expression. Her lips were begging to be kissed and it took every bit of will-power he possessed to resist the temptation; it was too soon… He needed to make sure her
information had been correct. But whether it was or not, his mind was made up—he was going to give Liza the benefit of the doubt. He did not think for a moment she was aware of it, but by coming to Lanzarote she had inadvertently got mixed up with some very nasty criminals, and he was going to do everything in his power to protect her, whether she wanted him to or not. He owed it to their years of friendship, and their mothers'.

‘No, of course not. I'll take you back to your hotel now as I have some business to attend to.' He read the flicker of disappointment in her brilliant blue eyes, and almost gave in. His gaze dipped to her mouth, the full, sensuous lips, and he ached to taste them with his own, had done all day…
Dios!
He needed to get a grip—business before pleasure… Later, he promised himself…

Everything was going according to plan. He had kept Liza out of the way all day, and the information she had given him, which he had passed on to Carl over the phone this morning, should have been acted on by now. He needed to contact Carl Dalk again to discover what had happened. ‘I'll call back for you at eight and take you to dinner.' And his lips curled in amused satisfaction at the open relief in her smile.

 

‘Nick. Hi. Your information was correct.' Nick Menendez lounged back in the chair at his desk in the study, and listened as Carl's slightly harassed-sounding tones filled the room.

‘We visited the opticians and questioned the receptionist, and picked up Daidolas at his home and found the diamonds on him. He sang like a bird. He was a jeweller before he was an optician; he does the valuation and passes the information on to an intermediary in Morocco who makes the arrangements to contact the insurance company, and do the deal.'

‘So we have them,' Nick prompted.

‘Not quite. As you know, Henry Brown is the top man.
He arranges everything, his company charters a yacht in Marbella on the Spanish mainland, a different one each time, ostensibly for corporate entertainment. But in reality he has the captain pick up the diamonds at appointed places on the African coast and then transport them to Lanzarote.'

Nick grimaced; he had been hoping like hell Liza was not involved, but it wasn't looking good for her. Knowingly or not she had delivered the diamonds. ‘So we pick up Henry Brown,' he said quickly.

‘Eventually, yes; apparently Brown's one weakness is he cannot resist checking the diamonds himself before they are passed to the optician for valuation. Plus he obviously does not trust the middleman he uses to do the exchange, because on every previous occasion he has been in the same vicinity ready to receive the cash when the deal is done.'

‘So what's the problem, Carl?' Nick asked. ‘You have him under surveillance; when the time is right, take him.'

‘If only it was that easy,' Carl said drily. ‘Unfortunately we have lost track of him.'

‘You've what?' Nick jerked upright in the chair. ‘How the hell did you manage that? I thought you had the police trailing him.'

‘Don't yell at me, partner, and we did. They watched him collect the package last night from a yacht in the marina at Teguise, and they knew he had handed it on to the woman this morning.' Nick's frown deepened; he did not like hearing Liza referred to as
the woman
, but he listened as Carl continued. ‘They watched as Brown left in the same yacht this morning, but somehow he outsmarted them, vanished off the radar screen. But I doubt very much the thieving bastard sank.'

‘We've lost him,' Nick groaned.

‘Not to worry, the local police and I have a plan. In the past two incidences, about a week or ten days after the initial contact with the insurance company the cash and diamonds were exchanged once in Morocco and once at sea, as you know. But this time, by some not so friendly
questioning of Daidolas we know the exchange is going to be made in Lanzarote. He also gave us the names of a couple of local sailors who have crewed for Brown in the past. The police are tracking them down as we speak. It is only a matter of time and with Daidolas's help, and the promise of leniency, we have set a trap. We are going to keep him locked up over the weekend to give him a taste of what to expect if he does not do as we say, and set him free on Monday under very close supervision. When the deal is done Brown will turn up to cash in, and hopefully we will get the whole gang.'

‘It still does not alter the fact you lost him,' Nick almost groaned.

‘Hey, it's not that bad, Nick; as long as you still have the girl, the police can question her—she is bound to know something.'

Nick's whole body tensed. His immediate reaction was one of outrage at the thought of Liza being taken to a police station and body-searched before being questioned and probably ending up in a cell. The outrage was followed by a completely alien emotion for him—fear, and then a surge of cold, hard anger. Not if he could help it, he vowed. He closed his eyes briefly and counted to ten, fighting to stay calm before responding casually, ‘You can safely leave the girl to me, Carl. If she knows anything at all I will tell you—I am meeting her for dinner later.'

‘You're what?' Carl's voice rose a notch. ‘Are you crazy? You've left her on her own; she could be miles away by now…she could warn Brown, and the whole deal will go pear-shaped.'

‘Come on, Carl, I can assure you Liza will be ready and waiting when I go to pick her up. Have you ever known my Menendez charm to fail?' Nick drawled mockingly. ‘A woman has never run away from me in my life, and I can assure you that, after spending the day with Liza, she is no exception.' And he prayed his friend would buy it. He did
not question why. He just knew he did not want Liza falling into the police's or Carl's clutches, friend or not.

A husky chuckle greeted Nick's comment. ‘You're right, but this is vital, Nick. Make damn sure you get the woman. We need to know where Brown has gone and when he will be back.'

‘Don't worry.' Nick ran his free hand distractedly through his dark hair, and was glad they were not on video-phone. ‘I'll do what it takes to get the information and call you back later with the information you want.'

‘You're being very noble. “Do what it takes”,' he mocked. ‘Good-looking, is she?'

‘Certainly no hardship,' Nick joked back. ‘Speak to you later.' And he cut the connection, his face as black as thunder.

Striding into the living room, he poured a large measure of whisky into a crystal glass, raised it to his mouth and took a long, fiery drink.

But still a cold knot formed in Nick's belly. Liza Summers; he was not sure if she was guilty or not. The child he had known had been embarrassingly honest. But the beautiful, sophisticated woman of twenty-five she had become… That was a different question. It was perfectly possible she lived by her wits and stunning looks, and her job was just a cover for stealing. On the other hand she could be completely innocent, and, as she had implied, simply following her boss's orders…

He knew he had to question her tonight about Henry Brown, and he also knew he should instruct his people to look into the state of her finances, but somehow he could not bring himself to do it. Maybe because he still held cherished memories of the child she had been.

Nick snorted in disgust and spun round. Who the hell was he kidding? He had taken one look at Liza today, and his body had reacted like a teenager. He had kept her out of the way all day for her own sake, and his if he was honest. Carl would have quite happily had her arrested this
morning. Liza was beautiful, granted, but then all Nick's women were beautiful, and he had never felt the slightest need to protect them. So why Liza Summers?

He could tell himself it was for her mother's sake, to avoid the embarrassment a court case would cause, but that was only part of his reasoning. There was no point in pretending; along with surely every man on the planet, he wanted Liza for himself. He had walked around all day in a semi-permanent state of arousal, and he ached with frustration. Right at this moment he would not care if Liza was the biggest thief in Christendom, if he could get her in his bed.

There, he had admitted it. Nick scowled as he lifted the glass in his hand to his mouth again and drained the whisky from it then slammed it down on a convenient table.

Now, get over it…he told himself and walked out of the house, his aristocratic features as hard as granite and his heavy-lidded eyes equally as stony as he slid into the waiting car.