Red Leopard (The Vistaria Affair Series) Read online

  “That is what you had to tell me?” she breathed.

  He shook his head, the same tiny movement he had made in the cell, and she almost cried out her dismay, for she knew what would come next.

  “I wanted you to know, to understand how dangerous it would be for me...for us. You’ve been here twenty-four hours and I know your uncle will have brought you up to date on the politics of Vistaria. My brother Jose is a moderate, just as I am. We know that we need American help to keep Vistaria whole and alive, but there are factions out there who would tear this country apart than allow a single American to have any influence here.”

  “Why are we hated so much?” Calli whispered.

  “It is a hatred born out of fear. For generations Vistaria has watched other South American nations fall under the might of the American economy and know-how, their identities, their culture be swallowed whole by the U.S.A. They tremble knowing how easily it could happen here. Radical factions have played on that fear, whipping it up into hatred, bigotry, worse.”

  The tiredness crept back into her bones. “I see,” she said with a sigh.

  “Calli, I am a bastard who cannot use his mother’s name as any Vistarian does by right.” She heard a surprising amount of bitterness in his voice. “But no one forgets who my half-brother is and I have some power here as a result. If any hint escaped of a foreign woman in my life, if it was thought for a moment that I might be influenced by an American, then what little power I have here would be gone in that instant.”

  “You want to keep that power so you can help Vistaria,” she finished.

  “I must keep that power, or the precarious balance here will be lost and Vistaria will crumble into civil war and worse.”

  She felt her eyes widen. “Is it that...critical?”

  He sighed and pushed his hand into his pocket. “You’re used to thinking in terms of billions. This is a very small country, with barely a million people on four islands. There are perhaps half a dozen key people and I’d be a fool if I didn’t know I was one of them. The army, for undisclosed reasons of its own, extends its loyalty to me. For as long as the army stays loyal to me and by extension, my brother, then the country can be held against the rebels. If I lost that loyalty, if they had any reason to think I had betrayed them, then their sympathies would swing to the rebels. The civilian population would have no choice but to support the army and Vistaria would be lost.”

  “You have a tiger by the tail, don’t you?” she said. “You can’t let go now.”

  “You understand, then.”

  She nodded. “But you did not have to tell me this at all. You could have left me—”

  “Squirming?” he supplied.

  “Ignorant of how you feel,” she amended.

  His silence gave her the answer.

  “You wanted me to know?” she said.

  “Yes.”

  “Why? If nothing will come of it, why?”

  “Because I could not stay away,” he ground out. “I want to live in your mind, at the very least.”

  Far down on the dance floor, the show had ended. “I have to go,” she said. “They will be looking for me now.” She moved towards the stairs and as she passed him, his hand touched her wrist. It halted her. She looked at him as he straightened up from his lean. He stood very close to her now...she could feel his body heat radiating from him. The blue eyes looked totally black in this light.

  “I must go,” she said. “They are waiting for me down there.” But she couldn’t get her feet to move. With him standing this close, her whole body prickled with anticipation. He swayed and she felt his hot breath on the nape of her neck. His fingers stroked the inside of her wrist, slowly, almost as if he did it unconsciously. He seemed to taste her with his fingertips. A shiver rippled through her in response and she turned her head to look at him.

  “If it is so dangerous, Nicolás, then I must go now, before my delay is noted.” She couldn’t help adding bitterly, “This is the point you wanted to emphasize, I believe?”

  “I want to hear you call me Nick, like any other man you know,” he said.

  “You’re not any other man,” she whispered. She could feel the flesh between her legs throbbing—not simply her clitoris, but the whole sensitive saddle of flesh pulsed. Her breasts were almost painfully tight and erect. She wanted nothing more than for him to slide the straps of her dress from her shoulders and take her breasts in his hands. Her body remained perfectly still but her mind urged him to follow his instincts.

  For sure, Nicolás Escobedo beckoned her like no other man she had ever met. She had never felt this rush of wantonness before.

  He moved and she could feel the brush of his jacket against her bare shoulder. His voice sounded in her ear. “I regret what cannot be.”

  And just because he had taunted her with the knowledge that he wanted her after all, only to snatch it away with the next breath, she lifted her chin to look him in the eye. “I dreamed of you, Nick. I dreamed of us making love.”

  She paused long enough to watch his eyes widen, for the knowledge to spear him, before she moved away, through the doorway to the stairs that would take her back down to the ballroom and the safety of a room full of soldiers.

  She had been frightened of them all when she had first arrived here, wary and braced for trouble. The thought made her laugh. Trouble had come, but from an entirely unexpected quarter.

  Perhaps she could convince Minnie to go home now. She needed peace and time to think. But when she got to the table, it was completely empty. She spotted some of the occupants on the dance floor. Elvira, with her upswept hair and black crepe dress, waltzed sedately with one of Duardo’s men. Calli couldn’t see Minnie or Duardo anywhere.

  * * * * *

  Nick stood for a long time in the gallery alcove with his head down, his eyes closed, listening to the sound of the party below, while tension clamped his body into stillness. He could still smell a hint of her perfume, something light and clean. When he had stood next to her, her warm scent and the touch of perfume had wreathed his head, making him giddy with the explosive arousal that had gripped him.

  The need to touch her had been almost overwhelming. Only the knowledge of how unfair it would be to indulge himself had stopped him.

  I dreamed of you, Nick, she had said, in a voice smooth and mellow like brandy.

  At least he had wiped that look of desperate shame from her eyes. He’d managed something constructive. True, anger had replaced it, but he could live with anger. Better that she be filled with fury—it might give him the edge he needed to hold on to his sanity. While he clung to sanity, he could avoid any lethal decisions.

  As long as she hated him, he could stay away from her.

  * * * * *

  Calli had done a tour of the upper floors and was searching the service rooms on the lower floor when she found them in a small, unused kitchen, tucked away on a back hallway. She paused, her hand on the swing doors, one pushed a few inches aside. She had no intention of interrupting them, but she had frozen completely and could not move, either, for the first glimpse she had of them had caught at her heart and throat.

  If she had been asked to find a phrase to describe that first astonishing sight, she would have said without thinking: pure, driven passion. The image would stay with her forever—Minnie, her dress fallen down around her waist, lying on the wide steel counter, her back and hips a taut curve, offering herself as Duardo took one creamy brown nipple into his mouth and lapped at it with his tongue.

  Her hands were in his hair, encouraging him, as she gave a low groan. He stood with his thighs against the table. His jacket had gone. His shirt was unbuttoned and half off, revealing smooth brown shoulders. Firm rounded muscles bunched and moved under his flesh as he slid his hand up Minnie’s thigh, pushing the dress up with it. He gathered the fabric around her waist, revealing garters and stockings, smooth bare skin and nothing else. No panties, not a glimmer of hair, just the smooth slit between her legs. Duardo
made a deep rumbling sound of appreciation.

  Calli couldn’t pull her gaze away. Their hunger for each other hammered at her heart and body. The small, eager movements they made, the little noises, sighs, groans of pleasure...the pure eroticism grabbed her throat and held her there to watch, breathless.

  Minnie lifted herself a little, reached for the buttons on his pants and Duardo straightened, giving her access. He held her hips, thumbs moving in restless circles, as she nimbly released each button. She pushed the cloth aside and his cock sprung free, thick and visibly pulsing with excitement.

  Minnie gave a little laugh, low and throaty. She stroked him, her hand curling around his cock and sliding up to the tip.

  Duardo’s eyes narrowed in response to her touch. “No more,” he growled. “It must be at once.”

  “Yes,” she agreed.

  He drew her closer to him and she guided the head of his cock between her legs. He pushed inside her and Minnie’s head rolled back in ecstasy, even as Duardo groaned aloud. He thrust. Hard.

  Her legs folded around his waist, drawing him closer and he lifted her hips with each thrust. He gazed down upon her, his eyes narrowed, his expression almost one of bliss, of fierce satisfaction.

  Minnie reached up a hand towards him and he kissed her palm.

  Their movements grew more frantic as the excitement spiraled upwards. Calli could feel her heart picking up speed to move along with them. She was caught up in the spell, mentally a part of their pleasure, her own body responding. Slick heat grew between her legs and her breath quickened.

  To be loved like that, to be the subject of such longing...oh, she wanted it! Her body trembled with the imaginary joy of taking a man. Each time Duardo thrust, Calli felt the heavy, hard pressure as if it were her own body he pounded into.

  Her breasts seemed to swell a little, to grow heavy inside her dress. Her clitoris throbbed behind the chiffon.

  She held her breath, until the moment Duardo gasped and shuddered and grew still.

  As Minnie sat up and reached for him, her breasts gleaming in the darkened kitchen, Calli at last forced herself to turn away. Her heart trip-hammering, she took a step on legs that seemed weak.

  Behind her she heard Duardo’s voice, thick and slow. “One sip of you is not enough.”

  “Drink your fill, if you dare,” Minnie said, very low.

  Calli quickened her pace, heading back for the ballroom.

  When Minnie and Duardo returned to the table fifteen minutes later, she had herself back under control. She made no comment about their absence and they gave no hint of what they had been doing. Duardo treated Minnie with utmost deference, bowing over her hand when Calli said they had to go, uttering polite expressions of regret and gratitude for their company this evening. Not a single hint was given of the passion that had gripped him moments before.

  He’s a soldier and used to staying in control. Just like Nicolás Escobedo.

  The comparison rankled. For Duardo had chosen to take the moments he wanted, unlike Nicolás.

  * * * * *

  “You going to tell me what’s eating you?” Minnie asked as she carefully steered the car around another group of fiesta-goers wending their way home.

  Calli stirred, her attention drawn from her dark reflection on the side window. “No,” she said, as gently as she could.

  “Duardo thought he had upset you.”

  “He did? I’m sorry, I didn’t intend that.”

  “Then you do like him?”

  Calli roused herself, trying for Minnie’s sake to give an honest answer. “He’s an honorable and loyal officer. But Minnie, he’s in the army. They lead such precarious lives—especially now. There’s danger for him, being with you. Are you aware of that?” The echo of Nicolás’s words set up a pang of sadness in her.

  “The army people don’t mind Americans,” Minnie said. “No one was rude to us tonight, just as Duardo said.”

  “There is more to Vistaria than the army,” Calli pointed out.

  “Lots of civilians work at the mine Dad is setting up. They don’t hold grudges either.”

  Calli shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”

  Minnie gave the steering wheel a little thump. “Damn it, Calli, I have to live here too. For as long as Dad is working the mine, I have to live amongst these people. I have to find acceptance where I can. Do you think I’m so thick and stupid I don’t know what some of them think of us? But I can’t do anything about how they feel about me, because they don’t know me. So the only thing I can do is ignore them and find the few who do not think I’m some sort of disease or parasite that will suck the life out of them. So quit trying to depress me, because I just don’t want to hear about it, okay?”

  “Okay,” Calli agreed. “I’m sorry, Minnie. You just seem to move through life with so little concern.”

  “I get concerned,” Minnie muttered.

  “About the latest dress length.”

  “Well, that’s something I can do something about!”

  “Okay.” Calli held up her hand, motioning for peace and realized the gesture echoed Nicolás Escobedo’s motion, too. Quickly, she dropped her hand back to her lap and held it with the other. “God I need sleep,” she muttered.

  * * * * *

  Something warm and soft supported her back. A hand, warmer still, pressed against the back of her shoulder, holding her. His hot heavy body moved against her restlessly. She felt the touch of skin upon hot skin and the moisture building between them. Sweat. And a softness of flesh over unyielding bones.

  The pressure of his body against her was good. Welcome. It’d been far too long since she had last enjoyed the sensation of a man laying over her and it had never felt like this. Not this feeling of being overwhelmed by his size and weight and of being smaller, weaker, more feminine.

  He looked into her eyes. His hand was on her waist. It slid down along her hip. The muscles there quivered as his thumb stroked across the little dip by her hipbone. He cupped her thigh and brought her leg up around his waist. The good, hard pressure of his thigh between her legs pushed against her. His cock, thick and large, throbbed against her pelvis.

  He dipped his head and his hair tickled her chest, then his mouth fastened upon her breast, around her nipple, and she let her head fall back with a sigh. But his mouth did not give the sharp jolt of pleasure she expected. It felt ghostly, distant. She tried to look at him, to protest, but she could not speak, no matter how she struggled to get the words out....

  * * * * *

  Calli wiped the sleep from her eyes and let her hand fall back on the pillow with a sigh. Her body zinged with arousal. Her throbbing clit kept time with her slowing heartbeat. Sweat had gathered between her breasts and now trickled down to her stomach.

  She swallowed, wishing she had put a glass of water by the bed.

  Why could she not speak in these dreams? What held her mute? The inability to talk had shadowed both nights’ dreams, along with the thundering sexual arousal.

  The arousal was another novelty. She had not had a sexy dream since before she had met Robert, and never this explicit, this stimulating.

  The hand along the hip.... Of all the images and sensations in the dream, this one burned in her mind. The possessive sweep of his hand against her hip had felt real in the dream, more real than the other ghostly, unsatisfying sensations.

  She sighed again and turned over, bringing the sheet up and over her shoulder, burying beneath the cotton. The ache was worse now that she knew he wanted her, too.

  Why him? Why, after five years since Robert had left did she now suddenly yearn for sex? And with someone so impossibly out of reach?

  Just before she fell asleep the solution occurred to her and astounded her with its simplicity. Sex was the issue. So go get some. Problem solved. Life back on track.

  Chapter Five

  “Everything takes longer here,” Uncle Josh explained, pouring Calli another cup of coffee. “You just have to go with
the flow.”

  “But my credit card company isn’t here. It’s in Montana, and it’s—” she looked at her new watch and added two hours, “—ten in the morning. They’ve at least had two coffees and a doughnut by now, so they can’t plead that they’re asleep.”

  Josh smiled a little. “Is that a comment about my breakfast-making skills?” he asked, picking up the huge big broadsheet newspaper that covered the remains of his breakfast plate, piled high with blackened toast crusts. “You could always phone the competition and tell them they can have your business if they will give you a card sooner than your replacement will get here.” He buried himself behind the newspaper.

  “There’s a thought,” Calli said.

  “You’re late today, Dad,” Minnie said from the door to her room. She belted closed an apricot satin robe, her hair spiky from sleep and her eyes still half shut. She looked as though she had slept soundly.

  “Speak for yourself,” Joshua returned. “I’m meeting some people in the city for lunch. Actually, Calli, I meant to mention something and that reminds me. There’s a man on my staff, single, American. From Wisconsin. A lawyer—”

  “Well, no one’s perfect,” Minnie said, pouring herself a coffee.

  Calli smiled a little. “Are you setting me up on a blind date, Uncle Josh?”

  He lowered his paper a little, considering it. “I suppose I am,” he admitted. “Although it didn’t feel like that when Peter first proposed it.”

  “Peter?” Minnie asked. “You’re talking about Peter Kaestner? He’s a creep.”

  “He’s perfectly normal,” Joshua said calmly. “That he told you to grow up simply emphasizes he has the necessary maturity for a man who holds the responsibilities he does. You know, there aren’t all that many Americans in Vistaria, and most of them are with the company. Single women are unusual...I think he’s lonely.”

  “Or horny,” Minnie added.

  Joshua glared at her.

  “What?” she asked, spreading her hand. “Am I wrong?”