The Dragon's Cave (12 page)

As soon as he had finished, Carlos rose to his feet, saying something in Spanish to Rosita.

‘I must go and have a word
with
Rosita’s father,’ he added to Megan. ‘Can you amuse yourself for a few moments?’

‘
Of course,’ Megan said.

She went with him down the stairs and out into the yard. Carlos strode off down one of the rutted pathways, leaving her to her own devices. It was hard to know what to do, for she had no idea how long he would be, but the sight of the pink and white trees in the orchards tempted her to take a closer look at them. She walked a short way along the cart-track down which they had come from the road, pausing every now and then to look at the wild flowers and the prickly pear, with its curious scarlet fruits hanging on to the spiked, fleshy leaves.

She came to the road sooner than she had expected and sat on one of the stone walls, swinging her legs in front of her. The electricity wires passed over her head, humming fain
tl
y in the light breeze. There wasn’t a single car in sight, although she judged that she could see several miles along the road in either direction. But, after a few moments, the stones began to stick into her and she jumped off the wall, leaning instead against one of the posts that held up the wires.

The silence was broken by a group of young people coming home from market, their chatter filling the still air. Megan took a step forward as their horse plodded past her, wanting to see what they had bought, but the cart was empty except for the family of children.

As they passed, one of them pointed to the post she had been leaning against and shouted to the others. There was a chorus of appreciation from inside the cart, as it turned off the road again, disappearing down another of the tracks that led off the road. Megan turned to see what they had been looking at and saw a red and yellow bill stuck to the post. But it was not this that surprised her. It was what the bill adver
tised, for there, written in both Spanish and English, were the words:

TONY STARLIGHT—IN MAJORCA FOR A SEASON OF SONG—COME AND LISTEN TO THE BAND
!

It was impossible to believe
!
Tony,
her
Tony, was here in Majorca
!

CHAPTER
VII

Megan’s heart thumped within her. She had always thought Starlight to be a ridiculous name for a man like Tony to have assumed, but he had insisted that with a commonplace first name like Tony his last name had to be something memorable and romantic, something that would appeal to the young girls as he imagined the highwaymen had in the days when the gentlemen of the road had been well known the length and breadth of England.

Tony Starlight
!
It was a chance, a second chance, she had never expected to have. It had all seemed so simple to give up her singing and to come to Majorca, but now she knew she couldn’t stay with the Valloris for ever, and what was she going to do then? Somehow, she thought, she would find a way to see Tony again and ask his advice. True, he wouldn’t be particularly pleased to see her after their last meeting, but he was a professional before he was anything else and she thought he would be glad to employ her again on purely professional terms.

So intent was she on her thoughts that she failed to notice that Carlos had finished talking with his manager and had come back to the car. He was almost on top of her before she realised that he had come to fetch her, and she was so nervous that he might see the advertisement for Tony’s band that she jumped and almost ran down the cart-track towards
him.

‘
Well, well,
hija,
have you missed me so much?’

She came to a stumbling stop, blushing. ‘Don’t
be silly!’ she said sharply. ‘It’s only been a few minutes
!’

He looked at her curiously.
‘
What are you trying to hide?’ he demanded.

‘
I?’ She was the picture of innocence. ‘N-nothing
!
’

‘I am disappointed
!’

Megan could feel herself blushing again and she hurried into the car before he noticed that he had embarrassed her and would wonder why. She was very conscious of him though as he got in beside her. His gaze swept over her, his eyes amused and mocking.

‘
Have you decided you are too young for the arts of dalliance?’

The blush burned in her cheeks. ‘No,’ she breathed.

‘
Something is the matter,’ he went on. ‘You’re like a cat on hot bricks
!
’

She twisted her fingers together.
‘
You should have brought Inez with you,’ she said.

His amusement grew visibly. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘
She
isn’t too young for you
!
’

‘
And you are? Is that what you are trying to say?’

She shook her head, wishing she had kept a still
tongue in her head. ‘It isn’t important,’ she said. ‘I only meant that Inez would have expected you to take her. You shouldn’t hurt people out of carelessness.’

His green eyes grew darker.
‘
What makes you think Inez is hurt?’

‘
I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘But Inez
l
-likes you, and she’s everything you want in a woman—
’

‘Indeed?’ he said coldly.

Megan bit her lip. ‘You said yourself that she knows how to please a man,’ she muttered defensively.

‘
Perhaps you’ve never tried,’ he taunted her.

‘I’ve never wanted to
!
’

He put out a hand and touched her hair. ‘Not even with that Tony of yours?’

She started guiltily.
‘
T-Tony was my employer,’ she said with dignity.

‘
That didn’t stop him kissing you, I seem to remember,’ he reminded her. She wished that he wouldn’t touch her and retreated as far away from him as she could, terrified that he would guess that Tony was in
Majorca and, even worse, that he would know that she had fallen in love with him, unasked and without any reason. If he knew how much she wanted to fling herself into his arms, what would he think of her then?

‘Tony was angry,’ she said helplessly. The pressure in the back of her throat told her that she was near to tears.
‘
He never tried to kiss me before.’

His fingers touched her neck and the line of her jaw.
‘
Do you miss him?’ he asked very gen
tl
y.

She shook her head. Unbidden tears filled her eyes and she blinked them back quickly.
‘
I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I have to do
something.
I’ll always have to earn my own living, and I sing better than I do anything else.’

‘You’ll marry and then it will be your husband’s privilege to look after you—’

‘He may not have any money
!’
Megan protested.
‘
I—I might prefer to support myself
!’

‘Then you had better not marry a Spaniard
!’
he smiled at her.

‘
I don’t intend to!’ she retorted promptly.

His green eyes lit up dangerously. ‘I shouldn’t be too sure of that,’ he warned her. His fingers moved down the line of her jaw and traced the shape of her lips. ‘I don’t think the cold Englishman one hears so much about would be any match for you. He wouldn’t kiss you like this—and like this
!
’

His lips touched her face briefly and then clung to her lips. The tears welled up in her eyes and brimmed over, adding a salty flavour to the kiss. Megan gasped and struggled urgently against him, but his arms only held her the tighter until she could scarcely breathe. With a murmur of surrender, she came closer to
him,
aware only of the burning excitement within her.
‘
Alma mia
!’
he whispered.

Megan wrenched herself away from him, smiling tremulously as she did so. ‘I think I am too young
after all,’ she said. ‘I was right, you should have brought Inez with you.’

Carlos put his hands on her shoulders and gave her a
little
shake. ‘Have it your way,
hija
—for now.
You can’t play around with the fire of the dragon’s breath, though, and not expect to be changed. But I
can
wait. I can wait a long, long time,
queridissima
!’

‘
It was the dragon’s breath, wasn’t it?’ she almost pleaded with him. ‘It—it was only
flirting
!
I don’t
think
you ought to kiss me any more,’ she added quaintly.
‘
I didn’t like it.’

‘Oh, Megan
!
Little
liar
!
I have only to whisper
enamorada, amanta
—’

The colour rushed into her cheeks.
‘
But it doesn’t mean anything
!
’ she said in a suffocated whisper.

He sighed. ‘Perhaps you are too young after all,’ he agreed stiffly.
‘
I’m sorry if I frightened you.’

Megan winced just as if he had hit her. ‘Please take me home
!
’
she burst out
.

He put a hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him.
‘
W
h
at do you want, Megan? Someone like your Tony who will never stand on his own feet as long as he lives? Even he frightened you, if you remember
!’

‘I
told you, he was angry. He wouldn’t kiss me against my will just for the fun of it
!’

‘
No?’ he asked sardonically.

‘No.’ She swallowed.
‘
He’d
ask
—’

He shrugged his shoulders, losing all patience with her.
‘
If you want to be asked, my dear, you are younger than I thought! If I want your kisses, I’ll take them, with or without your consent. Between a man and a woman, any man worth his salt is the master
!
You’d do well to remember that!’

‘
But it isn’t between a man and a woman
!
’ The tears were coming fast and furiously now. Megan sniffed desperately, but nothing seemed to make her feel any better.
‘
It isn’t like that with us
!’

His expression was hard and unyielding. She peeped at him through her tears and then wished that she hadn’t. He was as hard as granite and he had only to touch her and she would be lost for ever. Silently, he handed her a handkerchief and watched her as she made a pathetic attempt to blow her nose and halt the humiliating tears that streamed down her face.

‘I’m sorry
!’
she said.

He smiled.
‘
If you cry any harder you’ll put the dragon’s fire out once and for all
!’

Megan felt completely wretched. ‘I might have known you’d say something
horrid
!’

‘Wasn’t that the idea?’

She sniffed.
‘
What was the idea?’

‘
To damp down the fire,’ he drawled.

‘
Oh,
I hate you
!’

‘Wasn’t it the idea?’

‘No!
I
don’t know
!
No, of course it wasn’t! I never cry! Only, when I do, I can’t stop! It’s got nothing to do with you anyway
!
’

She saw that he was laughing at her and she became crosser than ever, shredding his handkerchief between angry fingers. He took it from her, putting it back into his pocket.

‘
Besides,’ Megan went on, feeling suddenly better, ‘I don’t believe in dragons.’

Carlos grinned.
‘
You can see the skin of ours, any time you want to, in the museum,’ he told her.

‘But not running around free!’

‘Didn’t you feel his breath against your cheek?’ he asked her.

She thought of denying that she had felt anything at all. He
couldn’t
know how she had felt, or about the burning excitement that his touch aroused inside her!

‘Lots of people kiss and forget,’ she said.

His eyes held hers for a long moment.
‘
Will you forget?’

Megan refused to answer. Then she said, ‘I don’t think talking about dragons is much excuse for—for
kissing on the side
!’

His laughter was very disturbing. ‘Are you saying that you enjoyed it after all?’ he demanded.

She held her head high, refusing to meet his dark, leaf-green eyes. ‘I don’t think it’s at all gallant of you to ask,’ she reproved him. ‘Not that I expect you to be gallant
!’
she added darkly. ‘And I wish you wouldn’t look at me like that
!’

A smile played round his lips. ‘I’ll look at you in any way I like,’ he drawled.

The sun was in their eyes as they drove back to Palma. The glaring light hit the windscreen, almost blinding them. It was particularly difficult to see the home-going carts as they drove slowly along the main road, clip-clopping their way down the middle of the road. Carlos drove in silence, concentrating all his attention on the road ahead of him. Megan tried to do the same, but her thoughts refused to follow the line she was pushing them along, coming back again and again to the moment when Carlos had kissed her.

‘
Inez says there is a fan museum near here,’ she said aloud.

‘
A very fine one,’ Carlos agreed. ‘Do you want to see it?’

She shook her head. ‘I’ll come with Inez. She has a collection of them herself which she has promised to show me some time.’

‘
Then she must certainly show you the fan museum,’ he said dryly.