Counterfeit Bride by Sara Craven

tell herself she had imagined that note of menace in his voice.
    He said, 'You appear nervous, chica. Are you?'
    'No,' she denied too hastily.
    'Don't lie to me. I can see fear in your eyes. I told you once how much you can learn from a woman's eyes. I am glad that you have taken off your glasses at last, Señorita Tarrant.'
    Her throat seemed to close with fright. She said, 'How—how do you know my name?'
    'You still wish to play games?' He shrugged. 'While you were asleep that first day I looked in your bag and found your passport. I had to know, you see, who was masquerading as Teresita Dominguez.'
    'But how did you know?' Nicola said huskily. 'You haven't seen Teresita since she was a child.'
    He shook his head. 'Wrong, señorita. You see, I have also been playing a game with you. It is my cousin Ramon who is a stranger to Teresita. I know her well.'
    Nicola had a weird sensation that the cabin walls were closing in on her. She pushed the stool back so violently that it fell with a clatter, and stood up.
    She said, 'Who are you?'
    He rose too. He seemed to tower over her. 'I, señorita? As I am sure you have guessed already, I am Luis Alvarado de Montalba.'
    She heard herself gasp, saw the barely controlled anger in the dark face, the glitter in his eyes, and saw his hands curving like talons as he reached for her. She remembered the hawk plunging on its prey out of the clear sky, and cried out as she too plunged into swirling darkness.

    CHAPTER FOUR
    Consciousness returned slowly. Nicola was aware of a feeling of nausea and oppression, and then a cup placed at her lips. She was told succinctly, 'Drink,' and liquid like fire trickled into her mouth and down her throat. She moaned faintly and moved her head from side to side, trying to escape, but the arm which held her was implacable, and she was incapable, anyway, of any real resistance.
    Eventually she opened her eyes. She was lying on the bed in the alcove, which explained the sense of oppression. She turned her head warily and surveyed the rest of the cabin. The lamp on the table had been turned low, and this, with the firelight, provided the only illumination.
    He was there, her captor, her enemy, sitting beside the fireplace, staring into the flames. Then, as if aware that she had stirred, he turned and looked at her.
    Nicola made as if to sit up and realised just in time that her blue dress was lying across the foot of the bed, and that her only covering was her lacy half-cup bra and tiny briefs. She snatched at the blanket and wrapped it around herself quickly, then realised what a fool she was being. There was only one person who could have removed her dress, so what use was there in trying to conceal herself from him? He could already have looked his fill while she was unconscious, she thought, shamed to her bones.
    Something else she noticed too. Her bag had been emptied and her money, tickets and passport stood in forlorn heaps on the table.
    Luis Alvarado de Montalba rose from his stool and walked across the room. Nicola turned her head away and closed her eyes to block out the sight of him. Unbidden, a tear squeezed out from beneath her lashes and trickled down the curve of her cheek.
    'Weeping, chica?' he mocked. 'What for? Your past sins, or their future retribution?'
    She said in a low voice, 'I can explain.'
    'I am sure you can,' he said drily. 'I am sure your fertile imagination can probably conjure up at least a dozen explanations, but this time I want the truth. Where is Teresita Dominguez?'
    'Safe from you by this time, I hope,' she said wearily.
    'You speak as if I pose some threat to Teresita,’ he remarked.
    'Don't you?' Her voice was bitter. 'I suppose an ego like yours can only imagine that a proposal of marriage from you would flatter and overwhelm any woman. It would never occur to you that Teresita would find the prospect of marrying you utterly repulsive.'
    'You speak as if I planned to drag her to the altar by her hair.' The dark eyes