'My business with your bank has nothing to do with this,' Dane snapped back angrily. 'And only the most unfeeling of parents would have suggested such a thing in front of Minta.'
'All right, let's call your bluff.' Richard Tennant glared at the younger man, his face dark with hate and anger. 'I'll give you what you want: my bank to stand as guarantor for your impossible scheme and in return you give up Minta and promise never to see or contact her again. Now, you lying young swine, what do you say to that?'
For a second Dane didn't answer and Minta looked quickly up at him. There were two bright patches of > colour in his cheeks and he seemed to be finding it difficult to speak. Then, through gritted teeth, 'Get out of here. Get out before I forget who you are and how old you are and throw you out!'
'You can stop play-acting, Fenton. You've won your dirty game, I tell you. I'll give you my promise in writing here and now, and then we can go back to the bank together and get the agreement properly drawn up.'
Dane took an infuriated step towards him, Minta clinging to his arm. 'Can't you get it into your head?' he shouted. 'You can keep your backing; I'll find it somewhere else. It's Minta I want. She's mine now,' And, as if to emphasise his point, he pulled her roughly to him and kissed her possessively on the mouth, his hand covering her breast.
'You filthy swine! Get away from her!'
Richard Tennant lunged forward, but Minta hastily stepped between them. 'No!' she cried out, so fiercely that it brought her father up short. 'You go away. I'm not going to let you try and dirty and destroy what's between us any longer. We've told you over and over again that we love each other, but you're so wrapped round by corruption that you won't even listen, let alone believe us. Well, I've had as much as I can stand, now and for ever. Just get out of here. Take your mistrust and your prejudice and get out of my life. I never want to see you again! Do you hear me? I never want to see you again!'
Her voice rose on a hysterical note. Her father stared at her, unable to believe his ears. He reached out a shaking, beseeching hand towards her. Minta looked into his face, then very deliberately turned her back on him, moving into Dane's arms. There was a long, shattering silence in which nobody moved, then her father gave a strangled cry and the door slammed shut behind him.
They were married late that afternoon in a civil ceremony in a Registrar's office not too far from the hotel. Minta wore her white dress and the pretty hat and tried very hard to put the quarrel with her father out of her mind, but she didn't really succeed until Dane put a ring on her finger and smiled down into her eyes as they were declared man and wife. Now she belonged to him, was really his. The ecstasy they had shared last night would be theirs for ever. Her hand shook slightly in his and Dane's grip tightened, giving her strength and comfort. It was cold outside and Minta huddled into her coat, the collar turned up against the wind, until Dane grabbed a taxi to take them to the restaurant where he had booked a table. They lingered over the meal, drank a lot of champagne, and danced afterwards, but it was still early when they left to go back to Dane's hotel. He had told the management to change his room and now they were shown up to one with a large double bed. A fresh bottle of champagne to replace the one they had neither of them felt like drinking that morning stood waiting for them, cool in its bucket of ice. Dane opened it and they drank. Minta felt as if she was in a dream, floating on bubbles of champagne. The angry defiance against her father that had carried her through the day left her now and for a few moments she felt an overwhelming sadness that things had turned out this way, but then Dane saw the lost look in her eyes, took her in his arms and began to kiss her, so that she forgot everything except the fierce desire he aroused in her. Her body craved for his, for the fulfilment he could give her, and beside that nothing else mattered.
Tonight he didn't undress her but let her come to him in the sheer white nightdress, her fair hair falling loosely to the delicate lace. Even though they had made love the night before, it still felt strange to get into bed together, to know that it was now legal for them to do so, that a few words spoken before an official had made it a duty instead of a sin. Perhaps Dane felt it, too, because for a while he was content to just hold her, kissing and stroking her gently, until desire took over and he made love to her with a forceful passion that held more than a hint of possessiveness; as if he was proving to her and the world that she was his, to handle as he pleased. And Minta more than met him halfway, grateful to be taught what would please him and glorying in the satiating pleasure it gave them both.
For a few seconds, when she woke, she couldn't remember where she was. Her throat felt dry and her body tender. But then the reasons for these things came flooding back and she turned eagerly to look at the man beside her. He was still asleep, his features only just discernible in the light that filtered through the drawn curtains. My husband, she thought. My husband— repeating the words and thinking of all that they implied. She would have liked to reach out and touch him but was afraid of waking him, wanting to savour these minutes when she could look at him at her will, much as he must have studied her yesterday morning before he had kissed her into wakefulness. He looked younger when he was asleep, the strong thrust of his jaw relaxed, his mouth softened and not set into a determined line. One dark lock had fallen forward on to his forehead and his lashes fanned his cheeks. It came to Minta that it was the face of a man who was not naturally hard, but who had had to learn to be strong and tough. She knew so little about him really, hardly anything about his past. But there was time, plenty of time. She snuggled up to him, and in his sleep he put his arm round her, holding her against the warmth of his body, murmuring some inaudible words. She smiled contentedly and fell asleep again, secure in his arms.
The telephone ringing almost in her ear woke her the second time. Dane reached across her and picked up the receiver, apparently instantly awake. 'Hallo.' He listened for a second. 'Just a minute.' He covered the mouthpiece, then turned and gave her a light kiss on the nose. 'It's business. Why don't you go and have a bath while I deal with it? Then we'll have breakfast and go out and make arrangements to leave for the Canaries.'
'Okay.' Minta found her nightdress on the floor where Dane had tossed it aside the night before, the delicate lace at the front torn a little by his impatient fingers. There didn't seem to be much point in putting it on. She went to move past him, but he caught her wrist and pulled her towards him, his head level with her breasts. Deliberately he kissed them both until the pink nipples hardened in his mouth. Minta gasped and moaned, her fingers twisting in his hair. 'Dane! Oh, yes—yes!'
But he took his head away, smiled at the open sensuality in her face, and gave her a gentle pat towards the bathroom. 'Later,' he murmured.
Going into the bathroom, Minta shut the door behind her and stared at herself in the long mirror. She had delicate skin and there were many small bruise marks on her body, bruises the size of a man's fingers. Her nipples were still hard and she put up a hand to touch them, wondering at their sensitivity, that her body could respond so instantly to Dane's caresses. It was wicked of him to have done it when he had the phone in his hand; he had uncovered the mouthpiece when he had grabbed her and whoever was on the end of the line must have heard her moans and have realised what was going on. The thought that a stranger had heard them was embarrassing but at the same time strangely erotic; she must remember to ask Dane who it was—not that she wanted to meet the person, that would be embarrassing.
She sang happily as she bathed; Dane came in and offered to wash her back for her, but then he moved on to her front, and what followed drove all memory of asking him who was on the phone completely from her mind.
Eventually they sat down to an extremely belated breakfast, during which Dane told her that he had got to go out on business. 'Sorry, darling, but there's no way I can avoid it.'
'Oh, no, must you really? I shall be so bored here alone. Who is it you have to see?'
'Just someone I contacted last week. It's to do with
the time-share scheme, so I must see him. But you don't have to stay here; why don't you go and fix up our flight to the Canaries tomorrow? Then I'll meet you and we'll take in a film or something. And I expect you'll need to buy some more summery clothes; it's much warmer than here, remember.'
Minta smiled, having already packed for a warmer climate, but she spent the next few hours on her own quite contentedly, often pausing to sneak glances at herself in mirrors and shop windows, trying to see if she looked any different now that she was married, her eyes admiring the rings that shone on her left hand. In fact she did look different; love and fulfilment had brought a radiance to her face that showed in the bloom of her skin, the delicate flush in her cheeks and above all in the happiness that shone from her eyes. She was by no means a plain girl, but it had taken love to make her beautiful. From time to time that happiness was shadowed by remembrance of the quarrel with her father, but she still felt so resentful of the way he had spoken to Dane that anger soon took its place.
They met as they had planned and went on to the cinema. Minta asked Dane how his meeting had gone, but he returned a noncommittal answer and she didn't push it, too wrapped up in their new relationship to be really interested in anything else.
When they got back to the hotel and went up to their room she was amazed to find several boxes and suitcases which, when she opened them, contained the rest of the clothes she had left behind at home and her more treasured possessions that she hadn't had room to pack. Dane silently crossed to the phone and rang down to reception. He talked for a few minutes, then put the phone down and turned to her. 'They were sent round earlier this afternoon. There was no message with them. It seems as if your father has decided to cut you out of his life!'
They spent that night at the hotel and left for Gran Canaria early the next morning. Minta made no attempt to get in touch with her father. If he could cut her out of his life then she could certainly do the same to him!
CHAPTER FOUR
The warm clothes that Minta had worn to keep out the early morning cold of London seemed superfluous as soon as she stepped off the plane. The sun was shining and there wasn't even a breeze to detract from the warmth of the day.
'Is it summer here?' she asked in surprise, lifting her face to the sun.
'No, but the climate's more or less the same here the whole year round, it only varies by about fifteen degrees the whole time.'
'Lovely! I'll be able to get a tan straightaway, then.'
Dane's car was in the airport car park where he had left it two weeks ago. Two weeks in which their lives had completely changed. He drove straight to the capital of the island, Las Palmas. It was only during the flight over that it had occurred to Minta to wonder where they were going to live, and she had been disappointed when Dane told her that they would have to go to a hotel, that the house he owned had been lent to a friend whom he would have to ask to leave before they could move in. She looked around at her new home with interest as they drove along but didn't like the grey, barren hills and flat, treeless plains. 'Why aren't there any trees?' she demanded.
'The islands are volcanic and this area got covered by lava years ago. The main agricultural areas are farther north.'
'The volcanoes are extinct, aren't they?' Minta asked in some alarm.
Dane laughed. 'You don't have to worry, they haven't been active for a hundred years or so.'
They came to the outskirts of Las Palmas, a large sprawling town that was built along the narrow neck of a thin peninsula of land, the coastlines forming a busy shipping port on one side and tourists' resort on the other. The hills overlooking the town were built on, to what seemed impossible heights, by block after block of apartment buildings, all painted a dingy grey-white and very barrack-like. There was a good road in from the airport, an autopista, Dane called it, but once they turned off this the streets were clogged with cars closely packed on either side, leaving hardly space for two cars to pass each other.
'Good heavens,' Minta exclaimed. 'I thought parking in London was bad enough, but this is crazy!'
Steering carefully round a car that was parked right on a corner, Dane said, 'Yes, there's no point in having a decent car here; you can almost guarantee that it will get scratched or dented however carefully you drive.'
He drew into the forecourt of a large hotel, the Reina Isabel, which backed on to the long, golden stretch of Las Canteras beach. They were given a room on the second floor with a private bathroom, and Minta wasted no time in changing into something cooler. 'Aren't you going to change?' she asked Dane. 'You must be baking in that woollen suit.'
'I only took winter clothes with me to London. All my lightweight stuff is in my—my flat.'
Minta's forehead creased into a frown. 'Why couldn't we go there instead of staying at a hotel?'
'It's much too small. It's really just a couple of rooms at the back of my office in the town. Not at all suitable for you.' He came over and put his hands on her arms, kissed her on the forehead. 'If you're ready, why don't we go down to the restaurant and have lunch? I hate that pre-packaged stuff they give you on planes. Then you can unpack while I go and collect my clothes and bring them over.'
'Can't I come with you?'
'Better not. I must go into the office and make sure the instructions I sent from England are being carried out. There's a lot to do, I'm afraid,' he told her ruefully.
Minta's hazel eyes filled with disappointment. 'Oh, but I—I thought we would have a honeymoon.'
'And we will—just as soon as I can manage it. But I'm afraid you'll have to be patient for a while, darling. I hadn't anticipated bringing a bride back with me from London, and just now there's so much to do to get the time-share project off the ground.'
'Couldn't you postpone it—just for a week?'
He shook his head regretfully. 'No. But I'll make it up to you, I promise. You'll have the best belated honeymoon anyone ever had. And I'll try to be with you as much as possible.'
And with that she had to try to be satisfied; and the fact that she had lived with her father since she had left school helped because she understood how important a man's work and business was to him, but she couldn't help wishing that it could be otherwise.
When Dane left her after lunch, Minta went out on to the beach and walked along at the water's edge, the sun on her back. There were lots of tourists sprawled out on loungers in neat lines, facing the sun, their skins ranging in all shades from milk white to a dark brown, with here and there the patchy skin of someone who had been too long in the sun in different clothes. But there weren't many like that; the people who could afford to come to the Canaries in November were the kind who had a tan most of the year. She walked back along the wide promenade that parallelled the beach and was lined with restaurants and tourist shops, admiring the hand-embroidered silk blouses and linen tablecloths in the windows. She wondered how much furniture and household stuff there was in Dane's house, and began to imagine how she would arrange and decorate the place, even though she had never seen it. When she got back to the hotel, she went in eagerly, but Dane hadn't yet returned, so she changed into a bikini and left him a note, then went up to the swimming pool on the roof to sunbathe.
Dane found her there an hour or so later, just as Minta was deciding that the warmth had gone out of the sun and it was time to go in. He had changed into a pair of pale blue lightweight slacks and a navy knitted shirt, both of which had good labels. Minta's heart leapt when she saw him walking round the pool, looking for her, and she thought she would burst with pride when two girls near by remarked admiringly on his looks.
'Mmm,' one girl said, nudging the other. 'D'you see what I see? What I wouldn't give for him! I haven't seen him around here before. I wonder if he's with anyone.'
The other girl turned over to look. 'Wow! I see what you mean. I wouldn't exactly turn him away from my door on a cold, dark night!'
'Not even if he was a wolf,' the first girl agreed, and they both giggled, their eyes fol
lowing Dane in frank appraisal as he came nearer.
He walked past them as if they didn't exist and sat down on the edge of Minta's sun-bed, leaning down to kiss her lingeringly. 'Miss me?' he demanded softly.
She decided to tease him. 'Are you back already? The time's gone so quickly I hadn't noticed.'
'You heartless jade. And a bride of only two days as well! I can see what my life's going to be like with you.'
'Can you?' Minta whispered, putting her hands on his shoulders.
'Most definitely,' he answered softly, his lips finding hers again in little kisses. 'And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.' Then he pulled her to her feet. 'Come and swim.'
'I'm not very good,' Minta said doubtfully. 'And it's getting late.'
But he was already pulling off his shirt and unzipping his trousers. Minta already knew that he had a superb body, but even so she caught her breath when she saw him in the small, tight-fitting swimming trunks that left no one in any doubt as to his manhood. 'Come on, race you in!'
He went to the side and dived in neatly, coming up several yards away and setting off down the pool in a swift, clean crawl, but Minta went timidly up to the shallow end and climbed down the ladder into the heated pool, She didn't swim very well and was more than half afraid of the water.
Dane's head broke the surface nearby. 'Swim down to the deep end.'
'No!' she protested in alarm. 'I told you I'm not very good.'
'Okay. Try and do a width here, then. I'll help you.'
He stayed beside her, encouraging and teaching, for almost half an hour, and by the end of that time Minta was swimming better and enjoying it more than she had ever done before. When they came out he wrapped a big towel round her as she began to shiver, feeling cold out of the warmth of the water now that the sun had gone in.
'You did fine,' he praised. 'Practise every day and you'll soon get really good.' He patted most of the wet off her, his hands lingering where they shouldn't.
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