"Of course, Miguel, I would be delighted to escort the señora home." Roberto walked over and held out his hand to Zita, who smiled graciously and rose to her feet.
"I shall say good night, also," Dr. Esteban said. "I have early rounds at St. Augustine's in the morning and will be rising before dawn."
"Juan, thank you for coming tonight." Miguel shook hands with his old friend, a man who shared his hopes and dreams for a true democracy in Mocorito.
"You must bring your lovely fiancée to dine with Aunt Josephina and me one evening soon, before the two of you are flooded with invitations," Juan said. "Everyone in Nava will be eager to meet Señorita Blair."
"And naturally, I would be honored to receive an invitation to your engagement party," Zita told him as Roberto led her past Miguel.
"Of course. How very gracious of you, my dear Zita." Miguel was not sure she would ever forgive him for this farce, even if he explained everything to her when the danger had passed and he had been elected president. It was possible that this evening's events had destroyed any possible future he might have had with the charming young widow.
"Since all of you are making it an early evening, I think I'll do the same," Dom said. "If you will have someone show me to my room, I'll call it a night."
"I have sent Paco for your and Jennifer's bags," Miguel said. "Once he has delivered Jennifer's luggage, I'll have him show you upstairs."
"In the meantime, why don't you walk Emilio and me to the door?" Dolores said to her cousin.
Miguel would have preferred to avoid being drilled by Dolores. But better to get it over with tonight and hope he could persuade her of his sincerity. His little cousin knew him too well and even if he swore to her on his mother's grave, she would still have some doubts. Whenever she was around, he would have to be doubly careful because she would watch him with Jennifer Blair as a hawk watches a chicken.
They had no sooner exited the dining room than Dolores checked to make sure Roberto and Zita were not within earshot, then she began the inquisition.
"She does not look pregnant, your fiancée," Dolores said. "So why are you marrying this woman you barely know? An American woman! Is she Catholic? Is she willing to give up her United States citizenship? Do you truly love her or is it just great sex that has you acting like a fool?"
Emilio mumbled under his breath, evoking God to take pity on them—he and Miguel. "Dolores, querida, have faith in Miguel. Everything he does, he does for the right reasons."
Halting before reaching the foyer, she snapped her head around and glared at her husband. "Exactly what does that mean?"
Miguel put his arm around her shoulders. "It means that I am engaged to be married to a woman who will be sharing my life these next few weeks as she stands at my side and helps me win the presidency. Jennifer has come to me to help me, not harm me in any way. She understands the duties she must perform as my fiancée and she will not fail me. I trust her with my life."
Dolores studied Miguel contemplatively. "Do you have any objection to my spending time with her? To our becoming better acquainted?"
"None whatsoever," Miguel replied. "As long as you treat her with the respect she deserves as my future wife."
"Do you love her?"
"Would I ever ask a woman to marry me if I did not love her?"
Dolores sighed, then reached up and caressed his cheek. "Then I pray that she loves you as much as you do her."
Emilio emitted a nervous chuckle. "As far as you are concerned, no woman would ever be good enough for Miguel."
"Perhaps that is true," she agreed.
"Come, come. We must go and get you to bed, little mother. You need your rest." Emilio hovered over his wife, petting and soothing her as best he could.
Miguel stood on the veranda and watched his guests leave. First Roberto and Zita, then Juan Esteban and finally Emilio and Dolores. The evening had not gone as he had hoped due to the unexpected arrival of his American guests.
"Lovely evening," Dom Shea came up beside Miguel.
"It was."
"Sorry that we stormed in on you without warning, but our orders were to get here as quickly as possible."
"Will Pierce's idea, no doubt."
Dom glanced all around, then asked in English, "Do your servants speak English?"
"No, they do not," Miguel replied.
"Then I suggest that whenever we need to talk concerning private matters here in your home, that you, J.J. and I speak English."
"J.J.?"
"Her name is Jennifer," Dom replied. "But no one calls her that."
Miguel nodded. "Was she the only female agent available?"
Dom chuckled. "She's a handful, isn't she? But she's good at her job. You'll be in safe hands with her." Dom took a deep breath of fresh evening air. "To answer your question, no she wasn't the only female Dundee agent available, but she was the best-qualified for this assignment. As you must have noticed, she speaks fluent Spanish."
"Yes, her command of the language is excellent."
"You should know from the years you spent in the U.S. that American women are not like Mocoritian women. And J.J. is a breed apart. You look at her and you see sultry sex kitten, but I suspect you've already learned that in her case looks can really be deceiving."
"That, Mr. Shea, er, Dom, is the understatement of the century."
"May I give you some advice on how to handle J.J.?"
Miguel turned and looked at Domingo. The two of them being of almost equal height, they stood eye-to-eye. "I would appreciate any advice you can give me."
"Don't try to boss her around. She hates that. Let her think something is her idea, not yours. Make suggestions, but ask her opinion. Allow her to believe that she is totally in charge."
Miguel smiled. "You know her well, do you? There is a personal relationship between the two of you?"
"I've worked with J.J. for three years. I like and respect her. We're friends. Nothing more, nothing less. But I should warn you that if you do anything to hurt her, you'll have at least half a dozen of Dundee's best men coming after you."
"I certainly do not want that."
Miguel and Dom stood on the veranda for several more minutes, not speaking, then Dom broke the silence. "We need to discuss something you probably prefer not to talk about at all."
"And that would be?"
"The loyalty of your friends, closest supporters and household employees. My job is to make sure there are no traitors in your camp."
"I trust my friends and employees completely, as I do the supporters I have known for many years."
"But you don't have any objections to my digging around in their lives, do you? I will do it as discreetly as possible."
"Is that really necessary?"
"Someone tried to shoot you yesterday, Señor Ramirez," Dom said. "And behind the shooter is the person who hired him. That person wants to see you dead."
"We are relatively certain that the Federalist Party was behind the assassination attempt, which means Hector Padilla was part of the plot."
"That may be true, but I doubt President Padilla actually hired the rifleman who fired at you. We need to find the person or persons who paid the assassin. Often, behind something like this, you'll find a small group of people, not just one person."
"You will discover that none of my friends, supporters or employees are involved," Miguel said with total assurance. "But I give you permission to do the job Will Pierce hired you to do."
"Hmm…"
"What?"
"Another bit of advice."
"Yes?"
"When you speak to J.J., try not to use those exact words."
"What words?"
"Don't ever say to her that you give her your permission to do something. That would be like waving a red flag in front of a bull."
Miguel snorted. "Other than the fact she speaks Spanish fluently, what possible reason could your superior have thought she was the ideal person to pose as my girlfriend?"
> "Your fiancée, not your girlfriend."
"Yes, she chose to become my fiancée instantly, without consulting me. That is a case in point of why she is unsuitable."
"She really ticked you off, didn't she?"
"Let us just say that I would prefer facing a mountain lion without a weapon than having to deal with your J.J."
"She's not my J.J. She's your J.J., Señor Ramirez, at least for the next few weeks."
"¡Que Dios me ayude!" Miguel said aloud, then repeated the prayer to himself. God help me!
* * *
Chapter 3
« ^ »
Miguel's bedroom suite comprised three rooms—bedroom, sitting room and bath—and a massive walk-in-closet that had probably, at one time, been a small nursery. A huge round iron chandelier hung in the middle of the ten-foot-high ceiling, crossed with weathered wooden beams. The stucco walls possessed a soft gold patina, as did the cast-stone fireplace, which was flanked by sets of double French doors. A plush coral velvet sofa hugged one wall. Round tables and nail-head-trimmed chairs in taupe leather served as bookends for the marble-topped decorative-iron coffee table in front of the sofa. Across the room, two rich gold arm chairs sat like fat mushrooms growing out of the antique Persian rug.
Luxurious was the first word that came to mind.
Paco had deposited J.J.'s bags in the closet and told her that Ramona would see to the unpacking in the morning. That had been at least twenty minutes ago and it had taken her every second of that time to explore the rooms she would be sharing with Miguel for the next few weeks. It wasn't that she hadn't known luxury before—she had when she'd lived with her mother and Raymond, her stepfather, in their twenty-room mansion in Mobile. But this was no antebellum mansion, although she suspected it was as old, if not older than many of the homes built pre War Between the States.
The French doors led to a large balcony that overlooked the courtyard gardens. J.J. had stood out there for several minutes, breathing in the cool night air and thinking about how she would handle her first night with the future president of Mocorito. If she weren't terribly attracted to him on a purely physical level, it might be easier to share these intimate quarters without her mind wandering from the job at hand to considering what it would be like to actually be engaged to this man.
She would never—not in a million years—marry a man like Miguel Cesar Ramirez, a male chauvinist from the old school of male superiority. But the very thing that she disliked about him the most was what also attracted her to him. That powerful male essence that declared to one and all that he was king of the hill, master of all he surveyed. Her father had been that kind of man. Was that kind of man. Rudd Blair was a career soldier, having moved up the ranks over the years. The last she'd heard, he was a general and his son, eighteen-year-old Rudd, Jr., had just graduated from military school. She had spent her entire life trying to earn the privilege of being what her half-brother became the moment he was born—the apple of their father's eye. Hell, she'd even joined the army after college graduation in the hopes that her becoming a soldier would please her father as much as it pissed off her genteel, Southern-belle mother. But it hadn't mattered to Daddy Dearest that she had graduated top in her class or that she'd excelled in her duties as a second lieutenant. As far as Rudd was concerned, J.J. was nothing more than a female offspring who should get married and do her best to produce some grandsons for him.
Okay, so it was unfair to compare Miguel to her father, despite the fact that they were probably cut from the same prejudiced cloth. She figured that over the next few weeks, she would learn to dislike Miguel intensely for reasons that had nothing to do with her past history with her father.
A soft rapping at the door drew J.J.'s eyes in that direction. "¿Sí?" she asked.
"I have your dinner, señorita," a woman's voice called from the other side of the door.
Ramona, no doubt. "Please, come in." J.J. rushed across the room to open the door.
Carrying a small silver tray covered with a white linen cloth, Ramona entered the room, walked over and placed the tray on the coffee table and turned to J.J. "If you require anything else, señorita—"
"No, thank you. Not tonight."
Ramona nodded, then turned and left the sitting room. The woman had been neither friendly nor unfriendly. J.J. wasn't certain how she should interact with the servants in Miguel's house. The servants who worked for her mother were treated well, but were thought of as socially inferior, and one never associated with them on a personal level. However, her mother was especially fond of her old nanny; Aunt Bess, as everyone in the Ashford family referred to the woman, was now eighty-six and living in an assisted-living facility paid for by Lenore Ashford Whitney.
J.J. hated barriers of any kind—social, economic, race or religion. And sex. Her mother had been a snob, her father sexist. She prided herself on being neither. That was one reason she could not allow herself to judge Miguel without getting to know him better. He deserved to be judged on his merits and flaws alone and not on some preconceived idea J.J. had of him.
Wondering what Ramona had brought for her to eat, J.J. removed the white linen cloth from the silver tray. Cheese, bread, grapes, wine and some sort of cake that looked sinfully rich. She grabbed the grapes and nibbled on them as she strolled into the bedroom. This room intrigued her, and for more than one reason. She had no intention of this area becoming a battleground tonight or in the nights ahead.
What makes me think he's going to try something? she asked herself.
The answer came immediately. He's a man, isn't he?
But I don't think he likes me any more than I like him.
Maybe not, but that unnerving charge of awareness you felt wasn't a one-sided thing. That sensation of I-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off-and-have-you-here-and-now tore through his gut just like it did yours.
She'd seen that look in his eyes. Had he seen it in hers? If so, he would make his first move tonight.
The bedroom was as large as the sitting room, but where the latter had been decorated in warm, earthy shades, the decor in this room reflected peace, tranquility and age-old charm. Everything in the room, from bed linens to lamp shades, reflected the simple elegance and color scheme of the ivory stucco walls. Color came from the rich glow of the dark wooden floors, accent pieces, and dark wooden bedside tables. The king-size bed was modern in size and structure, but an intricately carved wooden arch made a dramatic antique headboard.
The bed was large enough that she could actually lie beside Miguel and never touch him. Yeah, sure, like she was going to take the chance that he wouldn't touch her.
Scanning the twenty-by-twenty room, J.J. sought and found an alternative place for her to sleep. A large, comfy chaise lounge, covered in ivory damask, sprawled languidly in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. All she needed to make the chaise her bed was a pillow and a blanket. Both items would be easy to discard come morning, to keep the servants unaware that she had not shared a bed with Miguel.
Finishing off the grapes, J.J. returned to the sitting room and hurriedly ate part of the cheese and bread, then lifted the glass of wine and carried it with her as she headed for the bathroom. Would she have time for a leisurely soak in the massive marble tub before Miguel came upstairs for the night? Nope. Better not risk it. A quick shower would have to suffice.
She entered the walk-in closet, set her glass on top of a highboy to her left, then bent over and opened one of her suitcases. Without giving much thought as to which peignoir set to wear, she yanked up a lavender silk gown and matching robe from the large bag. She hurriedly turned around and grabbed her wineglass on the way back into the bedroom. When she entered the bathroom and hung the gown and robe over the vanity chair, she sighed as the light hit the almost iridescent silk. At home she slept in pajamas in the winter and an oversize T-shirt in the summer. Since it was rare that a man ever saw her in her sleepwear, she didn't own anything really sexy, certainly nothing like the items she had purchased w
ith her corporate charge card.
Stop it, right this minute, she warned herself. She could not—would not—allow herself to wonder what Miguel would think or how he would react when he saw her in the ultrafeminine lavender peignoir set. Besides, if she timed things just right, she'd be asleep on the chaise by the time he came up for the night and she could either rise early and be out of the bedroom before he got up or she could sleep late and let him be the first to leave.
* * *
He had been expecting a telephone call about Miguel's secret bodyguard, but not tonight. His contact—the spy with Ramirez's camp—had told him the Dundee agent would arrive tomorrow.
"His American bodyguards arrived early. They came tonight instead of in the morning as we'd been expecting."
"Did you say two bodyguards? I thought there would be only the woman." He swirled the liquor in the crystal tumbler, sniffed the aroma and took a sip.
"Yes, there are two," said the quiet voice at the other end of the line. "One male and one female. They are telling everyone that the man is Miguel's cousin from Miami and the woman is Miguel's fiancée."
"Fiancée? I thought she was to pose as his mistress." He did not like it when plans changed—especially when the change was not in his favor.
"That was the original plan, but this American woman accepted his proposal there in front of everyone present tonight."
"Then our plan to use the woman against him will have to be altered." He set aside his glass, placing it atop a stone coaster on his desk. "A mistress can easily be discredited. A fiancée is a different matter. If the voters believe he plans to marry this woman, they will view her in a different light."
"If we cannot use the woman against him, we must find another way. I do not want Miguel killed, only frightened enough to withdraw from the presidential race."
Personally, he would prefer Ramirez dead and buried, but if they killed him, the people would see him as a martyr and possibly revolt. That was the last thing he and his party wanted. Besides, this traitor who had proved so useful to him was not the only Federalist who did not want to resort to murdering Ramirez. Some of them had no stomach for fighting dirty, for doing whatever it took to win. And some of those weak men already thought of him as a bloodthirsty tyrant.
RAMIREZ'S WOMAN Page 4
