Free The Arrogant Duke by Anne Mather Page A

work for a living comes to be driving in the Swiss Alps?''
    Juliet had had a moment to think about this. 'I — I was companion-chauffeuse to an elderly - lady,' she said smoothly. 'We went to Monte Carlo last year.'
    'Is that so? : The Duque studied her intently. Then he looked at Teresa, and finally back at Juliet, almost reading her thoughts, she felt, with his penetrating gaze. 'Very well, senhorita . I will take your word for it. Nevertheless, Venterra Montanah is not for the amateur. I would rather you chose other routes for your outings. Teresa, obviously your fears were not based in reality. Maybe your emotional condition accounted for your fears.'
    Teresa could not let it go so easily. She was not to be thwarted. 'You - you weren't there, Tio Felipe! You are taking her word for everything! She drove carelessly, I tell you. I was terrified!'
    Juliet gasped. 'Teresa, that's not true!'
    'It is so. I don't believe you've ever driven on roads in the Alps. I think you're telling my uncle lies!'
    Juliet felt angry now. Earlier she had been exasperated, and then amused, but now she was really angry. Teresa seemed to think she had no defence against this man who was her employer.
    Leaning forward, keeping her voice light and provocative, she said: 'Senhor, your niece seems determined to put me in the wrong. In order to prove my point, would you allow me to drive you up to Venterra Montanah?'
    Teresa eyes widened, and the Duque looked impatient.
    'That is not necessary, senhorita . I am quite prepared to accept— '
    'But I am not, ' insisted Juliet, her eyes mocking. 'At least allow me to prove my case, or I shall think you are unfairly biased in your niece's favour.'
    The Duque lifted his shoulders. 'Senhorita, I have told you I believe you. '
    'Are you afraid also, senhor?' Juliet didn't quite know why she said that. Certainly it was not to prove anything to Teresa. Maybe it was to prove something to herself.
    His eyes darkened momentarily, and something stirred in their depths, something that brought the hot colour surging to Juliet's cheeks.
    'No, senhorita ,' he murmured, 'I am not afraid. ' He drew on his cheroot. 'And some time I will accept your challenge, and allow you to drive me to Venterra Montanah, sim?' He looked at Teresa. 'Does that satisfy you, pequena? '
    Teresa looked furious, and Juliet couldn't dispel the feeling of having trodden too far into strange territory. Challenging the Duque in an attempt to bait Teresa was one thing, but challenging him because she wanted to challenge him was quite another. Her experience of men was not so great; naturally in her position as Robert Lindsay's daughter, she had had plenty of boyfriends, and she was not unaware of the facts of life. But they had been young men, most of them as unversed in the arts of sexual encounter as she was herself; her father had seen to that. She had not been allowed to run around with the so-called jet set, or to attend parties which could only be classed as doubtful.
    The Duque was an entirely unknown quantity. He was no boy, he was a man, and the sensations he aroused inside her were completely outside her previous experience.
    As the car moved on, Juliet attempted to retrieve her nonchalance, without a great deal of success. So she studied the scenery instead, trying to distinguish the various plants and flowers that grew in such profusion. It was no use worrying about something that quite possibly would never happen.
    Lauganca Bay was unbelievably beautiful. Larger than the other coves Juliet had seen, it stretched for miles, white sand, green water and grey rocks. When the Duque brought the car to a halt, she slid out without waiting for permission, and walked across the headland, looking across the wide expanse of water which had once seen the demise of so many Spanish hopes. With the swirling waters high there was little to show the dangerous rock formations that lay just below the surface, like the smooth face of a lake that guarded