Bitter Memories. Margaret Mayo

       CHAPTER ONE

      TANYA could not believe her bad luck. The reason she had consistently put off visiting her sister in Tenerife was because she was afraid of bumping into Alejandro. And now, almost before she had set foot on foreign soil, he was here at the airport, instantly recognisable, instantly causing her heart to quicken its beats, instantly causing confusion in her mind.

      He was as devastatingly handsome as she remembered, taller than most of his compatriots, his shiny black hair cut well above the collarline, his eyes—— those soul-searching brown eyes which had frequently reduced her to jelly——enviably large and thickly fringed, his lips full and sensual. She would have lied had she said she did not feel anything, but her pain over the way they had parted, and the subsequent news that had filtered through to her that he was married, was a much more dominant emotion.

      ‘Tanya! Tanya! Over here.’

      Her sister’s excited voice reached Tanya above the noise and general confusion of exiting passengers. She was not the only one to hear it. Alejandro turned his head and looked in Charlene’s direction, and then from her to Tanya. It all happened in a split second; their eyes met and she saw the sudden narrowing in his before his attention was taken up by the beautiful woman who threw herself into his arms, a woman with jet-black hair piled on top of her head, perfectly applied make-up, elegantly dressed. Tanya’s bitterness deepened. She had wondered what his wife looked like. Now she knew. And she would have given any-thing to be able to turn right round and catch the same plane back to England.

      By this time Charlene had pushed her way to Tanya’s side and was welcoming her sister enthusiastically. When Tanya next looked in Alejandro’s direction he had gone. Maybe she had even imagined him? Although she knew she hadn’t. It was all wishful thinking. She ought to have followed her instincts and never let Charlene persuade her to come here. The holiday was going to be a disaster. The next instant a card was being pushed into her hand and a well-remembered voice growled low in her ear, ‘I would like to talk with you. Give me a ring.’

      He disappeared as quickly as he had approached. Charlene looked at her sister in amazement. ‘Was that who I thought it was?’

      Tanya nodded. ‘The very same.’

      ‘I cannot believe it. In the two years I’ve been out here I’ve never seen him, not once.’

      ‘I know, you told me,’ muttered Tanya unhappily. ‘It was what finally persuaded me to come. Hell, I wish I hadn’t; he’s going to ruin my holiday.’

      ‘Rubbish, you won’t see him again.’ Charlene’s tone was positive, her arm protectively around her younger sister. ‘What did he want anyway?’

      ‘He said he wanted to talk to me.’

      ‘What a nerve.’ Charlene was incensed. ‘Is this his address?’ She plucked the card from Tanya’s hand and tore it into pieces, throwing them into the air where they fell like confetti.

      Charlene was the elder of the two sisters, taller and heavier, and had always had more to say for herself. Not that Tanya was lacking in confidence; far from it. Having lost both their parents at a very tender age, they had been brought up separately by a succession of foster-parents, some not always happy experiences, and they had frequently needed to stand up for themselves.

      Tanya’s shoulder-length hair was a soft honey-gold, in complete contrast to Charlene’s raven darkness. The only things they had in common were their eyes, sloe-shaped and a beautiful azure-blue.

      ‘Come along.’ Charlene picked up Tanya’s case. ‘My car’s in the car park. Let’s forget we ever saw that man; he’s bad news without a doubt.’

      Tanya followed her sister through the line of people waiting for taxis and over the road to the busy car park. The warmth of the day after England’s freezing winter temperatures was blissful, and she shrugged off her jacket as she walked. Seeing Alejandro at the airport had put a damper on her spirits, but she was determined not to let it get her down. Charlene was probably right; they wouldn’t see him again.

      ‘Here we are.’ Her sister’s voice cut into her thoughts. She opened the boot of a smart white car and threw Tanya’s case inside. ‘Let’s go.’

      Alejandro was forgotten as they left the airport and hit the motorway. Tanya gazed with interest at her surroundings; the bare, jagged mountains in the distance, their tops draped in mist; the brown, barren countryside with just the odd shrub or clump of prickly pear growing tenaciously in the dry earth; the occasional flush of