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Tanya could have gone out every single moment of every single day, but she did not want to feel pushed into doing something simply because of Alejandro. When she had first said she was coming out here Charlene had said she would try and get the whole month off, but Carlos, her under-manager, had gone off sick and no one else was capable of taking over, and so Tanya was left to her own devices. She could have hired a car, but decided it wouldn’t be very exciting driving around by herself.
It was a pity in one way that Charlene had chosen to live so far away from the beaches and the lively tourist areas. On the other hand, she saw the real Tenerife; she could wander into the village, where the pace of life was slow, watch the men talking over their drinks outside the local bar, the children playing, the dogs scavenging. Her disadvantage was the language barrier. The children could say hello and goodbye; their parents spoke no English at all.
Charlene had taken her into Playa de las Americas and Los Cristianos, and she had seen how the concrete jungle of tourism skirted the southern shore, and had experienced for herself the frenetic pace, even though people were supposed to be on holiday. At heart, Tanya was a country lover and wanted to explore the unspoilt parts of the island, but not on her own.
One night Charlene drove her to a restaurant in the mountains high on the west coast, close to Masca. Tanya had been looking forward to it all day, but when their route took them along a series of extremely narrow and tight hairpin bends winding through the mountain like goat tracks, she began to wonder whether it was a good idea. And upon arrival she was horrified to discover Alejandro’s dark red Mercedes parked outside. She wanted to turn right round and go home.
‘Not on your life,’ exclaimed Charlene. ‘Not after I’ve driven all this way. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.’
‘I don’t need your protection,’ retorted Tanya. ‘I’m twenty-seven, not seven. But this place is so out of the way; I cannot believe I’m about to bump into him again.’
‘It has a good reputation,’ informed her sister, ‘And, judging by the number of cars, it’s already busy. Perhaps with a bit of luck he won’t even see us.’
But luck wasn’t with them. The second they walked out on to the purple and red bougainvillaea-covered terrace perched on the mountainside Tanya saw Alejandro. Her heartbeats quickened, her throat tightened, and she looked across at his companion, giving a start of surprise when she discovered that it was not his wife.
The woman had black hair, the same, but it was short and thick and cut on a level with her chin. She wore a white low-cut dress and a chunky green necklace and was beautiful in a different sort of way to Juanita. She had eyes only for her companion, her hand touching his arm across the table in a proprietorial, familiar gesture.
Tanya felt her blood begin to boil. He was two-timing his wife again! Although he hadn’t been married when he was in England, it amounted to the same thing. What a swine, what a cheat, what a bastard! How many other women had he had affairs with? At that moment he looked up and saw her.
If looks could kill he should have dropped dead; instead he offered her a surprised smile. Tanya glared icily and turned to her sister, who had been frantically looking for an empty table. ‘There don’t seem to be any,’ she muttered. ‘We ought to have booked.’
Then let’s get out of here,’ hissed Tanya. ‘I’ve just seen Alejandro—and he’s with another woman.’
‘Where?’ Charlene scanned the room, and at the same time Alejandro rose from his table and came over to them.
His easy smile belied the fact that he had been caught deceiving his wife. ‘As there are no tables perhaps you’d care to join us.’
‘Like hell we would,’ hurled Tanya. ‘We’ll find somewhere else to eat. It would be criminal to spoil your pleasure.’
Her deliberate emphasis on the last word caused a swift frown of annoyance. ‘You’re being extremely childish, Tanya. Inocente and I would be more than pleased to have your company.’
Inocente! Tanya glanced across at the black-haired girl and thought, Who are you trying to fool? This girl in no way wanted their presence at the table; it was there in her expression, in the hostility in her eyes, and Tanya could not believe it when Charlene accepted gracefully.
‘Thank you, Alejandro. I really did want Tanya to experience this place.’
He gave a pleased smile and led the way back to their corner table. ‘What did you do that for?’ Tanya whispered fiercely to her sister as she trailed behind. ‘This is the last thing I want.’
Charlene grinned. ‘I thought it would be fun to ruin his evening.’
And ruin mine too, thought Tanya, though she relaxed a mite. Charlene’s evil pleasure was infectious.
Introductions were made and the dark-haired girl smiled, though it was a surface smile only. She clearly wished them a thousand miles away, and must have wondered why her companion had insisted on inviting them to their table.
Inocente’s English was good, and she listened attentively while Alejandro explained how he had met Tanya and Charlene, though her eyes were sharp as she looked from one sister to the other, evidently wondering whether either of them had been his lover.
A waiter came and set their places, handing each of them a menu, enquiring whether they would like an aperitif. Charlene declined, and Alejandro offered Tanya some of their wine. It was an excellent Marqués de Cáceres red, and Tanya drank half of it straight away, needing the courage it would give her to get through the rest of the evening. Alejandro raised an eyebrow and topped up her glass.
It was not easy to concentrate on the menu; she was far too aware of Alejandro at her side. She and her sister had effectively split him and his companion up. Inocente remained opposite him, while she and Charlene were opposite each other. Tanya knew that Alejandro always liked his girlfriend to sit facing him so that he could look at her while they ate and talked, but the way it had turned out this evening Tanya wished she hadn’t been forced to sit so close.
‘I certainly never expected to see you two here tonight,’ said Alejandro.
I bet you didn’t, she wanted to scream. I bet you thought you’d be nice and safe here in this out-of-the-way place. Her eyes flashed daggers, but somehow she managed to keep her tone even. ‘We seem to be meeting a lot in unexpected circumstances.’
‘Indeed we do.’
His leg brushed hers as he spoke, maybe accidentally, maybe not. Tanya quickly tucked her feet beneath her chair. He was the world’s worst louse, she decided, and yet, despite her adverse feelings, she could not ignore the very real triggers of sensation that chased through her. Even knowing he was deceiving his wife, she still felt an incredible awareness. She was no better than the girl sitting next to her, she concluded angrily. ‘It’s strange that Charlene’s been here for two years and you’ve not met, and now I’ve come we seem to be bumping into each other all the time.’
‘Very strange,’ he admitted, and then in a voice so low neither of the others heard, ‘Or kismet.’
Tanya wanted to yell at him, to ask him what the devil he thought he was doing. Casanova had nothing on him. But she did not want to cause a scene in the restaurant and so she pretended not to have heard, and when the waiter came for their order she turned to him with relief.
It was a very long, tense next few hours. Inocente kept trying to dominate Alejandro’s attention, but he insisted on bringing Tanya and Charlene into the conversation, and in the end the Tinerfeño girl lapsed into sullen silence.
Charlene insisted on talking about Tanya’s husband, Peter. ‘They were so much in love,’ she concluded.
Tanya had tried to tell her sister to shut up by flashing her messages with her eyes, but Charlene either did not see or did not want to see, and by the end of the evening tempers were beginning