Chapter 73 Elizabeth King

• ELIZABETH KING WAITED for Vikki Chan’s appraisal of the man who had come to her house. It was strange and rather disturbing, after all these years of widowhood, to find herself attracted—physically attracted—and excited by a man. She had believed such feelings had died in her when she’d lost Lachlan. Always to her mind, her husband had been one of a kind, unmatchable, yet Rafael Santiso had definitely put a zing in her blood.
Brilliant dark eyes zeroing in on hers, just as Lachlan’s had, the power of the mind behind them reaching out, probing, challenging, so assured of commanding the situation, of dominating. Aristocratic Spanish, she’d thought this morning, taking in his elegant features and fine, upright figure. Argentinian, she knew now, and wondered if he came from a family who had owned one of the great cattle ranches in South America. There was that sense of unyielding mettle about him…but it was probably foolish to compare him to Lachlan.
A dangerous man, Jared had warned, a master of manipulation, trustee of the multimillion-dollar Kruger inheritance, and Christabel’s daughter, Alicia Kruger, not Valdez, was the heiress. For over two years Christabel had been on the run from Rafael Santiso and the influence he wielded, and Christabel was not a fool. Her enigmatic behaviour was now answered, and given the story she had told Jared, her fears were certainly not groundless.
Yet to Elizabeth, even the sense of danger had a special exhilaration to it…the need to be on her guard, to be alert and ready to counter-challenge with her own power. She couldn’t remember when she’d last felt quite so alive. It gave her an enormous buzz, knowing Rafael Santiso was waiting on her veranda, waiting on her pleasure, immune from any force from him.
She heard Vikki returning down the hall, and her heart lifted in anticipation of the old housekeeper’s judgment. “Well?” she asked.
Vikki Chan entered the kitchen smiling, her eyes twinkling in amusement. “He is not used to being thwarted. But he is very quick, Elizabeth. In the blink of an eye he changed his intimidating manner to appealing charm.”
“But he did try to walk over you initially.”
“Frustration momentarily clouded his vision, but he is adept at reading people. He checked himself even as he began his demand for you, sliding it into a request.”
“Your personal feeling about him?”
The shrewd black eyes didn’t miss anything. “He is a mandarin.”
Elizabeth frowned over the old Chinese term for a government official. The picture didn’t fit for her.
“A red coral button mandarin,” Vikki elaborated. “A wily governor and an efficient general.”
“He’s in charge of a vast financial empire,” Elizabeth reminded her.
“A trustee, not an emperor.”
“Christabel doesn’t trust him. Such power can corrupt.”
“I felt no evil in him. Neither did you, Elizabeth. You are drawn to him.” Her all too wise eyes crinkled as she added, “You changed into the coral shift to match him.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Does nothing escape you, Vikki?”
“He came alone. That is interesting, is it not?”
“We shall see. Bring refreshments out in about ten minutes.”
“You don’t wish to invite him inside?”
“No. Christabel regards him as the enemy. Until I am convinced otherwise, he will not be a guest in my home.”
She was conscious of a rush of adrenalin as she walked down the hall to the front door. It was interesting that he had come alone. Her secretary had reported that all three men had come to her office at four o’clock, undoubtedly having discovered from Alicia’s teacher that their quarry had left with Jared long before the end of the school day.
Elizabeth had deliberately gone home after she heard Jared’s report from King’s Eden. Let Santiso chase after her, she’d thought. How he did it would tell her more about him. He’d weighted his presence with the Swiss accountant and the German lawyer this morning, and again at four o’clock this afternoon. Now it was after five and he’d come alone. Elizabeth surmised a lot of thinking had been done in the past hour.
She opened the door. He stood well back from it, half-turned towards the view over Roebuck Bay, and he was no longer dressed in a suit. As he swivelled to face her, Elizabeth had the wild impression of a toreador, flexing his lithe muscular body and flaunting his virility.
Maybe it was the open-necked white shirt and black trousers, or the flash of sexual challenge in the magnetic dark eyes, or the sense of power tightly coiled, ready to be unleashed…whatever…the male animal impact was much stronger than before, and Elizabeth felt her stomach curl in response.
It was totally irrelevant that this was a man in his sixties, his thick black hair threaded with silver, his face lined with years of maturity. He exuded an immensely powerful sex appeal, and Elizabeth was suddenly certain he knew it and this was deliberately switched on for her.
“Mrs. King…” He offered his hand, even as she noted his voice had taken on a richer timbre, not so clipped and coolly controlled.
“Mr. Santiso,” she replied, meeting his hand with hers and feeling an astonishing frisson of electricity on her skin as he fanned it with his thumb.
“Since I find that your son has flown off with Christabel and her daughter, I am at a loose end here in Broome,” he went on, his eyes projecting a pleasant opportunity as he added, “I was wondering if I could persuade you to join me for dinner tonight.”
Elizabeth withdrew her hand and floated it in a graceful invitation towards the table and chairs on the veranda. “An attractive suggestion, Mr. Santiso, but I shall need some persuasion. If you’d like to sit and enjoy more of the view here…”
“I’ve taken the Nolan Suite at the Cable Beach Resort. It has a private dining room. I’m told the sunset from there is spectacular.”
“Indeed, it is. And I tend to think you’ll be seeing many sunsets if you’re waiting for Christabel and her daughter to return to Broome.” She smiled and stepped purposefully towards the table, remarking, “From this side of the peninsula we enjoy the moonrise.”
He laughed and followed her. “I take it you are conceding there is more than a professional connection between your son and Christabel.”
“Jared is very dear to me, Mr. Santiso. He has been very dear to me for over thirty years.” She settled on the chair at the far side of the table and raised an eyebrow at the man who presumed she could be won in bed. “Do you imagine the pleasure of being in the Nolan Suite with you would make me forget that?”
He grinned, totally unabashed. “You are, without a doubt, the most exciting woman I’ve ever met.”