CHAPTER 10

This time Lina prepared much better for dinner. Miguel had returned home earlier in the evening and had brought bags and bags of clothes for her from the finest shops in the town.
Lina chose a beautiful dress from the ones he had brought. It was black and on the front of the bodice there were small seed beads and crystal detailing that trailed down the back all the way to the helm. The skirt was a mermaid trumpet cut. It was sexy, but it still left something to one's imagination. She didn't want to go too far with it. She put on some makeup and curled her long hair into loose curls and waves, and left it open.
She took a final look at herself in the mirror. Funny how skin healed so much faster than the heart. The bruise Sands had given her had disappeared and her hands were almost healed. She almost didn't recognize herself. It wasn't so much the dress or anything like that, but the thought of what she was actually going to do. Could she really pull it off? She closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts, and when she opened them again she saw the determination was back. There was no other way.

She still felt a little nervous sting when she saw Miguel was waiting for at the bottom of the stairs. She walked down and covered her fears with a smile.

He took her hand and kissed it. "You look exquisite." He looked nice too, but she still couldn't quite look him in the eyes without feeling uncomfortable.

They dined and this time Lina tried to concentrate and take more part in the conversation by answering with more than one or two words. The dinner went quite well even though underneath the surface Lina felt like she was ready to crumble at any time. She even managed to eat, as if this was nothing out of the ordinary. After the servants had cleaned up the table and left them, Miguel stood up and put on some music, then walked to her side.

"Would you like to dance?"

Lina took his offered hand with a wavering smile and allowed him to pull her close to him. The music was slow, beautiful. The guitar played like it was tearing the strings in her heart. She had enjoyed perhaps a little more wine than she had planned, just to soothe her nerves. Now she noticed that even the warm wine flowing in her blood wasn't helping; she was tense. She tried to relax because she didn't want Miguel to notice it.

"I'm glad you are feeling better than last night", he said breaking the silence that had lasted for some time.

Lina tried a smile again. "I am better. I was just tired before."

"Well, everything usually looks different after a well slept night", he said smiling too. "But you know, you didn't answer my question last night?"

"What question?" Lina asked and found herself stalling again.

"I asked if you would forgive me for arranging you coming here the way you did."

Lina searched for the right words. "Let's just forget about it. I'm here now and that's what matters."

He nodded clearly delighted. "You are of course right, my dear. So tell me, what do you think of the house?"

"Oh, it's very beautiful. Everything here is very beautiful", she said and she didn't even have to lie.

"I'm glad to hear you think so. Do you think you could see yourself living here?"

The conversation they had had during dining had been safe and didn't have anything to do with them or the situation. Now that he brought it up she almost froze, but forced herself to act like it was nothing.

"Honestly, I don't know", she replied looking down. In her mind she realized that all the beauty in the world wouldn't be enough for her to want to be with Miguel. She looked back up to him again. "I think I could picture myself staying here, with you", she lied fluently. "But I also think I need some time. This is all happening so fast."

He looked into her eyes and she realized he was about to kiss her. Despite her plan, she panicked and before he could kiss her, she pulled away. She walked to the table and leaned her hands to the back of a chair. She would have to get a grip on herself or this wouldn't work and everything would be ruined.

She felt his hands on her arms and he turned her around tenderly.

"I know it hasn't been easy for you, what with your father and everything", he spoke in a gentle tone, "but you know I want you. I want to marry you, I want you to be my wife. Don't turn me down."

He bent down to kiss her again. This time Lina didn't allow herself to move away. She had known this would happen and she had tried to prepare herself, but she still didn't know how to react. She tried to stay calm and just let him kiss her. He tasted her with his lips and she felt his hands go down on her waist.
Suddenly, completely out of the blue, she remembered when Sands had kissed her. She remembered what his lips had felt like, what his kiss had felt like. That memory made Miguel's touch feel so different and… wrong. Sands' face was burning on her mind again and she quickly pulled away from Miguel's arms.

"I'm sorry, I can't", Lina said shaking her head and covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn't, because it didn't feel right. For the life of her she couldn't sell her body to a man who made her feel sick!

Miguel tried to approach her again. Lina abandoned the thought of doing what ever it was she had thought she could do to get her freedom and backed down. She realized she couldn't go through with it.

"This is because of him, isn't it?" he said suddenly in a cold voice. She could see he was getting angry.

Lina looked up at him worried. "What... what do you mean?" Fear was growing inside her; she thought she knew what he was referring to, but she tried to buy some time.

He gave her a sarcastic smile. "Don't think I don't know about your little episode with Mr. Sands."

Lina took a sharp breath. So she was right, he knew. Oh god, he knew!

He began to approach her slowly and every step that he took forward, she took backwards.

"You are a fool, my dear, if you think it meant anything to him", Miguel continued with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "He just took advantage of your stupidity. He was more than happy to get rid of you and gladly took the money."

His words cut deeper than he probably even thought. Lina didn't want to hear them and she turned to leave. She had to get away. But she couldn't, because he grabbed her arm extremely hard and twisted it painfully behind her back pulling her close to him again.

"Don't you EVER turn your back to me, you slut!" he yelled. "We are going to get married whether you want it or not, and you can count on it that you will never see your little lover again. In fact, I know a way to make you forget about him really soon…"

Then he kissed her again, but this time in a rough manner. Lina tried to fight him but he rolled over her like a force of nature; unstoppable and merciless. His kisses moved from her lips down to her neck and his other hand closed around her breast.

"No!" Lina screamed, but it fell on deaf ears.

This was exactly what she had tried to avoid, but now in the situation there was nothing she could do. Suddenly he tore the cleavage of her dress revealing her bra. She tried to stop him by hitting him with her free hand but he was like in a craze and didn't even seem to notice it. His mouth was sucking and biting her neck and shoulders, as if a mockery of a lovers caress, and his hand wondered from her breast down her legs and began to pull her dress up. She felt his hand on her bare thigh, moving up. He was determined and aroused, she didn't think anything she could do would make him stop.
She was paralyzed, just letting it happen.

He was suddenly interrupted when the servant came knocking on the door. He subtly cleared his throat to let them know he was in the room.

"I'm sorry senor, but there is a Mr. Lopez on the phone. He wants to talk to you and says it's urgent", he was talking like nothing strange was going on.

Lina could see Miguel was thinking, and then he let go of her, half pushing her on the floor. She fell down and bit her lip not to sob out loud.

"I'll be right there", Miguel said to his servant. "Take Ms. Evans to her room. Dinner is over for now."

Before he left, he turned to her. "Don't think this is over. I'm not finished with you yet."

Lina staid on the floor and after few seconds of steadying her breath, she began to get up. The servant took her hand to help her up, but she pushed it away. He hadn't rushed to her aid even if he had seen what was happening, so she didn't want his help now either. She held up the cleavage of her torn dress and lifted her chin up before leaving for upstairs.

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When Lina got to her room she fell straight on to the bed. She drowned her sobs to the pillow that was soon wet. Now that her tear channels had been opened, she cried for everything. She cried for what had just happened – or almost happened, she cried for her failed plan and the fact that there was no way out of her prison. She even cried for her father, and as much as she hated to admit it to herself… she cried for Sands.
She wished he had killed her then when he had had her at gun point! That way he would have saved her from all this; from Miguel and from the feelings she had. Because no matter what she WANTED to feel, the fact still remained.

She missed him. Her hands missed his hands, her lips missed his lips. Everything in her missed everything in him.

But he didn't want her. He didn't care about her and she was a fool for feeling the way she did, just like Miguel had said.

The moon was glowing in from the window and straight on her face, knowing nothing of her troubles. She looked at it and wished she could be just as far away from here as it was.
That was her last thought before she fell asleep.

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She had a strange dream where she was again in front of the barn where Sands and she had stayed in. She looked inside and it looked just the same as it had been. The horses were there, so was the oil lamp and the blankets. She saw someone was kneeling on them with his back to her. She walked in and he turned around. In the shadowy light she could see it was Sands, and he had blood in his hands. There was something next to him on the blankets. She looked at it more closely and saw it was a heart. Not a real heart, but a small heart shaped object, and it was bleeding.

"What is that?" she asked him shocked.

"It's your heart", he replied.

Of course she didn't believe him, but when she placed her hand on her chest she didn't feel it beating. It wasn't there! She looked at Sands.

"Give it back!"

"No", he said and just shook his head.

"But I need it! I need my heart!" Lina was starting to panic.

He smiled that beautiful smile of his. "So do I."

She tried to reach for him and the heart but they both disappeared and she fell flat on her face.
Lina woke up. Instinctively she placed her hand on her heart and sighed in relief when she felt it was beating in its place. For a moment she had gotten a stupid fear that it wouldn't…
But she knew immediately that it hadn't been just the dream that had woken her up. She realized that someone was in the room. And just then she felt the bed shift as that someone sat on it behind her. Her first thought was that it was Miguel and she turned so that she could see him. But before she even got a glimpse of him, he put his hand over her mouth and locked her hands against the bed turning Lina on her back. She prepared to face his piercing gaze, but the eyes she confronted weren't ice blue, they were dark and brown.

Sands.

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R&R!

I was faster this time, wasn't I? ;)