"I was right," Ramon said with an effort at a smile.
"I am engaged to be married to Juan Vega now," she said, still smiling as she reached beneath the counter and pulled out a large package wrapped in white paper and tied with strings. "These are the towels Senorita Connelly ordered for you. Do you want to take them with you?"
"Fine," Ramon said with a curt nod. Reaching into the back pocket of his Levi's, he pulled out his wallet and glanced at the sales slip. "You only charged me for the cigars, Maria. How much are the towels?"
"Senorita Connelly has already paid for them with her credit card," she reassured him.
Ramon tried not to sound as impatient as he felt. "There must be some mistake."
"Mistake?" Maria repeated. "I do not think so, but I will look." She cut the string and tore open the white paper. A pile of thick, fluffy red and black towels spilled onto the counter. Behind him and beside him, Ramon felt the villagers pressing imperceptibly closer to get a better view of the contents of the package. "Here is the charge-account receipt and these are the sales tickets," Maria said as she pulled them from between two towels. "No, there is no mistake. Senorita Connelly paid for these towels with her charge account at the same time she paid for everything she took with her a week ago. See, it is all here on the sales slips, included in the five-hundred-dollar total. She paid for a toaster, percolator, dishes, pots and pans, glasses in several sizes, a blender, a rotary mixer, kitchen utensils and all these other items.''
The old man beside Ramon poked him slyly in the ribs. "You are a lucky man, Ramon. Your novia wants you to have only the best. Not only is she beautiful, she is very generous, too, eh?"
"Wrap up the towels," Ramon snapped at Maria in a low, savage voice.
Maria paled at the look on his face and began clumsily and hastily pulling the edges of the paper together. "Here—here are Senorita Connelly's duplicate bills, each for one-half the amount she spent," she stammered, her eyes recoiling from Ramon's murderous expression as she handed him the slips. "Senora Alverez," she glanced apprehensively at a furious Eduardo as she spoke his wife's name, "explained that I do not have to prepare duplicate bills this way, unless Senorita Connelly pays in cash, but I—I do it anyway."
She shoved the package toward Ramon as if it were hot, and her voice dropped to a panicked whisper. "That way, I never forget."
Ramon's tone was glacial. "I am certain that Senorita Connelly has appreciated your help, Maria." Everyone hastily backed out of his path as he strode out of the store with fury raging in every purposeful stride.
Eleven villagers watched the door slam behind Ramon and then Eduardo. In unison they turned to stare at each other, their faces reflecting a variety of reactions from alarm to satisfaction. Only one occupant of the store was oblivious to what had just taken place—an Englishman who did not understand Spanish. He cleared his throat politely and shifted the parcels in his arms, but he was ignored.
Maria was the first to speak. She looked around at the others, her soft brown eyes wide and stricken as she whispered, "What did I do wrong?"
The middle-aged man, who was the other sales-clerk, regarded her dryly. "Maria, you have just given Senorita Connelly more 'help' than I think she wanted."
The old man who had gibed Ramon about his novia's generosity slapped his thigh and cackled gleefully. "I told you Galverra didn't know what the girl was doing. I told you!" His weathered face creased into a satisfied grin as he looked at his neighbors. "Told you he'd never live off a woman even if he was starving." Smugly he added, "He ought to take a stick to her!''
"I will come back for the other apron," the enormous woman said as she headed for the door.
"Where are you going, Rosa?" her friend called after her.
"To offer up a prayer in church."
"For the American girl?" one of the ladies asked, laughing.
"No, for Gabriella Alverez."
"Ought to take a stick to her, too," the old man announced.
When she heard Ramon come in, Katie stood up and made a great pretense of rearranging the straw place mats on the kitchen table. It was crazy how her spirits soared at the mere sound of his voice calling her name.
"Here are the rest of the towels you ordered," he said, dropping the package carelessly on the table. "The girl at the store said they had already been paid for. Is this coffee still fresh?" he asked as he went over and poured some into a mug.
Katie smiled at him over her shoulder and nodded as she pulled the bunched towels out of the wrapping and began refolding them.
"I still cannot imagine how you managed to buy all this with the money I gave you," he remarked.
"I told you," Katie said brightly. "I'm a fantastic bargain hunter."
"You are also a liar."
Katie spun around, feeling a prickling of fear that escalated to panic the moment she looked at him. In contrast to the deadly quiet of his voice, Ramon's face was a mask of savage fury.
"How much of your money have you spent?"
Katie's mouth went dry. "Very little. A—a hundred dollars."
His eyes slashed her like razors. "I asked you how much!" he repeated in a terrible voice.
"Two—two hundred."
"Lie to me just once more," he warned silkily, "and I will make your first husband seem like a saint."
The threat made Katie almost sick with fright. "About three thousand dollars."
The next que
stion hit her like a whip. "Why?"
"Because I...didn't want to feel obligated to marry you."
Naked pain sliced across his features in the instant before his whole body went rigid, tensing against it. "Garcia will take you to the airport at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon. He will have a check with him to reimburse you for what you have spent. There is no need for you to make any explanations to Gabriella and Eduardo; they already know you are leaving."
Katie was breathing in shallow, suffocated breaths. "You're actually going to send me back just because I bought some things for the house?"
"Because I told you not to do it," he corrected her scathingly.
"And just—just for that? For—for disobeying you?" Katie felt as if she had been physically beaten. Her mind couldn't seem to absorb the shock. He must be insane; the man she had thought she knew could never, never do this. Not for such a small thing.
She started slowly toward the door on legs that felt wooden. As she passed Ramon, she glanced at him, her eyes dark with pain and disillusionment. "Just for that," she murmured and numbly shook her head. "Don't!" she cried out as his hands spun her around and brought her crashing into the wall of his chest.
His eyes glittered down at her from a face that was white with rage. "You are nothing but an eager body and an empty heart," he gritted viciously. "Did you think I was so desperate for your body that I would accept the temporary loan of it and call it a marriage?" He flung her away from him as if he couldn't bear to touch her, and strode to the doorway, where he turned, his voice murderous. "If you have not cashed the check Garcia gives you within fourteen days, I will have everything in this house carried outside and set on fire."
Katie snapped the locks shut on the last piece of her luggage and carried it to the open bedroom door, setting it down beside the other five pieces.