Captive Heart by Patti Beckman Read Free Book Online

Porsche he drove? Well, he didn't get to first base with me. And there have been others. I'm impervious to that type. I've been around enough of them to know how to take care of myself. I certainly wouldn't for one minute believe their flowery lines. Trust me, Uncle Edgar. I wouldn't let you go back without me if there was any chance that Del Toro could fool me. But he can't. I'm on to his type. And what's more, I find him insufferable. And you know how he feels about me!"
    "Maybe you're right," Uncle Edgar gave in. "But I won't rest easy until you're back home and I know you're safe."
    "I'll be just fine," she said firmly, wishing she felt as firm deep down. She was doing a good job of convincing Uncle Edgar. Now if she could only convince herself!
    "If you'll excuse me, I'll get ready to go with you to the airport."
    Uncle Edgar left JoNell to her dressing.
    Soon they were speeding along in Del Toro's black Rolls Royce with Miguel at the wheel. JoNell and Uncle Edgar chatted about the plush surroundings they had been enjoying and how different life was in the upper stratum of South American society.
    "As glamorous as it all is, I could never fit in," JoNell quipped with a laugh, and then had a strange, uneasy feeling. Was it because Consuelo had made such biting remarks about her middle-class background? Or was there another reason, which she, herself, did not understand?
    At the airport, JoNell felt herself torn emotionally. Sudden loneliness at seeing Uncle Edgar leave coupled with an uneasy feeling at being abandoned so far from home in the company of a man like Del Toro almost prompted her to give up her stubborn plan and ask Uncle Edgar to take her home with him. But she swallowed her temporary weakness, reminding herself that she must stay if only for her father's sake. She had never let him down in any way that really mattered, and she wasn't about to start now.
    JoNell waited in the observation tower until Uncle Edgar's plane faded into the horizon. She sat for a long moment, sighed deeply, then resolutely squared her shoulders. She felt like an accused primitive who had to prove himself worthy by walking over live coals. Her test of fire took the human shape of a handsome man, but it would be a grueling test all the same. She would have to continue to prove to him that she was as capable as any man to give him flying instructions, and at the same time be on guard against his overpowering charm.
    On the ride home, JoNell listened with only half an ear to Miguel's running chatter. She laughed politely at his jokes and humorous observations about life, but her mind was elsewhere. Then Miguel began talking about Del Toro, and JoNell found herself paying attention.
    "The seňor is not what you may think," Miguel was saying. "He is a good man. He has a big heart."
    "So I've heard," JoNell murmured. The irony in her voice was obviously lost on Miguel.
    "The seňor is really a man of the people," he said.
    "So I've heard again," JoNell agreed.
All of them women
!
    "It is a sad situation," Miguel continued.
    For scores of broken-hearted women.
    "He is really quite unhappy in some ways."
    Because he doesn't have time for more women?
    "He is a very generous man."
    Yes
—
with his flowery lines
.
    "Most people don't know what he is really like."
    Just ask his previous lovers!
    "But I know a side of him no one else has ever seen," Miguel offered.
    "Oh?" For some reason no sarcastic thoughts came to mind now, and she leaned forward to better hear Miguel.
    "I know the real man," Miguel said in a confidential, important tone. "I am one of the few persons in the entire world who knows the real Jorge Del Toro."
    JoNell waited for a long, expectant minute. But Miguel fell silent. He darted expertly in and out of the fast-moving traffic.
    "Well, go on," JoNell prompted.
    "I'm driving as fast as I can."
    "That's not what I meant, and you know it," JoNell said with a grin. "Finish what you were going to say about seňor Del Toro."
    "Oh,