Greta Gilbert - The Spaniard's Innocent Maiden

The conquistador’s true treasure...

Benicio Villafuerte sailed to the New World to seek his fortune. But his treasure map is impossible to decipher. He needs a guide, and discovering an innocent native woman in trouble is the perfect opportunity. He’ll buy her freedom if she’ll help him on his hunt...

Tula never imagined the adventure Benicio would take her on—for when their dangerous days explode into sensuous nights, she is brought to life. And soon she embarks on her own quest...to capture the conquistador’s heart!

Benicio’s heart hammered. The woman in white was so close to him, yet so completely out of his reach.

The newly elected alcalde of Vera Cruz, Alonso de Grado, stood and selected the woman in orange, bending to his knee and bowing, then escorting the young woman back to the table. Others were not so polite. Pilot Diego Cermeño took the girl in green by the elbow. Sailor Gonzalo de Umbria merely gestured to the girl in red. Then it was Benicio’s turn.

There was only one thing to be done. Benicio reached into his boot. Then he stood and walked to the head of the table. He placed the diamond and jadestone ring before Cortés.

A curious grin spread across Cortés’s face. ‘How came you by this magnificent piece?’

‘I found it in a stream near the fields of Potonchan,’ Benicio lied. ‘I have very sharp eyes.’

‘I will accept it as compensation for the woman in white,’ Cortés said.

Author Note

This is a story of a clash of cultures and also of their fusion. It takes place during one of the cruellest, most astonishing periods in world history: Cortés’s conquest of the Aztecs, beginning in 1519.

At the time the Aztecs—or Mexica—ruled Mexico from their capital of Tenochtitlan, one of the largest and most advanced cities in the world. The Mexica were the Romans of Mesoamerica: their ever-expanding empire covered eighty thousand miles, and they exacted tribute from some six million souls—including the Totonacs.

The heroine of this story is a Totonac woman. She participates in the fateful alliance of the Totonacs and Spanish against the Mexica, but slowly realises that the Spanish are becoming her new oppressors. For her, the only hope for freedom lies in the mysterious lands of the Maya.

Often called the Greeks of Mesoamerica, the Maya lived amidst the ruins of their ancient civilisation. Culturally advanced, but geographically isolated, they were never conquered by the Mexica and evaded Spanish rule until 1697. In some respects they evade it still.

Everywhere the descendants of the Conquest live on. I have tried to present this part of their history as knowledgeably and respectfully as possible.

Thank you for reading!

The Spaniard’s Innocent Maiden

Greta Gilbert

www.millsandboon.co.uk

GRETA GILBERT’s passion for ancient history began with a teenage crush on Indiana Jones. As an adult she landed a dream job at National Geographic Learning, where her colleagues—former archaeologists—helped her learn to keep her facts straight. Now she lives in South Baja, Mexico, where she continues to study the ancients. She is especially intrigued by ancient mysteries, and always keeps a little Indiana Jones inside her heart.

Books by Greta Gilbert

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

Enslaved by the Desert Trader

The Spaniard’s Innocent Maiden

Mills & Boon Historical Undone! eBook

Mastered by Her Slave

Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk

For my mom: friend, editor, counsellor, muse,

cheerleader, champion, sage, sag wagon,

overflowing fountain of love.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Author Note

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Seville, Spain—March 1517

Carlos dropped to his knee in the crowded marketplace, swept off his feathered hat and asked Luisa Valentina Altamirano if she would do him the honour of becoming his wife. A small stray dog, who had reluctantly agreed to play the role of Luisa, whined mournfully.

‘Release her,’ Carlos told his brother, Benicio. ‘She has made me into a fool.’

‘Indeed she has,’ agreed Benicio, releasing the scruffy canine, who took a direct route to a nearby butcher’s stall.

‘I need a more intelligent understudy,’ Carlos said, stroking his nascent beard, ‘one who will appreciate my poetry.’ Carlos eyed Benicio steadily.

‘Not I,’ Benicio protested, holding up his book of formulas. ‘I am a man of science. I am unqualified to assess your effusions of love.’

That was not entirely true. Cursed with the double-edged sword of male beauty, Benicio had had a stream of love interests over the years—women attracted by his piercing blue eyes and towering figure, which he had been told he moved with a remarkable grace. There was only one woman, however, whom Benicio had ever loved and she was about to receive a proposal of marriage from his younger brother Carlos.

‘If you will not play the role of Luisa, then I will ask Armando to do it,’ said Carlos, beckoning to their portly older brother, ‘though he is less suited to it.’

Benicio scoffed. ‘Armando is perfectly suited,’ he said. ‘Just look at how he preens before that hatters’ mirror.’ As Benicio and Carlos laughed mockingly at their older brother, Benicio slid a glance to the avenue that led into Seville’s bustling Plaza del Triunfo. Any moment, Luisa’s painted carriage would appear and La Belleza herself would disembark in a flutter of skirts and ribbons.

Benicio was already steeling himself against that moment, for he held a secret that even his brothers did not know. Only two months past, he had made his own proposal of marriage to Luisa and had not yet received her answer.

Tranquilo, he told himself, continuing to laugh rather too gaily. Why was he finding it so hard to control his nerves? He had known Luisa since childhood, after all. For most of their lives, they had been the best of friends. There was no reason for his heart to be racing as it was, or for the sweat to be surging beneath his chemise in a soaking torrent.

She had had the same effect on him the evening of the Feast of the Epiphany, when he had urged her to marry him. But she had only stared at him with those lovely green eyes, pondering something. What had it been?

‘I have returned,’ said Armando, rejoining them. ‘Why do you stare at me so piteously?’