Counterfeit Bride(20)

Nicola said shortly, 'I wouldn't know. Shall we go on with the tour?'

There were numerous rooms on the ground floor, all graciously sized and  quite sufficient to give any of the hacienda's inhabitants as much  privacy as any of them might desire. In fact Nicola couldn't imagine  what half of them were used for, but Ramon seemed to take the opulence  of his surroundings totally for granted.

The room she liked least was Luis's study. No concessions to luxury had  been made there. It was a starkly masculine room, equipped with a  workmanlike desk, and lined with books.

'This is Luis's sanctuary when he is here,' Ramon commented. 'It is a  rule that no one interrupts him when that door is shut, but of course it  will not apply to you, little cousin.'

'I can't imagine any exception being made in my case,' she said. The  severe simplicity of it surprised her. She had expected something rather  more hedonistic for the master. 'You don't share it with him?'

'Dios, no,' Ramon laughed. 'I have my own office. I don't intrude on  Luis' privacy. I am not so brave.' He glanced at her quickly. 'But I  think his solitude will not be so precious to him now.'

Solitude? Nicola questioned inwardly. Luis Alvarado de Montalba was the last person in the world who needed to be alone.

She turned to leave the room, and started violently as she saw him  leaning in the doorway watching them. Ramon looked taken aback too.

'I'm sorry, Luis.' He spread his hands swiftly. 'But I thought you would wish Nicola to see everything-even here.'

'Of course.' He did not move. 'But it might be more appropriate if  Carmela were to show her the kitchen quarters- and the bedrooms. Juan  Hernandez is looking for you.'

'I'll go at once,' said Ramon. He disappeared before Nicola was even able to thank him.

Luis strolled past her to the desk and took a thin black cigar from a box. there. He lit it unhurriedly, still watching her.

'Do you like my house, querida?'

She noticed he did not say 'home'.

'No one could help liking it,' she said, a little helplessly. She  paused. 'Ramon told me about Dona Manuela-La Mariposa. I wondered about  her, when I saw the butterfly in her hair.'

'It is said he had it made for her,' he said. 'From silver mined near Santo Tomas.'

'Does it still exist?'

He shook his head. 'I believe it was buried with her.' His hand moved  towards one of the telephones on the desk-the house phone, she guessed.  'Shall I summon Carmela to show you the rest of the place?'

'Not-not for a moment.' She swallowed. 'I must talk to you.'

Luis blew a reflective cloud of smoke. 'I am at your service, amiga.'

Nicola took a deep breath. 'It's hopeless-you must see that. Keeping me  here-marrying me-just won't work. Your family will never accept me as  your wife. It would be better-much easier for everyone if you-let me  go.'

'Easier for you perhaps,' he said drily. 'But I have no intention of  letting you go. However, you need not fear. Tia Isabella will mellow to  you in time. She has too much to lose if she does not,' he added  cynically.

She stared at him. 'I don't understand.'

'It is simple enough. Her husband had money, but he was a gambler, a  speculator in minerals. He invested heavily in mines which yielded  nothing, and lost everything. Fortunately the shock killed him before  Tia Isabella had a chance to do so. As Ramon's passion had always been  ranching, and not ill-starred investments, it seemed sensible to offer  him La Mariposa as his home and allow him to run it for me. But Tia  Isabella is my guest here, and only my guest, as I was forced to remind  her.'                       
       
           



       

She moistened her lips. 'You told Ramon the truth- about how we met, and  other things-but what did you tell your aunt and your cousin?'

His mouth twisted. 'Not the truth, chica, but a story to fit the circumstances. Does it matter?'

'I suppose not,' she said defeatedly.

He took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look up at him. 'A word of  warning. Do not make my cousin Ramon fall in love with you. I should not  find it amusing.'

'I don't find any of this particularly amusing,' she snapped, pulling  away from him. 'But you don't have to worry. With an unwanted bridegroom  in my life, I'm not likely to start encouraging anyone else!'

She turned to leave, but he gripped her arm, pulling her round to face him.

'So you don't want me,' he said softly. ;What a little hypocrite you are, amiga.'

He bent his head and found her lips with his. This time there was no  savagery, no coercion. His mouth moved slowly and persuasively on hers,  coaxing her lips apart in a sensually teasing caress which sent her  blood hammering through her veins. All her good resolutions about  remaining aloof and unbending died a swift death as he drew her closer  against the hardness of his body, his own urgency firing a response she  was helpless to control.

She thought, 'I never knew it could be like this. God help me, I never  knew . . .' Then all thinking processes were suspended as her awareness  yielded totally to these new sensations he was evoking in her. Her hands  linked behind her neck, her fingers curling into his thick dark hair,  and eyes closed, she swayed against him, blind and deaf to everything  but the clamour of her body as his kiss deepened endlessly.

Pilar said from the doorway, 'Luis, is your telephone switched off? There is a call for you . . . Oh!'

Without any great haste, he lifted his head and looked at her.

'Gracias, Pilar. Perhaps you would be good enough to find Carmela and  tell her that my novia is anxious to be shown the rest of the house.'

Pilar gave a little sniff and turned on her heel to leave, sending, as  she did so, a look at Nicola which combined the usual hostility with a  kind of shocked curiosity.

Nicola's face burned as she stepped back, her hands going up to smooth her dishevelled hair.

When she was sure Pilar was no longer within earshot, she said unsteadily, 'I hate you.'

He smiled. 'Perhaps, querida, but at least you are not indifferent to me.'

'I'll be working on it,' she whispered, staring at him.

He shrugged slightly, his amused gaze roaming over her flushed face, and  the swift rise and fall of her breasts under the tight fitting bodice.  'What a waste of energy, querida, that might be employed in  more-agreeable ways. And now, if you will excuse me ...' He reached for  the telephone.

Nicola longed to slam the door as she left the room, but it was too  heavy and solid, resisting her efforts to close it even, so that she had  ample time to hear his soft-voiced, 'Si, Carlota, how is it with you?'

She stood in the corridor outside, staring at the heavy timbers which  prevented her hearing any more, and knowing a childish desire to beat on  them with her convulsively clenched fists.

The unknown caller had to be Carlota Garcia, the woman Teresita had  mentioned. She had assumed the affair was in the past, but it seemed she  was mistaken. Luis had not the slightest intention of allowing a little  thing like marriage to interfere with his chosen pleasures. The sudden  ache in her throat made her feel as if she was swallowing past knives,  and yet what had she really expected?

She began to run down the corridor. In the hall, she encountered  Carmela, a stout woman with greying hair whose ready smile faded to  puzzlement and sympathy as Nicola explained that she had a headache and  would not be seeing any more of the hacienda that day. She refused all  offers of cool drinks and medication, and fled upstairs to her room.

But even there, there was no sanctuary. She lay on the wide bed and  looked up at the butterfly, its delicate embroidered wings shimmering in  the sunlight. Her emblem was everywhere--this giri who had travelled  half across the world to find her love. .

Nicola thought, 'I've travelled as far-but what is there here for me? No love, certainly.'

There were tears on her face, but she welcomed them, knowing that,  without love, she would one day know a bitterness too deep for tears,  and wondering, with a kind of despair, why she should suddenly be so  sure of this.

By the time Maria arrived to help her to dress for dinner, she had  regained some measure of control. Maria had brought with her the dress  she had been altering, a simple black sheath, with a deep square  neckline and elbow-length sleeves. Dressed in it, Nicola felt prepared  to face the world, if not enjoy it. She had finished doing her face  under Maria's approving scrutiny and was applying some gloss to her  lips, when there was a knock at the door.                       
       
           



       

Maria went to answer it, and stood aside giggling as Luis walked in.  Then, before Nicola could stop her, she vanished, leaving them alone  together.

She sat staring into the mirror, watching him approach. He came and stood behind her.

He said, 'I regret, querida, that I shall not be here for dinner. I have to go to Santo Tomas quite unexpectedly.'

Nicola replaced the cap on the tube of glosser and put it down. She was pleased to see how steady her hands were.