Counterfeit Bride(29)

'Pilar hates me,' she protested. 'I have tried. Really I have … '

'Of course you have, amiga,' Luis interrupted derisively. 'No half  measures in your efforts to achieve harmony with us all. Who should know  that better than myself?'

Her lip trembled. 'That isn't fair! I--I didn't ask you to leave my room last night.'

'No, that was a decision I managed to make for myself,' he said grimly.  'And you should be grateful for it, querida, because if and when I  return to your bed it will be to end this-half-marriage of ours, whether  you are willing or not.'

She said faintly, 'I don't understand.'

'No? Then allow me to explain, my charming, chaste little fraud. I have  no wish to lie beside you night after night, suffering the agonies of  the damned, only to hear you call out another man's name in your  dreams.' She gasped, and he said, 'Exactly, amiga. Next time you speak a  man's name in my bed, it will be my name, and in circumstances I leave  to your imagination.'

She began, 'But, Luis . . .'

'Oh, I am sure you have some perfectly reasonable explanation, my lovely  cheat. Who is this-Ewan? The great passionate love you once mentioned  to me-the one that still holds your heart?'

'It isn't as you think--' Nicola began desperately, trying to push out  of her mind that it was exactly what she had intended him to think.

'But then what is? Meanwhile, querida, here is a thought for you to take  upstairs with you. One of these nights I shall come to you, and I swear  that this time no-simulated terror, no cowering in corners, no dreams  of other men are going to hold me away.' He pushed his chair back and  left the room.

Nicola leaned limply back in her chair. Unwillingly her eyes lifted to  meet the painted gaze of Dona Manuela, which seemed in her imagination  to twinkle with amused sympathy.

'It was all right for you,' Nicola addressed the long-deceased beauty in  her thoughts. 'Your husband loved you so much that he carved out his  own empire for you to rule over.' Her glance went to the red rose Dona  Manuela held in her hand, and she sighed. 'And when he gave you that, he  probably meant every petal of it.'

She prepared for bed that night feeling miserably apprehensive, aware  that Maria was sending her puzzled glances. She lay awake half the  night, waiting for the door to open, but Luis did not appear, and she  didn't know whether to be glad or sorry.

But when she went down to breakfast the following day and heard that he  had left for Sonora and would probably be away for several days, she  knew that she was sorry.

Dona Isabella was at breakfast, heaving martyred sighs, but Pilar was  not, and when she had finished her meal, Nicola decided to take her  courage in both hands and seek the girl out.                       
       
           



       

It was with something of an effort that she knocked on her bedroom door.  After a short pause, the door was flung open and Pilar confronted her.

Nicola smiled, feeling awkward. 'I wondered if you would care to go riding with me today.'

'No, I should not.' Pilar's eyes flashed. 'Has Luis set you to spy on me?'

'No, of course not. Why should he?' Nicola suppressed a sigh. 'It's just that-I think he would like us to be-better friends.'

Pilar gave her a contemptuous look. 'I do not wish to be your friend.  Have I not made it plain? I do not need your company or your patronage,  Señora de Montalba,' she added with heavy irony. 'Who are you to marry  into our family? A nobody without background or breeding. An Inglesa,  with hair like straw thin, without breasts or hips. A girl whom my  cousin saw and fell in love with. Dios, he must have been mad! But his  madness has not lasted. The whole world knows he has tired of you, and  no longer sleeps in your bed.'

Nicola could not restrain her indrawn breath. But what else could she  have expected? she thought miserably. In a small enclosed society like  this, everyone's actions were under a microscope.

She tried again. 'Pilar, when people are unhappy they often say and do  things they don't mean, so I'm going to pretend you didn't say that. I  want to help-really I do.'

'Then help yourself, señora,' Pilar said maliciously. 'What a fool you  an;! Why did Luis have to marry you? Why did he not just keep you in an  apartment in Monterrey as he has his other women?' She giggled suddenly.  'And today he has not gone to Sonora alone. Carlota Garcia has gone  with him. I heard him arrange it yesterday, so...'

Nicola lifted her hand and quite deliberately slapped Pilar's cheek hard.

'Puta!' The Mexican girl's eyes blazed at her. 'I will make you sorry  that you were ever born!' She slammed the heavy door in Nicola's face.

Nicola stepped back involuntarily, and collided with Ramon, who was just  emerging from his own room on the other side of the corridor.

'What has happened?' He sounded alarmed as he steadied her.

'A little feminine squabble,' Nicola said slowly and evenly.

Ramon groaned. 'Is she still jealous of you? The good God only knows why  she should be. She never wanted Luis until Madrecita put it into her  head that she should-but I suppose her disappointment over Miguel...' He  shrugged.

'Luis mentioned that to me once,' Nicola said slowly. 'At least, he didn't tell me the man's name, but I guessed.'

Ramon grimaced. 'It is not hard to guess. In many ways they were well  matched. Miguel is a firebrand and Pilar was swept off her feet by him.  There was no reason why she should not be. He and Luis had attended  university together, and been friends since childhood. He was a constant  visitor here, so it was a tragedy when his political activities led him  into trouble with the authorities.' He sighed again. 'He had a good law  practice too, until he decided it was more moral to become a peon. He  was given a small grant of our land, and built a cabin there, but he did  not work the land-it was harder labour than he had imagined, I  think-and even the cabin is now derelict.'

'Not quite derelict,' said Nicola, flushing slightly as he gave her a questioning look. 'Luis and I once-spent the night there.'

'So that was where.' Ramon digested this for a moment or two. 'Obviously  we knew that you had been somewhere together, but Luis said nothing-and  one does not ask him what he does not volunteer.'

She said in a low voice, 'Ramon, what did he tell your mother about how-we met? Can you remember?'

He groaned. 'Can I ever forget? Madrecita was in a fury, swearing that  Luis insulted her by installing one of his-ladies under her roof, and  Luis gave her one of his cold looks and said that you were his future  wife. Madrecita screamed and said, "A stranger-a creature you have only  just met!" And Luis said, "I fell in love with her the moment I saw  her." '

Nicola was silent, remembering how she had asked Luis what story he had  told them, and he had said, 'Not the truth, but a story to fit...'

Ramon glanced at her. "You are very pale, Nicola. What is it? Not this silly quarrel with Pilar?'

It was hardly that, Nicola thought. There had been an almost frightening venom in the other girl.

'Perhaps,' she said. She forced a smile. 'I need some air, I'll go for a ride, I think.'

'But not alone,' he said anxiously. 'Do not even attempt it. There are  all kinds of rumours, and Luis has ordered constant patrols.' He paused.  'It is why he was so angry with Pilar. Miguel Jurado is said to be  somewhere in the locality again. One of the peons was bribed to bring  Pilar a note asking her to meet him in Santo Tomas, only the man brought  it to Luis instead. As she has been forbidden to have any communication  with Miguel, you can understand why Luis reacted as he did.'                       
       
           



       

And she could also understand Pilar's reactions, Nicola thought a little  sadly as she made her way to her room to change into her jeans and  boots. She had insisted on wearing the close-fitting denims she would  have worn in England for riding, and several pairs had been brought from  Santo Tomas for her, even though Dona Isabella heartily disapproved of  the way in which they outlined her slim hips and legs. The older woman  considered a divided skirt more suitable attire for the wife of Don  Luis.

When she had changed, and picked up her hat and gloves, Nicola paused  for a moment, looking at herself in the mirror. Pilar had a point, she  conceded reluctantly. She had no reason to intervene in anyone else's  personal affairs when her own were in such a mess.

As it was, her unthinking attempt to salvage some dregs of self-respect  had simply exposed her to a bitter reckoning that could happen at any  time.

And the bitterest part of all was that even if she were to tell Luis the  whole truth-that she loved him to the point of despair-he would not  believe her.





CHAPTER EIGHT

NICOLA sat with her back against a sun-drenched rock, wondering what to  do for the best. Three days had passed since her quarrel with Pilar and  relations between them hadn't improved one iota since then, she thought  ruefully. Luis was expected back the following day, and he was sure to  sense the atmosphere, and would probably blame her, which would make  their reunion      even less joyous than it already promised to be.