Moth to the Flame(29)

She did not turn and look at him. In a wooden little voice she said,

'Jan wants to come back to the castello with us. She's tired of the

clinic and-and she feels a quiet rest in the sun would do her good.'

'An admirable idea,' he approved. 'Did you imagine there might be

some difficulty?'

Still not looking at either of them, Juliet said in the same wooden

voice, 'I wasn't sure that we would be returning to the castello.' Her

hands were gripped in front of her so tightly that her knuckles were

white with the strain.

'Naturally we shall be returning there,' he said almost casually. 'And

it would be an excellent arrangement for your sister to accompany

us. She would make a far more adequate compagna over the next

few weeks than Annunziata.'

'A chaperone?' Juliet heard Jan giggle. 'Well, it will be novel

anyway.'

Feeling slightly dizzy, she turned away from the window,

murmuring something about finding one of the sisters and retrieving

Jan's case. As she gained the corridor, Santino came after her.

'What's the matter with you?' he demanded, his fingers grasping her

arm. 'Where are you running to?'

She faced him. 'Jan will need her things,' she said defensively,

trying to free her arm.

He gestured impatiently. 'She will certainly not be allowed to leave

the clinic tonight,' he averred incisively. 'Both she and Mario are

still under observation. Tomorrow will be soon enough to find what

things of hers were salvaged from the car.' He gave her a searching

look. 'What is troubling you?'

'I can't go back to the castello,' she said desperately. 'Santino, I

can't. I-I must go home-back to England. I have responsibilities

...'

'You have responsibilities here,' he interrupted coldly. 'You

involved yourself in this affair of your own will, but you remain

here through mine, and we will see this thing through to the bitter

end.'

'And is it your-will that Jan should move in with us to the

castello?' she demanded.

'The idea had not occurred to me before,' he said coolly. 'But it has

much to recommend it, particularly as I learn that Francesca and her

mother are on their way here to visit Mario. I would prefer in some

ways for your sister to be at a safe distance before their arrival, so

that Vittoria does not get the chance to plant any of her little

poisoned darts.'

'And that is the only reason?' she asked, sick at heart.

'No,' he studied her face for a moment, his own expression

hardening, 'I admit frankly that it is not. You are neither a child nor

a fool, Giulietta, so you must know why I have agreed to invite her.'

'Yes,' she said almost inaudibly, 'I think I do.'

She heard him draw a little breath, and felt his fingers cup her chin

lifting her face towards his. With a sense of panic, she knew that he

was going to kiss her, and she tore herself free from his slackened

grasp, stepping backwards.

'You promised.' Her voice sounded high and a little strained. 'You

said that our engagement would only exist in public.'

He took a half-step towards her, his eyebrows lifting mockingly. 1

can think of few places more public than the corridor of a hospital,

with the good Sisters likely to come upon us at any minute,' he

observed. 'But don't worry, cara. Your precious chastity is safe for

the moment. My mother has asked me to bring you to Mario's

room, so that you may meet him.'

'What a farce it all is,' she said bitterly. 'Very well, signore, I'll go

and be presented as your future wife. But you don't have to

accompany me. As you said, I'm neither a child nor a fool, and I

can-just-manage to find two adjoining rooms in a hospital

corridor.'

'There are times, Giulietta,' he said quite pleasantly, 'when I could

quite willingly beat you. I should go quickly, if I were you, before

my impulse turns to compulsion.'                       
       
           



       

At the door, she hesitated. Inside, through the thin partition, she

could hear the Signora talking with great rapidity, with occasional

low-voiced interventions by her husband, and she could guess what

the subject of the good lady's diatribe was. For a moment she

regretted telling Santino she did not want his company. It wasn't the

easiest thing in the world to push open a door and walk into a room

where you would only be received on sufferance.

If he was still watching her, she decided, she would swallow her

pride and ask him to come with her. She swung towards him and

paused, the words dying unuttered on her lips. He wasn't watching

her. He wasn't even glancing in her direction. He was walking with

cool purpose back to Janina's room, and as Juliet stood watching

with a kind of sick incredulity, he reached the door and stepped

inside.

The door closed behind him, and she was left standing alone in a

long empty corridor.

As she viewed her luxurious hotel suite that evening, it occurred to

Juliet rather forcibly the kind of influence that money like Santino's

could have, producing accommodation like this for his family in one

of the best hotels at the height of the tourist season.

Nothing had been forgotten, from the well-stocked refrigerated

cabinet full of drinks of all kinds to the huge bowl of red roses

placed on the table beside the bed. Courtesy of the management,

she supposed, as she bent appreciatively to drink in their rich

perfume, but she was wrong. There was a small white card wired to

one of the stems, its surface crossed by the one uncompromising

word 'Santino'.

Juliet straightened abruptly and glanced at the signature. She was

strongly tempted to sweep the flowers, bowl and all, into the

wastepaper bin at the other side of the room. But that would only be

an empty gesture, she told herself, as empty as that which had sent

the flowers of love to a girl masquerading as the beloved. Her most

dignified course of action would be to ignore them altogether, and

this would be far easier if they were not beside her bed.

She picked them up and carried them resolutely out of the bedroom,

into the small elegant sitting room which opened off it. There was a

small gilt-legged table behind the sofa and she put the bowl down

on this, turning it so that the tell-tale card was concealed.

When a knock fell on the door of the suite just as she was

completing this task, she started so violently that she jerked the

bowl and a few drops of water spilled out on to. the marble top of

the table.

'Oh, damn!' She scrubbed at it with her handkerchief, remembering

belatedly to call 'Avanti,' and then in the same moment wishing that

she had not done so, because it was probably Santino.

But it was the Signora who entered, dressed fashionably in grey

lace with the inevitable sparkle of diamonds at her throat and

wrists. Juliet gazed at her in some surprise. During the brief visit

she had paid to Mario's room, the Signora's manner had been cool

and remote, and she had certainly not expected her to seek her

company.

The meeting with Mario had been as awkward as she could have

imagined. During the rather stilted conversation that followed the

introduction, she felt his eyes resting on her wonderingly, and knew

resignedly that he too had been struck by her resemblance to Jan.

She supposed that he too bore a superficial resemblance to Santino,

but it was purely physical. He was good-looking, admittedly, but

his face showed his immaturity, and from what she could gather of

the ensuing conversation he seemed inclined to blame everyone but

himself for what had happened. He was clearly embarrassed to

meet Juliet, and his glance at times was speculative, as if he was

wondering how much she knew of his affair with her sister, and its

result.

She guessed that neither of them was sorry when a nun entered and

announced that visiting was at an end for the day. There was no

sign of Santino when they emerged, and Santino's stepfather Signor

Peretto took it for granted that he would be driving Juliet to the

hotel with his wife and the Contessa Leontana, who was waiting

downstairs in the foyer.

Since she had arrived at the hotel and been installed in this suite,

Juliet had not heard a word from Santino, except for this token

offering of roses which he had probably not even chosen himself,

she told herself crossly. Arid now this unexpected visit from his

mother. Unconsciously, she squared her shoulders.

'Sit, Giulietta.' The Signora gestured imperiously towards the sofa.

'We talk.'

She waited until Juliet had sat down, then took her place beside her,

fixing her keen dark eyes on the younger woman's pale, rather

strained face. Juliet bore her scrutiny for a moment or two, then

said quietly, 'Was there something you wanted to say to me,                       
       
           



       

signora?'

'Plenty things.' The Signora nodded. She gave Juliet a shrewd look.

'You think it strange that I wish to speak to the girl who is to marry

my Santino? You are to be mia nuora. It is right we should speak.

Besides, today I watch you. I watch closely.'

'I had noticed,' Juliet said half under her breath.

'You think that strange too?'

'No-at least, not exactly.' Juliet looked down at her hands clasped

in her lap, where Santino's emerald gleamed like green fire. 'I