Redemption of a Fallen Woman(33)
‘Do you enjoy such things?’
‘In truth I did not get much chance to enjoy them. Duty kept getting in the way. Occasionally I was lucky though.’
‘That’s good. What is it that you say in your country about the consequences of always working and never taking time off?’
‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’
‘That’s it.’ She grinned. ‘But I think you were never dull.’
‘I hope not. Besides, it would be impossible to be dull in your company.’
She could not detect the least irony in his expression. On the contrary she saw something there that was remarkably like admiration.
‘Would you like a cup of wine?’ He gestured towards the tables that had been set up outside a small tavern.
‘Why not?’
She turned to look at Concha. However, the maid shook her head. ‘If you don’t mind, Doña Elena, I want to look around a little more.’
‘Just as you like.’
‘I’ll stay with her, my lady,’ said Jack, ‘an’ see as all’s well like.’
Concha gave him a haughty look. ‘I am quite capable of looking after myself, Englishman.’
‘Aye, I know that. It’s t’other folk I’m worried about.’
She sighed. ‘Very well, since you insist I suppose there’s no help for it.’
‘That’s right, but I’ll bear it as best I can.’ He made an elaborate gesture with his arm. ‘Shall we?’
Concha lifted her chin and muttered something under her breath as she walked past him. Jack grinned broadly and set off in her wake.
Elena laughed. ‘You know, I suspect that she rather likes him.’
‘You think so?’ said Harry. ‘I was rather under the impression that she did not.’
‘She hasn’t hit him or shot him. It’s a positive sign.’
His lips twitched. ‘You haven’t hit or shot me. Am I to take that the same way?’
‘You may take it as a sign of respect.’
‘Respect—how very reassuring.’ He poured wine into horn cups and, having handed her one, raised his own. ‘Here’s to continued respect.’
Elena sensed that more lay beneath those words but she drank anyway. The wine was deep red and deliciously mellow. She suspected it was also quite potent. When combined with the present company it was a heady and dangerous mix.
For a while they sat in companionable silence watching the people pass by. In spite of all that had happened she felt oddly content. Perhaps the secret was not to think too far ahead and just live in the moment.
‘Do you not miss your home?’ she asked.
‘Sometimes. What concerns me more is to see justice done.’
‘Towards the new claimant to the title?’
‘If the boy really is my brother’s child, then yes.’
‘Do you find the claim credible?’
‘The lady in question—Alicia—is pretty enough, and genteel. Her birth is respectable, if not noble. I could envisage Jamie falling in love with such a woman.’
‘It was a wartime romance, no?’
‘Apparently so.’
‘To lose her husband so soon after marriage must have been a terrible shock for the lady. To be left alone like that with a young child cannot have been easy.’
‘I don’t suppose it was.’
‘No doubt she will be relieved when the matter is settled,’ said Elena. ‘I am sure that you will find the answers you seek when we reach Seville.’
‘I hope so. It would be something to put an end to all the uncertainty.’ Harry toyed with his cup. ‘A talk with Garrido and Sanchez should do that. Then we can all move on.’
‘How will your family respond when they find out that you are married?’ she asked.
‘With some surprise, I expect.’
‘An understatement if ever I heard one.’
He smiled faintly. ‘You need not be concerned. They will welcome you into the fold.’
‘You seem very certain of that. I am a foreigner, after all.’
‘Such considerations would not weigh with them. Besides, your birth and education are as good as theirs and your wit better than most.’
She returned the smile. ‘I have often thought that I should like to see England. My sister has told me a lot about it.’
‘I hope you won’t be disappointed.’
‘Does it really rain as much as she says?’
‘Our climate is renowned. It’s why England is known as a green and pleasant land.’
‘Dolores says that your lower classes are more prosperous and better educated than their Spanish counterparts. That they play a game called cricket in which they mingle with noblemen.’