Desire Has No Mercy (21 page)

'So now you are beginning to trust that it will work?' he smiled. 'How come?'

Her answering smile was shy. 'I know that I want your baby,' she said simply. 'I want what Julia has—it is the realisation of being a woman and nothing else counts beside it.'

He glanced at Julia, his eyes narrowed. 'Would you agree with that,
signora
?' he asked. 'Do you think a man has the right to take a woman away from all that she is accustomed to; her family and friends, her way of life? Has it made you happy?'

'How could Julia not be happy?' Ramona exclaimed. 'Married to a man like Rome, living here in this charming villa above the sea, and soon to hold his child in her arms? It is a love story come true, is it not?'

Julia felt as if something stabbed into her side, then slowly twisted. 'Shall we go to the house and have tea?' She gathered her embroidery silks together and bundled them into her raffia workbag. 'I—I'm longing for a cup. Aren't you,
se
ň
orita
?'

'Please to call me Ramona. I already feel that we are friends and if I persuade Vitale to buy a house in Campania we shall see each other often—we have in common that we both love Italian men, eh?'

Julia summoned a strained smile to her lips but didn't dare to meet the perceptive dark eyes of Don Vitale. 'The people of Campania are terribly nice and I do hope you find a house. According to Rome this one was quite run down at the time he bought it, but as you have seen, he has gradually restored it and modernised some of the interior. I—I must show you the nursery, Ramona. There are toys enough to keep three or four children amused.'

'Perhaps Rome is planning for that,' Ramona smiled. 'Italian men have a charming way with children, have they not? They can play with them, but Spaniards are more dignified and they like to treat their children as young adults. I had only one brother who was older than myself and my own childhood was a very sedate one, and I felt compelled to obey my father's every wish—until I met Vitale. It was in Venice where I was staying with a convent friend and her family.'

She glanced at him, her body gracefully inclining towards him, almost as if he were a ray of warmth that drew her to him. 'I was exploring with my friend when I went astray in one of the old
palazzo
courts and lost my way. It was getting rather dark and I was becoming very nervous when I ran into Vitale. I thought,' she laughed, 'that he looked such a brigand with that black moustache, but almost at the first meeting of our eyes there was a kind of— how does one explain it? A flash of instinct, of revelation, as if we had met before in some former life. You must know what I mean, Julia. It must have happened with you and Rome.'

'I first knew Rome when I was a child,' Julia replied. 'Come along, I'm gasping for a cup of tea.'

'Allow me,
signora
.' Don Vitale assisted her to her feet and she knew at once that he felt her trembling. She braved his eyes and smiled slightly.

'I am all right,
signore
. I get a little fatigued, that's all, and after we've had some tea my maid Lucie will insist that I take a rest. You and Ramona might like to swim in the pool, or go down to the beach. I have a suit that Ramona can wear, and I'm sure a pair of Rome's briefs should fit you.'

'Certainly you must take your rest, Julia, and be assured that Ramona and I will manage to amuse each other for an hour or two. Is that not so,
carissima
?'

Ramona laughed softly in answer, as if being alone with him was the most exclusive delight of her life. Julia could only hope for Ramona's sake that the strong love she felt for Vitale would guard her against the perils of his profession, and as they made their way into the
salotto
for tea, Julia felt a sudden sense of relief that Rome had never been drawn into the Don's organisation even though he had mixed socially with some of its colourful characters.

It had left him free to sell the casino and start afresh, but the Don was committed and Ramona had to be aware of that, even if it didn't show in her manner. There was certainly nothing
brutto
about him, and whenever he looked at Ramona there was a grave kind of tenderness in his eyes. She was his angel even if she did not know that he had sold his soul to the devil.

They had tea and toasted cakes with butter, and then Julia excused herself for a couple of hours. 'I'll just show you the nursery before going to my room,' she said, and left the pair of them in there, standing arm in arm and obviously locked in mutual dreams of a family of their own. Julia felt a stab of envy; it had to be a kind of bliss to be so certain that you loved… and were loved.

Lucie helped her out of her dress and she slid into bed with a little sigh. The blinds were drawn so the silvery room took on an air of peace and quiet.

'All right, my lamb?' Lucie stroked a hand across Julia's brow. 'No aches or pains that you shouldn't have?'

'I'm just a little tired. If Don Vitale and his fiancée want to go swimming, will you see about a pair of suits for them?'

Lucie nodded. 'She's very beautiful, but he gives me the shivers. Cosenza was telling me—'

'I know what she's told you.' Julia frowned slightly. 'It's true, of course, but I think he keeps that side of his life well away from Se
ň
orita Albaňez. He's quite the gentleman, really.'

'I won't be sorry to see Mr Rome back home. Are they staying overnight?'

'I expect so. You'd best tell Cosenza to prepare dinner for four, just in case Rome is on his way home. Lucie, he's sold the casino and bought a fruit farm here in Campania.'

'Well, I never! You must be feeling pleased about that, Miss Julia.'

'He never said a word about it to me. He obviously thought I wouldn't be interested—you do know, Lucie, that we're separating after the baby is born?'

'I know that's what you have in mind, but I don't see how you're going to bring yourself to do it, miss. Your heart isn't hard enough for that, and you'll break it if you walk out on your own baby. Besides, what is there for you to go back to? You're better off with Mr Rome—'

'He doesn't love me. He married me to give the baby his name.'

'You have his name as well, miss. You have your rights, and you can't tell me he's the sort of man hard enough to throw a woman out of her child's life. You can't tell me that, Miss Julia!'

'No, I'm not telling you that,' Julia smiled slightly, for Lucie's vibrant hair always seemed to crackle when she was aroused. 'You don't have to defend his principles to me, but when a man and a woman live together and the atmosphere between them is one of disharmony, then you know it isn't good for a child. Rome has made up his mind that his child is going to have a happier time than he bad himself as a boy, and I don't fit into his future plans. I have my pride, Lucie. I can't stay at Domani if I'm not wanted, and I daren't let the baby get used to me. I—I have to leave before that happens.'

Julia broke off, for her voice was breaking up and she had to fight again for composure; she had to make herself go on with what she had to say.

'Lucie, I want your promise that you'll stay at Domani in my place a-and be as good to my baby as you've always been to me. Will you promise?'

'Oh, miss—'

'Please, Lucie! Rome will agree to it if I ask him to let you be the baby's nurse. He likes and trusts you, a-and when I go away, I shall go knowing that my son or daughter is in good hands—hands that will guide and love and care for my baby.'

'Oh, my lamb, I can't bear you to talk about going away!' Lucie sat down on the bedside and rocked Julia in her arms as if she were a child again. 'I won't let it come to that—I'll speak to Mr Rome—'

'No, Lucie! You'll do no such thing! I forbid you to go begging to him—my God, it would be like something out of
East Lynne
! He married me because he had to, and I have to honour the debt and set him free when the time comes.'

'Lots of couples marry because they have to, miss.'

'We weren't in love. I told you what happened, Lucie.'

'Are you going to hold it against him all his days, miss?'

'I—I'm not being vindictive.' Julia looked shocked. 'I just can't live with him the way things are—I have to find the courage to leave, and I think I'll be brave enough if I know you're here and taking care of the baby. If I don't see it or hold it or anything like that—' All at once Julia was crying, and it took some time before Lucie soothed her. Exhausted by her tears, she fell asleep, her fair hair tousled on the pillow, something haunting her face that held Lucie at the bedside for long and silent minutes. Then with a sigh she drew the silk coverlet closer over the young burdened figure and withdrew quietly from the room. She had the look of a woman who was extremely worried.

Moonlight silvered the
terrazza
and three of the occupants lounged in the cane easy chairs while Don Vitale stood by the parapet, a glass of wine in his hand.

'
Alla salute
!' He raised the glass to Rome and then to Julia. 'You certainly chose well when you bought this place,
compare
. On a night such as this you have the moon to yourselves, no?'

Rome slowly smiled and drew on his thin Italian cigar. He had arrived home just in time for dinner, so he and Julia had not exchanged more than a few words of greeting. He was looking fit but a little tired, she thought, but now he seemed more relaxed as she guardedly watched him through her lashes, always prepared of late to glance swiftly away if he should look at her. Before coming down to dine she had carefully bashed away all traces of her tears, and as an extra precaution had applied smoky-green colouring to her eyelids. She wore a full-skirted lace dress almost the same colour, and her hair was swathed to the crown of her head, leaving her neck slender and bare except for a thin gold chain with a little cross attached.

'I adore your house,
caro
.' Ramona was moving a silk fan slowly back and forth, and woven into the silk were menacing peacock eyes that moved to the movement of her hand. 'If I lived in such a place I would never want to go elsewhere. You have all that is needed on your threshold, the sea washing the beach, your wooded garden to walk in, that quaint village with its little shops, and a nursery that waits for your
bambino
. Julia was good enough to show us, but I imagine that for the first few weeks you will allow the little one to sleep in its cot in your own bedroom. If I had a baby I couldn't bear to be separated from it, not for a minute.'

Silence gathered and Julia could feel the fingers of her right hand grinding into her left one the rings that she wore. A gust of cigar smoke hovered and drifted from Rome's direction, and then her heart lurched as his eyes caught at hers before she could look away. His gaze was so penetrating that it seemed to reach down inside her, and again she felt as if something twisted in her body and her teeth bit down on her lower lip.

'Julia is an American,' he said. 'They have a less sentimental view of these matters.'

'But anyone can see that Julia is a woman of feeling.' Ramona reached across and pressed her hand. '
Madre di Gesu
, but your hand is icy! Are you cold on such a warm night?'

'I—I'm always naturally cool—' Julia swallowed and reached to the cane table for her wine, half-wondering if Rome would make some sardonic comment.

'I do like your dress,' she said quickly to Ramona; it was of supple silk, the bodice casually draped, the long skirt patterned with big black dahlias. 'Did you buy it in Madrid? I've heard the shops are very good there.'

'Yes, Madrid. I spoil myself and have my own dressmaker there.' Ramona moved her eyes over Julia. 'I admire the way you keep yourself attractive; some women don't bother at all when they are pregnant, as if the husband ceases to matter for a while. You obviously wish for Rome always to find your company sweet and nice. I hope, Rome, that you appreciate the effort from a wife heavy with child?'

'Of course I do.' His eyes were upon Julia as she drank from her wine glass, and she felt as if hot little wires were being pulled through her collarbones and down through her rib-cage. She was full of odd little feelings these days and could only connect them with her condition.

'I think Julia must know that, at least,' he added. 'It's in her nature to be
chic
, and I remember that even as a child she always looked as nice and neat as a sprig of lemon, her long hair in a ribbon and shining like lemon fruit. Upon one occasion I was a bad boy and dropped strawberry ice-cream all over her shoes—I made her cry.'

'You wicked devil!' Ramona gave him a rap on the wrist with her fan. 'I was telling Julia earlier today that I longed to see the two of you together. You are so opposite in colouring that I wonder who the baby will resemble.'

'Rome,' Julia said quietly. 'Darkness is more dominant than fairness.'

'But what of the eyes?' Ramona exclaimed. 'Yours are green and Rome's are grey, and I predict that your child will have eyes that combine those two colours. Don't the two of you find it exciting wondering what this new little personality will be like and how he or she will grow up?'

This time that stab and twist feeling was so distinct in her body that Julia couldn't suppress a gasp.

'Is anything wrong?' Rome demanded, as if he were keyed in to her reactions.

'Just funny little sensations.' She leaned back carefully in her armchair. 'I believe your baby, Rome, is becoming impatient to see what kind of a world we live in.'

'It has its perfect moments.' Ramona was gazing at the sky. 'That great moon makes me feel very mortal, and yet I believe that life has no mortality between people who are truly in love. Or am I an incurable romantic?'

'Women react to the moon, and moonlight certainly be-comes women.' Rome had risen from his chair as if suddenly he felt restive. He moved across to the parapet where Vitale was standing and gazed down at the sea, his profile etched fine and strong against the moonlit sky. The sea and the beach held his gaze for several minutes, until abruptly he turned his back on them.