Fascination (7 page)

‘There is another woman who would have suited him far better.’ Isobella’s voice was scarcely audible, and Hydee realised she was talking to herself.

She said quietly, ‘It was plain that Carlos did not consider this other woman to be suitable.’

‘As a nanny?’ with a raising of the immaculately trimmed eyebrows. ‘That is all you are; I suppose you realise that?’

‘The children will soon come to regard me as their stepmother,’ replied Hydee with conviction and dignity.

‘An optimist, eh?’ Isobella’s sudden laugh was in effect a sneer. ‘How long do you expect to last? There have been other nannies—’

‘Perhaps,’ interrupted Hydee, looking straight at her, ‘you will tell me what this is all about?’

There was a glacial silence before the Portuguese woman spoke. She had been debating, Hydee thought, and her words served to strengthen this idea.

‘I was a very great friend of Eunice, his first wife. I am also a friend of the woman who expected to marry him: Arminda Venancio. You are an interloper in my eyes, and I am sure that all Carlos’s relations will regard you in the same light. You’ll never fit in,’ she added contemptuously, casting her eyes over Hydee’s slender figure before deliberately bringing them back to rest upon her face. ‘A lowborn—what was he thinking about!’ The words were spat out from lips that were twisted with fury. ‘I wouldn’t give the marriage more than six months at the most!’

Hydee, very pale now and trembling, looked at Isobella for a long moment in silence before, turning on her heel, she left the room and went out to join the children.

***

It was ten days later that Hydee met Arminda Venancio. The other woman drove up to the front of the Palacio in a long black car which she brought to a stop on the forecourt. Hydee was in her bedroom, standing at the window. She was free until half‐past three, when the children came home from the small private school which they attended five days a week. Hydee’s eyes flickered with perception as she looked down, instinctively knowing that this was the woman who had hoped to marry Carlos. She was small and dainty, her steps swift and urgent as she hurried from the car to the door of the Palacio. Hydee stared broodingly at the car, her thoughts turning to her encounter with her husband’s sister. Those blatant insults seemed unbelievable, looked at in retrospect. Isobella might have breeding, and blue blood in her veins, but her manners certainly left a great deal to be desired. What would Carlos say if he knew how his wife had been treated? He had seemed to get along very well with Isobella, and Hydee had no doubts about her being able to effectively hide her shortcomings from him.

A quiet knock on her bedroom door brought her head around. ‘Come in,’ she invited, and Caterina entered.

‘The senhor wishes to see you,’ she said with her usual ready smile. Small and dark, with flashing eyes widely set below delicately curving brows, Caterina was a most attractive girl in Hydee’s opinion. Her disposition was carefree and lively; she was eager to please in every way, while at the same time respecting Hydee’s wishes for privacy. She had learned never to appear when Hydee was dressing or in the bath. She was observant, and Hydee felt sure that she had guessed that Carlos never visited his wife. But Hydee was also sure that whatever Caterina suspected was never talked about to any of the other servants.

‘Thank you, Caterina,’ she returned graciously. ‘I’ll be down directly.’ She paused a moment in a mood of indecision. ‘Er… he has a visitor with him, I think?’

Caterina’s face was impassive as she said, ‘Yes, Dona Hydee, he has.’

Hydee licked her lips. She ought not to put questions to her maid. Carlos would be furious at such undignified behavior, but of course, he would never know. Hydee just had to ask about Arminda, because she very much feared she would be equally as hostile towards her as Isobella had been.

‘The young lady is a very good friend of Dom Carlos, I believe?’

Caterina nodded, looking straight at her. Silence reigned for a space before she said in a quiet, respectful voice, ‘We all thought that the senhorita would marry Dom Carlos. They were very good friends, as you say, senhora, but it was obvious that Dom Carlos did not love her, and so he married you.’

‘She comes from an illustrious family, I’m told.’

‘But, senhora,’ said Caterina in the same respectful voice, ‘it is not always breeding that is important. Dom Carlos’s servants are very happy that he married you and not Dona Arminda.’

Hydee looked at her through eyes that were suddenly bright. ‘Thank you, Caterina,’ she murmured simply, and went past her from the room, leaving her to close the door behind her.

‘Ah, there you are.’ Carlos smiled as Hydee entered, and beckoned her over to where the Portuguese woman was standing, her aristocratic features rather drawn, her dark eyes brooding and dull. Hydee cast her husband a searching glance, wondering what had passed between him and Arminda before he sent for her to join them. He met her eyes, but she read nothing from the mask that had fallen over them.

Carlos introduced them; Hydee saw the woman flinch when Carlos mentioned the word ‘wife.’ Her handshake was surprisingly limp and conventional, her manners rather better than those of her friend, for she murmured a polite ‘How do you do? Your marriage to Carlos came as a surprise to many people.’

She was bearing up well, thought Hydee, admiring her for it while at the same time aware that she could never like the girl. Her disdain was too obvious; like Isobella, she considered Hydee to be the most unsuitable woman Carlos could ever have chosen as a wife.

‘Arminda’s been away in Lisbon,’ explained Carlos, ‘and so she only heard of our marriage last night when she arrived back and Isobella phoned her.’

Arminda lifted her eyes and said, as if she had forgotten Hydee’s presence altogether, ‘It was an awful shock, Carlos.’

He seemed to swallow something in his throat. Hydee suddenly wanted to escape, to leave them together… and yet at the same time a spasm of jealousy shot through her.

The moment was tense, electric. Arminda was the one to ease it by saying it was time she left, as her mother was waiting to be driven into town.

‘We have only one car now, as you know,’ she added finally, with a thin smile for Carlos.

‘We shall see you and Dona Lucia soon—at our dinner party?’

‘Of course. Mother and I will be pleased to come.’ Her face was pale, her lips compressed. Hydee felt sorry for her but knew why Carlos had not chosen her for his wife.

There was a hardness about her that he could not possibly miss; he knew she would never make a suitable mother for his children. But for all that, Hydee was of the firm conviction that what he felt for Arminda was something far deeper than mere friendship.

Chapter Seven

It was from Gasper that Hydee learned more about Arminda. He called the following day, and as the vintage was in full swing, Carlos was away from the house, supervising the activities which began at daybreak with an army of workers invading the
quinta
from the surrounding countryside, eager to earn some extra money. Men, women and even children came, dancing along to the rhythm of guitars and mandolins, a merry crowd which seemed to turn the vintage into a carnival.

Standing on a shady verandah, Hydee saw the white, low‐slung sports car arrive, and the way in which the driver slewed it to an abrupt standstill gave the immediate impression of a devil‐may‐careattitude towards life. Yet the figure of the man himself was impressive, his every movement stamping him a member of the nobility. With a frowning gaze Hydee watched him approach the house, covering the distance with the same athletic grace that was so familiar because Carlos, too, moved in that lithely powerful way. Another member of the family? Involuntarily Hydee’s mouth tightened; she had no wish to meet this man, and she was about to retreat into the room behind her when, chancing to look up, he caught sight of her, smiled and waved, and called something which she failed to catch. Biting her lip in vexation, she pondered the possibility of making some excuse when the servant informed her of the man’s appearance. But after only a moment’s thought she shrugged resignedly, admitting that there was no alternative than to meet him, and she proceeded to the drawing room to wait his entry into the house. He was shown in by Bento, who began in his customary accented but stolid voice, ‘The Visconde Gasper Antonio Joao—’

‘That’ll do,’ broke in the young man with a wry expression sent in Hydee’s direction. ‘You can go, but bring me in a glass of sherry in about five minutes.’

The man went, closing the door silently behind him, and the two stood staring at one another before Gasper said in the same impeccable English, ‘Hello, my new cousin‐in‐law!’ He strode towards her, his hand outstretched, his slate‐grey eyes meeting hers, which were wide and limpid and scanning his aristocratic face anxiously for some sign of disfavour even while instinct told her she would find none, that here was a member of the illustrious family who was far different from Isobella. He was smiling as she gave him her small white hand, and he said sincerely, ‘Welcome to our country and our family. I would have come sooner but, like Arminda, I have been away.’ Tall and assured, he stood smiling down at her, and suddenly her heart was light.

‘I’m happy to meet you, Gasper. Carlos told me about you—and about the other members of his family.’ She paused, then added, ‘Carlos is not here, but I can send for him if you want me to.’

‘It’s not Carlos I have come to see, but you.’ He glanced at a low couch below the window. ‘Shall we sit down?’

‘Of course.’ Why had he come to see her? she wondered, taking a seat on the couch and watching him bring up a chair so that he would be sitting opposite her instead of beside her.

‘The other members…’ Gasper gave her his full attention, a wry expression in his dark grey eyes. ‘And what did you think of my cousin Isobella?’ he inquired, watching her curiously, interested in her reaction to his mention of his cousin.

‘You’ve been speaking to her?’ she countered at once, and he nodded without hesitation. ‘She doesn’t like me,’ Hydee then added, a quiver in her voice. ‘But if she’s been talking to you about me, then you know what her feelings are.’ She looked at him through troubled eyes. ‘I can understand her sentiments,’ she went on when he did not speak. ‘She had other ideas for her brother.’

‘Big ideas,’ submitted Gasper. ‘But she should know Carlos better than to think she can influence him.’ Gasper turned as the door opened and Bento entered carrying a small silver tray on which was the glass of sherry.

‘Aren’t you having anything?’ he asked, and Hydee shook her head.

‘No, thank you.’ She watched the servant leave, then turned her attention to Gasper again, examining his features and approving of them, for although he had the same athletic build as his cousin, the same stamp of the nobility, here the resemblance ended. Gasper’s features were softer, his eyes serious at this moment, but she knew they would laugh often; his mouth was firm yet wide and generous, and she sensed that it could purse with compassion just as easily as it could curve with humour. The moment he had come across the room, extending a hand, she had been strangely affected by him, and by the sure knowledge that she had at last found a friend. ‘Why have you come?’ she inquired as he put the glass to his lips.

‘Because, Hydee, I realised that you might require some support. You’re a brave girl to have married my cousin. Surely you had some misgivings?’

She nodded, replying mechanically, ‘At first, yes, I suppose I did.’ Unconsciously she played with a few strands of hair; it was a nervous gesture acquired since her marriage. ‘You say I might need support….’ She broke off, reluctant to proceed, and seeing her embarrassment, Gasper began to talk, dispensing with tact.

‘Isobella learned of the circumstances of your marriage, and so you must be prepared for the whole family to know that it was a marriage of convenience. They now realize that Carlos, having become convinced that it was a mother his children needed rather than a nanny, embarked on this unorthodox method of procuring one.’ He paused a moment to put his glass down on the table. ‘Don’t be embarrassed with me,’ he said gently. ‘I’m the odd one out in this family, not approved of, as you will very soon discover. And so it seemed to me—after listening to the bitter complaints of Isobella regarding her brother’s marriage—that I had better see you and forewarn you as to what to expect.’

‘It was thoughtful of you,’ she murmured, but went on to add that he must realise that what he was saying was a great embarrassment to her.

‘It shouldn’t be,’ he returned. ‘If you accept that I know all about this marriage, then we can discuss things together openly and easily. I’m only here because I firmly believe you ought to know that there’s at least one member of the family who doesn’t disapprove of you.’

‘You’re very kind, Gasper.’ She looked at him mistily, quite unaware of the dark, troubled expression in her eyes, of the faint convulsive movement of her mouth. ‘But please don’t get everything wrong,’ she begged. ‘Carlos is very nice to me, very kind.’

‘He would have to be, wouldn’t he? After all, he prevailed on you to marry him, to enter this business deal which is to affect your whole future. Yes, surely he must be kind to you.’ Sharp the last few words, and an unexpected hardness entered his eyes, reminding her of Carlos.

‘I wanted to marry him,’ she readily confessed. And before she quite knew it, she was confiding in him, telling him that she had been alone in the world after having been jilted. And lastly she heard herself say, ‘I would never have looked at another man after Noel—not in the ordinary way—but yet I wanted to be with children, so I snatched this chance to become a mother.’

‘And you’ve no regrets?’ he asked curiously.

‘None.’ Not yet… but would she have eventually? ‘Carlos doesn’t seem to be aware of Isobella’s true character, does he?’ Hydee changed the subject, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

‘Some women have the ability to adopt a front to suit the situation. You’ll have different treatment from her when Carlos is around,’ he predicted.