Sweet Revenge Page 10

  Laura shrugged. 'If you say so, querida ' She seated herself on a low chair. 'And now - perhaps some tea, sim?'

  'Oh. Yes, of course.' Francesca rang the bell to summon the maid again. 'I'm sorry.'

  Laura looked sympathetically at her, as though condoning her mistake, and Toni felt annoyed. She wanted to leave. She had nothing to say to this woman who seemed to consider Raoul della Maria Estrada her property, and his daughter hers to command.

  'Er - I'll go to my room, Francesca,' she was beginning, when Laura shook her head.

  'Oh, no, senhorita, stay and talk to me. Francesca, perhaps you and Estevan could go and play your records. Then Senhorita - Morley and I can have a little chat.'

  Francesca looked at Toni who in turn looked imploringly at her. 'I don't think...' she was beginning, when Estevan exclaimed:

  'Oh, yes, Fran, let us do that! I don't want any tea anyway.'

  Francesca was really left without much choice, and she had to shrug her shoulders and after ordering tea from the maid she and Estevan left Laura and Toni alone.

  'Now, senhorita,' said Laura smoothly, 'come and sit down. I want to talk to you.'

  'What about?' Toni was nervous.

  'Oh, this and that. Come, sit down.'

  'I'd rather stand, if you don't mind,' replied Toni, gripping the edge of the settee with a rather shaky hand. She had the feeling that this was the real reason why Laura Passamentes had come here. It was not on Estevan's behalf, even though he might enjoy Francesca's company, it was because she wanted to speak to herself, Toni. But why? Why?

  Laura Passamentes shrugged again. 'As you wish, senhorita,'' she said, and taking out a handkerchief, blew her nose very daintily. 'Now, my dear Senhorita Morley, perhaps you will tell me the reason why you are still here when Paul left over a week ago.'

  Toni wet her lips with her tongue. 'I - I was not well enough to leave with Paul, senhora,' she replied.

  'I see. But you are well now, are you not?'

  'Yes.'

  'Theft-Why are you still here?'

  Toni lifted her shoulders. 'Francesca did not want me to leave before her father returned from Lisbon.'

  'Why?'

  Toni's colour deepened. How could she tell this cold, aristocratic woman that the man she expected to marry had practically threatened her into staying? So she said: 'I expect she thought it would be more polite.'

  Laura Passamentes looked annoyed. 'It would have been more polite, senhorita, never to have come here at all, masquerading as Paul's fiancee. I should have thought decency would have prevented you from attempting to gain admittance to another Portuguese home after the trouble you caused in Estelle's life!'

  'I caused no trouble in Senhora de Calle's life, senhora,' said Toni, forcing herself to remain calm with difficulty. 'Senhor de Calle is lying when he says I attempted to - well, attract him! On the contrary, I repulsed him! Unfortunately, I was unable to prove this!'

  'Senhorita! You are insolent! Do you honestly expect me to believe that a - a - creature like yourself could attract a man of intelligence and breeding like Miguel de Calle?'

  Toni bit hard at her lips. 'It is of complete indifference to me what you believe, senhora,' she said shortly, trying to prevent the surge of anger that was engulfing her in its grip.

  'Is it? Is it indeed? I suggest you go now and pack your suitcases and Estevan and myself will deposit you at the nearest railway station where you may catch a train back to Lisbon!'

  Toni's eyes were astounded. 'You can't be serious, senhora,' she gasped. 'Why, you have no jurisdiction here! I shall go when I choose - or whenever the Conde considers it necessary!' Her tone was cool and polite.

  The girl's self-possession infuriated the hot-tempered Laura, and she rose angrily to her feet. 'Senhorita, you are rude and ignorant. I will not listen to such insolence from you!'

  Toni bent her head for a moment. 'You provoked any insolence on my behalf, senhora,' she said quietly. 'I have no wish to argue with you. It will not solve any- I thing. My leaving here is my concern, and no one else's.'

  'Has my - the Conde - asked you to stay?' Laura's voice was shrill.

  Toni looked up. 'Actually, yes,' she said, her eyes wide and innocent.

  Laura paced about furiously. 'Why?'

  'He - he wanted me to take over the position of Francesca's governess!'

  'What!' Laura was incredulous. 'You - teaching Francesca!'

  'Yes, senhora.'

  Laura gnawed angrily at her lip. 'And are you staying?'

  'I doubt it.'

  The older woman's eyes narrowed. 'Why? Have you any reason for refusing?'

  Toni heaved a sigh. 'For heaven's sake, senhora! Can't we leave this? I don't think it has anything to do with you.'

  Laura became even more infuriated. 'It has everything to do with me. I am going to marry Raoul, I shall soon be living at the castelo. Do you think I want you here - under my feet?'

  'I won't be here, senhora.' Toni turned away.

  Laura caught her arm, swinging her round to face her again. 'Don't you turn your back on me, senhorita. It occurs to me that my - my fiance's reasons for keeping you here might have a more subtle undertone. And that being so, I think you should know what it is!'

  'Oh, leave me alone, senhora.' Toni pulled away from her. 'You're all obsessed with intrigue here! All right, all right, I shouldn't have come here, and you can bet I'll leave just as soon as I can!'

  Laura looked malevolent, but the door opened then to admit the maid with the tea, and when Francesca and Estevan returned as well, there was no more time for conversation. Francesca looked thoughtfully at Toni when she returned, seeing the girl's flushed cheeks and disturbed eyes, and gave her a warm smile when Toni looked her way. Toni smiled in return, and then gave her attention to her tea. She couldn't eat a thing, however, and excused herself as soon as she was able and went to her room. Once there she flung herself wearily on the bed, wondering why fate had ever thrown her into the turmoil of emotions of the Castelo Estrada.

  The next day Toni awoke with a sense of foreboding. Today she must make some definite arrangements about leaving. There was absolutely no reason to wait any longer, and if the Conde returned and found her there, he would imagine she had done as he asked and decided to become Francesca's governess.

  Francesca listened to her decision at breakfast with bleak eyes. 'What happened between you and Senhora Passamentes yesterday?' she asked. 'Has she said anything to make you want to leave?'

  Toni buttered a hot roll. 'You might say she precipitated something that would have happened anyway,' she replied truthfully.

  'But, Toni, please - don't go!' Francesca bent her head. 'I - I don't want you to go. There's no one here. Grandmother is too old to spend a lot of time with me, and my father - well, sometimes I think he hates me. I remind him too much of - other things!'

  Toni bit her lip. 'Francesca, that's not true. About your father hating you, I mean. You know he thinks the world of you. I'm sorry you're alone here - but when your father marries Senhora Passamentes you'll have Estevan to share your days with. Besides, I'm surprised your father doesn't send you to boarding school. I'm sure you'd like that.'

  Francesca shrugged. 'Maybe I would, maybe not. I've never wanted to go before when my father suggested it. Besides, then Grandmother would be alone ...' She looked up. 'I wish I were like you. Free to do as I liked.'

  'Oh, Francesca!' Toni felt awful. 'You know it's nothing to do with you. It's just that - well, your father thinks I'm something I'm not.'

  'Because of your association with Paul?''

  'Partly. And partly something else. Anyway, if I were to stay here I'd be miserable for those reasons.'

  Francesca sighed. 'All right, Toni. When - when will you go?'

  Toni shook her head. 'I haven't telephoned the airport in Lisbon yet. I might get a flight tomorrow. If I can get a bus from Estrada to Pareira I can take a train straight to Lisbon.'

  'Today?' said Francesca in disma
y.

  'Why not? There's no point in prolonging the agony.'

  Francesca looked glum. 'At least give me one more day,' she pleaded. 'I mean - that's not so much to ask, is it?'

  Toni studied her thoughtfully. 'Well, maybe not. Okay, Francesca, one more day.'

  During the morning they swam, and then while Francesca took her siesta Toni packed most of her clothes, surveying her room with a sense of hopelessness that had nothing to do with Francesca.

  At dinner the Condessa was talkative. 'Tell me, Janet,' she said gently,. 'do you really intend to marry my grandson? I have the strangest feeling that all is not well between you, despite my son's reassurances.'

  Toni sighed ruefully. 'You might say all was not well,' she admitted. 'However, our problems need not worry you. Now that I am fully recovered I am thinking of returning to England and we can iron out our difficulties there.'

  The Condessa looked distressed. 'To England!' she echoed. 'Oh, but surely, my son told me you were staying on for a while.'

  Toni turned bright red. 'The - er - the Conde is very kind,' she stammered. 'But I would prefer to return home all the same.'

  'I see.' The Condessa frowned. 'But this is most disappointing. I know the life we lead here is very lonely, and there is little distraction, and yet I had thought you liked it here.'

  'Oh, I do! That is - the climate is marvellous. And I love the castelo and its environs. But I've spent too long here as it is, and I ought to go back.'

  'And when are you thinking of leaving us?' Toni lifted her shoulders. 'I thought - perhaps - tomorrow!'

  'Tomorrow! Oh no, senhorita, you cannot leave tomorrow.' The Condessa was most disturbed. 'That is much too soon after your accident. I am sure Doctor Rodrigues said only the day before yesterday, when he examined me, that he would be coming back to see you again next week.'

  'Well, I'm afraid that's out of the question,' said Toni firmly. 'Besides, it's not necessary. I'm perfectly capable of seeing my own doctor in England should that be necessary.'

  The Condessa sighed. 'You young people are so independent. In my day the elders always knew best.'

  'I'm sorry, Condessa, but really, I must go.' Toni felt a sense of urgency assail her. She didn't want to see the Conde again, and she was afraid if he returned she might find herself in deeper waters than she already was.

  After dinner was over, Francesca said she was going to bed' Toni was surprised. Usually in the evenings they took a walk together, and as this was her last evening she had thought Francesca would spend it with her. However, thinking Francesca might have taken offence at her abrupt departure plans, she decided to take a last look at the cliffs, and the beach below them.

  It was a wonderful evening. The sky was dark velvet inset with jewels, and a sickle moon floated lazily. The scents of the flowers were intoxicating and she felt a sense of regret that in a couple of days she might be back in London, looking out of her bed-sitter window on to the stone yard of the building. There were no flowers there, no romantic castle looking grim, yet inviting, in the moonlight. It would all seem like a dream, a crazy dream, and one which she must forget as soon as possible.

  She shivered as she wondered what the Conde would do when he returned and found her gone. He was not a man to take disobedience kindly, and yet what could he do? Once she was back in England, it would not be so easy to trace her, and in any case, what would be the point?

  She thought again of the livid scar that had distorted the flesh of his cheek. Its origins seemed shrouded in mystery, and yet she felt sure it had something to do with Paul - and his wife, Elise. It was a guess, of course, but an educated one. There had been so many innuendoes regarding Paul and the Conde's dislike of him, and she wondered whether Paul and the Conde had had a fight. And yet that would hardly account for such a severe wound. Unless they had had knives, which was quite ridiculous.

  Thrusting these thoughts aside, she allowed her mind to return to that day in her room when the Conde had seemed to lose control of himself and kissed her. Her skin still burned at the remembrance of that encounter, and she wished she could wipe it from her mind along with all the other things.

  She returned to the castelo a little after nine, deciding to go straight to bed. The hall was deserted, but she heard sounds in the lounge and thinking it might be the Condessa she walked into the room. She stopped dead when she saw the Conde lounging lazily on a settee, feet outstretched, a cigarette in one hand, a drink in the other, and a newspaper supported on his knees. He had shed his jacket, and in a cream shirt, open at the throat to reveal the beginnings of the dark hairs of his chest, he looked younger, more approachable, and infinitely more dangerous to her peace of mind.

  'Shut the door, senhorita,' he said indolently, putting his cigarette between his teeth and standing his drink down on a table as he got to his feet.

  Toni shivered. 'I don't think we have anything to say to one another, Senhor Conde,' she murmured.

  'Yes, we have.' He gave her a sardonic glance, and walking over to her leant behind her and closed the door with his foot. 'Well, well, and you are feeling much better, I hear.'

  'Where did you hear that?' asked Toni tightly, wondering why he had arrived so late in the evening.

  'From Francesca, of course. I also hear that you and she are becoming very friendly.'

  'From Francesca? But how? Oh, she couldn't, she just couldn't!'

  'Couldn't what? Talk about you? She seems to talk about -little else, these days. You have made quite an impression, senhorita.'

  Toni bent her head, feeling exhausted suddenly. She had thought Francesca liked her, was her friend as well. But obviously she(had used today to telephone her father and tell him Toni was planning to leave tomorrow. Why else had he arrived so unexpectedly, and so late at night?

  'I don't want to discuss anything with you, senhor said Toni, feeling the unwanted prick of tears behind her eyes. 'Look, I don't know what you think I am or what you think you can do to me, but I will not stay here, and you can't make me!'

  'Oh, I think I can, senhorita.'

  Toni stared at him. 'How?'

  The Conde smiled and poured himself another drink, moving away from her so that her breathing returned to its normal tenor. 'When Paul left here several days ago I gave him a certain sum of money.'

  'Oh, yes?'

  'Yes. I did this purposely, for two reasons. Firstly - to get rid of him, and secondly - to adjure you to stay.'

  'I don't understand you, senhor. How could making Paul leave adjure me to stay?'

  'Wait, and I will explain, senhorita. The money is the key. It would be an easy matter for me to contact the British police and tell them that Paul stole that money!'

  'What!'

  'Yes, it was quite easy to make it appear as though some money had been lifted from my safe, without my knowledge.'

  'And why do you think I should care if you do that?' exclaimed Toni angrily.

  'Because, my dear senhorita, you are a sentimentalist at heart. I know a little more about you now. I know you once knew Paul rather well. That you were once almost engaged to him. Almost but not quite, which says something for your mentality, I suppose. At any rate, sufficiently well do you know him that I do not think you would deliberately destroy his reputation.'

  'But you would!' she exclaimed incredulously.

  'Yes, I would,' he agreed.

  'But why? Why?'

  'As I once told you, you have a certain - how shall I put it - attraction. You are different from our Portuguese women, as my wife was once different also. And in addition to this, you are a woman without scruples. You attempt to destroy the marriage of a friend of mine; you play the part of a man's fiancee, allowing him to make love to you for money; why then should you object when I tell you that I also find you attractive? Not in the way I would love and respect a woman whom I intended to marry, but merely as a purely physical arrangement, it suits me very well.' Toni couldn't believe her ears. She was horrified. 'Then also you are very
conveniently a governess, and as Francesca needs a governess . . .' His voice trailed away.

  Toni's fingers were swift and angry, and before he had a chance to stop her she had slapped him violently across This face, uncaring that she struck his scar. He pressed a hand to his cheek, and she felt a moment's compassion, and then he ground out:

  'I am sorry if my proposition has come as a shock to you, senhorita, and maybe the thought of a man so disfigured making love to you nauseates you, but it is of no matter. I do not care about your childish whims and fancies. You are what you are, and I am not a man to be thwarted!'

  'You're crazy!' she gasped, pressing a hand to her stomach. 'Crazy!'

  'Oh, no, I think I am perfectly sane,' he remarked, recovering his coolness. 'However, you are entitled to your opinion, of course.'

  'But - but you can't do this to me! If - if I were the kind of woman you are making me out to be, why should I care what happens to Paul?' She was trembling and her voice was not quite steady.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. 'Who knows? Nevertheless, I cannot believe you are all bad, and I do not think you would want to make such trouble for a man who is reputedly a friend of yours.'

  Toni clenched her fists. 'You expect me to - to - give in to your demands because of Paul!'

  'Why not? I did not think it would be so distasteful for you!'

  Toni swallowed with difficulty. Her throat felt dry, and she felt as weak as she had done at the start of her period in bed. The Conde della Maria Estrada now replaced his glass on the tray and came purposefully towards her. Toni shook her head, backing away from him, until she came up against the wall by the door, where she stiffened into immobility. The Conde halted a few inches from her, looking down at her with those disturbing dark eyes. His scar gave him a swarthy, piratical appearance, and she quivered with fear.

  'Do not be alarmed,' he murmured softly, sliding one hand round her neck, under the heavy weight of her hair which was loose about her shoulders. 'I will not hurt you - Toni.' The way he said her name, with its faintly foreign inflection, turned Toni's bones to water. His nearness melted her resistance, and she was terribly afraid of his power over her.