All Night Long Read online

  Ally didn’t know what to say. ‘I had no idea.’

  ‘No.’ Suzanne conceded the point. ‘It’s not something you tend to brag about. It was bad enough having to cancel bookings and close the hotel for five months. We really thought we might have to sell it and we were at our wits’ end when Juan Ramirez offered to bail us out.’

  Ally’s tongue circled her lips. ‘I see.’

  Suzanne nodded. ‘As I told you before, Julia and the boys had known one another for yonks, since they were just children, really, and although Peter and I have never been able to call Isabel and Juan friends, we have become much closer in recent years. Particularly since Raul and Julia have been together.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘I doubt you do. Spanish families can be notoriously traditional, you know? I mean, we’ve dined at Finisterre more than half a dozen times in the last year, but I don’t feel any closer to Isabel now than I did—what? Eighteen months ago.’

  ‘Because of the loan, you mean?’

  ‘No. Not because of the loan. I mean, until Raul started going away on business for his father, that hadn’t been a problem. Juan had as good as hinted that once Julia and Raul were married he’d cancel the debt, and I’m afraid Pete and I have been speculating on the strength of it.’

  ‘Oh, Suzanne!’

  ‘Don’t say it. I know. But until Raul began spending more and more time working for his father, Julia and he seemed perfectly happy together.’

  ‘I suppose that’s where—Carlos comes in?’

  ‘That’s right.’ Suzanne made an impatient sound. ‘He’s been away for a couple of years, you see, completing his education in the United States, as Raul did. He’s five years younger than his brother, and before he went away Julia had no time for him.’

  ‘She’s known them both for a long time, you say?’ Ally ventured, and Suzanne inclined her head.

  ‘Yes. I suppose it must be—oh, ten years since Julia was invited up to the house to play with Raul’s sister, Sofía.’

  ‘He has a sister, too?’ Ally tried not to sound too interested.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Suzanne easily. ‘They’ve been friends ever since.’

  ‘Julia and Sofía?’

  ‘All of them,’ replied Suzanne ruefully. ‘Carlos is only a year older than Julia and Raul must have been about eighteen at that time.’

  Ally moistened her lips. ‘So how old is Raul now?’

  ‘Raul?’ Suzanne frowned. ‘Well, let’s see: Julia is twenty-two so I suppose that makes Raul twenty-eight.’ She gave it some consideration and then amended her assessment. ‘No, he’s twenty-nine. He had a birthday recently so he’s a year older.’ She grimaced. ‘I wish I was twenty-nine. How much simpler life was then.’

  Ally smiled, but it took an effort. Raul was almost exactly ten years younger than she was, she thought depressingly. He’d been just nine years old when she’d had the twins.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  SAM rang the following morning.

  Ally was barely awake when the phone beside her bed began to peal and she groaned in protest as she fumbled for the receiver. ‘Yes? Hello?’

  ‘Mum? Mum, is that you?’

  Sam’s voice sounded almost painfully shrill and Ally winced. She wished now that Peter hadn’t been so generous with the wine the night before. She knew she’d drunk more than she should but she’d been trying to put all thoughts of Raul Ramirez—and the things Suzanne had told her—out of her mind.

  ‘Sam?’ Ally struggled up against her pillows, her aching head a small price to pay for the relief of hearing her daughter’s voice. ‘Where have you been? I don’t know how many times I rang the house yesterday.’

  ‘I wondered if you’d been ringing.’ Sam’s tone was less penetrating now. ‘Mrs Goddard said she’d heard the phone ringing when she passed the house.’

  She would, thought Ally drily, recalling her elderly neighbour who spent much of her time ensconced in her sitting room window, watching the comings and goings in Penrose Terrace.

  ‘Anyway, I’m sorry if you were worried,’ Sam continued. ‘But—well, something came up.’

  ‘What?’ Ally was wide-awake now, her own problems forgotten in her instinctive concern for her daughter. ‘Is something wrong? You and Mark are getting on all right, aren’t you?’ She caught her breath as another thought occurred to her. ‘Oh, God, it’s not Ryan, is it?’

  ‘Chill out, Mum. It’s none of those things.’ Sam was laconic. ‘When I said something came up, I didn’t mean it was anything you should worry about.’ She blew out a breath. ‘So—are you having a good time? Is it a lovely place? I envy you, I really do. I’m hoping I can persuade Mark that we should lash out when we go on honeymoon. What do you think? Would Aunt Suzanne cut us a good deal?’

  If they’re still here, thought Ally uneasily. Then, ‘Sam—’

  ‘Anyway, why were you ringing me? Mrs Goddard said the phone had rung several times. That was why I thought of you. I couldn’t think of anyone else who knows the number and doesn’t know that I’m at college or working and you’re away.’

  Ally tried not to be impatient, but she was fairly sure that her daughter hadn’t rung her for no reason. She felt a premonition of alarm. Something was wrong. She was sure of it. She could feel it in her bones. So why wasn’t she feeling more optimistic about the fact that it looked as if she wasn’t going to have to invent a reason to return to England?

  ‘Sam,’ she said now, trying to keep her voice even, ‘never mind why I was trying to get in touch with you. You didn’t ring me just to get a weather report on my holiday. As it happens—’ she pulled a rueful face ‘—I’m having a very nice time. Or I was, until you rang.’

  ‘Mum!’

  ‘You know what I mean. Sam, please!’ Ally sighed. ‘I’m imagining all sorts of things. Put me out of my misery, do!’

  There was silence for a moment and then Sam heaved a sigh. ‘It’s Dad,’ she said, in a low voice, and Ally’s jaw dropped. ‘He’s come back.’

  ‘Come back?’ Ally was momentarily dazed. ‘What do you mean, he’s come back? You mean—he and Kelly have come back to England?’

  ‘No, I mean he’s come back on his own,’ replied Sam carefully. ‘As in, he and Kelly have split up. At least, that’s what he says. That’s where I was all day yesterday. Talking to him at the hotel where he’s staying.’

  Ally was stunned. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Jeff and Kelly had seemed rock-solid. But then, she reflected wryly, she and Jeff had seemed that way once, too.

  ‘He says it’s over,’ went on Sam, as if realising her mother was too shocked to speak. ‘Apparently they’ve been having problems ever since Dad moved to Toronto. According to him, the education system there is different from ours, and although he was a head of department here, he’s just one of the minions there. And I think the fact that Kelly’s position is higher than his has been something of a bone of contention between them. You know what Dad’s like. He always needs to feel that he’s top dog.’

  Wasn’t that the truth? Ally silently acknowledged that it was so. Jeff had always turned his thumbs down on the few occasions when she’d attempted to buck his authority. Like when the twins had started school and she’d suggested going back to college to get a degree. Jeff had insisted she had enough to do, looking after the house and caring for the family. That was why she’d only been able to get a job in an office now, having gained her secretarial skills at night school after the twins were old enough to be left alone.

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ Ally said at last, pushing back the single sheet that was all that had covered her and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. It was hard to take it in. ‘Did he say what he plans to do now?’

  ‘Well—yes.’ Sam was reluctant. ‘He says he wants to put the past behind him and start again.’ She took a breath. ‘I’m so glad you’re away, Mum. You’ve no idea how miffed he was when he found out. I think he expected you’d still be sitting here feeli
ng sorry for yourself. When I told him where you were, he could hardly hide his indignation.’

  ‘Sam!’ Ally spoke in a strangled voice. ‘He is your father. You’re speaking about him as if he was a complete stranger.’

  ‘He is to me,’ retorted Sam at once. ‘He didn’t care about us when he took himself off to Canada, did he? He knew it was going to be hard for me and Ryan, just starting college and all, but he didn’t give a damn about us.’

  ‘Sam—’

  ‘No. It’s true, Mum, and you know it. All he cared about was Kelly and starting a new life with her. Well, it’s not our fault if it hasn’t worked out for him, and you can’t blame me if I feel a certain amount of satisfaction now.’

  ‘Oh, Sam—’

  ‘Don’t say “Oh, Sam” in that tone of voice, Mum.’ Her daughter was impatient. ‘Surely you feel the same?’ She paused and, when her mother didn’t say anything she added disbelievingly, ‘My God, you’re not feeling sorry for him, are you?’

  ‘No—o.’

  Ally drew out the word, trying to decide exactly how she did feel. Not glad, exactly, but, if she was completely honest, not sorry either. And if Jeff’s plans hadn’t worked out then he had only himself to blame.

  ‘I should think not,’ Sam was saying now, her young voice full of righteous indignation, and just for a moment Ally felt a pang of guilt. She wasn’t wholly blameless herself, and if what had happened between her and Raul had been a totally one-off thing, happening after her divorce and not before it, had that been just her good fortune? Did she really know how she’d have reacted if she’d met Raul before she and Jeff had separated?

  ‘So—he’s going to look for another post in England?’ she ventured after a moment and Sam made an angry sound.

  ‘Not just in England,’ she exclaimed resentfully. ‘In Newcastle. Can you believe it? Like I said before, he thinks he can just take up where he left off. That’s why I’m so glad you’re out of the country. Hopefully, by the time you get back, he’ll have got tired of hanging around here and taken himself off somewhere else. The further away, the better. I’ve told him he’s unlikely to find a suitable position in this area, but he just says that until he’s spoken to you he doesn’t want to make any rash decisions.’

  Ally stifled a groan. ‘Why not?’

  ‘Why do you think?’ Sam sighed. ‘He wants you back, Mum. He’s realised what it’s like having to do things for himself, and he doesn’t like it. Let’s face it: he’s been spoiled. For years, you’ve waited on him hand and foot!’

  ‘Hardly that.’ Ally was defensive. She didn’t like the thought that her daughter—and possibly her son as well—considered her a victim.

  ‘Well, you did let him get away with murder,’ Sam amended drily. ‘But Kelly’s not like that. She’s far too full of herself to run after any man, least of all someone like Dad.’

  Ally frowned. ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘Oh, Mum.’ Sam sighed again. ‘It’s not as if he’d win any beauty contests, would he? I mean, he’s okay, I guess, but he is forty and Kelly’s only twenty-eight.’

  ‘You make forty sound ancient,’ said Ally, feeling her age suddenly.

  And already her stomach was churning at the prospect of having to face her ex-husband again. She had hoped never to have to see him again—and particularly not in circumstances like these, she thought unhappily. Sam was probably right. Jeff had dominated her for more years than she cared to remember and she was quite sure he’d expect an entirely different response from her from the one she was feeling now.

  But it wasn’t going to happen, she told herself fiercely. She didn’t want him back. If the night she had spent with Raul had taught her nothing else, it had convinced her that the relationship she’d had with Jeff was not what she’d believed it to be. She’d loved him in her way, but she realised now that she’d loved the security he’d represented more. When he’d destroyed that element of their marriage, he’d destroyed everything. She just hadn’t accepted it before.

  ‘I’m not saying forty’s old, exactly,’ Sam was continuing now, and Ally forced herself to concentrate on her daughter’s words. ‘But you have to admit, it’s not young! That’s all I meant.’

  ‘Mmm.’

  Ally tried to think. As she’d suspected, Sam had offered her the perfect excuse to curtail her holiday, and although Suzanne would no doubt object, she’d understand if Ally insisted on returning home.

  ‘Anyway, I’m so glad you’re having a good time,’ Sam persisted. ‘I bet Aunt Suzanne was really glad to see you. That’s something you wouldn’t have done if you’d still been married to Dad, remember that. He never encouraged you to have any friends. He was always afraid someone might displace him in your affections.’

  ‘You’re exaggerating, Sam.’ Ally couldn’t let her go on maligning her father. ‘He wasn’t that bad. He was just—a bit possessive, that’s all.’

  ‘A bit?’ Sam snorted. But then, as if realising that her words were achieving the exact opposite to what she wanted, she backed off. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘So, do you want me to give him a message? Like—get lost, or something a little more descriptive?’

  ‘No.’ Ally was appalled. ‘Anything I have to say to your father, I’ll say to him myself.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘When I get back, of course.’

  Sam was wary. ‘If he’s still here, you mean.’

  ‘Oh, he’ll still be there.’ Ally mentally squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. ‘I think I’d better get the next available flight.’

  ‘You can’t!’ Sam was horrified.

  ‘Why can’t I?’

  ‘Because I told him you wouldn’t be back until the end of February. If you come back now, he’s bound to think you’re desperate to start again!’

  It took an enormous effort of will for Ally to go down for breakfast.

  Although she’d been forced to promise her daughter that she wouldn’t make any hasty decisions without speaking to her again, her situation here was no less precarious because her ex-husband had decided to return home. She didn’t really know why she was hesitating, why she was letting Sam’s words influence her. She had been given the perfect excuse for cutting her holiday short, and even Suzanne couldn’t be offended if she explained that she owed it to her children to find out what Jeff intended to do.

  Her friend was bound to think she was a fool for doing anything to accommodate him, of course, but that couldn’t be helped. At the end of the day, it was her decision, and right now she felt as if she was caught between a rock and a hard place.

  All the same, Ally had to admit that she was reluctant to do anything to give Jeff the wrong impression. He had always been far too willing to take advantage of any weakness she exhibited, and hurrying back to England just because his affair with Kelly had apparently foundered was certainly not the most sensible thing to do. As Sam had said, he was sure to think she was eager to rekindle their relationship and, in those circumstances, it was going to be incredibly difficult to convince him otherwise.

  Ally sighed as she crossed the lobby towards the Patio Restaurant. She wondered what Jeff would say if she told him the real reason why she’d wanted to leave San Cristobál. She doubted he’d believe her. So far as her ex-husband was concerned, she’d lost any claim to beauty years ago, and the idea that some other man—a younger man, no less—might have been irresistibly attracted to her would simply not strike him as feasible. He’d think she was making it up; that she was trying to pay him back for leaving her.

  Of course, she thought ruefully, she couldn’t tell him. Not without Sam finding out, too, and she couldn’t bear it if her daughter decided she was no better than her father. Which left her in the unenviable position of not knowing where to turn.

  ‘Mrs Sloan. Alison!’

  The male voice was vaguely familiar and Ally turned to find Tom Adams approaching across the tiled marble floor. Her shoulders sagged. The last thing she needed was another prob
lem in her life, she thought wearily. And the fact that Tom Adams had seen her and Raul together was an added complication.

  ‘Hello,’ she managed, pausing in the doorway to the open-air restaurant. ‘It looks like another lovely morning.’

  ‘Aren’t they all?’ Tom Adams smiled, but she could tell from his expression that he was remembering what had happened the day before. ‘Are you breakfasting alone?’

  ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ Ally glanced out onto the sunlit patio. And then, because she felt obliged to try and put any possible thought of Raul out of his mind, she added, ‘I suppose you’ve eaten.’

  ‘Regrettably, I have.’ But he seemed mollified by her subtle invitation. ‘However, I’d be happy to—’

  ‘Aunt Ally! Aunt Ally, wait!’

  Julia’s cry arrested them both and, glancing behind her, Ally was horrified to see Suzanne’s daughter and the man she intended to marry coming towards them. In narrow black denims and a khaki shirt, open at the neck to expose the strong column of his throat, Raul looked disturbingly attractive and Ally glanced fearfully at Tom Adams, wondering what he was thinking. All she needed was for him to blurt out that she and Julia’s boyfriend already knew one another and it would all be over.

  But before Julia had a chance to say anything more, Tom Adams made his excuses. ‘I can see you’re going to have company for breakfast after all,’ he murmured in an undertone. ‘But perhaps we can meet later. On the beach?’

  ‘Oh—please.’ Ally was so relieved that he wasn’t going to cause trouble she could have hugged him, and her response was considerably warmer than it might have been because of it. ‘The beach, yes,’ she agreed, giving his arm a grateful squeeze. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’

  Tom Adams gave a delighted smile and slipped away before the others reached her. But Ally was sure from the narrowing of Raul’s dark eyes that he had noticed that affectionate exchange and despised her for it.

  However, his expression revealed nothing but mild interest when Julia clutched Ally’s hand and said, ‘I wanted to catch you before we left.’ She turned to the man beside her. ‘This is Raul, Aunt Ally. You would have met him a couple of nights ago if we’d gone to Finisterre, but—well, he’s here now, so that’s all right. Raul, this is Mum’s friend, Ally Sloan, from England. The one you were supposed to look out for at the airport. Perhaps she wouldn’t mind if you called her Aunt Ally, too.’