Fascination (12 page)

Such a relationship might come eventually, she told herself as she stood at the head of the white marble steps and waved as the car drew off the forecourt. Then she felt flat, drained, and although she gave herself a mental shake, she still felt depressed when she saw the children off to school two hours later.

At half-past ten her driving instructor arrived and the lesson made a break from the sort of nerve-twisting tension that was beginning to assail her. She did not know what was the matter with her but was relieved to learn that her driving had not suffered.

‘You’re doing very well indeed,’ praised the man, Jorge, speaking good but broken English. ‘It is a long time since I had such an apt pupil.’

He left her at the door, and the tension returned immediately. She would phone Gasper, she decided on the spur of the moment, just for a chat, that was all.

‘Hello!’ he greeted her eagerly. ‘How are things with my beautiful cousin-in-law?’

‘Not too bad,’ she began, then wished she had forced a little more brightness into her voice.

‘Sounds somewhat suspicious,’ he said, gravity replacing the previous jocular tone of his voice. ‘Something wrong?’

‘Nothing at all, Gasper. How are you these days?’

‘Great, as always. But we were talking about you. You’ve been putting me off all the time, so I conclude you’ve had orders not to cultivate me. Right?’

‘Carlos says you’re a flirt, and it’s true.’

‘Admitted, but he knows I wouldn’t flirt with his wife.’ A slight pause ensued. ‘Where is he now? In his study with his nose to his books?’

‘He went off to London this morning early.’

‘He did!’ Silence, so prolonged that Hydee wondered if they’d been cut off.

‘Are you still there, Gasper?’ she said.

‘Yes, of course. London, eh? Did he say why he was going there?’

‘On business.’ Nerves twisted in Hydee’s stomach as if she knew instinctively that there must be a very good reason for the way she had been feeling this morning. ‘Why are you acting so strangely?’ she just had to inquire.

‘Strangely?’ Hydee had the impression he was pulling himself together. ‘That’s a funny thing to say, Hydee. Why on earth should I act strangely?’ And when she offered no answer, he asked if he could come over and take her to lunch, either to his own house or to a restaurant.

She hesitated, but only for a few seconds. She was far too depressed to refuse the opportunity of being cheered up.

‘All right, Gasper.’ She glanced at her wristwatch. ‘It’s a quarter to twelve now. What time should I expect you?’

‘I’ll be on my way in a couple of minutes.’ The line went dead. Hydee stared at the receiver for a long moment before replacing it on its rest. Gasper’s attitude
had
been strange, no matter how he denied it, she thought, making her way up the beautiful balustraded staircase to her bedroom on the wide semicircular corridor at the top of it.

She looked especially charming when she met Gasper in the cool, marble-floored hallway with its fluted pillars and the crest embellishing the wide arch through which could be seen the broad and sweeping stairway.

Gasper stood there, waiting for Bento to disappear before he said, a soft whistle having already issued from his lips, ‘You’re a real beauty if ever there was one! Hydee, why didn’t I meet you before that lucky and unappreciative cousin of mine?’

Having decided to assume a light and casual front, Hydee forced herself to laugh. ‘You’re incorrigible, Gasper. But keep your flirting for those who enjoy it. I’m a married woman and very conscious of the fact.’

‘Married?’ with a lift of one noble eyebrow. ‘In name only—is that a marriage?’

She coloured but turned at the same time, embarrassed, and wished there was some casual way of informing him of the new relationship she had with her husband.

‘Shall we go into the salon and have a drink?’ she suggested, moving away even before he could speak.

They sat together on a couch, Hydee with a long cooling drink and Gasper with something stronger, their conversation light and general even though the questions which both wished to ask hovered on the edge of their minds.

At last Gasper said, regarding Hydee intently as he lifted his glass to sip its sparkling amber contents, ‘So Carlos went off to London this morning, did he? And how long is he to be away?’

‘It could be a week, but probably a little less.’

A strange silence prevailed, and when she saw that Gasper was deep in thought and not ready to comment, Hydee just had to ask, ‘Why did you sound so strange on the phone, Gasper?—no, don’t deny it again, please.’ She lifted a hand to strengthen the plea. ‘Right at the beginning there was an understanding between you and me that frankness would be important in our friendship. Well, Gasper, you are not at present being frank with me. Just what are you trying to hide?’

‘Are you omniscient?’ he demanded, faintly angry.

Hydee’s smile was slow and thin. ‘I don’t have to possess abnormal powers of observation to see that you know something about Carlos’s visit to London that I don’t.’

Gasper watched her move her glass so that the ice tinkled on its sides and said frowningly, ‘I feel that the frankness you speak of might not be either desirable or in any way advantageous under the circumstances.’

It was Hydee’s turn to frown. She tried to dismiss the matter, but her curiosity was too strong. Besides, that nagging tension remained with her, increased by Gasper’s manner, gnawing into her consciousness to form a persistent irritation to her nerves. She
must
know what he was keeping from her! She would not allow him any peace until he submitted a forthright answer to her question.

‘You’re making things even worse,’ she pointed out quietly.

‘Because I have my back to the wall,’ he retorted, and again she detected a hint of anger in his voice.

‘It’s very plain that Carlos’s visit to London has some kind of mystery surrounding it.’

‘That’s not so,’ he immediately denied. ‘Carlos often goes to London on business—’ He broke off as Bento knocked quietly and entered, with the information that Dona Isobella had called.

‘Didn’t you tell her that Dom Carlos is away?’ said Hydee with a frown.

‘I did, senhora, but she then said she would like to see you.’

‘What now?’ said Gasper, exchanging glances with Hydee. ‘Not a friendly, affectionate sisterly visit, I’ll be bound.’ He seemed troubled, she thought, which only served to add to her puzzlement and disturbance of mind.

‘I could very well have done without a visit from my haughty sister-in-law at this particular time,’ she sighed, voicing her thoughts aloud.

‘Shall I show her in, senhora?’ Bento’s voice sounded a trifle pained and, as usual, stolid. Why did he make her feel so inferior? wondered Hydee with a swift spurt of anger. Would the time ever come when he would treat her as an equal with her exalted husband and his equally high-bred relatives?

‘I am in, Bento, thank you.’ The clipped and arrogant voice actually startled Hydee, because she had not expected her sister-in-law to take it upon herself to come in without first having Hydee’s invitation conveyed to her via the butler. Isobella stood just inside the door, her dark unfathomable eyes moving slowly from one occupant of the couch to the other before Gasper, remembering his manners, rose reluctantly, undisguised dislike imprinted on his face.

‘Good day to you, Isobella. I trust you and your family are in good health?’

‘If you mean Pedro and his father, then, yes, Gasper, they are both in excellent health.’

So formal and stilted! Hydee felt that Isobella would have better fitted into a society existing a hundred years ago.

‘Do sit down,’ she invited, rising from the couch to tug at an ornate bell rope. ‘What refreshments can I get you?’

‘None, thank you,’ answered Isobella tersely, her eyes wandering to Gasper, standing there, tall and aristocratic and almost as good-looking as Carlos, it would seem I’m interrupting your little tête-à-tête, so I won’t stay.’

‘But Bento said you wanted to see me,’ put in Hydee as Isobella turned towards the door through which she had only just entered. ‘What is it?’ Cool the voice, composed the manner, but underneath it all Hydee was trembling, for she felt herself to be vulnerable to great danger, knew a sensation of being poised on the edge of a precipice over which it would take no more than a puff of wind to make her fall. In her imagination she could see Isobella talking to Carlos, then very casually letting it drop that she had called and Gasper had been there sitting close to Hydee on the sofa. Yes, Hydee knew by the woman’s expression what was running through her mind, what plans she was making to bring about her hated sister-in-law’s downfall. Carlos’s first wife was fond of other men, had been unfaithful, so it was logical to assume that Carlos would be furious about Gasper being there, especially as he had told Hydee not to cultivate his friendship.

‘It was nothing really important—’ began Isobella, when her cousin interrupted her.

‘Nothing you can speak of before me, Isobella? Do you want me to remove myself so that you can talk to Hydee in private?’ Although he had asked the question, Hydee had the impression that the last thing he wanted was to leave them alone together.

‘No, don’t go, Gasper. As I said, it was nothing of any real importance.’ Suddenly her whole manner changed and she smiled in the most disarming way. ‘I
will
have a drink, after all, Hydee,’ she said, moving over to a chair and sitting down. Her eyes sought Hydee’s figure, sweeping over it to take in the exceptionally pretty dress she wore—a full-skirted dress of pale blue cotton with a tight-fitting bodice and dainty trimmings of narrow brown lace on the edge of the short sleeves and on the hemline. ‘So, Carlos is in London,’ she murmured softly. ‘I wonder if he’ll run across Arminda.’

‘Arminda?’ repeated Hydee, eyes sliding to Gasper, and narrowing as he glanced away, refusing to meet her gaze.

‘Yes.’ Isobella smiled as she leant back and crossed her shapely legs. ‘She went over a couple of days ago. She has an aunt living in Mayfair whom she visits two or three times a year.’

A chill passed over Hydee’s body, spreading into her heart to slow its beating, and for one wild moment of sheer misery she thought that if she were dying she would not mind. For with vivid perception she now understood her husband’s refusal to tell her what his business was. And then there was Gasper’s attitude, his swiftly curtailed exclamation on being told that Carlos was flying to London that day.

Hydee looked towards the door with a swift frown as Felix, a young manservant working under Bento, entered in answer to Hydee’s summons.

‘What will you have, Isobella?’ she asked, but Gasper spoke at the same time, actually telling Felix to leave the room. ‘What…?’ Hydee stared blankly at him, noting the arrogance and the hard, steely expression which reminded her of Carlos in one of his less attractive moods.

‘I think you had better leave, Isobella. You’ve done what you came for, although you chose to go a long way about it, just for effect I guess, knowing you as well as I do.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gasper!’ Isobella said something in Portuguese, and Hydee saw Gasper’s teeth clamp together and his fists close at his sides. He moved closer to where his cousin sat and stood over her, a menacing figure, his handsome face dark with fury.

‘I told you to leave,’ he gritted. You called here for the specific purpose of letting Hydee know that Arminda’s in London, because you want to hurt her! Also, when you saw my car
out there
you were curious as to what was going on
in here!
Well, now you know—and you’ll put your own interpretation on it! But I warn you, Isobella, be very careful about blackening Hydee’s name, either with her husband or with any other members of our family! I can retaliate, remember—
remember?
’ The words were deliberate, with an undertone of contempt. ‘Yes,’ he sneered as the blood rushed to Isobella’s face, a betrayal of her guilt over some indiscretion obviously known to her cousin, ‘I see that you do remember! So think before you let that venomous tongue of yours get you into trouble. And now,’ he added finally, ‘you can go!’

‘You’ll allow Gasper to order me out of my own brother’s home?’ The question was thrown at Hydee, who could only stand there trembling from head to foot, the icy chill of wounded pride spreading through the hollowness within her. ‘Well?’ snapped her sister-in-law, her mouth beginning to twist convulsively, the result of an all-consuming fury that seemed to pervade the entire atmosphere of the room.

‘Your brother’s home?’ from Gasper when Hydee still remained dumb. ‘I’m ordering you out of
Hydee’s
home. Now, go before I forget I’m a gentleman!’ He was at the door; Isobella rose with difficulty but marched from the room with head held high, the imprint of hate and arrogance in every step she took.

Although the atmosphere in the salon seemed lighter and fresher when Isobella had gone, the two who were left found difficulty in breaking the long silence which followed the slamming of the door. But at last Gasper spoke, moving to put a comforting arm around Hydee’s drooping shoulders.

‘Try to forget her, Hydee, dear. She’s just about the worst of a family I am certainly not proud to belong to.’

Eyes misted with tears were lifted to his face. Hydee saw his expression change and answered his question before he had time to ask it. ‘Yes, Gasper, I love him. It was bound to happen. I know that now.’

‘What a mess! And him caring for…’ He stopped, but Hydee finished for him, ‘… Arminda. They planned to be together didn’t they?’ No answer and she went on, ‘You knew Arminda was going to London, didn’t you?’

‘Yes,’ he replied after a fleeting pause, ‘I did.’

‘And it was a shock when you knew Carlos was there, too.’

‘It was a surprise, certainly.’ He looked down into her face, and before Hydee had time to avoid what she realised was coming, Gasper had bent his head to kiss her full on the lips.

It was at that moment that Isobella returned, throwing open the door and saying coldly, ‘I left my handbag….’ Her tall figure seemed to dominate the room as Hydee and Gasper fell apart, not with any special haste, because it was too late for that. ‘So I wasn’t mistaken when I suspected an affair,’ sneered the woman triumphantly. ‘Oh, well, as Carlos is also having an affair, I don’t really blame you—’