Fascination (18 page)

She threw him a glance of gratitude. She adored having the children with her but was pleased that on this special morning she could carry on an uninterrupted conversation with her friends.

They arrived within minutes, faces flushed and happy. Greetings exchanged, they sat down opposite one another, Ellie on Hydee’s right and Ray on her left. The next hour was one of the most pleasant social interludes Hydee had ever spent in her life, partly because it was rather wonderful to be eating a meal with Ellie again but mainly because of Carlos’s gracious manner with his guests… and his almost tender manner with his wife. And when Hydee caught his eyes unexpectedly, she gasped at what she saw in their dark metallic depths. Ellie saw it too, and her eyes widened. When Hydee looked at her, she was holding her fork in midair as if she had forgotten to carry it all the way to her mouth.

‘Why didn’t you tell me you’d fallen in love with each other?’ Ellie demanded later when she and Hydee were alone in one of the smaller salons. She and Ray had met the children, and Ellie described them as ‘rather special.’ They took to Ray and insisted on dragging him off to see the Christmas tree and then they showed him the gardens and the swimming pool. ‘He’s just crazy about you!’ Ellie added when her friend did not speak. ‘And it’s easy to see that you’re just as crazy about him.’

‘You think he… he cares?’ The way Hydee asked that brought a frown to Ellie’s forehead.

‘What do you mean? It’s as clear as that sky out there. He adores you!’

Hydee’s nerves fluttered, and for a few tense moments she could only stare, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Ellie waited, an anxious expression on her face. When at last Hydee did speak, it was to relate everything that had occurred, and she especially laid stress on Carlos’s assertion that he cared deeply for Arminda.

‘Gasper believes he’s in love with her, too,’ she added finally, but Ellie shook her head.

‘A man doesn’t look at a woman the way Carlos looks at you unless he loves her. I should know,’ added Ellie with a tender smile after a tiny pause.

‘I daren’t let myself believe it, Ellie… and yet…’

‘From what you’ve told me, he’s fallen out of love with this Arminda—if he ever was in love with her—and fallen in love with you. In my mind there isn’t one shadow of doubt.’

‘I wish he’d talk to me now, instead of waiting,’ sighed Hydee. ‘This suspense is awful!’

‘Forget the suspense,’ advised her friend confidently. ‘Carlos must have some reason for what he’s doing, but I can assure you you’ll not be returning to England after Christmas!’

‘If only you could be right….’

‘I am right,’ declared Ellie, then abruptly changed the subject, asking to be shown over the Palacio.

Hydee took her from one magnificent apartment to another, marvelling at the difference in herself, a difference resulting from her optimism that all was not lost after all.

‘You really do act the marquesa very well,’ Ellie said in tones of deep admiration. ‘Anyone would think you’d been born to all this!’

Hydee gave a grimace and told her to wait until this afternoon, when the first of her husband’s relatives would arrive.

‘They dislike me intensely,’ she went on, seeing no sense in trying to hide what would be so outstandingly clear before many more hours had passed. ‘Carlos’s sister has said quite openly that she considers me inferior.’

‘She’s…?’ Ellie stared in disbelief. ‘But where are her manners?’

‘They’re sadly lacking, Ellie. And the others… I’m not going to bore you with their descriptions, because you’ll soon be seeing them all for yourself. In the home of a Portuguese nobleman there’s always a big party on Christmas Eve, when all his relatives converge on his house, where they stay for several days.’

‘Sounds as if it’ll be fun!’

Hydee had to laugh. ‘It’ll be different, Ellie, I’ll grant you that.’ She went on then to speak of Gasper, the only one of Carlos’s relatives who had accepted her—and laughingly repeated his words about the plebeians being outnumbered.

‘Tomorrow evening there’s an even bigger party, when all the estate workers and their families come up to the Palacio. It’s really a sort of tea party, mainly for the children, but everyone—adults as well—receives a present from the tree.’

‘The tree’s vast! I’ve never seen one of that size
inside
a house before!’

‘It needs to be big because of the size of the room, but also because there are so many presents.’

‘Hundreds of them, I noticed. Did
you
have to choose them and wrap them all?’

Hydee shook her head. ‘No, the servants did that. I suppose Carlos chose the main presents himself, but he’d never have the time to go out and choose all you saw in the tree. I helped decorate the tree, of course, with the children, and Carlos helped, too. And then I had the help of Caterina and Jesuina for the process of tying on the presents.’

‘You sound as if you enjoyed it.’

‘It was a happy task, yes—especially as the children were dancing up and down with excitement all the time.’

‘You’re very lucky,’ mused her friend. ‘And to think, if you’d taken notice of me, you’d have had none of this.’

Hydee looked at her through faintly shadowed eyes. ‘Ellie,’ she said, a catch in her voice, ‘none of it could ever mean anything to me without the love of my husband.’

***

The Christmas Eve party was more in the nature of a traditional supper, and the main course of the meal was the national dish—
pacalhau
. There were other subtly spiced dishes, delectable fruits and vintage wine flowing all the time.

‘I shall be tipsy!’ exclaimed Ellie, turning from Hydee to Ray isn’t this exciting?’

‘It’s a wonderful start to our honeymoon,’ he agreed, smiling.

‘What do you think about the relations?’ from Gasper with a grin.

‘Least said, soonest mended,’ laughed Ellie. ‘They looked at Ray and me as if we’d fallen off a garbage cart.’

‘Ellie!’ exclaimed Gasper. ‘You’ll have our august host hearing you!’ But he was amused, and when his eyes met those of his cousin, they were alight with challenge.

However, the meal was a huge success, and immediately afterwards they were entertained by two men playing a guitar and a viola, and a beautiful young
fadista
who sang traditional ballads of sadness and the tragedies of life. One particular
fado
touched Hydee so deeply that she turned impulsively to her husband to ask if he would translate the words for her. ‘It’s incredible that she can move me so deeply when she’s singing in a language I don’t even understand!’

For a moment Carlos paused as if reluctant to comply with her request. However, he did translate, and Hydee learned that the ballad was the sad lament of a girl who had lost her lover to another, more beautiful woman. She sang of her loneliness, and as she ended the song, her voice fell almost to a whisper and there were tears in her eyes.

‘It’s… it’s beautiful….’ Hydee turned again to Carlos, her own eyes bright, lashes stiff. The two men continued playing; Carlos took her hand to lead her onto the dance floor. For a full two minutes they had the floor to themselves, and as Hydee glanced around, she could not help but note the scowl on her sister-in-law’s face and the compression of Arminda’s pretty mouth. Hydee just had to say, ‘Your people would be far happier if I weren’t here, Carlos.’

He held her from him, and her heart fluttered at his expression.

‘If they’re not happy, they can keep away in future,’ he said, the grim edge to his voice bearing no relation to the expression in his eyes, for it was one of tenderness not unmingled with regret, and there was a hint of humility there, too, which Hydee found unsettling because it seemed totally at odds with his proud personality.

She half-expected him to come to her room that night, but he had seemed very tired when she left him in the salon, where the family had gathered to arrange their shoes on the long wide mantelpiece beside those placed there earlier by the children, and she was tired, too. But if she had had any doubts left in her mind about his feelings for her, they must have been dispelled when on Christmas morning she took down her shoe and, opening the slender, velvet-lined box it contained, stared in wide-eyed wonderment at the set of exquisite jewellery that lay there—a necklace, bracelet and eardrops fashioned from flawless diamonds and emeralds. Both Ellie and Ray happened to be close, looking over her shoulder, and Ellie’s loud ‘Oh’ of admiration attracted the attention of all the others present.

‘How very beautiful,’ from Arminda through whitened lips.

‘Exquisite,’ from Isobella, who automatically touched a huge diamond on her own finger.

‘Delightfully feminine… and most fitting for our beautiful marquesa!’ With a challenging glance shot in his cousin’s direction, Gasper took Hydee by the arms, drew her to him, and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Happy Christmas, Hydee!’ he said for all to hear. And then, very softly, ‘You made it! He’s seen sense at last.’ His lips brushed her cheek again before he moved aside.

Hydee turned to her husband, her eyes unnaturally bright. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured huskily. ‘They’re… so beautiful….’ Carlos came close, a smile in his eyes, Hydee’s present to him in his hand. It was an exquisitely carved piece of netsuke.

‘And thank you, dear,’ he said gently. ‘How did you know I collected netsuke? I don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned it to you.’

‘Gasper told me,’ she answered, remembering how thrilled she had been on finding it. But as she had known nothing about netsuke, she had asked Gasper to go into the shop and look at it for her. She bought it after he had said it would be one of the prizes of his cousin’s collection.

Gasper had been amazed that the shopkeeper, an ancient spinster known merely as Fernanda, had been able to get hold of such a high-quality piece of netsuke, which was a rare commodity anyway. However, it was just the present for Carlos, and Hydee had been delighted to find it.

‘You like it?’ She had to say something to break the silence as she watched Carlos turning it over in his hand.

‘It’s very lovely,’ he replied. ‘A most desirable addition to my collection.’

Lunch that day was exceptional, but the main event of Christmas Day in the home of a Portuguese
hidalgo
was always the party given for the estate employees and their families. This was the time for distributing the presents from the glittering tree, Carlos cutting them off and Hydee, helped by Ellie, giving them out.

‘What a day!’ Ellie exclaimed when, at almost midnight, she and Hydee managed to snatch a few minutes alone, having moved surreptitiously from the main salon to one of the smaller ones. All the estate workers had left with their families, and the house was comparatively quiet again. ‘I shall never forget all this as long as I live!’

‘Nor I,’ agreed Hydee. ‘It was really something, wasn’t it?’

‘Something to talk about for a long time to come.’ They continued to chat for a while, and it was only when both were almost asleep that Ellie suggested they go to bed.

Once again Hydee wondered if Carlos would come to her, and this time she was not disappointed. He opened the door and stood there, fresh and cool after a shower, his hair damp, his long body clad in a dressing gown which appeared to have nothing underneath it. Hydee was by the dressing table brushing her hair. A smile illuminated her face as she stared at him in the mirror, then turned and stood waiting for him to speak. Instead, he moved towards her, reached out his hands and waited. Joyfully she went to him, arms outstretched, and in seconds she was thrilling to his strong arms about her quivering body, his mouth cool and tender on her lips.

‘There is so much to say, my darling, and yet I don’t want to say it tonight.’ He held her from him, eyes filled with tender amusement on noticing the battle going on within her as she strove to give him an answer. ‘Woman’s curiosity,’ he mocked, it would appear it wins by a short head. For myself I’d rather make love and leave the more prosaic matters for the morning.’

She had to laugh, but explained, not without a certain measure of shyness, that she would enjoy his lovemaking much better if everything were cleared up first.

‘How unromantic!’ he jibed, in any case, it’ll take so long that you’ll be too tired.’

‘Try me,’ she returned, burying her face in his dressing gown. ‘I’m not a bit tired.’

‘Liar. I met Ellie on the landing and she said you’d both nearly fallen asleep downstairs.’

‘I’ve wakened up since then.’

He lifted her chin, claiming her lips for a long moment, before, with a little shrug of resignation, he began to explain how he had come to be interested in Arminda.

‘She was a friend of Isobella’s, and I now feel sure that it was she who was the instigator of Arminda’s move into this district. I admit I was attracted to Arminda; she became a regular visitor to my home and I to hers, with the natural result that my family concluded we’d get married. They knew I was more interested in acquiring a wife than another nanny. I’d had enough of nannies; I wanted my children to be loved. Well, it seemed that Arminda was a suitable choice because she was so charming with Luisa and Ramos, but somehow, neither of them took to her. Then one day I happened to catch the change in her expression after the children had burst in on us when we were sitting together. I had the impression of impatience—only fleetingly, because Arminda instantly adopted her customary charm of manner with them. I was troubled, though, and watched her from then on. You know the rest. I decided she was not suited to be a mother to my children, but I still cared for her.’ He stopped a moment, silent in thought. ‘I was still determined to have a wife,’ he continued presently. ‘My first wife was an exception, but in the main, Englishwomen are exceedingly kind to children, so I decided to try to find a suitable Englishwoman to be my wife. Added to this, Ramos and Luisa speak the language perfectly.’ Again he stopped, then once again said she knew the rest.

‘You found me,’ she inserted, unable to think of anything else to say, and in any case, she wanted his explanation to come to an end as quickly as possible.