Fascination (3 page)

‘Too darned much, if you ask me,’ returned Ellie darkly. ‘Why on earth should he want to know about your parents? Why was he so interested in the fact that you had no relatives? You shouldn’t have been so keen to reveal it to him,’ added Ellie severely. ‘I’m sure I wouldn’t have answered all those questions!’

‘It’s not unnatural that he should want to learn a little of my background,’ protested Hydee in defence of the marquês. ‘I haven’t any recommendations, remember, so he has to do something to make sure I’m genuine.’

‘He’s only to look at you to see that!’

‘He isn’t you,’ laughed Hydee. ‘He’s never met me before; he knows nothing about me—’

‘He knows just about everything, if you ask me!’

‘You know what I mean,’ said Hydee patiently. ‘Just put yourself in his place for a moment. He’s thinking of employing me to look after his two young children. It’s not unreasonable that he should want to know as much about me as he possibly can.’

A deep sigh was Ellie’s only answer as she toyed absently with the mixed vegetables on her plate, going over in her mind all that Hydee had told her.

‘I don’t like the sound of it,’ she said stubbornly at length. ‘Take my advice, Hydee, and let the matter rest where it is.’

‘I can’t do a thing like that! He’s expecting me to telephone him and say when I can go down to Surrey.’

‘Why does he need an English nanny anyway?’ pursued Ellie, just as if Hydee had not spoken at all. ‘Were those other nannies English?’

‘I can’t say. And as to why he wants an English nanny this time—well, he did mention that his children speak our language.’

‘What does that signify? Most foreign kids are taught English as their second language.’

‘I expect he’ll explain eventually,’ said Hydee.

‘If I were you, I’d telephone him this very evening and tell him the whole thing’s off. It’s far too risky, going over there to his home.’ Ellie shook her head emphatically. ‘You mustn’t do it, Hydee!’

‘I’m sorry you’re so troubled, Ellie, and it’s certainly gratifying to know that there’s at least one person in the world who cares what’s to become of me. However, I am old enough to take care of myself, but in any case, we’re travelling a little too fast. I haven’t landed the job yet. The children might not take to me—’

‘You know darned well they’ll take to you,’ interrupted her friend impatiently. ‘All kids take to you!’

Hydee had to smile at Ellie’s anger. Yet, as she had just remarked, it was gratifying to know that there was someone who really cared. It meant a great deal to Hydee to know that if she did take this post abroad, she would at least have a contact with home, for she was sure that she and Ellie would keep up a regular correspondence with one another.

‘I want to go to Surrey,’ she said at length, almost apologetically. ‘Please bear with me, Ellie, as I’m really anxious to take the job if it’s offered to me.’

‘In spite of the mystery?’

‘There won’t be a mystery after I’ve been to Surrey. The marquês did say, remember, that we’d talk about these other things. It’s my opinion that he intends to make some alterations in the way he wants the children brought up.’

Ellie’s eyes flickered thoughtfully, and when she spoke, her voice was not as sharp as before. ‘That would certainly explain what he said about those “other things” which have been worrying us. In fact, he said he had changed his plans for the children’s future, didn’t he?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’ Hydee was glad that Ellie seemed a little less hostile towards the marquês, and she hoped to be able to tell her, on her return from Surrey, that everything had been satisfactorily explained and that all her suspicions were unfounded.

***

The house in Surrey was far less pretentious than Hydee had expected. It was of a moderate size with no more than an acre of garden surrounding it and a small paddock to one side. The marquês, who had met Hydee at the station in a chauffeur-driven car which bore a silver crest on each of its four doors and flew a pennant above the windscreen, had spoken very little to Hydee after the first rather cool greeting as he met her on the platform, and she was now experiencing a sort of weighty sensation in the pit of her stomach. The marquês’s strange mood affected her in an uncomfortable manner and she even dwelt on the possibility of his having regretted asking her to come to Surrey to meet his children. Perhaps he had now decided he ought to look for a woman with experience. Undoubtedly there were plenty to be had, women whose careers had started with a two-or three-year course in child care, followed by experience gained in the sort of post for which they had trained.

‘Well, here we are,’ the marquês said as the big car turned into the short but well-kept drive. ‘You’ll be meeting the children, but they have no idea who you are.’

She nodded. ‘I understand,’ she said, smiling.

The chauffeur, whom the marquês called Casco, opened the door for Hydee to alight, then went round the car to do the same for the marquês. Within a few minutes Hydee had met Mrs. Doreen Fitzwarren, who at present had charge of the children.

A tall, attractive woman of about thirty, she instantly put Hydee at her ease by saying, after the introduction had been made, ‘Carlos was telling me on the phone that you come from Crady-on-Sea. I used to live there myself when I was in my teens. I expect it’s changed since I left more than twelve years ago.’

‘It hasn’t changed very much. There are a few more hotels, of course, to deal with the extra holidaymakers who’ve recently been attracted to the resort.’ Her thoughts went quite naturally to Noel, who, as manager of the White Hart, had brought about a threefold increase in profits, gaining promotion for himself as a result.

Doreen began speaking to the marquês rather quietly, and Hydee, undecided as to whether or not she was meant to overhear, moved towards the open window, where she caught her first glimpse of the children. Ramos and Luisa…. Both dark like their father, both extraordinarily good-looking, Ramos in a strong, classical way, with a firm chin even now, and the same jawline as his father. Hydee could not see his eyes but knew instinctively that they were dark brown. Luisa’s prettiness was equally marked, but in a more gentle way. Her delicate little face, with its pointed chin and rosebud mouth, was creased with laughter now as she stood before her brother, who, having come into contact with something sharp, was looking with dismay at the large tear in his denim shorts. Hydee’s mouth curved and her eyes lit with amusement. They were
natural
, at any rate, just as she had hoped they would be. For she had come with some slight doubts in spite of their father’s assertion that they were in no way inhibited by convention.

She was still smiling in amusement when, addressed by the marquês, she turned round to face him. She saw his eyes flicker, then move slowly to the scene outside, where his daughter was still laughing and his son just about to give her something which would take the humour from her face. This he did, but playfully, and then they were sparring together; they fell into a flower border, where the struggle continued.

Ramos cried, ‘Stop biting me!’ in English, and his sister returned, ‘Then you stop punching
me!
If you’re not careful, you’ll tear your silly old pants even more—and that’ll be funnier than ever because it’ll show your—’

‘Luisa! Ramos!’ Their father’s voice brought the children instantly to their feet. ‘That’s enough. Come here and meet a friend of mine.’

Hydee looked swiftly at him, the colour rising to tint her cheeks. So naturally he had referred to her as his friend, yet it was as a servant that she was entering his employ. Her thoughts faded as a wry expression crossed her face. She was taking far too much for granted. She might be a little more then halfway to obtaining the post, but the biggest hurdle had yet to be surmounted.

Would these lovely children like her? she wondered, apprehension suddenly filling her heart.

‘I’ll go and leave you to it, Carlos,’ Doreen said, her glance darting to the French window, which was partly open, and through which the children would come racing in a few seconds. ‘You’ll be staying for dinner, I hope?’ And she was gone without waiting for an answer from the marquês.

‘Papa!’ Both children spoke together. ‘You’ve been gone a long time! Where have you been?’ Ramos wanted to know, the words interspersed with great gulps of air. ‘We want to go home!’

Hydee, a little surprised that they seemed to speak English all the time, looked at the marquês inquiringly.

‘Their mother was English,’ he explained without much expression. ‘Ramos, Luisa, meet Miss Merrill. She will be staying here with you for a few days.’

‘Oh….’ Both children subjected Hydee to a long and disconcerting scrutiny before Ramos said respectfully, ‘How do you do, Miss Merrill?’

She smiled, took the hand extended to her, and knew that she and the boy were going to be friends. Luisa, however, was more undecided, her wide hazel eyes fixed on Hydee’s face as if she were unable to take them from it. The moment was tense, with Hydee aware of what lay in the balance. Standing immobile, the marquês watched his daughter intently through partly narrowed eyes.

‘Say how do you do to Miss Merrill,’ he ordered when eventually the silence stretched to the point where Hydee was plainly becoming uncomfortable.

‘How do you do… Miss Merrill?’ A small hand was outstretched obediently. Hydee took it and found it to be cold. This, and the child’s long hesitation, convinced her that the post was lost.

She looked unhappily at the marquês who, after telling the children to go out again into the garden, turned to her with a kindly smile and said, much to her surprise, ‘It would seem that Ramos has taken to you, senhorita. Luisa has always been more reserved in her manner, but she will come round eventually.’

‘You mean,’ faltered Hydee, stunned, ‘that you are willing to engage me as nanny to your children?’

A silence followed, unfathomable and profound. And when presently the marquês spoke, her question had been ignored. ‘For the present, Miss Merrill, it will be enough that you become used to the children, and they to you. Tomorrow morning I must leave for London, as I have business to conduct there. I shall return here on Saturday and stay with you and the children over the weekend.’ That was all; his tone had changed, a quality entering it that was final and implacable. The lordly Marquês Carlos de Alva Manrique did not intend to be questioned, even though he must be aware of Hydee’s bewilderment. She bit her lip in vexation, feeling cheated—snubbed, even—and the merest hint of anger rose within her. However, she had no difficulty in hiding it, and for the next few minutes she and the Marquês chatted amicably enough, with Hydee answering several personal questions he asked but avoiding the delicate matter of her broken engagement.

He had expressed what seemed to be sincere regret that she was alone in the world, but Hydee felt he was not really sorry for her loss—on the contrary, she sensed that he was glad she had no one of her own. She naturally allowed her thoughts to stray to what Ellie had said, and to recall vividly her suspicions. Well, it would seem that any explanation of the mystery must wait until the weekend, when the marquês returned to Surrey.

Chapter Four

The next few days passed quickly, and before she quite knew it, Hydee was eagerly looking forward to the following day—Saturday—when the marquês would be returning to the house of his late wife’s friend. During the time she had been staying in Doreen’s home, Hydee had learned a good deal about the marquês, but little about his late wife. For it had been clear right from the start that Doreen was reluctant to talk about her friend and, therefore, Hydee had refrained from putting questions to her. Hydee was not so obliging when it came to the subject of the nannies which the children had had in the past, though. Doreen, being ready to enlighten Hydee, told her about the first one, who was Portuguese.

‘She fell in love with Carlos almost immediately. It was so absurd, as she knew that Eunice had been dead less than a month.’

‘The marquês—he’d be furious, naturally?’

Doreen nodded. ‘He soon sent her packing. The next one was also Portuguese, coming from a well-to-do family who’d come into hard times. But she hadn’t lost any of her arrogance, it seemed. I was over at the Palacio de Manrique—I went for a holiday just after my divorce came through,’ she went on to explain, straying from what she had been going to say. ‘I was feeling low at the time, even though the decision to separate was mutual. We couldn’t get along and so we decided to make the break before we started to hate each other. Sensible, don’t you think?’

‘I suppose so,’ replied Hydee reluctantly.

‘You don’t believe in divorce, obviously?’

‘I do, yes. It’s the only answer when two people can’t get along. But it’s so sad….’ For a moment Hydee thought of Noel, and how he and she used to say that no matter what others did, no matter how many of their friends and acquaintances might part, they would be together until the very end of their lives, for they would live in a realm where no storms came. He was going to become an integral part of her life, and from the time of their engagement Hydee had begun to think in twos. No matter what she considered, the thought that Noel would either like this thing or not was never far from her mind and governed everything she did. When he had come to her to say it was all over between them, Hydee had had no idea of what she was going to do without him. What did others do? she wondered. Let time fill the gaps, wait for memory to lose its sharp outlines and die away? ‘Yes, it’s sad,’ went on Hydee at length. ‘After all, every married couple begins by being in love.’

The older woman nodded, but said with a hint of humour, ‘Except in marriages of convenience. One hears of them but never meets the people involved. Do they really happen, I wonder?’

Hydee shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t think so,’ she said. And, after only a slight pause, ‘You were telling me about the nannies who’ve been employed by the marquês.’

‘Yes. I ought to tell you as much as I can, so that you won’t make the same mistakes they did.’ She went on, repeating that she had met the second of the nannies when she was on holiday at the marquês’s home; the girl obviousiy resented the fact that she was forced to work for a living, and she also forgot that she was there in the role of nanny and not as mistress of the establishment. Carlos soon became plagued with complaints from his staff that Rosinha was issuing orders to the servants. And reluctant as he was to dismiss her—having known her brother since they were both at college—Carlos did finally send her the way of the first one. Doreen continued for some minutes; Hydee counted five nannies in all. ‘It’s not good for the children, and they’ve run a little wild lately, although they don’t seem to have lost anything by that.’