Anne Mather - The Spaniard's Seduction

by The Spaniard's Seduction (lit)

  'But they don't want you, David,' she said, her voice break­ing under the strain. 'Do you?' She looked at Enrique with eyes he was uneasily aware were filled with tears. 'Do you? Dammit, tell him the truth, can't you?'

  It was after eight o'clock before Enrique got back to Tuarega. It hadn't been that late when he'd left Punta del Lobo, but he'd spent at least an hour driving aimlessly along the coastal road, trying to come to terms with what he'd learned.

  God! His hands tightened on the wheel of the Mercedes. He couldn't quite believe what had happened. At no time had either he or his father imagined that the woman who had mar­ried his brother and who had been widowed less than twenty-four hours later could have conceived a child. And yet she had. There was no doubt that David was a de Montoya.

  But she hadn't known a thing about the letter. Her reaction had proved that. As the boy had said, he'd taken it upon him­self to write to Julio de Montoya. The letter had been posted before he and his mother had left England.

  He groaned.

  Of course, it was tempting to shift all the blame onto Cassandra. She should have known what her son had done. He was only nine years old, por el amor de Dios. How difficult could it be to keep track of his movements?

  But he also knew that he was not speaking from personal experience. And just because the sons and daughters of his close friends were fairly biddable that was no reason to sup­pose all children were the same. Indeed, he thought wryly, it could be argued that David was already exhibiting facets of his de Montoya heritage.

  At the same time he felt a searing sense of injustice that Cassandra had kept the boy's existence from them. And that, without David's intervention, they might never have learned that Antonio had had a son.

  Yet could he wholly condemn her for it? After what had happened—after what he had tried to do—she probably thought she'd had every right, after Antonio was killed, to cut the de Montoyas out of her life.

  But, God, his father was going to get such a shock. If he'd known of the boy's existence, Enrique knew he would have moved heaven and earth to gain custody of the boy. Whatever he'd thought of Cassandra, whatever he'd done to try and stop their marriage, David was his grandson. His only grandson to date. And, where Julio de Montoya was concerned, blood was everything.

  Which was probably one of the main reasons why Cassandra had kept me information from them, Enrique ac­knowledged shrewdly. She knew better than anyone how ruth­less his father could be—how ruthless he had been in pursuit of his father's wishes.

  But he didn't want to think about that now. This was not the time to be feeling the twinges of conscience. He had to remember how Cassandra had seduced Antonio away from his family, his duty, and the girl he had been engaged to marry. She hadn't shown any conscience, any remorse, not even when—

  He took a deep breath. No. He would not get into his own role in the affair. The fact that it had ended in tragedy was enough to warrant arty sense of outrage he might feel. Cassandra had destroyed so much: Antonio's honour, his loy­alty, his future. Was it possible that his brother had found out what a faithless bitch his new wife was and that was why he'd crashed the car as they drove to the south of England on hon­eymoon?

  No! Once again, he couldn't accept that. If he did, it would mean that Antonio had found out what Enrique and his father had tried to do. Surely, in those circumstances, Cassandra would have wanted him to know, would have wanted him to suffer as she was surely suffering now.

  His jaw compressed. Thankfully he had succeeded in hiding the extent of the devastation David's appearance had had on him. As far as Cassandra was concerned his shock had been short-lived, swiftly superseded by the anger he'd felt at her deception. No doubt she believed him to be entirely without feeling, and perhaps it was better if it stayed that way. Bui how the hell was he going to tell his father?

  He shook his head, it would have been so much easier ten years ago. Then, Julio de Montoya had been a strong and dominant man, perfectly capable of handling any situation, with a merciless disregard for anyone who got in his way. He had ruled Tuarega with a rod of iron, and that was why he had found it so hard to accept when Antonio had defied him and insisted he wanted to marry the English girl he'd met while he was at college in London. Julio would have done almost anything to stop that marriage, even to the extent of sending his elder son to England with orders to use any means at his disposal to prevent it.

  Enrique's nostrils flared with sudden self-derision. That he hadn't succeeded had always been a source of bitterness between himself and his father. He doubted Julio had ever for­given him entirely for his failure, but his father had never known what had really happened, why Enrique had returned home without achieving his objective.

  He could have stopped the wedding. If he'd told Antonio the truth. he was fairly sure his brother would have called it off. But he hadn't said a thing. Because he'd been too ashamed of what he'd done; because he'd had only disgust for his part in it He'd flown back to Spain knowing that Cassandra had won.

  But had she? Now he was not so sure, and he despised himself for his weakness where she was concerned.

  It was dark as he drove up through the valley where his family had lived for hundreds of years. Lights glinted from narrow windows in the village and the floodlit spire of San Tomas's church was a reassuring sight. It was easy to believe that nothing changed here, that the ghosts of his ancestors would see and recognise the sights and sounds of other cen­turies in the immediacy of the twenty-first, but he knew better. There had been many changes, most particularly during General Franco's years as president. But fortunately the polit­ical climate in this rural area had never mirrored that found in the cities, and as he accelerated past the fields and paddocks where his toros bravos, or fighting bulls, were grazing, he felt a sense of pride in his family's achievements.

  But that was short-lived. Thinking of his family reminded him that he had promised to ring his mother this evening. She was staying at the apartamento in Seville while her husband was in the hospital there and Enrique had said he would ring no later than seven o'clock. It was long past that time now, and he was ashamed to admit that for the past few hours he had given little thought to his responsibilities.

  His mother would be sure to think that he'd forgotten, or that he simply didn't care. Since Julio's illness Elena de Montoya had become over-sensitive, looking for slights where none were intended, as if she was afraid that her husband's incapacity somehow affected her authority. Perhaps she feared that if Julio died Enrique would no longer have respect for her, which was ridiculous.

  Still, it was true that since Antonio's death she had come to depend on him more and more. Julio's heart attack some months ago had only increased her demands on his time, and, although Enrique knew it was only to be expected in the cir­cumstances, it wasn't always easy to balance his own needs with those of his parents.

  Enrique brought the powerful car to a halt beside the arched colonnade that had once fronted a coach house and which now provided garaging for the estate's many motor vehicles. Years ago, Enrique's grandfather had kept a shining Hispano-Suiza here, and he remembered being allowed to ride in the front of the car on special occasions. He also remembered the punish­ment he'd received when the old man had found out he had taken the car out alone. He'd been afraid he'd never be al­lowed to have a car of his own.

  But now was not the time to be having memories about the past. He knew it was seeing Cassandra again, meeting the boy, remembering what had happened ten years ago, that was re­sponsible for his reminiscing about happier times. But the past wasn't going to help him now. Somehow he had to decide what he was going to do about the present, and, although he intended to ring his mother, there was no way on earth he could tell her where he had been.

  Or what had happened, he conceded, nodding to the man who had emerged from the building to take charge of the car. As he strode across the forecourt to the magnificent entrance of the palacio his mind was already busy finding excuses for
his tardy behaviour.

  Hardly noticing the intricately carved doorway, with its wrought-iron facade, he strode through a high-ceilinged entry that was distinctly Moorish in design. With a carved ceiling and tiled walls, this was the oldest part of the palacio and displayed its heritage in a dozen different ways. Enrique had always believed that Tuarega owed its name to the wild tribe of the Sahara, whose influence had spread beyond the shores of North Africa. But, whatever its history, there was little doubt that it owed its origins to the Saracen invaders who had occupied this part of Spain at the lime of the crusades.

  Generations of Spanish conquerors had followed them, of course, and much of the present building had been erected in more recent centuries. But the palacio had retained its atmo­sphere of light and coolness and space, successive craftsmen sustaining the delicacy of design that had characterised its Muslim architecture.

  The courtyard, where he had eaten breakfast that morning, was immediately ahead of him, but Enrique turned left before reaching the outer doors, mounting a flight of marble stairs to an upper landing. One of the palacio's many retainers stopped him to ask if he had eaten, but Enrique wasn't interested in food. First he had to ring his mother, then he had to try and take stock of what his options were. And what he was going to do about them.

  Cassandra had given him no latitude. As far as she was concerned he was sure she would prefer to consign him and all his family to hell. She hadn't even let him talk to David, with or without her presence. She'd dragged the boy away into the pension, probably hoping that she never had to see him again.

  Which was decidedly naive, he conceded grimly, thrusting open the door into his apartments and consigning his tie to the nearest surface. Whatever his own feelings in the matter might be, there was no way he could ignore the fact that David was his nephew. His parting words to the boy—that they would meet again, and soon—had been met with a cold 'Over my dead body!' from his mother, but Enrique was not deterred. Whether Cassandra chose to make this easy or not was of no interest to him. David was a de Montoya. Sooner or later he would have to learn what that meant.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Cassandra propped her chin on her hands and stared wearily across the table at her son's sulky face. She ought to be really angry with him, and she was, but she couldn't help feeling the tiniest bit of sympathy, too.

  After all, it wasn't his fault that she'd never told him the truth about his de Montoya relations. She'd always avoided any discussion of her late husband's family, hoping, pointlessly as it had turned out, that David would accept the fact that they and his mother just didn't get on. It wasn't as if he was short of an extended family. Cassandra's two sisters were both married with children of their own. David had aunts and uncles and cousins, as well as his maternal grandfather to call on. Foolishly, she had thought that would be enough.

  Clearly, it hadn't been. Like his father before him, David was far too intelligent to accept her prevarication. But to go through her things, to seek out Antonio's passport and write secretly to Julio de Montoya without even telling her what he'd done... Well, she didn't know how she was going to forgive him for that.

  She sighed, wondering what the chances were of them get­ting an earlier flight home. Not very good, she surmised, re­membering how full the plane had been on the journey out. Besides, she'd paid for a two-week holiday package and if she wanted to change the return date she would obviously have to pay extra for their seats.

  Not an option she wanted to consider. She had already spent over her budget in coming here and she was loath to ask her father to bail them out. That, too, would entail more expla­nations than she was prepared to face at present.

  'Are you going to maintain this ridiculous silence for much longer?' she enquired at last, forcing her son to look up from the scrambled eggs and bacon he had ordered in spite of her protests. A fried breakfast was far too heavy in this climate, in her opinion, but David had not been in the mood to com­promise. 'Because if you are,' she added, ‘I'll leave you to it...'

  David emptied his mouth of food, took a gulp of orange juice, and then regarded her with accusing eyes. 'Do I get a choice?' he enquired insolently, and Cassandra knew a totally uncharacteristic desire to smack him.

  'I won't be spoken to like this, David,' she said, folding her napkin and placing it beside her plate. She. herself, had eaten nothing, and the sight of the greasy food was enough to turn her stomach. 'I realise you think you have some justification for acting this way, but you've got no idea what a nest of vipers you're uncovering.'

  'A nest of vipers,' scoffed her son, around another mouthful of egg. 'You don't know what you're talking about. If you ask me, you're just jealous because Uncle Enrique liked me.'

  Jealous!

  Cassandra's nails dug into her palms. 'You think so?' she said, the urge to wipe the smug look off his face becoming almost overwhelming. 'And what would you know about it?'

  'I know Uncle Enrique is nice, really nice,' declared her son staunchly. 'Gosh, you were so rude to him. Mum! It's a won­der he even wants to see me again.'

  Cassandra pressed her lips together, feeling the unwelcome prick of tears behind her eyes. Oh, yes, she wanted to say, Enrique de Montoya wants to see you again. Now that he knows I have a son, he'll do everything he can to take you away from me.

  But, of course, she couldn't tell her son that. She couldn't be so cruel. Apart from anything else, it was unlikely he would believe her. in David's world, people were exactly what they appeared to be; they said what they thought. They didn't lie or cheat, or use any means in their power to destroy someone else. Why frighten him unnecessarily'.' He would learn soon enough that the de Montoyas would do anything to gain their own ends.

  'Anyway, I think you should tell him you're sorry when you see him again,' went on David, scraping up the last of his eggs with his fork. He looked up, his dark eyes a haunting reminder of the past. 'We are going to see him again, aren't we, Mum?'

  Cassandra hesitated. 'I don't think so. I've decided to cut the holiday short,' she said, even though she hadn't decided any such thing until that moment. 'I'm going to find out whether we can get a flight home later today—'

  'No!' David sprang up from his seat in dismay, and the family of holidaymakers at the nearby table turned curious eyes to see what was going on. 'I won't go,' he said, not caring what anyone else thought of his behaviour. 'You can't make me.'

  'Sit down. David.'

  Cassandra was embarrassed, but her son was beyond being reasoned with. 'I won't sit down,' he declared. 'I want to see Uncle Enrique again. I want to see my grandfather. Why shouldn't I?'

  'Sit down!'

  This time Cassandra got half out of her seat and, as if real­ising he wasn't doing himself any favours by making it im­possible for his mother to face her fellow guests, he subsided unwillingly into his seal.

  'Now, listen to me,' said Cassandra, her voice thick with emotion, 'you'll do exactly as I tell you. You're nine years old, David. I have every right to demand that you do as I say.'

  David's expression was sulky, but Cassandra was relieved to see that there were tears in his eyes now. 'But why are you being so awful?' he exclaimed huskily. 'You always said you loved my father. Was that just a lie?'

  'No!' Cassandra gave an inward groan. 'I did love him. More than you can ever know.'

  'Then—'

  'But your father wasn't like the rest of his family,' she con­tinued urgently. 'He was—sweet, gentle. He—he was prepared to risk the wrath of his own family just so we could be together.'

  David frowned. 'Are you saying they tried to stop you get-ting married?'

  Cassandra's stomach lurched. 'Something like that.'

  'So when you said you didn't get on with Dad's family, what you really meant was that they didn't get on with you?'

  God, Cassandra really didn't want to talk about this.

  'I—suppose so,' she agreed tensely.

  'But that doesn't mean they don't want to know y
ou now,' protested David, his eagerness showing in his face. 'Dad died, what? Ten years ago?'

  'Nearly.'

  'So...' He shrugged. 'They've obviously changed their minds. Why else would Uncle Enrique come here to meet us?'

  'Because of you,' cried his mother fiercely, realising too late that she had spoken a little too vehemently. 'I mean,' she said, modifying her tone, 'naturally they want to meet you. You're your father's son.'

  'And yours,' put in David at once. 'And once they get to know you—'

  'They're not going to get to know me,' said Cassandra des­perately. 'Haven't you been listening to a word I've said? I never want to see any of the de Montoyas again.'

  David's face crumpled. 'You don't mean that.'

  'I do mean it.' Cassandra felt dreadful but she had to go on. 'I know you're disappointed, but if we can't get a flight home, I'm going to see if it's possible for us to move to an­other pension along the coast—'

  'No!'

  'Yes.' Cassandra was determined. 'I'm prepared to compro­mise. I know you've been looking forward to this holiday, and I don't want to deprive you of it, so perhaps we can move to another resort.'

  'I don't want to move to another resort,' protested David unhappily. 'I like it here. I've made friends here.'

  'You'll make friends wherever we go,'

  'No, I won't.'

  'Of course you will.'

  'But—'

  'But what?'

  David shook his head, apparently deciding he'd argued long enough. 'Nothing,' he muttered, and then looked considerably relieved when Horst Kaufman and his parents stopped at their table.

  The German family had been having breakfast on the terrace and now they all smiled down at David and his mother.

  'Good morning, Mrs de Montoya,' said Franz Kaufman cheerfully, 'It is another lovely day, yes?'

  ‘Oh—yes.’ Cassandra managed a polite smile in return. Then, noticing their more formal clothes, 'Are you going off for the day?'