by Kay Thorpe
'She tried,' was the soft reply. 'That's part of a woman's attraction—the tigress concealed beneath the civilised veneer. You'd spit like a cat yourself were the circumstances reversed.'
`The circumstances would never be reversed.'
'You mean that you wouldn't demean yourself to fight for any man's attention? He must come to you with his heart in his hand and beg for the crumbs of your affection instead. That kind of pride begs for a fall! '
Eve laughed with deliberation. 'I thought it was only the English who threw quotations around. There's an answer to that one.'
'I know the answer.' He had stopped moving and
was looking down at her with a dangerous curve to the line of his mouth. 'You still refuse to take me seriously, don't you? Didn't the lesson I gave you in the pool the other afternoon teach you anything at all about me?' He paused. 'Or is it that you want me to repeat it and don't know how to ask?'
The red lights were full on, but the retort was already on her lips. 'It might have been if it was worth repeating! You overrate yourself ! ' She struck out at him as he grabbed her by the shoulders. 'Take your hands off me! '
`Not for a fortune,' he said sardonically. 'We've finished playing games, you and I. You wanted to know how far you could go, and you've found out!'
Eve fought him desperately as he pressed her up against the rough bark of the tree at her back, but he held her easily, pinioning both her hands in one of his own and holding her head immovable while he found her mouth with bruising force: Then his lips were moving on and down, burning into the hollow of her throat, searing along the line of her collarbone, his fingers pushing aside the neckline of her dress, baring her shoulder to his kisses and brushing softer flesh. Eve felt her heart hammering
wildly against her ribs, her whole body quivering with the sudden overwhelming need to respond to the sheer stimulation of his touch. She made a Supreme effort and tore her wrists free of his grasp, pushing him away from her with both hands flat against his chest. 'Don't,' she said jerkily. 'That's enough, Ramon.'
'Is it enough?' His voice was low and rough, his arms still pinning her against the tree. 'Are you sure you want me to stop?'
'Yes.' She could barely hear the word herself. She swallowed thickly and said it again. 'Yes! '
'Liar,' he said, and his hold on her tightened again. `Do you think you can hide your emotions from me? Why do you fight so hard against them? There's no shame in wanting what nature equipped all of us to want.'
`Nature equipped some of us with other values too,' she got out. `I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's the way it is.'
'That isn't the way it has to be.' His voice was soft, dangerous. 'I could make you eat your words. And you know it.' The pause seemed to last an age before the slow smile widened his lips. 'You're learning, chica mia. That, at least, is something.'
Eve couldn't have explained her feelings as he let her go and stepped back from her. Couldn't, or didn't want to try. He might understand her, she certainly did not understand him—nor probably ever would. She rubbed her wrists where he had held her, and forced an even note. 'I've learned one thing, and that's not to overestimate your basic decency. I think we can forget about the Teide trip. I wouldn't go three paces alone with you after this, never mind to the top of a mountain! '
'Volcano,' he corrected equably. 'And the arrangement stands.' He turned away as if suddenly bored by the whole subject. 'It's time we went back to the villa.'
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE tour round the Perestrello factory proved as interesting as Eve had anticipated, although she felt that the constant noise of the machinery would have driven her mad had she been forced to spend any length of time in its immediate vicinity. Afterwards the four of them drank an aperitif in Juan's timber-panelled office, before going on to lunch at one of the town's better class restaurants. In common with many other diners, they lingered over the meal right through the siesta hour, finding no pressing urge to leave the cooling stream of air descending on them from the great fans whirling softly overhead.
It was Lynn who suggested paying a visit on the elder Señora Perestrello before returning to the villa. 'We have plenty of time,' she said with a wry little smile. 'Anyway, I think I should make some opportunity to create a new impression. I certainly didn't make much of one the last time.'
`Abuela is no fool,' Ramon put in easily. 'She's capable of seeing all there is to be seen.'
Lynn wrinkled her nose at him. `If that's a compliment I wish you'd make it sound more like one. I think you take a delight in being deliberately ambiguous.'
'I take a delight in a great many things,' was the typical reply, and for a brief moment his eyes sought Eve's. 'Your sister appears to have little difficulty in deciding on my intent.'
'Perhaps that's because I don't find you all that complicated,' Eve retorted with more spirit than truth. 'I'd like to see your grandmother again too.'
'It was planned that you should,' he said. 'She requested it, if you remember. And a request from Abuela is not to be lightly ignored.'
Juan was returning to the office as he had a client to meet. They took their leave of him outside the restaurant and made their way to Ramon's car parked in a nearby square. Reaching it, he put Lynn in the back and saw Eve seated firmly at his side, his glance challenging her to argue. It was past half past five when they reached La Orotava, and Señora Perestrello had only just emerged from her own siesta. She received them in the same salon, where the lamps were already lit against the lengthening shadows of the fading day.
'You should use the small salon on the lighter side of the house,' Ramon told her as he bent to kiss her raised face. 'Here it is always dark.'
'I am old,' she returned. 'And I am used to this room. It is also the better place from which to keep in touch with family affairs.' Her eyes twinkled wickedly at the last. 'Why is Juan not with you?'
'Unfortunately he had business matters to take care of. But you remember his novia?'
'Of course I remember her,' she replied with some asperity. 'I said I was old, not senile.' She regarded Lynn with her head on one side appraisingly. `So you decided to become a Perestrello after all, child.'
Lynn flushed a little. 'Did it appear so doubtful the first time I was here, senora?'
'Shall we say that the doubt was there without examining it too closely. Now I think perhaps you have done a little growing since Juan brought you to see me.' Her smile was kindly. 'You must start calling me Abuela from now on. Señora is far too formal for Juan's novia.' She turned her attention to Eve. 'And what of our visitor? Have you enjoyed your stay on the island? I hope this grandson of mine has been looking after you as he should.'
`Everyone seems to have gone out of their way to look after me,' she returned steadily, avoiding Ramon's gaze. 'It's been a wonderful holiday. One I shan't quickly forget.'
'It isn't yet over,' Ramon reminded her with an inflection which drew her eyes to him despite herself. His smile was bland. 'I've promised to take Eve up Teide,' he added to his grandmother, who nodded her approval.
`That is something no one should leave the island without seeing. Not that it will be so very long before you are back with us again, child.' She turned her gaze back on her grandson, and her tone altered. 'I understand you spoke with Juanita the last time you were here. Tell me what you think of Diego Peraza as a prospective husband for your young cousin.'
Ramon lifted his shoulders. 'What I think is of little importance. It should be Juanita's choice. She could do worse, she might do very much better, but material assets mean nothing to a girl of her age.'
`No.' It was said thoughtfully. 'I must speak with Jose. He must learn to move with the times.'' The three of them finally took their leave of the Señora at six. By the time they reached the villa it was already dark. Juan had beaten them to it. He met Ahem on the steps to inquire solicitously after the health of his grandmother.
'I hear you are invited to dine with the de Vals tonight,' he said to
his brother as they went indoors, and Ramon nodded.
'Carlos telephoned this morning at the office. He returned only last night.' To Eve he added smoothly, 'We must leave here no later than eight.'
She turned swiftly back to look at him in surprise. 'We? But ..."
'But what?' he inquired blandly as she broke off. With the others there Eve had no choice. 'Nothing,' she said. 'I'll be ready.'
She was, but only just. She made sure of that. Ramon was waiting in the hall when she went down on the stroke of eight. He watched her descend the stairs, taking in the smoky blue crepe dress and the spray of scarlet poinsettia pinning back her hair, and his mouth widened.
'A brilliant choice,' he said satirically. 'Is there anything you'd like to say to me before we go?'
'Nothing that won't save,' she returned with determined control, and Swept past him out to the car.
Unlike the last occasion, the dinner party turned out to be formal, with twenty guests invited to a meal which seemed to Eve to go on forever. Seated at the long rosewood table glinting with glass and silver, she endeavoured to concentrate her attention upon the efforts of her neighbour to make himself
understood, only too aware of her own limitations and determined to take steps to achieve at least a fair grasp of the language before she returned in August for the wedding. She was in many ways relieved when her hostess eventually gave the signal for the women to leave the men to their madeira and cigars, and followed on docilely with the rest of her fellows to the huge salon for coffee and small talk.
Once there, however, she found herself the object of considerable attention which she soon realized stemmed more from curiosity over her exact relationship with Ramon than interest in herself as a person. Thinking amusedly that women were women the world over, she answered, all the questions put to her, both veiled and otherwise, with as much equanimity as she could muster, knowing that few believed wholly in her avowal that Ramon was simply the brother of her sister's fiancé and nothing else.
'He is very much the son of his father,' remarked one woman on a note which made Eve wonder if perhaps her middle-aged yet still very striking companion had known that individual rather better than she should. 'The Perestrellos have always chosen their own paths, regardless of the conventions of their class.'
'You forget Jose,' put in her hostess. 'He is hardly to be regarded as forgetful of our traditions. I hear there is soon to be the announcement of a betrothal between his Juanita and Diego Peraza.'
'And most suitable,' said another, this time in
Spanish but slowly enough for Eve to work out the gist. 'An excellent choice '
'But Juanita doesn't want to marry him!' exclaimed Eve before she could stop herself. She flushed as every eye in the room turned towards her. mean,' she faltered, 'she doesn't love him.'
There was a long pause before Senora-de Val said kindly, 'You cannot be expected to understand our customs, senorita. While it is true to say that many now embrace a changing way of life there are still those of us who see value in the old. My own marriage was arranged when my husband and I were merely children, and I have found no quarrel with such an arrangement.'
'Yet your own Carlos saw fit to defy your arrangements for him,' interjected the one who had spoken of Ramon's father, with a sly glance towards the young woman seated opposite Eve. 'Would you deny the child of another the right you could not deny your own?'
Her hostess spread her hands with a rueful little smile. 'Only you, Rosetta, would think to mention such things. It is entirely a different matter. A daughter can only be guided by her parents when it comes to the choice of a husband. Had the Armes not entirely approved of the match ...' directing her smile now at her daughter-in-law ... 'then Maria would not now be sitting here among us.'
Meeting the dark eyes of Carlos's wife for a fleeting moment, Eve wondered if that were wholly true. From what she had seen so far of Carlos de Val he did not strike her as a man who would have bowed
his head to any parental decree which didn't suit him.
The men joined them soon after that. Ramon came across to where Eve was sitting, his smile mocking. 'Have you enjoyed your feminine chitchat?' he asked low-toned.
'Back home,' Eve said expressionlessly, 'we call it a hen-party.'
His laugh drew several pairs of eyes their way. 'And what of the, opposition?'
'It's a debatable point. Does Maria speak any English?'
'Are you changing the subject or do you really want to know?'
'I want to know. So far I haven't heard her speak a word to anyone.'
'That's because she prefers to listen and learn, unlike some I can think of.' He held out a hand to her, daring her to refuse it. 'Come and meet her now that we have the time to talk. She and Carlos are both eager to become acquainted with my little English friend.'
Maria's English was laboured but decipherable. Obviously reserved by nature, she nevertheless made an effort to contribute towards the conversation over the following fifteen minutes or so, asking Eve about her life in London with the wide eyes of one who found it difficult to visualise a girl of her own age living alone and unprotected in a big city. She herself had been married to Carlos for four years, and before that had been accompanied everywhere by a duenna. The comparative freedom of
her life now was still a thing of wonder, and she regarded Carlos with unashamedly adoring eyes.
Eve could hardly blame her. He was one of the most charming men she had ever met, yet it was a charm which detracted not the least bit from his masculinity. Smaller than Ramon by a good couple of inches, and lacking the aggression which managed to colour even the other's simplest remarks, he still left an impression of strength and firmness of purpose which would linger long after the charm had been forgotten. The couple already had two children and intended to have more, as Carlos revealed with a candour which brought a blush to his wife's cheeks.
'Without children a marriage is not complete,' he said. 'As a man without a woman is not.'
'What about a woman without a man?' asked Ramon satirically.
Carlos laughed. `Ah, that, my friend, is another matter. Women have need of a mate for the fulfilment of their life cycle, but they are sufficient unto themselves in every other way. If we are not very careful, indeed, they may even yet learn the art of self-reproduction, and then we men will be totally redundant.'
'But still tolerated for old times' sake,' said Eve demurely, responding to the twinkle in his eyes. She smiled at Maria who was looking faintly shocked by the turn the conversation had taken. 'I suppose the babies have been in bed for hours?'
'Oh yes.' She glanced at her husband, added shyly, 'You would like to see them?'
Eve said quickly, 'I'd love to, but if they're asleep ...' -
'We shall not waken them.' She stood up smiling. 'Come.'
The nursery was on the far side of the building, through what seemed like miles of passages and up two flights of stairs. Eve couldn't help but wonder what would happen to those contained in such an out-of-the-way wing in the case of fire. Eventually they came to a suite of rooms which opened from one another. Maria exchanged a few words with the quietly dressed woman who sat sewing in one of them, then took Eve through to another where a nightlight glowed softly over the two carved and polished beds which seemed much too large for the children they held.
Eve regarded the two dark heads, the small innocent features lost in sleep, and felt a plucking at her heart strings. This was what love was all about: the fusing together of two separate beings to create an image in the likeness of both, the years of watching that child grow in the knowledge that this was something only the two of you could have made. In that moment she felt a deep and fierce envy of Maria.
'They're perfect,' she said softly. 'How old are they, Maria?'
'Three years and almost two years. The next time we shall hope for a girl, but another boy will still be welcomed. You like children, senorita?'
'Yes—and please do call me Eve. Yo
u must be very happy,' she added smilingly, 'to have such a
fine husband and lovely children.'
'Si. Carlos is good to me. I am very fortunate to have attracted the attention of such a man. You are not promised to anyone ... Eve?'
'No.' Eve made her voice light. 'I suppose by your standards I'd be considered well and truly on the shelf ! '
'The shelf?'
'Past the age for marriage.'
' Maria's brow cleared. 'You have strange ways of saying things in your country. It is true that Spanish girls marry often at an early age, but not always so. Carlos has a cousin who still remains unmarried at thirty years of age, and declares she would have it no other way. As she is very beautiful it cannot be that no man has wanted her for a wife.'
But perhaps not the right man, thought Eve, just as Gavin was not the right man for her. Would she too finish up a spinster stating to anyone interested enough to ask that she preferred it that way? It seemed more than likely at the moment.
She was very subdued for the rest of the evening. Once or twice she caught Ramon eyeing her with an intent look, but she couldn't seem to snap out of it. Then it was time to leave, and there were all the goodbyes to be said, the polite words of thanks, the smiling response to Maria's shy request that they meet again when Eve returned to the island. Once in the car she leaned back with closed eyes, unable to think of a single thing to say.
'You found the evening boring?' asked Ramon when they had cleared the town without a word passing between them.
'Not at all,' she denied. 'It's just been rather a long day, or it's seemed one.'
'Sometimes the time does seem to stretch without limit,' he agreed. He gave her a sideways glance. 'I think it may be better to cancel the plans I had for tomorrow after all.'