She was grateful that he had once again come to her rescue, and wanted desperately to tell him so, but his words and his looks left her dumb. A stork flew startled from the fence, and Coralie's eyes were wide with fear at the cold anger in the man's face. She dosed them momentarily to shut out the tall menacing figure, but they flew wide open as iron hands gripped her shoulders.
You reckless creature! Do you think I want a second tragedy in my household?'
She struggled to defend herself. But, senhor—'
Enough!' he silenced her ruthlessly. ' This has been sufficient reminder of the similar accident in which my wife was killed.' A muscle jerked beside the bitter line of his mouth and she felt the tremor of fury that aroused him to a pitch she had never before witnessed him.
' But she was unlucky—I wasn't in time to save her.' His grim words struck horror in Coralie's heart, and for the first time she noticed the pallor under his dark skin. His distress moved her far more than his cold anger had done, and her soft lips trembled beneath the strange glitter of his eyes. In the ominous silence that followed, she stood trembling in awe of this arrogant bullfighter, a man to be feared and obeyed, his body tensed with the apparent urge to wound her. Her tensed with the apparent urge to wound her.
' Stop trembling! ' Something in Dom Ricardo's command stung her into self-defence. Bravely she fought back her tears and looked up at him unwaveringly with a rush of sudden and uncontrollable resentment.
You don't understand what it is to be afraid; not of bulls—nor of winged things that fly in the dark, nor of —of being the unwelcome guest of a Portuguese tyrant who—who— Oh!' her words jarred and were bitten back as she suddenly became aware of his torn and bloodstained shirt where the bull's horn had torn his side. Y-you're hurt!' she cried in anguish as a wave of nausea washed over her at the sight of the jagged rent where the blood was quickly staining to crimson the pure white of his shirt. She was afraid that all her heart must have been in her eyes as she searched his face.
' I—I'm sorry.' Her words came as a whisper as she saw the cruel quirk of his lips.
' I thought the English were so undemonstrative.' They stared at each other in the sun-filled valley, and Coralie was aware that his gaze held an iron control that she found both disturbing and overwhelming. She was saved from further rejoinder by a cry of concern
from Elvin, who until the frenzied bull had been duly secured by ropes had kept at a safe distance. Sleekly groomed in her black and white riding habit, her hair immaculately braided beneath the becoming tilt of her hat, the older woman appeared calmly controlled as she sailed to Dom Ricardo's side. Coralie felt envious of this incalculable woman who had melted from icy sophistication into husky sweetness.
Are you badly hurt, caro?' she murmured, her head possessively dutching Dom Ricardo's arm. For what Coralie seemed a long moment, he allowed the intimacy of her gesture before withdrawing himself firmly from her sensuous touch.
' Take Miss Grey back into the house, and see that she rests. She is still very shaken.' His tone was a command, and Coralie felt Elvira's unconcealed contempt of her.
' Do not allow yourself to be too upset by this accident, child, Ricardo is really not averse to playing the errant knight once more.' Turning her imploring gaze on him, she said, ' You are bleeding heavily, caro, you must come back with us to the house and let me attend to your wound.' Her long dark lashes veiled the displeasure in her eyes, as with an impatient gesture, he turned away, motioning to one of the men to take back the horses.
I want a word with Rafael,' he said in dipped tones. Then Nonna will see to deaning me up.'
' It wasn't Rafael's fault!' Coralie blurted out the words in his defence.
' It is not a matter for your concern.' His tone and manner were like a knife in her heart, and Coralie blanched with the sudden acute knowledge of how much his every word meant to her. It couldn't be that —oh, no, surely she was not so foolish as to-
' You're not falling in love with Ricardo, by any chance, are you?' Elvira's contemptuous tone cut across Coralie's dawning realisation like a whiplash. ' He is of course unaware of his vital attraction for all women and totally immune to the whimperings of stray females, except strictly in the line of duty.'
Towards the end of the afternoon, while Coralie was sitting reading on the vine-covered loggia overlooking the Carvalho valley, she was joined by Dona Elvira looking cool and assured in a shade of pale lavender which enhanced her dark beauty. Sinking languorously on to a lounger opposite, Elvira sighed contentedly, and settled herself among the silken cushions with all the grace of a Persian cat.
This is the most relaxing place in the whole of the Algarve,' she stretched luxuriously. ' Something tells me that you too, Miss Grey, are susceptible to its charm.' Coralie had the impression that Elvira's words held an oblique reference to the charm of its master, rather than to the Quinta itself.
It is certainly very lovely here, but then this is the only part of Portugal I have seen,' she replied, with a feeling of constraint due to something more than her very recent discovery of her true feelings towards Dom Ricardo.
I saw you sitting alone out here, and have ordered tea for us.' Elvira smiled silkily.
I feel so completely at home in the Quinta.' Coralie refrained from comment. Elvira gave one the impression that she was already its mistress in all but name, and that it would not be long before she altered that, thought the younger girl, with an irritation for which she despised herself. The Portuguese girl's whole attitude of casual confidence put Coralie on her guard.
Tell me,' Elvira began, surveying her painted fingernails with exquisite deliberation as if awaiting the opportune moment to sink her claws. How long do you intend to sit back and play this waiting game, this childish game of hide-and-seek with your fiancé, Miss Grey? You surely do not expect Ricardo to extend his generous hospitality to you indefinitely.'
Coralie bit her lip.
I have no desire to stay here, senhora. It was Dom Ricardo himself who brought me to his home, and as you are no doubt well aware, he insists that I stay until I find Peter.'
Elvira laughed derisively.
Quite the desolate waif, aren't you? And Ricardo somehow feels he has a duty towards you, though why, I do not understand. He has taken it into his head that he must take care of you—it seems almost to have become an obsession with him.' Her expression hardened, and her eyes held a glittery determination. These is one way to rid him of his overdeveloped sense of conscience, my pet—and that is for you to go back to England, seeing that you have no further news of your fiancé.'
' I don't think—' Coralie began, only to be silenced by the older woman, more insistent than ever.
' My dear, you need not worry about the money. I will pay your passage home. We need say nothing to Ricardo—he will be only too relieved when he knows that you are off his hands.' Elvira lowered her scheming eyes. ' Shortly after the death of my husband, almost two years ago, I told Ricardo that it was too soon for us to marry, and so soon after his wife's tragic death too.' She paused significantly and Coralie burst in impetuously:
Senhora, I am perfectly aware of your relationship with Dom Ricardo, but I don't see what that has got to do with me.'
Elvira's brilliant eyes had never moved from her face. There was distinct malice beneath the husky sweetness of her voice.
' But, my dear, I think you are not so naive as you
would have us believe. To put it plainly, I hope to
become Ricardo's wife before the summer ends, but
of course we need some time together for matters to
develop—and take their course.' Elvira looked coyly
from beneath half-dosed eyes. ' That is why Ricardo
brought me here—such an ideal opportunity while you
were here to satisfy convention, but—' and here the
Portuguese beauty sat up, fastening the purposeful
brilliancy of her eyes upon the pale, tense features of
the younger girl. ' What do I find Ricardo preoccupied trying to locate the erring fiancé of his English protégée.' The determined mouth curled in a
malicious smile. Do not overstay your welcome,
Senhorita Grey. If you are wise, you will be advised by me to go back home—before the storm breaks.' Her voice had dropped to a thin note of warning.
Coralie made a bewildered little sound; a choking sense of cold fear sweeping through her at Elvira's words. In a shaken voice she asked:
' Do you know—has Dom Ricardo ever confided in you that Peter is in some sort of trouble, senhora?'
' Ricardo and I have no secrets between us,' came the noncommittal reply.
Coralie leaned forward, twisting her fingers together nervously. On a long-drawn breath she asked:
' Did he tell you any details? You see, I must know! I'm so worried about Peter.'
Elvira's thin nostrils flared in a little sneer.
' With your head full of romance, are you sure you want to hear this from me, rather than from Ricardo himself?'
Yes—but why hasn't Dom Ricardo told me?'
Elvira gave a small shrug of narrow shoulders.
' No doubt Ricardo has his reasons.' The Portuguese girl leaned back complacently. ' The bare truth is, Miss Grey—' her eyes narrowed catlike as she studied the English girl—' that your fiancé is under suspicion of a most serious nature. You must know, I think, that he was badly in debt.'
Coralie flinched, remembering how her hard-earned savings had all gone in advance to Peter, towards a home ready for their marriage.
' No, I didn't know,' she murmured, sick with foreboding.
' You must first promise me not to tell Ricardo that I have so enlightened you—but it is high time this nonsense of keeping you innocent of the facts was ended,' said Elvira impatiently.
' I promise, of course.' Coralie's voice sank to a whisper.
All I can tell you is that your fiancé is in some way mixed up with the sordid business of diamond smuggling.'
Coralie winced and closed her eyes. Her face was
ashen. She listened in silence as Elvira, in cold, cynical tones, told of a consignment of diamonds being shipped from Brazil which had been intercepted somewhere off the Portuguese coast here. ' The easiest thing in the world, my dear, for a man with a fishing boat, especially along our rocky stretch of coast which has in its time hidden many a plunderer within its watery caves.'
But—but that's impossible ! How would he get them away—where could he sell them—'
' It has been known for diamonds to be hidden in the canvas of an artist's paintings.' Elvira was watching Coralie closely for her reactions.
But if the police are suspicious, why—?'
My dear Miss Grey, they believe that your Englishman is just one link in a long chain, and they are hoping that, as you say, if they give him enough rope he will hang himself.'
Coralie shivered.
So that's why he left the village so mysteriously do you think he has left the country?' she asked, feeling almost panic-stricken.
It is possible, but I think not. It is more likely that he has removed himself temporarily from police bounds.'
Temporarily?' echoed Coralie, running her tongue round her dry lips, while her thoughts flashed back to the events of yesterday. To the uncanny notion she had—that Chica and her brother Miguel harboured some dark secret between them—
Again Elvira shrugged.
' Surely he is awaiting his opportunity to contact you—believe me, he will know by now of your association with his pursuer.'
I don't follow.'
Elvira gave her a derisive stare.
The diamonds, my dear,' she drawled, ' belong to Ricardo, they form part of his family's untold wealth, and he had ordered them to be transported from his Brazilian estates which he also inherited from his father.'
' No!' gasped Coralie, pressing a hand to her throat as if to stem her rising hysteria, and to herself she agonised that Elvira would not rest until they were restored. Aloud she cried, So that's it Dom Ricardo holds me as bait to a trap he has set for Peter.' She uttered a distressed sound. ' Oh, how could he?' An agony of bitterness and desolation rang in her words.
Elvira's eyes met hers with smiling complacency. Think over my offer to pay your fare back home,' she repeated.
Coralie's heart lurched with the sickening realisation that both Dom Ricardo and his future bride were using her to further their own respective ends. She was pale, but she stood up and put back her shoulders determinedly despite an overwhelming sense of despair. Had Elvira only known it, she had provided the very motive which made the younger girl more determined than ever not to desert Peter until she had seen this nightmare through. Blindly Coralie turned into the house, to put an end to Elvira's uncurbed delight in her treacherous tongue.
In her own room, she lay on her bed and allowed a tide of misery surge through her. She was shaken with anger and humiliation, reproaching herself for a blind fool. Her unhappiness would have been so much easier to bear had not Ricardo de Carvalho deceived her. Her hands clenched, and her jaw stiffened as she remembered the odd moments of his sensitivity and compassion for her feelings. She had almost begun to trust him—there was such a tightness in her throat—she had even fallen into the snare of loving him. A violent feeling of distaste at her own reactions set her shaking uncontrollably. It was so cruelly humiliating to discover that she was of no interest to him whatsoever. Now that Elvira had shown her so clearly that Dom Ricardo's hospitality was merely a means to an end, Coralie saw him as ruthless, cruelly conniving, wholly without feelings, and in every way foreign to her own nature—yet her heart refused to believe it. Would she ever again find her
lost faith in life?
Her floundering thoughts turned to Peter. How could he love her as he had claimed, and yet allow her to suffer on his behalf like this, for she was in no doubt now in her own mind that Peter did undoubtedly know of her presence here in Pera, yet he apparently did not care so long as his own safety was secured. She tried to consider the situation objectively. She was involved with not one but two men in this duel of wits, and she was beginning to realise that she had only her own intelligence to rely on if she were to retain her sanity in this situation and she wondered dejectedly if her nerve were up to it. Then what, she wondered with a thudding heart, did this merciless Conquistador intend to do with her when he had finished using her as his pawn?
CHAPTER IX
There was to be a guest for dinner that evening at the Quinta das Torres—Jacques Bourchier. With the knowledge that there would be another guest present, Coralie dressed with added care. A tortoiseshell comb held back her long shining hair from her face, and the peacock hues of her one expensive dress from home were reflected in her eyes as she surveyed herself in the ornate mirror.
Tall candles spluttered their golden light across the timbered ceiling as Dom Ricardo came swiftly into the dining room.
' Sorry I was not down first to receive you,' he said as he crossed the room, it takes slightly longer to dress with a strapped-up shoulder.' His smile was friendly but aloof as he handed Coralie an aperitif. His face in the candlelight was shadowed and unrevealing, yet Coralie was quite sure that he had missed no detail of her appearance in the slim-fitting dress, its many hues softly emanating the painted azulejos that panelled the' wall behind her burnished head. She had not seen him since the catastrophic events of the morning, and her eyes were shimmering with a diversity of emotions as she strived to control them while scanning his chiselled features as he sipped his drink.
' Are you feeling quite recovered from your ringside view of your first bullfight?' he enquired sardonically, while appraising the wide jewel-green eyes and the rich shoulder-length hair of the girl in front of him.
Coralie held her lip between her teeth while his searing gaze remained on her as if aware of her inner turmoil.
' Thank you, yes—a—are you feeling better?' she asked so
licitously, conscious of a new and disturbing quality in their relationship, unfathomable as it was unfamiliar.
' How would you say I look ?' His softly mocking reply eased the tension. He was looking very much
the handsome overlord tonight, and completely unhampered by his injured shoulder. ' Well, Miss Grey?' His dark eyes were glinting with curiosity.
Embarrassed yet unable to evade a reply, she blurted out impulsively :
' Why not ask Dona Elvira, senhor?' as the Portuguese girl swept into the room followed by Jacques Bourchier.
' I might.' He gave her an odd look, and the corners of his mouth tugged with amusement.
' You are looking better, caro—and so very handsome!' Elvira drawled, her high cheekbones flushed with unaccountable pleasure as he inclined his head towards her. Coralie caught the glint of humour in his eyes and the lines of laughter at the corners of his firm, expressive mouth. Tall and statuesque in black silk, her hair drawn severely back from her brow in a style which would only accommodate features of the utmost beauty, Elvira made her usual dramatic entrance, her smile losing its warmth as her brittle glance flickered over Coralie's becoming dress. So she, Coralie Grey, had sparked off a pang, however small, in the unshakeable beauty. How heartbreakingly absurd, thought Coralie bitterly.
' Good evening, Coralie.' Jacques' use of her name in a friendly, familiar way, and his warm, devastating smile, were oddly reassuring. She was not to know that his debonair glance had taken in the lost look about her, as if she was no longer sure why she had come to Portugal. Neither had she noticed the look of cold hauteur that overspread Dom Ricardo's face at the Frenchman's familiar use of her name.
Jacques was studying her thoughtfully. ' What has happened, ma petite, to take away the starlight from your eyes since last night?' He sat down beside her in a damask-covered window seat.
She tried not to reveal much emotion as she spoke.
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