' Coralie, stop all this pretence with me. You don't kiss a man as you just did, then retreat into your cold English shell, hoping that things will go on as before.'
Coralie bit her lip at the sight of his strained face. He put her away from him, his hands on her shoulders, his dark eyes unsmiling. He was still so close that she could not help but see the passion that flickered across the proud Latin features, blinding her to the danger of his hidden depths. He had the look of a man being tried to the limits of his endurance, grim and dangerous, his black hair jagging his forehead above brows drawn together in a determined line. She dared not attempt to wrench herself free of his ruthless grasp,
she feared to unleash his impassioned restraint. She sensed the torment in him, and quivered beneath his hold, conscious that his iron control was dangerous:, near to breaking point.
' There is an old Portuguese proverb, " A cat that a snake has bitten is afraid of a rope.
Coralie caught the sudden note of hardness in his voice. W-what do you mean?' she whispered.
' It occurs to me that you are afraid of the bond of real love, because of the betrayal of a man whom you thought you loved. Or, once bitten, twice shy, as I believe the English would say. But doubtless you think yourself still in love with Senhor Radford—you are still not yet grown up, are you, Coralie?'
She found she could hardly breathe at the effect of the onslaught of his words on her emotions.
Answer me,' he commanded imperiousely. ' Do you—or do you not still love that English rogue?'
Coralie stiffened her shoulders. Her voice came jerkily.
You-have no right to probe so closely into my personal affairs, senhor. I do not pry into the well guarded secrets of your heart to demand if you love Elvira, because I know you do—even though you believe that you have no right now to marry her.' The words spilled out, incoherent—she was hardly aware of what she was saying. ' Your future belongs with Elvira, not with an ordinary English schoolteacher of no fixed address—'
His expression silenced her as he stared ruthlessly down into her pale shadowed face.
' Coralie, cara, you have allowed your imagination to run riot again.' Now his eyes were no longer hard, they held a hint of gentle amusement, an expression she didn't quite understand. I thought you knew that Elvira left the Quinta this morning to fly to Paris to join Jacques, where they are to be married—but of of course you were out and about earlier this morning I shall never forget the way you looked when I arrived down at the beach, where you were helping my people in a fight for their lives.'
Disbelief struggled with dawning realisation in her eyes. ' I don't understand,' she whispered uncertainly. ' Elvira is in love with you.'
Dom Ricardo allowed a smile to lift the corner of his lips.
Did she tell you that, or was that another of your imaginative speculations?'
But Elvira said that you were going to marry her if I hadn't ruined things by my ill-timed arrival in Portugal.'
She possibly deluded herself that this was so, until someone eminently more suited to her came along in the person of Jacques Bourchier, who can give her the life she craves.'
Strange, Jacques said the same kind of thing to me
' Even if I had intended to marry her, the kind of life I have to offer a woman would never satisfy someone like Elvira. What, am I so unconvincing?' he asked, of the questioning eyes she lifted to his.
But I don't understand why you kept me in the dark about Peter and his—' Coralie broke off, no longer able to express herself clearly at his closeness.
He stroked a strand of damp hair from her eyes.
' It was not at all convenient, cara, to put you in possession of facts that would have sent you running away back to England, out of my life forever, before there had been time to make you want me as much as I want you.'
Ricardo! ' Coralie breathed his name for the first time, as his incredible words shattered the barrier of her reticence and incredulity. At last she need question no more. The answers did not matter any longer. It was enough to be crushed close against his pounding heart in an enchanted world of their own, while the tender ferocity of his kiss promised the joy and security they could now share. This was happiness beyond all she had ever dreamed.
Inhoudsopgave
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
Destiny Decrees Page 20