The willing hostage

by Elizabeth Ashton

  CHAPTER SIX

  ALL through dinner upon their return, Don Rafael was moody and taciturn. Dona Teresa, on the other hand, was almost sprighdy. It seemed that her son's ill humour was diverting her, though Rosalie could not imagine why. Their neighbours' venture into the hotel businss brought forth some acid remarks. 'But he will make a go of it,' Dona Teresa decided. 'Everything diat man touches succeeds.' 'Very estimable, but he seems unable to protect his daughter's honour,' Rafael announced censoriously. 'She will bring shame upon him if she continues as she is doing.' 'What would you do if she were yours?' his mother en-quired. 'Subject her to the old rules, which are best in the long run. No bikinis, no staying out late, and kept closely guarded at home.' 'But that's ridiculous!' Rosalie exclaimed, roused out of her usual submissiveness by this tyrannical decree. 'Because die Senorita follows modern trends, it doesn't mean that she's bad.' 'She gives the appearance of being so, whichis worse.' 'Oh, really!' Rosalie felt helpless before such reasoning. 'You are prejudiced, my son,' the Condesa told him. 'Eloisa has more sense than to ruin herself, she is only inaugurating the New Spam.' She put her head on one side, pensively regarding Don Rafael. 'That hotel will be a money-spinner. I dunk you should seriously consider an alliance with Eloisa.' 102 Rafael muttered something uncomplimentary about the girl. 'You cannot have everything,' the Condesa pointed out, 'I daresay you can manage to check diat irritating giggle and insist upon a little more decorous behaviour, mi hijo, .and her pesetas will bring the Castillo back to prosperity.' She seemed to be deliberately trying to push the girl on :to her son, while his reluctance amused her. 'I am not sure I shall retain Las Aguilas,' Rafael said. 'Andalusia suits me better.' He glanced obliquely at RosaHe. ; The Condesa looked perturbed. ; 'But it is the cradle of your race, Rafael. There you were born, and your father before you. Its ownership enhances @ your prestige. Casa Blanca is only a farm.' : 'I am still a Santaella wherever I am,' he retorted ^proudly. 'And whatever I do.' He rose abruptly from the table. 'Senorita Smeeth, when you have finished, will you ibe so good as to join me in my oficino? I have something fmat I wish to say to you.' I Rosalie glanced in consternation at the Condesa. @ 'Can't you say it here?' she asked uncertainly. r 'No.' He was curt. ' 'Very well, senor,' she agreed meekly, but she did not ; hurry over her dessert and continued to dissect the peach ;she was eating with outward calm and inward trepidation. r When he had gone, she said to Dona Teresa: t 'I haven't done anything wrong, have I?' ? 'Far from it, chica,' the Condesa assured her with a > twinkle in her dark eyes. [ 'He seemed annoyed with me this afternoon.' j 'Not at all, Rosa. You merely presented him with an lultimatum.' ; 103 'I'm sure I did no such diing. I don't understand you, madam.' 'All will become clear in due course.' Rosalie gave it up. 'But why does he want to speak to me?' she asked. 'That you will soon find out.' Rosalie rose reluctantly from die table. 'Well, I'd better get it over.' Rafael's office, like the one in die Castillo, was a small, bare room, but with a pleasant outlook on to die patio. Here he kept his papers relative to running the estate. It contained a large flat table which he used as a desk, a filing cabinet, a swivel chair in which he was sitting, and several hard upright ones. The light above him spilled over his blueblack hair and accentuated die narrow planes of his face. He seemed absorbed in the spread of papers before him. Rosalie paused in the doorway, having entered at his response to her knock. At first she did not take in what it was he was studying so closely, and then she saw with near horror diat die contents of her portfolio were spread before him and he was examining each sketch with meticulous care. How had he obtained them? She was always careful to put them away in her room, especially the ones which she did not want him to see. Dismay was succeeded by a rush of indignation. He had no right to look at diem without her permission. They were as private as her letters. He was violating die sanctuary of her most intimate secrets. Advancing towards the table, she demanded: 'Where did you find those? I'm sure I left them in my room. Did you dare to take them?' He stood up and indicated a chair. 'Please to sit down, senorita.' She remained standing, saying stormily: 104 JJI 'Yon haven't answered my question!' p. 'My mother gave them to me,' he returned mildly. 'She || greatly admires your talent, and she thinks it is a great pity you should not have more training. In fact she has ^.suggested that you might like to take lessons while you are There are several well-known artists in the vicinity might take you as a pupil. Naturally I wished to judge myself of your capabilities, having seen but little of work, before arranging anything. So she handed me II your portfolio.' Jg Rosalie subsided into the chair which he had indicated, ^momentarily bereft of speech. His explanation was reasonand presumably his mother didhot regard her work as pprivate, but he could not fail to recognise the repetition of own features which she had so faithfully portrayed, not in her earlier flights of imagination@the conquistador the grandee, but in her more advanced compositions, ^forerunners of the oil paintings she wanted one day to make ^of them. She glanced at his enigmatic face out of the corner |-of her eye. He did not seem annoyed, so possibly he had not irecognised himself. He had resumed his seat and was palmly shuffling through die sheets of drawing paper, while remarked drily: I. 'You seem best at portraiture, but you have suffered from ja scarcity of models. Perhaps you found fresh inspiration |among the people you met today. I am sure Luis Carvelio |would be pleased to sit for you.' j Relieved that he did not consider she had been im|pertinent, and was disregarding the personal aspect, she said |truthfully: i 'I didn't find his features very interesting.' | 'Now you do surprise me.' He sat back, twirling his chair Jfrom side to side, while he stared at her across the table. 105 'You find mine more so?' Rosalie flushed and looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. 'From an artist's standpoint, yes,' she told him composedly. 'They have more character.' He picked up her sketch of die conquistador and regarded it with a satirical smile. 'So I was a model for your idea of Pizarro and Cortez. Ruthless men, Rosa.' Though his mother called her Rosa, he was usually more formal, and the sound of her name on his lips gave her an unexpected dart of pleasure. 'Well, weren't they?' she countered. 'Very. Do you consider me ruthless too?' 'I know you can be.' 'Then it would be wise not to provoke me.' 'I always endeavour not to do so.' 'Don't be mealy-mouthed widi me, Rosa, it does not suit you.' He pushed her drawings aside, and proceeded to light a cheroot. Through the cloud of blue smoke he looked at her keenly. 'You seemed to have a lot to say to diat young man dlis afternoon, in fact when I interrupted you, it appeared to me that you were leading him on.' Rosalie made an effort to meet his eyes, and instantly looked down again. His were not disapproving as she had expected, but held the slumbrous sensual expression which ' she always found so intensely disturbing. Her stomach fluttered and her heartbeat quickened. 'Was that what you wanted to see me about@the drawing lessons, I mean?' she asked, striving to keep her voice steady. She ignored the subject of Luis, and as he did not immediately reply, she went on rapidly: 'It is most kind of 106 you to think of obtaining a teacher for me, but if he's a good artist, he would be very expensive.' 'His fees would be my business.' 'But I couldn't allow...' 'I shall insist.' She laughed. 'Really, Don Rafael, you've changed in an extraordinary degree since our first meeting. Who would have dreamed then diat you would end up by offering me art lessons?' 'Ah, but this is not the end, it is the beginning.' She flashed a look at him only to meet that disconcerting expression. 'I... I don't understand,' she faltered. 'It occurs to me that time lies heavy on your hands, so I am proposing to arrange a more suitable occupation for you than flirting with youthful upstarts.' The insolence of his tone fired her. 'A bribe, in fact,' she exclaimed scornfully. 'To make me conform to your outdated notions of propriety. Luis Carvelio is a nice boy and I like him. If you think you've a right to censor my friendships because your mother employs me, you've another think coming, Don Rafael. We're not in your medieval fortress now, and I refuse to be bullied and coerced. I have no intention of dropping Luis, and if the Condesa wishes to dispense widi my services upon such a flimsy pretext, I must accept my
dismissal. I daresay I can find odier employment.' 'I admire your spirit but not your wisdom,' he told her, tight-lipped. 'To throw up a good position for the sake of a pair of blue eyes is not sensible.' Rosalie rose to her feet, instinctively wanting to put distance between them. She had received an impression of leashed violence in the man before her, which might be 107 loosed at any moment. She did not really care if she never saw Luis again, and she was being foolish to jeopardise her position in this pleasant household upon such an unimportant issue, but she was dimly aware that it went much deeper than diat. From their first meeting Don Rafael had sought to dominate her for one reason or another, and her @ independence was at stake. She was not going to allow him to dictate to her. 'Sit down,' he commanded. 'I have not finished.' 'I think you've said plenty,' she returned. 'I don't want to hear any more.' She moved towards the door, which was a mistake, for her intention of escaping roused his hunting instinct. With the swift lidie movement of a predatory animal, he pounced. She was held against his chest, unable to defend herself, while his mouth sought hers, and with a litde gasp Rosalie surrendered. In a moment of blinding illumination she knew that this was diat for which she had been secretly yearning. He kissed her eyelids, her throat and her mouth again. His fingers sought the zip of her dress, pulling it down so that her neck and shoulders were exposed to his fierce caresses. Finally, with obvious reluctance, he dropped her back on to her chair, and turned away from her, breathing fast. Mechanically Rosalie adjusted her dress. She had been taken completely by surprise, not only by his ardour but by her own reaction to it. She knew that she had responded shamelessly to his passion, and a whole new world was unfolding before her hitherto limited experience. She had never before been stirred by such a tumult of emotion. Rafael came back to her, his eyes glowing. 108 I 'That will make you forget that young cub!' | With a surge of triumph she realised that what had moti| vated him throughout the interview was jealousy of the | other man. I But as her racing pulses slowed, she looked at him ! askance. What was to happen now? In the castle she had feared his intentions, but then she had seen him as an em; bittered and vengeful tyrant. Now her own feelings were involved, and she was more in his power than she had been dien, for she doubted that she would be able to resist him. Rafael seated himself on the edge of the table, swinging one foot. He looked much younger, even boyish, his eyes still alight widi passion, the harsh lines eliminated from his smooth olive face. He also looked irresistible. 'Do you still wish to leave me?' Because she was still very young, and she was frightened by the intensity of her emotions, Rosalie began to cry. Instandy he was on one knee beside her, his arm enfolding her waist, a clean handkerchief wiping her eyes. 'Mi corozan, mi queridita, mi amante, why the tears? Can you not understand what has happened to us? We have found that great love upon which you set such value, and in which I have never before believed. You should rejoice, not weep.' Against his shoulder, she said forlornly: 'We have no future. You must marry money, and I will be no man's mistress.' 'Money? Bah! Didn't I say at dinner I am going to sell the Castillo? You like the south, do you not? You would be content to live here in this poor house?' He raised her face from his shoulder, so that he could look into it. 'I am not asking you to be my mistress, Rosa, but my wife.' She stared at him incredulously. As he knelt beside her, 109 his eyes were on a level with her own. Some unoccupied part of her brain noted that diey were so dark that pupil and iris were one, and they looked like black velvet. 'You ... you mean it, Rafael?' 'I should not say so if I did not.' 'You ... you love me?' Fire seemed to kindle in the depths of his eyes, and die arm encircling her squeezed her waist. 'Haven't I demonstrated that I do?' he asked fervendy. 'Oh, Rafael!' She wound her arms about his neck, hardly daring to believe that this miracle had happened. For a fleeting second she saw the familiar satirical smile twist his lips, and she experienced a moment's chill. Then his lips sought hers, and it was forgotten in ecstasy. They went hand in hand to inform the Condesa of their engagement, Rosalie in a state of trepidation, for surely Dona Teresa would not welcome a dowerless bride? To her surprise, Rafael's mother expressed profound satisfaction. 'You are a good girl, Rosa,' she told her, 'besides being a pretty one. You will make my son a good wife, and you will never let him down.' 'That I never will,' Rosalie declared fervently. Both of them were thinking of Consuelo. When they were alone, the Condesa apologised for purloining Rosalie's portfolio. 'He was hesitating,' she explained, 'wondering how you felt about him, and I was sure that diose so revealing sketches would assure him of his success. When a man has been jilted he needs to be very sure before he ventures a second time.' Rosalie was unaware that she had ever shown those pictures to Dona Teresa, but she supposed she must have done, for surely the Condesa would not pry among her pri110 Ivate belongings. 'I had no idea that he ... he felt like that about me,' she said childishly. 'He has always been so aloof.' 'You are very lovable, Rosa,' the Condesa said reassur|, mgly. 'And naturally Rafael held aloof until he was sure of j his own feelings, and yours.' She looked at the girl curi-I ously. -You think more of his love than having an establish-E ment?' | 'But of course,' Rosalie exclaimed impetuously. 'I'm not | mercenary, madam. Love is what is important. Besides ' j She checked herself. She had not yet told the Santaellas g that she was the Rosalie Smith who in a litde more than j| two years' time would come into a fortune. She was thank-I; ful that Rafael did not know that, it meant that his love was ? entirely disinterested. Nor did she mean to disclose her I secret just yet. There had been too much talk about for-I tunes and dowries, a subject that she found repugnant The ; revelation should be her wedding present to him, who be^ heved that she had nodiing to give him except herself. The Condesa did not appear to notice her uncompleted sentence, but ejaculated sententiously: 'Ah, how beautiful is young love, and how unpractical' Still, so long as Rafael has Casa Blanca you will have a roof over your heads.' 'That's all we'll need,' Rosalie assured her. Being not entirely ignorant of Spanish customs, Rosalie shrank from making their engagement public, for although the Santaellas were a much diminished family, they possessed a horde of distant connections, who would expect to be allowed to offer their felicitations and be given an opportunity to inspect the bride. Rafael could not understand her point of view. 'I wish the whole world to see the beautiful woman who 111 is to be my wife,' he told her. 'I shall feel like a specimen under a microscope.' 'Abswdo.r 'They'll know I'm a foreigner and wonder what you see in me, since they'll believe I'm bringing you nothing.' 'No importa,' he declared. 'Yourself is a gift beyond price.' The assurance was music in her ears, in spite of its exaggeration. 'But there will be criticism and incredulity,' she insisted, for she was thinking of Eloisa. 'Couldn't we finish the summer here without saying anything? Let it be our secret.' She still could not credit that this imperious man could truly love her. She seemed to be living in a fantasy engendered by the hot golden days, the purple dusks and shining stars. She had an unreasonable fear that if die everyday world were allowed to intrude upon her idyll it would melt away like the gossamer stuff of dreams. But Rafael had no sympathy with fantasies and dreams, his outlook being wholly practical, moreover her suggestion offended his Spanish sense of propriety widi its hint of a clandestine union. It was bad enough that he was living in the same house with her. He even contemplated returning to Las Aguilas until their wedding. His mother approved of that suggestion, but Rosalie was dismayed. 'Why must we accept these stupid conventions?' she asked angrily. 'We're happy here, just the three of us.' She looked at him doubtfully. 'At least I am.' His dark eyes glowed. 'Queridita, I have not your cool temperament. Your presence is a daily temptation.' But he said no more about going to the casde. An added irritant was the frequent visits of the Carvelio 112 brother and sister. Eloisa was pursuing Rafael relentlessly and encouraging Luis to pay his attentions to Rosalie. Her feminine intuition told her that she might have a rival in the English girl, though she would never credit that Rafael could have serious intentions in that direction. Rafael did not mind Eloisa's blandishments, for they fed his
male egoism, but he furiously resented Luis' attentions to Rosalie. 'You're being ridiculously jealous,' Rosalie scolded him after one of the Carvellos' visits. 'You know you have no cause to be.' 'Of course I am jealous of every man who approaches you,' he returned. 'Would you have it otherwise? No Spanish girl believes a man loves her unless he shows frantic jealousy.' 'So it's all an act, like the prescribed formula for lovemaking. But you needn't put it on for me.' 'You speak in riddles. I am jealous of every glance you waste upon Carvelio.' 'Don't you trust me?' His face darkened. 'I have litde reason to trust women.' Rosalie knew he was remembering Consuelo. She cried impulsively: 'But she didn't love you, and I do.' Their argument ended in a fond embrace, but she sensed the tension in him and realised something of die strain the situation was inflicting upon him, for he would never dream of anticipating marriage with die woman he meant to make his wife. But while she was content to wait, his male ardour was aching for fulfilment. The solution would seem to be a speedy wedding, but diat die Condesa opposed. The dung must be done properly, she insisted, all the distant relatives invited, no hole-and-corner affair as if the couple had something of which to be ashamed. Besides, it would take time 113 to make Las Aguilas ready for the bride and bridegroom. 'But Rafael said he was going to sell it,' Rosalie objected. The prospect of a gathering of starchy Spaniards within the forbidding walls of the castle was daunting. 'Since we're going to live at die Casa Blanca, can't we be married in Andalusia?' 'It would not be suitable,' the Condesa said decidedly. 'Nor can Rafael part lightly with his ancestral home. The farm has prospered this year. Perhaps it will not be necessary to dispose of the castle, there will be enough money to do the necessary repairs.' 'That would be rather a waste,' Rosalie protested, 'for I would never want to live there.' The Condesa gave her an enigmatical look. 'A Spanish wife lives where her husband chooses,' she told her repressively. Rosalie said no more, but if Dona Teresa supposed that marriage would make her meek and submissive, she was going to have a few surprises. All the same she felt vaguely disquieted, and she appealed to Rafael upon the next occasion when she found herself alone with him. That did not often happen, for Dona Teresa took her duties as a chaperone seriously. 'Naturally Mama is reluctant to have the Castillo pass to strangers,' he told her. 'It is a symbol of family prestige to her. But she could not live there alone, so I am afraid she will have to reconcile herself to its disposal.' 'She will continue to live widi us?' Rosalie asked in dismay. 'But claro; do you expect me to turn her out?' 'No ... but...' The prospect of her mother-in-law always being there was depressing. 'You may be glad of her help when los ninos come,' 114 Rafael said, and Rosalie blushed. Remembering what the Condesa had said about grandparents, she realised that she would have to make a good many adjustments before she could accept her husband's mode of life. Rosalie wrote to Philip, giving him her address, and asking for news. It was a preliminary to announcing her engagement. She knew he would be astonished to learn that she was with the Condesa, and possibly not too pleased. Let him absorb that fact before she sprang on him die news that she was about to console die jilted bridegroom. She also made her query about the whereabouts of die diamond bracelet. Philip replied at once. He was married to Consuelo and Uncle George's initial opposition had been overcome, when he discovered his wife had money. He had bought an apartment for them in Paris. 'With my money, of course,' Philip wrote. 'But by calling it an investment of trust funds he has managed to circumvent the will. It is an investment, for he bought the whole block and draws rent from the other flats. Con's pop is also reconciled now he knows my prospects and has come up with a handsome allowance, which is merely a foretaste of good things to come. So everything in die garden is blooming, and when you're tired of dancing attendance on that stuffy countess of yours, come and visit us. Con will be delighted to get to know you. As for the bracelet, I suppose Don Rafael put you up to asking about it. He did give it to Con, you know, but the jeweller, Senor ... (he mentioned a name) couldn't give us its true worth. He is therefore holding it in pawn as it were, but Con won't ever want to claim it. She hates the diing.' He signed himself, 'your loving brother Phil' and added a postscript. 'How on earth did you inveigle yourself into the Santaella household? Take care, pet, there seems to be 115 something sinister in the background.' Just how sinister that background had been to begin with, Rosalie would never let Philip know. Rafael had only referred to it once, and then to apologise. 'We Santaellas are a proud, vindictive race,' he told her, 'and I had been deeply insulted. I misjudged you entirely. I thought you were a scheming little adventuress whom I need not respect.' 'When did you change your opinion of me?' she asked, recalling the significance of the alcoba de felicidad. Had Rafael really meant to use her as a substitute for Consuelo? He flushed uncomfortably. 'It was Mama who pointed out that I was making a mistake. She insisted that you were innocent, my sweet, and that I would be acting shamefully by making you a scapegoat for your brother. But I would never have forced you. It never occurred to me that that would be necessary, I was convinced that once your initial indignation had subsided, the genuineness of which I doubted, you would have surrendered widi avidity.' Women usually entered his house willingly, he had told her cynically a while back. He knew his power to attract diem. She supposed there had been a sequence of affairs and repressed a flash of jealousy. She could expect no less, Rafael was past his first youth and a virile man. 'The incident is painful to recall,' he went on. 'I would ask you to be generous enough to forget it.' 'I'm afraid I can't do that,' she said smiling. 'Was it so unforgivable?' 'It's not diat, but if you hadn't intercepted me, we should never have got to know each other.' A spark of mischief lit her grey eyes. 'If I had been really plain, would you have been tempted to test my availability?' 'I knew you were muy hermosa,' he returned. 'I saw that 116 when you waited upon me at table.' He smiled ruefully. Rosalie felt a surge of triumph. Even when he had believed that she was a humble waitress and of doubttui reputation, he had been attracted to her, and while he was officially engaged. Thinking of the other girl, she said: 'But I can't compare with Consuelo.' 'No, you cannot,' he returned. 'She was unfaidiful to her promises. You said you kept yours.' 'I do, but I have neither her beauty nor her dowry.' She emphasised the last word deliberately. After her experience with Garth she could not hear too often that she was loved for herself alone. 'To me you are lovelier far man she,' Rafael said ardendy. 'I do not care for diose dark sultry types, my English Rose.' He returned to the subject of her abduction, which she could see was causing him considerable distress. 'It was unworthy of a Spanish caballero,' he told her. The unwelcome thought flitted through Rosalie's brain diat he was less distressed by the way he had treated her than by the tarnished image he now saw of himself. She instantly dismissed it as uncalled-for, and promised to forgive and forget. But she was well aware that die dark depths in him which she had glimpsed then were still present below his surface charm and courtesy, and if ever she were foolish enough to offend him, retribution would be swift and merciless. But they loved each odier and love would teach forbearance and tolerance, of diat she was confident. By exercising tact and consideration she would learn to humour his touchy pride, and if they were fortunate, they would have a mutual bond in dieir children. She had learned enough of the Spanish mentality, its obsession widi die family, to know diat though Rafael loved her as a 117 woman, he would venerate her as die mother of his sons. Then Rafael announced that he must pay a visit to Las Aguilas to see that all was well there, and insisted that upon his return they would fix the date for their marriage and make their engagement public. 'I wish to claim you as my novia before all the world,' he told Rosalie. 'I have humoured your bashfulness longenough. Nor can I wait much longer for my bride.' His dark eyes were smouldering. 'And though I cannot give you the Santaella betrothal bracelet, I will bring back something worthy of you from Madrid.' 'Please don't be extravagant,' Rosalie besought him, wincing at the reminder of the missing diamonds. 'I don't want jewels, Rafael, only your love.' 'The one is the token of the other,
' he told her. 'There is no reason why you should not have both.' Except his alleged poverty. Rosalie watched him drive away widi a little crease between her brows. Was Casa Blanca really doing so well diat such an extravagance could be justified? But there were degrees of poverty, and the Santaellas lived in a style that seemed more like affluence to her, who had had to skimp and save on a cashier's wage. She smiled to herself, hugging her secret knowledge. She too had a gift for her beloved. When Rafael returned she would tell him that far from.wedding a dowerless bride, in a couple of years' time she would be bringing him wealth. 118