“Surprise me? - Sur - I should say it would!” she said weakly.
“Then clearly the people who have given you this absurd gossip about Señora Connaught and myself are remarkably effective liars! It is as well that you cannot recall who told you this - though I suspect I can guess - since I would be most angry with that individual were I to know! Although - ”
He stood up and moved across the room to stand beside his office window, staring out at the street. “Perhaps it is in part my own fault. They know only what they see. I do not ever tell people of my personal affairs, or of those matters that do not concern them. You, however - ” he turned to look at her again. “I wish to tell you. And after you have heard, I trust you will be able to accept the apology I offer on behalf of Mrs. Connaught, and also accept with calmness any - future - unpleasantness she creates. So - ”
He came back to his desk and sat down, leaning forwards to speak very directly to her, and she sat feeling for all the world like a mesmerized rabbit, watching his face as he talked. But rather liking what she saw.
“Vanda Connaught is the widow of a man who was, many years ago, my partner. Unfortunately he was a bad partner - a poor businessman, and an alcoholic. This I did not realize at the time, being a young man of little experience. I believed if I worked hard, and was thrifty and frugal - the good peasant qualities, yes? - all would prosper. But, to my surprise I did not prosper, and it was some time before I discovered that the so charming Bill Connaught is an alcoholic who uses the company money and makes trouble for me. So, I start - quietly, since I wish no problems - to raise the money to buy out of his partnership the useless Bill Connaught. You must not misunderstand me - the man was my friend, and I liked him. But as a business partner - tssss - ” and he produced that characteristic Spanish sound. “So, I raised the money, and I arranged with Bill to buy him out. But he tells me I may not tell Vanda until all is completed for she will be very angry with him. She was not then as heavy a drinker as her husband, all those years ago, and she had still hopes of reforming him - ” He looked remote for a moment, and then went on stiffly, “Although in my impatience and youth I am convinced that this is not ever to be. So - ”
He stopped, and dropped his eyes to his clasped hands again and then after a second looked up at her, and his face was more relaxed now, an almost rueful expression on it.
“So, Bill takes the money, and I own entirely the Cadiz operation. This is long before we have so splendid an edifice as the present Cadiz, you understand - then we are little more than a pensión. In seven years, much can happen - So, as I say, Bill takes the money and because Vanda does not know, he goes on a - I do not know the English word - he drinks like - like a crazy man - ”
“He went on a bender? A binge?” Isabel said.
“Is that what it is called? I will remember. So, he went on a bender. And was drowned because on one mad night he takes a boat from the Bay and goes out to the sea in it like a - like a twice crazy man.” He shrugged, “It was I suppose, inevitable, one day, that such a thing should happen. For Bill I think it was as he wanted. He died feeling himself to be great and important and filled with the glory that is the wine - ”
There was a long silence, and then she said softly, “And Vanda? His wife?”
He looked at her and shrugged. “What could I do? She did not know that Bill had sold out to me. In her grief, how could I tell her? And knowing that his death was partly my fault - no - do not argue.” For she had opened her mouth to speak. “It was in part. If I had not given him the money, no - bender, no boat, no drowning.”
“And you’ve never told her,” she said.
“No. I have never told her. She lives here, but tells everybody she is here for just the season - but the years go by and still she is here. I buy for her gifts - jewellery, clothes, you understand - as her share of the profits of the partnership, I tell her. She has, as you have seen, herself become a woman tied to the brandy bottle. She has become very stupid - ”
“Not all that stupid,” Isabel said, suddenly realizing what Vanda Connaught had meant by her “That’s what you think - ” She had known somehow, that Sebastian Garcia was not going to dismiss her.
“Oh, but yes. The drink has spoiled the brains she has. But I must thank God she never asks for the books or to see the business arrangements. If she did, and she found out that she is in fact penniless, that she received from me a form of charity - she was once a woman of pride and charm as well as brain, when I knew her first. I have much to answer for, I feel, for the state she is in.”
“Then you’re daft,” Isabel said vigorously. “Really daft. I can see why you should feel responsible for her, but all the same your own good sense surely tells you it wasn’t really your fault that her husband died! You said as much yourself!”
“I know. Indeed, I do know. But the brain and the feelings do not always work together, you understand.”
“No, they don’t,” she said after a moment, and pushed down a sudden vivid memory of Jason saying, “But you’ve got to be sensible, Isabel!” and her own passionate rejection of any such unfeeling consideration -
“So, there you have the account of the problem of Señora Connaught. I must tell you that in the past years I have lost many good staff because she is so impossible a lady. But I have shrugged and said lo qué será. What must be, you understand? Even the best of staff can be replaced. Usually.”
He looked up and for the second time since she had met him, he smiled, and as it transformed his face, lifting it out of its normal stern lines, she felt herself melt towards him. It was quite absurd, and she knew it, but all the animosity she had allowed to build up during these few brief days since she had come to the Cadiz disappeared under the influence of that smile.
“Usually. But you - I did not want to risk losing you. I do not think you will be so easy to replace. Not only because of the way you dealt with the kitchen accident yesterday, or because of the way all the staff are talking of you with such liking, such trust - ” she felt the red tide begin to mount in her cheeks. “But for - there are reasons. So, you will accept my apology? And will be able to tolerate the behaviour of the Señora Connaught should she again make so disgraceful a scene as last night’s? It is important to me that you should say yes.”
“Oh, of course I understand!” she said, and she knew her voice sounded shaky and couldn’t for the life of her do anything about it. “I’ve dealt with more difficult types than Mrs. Connaught in my time, I promise you! And now I know something about why she’s so disagreeable - oh, there’ll be no problems, I promise you. And - er - I’m delighted you want me to stay at the Cadiz. I truly do like it here, and the clinic is beautiful, and the staff - it’s really very nice, and the town and all - ”
She was floundering and chattering on and on in her sudden nervousness and she knew it and in an effort to behave more like her usual crisp self she stood up and smoothed her uniform, ready to turn towards the door and escape.
“So I’ll be away now” she said, still gabbling a little.
“And I’ll be in the clinic soon after I’ve taken my lunch, if you want to come early to have your wound dressed. I know it was done in Valldemosa yesterday, but I think I ought to see it today, all the same - ”
He stood up and came round the desk to hold the door open for her, and he stood there for a moment looking down at her with that same disturbing smile on his face.
“But of course it is necessary for you to see it. You, after all are the surgeon in charge of this case! I will indeed come to the clinic this afternoon. But before you go, I wish to make amends to you for another small episode that I have since realized could perhaps have been not quite understood. Tonight, Señorita, it would give me much pleasure to escort you to an evening of entertainment. I wish myself to accompany you, you understand - I do not merely offer you the use of my car and chauffeur. I do very much hope you will come with me. There is much of our beautiful island that I would wish to show you - ”
>
She smiled up at him, her face filled with laughter. “Oh, I’d like that - I really would! And as for the car and the chauffeur and that - pfui! I made a right wee fool of mysel’ that night! I’ll be glad to forget it if you will!”
He held out his hand to her, and she took it and let her fingers rest in the cool firmness of his grasp for a moment.
“You are more than generous to me, for I behaved very poorly that evening. So, hasta la vista! Until we see each other again - ” and he squeezed her fingers gently, almost imperceptibly, and opened the door for her.
She went through, knowing her cheeks were red and hoping there would be no one outside to stare and conjecture, and then his voice pulled her back.
“Señorita Cameron - I trust that this invitation tonight - it will not cause any - ah - difficulty with your caballero - Señor Squires was his name, I believe?”
And now her face was a very rich scarlet indeed and she said quickly, “Caballero! Heavens, no! He’s not a boyfriend. Just someone I met on the plane - uh - hasta la vista, señor!” and she fled, knowing quite well he was watching her all the way across the broad foyer. And finding a very definite satisfaction in the knowledge.
9
She sat with her elbows on the table, her chin propped on her clasped hands, and watched fascinated, as the men came pouring out of the kitchens at the far end, each carrying high aloft a long sword flaming with scarlet and yellow fire, watched them separate and come running down the sides of the great table to stand in rows behind the diners, still holding their burdens high.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, and then laughed, as she looked at him. “But it’ll surely be unfit to eat by the time the fire’s out?”
“Watch,” he said. “You will see,” and even as he spoke, the men moved, dipped their swords and twisted them, and although she couldn’t see how it happened, suddenly the flames were doused, and then each man stepped forwards to serve his own pair of diners. She moved sideways as their man leaned across her shoulder, and she felt her breath catch suddenly as her arm touched Sebastian’s. “This is absurd!” she told herself sternly, “to go all flibberty and silly like some green girl just beause I’ve touched him - ” but she enjoyed the sensation of shivery pleasure all the same.
The waiter, using a long fork with great dexterity, slid some of the meat impaled on the sword on to her plate, and then moved on to serve Sebastian. And almost as soon as he’d gone away another waiter arrived with great wooden bowls of salad and dishes of olives, black and wrinkled and gleaming on dark green lettuce leaves, and hot baked potatoes.
“Good food, yes?” he watched her as she tasted the meat, and laughed aloud at the startled look on her face when he added, “It is sucking pig - ”
“Oh, no! It seems awful to eat such young animals!”
“And in your country do you not eat lamb? So - why not the young pig? It is a delicacy of this country, especially cooked in this manner over the open spit - in the old days all the farmhouses and country people had a barbecue pit always in use.”
As they ate he talked more, telling her fascinating tales of the history of the Island, of the invasions of the Moors, of the long distant but still not forgotten wars of centuries ago when great princes sailed to the Island, and beautiful proud women fought beside their lords and masters to defend the land they owned -
It was all very romantic and as she ate, and drank the acrid but fragrant red wine, she felt again the curious enchantment creep over her, the same enchantment she had found in her evening with Biff, when they had watched flamenco gypsies dance and walked among the recreated haciendas and town houses of old Spain.
“It’s something about the place itself,” she told herself, staring up at the high stone walls of the vast farmhouse barn they were in, together with many other holiday-making diners, and at the great open fireplace in the centre where the spits turned with the small carcases of the animals roasting smokily above the leaping flames. “Watch yoursel’ Isabel Cameron. Don’t be pushed into deep water by a lot of romantic stuff and nonsense - ”
But however much her Calvinist conscience whispered its warning in her ear, she didn’t care. She was in Spain, in Spring, sitting with a delightfully handsome - and - admit it! - devastatingly attractive man who quite patently found her equally interesting. And she smiled at him, knowing as a woman always does know that her skin and hair gleamed richly and becomingly in the soft candlelight of the vast hall, and that her green eyes were reflecting the leaping flames of the barbecue.
He looked at her very closely for a long moment, over the rim of the wine glass that he was holding to his lips, and his eyes seemed darker and more hooded than ever in the dimness. Abruptly he put his glass down, and put his hand out to take hers in a firm warm grip.
“We have eaten enough,” he said curtly. “Come. I show you more - ”
And then they were moving away from the great table, and some of the people there waved and called and raised their wine glasses at them knowingly, and for a second she held back, pulling against his grasp, but he urged her gently forwards, and she thought recklessly “Ah, what does it matter? So I’m being a daft romantic, and why not? Why not?”
“Because you’re supposed to be here to get over Jason, not to get tangled with a new man,” the little voice whispered at her but the other half of her retorted “ - and what better way to be cured than to be taken away into a soft Spanish night to be kissed by a handsome Spaniard? - ” For she suddenly had no doubt that this was what he wanted to do, that this was why he had taken her away from the table so suddenly, and she was glad of the little wine she had taken; not enough to alter her thinking but enough to lessen her intrinsic shyness -
They were outside now, walking across the great flagged courtyard in the light of lanterns hung on the high walls of the buildings that flanked it, and he was holding her elbow now in the firm grasp that made that small secret place inside her shiver again and again.
At the far side of the courtyard, where the shadows were thickest he stopped, and she felt him move closer beside her and suddenly the agreeable shiver became less agreeable, seemed to be a sick feeling, and moving abruptly she turned away from him.
But at the same moment he had moved from her side, and gone forwards, and now she could see that he had pushed open a huge wooden door, could hear it creaking as a square of smokey light was etched against the blackness.
“In there,” he said in the same clipped tones. “You will see.” And uneasily but obediently she stepped forwards into the light.
They were in a stable, a vastly high beamed stable with whitewashed walls against which harness hung in rich leathery strands, and brasses shone satin smooth in the lamplight, where sweet hay was piled on the beaten earth floor in casual mountains that glowed a soft greenish yellow. She could see the gentle brownness of wood beyond, beams and pillars of ancient notched wood marching in quiet rows across the huge space, to make a row of stalls inside which she could see them as well as hear them; beautiful long maned yellow-white horses, with restless heads moving against the darkness, their eyes shining white and frightened as they snickered and whinnied softly.
He moved across the straw-strewn floor to lean over one of the stalls and take the nose of one of the most nervous of the animals in his hand, and he whispered and murmured gently, and then after a moment, when she had quieted and was gently nuzzling his hand, her absurdly long lashed great eyes losing the white stare of suspicion that had first filled them, he leaned down and unlocked the door.
Isabel watched them both as he led the animal out, the sleek black slenderness of the man against the tense quivering muscles of the mare; watched them stand together for a while, the horse moving one fore-foot with elegant fretfulness against the floor, while still nuzzling the man’s neck, and thought, “He’s beautiful - too beautiful - ” and then just stood and watched them, grateful for the beauty of the sight.
“She is a splendid lady, this lady, yes? My Don
na Clara, I call her - of all the animals in this stable she is the one for whom I have most love. You understand this, yes? You told me of your childhood in those Scottish hills of yours. You are a farmer’s daughter - you must know of horses too? This is why I brought you here. To see my lovely Donna Clara - ”
She moved forwards to come to stand by the horse and put her hand up gently to touch her velvet nose, and after a moment of eye-rolling anxiety Donna Clara settled and let Isabel rub her nose and caress her sensitive twitching ears.
“We have horses, yes, but nothing like this,” she said softly. “I rode a very solid little brown cob at home. She was a friendly animal, and as tough and rocky as our hills and I loved her, but this - Oh, she’s very special.”
“She is a palomino,” Sebastian said gravely, and then turning her gently led her back to her stall. “She is not entirely my property, you understand. They will not sell her to me! She belongs here to the farm, and she is one of the team of animals that do dressage - the performance of skilled riding, you understand?”
“Oh, I know! Even in distant Scotland we’ve heard of the skills of Spanish horses and their riders!”
He smiled then, across the mare’s head, as he relocked the stall. “Of course. I am sorry. But so often, you know, people who come to the Island have no knowledge of these things. This is why I explain - ”
With a last caress for Donna Clara’s nose he turned away, and came back to her and they walked out into the darkness again, which seemed much blacker now; and he closed the door and again taking her arm in that now familiar grip led her back through the shadows to the dining hall, where now there was the music of guitars and accordians and the sound of laughter and chatter as people danced on the square of grooved stones around the barbecue fire, and the waiters scurried about with trays of drinks.
Nurse in the Sun Page 10