by kps
"You have more confidence in this crowd than I have," Penny was saying as her gaze raked the front row. "I'd say that one over there is a brothel keeper, and those two beside him-God knows what. We'll be lucky if we get through this night, Carol!"
"Oh, I'm sure we'll be bought by someone nice." Carolina felt she could give Penny at least this much encouragement without endangering Kells.
Penny peered down at her younger sister in astonishment. Had she taken leave of her senses? Someone nice? They'd be lucky if a whip weren't lain across their backs before the sun went down! Because neither of them were going to submit very easily.
"Well, at least we aren't to be the first ones sold-we'll get to see what happens to the others," she muttered, as a blowzy blonde with broken teeth-got when she stepped in the way of a bottle during a marathon drinking bout in Nassau-was led into the sunlight. "The bidding seems brisk," muttered Penny. "Floss fetched a good price.
What was all that talk at the beginning of the auction?"
"Oh, they were talking about how we were being offered as house servants, most of us not being strong enough for work in the fields," Carolina replied cheerfully. She could not resist smiling in Kells's direction. He was looking straight at her with no expression at all upon his strong features.
"Housework, ha!" Penny's tone was scornful. "That fellow who bought Floss is already pinching her bottom -and she's giggling!" she added in disgust.
"Yes, well, maybe she thinks she can avoid doing any work at all if she's friendly enough!" Carolina said blithely.
Once again Penny gave her a dazed look. The heat, the strain must have unhinged Carolina's mind, she was thinking. She hoped the same man would buy them both-her sister was going to need taking care of!
A frowzy redhead was sold to desultory bidding, and a sulky young girl who looked as though she'd been crying was next. After her came a sultry brunette, and the bidding grew more enthusiastic.
"I think we're next," said Penny, and the crowd parted to let the governor's driver through.
He moved directly to the auctioneer and muttered in his ear. The auctioneer looked startled, but he nodded. He motioned Carolina and Penny to accompany the man, then turned to the crowd.
"Two of the women have been withdrawn from the sale," he announced, and there was a roar of dismay.
"What does it mean?" muttered Penny.
And Carolina, who had glanced quickly at Kells as they were led away and seen a frown cross his face, said anxiously, "I don't know." She turned her head and saw that he was turning his mount around and attempting to follow them. "I think maybe something's gone wrong," she told Penny.
"Stop talking in riddles," said her sister crossly. "Everything has gone wrong or we wouldn't be here."
The governor's driver saw a face he knew in the crowd. "Miguel!" He beckoned to the man and they had a low-voiced conversation-too low for Carolina to hear, even though she was straining to try to catch the words. The two women were promptly handed over to the newcomer, a short heavyset individual dressed as a servant. He took them each firmly by the wrist and led them away through a crowd that parted to let them pass and stared after them in curiosity.
"The governor's servant," Carolina heard one of them say, and she froze in fright.
Had she been recognized as the Silver Wench? It seemed impossible that she would not be, for so many Spanish prisoners had spent time on Tortuga and then been returned to Havana. Did this mean that she would be imprisoned- and Penny, too, because she had rashly called out that Penny was her sister?
She was somewhat relieved when it was not the portals of one of the forbidding forts, but the portals of a small private house on the Plaza de Armas through which she and Penny were led by their silent guide.
They found themselves in a cool tile-floored hallway, and passed on through a small central courtyard into a rude kitchen. Plainly whoever had built the house had cared more for show and had lavished little thought or money on the back of the house.
Their silent escort called out "Juana," and there was an answering call from the small courtyard at the back, which they could glimpse from the kitchen.
A moment later a big comfortable woman in an apron lumbered in and surveyed the newcomers. Carolina listened closely to their rapid conversation.
"What are they saying?" demanded Penny.
"They are saying that I am to stay here to await Don Diego's pleasure and you-you are to go to the governor's house!" Carolina gave her sister a blank look.
"What did I tell you?" Penny grinned impishly, for these better surroundings had restored her sense of humor. "I'll end up the mistress of the governor yet!"
"Oh, Penny!" Carolina was impatient. "How can you make jokes at a time like this?"
She turned again, listening to the conversation, for the big woman seemed to be protesting. "She says the governor's house is next door and why should I be kept here in an empty house? And the man is saying the house will not be empty"
Carolina's voice quivered-"that the governor has given Don Diego Vivar the house-oh, Penny, the governor has given me to Don Diego!"
"Ask if he's handsome," Penny said instantly, and then, "Well, don't just stand there looking so stricken, Carolina. What else are they saying?"
"Oh, nothing. The old woman asked what am I to do here, and the man is saying he does not know, that it is not his business to know, that it is his business only to take orders and that she had better do as she is told or the governor will have her beaten!
And she is saying that the governor is too soft-hearted to beat anyone or he would surely have had him beaten long since."
"Well, that's good news," Penny said cheerfully. "I'd certainly prefer a soft-hearted captor! Things are looking up!"
Their escort pointed to a wooden bench and Carolina sank down. He then seized Penny's wrist and began marching her back the way they had come.
At the entrance to the inner courtyard Penny turned and her impish smile flashed.
"Good luck with Don Diego!" she called.
Carolina gave her a black look and said nothing. Don Diego, indeed! Where was Kells?
At precisely that moment the man Havana knew as Don Diego Vivar had managed, through a crowd of people who were now dancing in the street, to overtake the governor's carriage which was heading home.
"Your Excellency. Dona Marina," he greeted them. "Might I inquire what happened to the two women who were withdrawn from the sale?"
"Ah, Don Diego, well might you ask!" He clapped the younger man jovially on the back. "Captain Avila, who commanded one of the galleons in the attack on New Providence, has told me that the pair of them are sisters and that the blonde has rendered some assistance to Spain. I thought it merciful to spare them the humiliation of public sale and of possibly finding harsh masters. The tall redhead I will find a place for in my own household. The blonde shall become your house servant, for I saw you eyeing her!"
The gray eyes gave the portly governor an inscrutable look. "But I am living in your house, Your Excellency," he protested. "In what manner-"
"Oh, do not be tedious, Don Diego. I own the small house next door to my own, which has recently become vacant since the Mendoza family left for Spain. It is yours to enjoy until I again find suitable tenants-bachelor quarters, eh?" He slapped Don Diego on the back again. "And you will require more than old Juana to take care of you. True, she will cook your meals, but you will need someone to serve them, someone to tidy up, and make your bed-" And sleep in it with you. The inference was clear from the leer on the older man's countenance. "So I have sent the blonde to your new quarters. She now awaits your return."
"Ah," murmured the tall gentleman. "I am indeed beholden." He seemed to struggle with himself. "Your Excellency:' he began diffidently, "you have been more than a friend to me. Indeed you have treated me as a son."
"Now, now, my boy, none of that!" was the governor's good-natured response. "Had I had a son, I could only hope that he would be as valorous as
you."
"I am in debt to you for everything I possess," continued Don Diego seriously. "This horse, the very clothes on my back. And now this generous offer of a house and servants. I can only say that when my funds arrive from Spain, I will reimburse you twice over."
"No, no," said the governor unhappily, for he had hoped to reduce the gentleman in Marina's eyes, and Don Diego's remarks were undermining that purpose. "We will speak of it later, Don Diego. Go now and investigate your new home. It is the house just to the right of my own-the one the Mendozas just left."
"I know the house," said Don Diego. He smiled rather fondly at them both. "If I may take my leave of you?"
The governor graciously waved him away. His arm had hardly come to rest before a low, furious voice beside him said, "Oh, Father, how could you do that?
Send Don Diego away from us and give him a bawd to keep him company?"
"I do not know that she is a bawd," the governor said airily. "I know only that she is a buccaneer's woman. Captain Avila said that she had shown kindness to captured Spanish sailors and soldiers on Tortuga."
"I can guess what kind of kindness she showed them!" snapped Marina bitterly.
"Marina." The face her doting father turned to his child was suddenly stem. "It seems I have been remiss in your upbringing. Henceforth you will show me proper respect and you will not question my decisions."
Dona Marina slumped down in her seat and sulked the entire way home. Her father hoped he had done the right thing. He wanted to put some distance between his daughter and Don Diego- at least until inquiries could be made about him in Spain.
But he had not wished to incite rebellion.
And that was definitely rebellion he saw glowing in his spoiled fifteen-year-old daughter's eyes.
Carolina meanwhile was having an anxious time of it.
"Who is Don Diego?" she asked Juana.
"A caballero who has been living at the governor's house." Carolina was bewildered.
"Well, then why-" "I do not understand it any better than you do, senorita. But like Miguel, I take orders. While the governor leased this house to the Mendozas, I cooked for them. Now perhaps I will cook for Don Diego-who knows?"
She shrugged and sat down and began to shell a large bowl of beans.
"I think I will look about," Carolina said nervously. "Look all you like. You will find I have kept the place clean enough! And with hardly anyone to help me!"
Carolina moved into the central courtyard. It was in her mind to escape-but escape to where? Suddenly she remembered Ramona Valdez and she retraced her steps to the kitchen where old Juana looked up.
"Perhaps you could tell me about Dona Ramona?" she asked diffidently. "Where is she?"
Old Juana looked up at her without comprehension.
"The governor's wife," prodded Carolina.
"Ah! That Dona Ramona." Juana's puzzled face cleared. "She is long gone. Her husband fell ill and took her back to Spain. That was two governors ago. The one we have now is Governor Corrubedo."
It was a blow to learn that Ramona Valdez would not be here to help her, but, "Does the present governor have a wife?" she asked, thinking of Penny.
Juana nodded. "A wife under the sod," she said. "But he does not remarry. No one understands why." Thank God for gossipy servants! thought Carolina. "Does he have children, this new governor?"
"One daughter only. You would think the sun rose and set by her slightest word! The governor grants her every wish."
"How old is she?"
"Dona Marina? Perhaps fifteen-I do not know."
And she will give you trouble, Penny, thought Carolina. She went back to thinking about her own troubles. "What is Don Diego like?" "Handsome." Old Juana waved a long string bean at her. "A true caballero. Dashing!"
And she might just as well add virile, demanding! thought Carolina glumly. She could see she might well have some trouble with Don Diego. She bit her lip. Across the kitchen, lying on the shelf of a low cupboard, she could see a butcher knife. She eased over toward it under the pretense of scanning the cupboards.
"You keep the kitchen well, Juana," she approved, and old Juana lifted her chin. The woman who was speaking might be dressed in ragged and mended clothes at the moment but she had the face of an angel and a figure to match. Juana little doubted that before the week was out she would be wearing silks and Don Diego would be dancing to her tune.
"I do my best," she said.
Carolina had reached the cupboard now. She turned about and faced Juana. "Can you describe Don Diego?" she challenged.
"Tall. Dark. A soldier's bearing."
Carolina was leaning back on her arms on the cupboard. Now she cautiously eased one of them back so that she could grasp the knife's wooden hilt. "And women, Juana? Is he fond of women?"
"As fond as most men, I suppose." Juana chuckled suddenly. "It is the governor's daughter who is fond of him! Their servants have told me so. They say she tries never to let him out of her sight. And that she becomes very angry whenever Dona Jimena rides by."
"And who may Dona Jimena be?" Carolina had the knife now.
"Dona Jimena is the most beautiful woman in the world," stated Juana. "All Havana throws itself at her feet. I have heard the governor say that men have gone to their death happy just because Dona Jimena Menendez smiled at them!" She gave Carolina a sly look, as if to say, You will have your work cut out for you!
"And does Don Diego fancy this Dona Jimena?" Carolina asked idly, moving away from the cupboard with the knife behind her.
"Who does not fancy Dona Jimena?" Juana said, shrugging. "Dona Jimena has the blackest hair, the brightest eyes, the whitest teeth in all of New Spain."
"Is she married?" Carolina was moving away from the cupboard now with the knife concealed in the folds of her yellow calico skirt.
"Oh, yes, she is married." Juana's head nodded. "The the richest man in Havana-Don Carlos Menendez."
"And what does Don Carlos Menendez think of all this?" She must keep Juana's attention so that she would not miss the knife.
"Don Carlos thinks nothing-at least he says nothing. He is too blinded by Dona Jimena's beauty to protest!"
"You are saying that Dona Jimena has many lovers?" Carolina was easing her footsteps toward the door.
"Ah, si, si!" Juana was emphatic about that!
"And one of them is Don Diego?" Carolina had almost reached the palm-shaded inner courtyard as she spoke.
"About that I do not know," old Juana said firmly, and bent to the shelling of her beans. Let the blonde minx find out for herself whether they were lovers! She knew no more, after all, than what the gossipy house-maids next door told her when, shirking their duties, they skipped away from the governor's "palace," as everyone called it, and perched on the benches or wooden table of Juana's kitchen and nibbled her tortillas and giggled over the doings in the governor's household.
Thus edified by back-stairs gossip, Carolina passed on through the courtyard with its tinkling stone fountain and toward the front of the house.
Basically the house had on its first floor only its wide, tiled entrance hall-cool and with only very high grillwork windows to permit air in but to keep out the hot tropical sun-which could serve as a reception room; the large central court, part of which was covered by an open gallery that ran entirely around the courtyard; and the capacious kitchen. Obviously dining was meant to be accomplished in the shade of the palms of the courtyard or in the cool recesses of the gallery behind low stone pillars. The second floor was reached by means of a tiled stairway from the courtyard.
She decided she had best secrete the knife upstairs while she decided what to do-after all, if she stayed in the house tonight with the entrancing Don Diego, whom all the women were after, she well might need to use it!
With that in mind she ran lightly up the stairs and surveyed the two bedrooms--one at the back from which a narrow back stair opened down into the kitchen-and one which occupied the whole front of the house and was r
eached by means of the tiled unroofed corridor which encircled the inner courtyard.
The Mendozas obviously had taken most of the furnishings with them when they left for all the rooms were sparsely furnished with-in the main-only huge heavy objects difficult to move. There was an enormous cedar wardrobe-empty, for Carolina looked-and a big dark carved square bed in each of the upstairs bedrooms. The Mendozas obviously could not have had a large family.But despite their lack of furnishings, the rooms were airy and pleasant with their white-washed walls and high ceilings. The mattresses were hard but adequate-she glanced at them nervously, remembering that this was Don Diego's lair.
She was still looking for a good place to secrete the knife and had just decided that beneath the mattress at the head of the big bed in the front room was probably the best place when she heard the sound of a booted foot on the stair.
That would be Don Diego!
Carolina froze. He was taking the steps three at a time-there would be no time to hide the knife. She thrust it behind her to be hidden in the folds of her wide skirt. Her heart was pounding.
It seemed to her that he took a long time coming up the stairs. Her heart thudded with each footfall and she clutched the knife with a sense of doom.
She would be polite, she told herself. She would greet this strange Spaniard civilly-oh, God, if only this were not his bedroom!
She steeled herself as the footsteps paused momentarily outside her door-then came on again.
TIIE HOUSE ON TIIE PLAZA DE ARMAS
Chapter 19
Don Diego Vivar stepped briskly into the big front bedroom-and checked himself at sight of Carolina, who, in her excitement, dropped the knife.
It clattered to the floor, and a cool voice as familiar to her as her own said in astonishment, "You will have no need of a weapon this day. I will not besiege you!"
"Oh, it is you!" she cried. "I was so afraid it would not be!" She threw herself into his arms, and those arms closed about her. She was sobbing against his chest now, that broad familiar chest, and hearing the strong masculine beating of his heart. Between sobs her voice was low and vibrant, choked with emotion. "When I saw you at the market, it was wonderful. I was sure you would buy me, I couldn't wait-" She pulled his face down to hers and silenced anything he might have to say with her soft eager lips. She could feel his response to her, feel the tension in the lean hard body she clutched ecstatically to her own. She could feel his swift response to her kisses, the leisurely delightful exploration of his tongue between her parted lips, the sudden bulge of his masculinity,