by Penny Jordan
Sick with mortification, Shelley recognised the satisfied, reminiscent look in Sofia’s eyes. ‘How sad for you that the only thing Jaime wants from you is the villa.’
‘He could have had that without marrying me,’ Shelley told her antagonist. ‘He knew that, even if you didn’t. I wanted to give it back to his mother.’ She had hoped to deflate Sofia’s hard ego, but her words just bounced off the other woman’s exterior, leaving no impression.
‘Giving the villa back to the Condessa was not what Jaime wanted you to do. She is adamant about not selling it. The Condessa is as opposed to Jaime’s and my father’s plans for the land it stands on as your father was—and as stupidly short-sighted.’ Her deeply glossed lips curled slightly. ‘Both of them are fools. Jaime will make a fortune from this development with my father.’
Why was she sitting here listening to this, why didn’t she just get up and walk out right now? Because her pride wouldn’t let her run from her pain, that’s why, Shelley acknowledged bitterly.
‘My father plans to extend his existing hotel complex to include the villa’s lands. He wants to build a modern sports complex to accommodate the hotel guests: private chalets, tennis courts. When he has finished here, this part of the Algarve coast will be a Mecca for those holidaymakers with the money to enjoy it.’
The mental image she was painting shocked and sickened Shelley. She liked the coastline as it was now, unspoilt and homely. Surely Jaime couldn’t really want that sort of development right on the doorstep of the quinta, but almost as though she read her mind Sofia continued coolly. ‘Of course Jaime will sell the quinta—that does belong to him. No doubt he’ll buy a house in the country somewhere for you and his family, while he and I…’ She laughed at Shelley’s expression. ‘You think that either of us would allow this marriage to interfere with our relationship?’ She shook her glossy dark head. ‘Jaime needs me in his life as much as he needs you.’
‘But he hasn’t married you,’ Shelley pointed out with a coolness she was far from feeling.
Sofia’s dark eyebrows rose. ‘I don’t want marriage from him—or any other man. I prefer my freedom. But that doesn’t mean that I no longer want Jaime as my lover—I do. Just as he wants me, no matter what he might have told you. Do you honestly think you can replace me in his bed?’
Shelley knew that her expression had given her away.
‘Does Jaime know that you’ve come here to tell me all this?’ she tried to counter.
Sofia didn’t even blink. ‘Of course,’ she told her scornfully. ‘Right at this moment he and my father will be celebrating the successful completion of their plans.’
If all Jaime had wanted from her was the villa, why go through this appalling charade? Why not simply…
Ask her to give it to him? Shelley’s mouth compressed. He would have known that, like his mother, she could never have allowed the villa to be destroyed and the land built upon. And yet he had seemed so genuine and caring when he had talked to her about her father, when he had told her of his love and respect for him.
‘If Jaime needs that land so badly, surely he could have convinced the Condessa?’ Shelley protested, unwilling to believe that Sofia was telling her the truth. Even though she had always suspected at the back of her mind that Jaime did have some ulterior motive for pretending to care for her, now that her suspicions were being confirmed she found herself fighting hard to reject them—and Sofia’s claims.
‘The Condessa would never give her agreement.’ Sofia’s voice was harsh. ‘She is obsessed with the idea of preserving the villa because it was once the home of her husband. She will never agree. Jaime expected that your father would will the villa to him, and it was on that basis that he originally entered the contract with my father. See, I have brought it here to show you.’
She opened the bag she was carrying and threw down a heavy bundle of typed papers, thrusting them in front of Shelley’s tormented eyes. Of course, it was all in Portuguese, but unmistakable and quite, quite damning, at the bottom of the contract were the typed names of Jaime and Sofia’s father—and the document was signed.
‘Now do you believe me?’
Triumph glittered in Sofia’s dark eyes, and Shelley fought for self-control. She badly wanted to be sick, to run from this nightmare and go on running until she woke up in sanity and reality, but this was reality.
Why the shock? she goaded herself; she had been worried all along that Jaime’s feelings weren’t genuine. But she had never, never dreamed of anything like this, her tormented heart protested; she had suspected Jaime of allowing himself to believe he loved her because of the strength of his feelings for her father, never even guessing at the truth. She would never have believed him guilty of this degree of duplicity and dishonesty if Sofia hadn’t revealed the truth to her.
Sofia was watching her closely. There was an unmistakable degree of tension about her stance that brought home to Shelley just what was happening. Sofia and Jaime were lovers. Oh, it had been clever of Jaime to admit that much to her; it had thrown her off the scent completely. She had thought their affair was over, something that had not even touched Jaime’s heart at all, but now she was learning better.
And Sofia was claiming that the affair was going to continue. No wonder Jaime hadn’t been able to tell her where he was going! No wonder he had been so eager to leave her. Sofia was right about one thing. Shelley could never match her sexual skill in bed. Nor would she try to, she decided grimly. Jaime had married her, but marriages could be dissolved, especially when they had never been consummated. She would refuse to sleep with him. He would probably be relieved, if it wasn’t for the fact that he would probably have no legal claims on the villa and its lands if the marriage wasn’t legal. She couldn’t sleep with him now…couldn’t touch him or allow him to touch her now that she knew the truth. Why on earth hadn’t she listened to what her brain had been trying to tell her? It had been right all along. No wonder Jaime hadn’t wanted her to go back to England!
Another thought crept into her mind. Would he have let her go back? Had he known that his mother was all too likely to interrupt them?
Sofia was picking up her things and heading for the door; as she reached it Shelley said coldly, ‘Do you want me to tell Jaime that you’ve done his dirty work for him?’
The other woman turned in the doorway and smiled mockingly at her. ‘That’s up to you, my dear.’ A calculating, assessing look hardened her eyes, but Shelley didn’t notice it; she was too busy trying to suppress her tears. ‘Frankly, in your shoes, I wouldn’t wait around for him to come back—I’d be on the first plane out of the country. Or don’t you have that much pride?’
Oh, she had pride all right. Too much to turn tail and run. No, she would simply tell Jaime that she was not going to live with him as his wife, and as soon as she got the chance she was going to go and see the attorney and see what she could do about setting in motion an annulment of their marriage. One thing she was sure of, and that was that she wasn’t going to let Jaime take the villa away from her. Her father hadn’t wanted that land built on or sold, and neither did the Condessa, and perhaps that was even why it had been left to her. Well if that was the reason behind her father’s bequest she wasn’t going to betray the trust he had put in her. Jaime might think he had her where he wanted her, but he was soon going to learn better.
* * *
It wasn’t much more than half an hour after Sofia’s departure that he came back. He was frowning when he walked into the salon, his expression unexpectedly harsh.
‘Maria tells me that Sofia called here. What did she want?’
‘Why, just to congratulate us on our marriage, of course.’ Two could play these lying games. ‘I hadn’t realised that her father had business interests locally.’
‘He owns that hotel complex being built further down the beach. As a matter of fact, he was the person I had to go and see.’
‘Oh.’ She was a better actress than she had ever dreamed, Shelle
y thought bitterly; she certainly seemed to be deceiving Jaime. ‘Was everything concluded to your satisfaction?’
His eyebrows shot up at her choice of words. ‘You could say that.’ His voice was clipped, and harsh as he burst out, ‘For God’s sake, Shelley, we’re on our honeymoon; I don’t want to discuss my business affairs with you.’
I’ll just bet you don’t, Shelley thought sourly.
‘No.’ She got up and gave him a sweetly acid smile, as she walked towards the door. Once there she paused and turned round, her voice innocent of all expression as she asked softly. ‘Jaime, would you have let me go back to London—if your mother hadn’t interrupted us, I mean?’
‘Let you go back?’ His voice was rough. ‘No way, you know that…’
Yes, she knew it, and now she knew why. She turned away so that he wouldn’t see the agony in her eyes.
‘Why don’t you…’
She turned back to face him once she had herself under control, praying she wouldn’t break down.
‘Jaime, I can’t sleep with you tonight…or at all at the moment…I’m too confused. I…I need time…’
Time to get their marriage annulled. Time to hide from the humiliation he had caused her. It was obvious from his incredulous expression that he had no idea what Sofia had really said to her. Shelley wasn’t surprised. For all Sofia’s claims, Jaime wasn’t the sort of man who would shrink from doing his own dirty work. No doubt he had planned to keep her in ignorance as long as he could, but Sofia had taken matters into her own hands. The Portuguese woman would be a very jealous lover, Shelley guessed, and would resent any relationship Jaime might have with anyone else, even one such as hers. She sensed that Sofia had wanted her to leave, but she wasn’t going to do that until she had made sure exactly what the legal position was with the villa. Did married women retain their own property under Portuguese law? Would the fact that the marriage hadn’t been consummated mean that the property remained hers? Knowing what she did now, she wouldn’t put it past Jaime to overwhelm her sexually simply so that he could make sure that ownership of the villa did pass to him. That was after all the reason for this whole farce.
Right now, though, Jaime was looking at her as though he couldn’t believe his ears.
‘What the hell is this?’ he demanded roughly, coming towards her, but stopping short of actually touching her. ‘Shelley, what’s happened to you? When I left here you were looking at me as though you couldn’t wait for us to be together, and now you’re telling me that…that…’
‘That I won’t make love with you,’ she supplemented for him. ‘I’m sorry, Jaime, but I just can’t. I did ask you not to rush me into marriage,’ she reminded him.
‘Shelley!’ He looked both incredulous and pleading. ‘Shelley, please…I can understand your fears, but I promise you…’
‘Jaime, it’s no good!’ She was rapidly approaching a state of hysteria. If this didn’t stop soon she’d be blurting out the truth, and that wasn’t what she wanted. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t trust herself to be able to resist him if he were to turn the full heat of his sexual mastery on her. The galling truth was that despite everything Sofia had told her, part of her still ached for him, still loved him, and that frightened her. She must keep him at a distance. She had to.
As though he too recognised her near hysteria, Jaime stepped back from her and said soothingly, ‘All right, tonight I’ll sleep in my old room, but we’ve got to talk about this, Shelley. There’s something wrong here somewhere, something more to this than you’re telling me. Does it have anything to do with Sofia?’ he asked sharply.
Her heart leapt in her chest like a landed salmon. ‘You told me your affair with her was over.’
‘Yes.’ He sounded impatient now. ‘So…did she say something to upset you? Something that activated that mammoth lack of self-worth of yours, is that it?’
Dear God, he should have been on the stage. He seemed so concerned…he knew her so well.
‘Did she hurt you in some way, Shelley?’
Here was her chance, her heart pounded suffocatingly as she asked huskily, ‘How could she?’
Please God, let him tell her the truth now. If he did…but no, he was frowning at her, watching her with narrowed eyes.
‘I don’t know,’ he lied slowly. ‘You tell me…’
‘I don’t want to talk about Sofia, or anyone else, Jaime,’ she told him miserably, ‘I just want to go to bed.’
‘Alone,’ he agreed acidly. ‘Very well, I don’t intend to force you to share it with me, Shelley, nor have I got the patience right at this moment in time to coax you to let me make love to you. You’re scarcely flattering to me; I hope you realise that. What is it? Just bridal nerves, or have you discovered that you don’t love me after all?’
It was her perfect get out, and she seized hold of it gratefully, unaware of the expression in his eyes as she said breathlessly, ‘I’m not sure what I feel, Jaime. You rushed me into this marriage before I wanted it, you know that…’
‘Oh, so it’s all my fault, is it? Very well then, sleep on your own if that’s what you want. But you can’t change the fact that you are my wife, Shelley; nothing can change that…’
Oh yes, it could, but only as long as their marriage remained unconsummated, but she wasn’t going to remind him of that right now. No, she’d wait until she was sure of her ground legally before she threw that one at him. Luck was on Shelley’s side: a freak thunderstorm in the night caused such damage to the vines that Jaime was up and gone long before she surfaced the next morning. He was gone for most of the day, and if any of the staff found it odd that the newly married couple were occupying different rooms, none of them showed it to Shelley.
She had anticipated that Jaime would lose no time in trying to persuade her to sleep with him, but he made no attempt to do so at all, treating her with a cold distance that made her wonder if secretly he was not rather relieved to be spared the boredom of having to make love to an inexperienced and undesirable wife. No doubt he was counting the days until he could safely see Sofia again, she thought bitterly, and when, four days after they had returned from Lisbon, he announced that he had to go back to attend to some urgent business, she thought she knew exactly what that business would be.
‘Good,’ she responded sweetly when he told her. ‘I’d like to come to Lisbon with you; I could spend the day with your mother.’ And she might also get an opportunity to go and speak to the lawyer. She was beginning to feel very much on edge. It was a constant strain living like this. And worst of all to bear was the knowledge that she still loved Jaime quite desperately. She wanted him physically as well, and she hated herself for that.
Her instinctive reaction when Sofia had told her the real reason Jaime had married her had been to leave him immediately, but she had sensed that this was exactly what the other woman had hoped for, and additionally, over and above the agony of her own betrayal, there had been her determination to stop Jaime from selling her father’s land.
Her refusal to sleep with him had been born of her own feeling of self-revulsion as much as of her desire to thwart him, and now, after four days of being married and yet not a wife, she was as tense as a too tightly drawn violin string. She wasn’t sure what she had expected: pleading, coaxing, a complete refusal on Jaime’s part to accept her rejection, perhaps. Certainly she had not anticipated the icy rage she had glimpsed once or twice in his eyes before he concealed it from her. She was the one with the right to be angry, not he. Surely he must have guessed what Sofia had told her, and yet he had made no attempt to talk to her about it. Well, she certainly wasn’t going to broach the subject with him. What had she really wanted, she jeered to herself, a passionate denial of everything Sofia had said?
Surely his very lack of the slightest degree of desire for her showed her the truth? Sofia was right. He was very skilled at playing the convincing lover. He had certainly convinced her that, sexually at least, he had wanted her. Had it been Sofia
he had been imagining he was holding in his arms, and touching every time he… Sweat broke out on her forehead and she felt acutely sick. She couldn’t endure any more of this. If she didn’t resolve matters soon she was all too likely to break down completely and humiliate herself even further.
On the Thursday after their wedding they left for Lisbon early in the morning. The drive was accomplished in a heavy silence which did nothing to alleviate Shelley’s already tense condition.
He dropped her outside the Condessa’s Lisbon house, with the curt announcement that he would not come in.
‘One look at our faces would be enough to make Mama instantly suspicious. She has enough to bear as it is.’
The look on his face left Shelley in no doubts about whom he blamed for their estrangement. How could he dare to play the injured party so diabolically well, when he must know she knew the truth? As she released her seat belt he leaned across her to release her door catch. Instantly she recoiled, and then quaked in her shoes as she saw the fury tightening his mouth.
‘It’s all right, I’m not about to rape you here in front of my mother’s front door,’ he told her savagely. ‘Or is that what you wanted, Shelley, to be forced to…’
She got out of the car before he could finish speaking, sickened and shocked by the miasma of barely controlled violence inside the car, generated as much by her as it was by him. She almost wished he had touched her, then at least she could have had the physical release of hitting him.
The Condessa was expecting her. Jaime had telephoned her the previous evening. She welcomed Shelley with open arms and then drew away, a shocked exclamation leaving her lips as she saw her wan face.