Katherine followed him as closely as she could as the last stragglers were rounded up with much flapping of the long white scarves used by some of the men. ‘Will they remain here now?’
‘Because it is Christmas, yes, for the men to enjoy the ferias with their families. Afterwards, they will be driven to more distant pastures.’ He cursed suddenly as one of the riders broke away from the rest and came riding hell for leather towards them.
‘Bom dia,’ called an unmistakably feminine voice as the rider reined in her mount. Her eyes flicked over Katherine’s shirt and jeans, and dismissed them as no contest for her own gaucho splendour.
‘What are you doing here, Gloria?’ demanded Roberto.
The huge dark eyes opened wide in innocence. ‘I heard you had visitor. I came to meet her.’
‘How do you do?’ said Katherine. ‘I’m Katherine Lister.’
‘This is Gloria Soares, daughter of one of neighbours,’ said Roberto briefly.
‘I brought message from my father for Senhor Geraldo, who now wishes to speak to you, Roberto,’ said Gloria. ‘Va embora. I shall share my coffee with Miss Lister.’
‘She is Dr Lister,’ corrected Roberto. ‘Stay right here, Katherine. I will not be long.’
‘I look after her,’ promised the girl, and took a flask from her saddlebag as Roberto rode off. She unscrewed the cap and filled it with steaming liquid. ‘Black. OK?’
Katherine nodded, and gentled her mount with a soothing hand as he sidled closer to the other horse. ‘Thank you.’
‘You stay here long?’ asked Gloria, handing the cup over.
‘Until after the holidays.’
‘Then you get back to hospital?’
Katherine blinked. ‘Oh…no. I’m not a medical doctor. I’m a historian.’
The girl stared at her blankly, then her face lit with a megawatt smile as she saw Roberto returning and she leaned from her saddle to grasp Garoto’s bridle with an ungentle hand. ‘Roberto is mine,’ she hissed.
When Katherine fought to control the fidgeting horse the coffee spilled on the ground. She tossed the cup back to Gloria with a cool smile. ‘Thank you. Goodbye.’
‘Come, Katherine,’ said Roberto, reining in between them. ‘We must return. Ate ja, Gloria.’
‘Amanha,’ she retorted. ‘Christmas Day.’
She saluted them with her whip, then reined her horse up on his back legs in a showy display, which was the last straw for Garoto. He went bolting off in fright, and Katherine bit back a scream and hung on for dear life on the unfamiliar saddle, with Roberto in frantic pursuit as they shot towards a stand of trees.
‘Katherine!’ yelled Roberto in warning.
She ducked instinctively to avoid low branches and the horse, completely spooked by this time, bucked her off and raced into the distance.
Roberto leapt from his horse and looped the reins over a branch, then fell to his knees by Katherine, demanding that she tell him where she was hurt.
‘I’m…winded…not…hurt,’ she gasped, when she could speak.
Very gently, he ran his hands over her arms and legs and, even more gently, along her ribs. Reassured there was nothing broken, he gathered her into his arms and held her carefully, his heart thundering against hers. ‘Deus!’ he groaned at last. ‘Gloria is too careless.’
But Katherine was only too aware that the girl had done it deliberately. ‘Do I walk back?’ she said, when she could breathe more easily.
Roberto shook his head. ‘My horse will take both of us.’ He kissed her swiftly. ‘Can you get up now, amada?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, if you help me.’
‘Do not try to walk. Just raise your arms.’ He picked her up and carried her to his horse. He spoke soothingly to his mount as he settled Katherine on the saddle, then swung up behind her. ‘Lean on me, carinha.’
Katherine did so, gratefully. ‘When we get back I’ll have a hot bath and I’ll be fine,’ she assured him.
They had ridden only a short distance when Antonio de Sousa came thundering towards them.
‘Deus, Roberto, que foi?’ he demanded breathlessly as he reined beside them. ‘When Garoto came back alone Teresa was sure Katherine had bad fall. Are you hurt, cara?’ he asked, touching Katherine’s hand.
‘Only my dignity.’ She smiled at him ruefully. ‘I fell off.’
‘You did not,’ contradicted Roberto fiercely. ‘The horse bolted, then threw you off. Did you examine him, Pae?’
Antonio was so upset that, with an apology to Katherine, he lapsed into Portuguese to explain. When he finished, Roberto looked furious as he translated.
‘Garoto was bleeding from thorns on his neck when they unsaddled him. Did Gloria get near enough to do this?’
‘Gloria?’ exclaimed Antonio. ‘That girl was out with the men again?’
Roberto nodded, and bent to Katherine. ‘Did she touch Garoto?’
In no mood to be noble, she nodded briefly.
As they came in sight of the curral two young men came running to help. Antonio dismounted and held up his arms to take Katherine, but Roberto shook his head. ‘I will carry her. She says she is not hurt, but before I let her walk my mother must examine her to make sure.’
Antonio nodded in agreement as, with great care, Roberto lifted Katherine down. ‘My wife has much experience with broken bones.’
‘I’m sure there’s nothing broken. I can walk,’ gasped Katherine, manfully ignoring her sore bottom.
‘Fica quieta. I need to hold you,’ said Roberto through his teeth, and kept on walking.
Teresa came running from the house, her English a little fractured as she demanded details, and Katherine let the stream of Portuguese from the de Sousas flow over her head, interrupting only to mention a bath as Roberto, breathing hard by this time, carried her up to her room, with Teresa following behind.
Roberto laid Katherine on the bed, for which she was deeply grateful. Sitting had no appeal for the moment.
‘I will run a bath,’ said Teresa, but Katherine shook her head, smiling ruefully.
‘I’d rather a hot shower, please. I landed too hard on my behind to sit in a bath.’
‘Nossa Senhora!’ exclaimed Teresa in distress. She looked at her son. ‘Go shower, caro. I will help Katherine.’
‘I will come back soon,’ Roberto assured Katherine, and kissed her with a ferocity that made his mother blink. ‘When you fell off my heart stopped,’ he said hoarsely.
She smiled reassuringly. ‘At least I didn’t fall on my head—but I’m afraid I lost the hat.’
Roberto said something so rude about the hat his mother protested and shut the door on him as she sent him away. With long experience of her menfolk’s bruises, sprains and occasional broken bones, Teresa helped Katherine undress, then ran practised hands over her until she was satisfied nothing was broken.
‘I just bruised my bottom,’ Katherine assured her.
Teresa nodded, smiling in sympathy. ‘We give you cushion to sit at table for lunch.’ Her eyes darkened. ‘It is time Ildefonso Soares kept Gloria on tighter rein.’
Once the meal was over time rushed by in preparation for Christmas Day. Teresa gave her afternoon nap a miss and excused herself to go off to the kitchen, and suggested Katherine recline on the veranda to watch Antonio and Roberto supervise the men who were setting up tables and chairs, and stringing lights among the trees. But after watching for a while Katherine went for a walk to avoid stiffening up. She left the veranda to make for the kitchen block and found a hive of industry inside. Teresa smiled in welcome.
‘You need something, Katherine?’
‘I want to help. Can I join you?’
‘Pois e!’ Teresa ushered her into the large, busy room, which was filled with savoury smells. ‘Escuta,’ she said loudly, and the smiling faces turned as she spoke to them quickly in Portuguese. ‘I told them you wish to help. You know Dirce.’ The girl nodded, smiling. ‘Here is her mother, Maria the cook and Lourdes, sister of Maria, a
nd Ana and Zelia her daughters.’ All the women smiled and murmured a shy muito prazer, then Maria and Lourdes went back to slicing up meat for the churrasco, while the younger girls fashioned small savoury pastries.
Teresa eyed Katherine hopefully. ‘You can cook, cara?’
‘Yes, though not on this scale. But there must be something I can do.’
‘Another sobremesa for tomorrow would be good. Something English, perhaps?’
Katherine nodded, eyeing the fruits Dirce had sliced ready for a salada de frutas. ‘I could make a couple of trifles.’ She listed the ingredients she needed, and was soon whipping up a sponge cake for the base. While it was baking, she went on to the tricky job of making custard, and the time passed so quickly Katherine was in the cold room off the kitchen later, putting her trifles together, when she heard Roberto burst into the kitchen with a flood of questions for his mother.
‘Calma, calma, she is in there!’ said Teresa.
He strode into the room to glare at Katherine. ‘I searched the house and could not find you!’
She smiled. ‘I was just enjoying myself with the others in the kitchen. I live alone at home, remember.’
Roberto stood utterly still as he looked down into her eyes. ‘You need never be alone again.’
They gazed at each in silence until at last Katherine managed a smile. ‘I need to finish this.’
He kissed her swiftly. ‘Do not be long.’
When they sat down later to a Christmas Eve dinner served early so that the maids could get off in good time, Katherine was deeply touched to find that Teresa had done her utmost to make her guest feel at home.
‘Tomorrow we have churrasco,’ she told her guest as Maria came in with a huge turkey on a platter. ‘But tonight we eat British Christmas dinner.’
‘You need more cushions, Katherine?’ asked Antonio, eyes twinkling as he carved.
‘Not right now, obrigada,’ she said, laughing.
Once the food was distributed the maids were thanked and sent off. ‘Tonight we clear away ourselves, because they return early in the morning with their families for the churrasco,’ said Teresa, and raised her glass in toast. ‘We wish you a most happy Christmas, Katherine.’
Katherine raised her glass to them, smiling in gratitude. ‘Thank you so much for inviting me here.’
After dinner Teresa refused offers of help from her guest and told Roberto to take Katherine for a walk under the stars. ‘This is one night of year Antonio helps me in kitchen,’ she said, laughing at her husband.
Katherine hurried upstairs to exchange her heels for flat sandals, and rejoined Roberto on the veranda.
‘I switched on the lights in the trees,’ he told her, taking her hand.
‘It’s magical,’ she said, then turned to him urgently. ‘Roberto, I’ve brought Christmas gifts for your parents. Should I hand them over tonight?’
‘In the morning is better, after breakfast. We eat this together at Christmas. Most other days we leave the house early, either to ride with the herd, or work with the men at the dehorning and castrating.’ He laughed as she winced. ‘It is a necessary part of life here.’ He brought her round to face him as they left the lights behind, his face suddenly very grave. ‘Does our life here seem alien to you, Katherine?’
‘Different, not alien.’ She smiled up at him. ‘I’ve only seen cattle like yours in Western films before.’
Roberto pulled her close to kiss her and, as she responded with unreserved fervour, went on kissing her until they were both trembling. She tore her lips away at last and held his face in her hands.
‘Tell me the truth.’
‘Sempre—always,’ he said with passion.
‘Are you going to marry Gloria Soares?’
‘Como!’ Roberto held Katherine away by the shoulders, staring down at her in outrage. ‘Are you louca? You think I would bring you here to meet my family if I was promised to another woman—which is wrong description for a spoilt child like Gloria!’ His fingers suddenly bit into her skin through her dress. ‘She said this to you today?’
‘More or less. Just before she hurt poor Garoto and did her rodeo act to make him bolt with me,’ Katherine said hotly.
His face hardened with sudden menace. ‘Tomorrow I will have words with Maria Gloria Soares.’
‘You’d better keep her right away from me, Roberto de Sousa,’ said Katherine tartly. ‘I might be tempted to punch her nose in revenge for my bruise.’
He gave a delighted crack of laughter and pulled her close again. ‘If we were alone,’ he said in a tone which buckled her knees, ‘I would be most happy to kiss your bruise better.’
She swallowed, and buried her face against his chest. ‘That’s not fair.’
‘You have the saying that all is fair in love and war, nao e? And this is not war between us.’ He tipped her face up to his, the look in his eyes impossible to mistake in the faint light coming from the trees.
‘No,’ she agreed, and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.
He returned the kiss with fervour, then raised his head as bells pealed in the distance. ‘Escuta. It is Christmas Day. Feliz natal, Katherine.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE moment Katherine got up next morning she sent texts to Charlotte, Rachel, Alastair and Hugh, and was ready in good time when Roberto, in best gaucho gear, came to fetch her for breakfast. When she gave him a kiss and wished him a happy Christmas, he took her in his arms and kissed her fleetingly.
‘It will be happy because you are here with me,’ he whispered, and took her down to join his parents, who were in festa dress like their son for the breakfast which was served early so gifts could be exchanged before the maids arrived.
Katherine had given much thought to hers, and felt deeply relieved when Teresa expressed delight as she unwrapped a cashmere sweater and cardigan.
‘Que coisa linda, cara. Thank you.’
Katherine smiled. ‘When I learned that it snows here in winter, I thought this might be useful.’
‘Useful? It is beautiful. I shall be so chique! You also, Roberto,’ Teresa added as he held up the heavy Cambridge blue sweater Katherine had given him.
‘I wish it was cold enough to wear it today,’ he said and leaned to give Katherine a kiss. ‘Muit’obrigado, Katherine.’
She smiled apologetically as his father took a bottle of venerable single malt whisky from its box. ‘I’m afraid yours is not very inspired, Antonio.’
‘It is great treat for me, cara,’ he assured her, and smiled mischievously. ‘But I shall hide it. I refuse to share with our guests.’
‘You have not opened your present from Antonio and me, cara,’ said Teresa. ‘Were you so worried that we would not like your gifts?’
‘Yes,’ admitted Katherine honestly, then blinked, totally overwhelmed when she found her present was a gaucho outfit like the men’s, complete in almost every detail—shirt, kerchief, bombachas, poncho, even spurs and a silver knife. The only thing lacking was the gun. ‘How absolutely wonderful! Thank you both so much.’
‘We could not buy the boots, but I think we have right size in everything else,’ said Teresa with satisfaction.
‘My gift is very small,’ said Roberto and slid a tiny package towards Katherine.
She removed gold paper from a small velvet box which contained earrings of oblong emeralds suspended from diamond studs. She swallowed hard. ‘Oh, Roberto!’
‘You do not like them?’ he demanded.
She flashed him a reproachful look. ‘Of course I like them, but I didn’t expect such…such…’
‘Excellent taste?’
‘Extravagance!’ She got up to kiss him, and went round the table to thank his parents in the same way.
‘They are perfect with your eyes, Katherine,’ said Teresa, and looked at her son. ‘Is why you chose them, nao e?’
He nodded. ‘But I feared she might not accept them. She was very angry in Viana do Castelo because I paid for some shoes!’
; Katherine felt the blood rush to her face. ‘That was different.’
‘E verdade!’ Roberto smiled triumphantly. ‘You cannot refuse anything I give you today because it is Christmas. And today is festa day so you must wear them now. I will put them in for you.’
Katherine took the plain gold studs from her earlobes and let Roberto replace them with the emeralds, which looked so incongruous with her T-shirt she laughed up at him. ‘Cinderella needs to change into her party dress. When do the guests arrive?’
‘Any time from noon onwards,’ said Antonio, smiling genially. ‘Come, Roberto. We must check the fires in the churrasco pits.’
‘Who does the actual cooking?’ asked Katherine.
‘Antonio and Roberto begin while Geraldo, husband of Maria, keeps fires burning,’ said Teresa, ‘then the other men take over.’
‘Hurry to change your clothes, querida,’ ordered Roberto. ‘Wear the green dress!’
Katherine looked with admiration at Teresa, who had exchanged her normal tailored look for a full-skirted dress in white-dotted blue cotton. ‘I shall look very ordinary in my plain little shift.’
‘You will be muito elegante,’ said Teresa firmly. ‘But hurry, cara, the girls are here, ready to start frying the empadinhas they made yesterday.’
For Katherine the experience was so different from her normal quiet Christmas Day with Charlotte and Sam she had to pinch herself from time to time to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. In flat gold sandals instead of heels, and with one of Maria’s large white aprons tied over her green dress, she hurried back and forth with the smiling maids to lay the tables and take trays of sliced meat to put in cool boxes alongside Roberto, who looked so blazingly happy as he tended the barbecue pits Katherine found it hard to recognise the embittered, injured man she’d first met. A few minutes before noon Teresa took Katherine away to tidy up before the guests began to arrive.
‘You do this every Christmas?’ asked Katherine with awe, as they went in the house.
‘For many years, yes.’ The fine dark eyes shadowed slightly. ‘But not last year after Luis died.’ Teresa squared her shoulders. ‘Agora we celebrate that Roberto is recovered and happy. Life must go on, nao e?’
Under the Brazilian Sun Page 13