Counterfeit Bride (17 page)

She sighed. Perhaps if they were close physically, then the emotional and spiritual rapport she craved might fellow—one day.

Even though she had carefully checked out the route, it was further than she thought to the ejido, and she realised that she was not going to make it back to the hacienda for the midday meal. She moved her shoulders wearily. Well, probably she would not be greatly missed.

She reined in Estrella and looked down the slope at the small building, her eyes narrowing as she realised there was a wisp of smoke coming from the chimney. Either the authorities were incredibly obtuse, or Pilar and Miguel were suffering from an overdose of bravado, she thought.

She approached with caution, even though she couldn't see Pilar's horse tethered anywhere, or any other form of transport nearby either. She dismounted, and hung Estrella's reins over a convenient rail. Her boots clattered sharply on the rickety wooden verandah, but she could hear no sounds of movement or alarm inside the cabin itself, even when she knocked sharply at the door. There was no reply, so she pushed it open and went inside.

There were obvious signs that someone was in residence. The fire was lit, and the cooking pot hung over the modest flame, emitting steam and a savoury aroma which made Nicola's nose wrinkle appreciatively, reminding her how long it was since she had eaten her sweet rolls and coffee at breakfast.

The place was cleaner too, she thought incredulously. The floor had been swept, and the table scrubbed. She noticed crockery—even a bottle of wine—and the bed made up with pillows and blankets. Every modern convenience, she thought bleakly. Two glasses for the wine. Two pillows on the bed.

Oh, Pilar! What is your mother going to say about all this? she wondered silently.

The food, all the preparations seemed to suggest that Pilar and her lover would be using the cabin in the very near future. Well, she would stable Estrella in the ramshackle building at the rear and await their arrival.

She took off her hat and pitched it on to the bed, then sat down on one of the stools. The air in the cabin was warm and close, and she unfastened a couple of buttons on her shirt, fanning herself languidly with her gloves.

Just how long had this been going on? she asked herself, gazing curiously around her. She couldn't imagine Pilar working to clean up the cabin, but perhaps she had enjoyed playing house there. Nicola found it sad.

She looked at her watch, noting resignedly that it was now well past the lunch hour, and hoping no hue and cry had been started.

She got up, gave the food on the fire a quick stir to ensure that it wasn't sticking, then poured herself a glass of the wine.

'Salud,' she thought. 'To absent friends.'

All the same, she hoped they wouldn't be absent for much longer. The wine was pleasant, but it made the cabin seem warmer than ever, and after a few minutes she put her folded arms on the table and rested her head on them. She wouldn't go to sleep, she assured herself, although she could not deny she was drowsy. But she could close her eyes for a few moments. That would do no harm, because she would be sure to hear them when they arrived.

Eventually she sat up with a start, feeling slightly dazed. She had no idea what had roused her, but it certainly wasn't anyone's arrival. She was still alone, and the fire was nearly out.

Nicola got up, stretching cramped limbs. She would find some more wood, and see to poor Estrella, she thought guiltily. She opened the cabin door and went out on to- the verandah, but there was no greeting whinny. The mare had gone.

For a moment Nicola stood motionless, telling herself that she was hallucinating, the result of her long ride in the sun. Then she whistled long and frantically, but without the slightest effect. She stared at the verandah rail where she had tied the mare, trying to collect her thoughts. The rail was still intact, so Estrella hadn't dragged herself free, which meant that someone had quite deliberately released her.

Pilar, she thought helplessly. Who else? She turned and went slowly back into the cabin. Could it be that all the time she had thought she was trailing Pilar, the other girl had been following her, just waiting for an opportunity lo leave her stranded? After all, she had warned Nicola she would make her sorry, and Nicola supposed that Pilar had known perfectly well that she had been on her track for the last few days and had decided to teach her a lesson.

She groaned, although she supposed she should be thankful she hadn't fallen asleep earlier under her rock, otherwise Pilar might have taken the mare then, and she would be out in the open without food or water in the full heat of the d-y. As it was, if she had to be abandoned somewhere, at least here there was a modicum of comfort, she thought resignedly. It could have been so much worse.

But she was anxious about Estrella. Pilar could not take her back to her stable without giving herself away, and she hoped desperately that she wouldn't just turn the mare loose and leave her to fend for herself.

I'll be all right, she thought. Sooner or later someone will come looking for me, and if I'm careful with the food there should be enough for several days.

But surely even Pilar would not be that vindictive, she hoped without too much conviction. What did she hope to gain anyway, when she knew Nicola would be found eventually, and that there'd be hell to pay when she was? Yes, Luis would be angry when he found Nicola had disobeyed him by riding alone, even with the best of motives, but was that enough for Pilar? She couldn't believe it. The malice in Pilar's face that time had indicated a wish for revenge altogether deeper and darker than this rather childish trick.

The time dragged past She was really hungry now, so she ate a little of the stew from the pot, and drank some more wine, thinking enviously of the cool dim comedor at the hacienda. Pilar would be at home by now, sitting with an innocent face, while the others wondered where she was, no doubt.

The room became hotter, and hotter. It was getting late now, she saw by her watch, and time for siesta, although she was too angry to be tired. But she had nothing else to do, so she took off her boots and lay down on the bed on top of the blankets, remembering the last time she had lain there with Luis' arm around her, holding her close to the curve of his body. She sighed, twisting restlessly on the pillow. So much for honour, she thought bitterly. If he had taken her that night, she would now be his slave, and she would have been saved an incredible amount of heartache, even if it was at the expense of her pride.

But pride didn't seem important when you were jealous and lonely, and when you woke each night with your body crying out for fulfilment.

At last she managed to doze again for a while, and woke to find it was sunset. If she wasn't careful, it would be dark soon, and she needed to light the lamp and light the fire again. She sat up wearily, swinging her legs to the floor, then tensed as she thought she heard the sound of a horse's hooves. Imagination, she decided, as it had been all those other times she had heard the same thing during that interminable afternoon. And yet...

She bent her head, listening intently, her heart leaping with sudden hope. It was a horse. Someone was coming. Perhaps it was even Pilar who had relented and was bringing back Estrella. Maybe she wanted to do a deal for Nicola's silence about the Jurado man. She jumped up and took two quick steps towards the door.

It swung open with a crash, and Luis strode in.

Nicola halted, staring at him dazedly. He was the last person she had expected to see. He hadn't been expected before tomorrow at the earliest.

She said falteringly, noting how grim he looked, 'Luis? Did she tell you where I was? Please don't be angry. It—it was only a prank...'

'Yes,' he said softly, 'she told me. As to my anger, and whether or not this is a—prank, as you call it-well, I make no guarantees. Naturally you are surprised to see me.'

Nicola began, 'Well, yes...' but before she could say anything else, he had cut across her.

'No doubt you are also disappointed. You have had a long and tedious wait—and all for nothing. You must be asking yourself even now why I am here, and not Ramon, and I must tell you, chica, that my cousin has had the good fortune to sustain a broken collarbone, so he will not be able to join you. A fall from his horse this morning,' he added sardonically.

'Join me?' All her initial joy at seeing him was subsiding under the growing conviction that something was terribly wrong. 'I don't understand.'

'Neither did I—at first. I concluded my business in Sonora sooner than I had anticipated, so I came back to the hacienda--to see you, amiga, to try and put things right between us—isn't that amusing? I found the place in confusion. Ramon had had this accident, and the doctor had been sent for. Then one of the servants asked to speak to me. Earlier, before Ramon was brought home, she had cleaned his room, and found this--'

He extended his hand. The butterfly clip he had given her lay in his palm.

'But--but that's impossible!’ Her brain was reeling. She hadn't worn the clip since their wedding night. She had put it away in the case with the rest of the jewellery he had given her.

'Is it, querida?' That dreadful quietness in his voice, and the setting sun filling the room with the colour of blood. 'I asked her where she had found it, and eventually, reluctantly she told me. In the bed of Señor Don Ramon.' He spoke these last words with a cold terrible precision.

Nicola said, 'She's lying.'

'She is a good, honest woman, who has served our family for many years. As she gave me this—thing-he tossed it to the floor at Nicola's feet '—there were 'tears in her eyes.'

She said desperately, 'Luis, I swear to you that if this woman found my clip where she says she did, I don't know how it got there.'

'Don't you, my beautiful wife? Then you lack imagination, because a very obvious explanation occurs to me. But then you have so many other virtues, don't you—the domestic ones, for example. You have taken a miserable hovel and turned it into a love nest. I congratulate you.'

She exclaimed with a gasp, 'You can't think that I did all this! This was how it was when I arrived -the food, the wine   everything. I was looking for Pilar.'

'An amazing coincidence, chica, because she was also looking for you, but a long way from here. She found your horse wandering loose near the hacienda and took charge   of  her,   afraid   that   something   might   have happened to you. Juan Hernandez and some of the men searched the immediate vicinity in case you had suffered the same fate as Ramon, but when there was no sign of you, Pilar confessed she might know where you had gone.'

The red sun was slipping away now below the horizon, and a web of darkness was slowly spinning round her.

'She told me she had kept silent before only because of her love for her brother, but that she had known for some time that you were meeting secretly here at the cabin. That she had heard him mention the place to you one morning—outside his bedroom,' he added silkily. 'Do you deny it?'

'Not the last bit, no, but we were talking about your friend Miguel Jurada -about the possibility that he might be seeing Pilar. Ask Ramon if you don't believe me.'

'I do not believe you,' he said. 'As for asking Ramon, the doctor has given him something to make him sleep. I said, did I not, that he was fortunate to break his collarbone, because if he had not, querida, I would most assuredly have broken his neck.'

There was a savagery in his voice which terrified her. She said, almost weeping, 'Luis —please—you can't believe all those lies! Pilar hates me, you know that. She would say anything...'

'That I considered.' His voice was meditative. 'Yet Juan Hernandez has no reason to hate you, and he told me in all innocence that several times this week you had left the hacienda alone, saying you were to meet Ramon.'

'Oh God--yes, I've said that, but it was just an excuse I invented, so that I could be alone.'

'Alone with your lover. So eager to be alone with him, chica, that you could not even tie up a valuable horse properly.' Luis began to take off his gloves, very slowly. 'Ramon must have succeeded most admirably with you. The next hour should prove—instructive.'

'What do you mean?' Nicola asked hoarsely.

He shrugged. 'Because an accident has robbed you of your lover, you need not be totally deprived of entertainment, amada. I've never followed in Ramon's footsteps before, so it will be interesting to learn what you've discovered in his arms about pleasing a man.'

She began to back away, but he followed her until the table blocked off any further retreat.

Her voice was desperate. 'Luis! I swear to you that Ramon isn't my lover. The only time I've been in his arms was at the wedding...' Her voice trailed away as she realised that it had probably been a mistake to remind him.

He said, 'I remember that only too well. Do you think I haven't seen you together—seen the way you look at him—smile at him, you bitch, as you've never smiled at me.' He took a handful of her hair, and jerked her head back, forcing her to meet his gaze. 'Smile at me now, mi corazon, and I may take the trouble to please you as well as myself when the time comes.'

His grip on her hair hurt, and she moaned in pain as well as fear as she begged, 'Luis-no—please...'

His fingers insolently probed her unfastened shirt, seeking the swell of her breast, then slid down to the waistband of her jeans, tugging at the zip. She began to struggle, and he bent his head and kissed her on the mouth. It was a hard bruising kiss, which held neither tenderness nor very much desire. It was merely an effective means of silencing further protest while he achieved his objective.