A Stormy Spanish Summer by Penny Jordan

Author:Penny Jordan [Jordan, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, General
ISBN: 9780373129997
Google: ITpnOcxGjVEC
Amazon: 0373129998
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

Shocked by her own vulnerability, Fliss tried determinedly to concentrate again on the countryside beyond the car window. They had turned off the main road now, and were travelling along a narrow road that was climbing between two outcrops of rock. Beyond them, she could see as the car crested the top of the incline, lay a lush, wide and fertile valley filled with orchards, and on the lower slopes of the ring of hills that enclosed it rows of vines.

‘The boundary to the estate begins here,’ Vidal told her, as they started to descend into the valley, still in that formal tone which told her how little he wanted her company and how much he wished she wasn’t here with him.

Well, she didn’t care. She wasn’t here because of him, after all. She was here because of her father. But much as she tried to take comfort from that knowledge, comfort eluded her, and her aching heart refused to be soothed.

‘You can’t see the castillo yet, but it is at the far end of the valley—built there so that it could command a strategic position.’

Fliss caught a glimpse of the silver ribbon of a river, wending its way below them on the valley floor. The valley was a small perfect paradise, she recognised, caught off-guard by the unexpected sharp pang of envy that touched her as she thought of how wonderful it must have been to grow up here, surrounded by so much natural beauty. In the distance she could see the high peaks of the Sierras, and she knew that beyond the Lecrin Valley lay a sub-tropical coastline of great beauty.

But the coast and what lay beyond this place were forgotten as the road twisted and turned and then, up ahead of them, she could see the castillo. She had not realised it would be so large, so imposing, and her breath caught on a betraying gasp of awe. Its architecture was a blend of a traditional Moorish style and something of the Renaissance, and sunlight shone on the narrow iron-grille-covered windows of its turreted corners.

This wasn’t a home, Fliss thought apprehensively. It was a fortress—a stronghold designed to reveal the might and the power of the man who held it and to warn others not to challenge that power.

They had to drive past formal gardens and an ornamental lake before reaching the front of the castillo, where Vidal brought the car to a halt.

An elderly manservant was waiting to greet them once they had stepped into the vast marble hallway, and a housekeeper who smiled far more warmly at her than Rosa was summoned to escort her to her room after Vidal announced that she might want an opportunity to ‘freshen up’ whilst he spoke with his estate manager.

‘Since it’s almost lunchtime, I suggest that we delay our visit to Felipe’s house until after we have eaten.’

Vidal might be using the word suggest, but what he really meant, and wanted her to know, was that he was

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