Castle in Spain by Margaret Rome

Author:Margaret Rome
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780893409739
Publisher: Chivers Press
Published: 1982-01-14T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

SHAKING with reaction, Birdie flew to her room, as breathless as if she had climbed her first mountain, swum a wide stretch of sea, and flung herself on to the bed to contemplate the possible consequences of the only reckless act she had perpetrated in the whole of her young life.

What had possessed her to step within the clutches of a man she had dubbed a dangerous autocrat from the first moment of meeting, a man who had made no attempt to disguise the resentment he felt towards every one of her countrymen, or his personal, puzzling dislike of herself? He had offered her employment simply because he could not help himself from indulging the whims of the child whose mother had been the only woman he had ever loved. Her loss had turned him into a man of stone, a cold, unfeeling statue dedicated to the memory of a girl so dear to him he had not attempted to put anyone in her place—until now, and only because he had decided that Lucita needed a mother.

A dozen times during the rest of the day while she attended to her nails, washed her hair, or simply gazed out of the window indulging in the luxury of solitude, she took up pen and paper to write the Conde a cowardly note telling him she had changed her mind. Yet by the time the sun had dropped behind the horizon and lights shining from the windows of Mahon were reflecting on the surface, of the darkened bay, the note was still unwritten.

'It's too late to back out now!' she admonished the frightened face reflected in her mirror, then stared long and hard at an image—insubstantial as a wraith clad in a mist of pale grey chiffon, skin magnolia-pale against hair parted severely, folded in wings either side of her head, then scooped to the nape of her neck where it lay folded into a soft chignon—thinking the apparition alien, one she could not possibly relate to, because the stranger's tremulous, pink-tinted lips were smiling!

In a panic of confusion she turned her back upon the mirror that seemed to reflect the prophecies of a crystal ball to pick up an evening bag that matched perfectly with shoes fashioned out of soft grey kid, then she drew in a long, steadying breath before leaving to keep her appointment with the impatient Conde.

As she descended a staircase leading down to a hall whose darkness seemed intensified by light filtering from a solitary Moorish lantern, she thought it was deserted until she heard the sound of footsteps and saw a tall dark figure emerging out of the shadows. When the Conde reached the foot of the stairs she hesitated before negotiating the last two steps, poised timid as a dove, its feathers ruffled by the draught from a predator's wings.

'Don't take fright, senorita,' he teased lightly, yet with a confusing lack of humour, 'though I must admit to a healthy appetite, I promise not to gobble you up.

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