Worthy of Marriage by Anne Weale

Author:Anne Weale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

HALF an hour later, when the cat had been admitted to the nearest veterinary clinic, Julian Hernandez, her rescuer, insisted on taking Lucia for a restorative cup of coffee in a nearby bar.

She welcomed the chance to have a proper conversation with a Spanish person. When, in answer to his questions, she had explained what she was doing in Spain, she asked, ‘Do you live in this area?’

‘No, no, in Barcelona. Have you been there?’

‘This is my first time in Spain. I had a glimpse of Alicante as we passed it on the autopista on the way here from the airport.’

‘Alicante is nice, but a small unsophisticated place compared with Barcelona. It’s the finest city in Spain.’

‘Better than Madrid?’ she asked.

‘Much better!’ His dark eyes twinkled. ‘I am a Catalan. For me Barcelona is the best city in the world.’

‘What brings you down here?’ she asked.

‘The reason I speak such good English is because I had an English nanny when I was a little boy. She didn’t marry until she was fifty-three when she met a man she had loved since she was sixteen. He had married someone else. By the time they met in Barcelona, his wife had died. They came to live on the coast here, the Costa Blanca as it’s called. About ten years ago, Harry died and Nanny decided to move inland. She speaks fluent Spanish and preferred what she calls “real Spain” to the expatriate communities on the coast. But now she is over seventy and I’m trying to persuade her to come back to Barcelona where we can keep an eye on her in her old age.’

The expensive red sports car, his stainless steel and gold wristwatch and the quality of his clothes had already given Lucia the impression that he was well-heeled. What he had just said confirmed it.

A few years older than herself, but certainly not more than thirty, he was an engaging companion and by the time they shook hands—as even Spanish teenagers seemed to when greeting friends, she had noticed—she felt as if she had known him for far longer than a couple of hours.

During a salad lunch under the umbrella in the courtyard, she told the others about him.

‘What a romantic story, but how sad that Harry didn’t live to a ripe old age,’ said Mrs Calderwood. ‘Are you seeing this nice young man again?’

‘He said he would keep me posted about the cat. Nanny, as he calls her, has a cat and she may be able to find out if anyone local has a pet that’s gone missing.’

‘If the cat is badly injured, it would have been best to have it put down immediately,’ said Grey. ‘Animals aren’t like people. They have no intellectual resources to make life bearable if they are badly disabled.’

‘Did the vet suggest that, Lucia?’ his mother asked.

‘No, he said he would do what he could for it.’

‘The vet has a vested interest in keeping the cat alive,’ said Grey.

‘What a cynical thing to say,’ his mother protested.

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