by Anne Mather
'Oh, come on! You're only mad now. You'll come round.' Toni smiled.
Paul shook his head. 'I doubt it. Anyway, what gives with you? What are you doing wandering alone about a foreign city at night?'
'It's hardly night yet.' Toni shrugged. 'Oh, it's rather complicated, Paul. You wouldn't be interested.'
'I might be.'
'Well—' Toni ran the tips of her fingers round the rim of her glass. 'Well - I came out to act as governess to two young children, Pedro and Julia de Calle.'
'Did you say de Calle?'
'Yes. Why? Do you know them?'
'My grandmother does. But go on. I'm sorry I interrupted you.'
Toni sipped her cocktail. 'Perhaps as you know the de Calles it would be better if I stopped right here.'
'They're my grandmother's friends, not mine. Do go on, Toni.'
'All right. Well, everything was going swimmingly, until Miguel de Calle came back from his business trip. Then I guess he took a fancy to me. Don't ask me why, I didn't encourage him.'
'Honey, with your looks, men don't need encouragement,' remarked Paul fervently.
Toni gave him an old-fashioned look, and then continued: 'Naturally, I wasn't aware of it until he cornered me one night in the corridor outside my bedroom. Lord, I really thought I was to suffer a fate worse than death, and I was practically tearing his hair out when Senhora de Calle came upon us. Of course she thought the opposite to the truth: that I had been trying to seduce Miguel. I denied it all, of course, but to no avail, and this morning I found myself out on my ear, bluntly speaking. That pig, Miguel, I could murder him! He stood by and let Estelle rant and rave at me, looking like the wounded soldier!' Her angry young voice was filled with hurt and resentment, and Paul slid an arm across her shoulders. 'Poor you! So what are you going to do now?'
'Do? Well, return to London, I guess. There's nothing else I can do. The de Calles haven't even paid me, let alone given me a reference!'
'I see.' Paul nodded, studying his drink. 'I'm not sure what I'm doing either.'
'But I thought you were going to visit your grandmother.'
'I said Janet and I were going to visit her,' amended Paul.
'So?'
'So I can't go alone.' Toni looked exasperated. 'Why?' 'Well, because so far I've been classed as the black sheep of the family, the only one unmarried and so forth. When she heard of my engagement to Janet she was overjoyed, and that's how we got this invitation. She'll be furious when she finds out it's all over.' 'Well, it wasn't your fault!' said Toni reasonably. 'You try telling her that!' Paul looked disgruntled. 'She's been trying to marry me off for years.'
Well, maybe you'll make it up with Janet after all.'
'I doubt it. She won't even speak to me.'
'I see.' Toni smiled gently. 'I guess we'd better make that a double booking back to London!'
Paul chewed at his lip. 'I was looking forward to the break. Estrada, that's where my grandmother lives, is a beautiful place, on the coast. It's an estate, actually.'
'How come your grandmother is Portuguese?' asked Toni curiously.
'My mother was Portuguese,' said Paul. 'She ran away with my father when she was just eighteen, and for a while the rest of her family ignored her. They were scandalized. They had a nice arranged marriage lined up for her. Anyway, when my grandfather died, my grandmother had second thoughts and she forgave my mother. There was a grand reconciliation, you know the sort of thing, and then I was produced for their inspection, and I guess my grandmother thought she would try and run my life as she failed with my mother's.'
'Sounds pretty old-fashioned,' said Toni, frowning.
'Well, I guess it is. Things go on the same here for hundreds of years.'
'Well, thank goodness I'm not Portuguese, then,' said Toni, with some enthusiasm.
'It can be pleasant, for a woman,' remarked Paul thoughtfully. 'I mean - what you gain on the roundabouts you lose on the swings, sort of thing. In England women have achieved independence, equality, and so on, but they've lost a lot of their femininity doing it.'
'Oh, come on!' Toni stared at him. 'What's all this leading up to?'
Paul gave a reluctant smile. 'Very little really. I wondered whether you'd agree to come to Estrada with me. As my fiancee.'
Toni stared at him. 'I could what?'
'Oh, in name only,' Paul hastened to add. 'Just as a favour to me, that's all. It would save a lot of explanations that I don't want to have to give. And you wouldn't have to return to England without having a holiday.'
'Oh, Paul! I couldn't do a thing like that!'
'Why? Why not? Where's the harm?'
'Well, I wouldn't like to deceive your grandmother like that.'
'Why?' Paul gave an exasperated shake of his head. 'I mean, there's nothing to harm anyone. You could be my fiancee, quite easily, if we hit it off together.' Then as Toni sought about for words to say, he went on: 'Oh, I know it's not on. Our engagement, I mean. But all I'm trying to show you is that it could be true, without any questions asked.'
Toni sighed. 'Yes, I can see that. But, Paul, it isn't so imperative that you produce a fiancee, is it? I mean, you could go alone and face the music.'
'I could,' he agreed, bending his head. 'But my grandmother is not a young woman, and I don't like disappointing her.'
Toni reserved judgment there. Pleasant though Paul might be, he didn't strike her as the kind of young man to# worry a great deal about his grandmother's feelings unless they directly concerned him.
'And what would happen if I agreed to your schemes and went with you to Estrada and we weren't found out? I mean, your family, in Portugal anyway, would expect you to marry me, and when you didn't it would be just as bad as breaking your engagement to Janet.'
'I know. But I'd arrange for that to be revealed - long after my return to England when I'd be many miles away from the storm.' Paul smiled. 'Look, Toni, I've looked forward to this holiday for a long time, and if I turn up there now, without Janet, I'll have to spend the whole holiday explaining my actions and trying to make amends.'
Toni grimaced. 'I'm sure you're exaggerating, Paul.'
He half-smiled. 'Not much, believe me! Anyway, what have you to lose?'
'Nothing. It's not that. It would probably be marvellous.'
'Well, then!'
'What if Janet does come back? What if she comes to the estate?'
'She won't,' said Paul, with some confidence. 'She'll expect me to run after her, as I usually do. Only this time I've had it, right up to here.' He raised his hand to the level of his chin.
Toni glanced at her watch. 'It's no good, Paul. I've got to go.'
Toni, please! Won't you change your mind?'
'How can I? I'm not the type for intrigue.'
'But what intrigue is there going to be? I mean, heavens, even if we are found out, it's not the end of the world.'
Toni sighed, looking at him thoughtfully. Just why was she refusing such an opportunity? What had she got to lose, after all? If Paul wanted to pretend she was his fiancee and it was the means to a marvellous extension of her brief stay in Portugal why should she object? She shook her head. In spite of her natural revulsion at playing at being Paul's fiancee there was much to commend the scheme. Only some inner sense of perception warned her that the situation might not be as simple as he would have her believe.
But despite all these doubts, the temptation was there. The way Paul put it, his fiancee could be anybody, and so long as she could get used to being called Janet, and let Paul make all the leading moves, she could not see that anything could go wrong.
'You make it sound so easy,' she exclaimed.
'It is easy,' he insisted. 'What have you got to look forward to back in London? Probably the usual wet summer weather English people come abroad to escape. You've not got another job waiting, so you're not losing any money. This will be a free holiday before you need to start looking for another job. I don't know of any other girl who would turn it down.'
'Nor do I,' murmured Toni, finishing her drink.
Paul beckoned the barman and ordered two more drinks, and then said:
'Where are you staying?'
'A pensao in the Rua S. Henriques,' said Toni slowly.
'Good. That's not far from where I'm staying. I could pick you up in the morning—'
'Hold on, hold on,' she exclaimed. 'I haven't said I'll come yet.'
'But you will, won't you?'
Toni studied him. 'If - and I say only if - I decide to come, you won't at any time attempt to turn this mild deception into the real thing, will you?'
Paul's cheeks reddened. 'Of course not.' He hunched his shoulders. 'Anyway, why am I so repugnant to you all of a sudden?'
'You're not repugnant to me, Paul. It's not that. It's just that we aren't at all suited to one another. I like you - but I could never love you.'
'All right, all right. You don't have to rub it in,' said Paul sulkily. 'Now to details...'
Toni sighed. 'No, wait! Give me time to think about it. I can't just decide in a moment. This is a big thing for me. Besides, if I disappear into the interior of Portugal with a strange male the agency in London who employed me in the first place are going to think it mighty peculiar when this Senhora de Calle lets them know I've been dismissed for attempted seduction, and I haven't even made an appearance.'
'Does that matter? I mean, there are heaps of agencies in London.'
'Y-e-s,' said Toni doubtfully. 'Oh, Paul, I wish I could just go as a friend or something.'
Paul grimaced. 'Heavens, I never thought you were a prig!'
'I'm not - that is - oh, all right, all right. I'll give it a try. It will be a bit of an adventure anyway. You swear this grandmother of yours won't be calling in the preacher as soon as we arrive?'
Paul laughed, half with relief, Toni thought wonderingly. 'No, of course not. So long as I'm engaged, that will be as good as the real thing for her.'
Toni felt sceptical, and then shook away the twinges of conscience that pricked her. She was not by nature a deceitful girl, and only the longing to stay a little longer in this enchanting country had tipped the scales in Paul's direction.
CHAPTER TWO
THEY drove east from Lisbon the. following morning, passing through some of the most beautiful countryside Toni had ever seen. She would have liked to have taken the journey in easy stages, exploring as she went, but Paul obviously had only his destination in mind, and so she kept silent. For a while they followed the west bank of the Tagus, the sprawling river which provides a natural boundary to the city of Lisbon, before turning north towards Oporto.
Paul had told her that the quinta, which is the Portuguese word for estate, occupied a huge stretch of land bordering the coast in places, then stretching inland to where the vineyards flourished on the terraces above the Douro river. As he enlarged upon his family's affairs Toni ventured to ask:
'Does your grandmother have a manager to run the estate for her?'
Paul lifted his shoulders for a moment, as though finding it difficult to answer her, and then he said: 'Well, a manager does run the estate — but — well, Toni, my grandmother doesn't own the estate. It's a family concern that passes down from father to son.'
Toni frowned. 'But your mother - I mean - I thought your mother was your grandmother's only offspring.'
'I'm sorry if I misled you,' said Paul swiftly, although Toni had the feeling that he wasn't sorry at all. 'My mother had a brother, my Uncle Raoul. Naturally, he » now owns the estate.'
'I see.' Toni moved restlessly. 'I think you'd better tell me some more about this family of yours. All you appear to have revealed to me are the things they know about your ex-fiancee. It would be a good idea if I learned what Janet knew about them.'
Paul pulled out his cigarettes, and said: 'Light me one, Toni.' Then he grimaced. 'I didn't want to confuse you, that's all. I mean, there isn't a lot to know.' He took the lighted cigarette she handed him. 'My uncle lives at the house, of course. He's a widower. He has a daughter, Francesca, she's thirteen, I believe.'
Toni stared at him. 'Go on. Who else lives at the quinta?' Her voice was cool, and Paul looked exasperated.
'Stop getting so edgy!' he exclaimed. 'After all, it's no worse that meeting any other family.'
Toni reserved judgment. From what little she had learned of Portuguese families, they seemed far more severe than any English family. But it was a glorious morning, and soon she forgot her anxieties in the wonder of exclaiming at the vista spread out before them. They passed rivers and streams meandering gently in the dappled shade of fragrant pinewoods, they drove through villages where every cottage was painted a different pastel shade, blending in with the profusion of green foliage and brilliantly coloured flowers. Toni saw camellias growing wild in creamy disorder, while there were periwinkles and magnolias in abundance, spreading a carpet of perfume before them. The morning air was intoxicating and for a while Toni was content.
They stopped for lunch at an inn from where they could look down to the coast. While they ate fish stew and crusty bread rolls served by the innkeeper's buxom wife who didn't speak a word of English, Paul began to talk again about Estrada. He seemed to want to tell her something, and Toni again felt those twinges of apprehension.
'What's wrong?' she asked, sipping her wine. 'What is it you haven't told me?'
Paul flushed. 'I didn't say there was anything,' he hedged.
'I know. But I can tell there is something wrong, and it can only be to do with this affair.'
'Well, it's nothing much, Toni, really. But - well, my grandmother is a Dowager Condessa.'
'What!' Toni was incredulous. 'A Condessa! So this means that your uncle ...' Her voice trailed away.
'Yes. My uncle is Conde Raoul della Maria Estrada.'
'I see.' Toni gave an involuntary shake of her head. 'And you-really think we can get away with it? In these circumstances?'
'Why not?' Paul's voice gathered confidence when Toni did not immediately collapse at his revelations.
'Well,' Toni shrugged, 'I should imagine a Count is rather more particular about the girl his nephew is going to marry.'
'And?'
'I'm not the type! I mean - honestly, Paul, I thought this was going to be so easy - your words, not mine — and every few miles you spring some new situation on me. Why didn't you explain everything at the beginning and then I could have refused right away?'
Paul lay back in his chair, his face petulant. 'I could have let you make the whole journey without telling you,' he said sulkily. 'I think you're behaving ridiculously. Are you coming or aren't you?'
'No, I'm not!' Toni shrugged. 'As to the rest of what you said, you know very well you couldn't have allowed me to arrive at Estrada without telling me the truth. I suppose you didn't tell me before now because you knew what my reactions might be. Heavens, when you said your grandmother knew the de Calles I might have known she wasn't as ordinary as you'd have had me believe.'
Paul shrugged. 'Well, so what! What has changed, actually? The quinta is still there, as it has always been, my grandmother is still an old lady with a desire to see me married before she dies. I can't see anything to get alarmed about.'
'Maybe you can't, but I can. Look, Paul, I've got no desire to spend a holiday with the aristocracy. I'd hate to have to behave formally all the time, it wouldn't be like a holiday!'
Paul frowned. 'They're not all that formal.'
'Oh no? I know just how formal Portuguese families can be!'
'So we go back.'
'I guess so. I'm sorry, Paul.'
'So am I, extremely sorry,' he muttered dejectedly.
Toni felt ungrateful. After all, it would have been wonderful in other circumstances. 'Paul—' she began, when Paul sprang to his feet, as an elderly man approached them.
'Tio Joachim!' he exclaimed. 'How good it is to see you!'
The man smiled benignly, and Toni swallowed hard. Paul's uncle it was, but not Uncle Raoul
. And then, to her astonishment, Paul said:
'Tio Joachim, I want you to meet Janet, my fiancee, Janet darling, this is my great-uncle Joachim, Grandmother's youngest brother!'
Toni hesitated only a moment, casting a baleful glance at Paul, and then she rose too, and allowed the introductions to continue. There was little she could do about it, short of calling Paul a liar, and her innate sense of decency would not allow her to disgrace him in that way in front of his uncle. So she replied politely to Uncle Joachim's questions, behaving as Janet West, Paul's fiancee.
Joachim Vallarez did not stay long. He was merely passing through on his way to Coimbra, and the inn was his usual port of call. He was a harmless, charming old man, without any undue curiosity about his great- nephew's affairs, and in consequence Toni had plenty of time to think of answers to his questions. She had to attune herself to being an office worker, which was what Paul had told her Janet was, instead of remaining the governess she was used to. Otherwise it was perfectly simple, so long as she answered to the name of Janet.
After the old man had left, Paul looked rather smug. 'Well, you did it,' he said, lighting a cigarette. 'You had me sweating for a minute, but you didn't let me down. I thought you did admirably!'
Toni compressed her lips for a moment. 'I hadn't much choice, had I? Short of calling you a liar?'
'No, you hadn't. I banked on your not doing that!' He gave a short laugh. 'Uncle Joachim will tell my grandmother all about you, if you still insist we go back. It will upset her terribly if she thinks we've been in the district without visiting her.'
'I know, I know!' Toni put her hands over her ears for a second. 'All right, Paul, you win. I'll go on with it. Just don't push me too far, that's all.'
They arrived at Estrada in the late afternoon. They had been passing through the Estrada lands for some time, approaching the coastline all the way. Here the coast was strewn with tiny bays and inlets, coves yellow with sand, lapped by the azure blue waters of the Atlantic. Toni couldn't deny the surge of well-being she was feeling, and even the prospect of meeting a Dowager Condessa couldn't douse her enthusiasm.
