by Mary Lyons
She was a distant cousin of Antonio’s, and Carlotta and Gina had taken an instantaneous mutual dislike to one another. And their feelings had not changed during the remainder of the time Gina had stayed with Roxana’s family before returning to England.
Their instinctive antipathy to one another had not been helped by Carlotta, who’d constantly referred to the younger girl as ‘that boring little English mouse’. While Gina, for her part, had been wildly jealous of the older, highly glamorous and sophisticated Spanish girl, who’d clearly been mad about Antonio.
That was all a long time ago, of course. However, if she’d hoped that the girl, whom she’d never liked, might have run to fat, or lost her attraction, Gina was doomed to disappointment. Because, unfortunately, Carlotta still looked absolutely stunning!
The sculptured perfection of her face, the warm golden skin and midnight-black hair arranged in loose curls—not to mention her deliciously rounded, full-breasted figure, which seemed to have been poured into that skin-tight black silk dress—almost took Gina’s breath away.
‘Hola…’ Carlotta murmured, putting out a languid hand, her glinting black eyes skimming disdainfully over Gina’s simple summer dress, clearly coming to the conclusion that Antonio’s new bride appeared to be the same boring English girl whom she’d met all those years ago.
Suddenly feeling highly depressed, Gina was relieved to have her attention distracted by the late arrival of Isabella and her husband, together with their small daughters. And clearly Doña Ramirez had been waiting for them. Because she soon called everyone to come and have lunch out on the large patio behind the house, which was shielded from the hot midday sun by the shady overhead trellis of vine leaves.
‘It’s been so wonderful to meet all the family again,’ Gina told her old friend Roxana some hours later as they sat upstairs in one of the large spare bedrooms, freshening themselves up after the long, leisurely lunch.
‘And it’s great to meet you again, too.’ Her old friend laughed. ‘Gina hasn’t changed at all, has she?’ she added, turning to Carlotta, who was sitting at the dressing table repairing her make-up.
‘No, you’re right—she hasn’t,’ the other girl murmured, appearing totally absorbed in applying another thick coat of mascara to her long black eyelashes.
Gina struggled to keep a straight face as Roxana grimaced and rolled her eyes. Clearly her new sister-in-law still harboured feelings of dislike for her older cousin. Which wasn’t surprising when she recalled how Carlotta had always treated the younger girl, with much the same disdain and condescension as she had used towards Gina.
‘Well, Señora Ramirez—how does it feel to be an old married lady?’ Roxana asked with a grin. ‘I hope Antonio is being a good husband!’
‘Oh, yes, he is!’ Gina gave her a broad smile. ‘Everything seemed to happen in a terrific rush, of course. But Antonio is just…well, he’s just wonderful! He makes me very happy,’ she added, her cheeks flushing as Carlotta gave a harsh bark of laughter.
‘I should hope he does make you happy,’ the other woman told her scornfully. ‘Your grandfather is certainly paying enough for him—that’s for sure!’
Gina frowned at her, before turning to Roxana. ‘What on earth’s she talking about?’
‘Poof! Carlotta—estúpida!’ her friend said with a quick shrug of her slim shoulders. ‘Take no notice of her.’
‘Oh-ho! If anyone in this room is stupid it is your friend the English Mouse,’ Carlotta flashed back, swinging around on the stool and scowling at Roxana. ‘How can she be so naïve? Does she really think that Antonio would have even looked at her if she wasn’t the heiress to her oh-so-rich grandfather?’
‘That’s utterly ridiculous!’ Gina snapped.
‘Really?’ Carlotta drawled spitefully. ‘Then why don’t you ask Roxana here—or any other member of the family, for that matter—just why Uncle Emilio is telling anyone who’ll listen that he and Sir Robert Brandon have arranged this marriage?’
‘What rubbish!’ Gina gave an angry laugh. ‘My grandfather had absolutely nothing to do with my marriage to Antonio.’
‘Uncle Emilio is a very sick old man,’ Roxana said, immediately springing to the defence of her old schoolfriend. ‘Of course he’s very pleased about Antonio’s marriage. Why shouldn’t he be?’
Turning to Gina, she added, ‘Take no notice of Carlotta. She’s always been spiteful, and very, very stupid.’
‘Ah-ha!’ Carlotta exclaimed, before throwing back her lovely head and giving a shrill ripple of caustic laughter. ‘You keep saying that I am stupid—but what about this silly English friend of yours? Hasn’t she ever heard of a marriage of convenience?’ she continued scathingly. ‘Doesn’t she realise that if plain, boring little rich girls want a handsome, virile husband they have to buy him, one way or another!’
‘That’s quite enough of your nonsense!’ Roxana snapped, jumping to her feet and then yelling loudly at the other girl in Spanish.
As the two of them vigorously exchanged insults in their native language, Gina stood frozen, as if turned to a pillar of stone as she tried to understand what Carlotta had been saying.
A marriage of convenience? What on earth did that mean in relation to her and Antonio? And that foul remark about her grandfather ‘paying’ for Antonio was totally ridiculous. In fact it was utterly laughable. Because that proud Spaniard Antonio Ramirez was the very last man to allow himself to be bought—or be forced to do anything he didn’t want to.
‘You’re just green with jealousy,’ Roxana was now yelling angrily at Carlotta in English. ‘You’ve always wanted Antonio. And you can’t bear the fact that he’s fallen in love with Gina and married her instead! In fact, if you ask me…’ she was adding, when there was a loud knock at the door.
An immediate silence fell on the room as the two Spanish girls stopped screaming at one another and turned expectantly to face the door.
‘Come on!’ Roxana’s eldest sister Isabella said, putting her head into the room. ‘Everyone’s downstairs waiting for you. Antonio’s organised a tour of the Bodega Ramirez, for the family to inspect some of the new alterations he’s been making. So hurry up—or we’ll be leaving you behind!’ she said, before disappearing from sight.
The atmosphere in the bedroom after Isabella had left was so tense, Gina thought, that you cold practically cut it with a knife. But Carlotta had made her life a misery when she’d been staying with Roxana’s family eight years ago. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to allow it to happen again.
‘I…er…I think I’ll just go and get my handbag downstairs,’ Roxana muttered, after one quick glance at the grim determination etched on Gina’s face.
‘OK—let’s get this thing sorted out once and for all,’ Gina grated angrily as the door closed behind her old schoolfriend.
‘Goodness knows you and I have never particularly liked each other, Carlotta. And I have no idea of what is prompting you to make these nasty, snide remarks. But, for your information, I can tell you that Antonio and I are very happily married. And if you don’t like that fact—well, that’s just too bad, isn’t it?’
However, far from looking abashed, or ashamed of her behaviour, Carlotta merely gave Gina a feline, catlike smile in the mirror as she resumed painting her lips in a deep crimson.
‘Relax! There’s no need to sound so upset, Gina,’ she murmured. ‘As far as I can see your marriage sounds like a very sensible business arrangement. And of course you’re happy with Antonio. Why shouldn’t you be? As we both know, he’s a fantastic lover. So you’re lucky to have him in your bed—for the time being, anyway!’
‘I’ve never heard such a horrid mass of poisonous innuendo and spitefulness in all my life!’ Gina ground out angrily. ‘I reckon Roxana is absolutely right. You’ve always been mad about Antonio. And you just can’t accept the fact that he prefers me to you.’
The other girl shrugged her slim, elegant shoulders. ‘If that’s what you want to believe keep on livi
ng in that happy little dream, Gina,’ she sneered. ‘But if you want to know the truth…why not ask Uncle Emilio? After all, he’s bursting with pride, telling everyone just how clever he’s been in arranging Antonio’s marriage. I’m sure he’ll be able to fill you in concerning the small print of the marriage contract!’
‘I’ve never heard such rubbish!’ Gina retorted, quickly snatching up her handbag and preparing to leave the room. ‘There is no “marriage contract”, as you call it. Besides, as far as your Uncle Emilio is concerned, I haven’t seen the man for the past eight years.
‘Incidentally,’ she added walking away determinedly towards the door, ‘I suggest that you keep well away from my husband. Neither of us would wish to have any contact with someone like you—who so obviously enjoys spreading poison wherever she goes.’
‘I don’t see how I can keep away from your husband,’ Carlotta drawled as Gina opened the door. ‘Haven’t you heard about my new job?’
‘What new job?’ Gina queried tersely.
‘Not having been in touch with the family for so long, you obviously don’t know that, very far from being stupid, I’m a first-rate business woman,’ Carlotta told her, brushing some flecks of invisible dust from the sleeve of her tight black dress. ‘Which is why your dear husband has just appointed me as the head of his new accounts department. And with so many other pressures on him at the moment, I really don’t think that darling Antonio will be in any hurry to lose me!’ she added with a tinkling laugh as she turned back to examine her face in the mirror.
Glaring at the other woman for a moment, Gina realised that there was nothing to be gained by continuing to trade insults with this truly awful woman. Unfortunately slamming the door very loudly behind her did little to soothe her turbulent emotions.
However, as she ran down the stairs to join the rest of the party assembling outside on the forecourt of the old house, her mind was still in a total whirl. Nothing that awful girl Carlotta said had made any sense. Although she’d managed to draw blood with some of those poisonous darts, Gina reminded herself grimly.
If Carlotta had always wanted Antonio, it sounded as though she’d now managed to cleverly manoeuvre herself into a position where she’d been able to see him practically every day. Nor had Gina missed Carlotta’s throwaway line about the fact that she and Antonio had been lovers.
Well…there was nothing that she could do about that, Gina told herself firmly. She was now married to Antonio, and loved him with all her heart. Besides, whatever had happened in the past, it had nothing to do with their present happiness.
As for all that nonsense about poor old Uncle Emilio? Well, that was what it was—just nonsense.
‘The Ramirez family originally came from the North of Spain in the eighteenth century. They entered the wine trade in 1795, when José Ramirez inherited a sherry business from his father-in-law.’
As the general manager of the Bodega Ramirez paused, consulting his notes before launching himself yet again on the history of the Ramirez family and their world-famous wines, Gina was finding it difficult to concentrate. First there’d been the dreadful confrontation with Carlotta Perez. And then, the very disturbing conversation with old Uncle Emilio.
She’d known, of course, that Antonio’s uncle had recently been forced to hand over the reins of the business—primarily because of his ill health and increasing age. However, since their arrival here at the family house today, she hadn’t been given the opportunity to do more than greet the elderly gentleman. So that might have been why she’d been chosen to join him in his chauffeur-driven limousine, which had been specially constructed to take his wheelchair.
‘I am so happy…very happy, that you and my nephew have become married. It is good, no?’ he’d told her in heavily accented, hesitant English. ‘I remember you, Gina. So many years ago. Such a pretty young girl.’
He had beamed happily at the young woman sitting beside him.
‘I, too, am happy,’ she’d said, striving to keep the conversation as simple as possible, since she was well aware of the fact that, with virtually no command of the Spanish language, she was going to have to take lessons straight away. And it was also clear that Antonio’s uncle spoke very little English.
‘Yes…it is good. As I said to your abuelo—your grandfather—we must make this marriage. Antonio needs a good wife, and a rich one, eh!’ He’d chuckled, giving her a slight dig in the ribs. ‘And so we planned it all. We two old men. But we are still clever, no?’ He’d given another heavy, throaty chuckle.
‘I don’t quite understand…’ Gina had muttered, his heavy accent making it difficult to comprehend what the old man was saying.
‘Antonio is a good man. I tell him, “You must get married. You need a nice girl, with a good dowry.” And see…he has now married you. Yes, Antonio is a good man. He does as he is told. And Don Roberto…he tells me he is pleased with this marriage.’ He had turned to smile at her again.
‘My grandfather?’ Gina had queried, her brain in a whirl.
‘Sí…Don Roberto, he says you are a good girl. And this is a good marriage for you. So send me Antonio, he says—and I will see him marry my Gina!’
The old man had turned to beam at the pretty woman whom his nephew had just taken as a wife. Everything had worked out as he and Don Roberto had planned. Now it only remained for the young couple to produce a son and heir. Which would complete his happiness and ensure that the Bodega Ramirez would be owned and run by future generations of the family.
‘Our two families…they are now like that,’ he’d said, putting his two hands together as the vehicle came to a halt outside a large building in one of the squares in the centre of Jerez.
‘And so Don Roberto tells me not to worry,’ the old man had continued. ‘He says, if Antonio marry you, he will make sure he has plenty money for the Bodega. It is good, no?’ he’d added, as the chauffeur had come around to open the door and help the old gentleman out of the car.
‘The company has passed down through six generations of the Ramirez family. It is today one of only a handful of independent sherry producers, who…’
As the general manager’s voice droned on, Gina was still trying to make sense of what Antonio’s uncle had been saying.
According to the old man, it sounded as though he seemed to think that he and her grandfather had somehow conspired to bring about the marriage between herself and Antonio. Which was obviously ridiculous. As was that nonsense—if she’s understood the old man correctly—about her grandfather giving money to Antonio for the bodega—the wine-making plant. Because he wouldn’t have done anything like that without telling her, she assured herself firmly. All the same…
Gina gave a slight start as she became aware of her husband suddenly standing behind her.
Lowering his dark head, he murmured quietly in her ear, ‘This talk is very boring, no? However, we have a very fine old “Cathedral Cellar”, which I think you will find more interesting,’ he added, taking hold of her hand and quietly leading her from the room.
Following Antonio along the twisting corridors and passages of the old building, Gina learned that it had once been the large headquarters of a West Indian merchant who’d made a fortune doing business with the American colonies in the eighteenth century. However, nowadays it was used by the Ramirez family as a bodega, for the production, storage and sale of their world-famous sherries.
Eventually it seemed that they had reached their destination, as Antonio opened a large old oak door, switching on the light and leading her carefully down some ancient, wide stone steps.
Gina could see immediately why the cellar had been called a ‘cathedral’. In fact, she’d never seen such a vast, huge space devoted solely to barrel upon barrel of wine. Gazing up at the very high and steep double-pitched roof supported by tall pillars and ornate arches, she could only marvel at the time it must have taken to construct such a huge building.
‘This was built, of course, at the end of the eigh
teenth century. It produces a special climatic condition for our fino wines…but I won’t bore you with too much technology!’ Antonio told her with a grin, his voice echoing weirdly in the enormous space. ‘However, it is magnificent, no?’
Gina nodded. Yes, it was truly amazing. But she couldn’t seem to concentrate on the sight in front of her. Not when her mind now seemed to be filled with so many unanswered questions.
‘Are you all right?’ Antonio queried, gazing at her with concern. ‘You’re looking a bit pale. I hope nothing you ate at lunch has upset you.’
She shook her head. ‘No, I’m fine. It’s just…well, I’ve had two rather upsetting conversations this afternoon. First with Carlotta, then with your uncle. And, to tell you the truth, I don’t quite understand what’s going on….’
‘Which is—what?’ he asked. And, when she didn’t immediately reply, he added, ‘If you have a problem, Gina, I think that you’d better tell me about it, hmm?’
‘It seems our marriage is the problem,’ she declared, looking him straight in the eye. ‘Carlotta and I have never been friends. So it’s not surprising that I didn’t take any notice when she claimed that you and I have entered into a marriage of convenience. But then I had a very strange conversation with your uncle.’
‘So? What did my uncle say?’ Antonio demanded, frowning down at his wife, who appeared unusually disturbed and almost unhappy.
‘Quite frankly, your uncle’s English isn’t very good. Almost as non-existent as my Spanish,’ she told him. ‘But, from what I could make out, he seemed to be claiming that he and my grandfather had arranged our marriage.’
‘But that’s ridiculous—as well you must know!’ Antonio laughed.
Gina shrugged. ‘Well, according to your uncle, he told you to get married to a rich girl and seems very pleased that you’ve apparently followed his instructions. However, he also seems to have been in touch with my grandfather. And, while I still can’t quite work out the finer details of their arrangement, there definitely seems to be the question of some money from my grandfather for your family company flying around.’
