Rachel Lindsay - Alien Corn

by Rachel Lindsay

  'No, but—'

  'It's not your problem, Lorna,' he said sternly, 'and the quicker you realize it the better. As I said before, if Rosalia won't tell her mother the truth then you've got to do it.'

  'How can I ? It isn't my affair.'

  'Exactly what I said in the first place,' he was triumphant. 'If it isn't your affair then let Rosalia do what the hell she likes. If she's fool enough to let her brother get away with it serve her right.' He shot her a keen glance. 'It's what you want deep down, anyway.'

  'What do you mean?'

  'That you're fond of the man.'

  'You're letting your imagination run away with you.' The smile did not quite reach her eyes. 'I never thought you were so fanciful, Derek. It was part of your charm that you were so—'

  'Stodgy,' he finished for her, and caught her hand. 'Poor darling you, were never very good at concealing your feelings, especially from me. I know you think me a dull dog, but I've been hoping that absence might have made your heart grow fonder.'

  'I am fond of you, Derek. Very fond.'

  'I hate that word. It means so little — and I want so much.' He looked down at her hand, her tanned fingers inert and resting almost reluctantly in his. 'I'm going to keep pestering you, Lorna. I refuse to take no for an answer.'

  'It would be much simpler if you could,' she said quietly, and looking up stared directly into Rafael's eyes. He was in his open roadster, the nose of the bonnet almost touching the. table. Quickly she disengaged her hand from Derek's. There's Rafael!'

  Derek looked up and saluted. 'Come and have a drink.'

  'Afraid not, I am on my way to Lisbon.!

  'Just one for the road then?'

  Rafael glanced round for the waiter. 'I am sorry, I'm afraid I cannot wait. The man is busy and I am in a hurry. If you will excuse me I will have a drink with you another time.' He moved to start the car and then as an afterthought, turned back. 'By the way, Simmons, you should be more considerate of Lorna's bright eyes - they are red-rimmed from lack of sleep.' Punctiliously he nodded to them, climbed into the car and drove off.

  Derek looked mystified. 'What did he mean by that cryptic remark?'

  'He heard our voices in the garden last night and when I crossed the hall he was waiting for me.'

  'Good. It'll show him he doesn't own you. I don't like the way he looks at you, Lorna.'

  'No one owns me!' she said tartly. 'You're imagining things.'

  'Don't lose your temper, old girl. You're too touchy about Rodriguez. Let's change the subject.'

  During the next few days Lorna visited Rosalia frequently and tried to cajole her to return home. Each time the girl flatly refused. Reluctantly Lorna accepted the position. It was like living on the edge of a volcano. Every day 'increased the strain of waiting and her body trembled when Rafael spoke in the aloof, icy tones he now used to her.

  Inez's sudden arrival at the house did not improve the position. It was the first time Lorna had seen her since her own. precipitate flight from the Castro house in Algarve, and one afternoon when she encountered the Portuguese girl on the stairs she offered an apology for her behaviour.

  'You must have thought me awfully rude, .Miss Castro, leaving your parents' home the way I did.'

  Inez lifted her shoulders expressively. In an amber- coloured dress, she looked more than ever like a tawny cat. ''My parents thought it strange, but I didn't. It is what I would have expected of you.'

  'Meaning?'

  That you do not understand the Portuguese temperament. Only an Englishwoman would have jumped to the conclusion that Amalia was broken-hearted because Manoel went away for the weekend.'

  'She was.'

  'Because she is highly strung at the moment.' Inez moved up a step until she was looking down on Lorna. 'I believe I told you once before that you can never truly understand the way we Portuguese women feel. A woman should be capable of holding her husband's interest all the time. If she is not then she deserves to be left alone.'

  'What, a cruel thing to say! It is quite obvious you speak from lack of experience.'

  'And what experience do you have?' Inez said tartly.

  'English women don't believe in experience.' Unbeknown Rafael had come down the corridor, his crepe soled shoes making no sound on the marble floor. 'May I enquire what you are talking about? It sounded most interesting.'

  Inez linked her arm in his and gave him a wide smile. 'You would be bored if I told you. Is that not so, Miss Fairfax?'

  'You should know better than I. You have just told me I have no experience of men.'

  Rafael looked amused. This sounds like a typical woman's conversation! Was Inez baiting you?'

  Lorna bit her lip. 'Possibly, senhor. But I trust I did not rise to the hook.' With a murmur of excuse she moved past and went on her way upstairs.

  This was only the first of many skirmishes with Inez.

  With the Portuguese girl's ability to hurt, the web of antagonism became insupportable and Lorna could feel the delicate fabric of surface appearances crumbling. The climax occurred one Friday evening when they were all sitting in the drawing-room drinking coffee. Sipping hers, Lorna reflected how little Derek knew when he said the Rodriguez family were not her concern. She was inextricably bound because of her love for Rafael. She sighed and set down her coffee cup. It was no good denying it any longer; even the knowledge that he was a thief could not stop her from worshipping him, from wanting him with every fibre of her being and knowing that if he wanted her she would not have the power to resist him.

  'You are very quiet, Miss Fairfax,' Inez broke into her reverie. 'Gould it be that you are thinking of your fair- haired Englishman ?'

  'No, it couldn't,' Lorna replied with unusual sharpness. 'And would you kindly refrain from calling him my Englishman ? He is merely a friend.'

  There is no need to be shy. All the world loves a lover.'

  Lorna's eyes flashed and Amalia said quickly: 'Don't bait Lorna, Inez. She doesn't like being teased. I don't like it when Manoel teases me either.'

  Manoel sighed. 'Now what is the matter? Women are so difficult to please. If you tease them they object and if you don't they think you're in love with someone else! What can one do to satisfy such fickle creatures?'

  In the general laughter Lorna glanced surreptitiously at her watch. Rosalia would begin to get restless if she delayed her nightly visit any longer.

  She stood up. 'Will you excuse me - I promised to meet Derek at his hotel and I'm late.'

  'Going anywhere special?' Amalia enquired.

  'To the Casino,' she lied. 'We've never been.'

  'Then it's time you improved your education,' Manoel said suavely. There's a good cabaret on at the moment. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.' 'Not tonight,' his wife said sharply. 'You promised you'd stay with me.'

  'Of course, my love, I had no intention of going.'

  With a murmured good night Lorna walked to the door.

  'You have forgotten your bag, Miss Fairfax.' Rafael spoke from his seat in the corner, and. Lorna turned blindly, fumbling for it on the chair. It opened and the contents spilled over the floor.

  ''Allow me.' He bent and picked up the powder puff, keys and lipstick, placing them in her bag and slowly snapping the clasp. 'If you're going to the Casino with your friend I can take you. Inez and I are going too.'

  'I promised I'd call for Derek at eight.'

  'Then you'd better wait for us, it is nearly that now. He should call for you,' he said beneath his breath, 'or perhaps that is not your custom.' He turned to Inez. 'Run upstairs and get your wrap, my dear. We can give Miss Fairfax a lift.'

  Inez left the room and Manoel extended his arm to Amalia. 'It's too warm in here, my love. A little stroll in the garden will do you good.'

  In dismay Lorna realized she was alone with Rafael and the air was electric with antagonism.

  'When you have quite finished studying the carpet,' he said sarcastically, 'you can perhaps start on the ceiling. There are at
least a thousand objects in this room you would rather look at than me.'

  'Please,' she said breathlessly, 'don't bait me. I can't bear it.'

  'And what have you been doing to me these last few weeks?'

  'I - I don't know what you mean,' she faltered.

  'Don't you? Are you so besotted with love for this Derek of yours that—'

  'Leave Derek alone! He's got nothing to do with it'

  'So now I mustn't speak his name,' he said savagely. 'Is he too precious for me to talk about ?'

  'No, no, you're wrong, quite wrong! There's no point in arguing, I've made up my mind.'

  'To marry him, I suppose? What an ideal couple you will make; both so cold and reserved!'

  She turned on him angrily. 'Don't be too sure of that! We may not be so glib with our compliments or wear our hearts on our sleeves, but we're as warm as - as—'

  'As this?'

  For the second time since she had know him he pulled her into his arms, but now there was no tenderness in his kiss, only a brutal passion that overwhelmed her with its force.

  She struggled to free herself, beating her hands against his back, but her frenzy only served to increase his ardour and he held her more closely, bruising her lips. Deliberately he caressed her, his hands moving over her back, down her hips, across her throat to her breasts. With a gasp she wrenched herself free, the flimsy material of her bodice tearing underneath his hands.

  'You beast!' she gasped, 'You hateful beast!'

  'Sardonically Rafael regarded her, his eyes lingering on her flushed face and the curve of her breast where the material gaped.

  'Passion suits you,' he said cruelly. 'I have never seen you look more - exciting. A pity I have made other plans.'

  'Go on, senhor.' A wave of blackness advanced and receded in front of her eyes. 'I'm waiting to see how much lower you can stoop.'

  'It is not stooping to take someone else's woman in your arms or to steal kisses that don't belong to you.'

  Her hand flashed out and caught him a stinging blow across the face. 'Stealing should come easily to a thief like you! But I wouldn't be as easy to keep as the emerald!'

  'What are you talking about?' He shook her violently by the shoulders. 'What do you know of the emerald?'

  'Everything!' She threw back her head and stared at him defiantly. 'I know everything.' She was sick and dizzy with the force of his shaking, but she refused to give in. 'You can't frighten me with your strength, Senhor Rodriguez. The truth will come out in the end no matter what happens. Rosalia and Derek will tell everyone what you've done.'

  As suddenly as he had caught hold of her he let her go. This has gone far enough. For God's sake tell me what you're talking about before I lose my temper completely. What do you know of Rosalia? Where is she?'

  'At Derek's hotel. She's - she's been there nearly a week.' Lorna clung to the back of a chair, gasping for breath. 'I found the emerald in your drawer when I came back from Algarve. I was looking for some cards and found - and found the ring. It wasn't difficult to piece the story together after that.'

  'I see.' His voice was controlled and venomous. 'It is much clearer now. I must admit I never expected you to show quite so much cunning. But why were you keeping my sister hidden? What was the purpose in waiting so long before accusing me, or did you intend to resort to blackmail?'

  She said nothing, and he moved a step nearer. Never had she seen a man so moved by fury. It was as if a mask had dropped from his face and she was looking into his very soul.

  'At this moment I could enjoy strangling you,' he said slowly. 'I never believed I could loathe anyone as I loathe you. But I've nothing to say to you now. Go down to the hotel with Luiz and bring Rosalia back immediately. It is time a lot of things were cleared up.' He turned away. 'Get out, Lorna. Get out while I can still control myself!'

  Unable to think ahead, Lorna fled to her room, changed her dress and ran down the stairs to find the chauffeur. Matters were out of her hands now and nothing could hide the truth any longer.

  After one look at Lorna's face Rosalia knew it was useless to argue. Desolately she packed her bag and climbed into the Cadillac, silent as they drove up the hill to the pink house.

  All the family were assembled in the library when the two girls entered and the Senhora took a step towards them.

  'Rosalia!'

  With a sob the girl flung herself into her mother's arms, and the silence of the room was punctuated by broken words of endearment as they clung together, Amalia made a movement, but Manoel restrained her and she subsided in her chair, her eyes large and luminous. Only Rafael ignored the situation as he stood at his desk, his long, tapering fingers opening and closing a green leather box.

  Lorna stood hesitantly at the door, longing to escape yet unwilling to leave Rosalia to the mercy of the man at the desk, a man with strained face and burning eyes.

  'Sit down, Rosalia,' Rafael rapped out, 'You will have plenty of time with Mother when this is all over.' He looked at Lorna with distaste. 'For your benefit I will begin at the beginning. As you know so much it is a pity not to acquaint you with the whole story.' He closed his eyes for a moment as if to control himself and when he opened them again his face was completely blank, as if he were recounting a tale in which he had no part. 'It began three years ago when Rosalia eloped. Pointless to go over the anger and humiliation that resulted from her action, anger which changed to horror when we discovered she had not returned her engagement ring to Juan Diniz.'

  That's not true!' Rosalia interrupted.

  'Be quiet!' her brother said sharply. 'Hear me out first. It is the least you can do. Immediately we learned the news I followed my sister and her husband to Australia, but it was nearly two months before I could trace them. I had never realized that a continent could be so large nor that two people could be swallowed up as if they had never existed. By the time I found them, Rosalia was in hospital and her husband informed me that she did not wish to see me.'

  'I didn't say that,' Rosalia cried. 'I never refused to see you. I never even knew you were there!'

  'I see. Well, it does not affect the story.' For the first time Rafael looked directly at his sister, the lines on either side of his mouth deepening with bitterness. 'If I had not remembered the happy childhood we shared, if I could have forgotten so many things about you that I once loved, I would have had you and your husband arrested. But I was a fool - I came home without doing anything. Frank —' his contempt for the man was implicit in the name - 'Frank refused to discuss the ring or what he had done with it, and no amount of money on my part would make him give it up. I did not know at the time that it had already been sold. I came home and shortly afterwards Father died. I swore then that I would never speak your name again, but unfortunately Miss Fairfax rendered that impossible when she accused me earlier this evening of having stolen the ring myself.'

  'And you did,' Lorna said loudly, unable to restrain herself any longer. 'You can't get away with lies, I won't- let you! Rosalia's innocent and you know it. For goodness' sake, Rosalia, tell them the truth. How can you sit there and keep quiet?' She rah across the room and caught the girl's hand. 'Please, darling, tell them what you told me in the pavilion. Tell them that you asked Rafael to give the ring back for you.'

  'I didn't, I didn't!' Rosalia screamed. 'Why don't you leave me alone? Why must you torment me like this?' She pulled away from Lorna, the harsh sound of her sobs filling the room. 'Why must you make me admit that my husband was a thief? That he made a fool of me as he did of everyone else? Until you came along I at least had pity for him. Now you've taken even that away from me.' She sank down on the floor, her voice so low that it could barely be heard across the full length of the room. 'How could you be so stupid as to think I'd give the ring to Rafael? He would have guessed immediately that something was wrong. I gave it to Frank - to Frank, I tell you! He promised to return it to Juan the day we eloped. I didn't know that—'

  'Comos Diabos! Will I never get to t
he bottom of this?' In two strides Rafael was at his sister's side and hoisted her none too gently to her feet. 'For heaven's sake don't ramble on, Rosalia. What are you trying to say?'

  'Don't you know?' she whispered. 'Isn't it clear?'

  'It is not,' he grated. 'I can't make head or tail of it.' He shook her again. 'Gome, Rosalia, begin from the beginning. You owe us that at least.'

  Rosalia moistened her lips. 'I — I left the ring with Frank — I've just told you. We'd arranged not to meet the last two days in case you — anyone — suspected our plans. But we had a secret trysting place at the back of the pavilion and we left notes for each other every day. That's where I put the ring. I left it with a letter asking Frank to leave it for me at the Diniz house before we eloped.' She paused. 'I'd no idea he hadn't done so until I came back here and saw Lorna. That's why I couldn't face you. I had to have time to think things out.'

  'Why?'

  'Because I couldn't believe there was nothing left of my marriage except bitterness and wasted years.' With a visible effort Rosalia controlled her trembling, but when she continued she kept her eyes firmly on the ground. 'I'm not asking you to forgive me. You can say 'I told you so" and you're perfectly right. I know now that even the first happy months Frank and I had together were built on lies and deceit. But that doesn't alter the fact that I loved him when I married him - that I loved a liar and a thief 1 I've nothing left now. No husband, no family—'

  'Don't say that!' Rafael broke in. 'You have your family again, querida: With indescribable tenderness he drew Rosalia into his arms, and brother and sister stood close together, everything forgotten in the joy of their reunion.

  After a moment he drew back. 'There are still one or two other things to be said, car a, then we need never talk of this - this episode again.' His eyes searched for Lorna and when he spoke it was directly to her. 'Six months ago I discovered to whom the ring had been sold. The man who had bought it had known the jewel was a stolen one, and it took a great deal of persuasion to convince him I wouldn't call in the police the moment I had. the ring in my possession. Luckily he did believe me, and the emerald arrived the day we left for Algarve, Unfortunately it was too late for me to return it to Senhor Diniz then, so I. put it in the bottom of my desk to await my return. It is now safely with the other emeralds in the Diniz collection. That is the whole story, and there I think the matter ends.'