Nightsong

by Valerie Sherwood

  Hush,’ he said, and put his fingers gently to her lips.

  She understood then and was horrified at her lapse. The walls had ears! Dear God, had she already compromised his disguise? How could she have been such a fool? He was only pretending to be Don Diego, and somewhere - perhaps through a panel in the governor’s house that allowed people there to hear what they were saying - enemy ears were listening!

  ‘I'm sorry,’ she whispered against his fingers.

  He was speaking to her now in an even voice, colourless, but driving in every word. ‘I have no wish to harm you but you must try to take in what I am saying. It seems you may have suffered a loss and for that I am truly sorry. But as God is my witness, I am Diego Vivar, late of Castile. You are beautiful enough, señorita Lightfoot, to imprint yourself on a man’s memory forever. But you have made no imprint on mine.’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ she said hastily, drawing away from him and looking about her as if to establish where the listeners could be hiding. Her eyes fell upon the big square bed with its hard but adequate mattress. ‘Where do we sleep?’ - she asked hopefully, and wondered where the bed linens were.

  ‘I sleep here,’ he said firmly. ‘And you, señorita Lightfoot, will find yourself a room at the back of the house. We will cease these childish games of recognition where there is none. Tonight you will share my table and if your manners are good enough, you will be permitted to share it in future. But I accept a lady in my bed only at my own invitation - and never in the mistaken assumption that I am somebody else.’ His lips twisted in a slight grimace that she remembered only too well. ‘I would be loved for myself alone, dear lady. That is how matters stand with me. But you will call me Don Diego, for that is who I am - Don Diego Vivar of Castile.’

  The terrible chill she had felt before crept over her once again. Only this time the ice seemed to touch her very heart.

  This man looked like Kells, he moved like Kells, he spoke like Kells, he made love like Kells, the very touch of him was Kells to the flesh. And yet he was not Kells. He said so. And in a manner that she was forced to believe was the truth.

  This was not Kells. This was somebody else. Kells had a double in Spain!

  And that double had come to Havana . . . and she had found him . . . made love to him.

  Thinking he was Kells.

  It had been a long day, a day filled with grief and fear and passionate abandon and too much heat and too little food. And now this wonderful resurrection of her lover had been snatched away from her. The disappointment was sudden and overpowering.

  Carolina gave the tall frowning man before her a dizzy accusing look and then her legs seemed to give way like butter.

  He reached out a long arm and caught her as she fell.

  20

  When Carolina came to, she was being supported by Don Diego’s arm, and water was being dashed in her face by a scandalized Juana, who said disbelievingly, ‘She fainted? But she was fine just a few minutes ago!’

  ‘And fine again,’ said Don Diego, laying a sputtering Carolina down upon the bare mattress. ‘I think she is in need of food.’

  Dinner will soon be ready,’ said Juana in a stiff voice that chided, but not immediately.

  Bring us some wine, then.’

  ‘I will have to go next door to the governor’s - ’

  ‘I will go myself.’

  Don Diego rose, and old Juana waited until his boots had clattered down the stairs before she remarked, ‘Well, you are a strange one. You’re up, you’re down!’ She glowered at Carolina, lying there white and exhausted. Looking all done-in isn’t going to get you into his bed!’ Carolina pushed herself up on one elbow.

  ‘That will be enough, Juana,’ she said with what dignity she could muster - for after all, the servants must not be allowed to get the upper hand, otherwise they would rule you! ‘I was overcome by the - the excessive heat outside and grew a bit lightheaded, that’s all.’

  No need for Juana to know what had really happened! Juana gave her a sceptical look. ‘If you say so.’

  ‘And I will see if we cannot get you some help,’ said Carolina with a bright smile. ‘This house is too much for you.'

  Juana lumbered downstairs shaking her head. There was some as wasted no time moving in! She could not wait to tell the serving girls from the governor’s house about this - how they would titter! And then one of them would ask archly what was going to happen when this striking new wench with the hair like white metal collided with the governor’s daughter and the beautiful and lecherous Doña Jimena! Juana’s old face lit up in a grim wrinkled smile. There would be doings worth reporting in this old house soon, she’d warrant!

  Don Diego was gone but a short time. He came back bearing a bottle and two wineglasses. Into one of them he splashed some golden liquid.

  ‘A very fine Canary,’ he told her. ‘Drink it. It will give you strength.’

  Carolina took a sip. ‘I think I would prefer food,’ she said faintly.

  ‘The governor’s servants are bringing us food now,’ he said. ‘Listen - you can hear them moving about downstairs. Oh, and the governor sends you this.’ He gestured with his arm and she realized that he had been carrying, thrown over his arm, a flame-red dress of light voile and a yellow petticoat. ‘I do not know where he found such bright garments, for his daughter wears only white, but he sends it to you with his compliments and his thanks for having aided the cause of Spain.’ He looked at her intently. ‘In what way have you aided the cause of Spain?’ he asked curiously.

  ‘I suppose because I used to take fruit to the Spanish captives on Tortuga - and because I befriended a Spanish girl once who was cast away upon our shores in Virginia.’

  His hard face softened. ‘So it seems you have a kind heart . . .’

  She gave him a resentful look. How dared he look so like Kells and not be Kells? ‘I am not so sure,’ she said wearily.

  He grinned, ‘I will have a bath sent up to you, and if you will be good enough to put on this gown, when you are ready you may come down and sup with me.’

  Carolina kept on staring at the door after he had left. The resemblance was so striking - in all ways - that she still could not believe he was not Kells.

  It was one of the governor’s servants who brought up her bath - and with it towels and a sponge and scented soap and a new chemise which Carolina looked at doubtfully. It was both wide and short.

  ‘It belonged to the governor’s daughter,’ snickered the serving girl. ‘We was told to bring it and so we did, but she’ll be fit to be tied when she hears!’ She snickered again.

  Carolina gave her a level look. She was not going to be put on a par with those women who had just been sold in the marketplace!

  'That will be all I require, I believe,’ she said. ‘Unless perhaps the governor could send us some bed linen? We will need enough for both the front bedroom and the back.’

  The girl looked affronted.‘Yes, your high and mightiness!’ she said.

  ‘And please close the door when you go out,’ Carolina added tranquilly. ‘Oh, wait - what is your name?’

  ‘Luz,’ was the sulky response.

  ‘Yes - Luz. And I am Señorita Lightfoot, Luz. Thank you for being so prompt in bringing up my bath. Tell me, the woman who was with me, the one with red hair’ - for Carolina could not be sure what name Penny had chosen to use - ‘how does she fare?’

  ‘I expect you’ll see for yourself since she’s just now coming up the stairs with your bed linens!’ snapped Luz as she flounced through the door.

  A moment later Penny burst into the room - a very much changed Penny, for her bright hair was tied back into a pink silk turban and her tight-fitting men’s trousers and torn shirt had been replaced by a white bodice of some thin material that was cut surprisingly low for a household that had its roots in strait-laced Spain. It must be the island influence - the hot sun of the tropics must have melted some of the cold Castilian reserve! And encasing Penny’s slim hips was a thin black
taffeta kirtle that swirled around her bare feet - for no one had as yet provided her with a pair of slippers that fit.

  ‘I have seen Don Diego!’ cried Penny. ‘And you are in luck. He is shockingly attractive.’

  ‘Yes - shockingly.’ Carolina gave her sister a haggard look.

  Penny was quick to note that look. Her sapphire eyes narrowed. ‘I seem to remember that Don Diego was the caballero you were staring at when you stumbled as we were being herded towards the market. Don’t tell me you fell in love with him at first sight!’

  Carolina swallowed.

  ‘Or is it that - ?’ Sudden enlightenment flooded over Penny’s strong features. ‘Carolina, does he look like someone else?’ she asked softly.

  ‘Yes,’ Carolina admitted miserably. ‘He reminds me . . .’ She broke off, dragging a shaky hand across her eyes.

  ‘Of Kells . . .’ murmured Penny. ‘I remember being told that Kells was tall and dark - and deadly. And certainly Don Diego fits that description!’ She studied her younger sister with compassion. ‘But you can’t spend your life grieving, Carol. Don Diego seems quite charming. You must let him make it up to you, patch your life up again. Indeed he has a notable effect on women. Marina, the governor’s daughter, leapt to her feet, all smiles and blushes, when Don Diego came dashing in. Obviously she thought he’d come to see her! She sat back like a thundercloud and sulked when Don Diego announced you’d been struck down by the heat. The governor rose to the occasion, and you can expect a solid stream of assistance from that quarter. It seems Don Diego rates very high with the governor of this fair city!’

  It was on the tip of Carolina’s tongue to tell Penny all she knew, but she thought better of it. On shipboard she had been too grief-stricken to talk of Kells and now - she would wait. She would talk at greater length with Don Diego. She still could not rid herself of the forlorn hope that he was really Kells in disguise, and that he would presently find a quiet corner and sweep her up into his arms and explain everything and claim her once again as his own dear love.

  ‘How do you like the governor?’ she asked wearily - more to push away her own heartbreaking thoughts than from any real interest. At the moment all she could see before her was one dark uncaring face - Kells’s face, disclaiming her.

  ‘I don’t know how well I like the governor yet,’ Penny said meditatively. ‘But I can tell you one thing, he has a vicious daughter. She left the room like a hurricane and rushed upstairs to her bedchamber and we could hear glass breaking all over the place. She must have swept her dressing table clean!’

  ‘Did she come out again?’ asked Carolina, remembering Juana’s, It is the governor’s daughter who is fond of him!

  Yes,’ said Penny. ‘When someone went up to report to her that Doña Jimena was riding by - whoever that is!’

  ‘Doña Jimena Menendez,’ murmured Carolina. ‘Wife to the richest man in Havana.’ She remembered Juana’s, They say she tries never to let him out of her sight. And that she becomes very angry whenever Doña Jimena rides by.

  ‘You’ve picked up a great deal of information in a short time,’ Penny observed wonderingly.

  ‘Yes, one does sometimes in a strange place.’ Carolina pushed aside her own problems. ‘Do you think you are going to be all right over there?’ she asked.

  ‘Oh, more than all right,’ Penny said, ‘except that I may have to box the governor’s daughter’s ears. When she came out of her room she was in such a temper that she threw a rose jar at me.’

  ‘That was because Doña Jimena was riding by,’ Carolina said wisely.

  ‘Indeed?’ Penny sounded indignant. ‘Well, whoever Doña Jimena is, she certainly brings out the Devil in the governor’s daughter.’

  As doubtless will I, Carolina thought wryly. And perhaps with less reason!

  ‘Anyway, everything you can think of is being sent over: more bed linens, extra towels, dishes, pots and pans, cutlery, pillows, candlesticks, candelabra, candles - I was amazed to see all the things they were bringing. Don’t you hear the commotion downstairs? Here, step into your bath before it gets cold! I’ll close the door.’

  ‘Why do you think the governor is doing it?’ asked Carolina, as she slid out of her clothes - torn to rags by her experiences - and slipped gratefully into the warm water.

  ‘Why?’ Penny said carelessly. ‘I’m told that Don Diego is some great hero and that he arrived here nearly dead and was brought back to life in the governor’s house. I suppose the governor is proud of his achievement of bringing someone back from the dead.’

  ‘Or perhaps,’ said Carolina carefully, ‘he thinks that Don Diego might one day marry his daughter.’

  ‘That’s possible, too,’ said Penny, stretching her long arms and throwing herself down on the bed. ‘I’m told he treats him like a son.’

  ‘Son-in-law,’ Carolina said woodenly.

  Penny looked at her with bright interest. ‘Do I detect an interest in Don Diego for yourself? He’s certainly gorgeous!’

  ‘Don Diego and I have come to an understanding,’ she told Penny stiffly. ‘He will sleep at this end of the hall and I will sleep at the other.’

  ‘Oh, but it’s such a short distance between!’ laughed Penny. ‘So you told him how things were going to be, did you?’

  ‘No, it was his idea,’ Carolina said truthfully. She reddened, remembering how she had lain in his arms.

  ‘Indeed?’ Penny’s russet brows shot up. ‘Don Diego has fallen in my estimation,’ she said. ‘He looked to me to have more blood than that!’

  ‘He has plenty of blood,’ said Carolina. ‘I think - it was something I said.’

  ‘Oh, and what was that?’ demanded Penny.

  Carolina, already sudsy, stood up and poured water from a rinsing pitcher over herself before she spoke. ‘I can’t remember,’ she said dismissively. Penny would hoot with laughter if she knew his decision had come about after Carolina asked, Where do we sleep?

  ‘Here, let me help you with that.’ Penny got up and took the rinsing pitcher away from Carolina and poured water carefully over Carolina’s back. ‘Dinner will be on the table any minute,’ she reported. ‘I think you’d better not take too much time with your toilette. We wouldn’t want to keep Don Diego waiting!’

  Carolina didn’t answer. Where Don Diego was concerned, she was very torn. She wanted to see him and yet she dreaded seeing him - it was all very confusing.

  ‘And now, to get you dressed in these,’ said Penny, lifting up the chemise as Carolina towelled herself dry. ‘God’s teeth, this was made for a dumpy girl!’

  ‘The governor’s daughter,’ said Carolina.

  ‘She isn’t exactly dumpy, though.’

  ‘Well-rounded,’ said Carolina.

  ‘Bursting her stays,’ amended Penny.

  They both laughed.

  ‘She’s only fifteen,’ said Carolina. ‘She still may grow.’

  ‘But in which direction?’ wondered Penny.

  They laughed again. And that laughter made Carolina feel much better. The tension was released. She was skating on very thin ice and must watch her every step, but somehow, despite everything, her world had improved. And it was all because a man who looked like Kells had entered it . . .

  ‘Well, the chemise is too short but who’ll see it under the petticoat?’ said Penny, stepping back critically from a barefoot Carolina.

  ‘I don’t care if the petticoat is too short,’ Carolina said nervously. ‘But I do hope it isn’t too long. I couldn’t bear to go around tripping over it.’

  ‘You mean you don’t sew any better than you did back at Level Green? Well, neither do I - but I’ve no doubt there’ll be expert sempstresses hidden away somewhere in the governor’s house!’

  But the petticoat turned out to be a shade too short rather than too long. Carolina was very pleased.

  ‘And now the overdress - if it was made for the same woman - should be rather a good fit.’ As she spoke. Penny was slipping the red voile over Carolina�
�s head.

  They both held their breath until the hooks in the back were all fastened. Then:

  ‘It’s a fit!’ Penny cried, joyfully.

  ‘It feels a little too tight across the bust,’ complained Carolina.

  ‘Just give it a tug down.’ Penny seized the bodice and almost ripped the material with her sharp pull but it did lower the neckline considerably and allowed Carolina’s soft breasts to round up delightfully above it.

  ‘I wouldn’t pull it up into panniers if I were you,’ advised Penny, walking catlike around her on her bare feet. ‘That petticoat leaves something to be desired. I mean, it’s just plain yellow linen, and yet glimpsed through the folds of red voile as you move - ’

  ‘It will look like something aflame,’ guessed Carolina, whirling about.

  ‘Yes,’ Penny said, adding gravely, ‘You look lovely, Carolina.’ And woefully distressed, she might have added. For all you’re putting a brave face on things. Suddenly she noticed the butcher knife lying on the floor. ‘Where did that thing come from? It belongs in the kitchen.’

  ‘I brought it upstairs when Juana wasn’t looking,’ Carolina said soberly. ‘I thought I might need it as a weapon. That was - before I met Don Diego,’ she added, in fact, I dropped it when I saw him.’

  Penny blinked at her. ‘That must have been a shock to him,’ she murmured. ‘Coming home to find you waiting for him with a knife in your hand!’

  ‘Well - I didn’t understand,’ mumbled Carolina, unwilling to explain.

  ‘Remember to smile when you go downstairs,’ instructed Penny. ‘We’re better off than the lot we came with, you know!’

  ‘Yes.’ Carolina shuddered. ‘I hate to think what will happen to some of them tonight.’

  Penny’s russet brows elevated. ‘Whatever happens to them,’ she said succinctly, ‘it will be no worse than the things that happened to them all the time on New Providence.’