Authors: Sara Craven
helplessly. 'But, Jan, that's impossible. I have no work permit, for
one thing, and no money, or very little. And I have to get back to
England before September anyway for the start of term, so ...'
Jan stared up at her, her eyes narrowing. 'What in the world are you
talking about?' she asked impatiently. 'Sometimes, Julie, I think you
must be half-witted. I'm not proposing we should shack up together
in some hovel to hide my shame, if that's what you were thinking. In
case you'd forgotten, you're engaged to marry a very rich man, and I
can't imagine that he'll happily accept the idea of your returning to
England to teach a crowd of scruffy kids when you could be settling
down to raise his own
bambinos
.' She stretched smilingly. 'You've
been staying at the
castello,
and presumably that's where you'll be
returning when this little errand of mercy is at an end, so I'll come
too. I can't wait to get but of this hole,' she added petulantly. 'These
nuns are giving me the creeps. I swear they know I'm pregnant.'
'They probably do,' Juliet responded mechanically. 'They are nurses,
after all.' Her heart was thudding in sheer horror. She had never
imagined that Jan would make such a demand. In fact, she had been
sure that she would never want to see any of the Vallones again.
Desperately she remembered Santino's stricture that she should not
tell her sister that their engagement was a fraud. Yet how could she
hope to maintain the illusion even for a week or two if Jan moved in
with them?
Besides, in spite of what Santino had said about continuing with the
pretence until Mario and Francesca were married, she had hoped to
persuade
him
to let her return to England. She had never intended
for one moment to return to the
castello
under any circumstances.
Santino might have said that he did not intend to force his attentions
on her, but his resolve might falter in the intimate surroundings of
the
castello.
And if he did make love to her, she would not be able
to hide her response, her deep need any longer, although in some
ways, it would be even worse if he stuck to his word and did not
touch her, she thought wretchedly.
'Well, what's the matter? You look as if you've seen a ghost,' Jan
said. She smiled. 'Come on, love, don't look so stricken. If you were
planning a premature honeymoon, I'll be very discreet. I won't
intrude, I promise. Besides,' she gave a little knowing chuckle, 'you
might be quite glad to have me there—to advise you.'
Juliet felt sick. 'No,' she said. 'It—it's quite impossible...'
A cool voice from the doorway interrupted. 'Forgive me, but what is
impossible?'
Santino strolled forward, his eyes travelling from the tense girl
standing at the window, to her smiling, relaxed counterpart in the
bed. He paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing a little as he
surveyed them both.
'An amazing resemblance,' he murmured, half to himself. 'Has no
one ever commented on it before?'
'No,' said Jan. Juliet saw her lips pout a little, and knew she would
not be delighted at Santino's comment. She was so used to everyone
automatically regarding her as the pretty one, and had always
tended to be dismissive towards' anyone who in the past had seen
the resemblance between them. She gave Santino a beguiling smile.
'You're seeing me at a disadvantage, of course,
signore.
My
cosmetic case was one of the casualties in the accident.'
'A small loss compared to what might have been,' Santino said
quietly. He stood at the bedside and looked down at her for a long
moment. 'So we meet at last, Janina. You should not mourn the loss
of your cosmetics, you know. Beauty such as yours needs no
adornment.'
Juliet felt herself stiffen, recognising the ironic note in his voice and
fearful that Jan would hear it too, but her sister took the remark at
its face value and laughed up at him.
'I'm sorry we haven't met before, too,' she said provocatively. 'What
a pity, now that we have met, that you happen to be engaged to my
sister.'
Juliet had to smother a gasp at the blatancy of the remark and
turned away to stare blindly down into the street below. She'd had
no idea what Santino was going to say to Jan when he'd entered the
room, but she hadn't expected him to stand over the bed, holding
her hand in his.
'I too would have preferred a meeting under slightly different
circumstances,' she heard him say in reply, but there was no irony in
his voice this time, merely a kind of appreciative amusement.
That's the sort of remark he's used to, Juliet thought desolately.
She's the sort of woman he's used to. A quick, enjoyable affair, with
no bones broken on either side when it's over. They're two of a
kind.
His voice went on smoothly. 'So what is impossible, Giulietta? You
were in the middle of some explanation when I entered.'
She did not turn and look at him. In a wooden little voice she said,
'Jan wants to come back to the
castello
with us. She's tired of the
clinic and—and she feels a quiet rest in the sun would do her good.'
'An admirable idea,' he approved. 'Did you imagine there might be
some difficulty?'
Still not looking at either of them, Juliet said in the same wooden
voice, 'I wasn't sure that we would be returning to the
castello.'
Her
hands were gripped in front of her so tightly that her knuckles were
white with the strain.
'Naturally we shall be returning there,' he said almost casually. 'And
it would be an excellent arrangement for your sister to accompany
us. She would make a far more adequate
compagna
over the next
few weeks than Annunziata.'
'A chaperone?' Juliet heard Jan giggle. 'Well, it will be novel
anyway.'
Feeling slightly dizzy, she turned away from the window,
murmuring something about finding one of the sisters and retrieving
Jan's case. As she gained the corridor, Santino came after her.
'What's the matter with you?' he demanded, his fingers grasping her
arm. 'Where are you running to?'
She faced him. 'Jan will need her things,' she said defensively,
trying to free her arm.
He gestured impatiently. 'She will certainly not be allowed to leave
the clinic tonight,' he averred incisively. 'Both she and Mario are
still under observation. Tomorrow will be soon enough to find what
things of hers were salvaged from the car.' He gave her a searching
look. 'What is troubling you?'
'I can't go back to the
castello,'
she said desperately. 'Santino, I
can't. I—I must go home—back to England. I have responsibilities
...'
'You have responsibilities here,' he interrupted coldly. 'You
involved yourself in this affair of your own will, but you remain
here through mine, and we will see this thing through to the bitter
end.'
'And is it your—will that Jan should move in with us to the
castello
?' she demanded.
'The idea had not occurred to me before,' he said coolly. 'But it has
much to recommend it, particularly as I learn that Francesca and her
mother are on their way here to visit Mario. I would prefer in some
ways for your sister to be at a safe distance before their arrival, so
that Vittoria does not get the chance to plant any of her little
poisoned darts.'
'And that is the only reason?' she asked, sick at heart.
'No,' he studied her face for a moment, his own expression
hardening, 'I admit frankly that it is not. You are neither a child nor
a fool, Giulietta, so you must know why I have agreed to invite her.'
'Yes,' she said almost inaudibly, 'I think I do.'
She heard him draw a little breath, and felt his fingers cup her chin
lifting her face towards his. With a sense of panic, she knew that he
was going to kiss her, and she tore herself free from his slackened
grasp, stepping backwards.
'You promised.' Her voice sounded high and a little strained. 'You
said that our engagement would only exist in public.'
He took a half-step towards her, his eyebrows lifting mockingly. 1
can think of few places more public than the corridor of a hospital,
with the good Sisters likely to come upon us at any minute,' he
observed. 'But don't worry,
cara.
Your precious chastity is safe for
the moment. My mother has asked me to bring you to Mario's
room, so that you may meet him.'
'What a farce it all is,' she said bitterly. 'Very well,
signore,
I'll go
and be presented as your future wife. But you don't have to
accompany me. As you said, I'm neither a child nor a fool, and I
can—just—manage to find two adjoining rooms in a hospital
corridor.'
'There are times, Giulietta,' he said quite pleasantly, 'when I could
quite willingly beat you. I should go quickly, if I were you, before
my impulse turns to compulsion.'
At the door, she hesitated. Inside, through the thin partition, she
could hear the Signora talking with great rapidity, with occasional
low-voiced interventions by her husband, and she could guess what
the subject of the good lady's diatribe was. For a moment she
regretted telling Santino she did not want his company. It wasn't the
easiest thing in the world to push open a door and walk into a room
where you would only be received on sufferance.
If he was still watching her, she decided, she would swallow her
pride and ask him to come with her. She swung towards him and
paused, the words dying unuttered on her lips. He wasn't watching
her. He wasn't even glancing in her direction. He was walking with
cool purpose back to Janina's room, and as Juliet stood watching
with a kind of sick incredulity, he reached the door and stepped
inside.
The door closed behind him, and she was left standing alone in a
long empty corridor.
As she viewed her luxurious hotel suite that evening, it occurred to
Juliet rather forcibly the kind of influence that money like Santino's
could have, producing accommodation like this for his family in one
of the best hotels at the height of the tourist season.
Nothing had been forgotten, from the well-stocked refrigerated
cabinet full of drinks of all kinds to the huge bowl of red roses
placed on the table beside the bed. Courtesy of the management,
she supposed, as she bent appreciatively to drink in their rich
perfume, but she was wrong. There was a small white card wired to
one of the stems, its surface crossed by the one uncompromising
word 'Santino'.
Juliet straightened abruptly and glanced at the signature. She was
strongly tempted to sweep the flowers, bowl and all, into the
wastepaper bin at the other side of the room. But that would only be
an empty gesture, she told herself, as empty as that which had sent
the flowers of love to a girl masquerading as the beloved. Her most
dignified course of action would be to ignore them altogether, and
this would be far easier if they were not beside her bed.
She picked them up and carried them resolutely out of the bedroom,
into the small elegant sitting room which opened off it. There was a
small gilt-legged table behind the sofa and she put the bowl down
on this, turning it so that the tell-tale card was concealed.
When a knock fell on the door of the suite just as she was
completing this task, she started so violently that she jerked the
bowl and a few drops of water spilled out on to. the marble top of
the table.
'Oh, damn!' She scrubbed at it with her handkerchief, remembering
belatedly to call
'Avanti,'
and then in the same moment wishing that
she had not done so, because it was probably Santino.
But it was the Signora who entered, dressed fashionably in grey
lace with the inevitable sparkle of diamonds at her throat and
wrists. Juliet gazed at her in some surprise. During the brief visit
she had paid to Mario's room, the Signora's manner had been cool
and remote, and she had certainly not expected her to seek her
company.
The meeting with Mario had been as awkward as she could have
imagined. During the rather stilted conversation that followed the
introduction, she felt his eyes resting on her wonderingly, and knew
resignedly that he too had been struck by her resemblance to Jan.
She supposed that he too bore a superficial resemblance to Santino,