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CHAPTER FIVE
MARIA froze, hoping that if she stayed motionless she wouldn't be
noticed. But the moon was directly overhead and only the corners of
the pool were dappled with the breeze-fluttered black shadows of
palm fronds and sprays of bougainvillaea.
The spot where she was standing was as brilliantly lit as if a spotlight
were beamed on it. A white-skinned tourist in a pale bikini would be
less noticeable. But she, golden-brown and wearing her tatty black
one-piece, must catch the eye of anyone glancing in her direction.
Too late she realised that, on first hearing the voices, she should have
instantly submerged herself and shot across the floor of the pool to
lurk, alligator-fashion, by the wall of the palapa bar.
It was the Indian who noticed her. He stopped short, his grunt of
surprise alerting the tall man behind him. For a moment they both
stared at her. Then Raul stepped through the border of plants at the
pool's edge and beckoned her to him.
'You should be in bed,' he said softly, when she reached the place
where he was standing.
'I ccrlildn't sleep. I'm not doing any harm,' she whispered. Seen from
this angle, he looked eight feet tall and the moonlight emphasised the
angular structure of his face.
He turned to the porter and gave some low-voiced instructions which,
although they were in Spanish, she didn't catch. The man nodded. He
was already carrying
Raul's grip. Now, taking charge of his briefcase, he moved on along
the corridor.
To her, Raul said tersely, 'Out!'
The peremptory order made her bristle, but she knew she would have
to obey it.
By the time she had swum to the steps, he was waiting for her,
holding the large blue pool towel she had left there. She gathered her
wet hair into a skein and brought it forward to twist out most of the
water. As she did so, Raul wrapped the towel round her shoulders.
He did it without touching her, but she was very conscious of his
nearness and of the strong brown hands which hadn't touched her.
She dried her arms and her legs before wrapping the towel round her
body.
'Where's your key?' he asked, in an undertone.
'I left it in the lock. I've nothing worth stealing. There was no one
about. Goodnight.'
As she turned to go, Raul said tersely, 'I want to talk to you.'
'I'm sure it will keep till tomorrow.'
She would have walked away but he said, 'Now, Maria,' and again it
was an order.
'We can't go on talking in whispers and our voices will wake people
up.'
'I've told the porter to bring us tea in the library.'
'At this hour?'
'Why not? I'm not ready to sleep yet either.' He gestured for her to
precede him.
The library was where, the night before last in an almost identical
room at Chichen Itza, she had watched a video with Chris. There had
been people smoking there, and the odour of stale smoke hung on the
air in the library here.
As Raul followed her in, he said, 'We can't sit in this atmosphere.
There are chairs down the hall where we shan't disturb anyone.'
There had been chairs at Coba. Here there was a leather-cushioned
sofa.
As she sat down, she said, 'What was the point of coming back at this
time of night? We're leaving here after breakfast.'
After a slight pause, he said, 'Perhaps I had a premonition that you
would be doing something foolish.'
'What's foolish about a swim in a hotel pool? It's not like the sea at
night.'
'Maybe not, but there are other hazards. Being on your own anywhere
at this hour isn't a good idea. Other guests might be wandering about,
or one of the staff could get a false impression. There are girls who
come on holiday looking for casual affairs.'
'I'm sure there are,' said Maria, thinking of Juliette. 'But does that
mean that girls who aren't have to stay behind locked doors all night?'
She saw the porter coming with a tray. 'This man, if he'd seen me
swimming before you arrived, wouldn't have thought I was one of
those people you're talking about.'
'Possibly not. He's an old man. But the night porter might have been
young and randy... if you know what that means?'
'Sexually eager or lustful.'
'Your vocabulary seems to be more extensive than I thought. Where
did you come across that word?'
'I was looking up Ranelagh in the dictionary and "randy" was just
above it.'
While the porter was arranging the tea things on the table in front of
the sofa, Raul said, 'When I was a small boy I spent school holidays
with my grandmother. She made me read aloud to her for half an hour
every day. Any words I didn't know I had to look up. The next day I'd
have to make up a sentence using the words I'd learnt the day before.
For example, "At Ranelagh Gardens in Chelsea, in the eighteenth
century, randy young men of fashion went in search of women known
as lightskirts.'"
Maria said, 'Why did you stay with your grandmother?'
'Because my father's work took him abroad a great deal and I would
have been an encumbrance. My mother died when I was six, but I had
two grannies and several aunts. There was no shortage of women in
my young life...rather the reverse,' he added drily, before switching to
Spanish to thank the porter and sign the chit presented to him.
She wondered if he could remember his mother. It must have been
worse to lose her at that age than never to have known her.
But the upsurge of sympathy engendered by a mental picture of small
boy bereft of both parents and dependent on the kindness of other
relations was abruptly quenched when he said,
'When I hand you over to your father, I'm going to point out that
keeping you cloistered with him isn't in your best interests. For a girl
of your age to have so little sense of self-protection is ridiculous.'
'I think it's you who's being ridiculous,' Maria said stiffly.
His mention of her father had pricked her conscience. Each day she
seemed to spend less time thinking about him, wondering how he was
getting on without her. Already at the back of her mind lurked the
knowledge that she didn't want to go back to the life they had lived
together for so many years. By giving her this taste of freedom, Raul
had made it harder for her to accept the limitations of her real life. For
that, and for other reasons less clear to her, she was suddenly angry
with him.
Angry enough to say recklessly, 'How do you know what I'm really
like? Perhaps I've been playing a part. Perhaps I'm more experienced
than you think. My father goes for long walks. Who knows what I get
up to when he's out of sight up the beach? There are boys of my age
living near us... and back-packers wandering past.'
'That may be, but Eriksen was the first to kiss you, wasn't he?'
'If you say so.'
'I know so. Will you deal with the tea, or shall I?'
The waiter had left several teabags. She dropped one in each cup and
added boiling water. The pool towel, designed to enfold the most
ample tourists, wrapped round her slim body twice and the double
layer at the back would absorb most of the wetness of her swimsuit.
In any case the sofa had leather squabs which wouldn't be damaged if
some moisture did soak through.
'How was the Sound and Light show?' Raul asked, as they waited for
the tea to be drinkable.
'Wonderful.' She explained why they hadn't seen it all, adding, 'Miss
Dysart wouldn't have minded if I'd wanted to stay till the end. She
doesn't fuss over me.'
'She wouldn't approve of your being down here at this hour. Even
with me,' he added drily.
She risked saying, 'What could happen to me when I'm with you?
Your aunt says you used to be known as Not Safe in Taxis, but that
was a long time ago.'
He didn't answer. When she flicked a quick glance at him, his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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CHAPTER FIVE
MARIA froze, hoping that if she stayed motionless she wouldn't be
noticed. But the moon was directly overhead and only the corners of
the pool were dappled with the breeze-fluttered black shadows of
palm fronds and sprays of bougainvillaea.
The spot where she was standing was as brilliantly lit as if a spotlight
were beamed on it. A white-skinned tourist in a pale bikini would be
less noticeable. But she, golden-brown and wearing her tatty black
one-piece, must catch the eye of anyone glancing in her direction.
Too late she realised that, on first hearing the voices, she should have
instantly submerged herself and shot across the floor of the pool to
lurk, alligator-fashion, by the wall of the palapa bar.
It was the Indian who noticed her. He stopped short, his grunt of
surprise alerting the tall man behind him. For a moment they both
stared at her. Then Raul stepped through the border of plants at the
pool's edge and beckoned her to him.
'You should be in bed,' he said softly, when she reached the place
where he was standing.
'I ccrlildn't sleep. I'm not doing any harm,' she whispered. Seen from
this angle, he looked eight feet tall and the moonlight emphasised the
angular structure of his face.
He turned to the porter and gave some low-voiced instructions which,
although they were in Spanish, she didn't catch. The man nodded. He
was already carrying
Raul's grip. Now, taking charge of his briefcase, he moved on along
the corridor.
To her, Raul said tersely, 'Out!'
The peremptory order made her bristle, but she knew she would have
to obey it.
By the time she had swum to the steps, he was waiting for her,
holding the large blue pool towel she had left there. She gathered her
wet hair into a skein and brought it forward to twist out most of the
water. As she did so, Raul wrapped the towel round her shoulders.
He did it without touching her, but she was very conscious of his
nearness and of the strong brown hands which hadn't touched her.
She dried her arms and her legs before wrapping the towel round her
body.
'Where's your key?' he asked, in an undertone.
'I left it in the lock. I've nothing worth stealing. There was no one
about. Goodnight.'
As she turned to go, Raul said tersely, 'I want to talk to you.'
'I'm sure it will keep till tomorrow.'
She would have walked away but he said, 'Now, Maria,' and again it
was an order.
'We can't go on talking in whispers and our voices will wake people
up.'
'I've told the porter to bring us tea in the library.'
'At this hour?'
'Why not? I'm not ready to sleep yet either.' He gestured for her to
precede him.
The library was where, the night before last in an almost identical
room at Chichen Itza, she had watched a video with Chris. There had
been people smoking there, and the odour of stale smoke hung on the
air in the library here.
As Raul followed her in, he said, 'We can't sit in this atmosphere.
There are chairs down the hall where we shan't disturb anyone.'
There had been chairs at Coba. Here there was a leather-cushioned
sofa.
As she sat down, she said, 'What was the point of coming back at this
time of night? We're leaving here after breakfast.'
After a slight pause, he said, 'Perhaps I had a premonition that you
would be doing something foolish.'
'What's foolish about a swim in a hotel pool? It's not like the sea at
night.'
'Maybe not, but there are other hazards. Being on your own anywhere
at this hour isn't a good idea. Other guests might be wandering about,
or one of the staff could get a false impression. There are girls who
come on holiday looking for casual affairs.'
'I'm sure there are,' said Maria, thinking of Juliette. 'But does that
mean that girls who aren't have to stay behind locked doors all night?'
She saw the porter coming with a tray. 'This man, if he'd seen me
swimming before you arrived, wouldn't have thought I was one of
those people you're talking about.'
'Possibly not. He's an old man. But the night porter might have been
young and randy... if you know what that means?'
'Sexually eager or lustful.'
'Your vocabulary seems to be more extensive than I thought. Where
did you come across that word?'
'I was looking up Ranelagh in the dictionary and "randy" was just
above it.'
While the porter was arranging the tea things on the table in front of
the sofa, Raul said, 'When I was a small boy I spent school holidays
with my grandmother. She made me read aloud to her for half an hour
every day. Any words I didn't know I had to look up. The next day I'd
have to make up a sentence using the words I'd learnt the day before.
For example, "At Ranelagh Gardens in Chelsea, in the eighteenth
century, randy young men of fashion went in search of women known
as lightskirts.'"
Maria said, 'Why did you stay with your grandmother?'
'Because my father's work took him abroad a great deal and I would
have been an encumbrance. My mother died when I was six, but I had
two grannies and several aunts. There was no shortage of women in
my young life...rather the reverse,' he added drily, before switching to
Spanish to thank the porter and sign the chit presented to him.
She wondered if he could remember his mother. It must have been
worse to lose her at that age than never to have known her.
But the upsurge of sympathy engendered by a mental picture of small
boy bereft of both parents and dependent on the kindness of other
relations was abruptly quenched when he said,
'When I hand you over to your father, I'm going to point out that
keeping you cloistered with him isn't in your best interests. For a girl
of your age to have so little sense of self-protection is ridiculous.'
'I think it's you who's being ridiculous,' Maria said stiffly.
His mention of her father had pricked her conscience. Each day she
seemed to spend less time thinking about him, wondering how he was
getting on without her. Already at the back of her mind lurked the
knowledge that she didn't want to go back to the life they had lived
together for so many years. By giving her this taste of freedom, Raul
had made it harder for her to accept the limitations of her real life. For
that, and for other reasons less clear to her, she was suddenly angry
with him.
Angry enough to say recklessly, 'How do you know what I'm really
like? Perhaps I've been playing a part. Perhaps I'm more experienced
than you think. My father goes for long walks. Who knows what I get
up to when he's out of sight up the beach? There are boys of my age
living near us... and back-packers wandering past.'
'That may be, but Eriksen was the first to kiss you, wasn't he?'
'If you say so.'
'I know so. Will you deal with the tea, or shall I?'
The waiter had left several teabags. She dropped one in each cup and
added boiling water. The pool towel, designed to enfold the most
ample tourists, wrapped round her slim body twice and the double
layer at the back would absorb most of the wetness of her swimsuit.
In any case the sofa had leather squabs which wouldn't be damaged if
some moisture did soak through.
'How was the Sound and Light show?' Raul asked, as they waited for
the tea to be drinkable.
'Wonderful.' She explained why they hadn't seen it all, adding, 'Miss
Dysart wouldn't have minded if I'd wanted to stay till the end. She
doesn't fuss over me.'
'She wouldn't approve of your being down here at this hour. Even
with me,' he added drily.
She risked saying, 'What could happen to me when I'm with you?
Your aunt says you used to be known as Not Safe in Taxis, but that
was a long time ago.'
He didn't answer. When she flicked a quick glance at him, his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]