The Society Bride

‘Up until now I deemed it preferable to stay silent. After all, I do not want her to be unduly upset. And when she learns of my illness,’ he said stifling a sigh, ‘she will be most upset.’

‘Of course.’ Ramon looked down. ‘Don Rodrigo, although I would be more than willing to accept a role in an advisory capacity, I don’t feel that—’

‘One moment, young man. I am aware that all this has been thrust upon you in a most impromptu manner. But will you not at least take the opportunity, now that you have come all this way, of getting to know my granddaughter a little better? I am not suggesting that the two of you fall in love, or anything of that nature, merely that together you establish a well-balanced relationship. Nena has been brought up in the strictest possible manner. She would make you a good wife.

‘Many marriages work out very well under these conditions,’ he added with a thin, tired smile. ‘I know that in this day and age you young people all believe in Hollywood-style relationships—marriage one day, divorce the next. But real life, my boy, is very different. Look rather at your parents, and at myself. Our marriages were planned, and they worked out brilliantly.’

‘That’s all very well,’ Ramon countered, but then, seeing the butler carrying a large silver tray piled with scones and sandwiches, he closed his mouth.

Nena rushed into the large marble bathroom of her suite of rooms and took a rapid shower, her mind filled with the incredibly good-looking son of her grandfather’s friends. She had been quite taken aback, but hoped that her surprise had not been in any way evident.

He was older, of course, and rather forbidding and arrogant-looking, with his thick black hair, straight Roman nose, high slashed cheekbones and chestnut golden-flecked eyes. A bit like an actor, she reflected, rubbing herself with a thick terry towel before stepping into the dressing room and choosing a short pink linen Gucci dress.

Minutes later she tripped down the stairs and joined the others. She sat in the only available chair, next to Ramon, determined not to let his intense masculine aura distract her as she proceeded to serve the tea. The next few minutes were occupied with handing round sandwiches, and it was only when she sat back down that she realised Ramon was looking at her rather fiercely.

She shifted uncomfortably and suppressed a desire to pull her skirt lower. A delicious shiver coursed through her. She’d heard of men looking at you and leaving you feeling undressed. Now she knew what it meant. For a moment she wondered if she was dreaming. Perhaps she’d spilled something on her dress and that was why he was looking her over in that confident manner.

She glanced down, but there was nothing, and she felt cross with herself for allowing this man to leave her feeling both self-conscious and—something else that she couldn’t quite define. Shifting closer to his mother, she half turned her back on him and chit-chatted about this and that for a while, trying not to be aware of his eyes upon her.

‘You must come and see the garden properly,’ she said to Augusta. ‘I’ve had some new flowerbeds laid out near the lake, and the little wood over there is charming to walk in.’

‘Thank you, my love,’ Augusta replied with a gracious smile. ‘But I’m afraid I find walking a bit of a strain these days, particularly in the heat. But Ramon, I’m sure, would be delighted to see the garden.’

‘Oh, no. I don’t think you’d like it at all,’ Nena said hastily, turning towards him, embarrassed and biting her lip while hoping she hadn’t sounded too rude. She could hardly refuse to take him, but the last place she wanted to go was for a walk in his austere, rather autocratic company.

‘Yes, Nena, that’s a good idea,’ her grandfather insisted. ‘You take Ramon for a walk while we old folks chat.’ Don Rodrigo smiled approvingly.

Unwilling to distress her grandfather by refusing, Nena turned and glanced at Ramon. ‘If you like we can go,’ she said, her tone unenthusiastic, hoping he’d refuse.

‘Fine. Let’s go.’

Reluctantly she rose and began walking down towards the lake with Ramon close by her side. He was tall, she observed, at least six foot two or more, and his shoulders were broad. There was something powerful and engulfing in his presence, she realised, an authority about him that reminded her in a way of her grandfather. Now, as they walked, he slipped off his jacket and threw it casually over his shoulder while Nena wondered what on earth to say to him.

Soon they’d reached the lakeside, and Ramon still hadn’t made any effort at conversation—although Nena could feel his eyes boring into her. It was really most uncomfortable, especially since he was so close to her. She was catching whiffs of his musky after-shave—and something else indefinable, something she’d never experienced next to any man before.

‘Those are peonies and delphiniums,’ she blabbered, pointing out the flowers, ‘and over there are a number of dahlias. But I’m sure you’re not really interested in flowers,’ she added quickly, pressing her hands together and wondering why she felt so wound up and nervous when usually she was perfectly at ease with visitors.

‘You’re right,’ he replied, his face breaking into a sudden charming smile that lit up his face as he looked down at her. ‘I’m no expert on flowers. But my parents and your grandfather seemed pretty determined that we should come for a walk together, don’t you think?’ he asked, testing the terrain.

‘Yes.’ She frowned, looking up at him, puzzled. ‘They did, didn’t they? Do you have any idea why?’

Ramon wished he’d kept his mouth shut. For now he felt like a cad, as though he was deceiving this young woman by not telling her the truth. Yet how could he come clean when she had not the slightest idea that her grandfather was dying?

‘I suppose they thought that we are nearer in age and might find more to talk about on our own,’ he said with a non-committal shrug. He found it hard to resist her enquiring gaze, that lovely frank innocence in her eyes and in her charming smile, and the underlying trace of sensuality that he’d be willing to bet she still hadn’t recognised in herself. The thought left him in dire danger of another embarrassing physical reaction and he turned quickly towards the lake. ‘Look, why don’t we keep them happy and you show me this famous wood?’ he said, pointing to his left with forced interest.

‘Okay,’ she agreed, glad that the atmosphere had lightened up. Perhaps he was just someone you needed to get to know better.

‘Tell me about yourself,’ he said, taking her arm lightly as they reached a small bridge that crossed the lake to a path that led to the wood.

Another curious new sensation coursed through Nena at his touch on her flesh, and she was hard put to it not to shudder.

‘There’s not much to tell,’ she said, allowing him to guide her across, although she knew the bridge by heart. ‘I finished school last year. I wanted to go to university—was accepted by a couple, in fact,’ she added hastily. For some reason she didn’t want him to assume she was stupid. ‘But then Grandfather seemed increasingly unwell and I didn’t feel I could abandon him.’ She stopped and shrugged, then smiled up at him through long thick lashes. ‘He doesn’t seem any better lately, and I don’t want to make him unhappy.’

‘But of course you must go to university,’ Ramon replied. Part of him was shocked that her future might be compromised. The other part, the part that didn’t want to recognise just how attractive he found her, thought how appealing it was that in this day and age, when most women he came across thought only of their own wellbeing and personal ambition, she should place her grandfather first. Which, in turn, reminded him of all the pain she was going to experience when she learned of his terminal illness.

‘Maybe one day I’ll be able to go to college,’ she replied with a shrug. ‘I’d really like to. But please,’ she said, her brows creasing suddenly, ‘promise you won’t tell Grandfather? I would hate for him to be upset or worried.’

‘Of course I won’t say anything. Anyway, it’s none of my business. Still, it seems odd that he won’t—’ Suddenly Ramon remembered. Of course Don Rodrigo didn’t want her out there, in the midst of people over whom he had no control. ‘Where were you accepted?’ he asked.

‘Oxford and the Sorbonne.’

He looked at her, brows raised. ‘That’s pretty good.’

‘You seem surprised,’ she countered, challenging him. ‘I suppose it’s because I’m a woman?’

‘Guilty,’ he said, a new and delicious twinkle brightening his eyes. ‘I’m afraid I’m not used to coming across women who are as lovely as you and yet who are obviously also highly gifted and intelligent.’

Nena’s cheeks flushed and she looked quickly away. ‘Oh, I’m not really that bright. I just like studying, that’s all. There’s the wood,’ she mumbled hastily.

‘What about your boyfriend?’ he probed. ‘Does he want you to go to university?’

‘Boyfriend?’ Nena frowned again, then laughed, a natural spontaneous gurgle that left Ramon swallowing. ‘Oh, I see. No, I don’t have a boyfriend. Well, I have friends, of course, like Jimmy Chandler and David Onslow at the tennis club, but that’s different.’

‘And have none of them ever tried to kiss you?’ he asked in an amused, bantering tone, unable to resist the temptation of finding out more about this alluring creature to whom he was becoming increasingly drawn, despite the strange situation they were in.

‘Oh, Lord, no—they’re just pals.’ Nena gave an embarrassed shrug and their eyes met as they reached the edge of the wood. ‘This is the wood. Do you want to see it?’

‘Honestly?’ His eyes flashed wickedly.

‘Honestly,’ she responded, lips twitching.

‘Honestly, I have no interest whatsoever in seeing your wood—though if it is half as charming as its owner I suppose I should.’

‘Oh, shut up.’ She giggled, feeling now as though she’d known him a while. ‘That’s totally silly.’

‘Why don’t we sit over there by the lake for a few minutes and relax?’

‘All right.’

They walked back across the bridge and down to the water’s edge. ‘Here, let me lay this on the grass; it may be damp,’ he said, spreading out his jacket for her, trying to sort out the conflict raging in his mind.

‘Thanks.’ She sat on part of the jacket, leaving room for him, and he lowered himself next to her.

‘Tell me, what’s it like living with your grandfather?’ he asked suddenly, throwing a pebble spinning into the still waters of the lake.

‘I love him dearly. I mean, of course at times it’s a bit restrictive, but I need to look after him. That’s why I didn’t tell him I’d been accepted at Oxford, or he might have changed his mind and felt obliged to let me go. Then there would have been no one to look after him.’

‘But surely the staff would take care of him?’