Doctor at Villa Ronda (7 page)

After a few moments Nicola said, “How am I expected to do that?”

“Adrienne is easily persuaded to a course of action if she likes the person giving the advice. She will probably accept from you what she would resent from me—or—or others.”

S
he guessed that he had been going to say “Elena.
”
“Wouldn’t this—this undesirable friendship die of its own accord if no one interfered?” Nicola felt bound to ask. “To forbid her to see him may only result in her rebellion.”

Sebastian smiled, but only with his mouth. There was no warmth in his eyes. “I see that you have common sense, Miss Brettell. That is why I think I can rely on you to carry out my wishes.”

“
Supposing I am doing your work here, how am I to prevent Adrienne from doing whatever she chooses or going wherever she fancies?”

“Miss Brettell—may I call you Nicola?—you are evidently extremely logical. Perhaps your business training has given you that. Of course you can’t be in two places at once, but you can influence Adrienne to the extent that she won’t disobey you.”

“I
think
you’re crediting me, Dr. Montal, with more powers than I possess, but I’ll do my best for Adrienne—and for you.”

“I’m aware of the order in which you’ve placed us, but perhaps Adrienne should come first. It’s really her future that’s my concern. Her father may or may not be dead, but either way I must safeguard Adrienne.”

“How much of this am I to tell your niece?” she queried. “Is she to be told that I am her newly appointed watchdog?”

The doctor placed his hands on the back of a chair and looked down at her. “If you think it wise to do so. I admire your frankness, but Adrienne may like the truth disguised a little.”

The next hour or so was taken up with Nicola’s instruction in how Sebastian wanted his typescript done, but when she left him in his study, she was glad to escape the claustrophobic atmosphere.

She went to her room and looked out over the flower
-
edged patio. Such lovely surroundings to a gracious house, yet there were discords and cross-currents of opposition. She began to wonder whether she had been wise to sign away her own freedom for a year.

Where was Adrienne now? Down in Orsola chatting to her fisher-boy? Nicola went out of the house to search, hating herself already that she had been forced into the position of a wardress. But Adrienne was chatting to Ramon on the “Mediterranean balcony”, a tall jug of Sangria between them.

W
hen the courtesies of kissing Nicola’s hand had been observed by Ramon and she was invited to sample the
deliciously cool Sangria, he said, “We are making plans to go to Sitges for Corpus Christi. You will of course come with us?”

“Thank you, I’d like to,” returned Nicola.

“Elena will come with us,” continued Ramon, “but will Sebastian?”

“I doubt it,” said Adrienne, who seemed rather subdued.

Ramon said he had matters to attend to on board his yacht, and as soon as he had left and was safely out of earshot, Adrienne leaned forward towards Nicola.

“Just imagine!” she said breathlessly. “Elena is home only one day and already makes trouble between me and Sebastian.”

Nicola said “Oh?” in a questioning tone, aware of what she was to be told.

“She spied on me yesterday when we were at the quay and I was talking to Barto. Where she was I don’t know—perhaps on the yacht. But she told Sebastian immediately, and now I am forbidden to see Barto.” Adrienne thrust out her arms. “What could be the harm? But you, Nicola, will be able to help me, I know. I will not allow Dona Elena to rule me.”

Nicola wriggled in her chair. Her conscience was wriggling too, in sympathy. She saw that she was already in the unenviable situation of being between the devil and the deep blue sea, that her allegiance was being stretched in opposite directions. How much simpler it would have been to have returned to England and taken an ordinary job in an ordinary office! But that would have been duller and would not have solved the problem of Lisa’s debts. Nicola had to admit to herself that perhaps she was a little bit keyed up by this intriguing development.

CHAPTER
II
I

When
she was taken to Sitges on Corpus Christi day Nicola had her first taste of the way in which her life with the Montals might.be enlivened.

Ramon drove one car with Adrienne and Nicola accompanying him, while Sebastian escorted Dona Elena in his own car driven by Ignacio.

“Sebastian changed his mind at the last minute and decided to come with us,” Adrienne confided to Nicola just before they started. “So he has the pleasure of Dona Elena’s company and she is not inflicted on us.”

Nicola merely smiled and was cautious enough not to make any comment. She realised that where Elena was concerned she must choose her words carefully and at least try to appear neutral.

“Now you must always pray that the weather will keep fine,” Adrienne continued. “One year we started out in bright sunshine, but thunder clouds descended from the mountains. All Sitges was drenched with rain and the flower carpets were spoilt.”

Nicola realised that all the rest of the party must have visited Sitges at Corpus Christi many times, yet Ramon and Adrienne at least were taking the trouble to show her one of the loveliest of their local sights.

The drive itself was exciting, sometimes hair-raising, for Ramon swung at top speed round sinuous bends along the winding coast road, where a slight error of judgment could send the car and its occupants plunging over the edge to the rocks below.

The little town of Sitges was crowded with tourists and inhabitants alike. The narrow pavements served as margins from which to view the roadways completely carpeted with flowers, each street with its own individual pattern. Some designs showed giant cherries, nasturtiums and red and yellow canna lilies on a background of white jasmine. Another took the conventional geometrical motifs and worked them in green, yellow and red, so that the whole appeared like a huge stair-carpet unrolled in the roadway.

“Hours of work it must take,” commented Nicola.

“Many days,” agreed Adrienne. “But everyone helps. The inhabitants regard the
‘
Alfombras de flores
’—the flower carpets—as a kind of fancy dress for their town for this one day, and they put in their spare time and money making its costume.”

After they had toured the various streets, Ramon suggested lunch at a restaurant in the old part of the town towards the end of the bay where a church on massive ramparts jutted out almost into the sea.

Dr. Montal became more genial during the meal, helping Nicola to understand the various dishes.

“You must try this white wine,” he invited, showing her the label on the bottle,
Priorato blanc.

Almost at once Dona Elena claimed his attention, and Nicola found when she looked across the table Ramon’s dark twinkling gaze fixed on her.

“You are enjoying yourself?” he queried.

“Oh, yes,” Nicola agreed easily. “Who wouldn’t on a day like this?”

He nodded approval. “Together we must have many days of showing you places and interesting sights.”

His smile was suddenly extinguished and he bent his head to concentrate on his food. Nicola, aware of the abrupt break, glanced beyond Sebastian who sat next to her to Dona Elena at the head of the table. Indoors, Dona Elena had discarded her usual heavily-smoked glasses and now Nicola caught an expression
of
ice-cold dislike in those green-brown eyes. Momentarily, Elena maintained her gaze, but Nicola looked away first. She felt that she was caught here in shafts of cross-fire that she did not know how to parry.

After lunch and a long rest for coffee and liqueurs, Sebastian suggested that Nicola might like to visit two very interesting museums close by.

“One was originally a Basque-style house where three painters lived for a few years. One of the three was Picasso.”

Touring the lovely old house with its typical Basque furnishings, Nicola stood entranced by those earlier paintings, gentle pictures of harmony.

The other small museum, Sebastian told her when they arrived, had been bought and completely restored by an American millionaire who then gave half to the town and the other half to his son.

“The division is curious,” Sebastian said. “You see the blocked doorway ahead. It happens to be on a bridge across the roadway.”

“Perhaps it was meant to be symbolic,” Nicola observed. “A door between public property and private.”

The doctor gave her a sharp questioning glance, but made no further comment.

When Sebastian and Nicola rejoined the others to walk along the palm-edged promenade, Ramon escorted her, leaving Sebastian to accompany Adrienne and Elena.

“How do you like Sitges?” Ramon asked.

“It’s a charming town. Now I understand the views of a friend of mine at home who declares that when he retires he’s coming to live here.”

As she walked between the double row of palms with tops like green feather dusters, she saw how the regularly recurring shadows were cast on the roadway at the side.

“Look, Senor Ventallo,” she said. “D’you think the people here took their inspiration for the flower carpets from the way the shadows fall? Each one makes a pattern.”

“So it does. But you must not be so formal. Please call me Ramon. And you—may I address you as Nicola?”

She turned to smile at him. “Of course.”

On the return journey Nicola was invited to share Sebastian’s car. She agreed instantly, but she was vaguely surprised that it meant that Ramon and Adrienne would be allowed to drive home in his car unchaperoned. She sat with Elena in the back while Sebastian drove, Ignacio beside him.

Dona Elena was graciousness itself during the drive, breaking a sentence only once when Sebastian met a large coach and had to back to the very edge of the rocky cliff.

On arrival at the Villa Ronda, Elena said, “Senorita Brettell, you must sit down and tell me about yourself.”

Nicola realised now as she regarded this formidable young widow that Elena had urged Sebastian to include Nicola, so that they would be home before the other two, Adrienne and Ramon.

“Yes, Dona Elena,” Nicola said gently, as they sat in one of the small patios of the villa. “What would you like to know?”

Elena removed her dark glasses. “About your family. Your life in London. Dr. Montal says you came here only for a holiday.”

“
Yes.” Nicola decided that without being impolite or obstructive,
s
he need not make it easy for Dona Elena.

“Then why did you stay?” asked the other.

“I had arranged to meet my sister Lisa in Barcelona, even step into her job which she had given up. But I haven’t been able to trace Lisa yet.” Nicola realised that the doctor might already have given Elena some of these details.

“How very interesting!” Elena had replaced her dark glasses. “Are you still looking for her?”

“Of course.”

Elena’s lips curled into a faintly derisive smile.

“Have the police been able to help you?” she asked.

Nicola inwardly shivered. “So far I haven’t asked for their help.”

“
I see. No doubt you have good reasons for that.” Nicola remained silent. This was no time to make hot protests or Elena would probe
a
nd suspect until she arrived at the truth about Lisa.

“I feel I must give you a friendly warning,” Elena continued. “About Adrienne. At the moment she is very taken with you. She finds you a pleasant companion. But she is very young—and she changes her mind most rapidly. If you should suddenly find yourself on bad terms with her, that is something you must entirely expect.”

After a brief pause, Nicola said, “Thank you, Dona Elena. I’ll bear in mind what you say.” She had no intention of revealing that she had pledged herself to stay for a year, and evidently Dr. Sebastian had not mentioned the fact to Elena. Of course, Nicola reflected, Adrienne might make the situation so impossible that Nicola would be glad to go and Sebastian only too willing to release her. It was obvious now that Elena would do everything in her power to sow trouble between Nicola and both Adrienne and her uncle.

Elena rose, a beautiful woman, slightly above the average Spanish height, with a regal carriage and a proud tilt of her head so that it showed the camellia-white pillar of her throat. Beside her, Nicola felt undistinguished and at this moment even grubby after the day’s outing. She was longing to get away from Elena and take a cool shower. At last Elena dismissed her with a cool smile and a final warning: “You will remember what I said, won’t you?”

Nicola fled to her room. She was going to be no match for this elegant, sophisticated woman. In many ways, although she was older, she could not always follow Adrienne’s sometimes tortuous reasoning and impulsive actions, but at least the young girl was frank about her intentions.