He led the way to the conservatory where Felipe Mayorez lay in a wheelchair that was half a bed. A heavy rug was laid over his wasted knees, and his head rested on pillows. With a great effort he managed to turn it as his visitors approached.
‘Welcome to my house,’ he said slowly. ‘Welcome, my old friend. And to your wife-a very special welcome.’
Sebastian leaned down and kissed the old man with complete naturalness. Maggie was afraid they would see her trembling, but she forced herself to be calm as her husband introduced her. Felipe Mayorez smiled at her, not knowing that she had been the wife of the man who’d destroyed him.
She made the proper reply, and thanked him for his wedding present, a huge, gold-decorated dinner service of the finest porcelain.
‘That was my gift to your house,’ Felipe said. ‘But I have another gift, only for you. On that table.’
Sebastian handed her a small packet. Inside was a pair of heavy gold earrings.
‘They’re beautiful,’ she gasped. ‘But I can’t take them. They look like valuable antiques.’
‘They are,’ Sebastian told her. ‘They belonged to his wife.’
‘His wife,’ she said faintly.
‘He gives them to you as a great compliment.’
She drew a sharp breath, longing to run away and hide. Why had she come here, when she could have gotten out of it? Then she saw Sebastian’s eyes on her, steadying her, felt the warm pressure of his fingers on her hand, and the dreadful moment passed.
‘Help me put them on,’ she said, taking them up.
He lifted her hair back and she felt his warm breath on the nape of her neck. Then his fingers brushed lightly against her ears, fastening the gold clasps. Maggie drew a slow breath, startled at the way her heart had started to beat.
It was the first time he’d touched her intimately since the night in Sol y Nieve when he’d tried to make love to her, and given up in the face of her despairing chill. Since then, he’d never touched her except by chance, or to give her his hand formally.
And now, when she was least prepared, her sensations returned, making the blood rush to her cheeks. She met Sebastian’s eyes, and saw there that he’d understood. Something was making her breath come quickly. Then a sigh of pleasure from Felipe forced them back to the present, and it was all over.
‘Beautiful,’ he said. ‘Magnificent.’
‘Yes, they are beautiful,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’
Then the tears came to her eyes. It was so dreadful to see him there, his life ruined, and know that she was deceiving him.
‘You must not weep,’ Felipe said.
‘I can’t help it,’ she said huskily, touching his wasted cheek. ‘I’m sorry-I’m so sorry-’
‘No need to be sorry for me-when I have a lovely woman to weep for me,’ he said gallantly. He tried to raise his arm and failed. ‘Sebastian, comfort her.’
She tried to stop crying but her pity for the old man welled up. She had wept for her baby, for Roderigo, for herself, but now she wept for Felipe and they were the bitterest tears of all. She felt Sebastian’s arms go around her, drawing her head against his shoulder, and cried unrestrainedly.
After a moment she forced herself to be calm again, and raised her head, smiling at Felipe.
‘You are a lucky man,’ he said to Sebastian. ‘By now, you might have made a different marriage. But this is the wife for you. She is a good and true woman. No man could ask for better. I, Felipe Mayorez, tell you that.’
‘And you are right, old friend,’ Sebastian said gravely. ‘I have known it, but it pleases me to hear you say it.’
Suddenly the old man gave a sigh. His eyes closed and his head lolled.
‘Carlos,’ Sebastian called, and the young man appeared so quickly that he must have been nearby.
They said their goodbyes, but Felipe seemed hardly able to hear them, and they left. In the car home Maggie realised that she was still wearing the earrings and started to remove them.
‘Keep them on,’ Sebastian told her. ‘They were given from the heart.’
‘I never expected him to be so kind to me.’
‘He saw something in you that he loved,’ Sebastian said simply. ‘This I understand.’
He spoke so quietly that she wasn’t sure she’d heard him, and when she looked he was gazing out of the window.
Maggie had moved out of the room she first occupied, into one that befitted the mistress of the house, but Sebastian had kept his own room next door. Sometimes faint noises reached him through the connecting wall. He tried not to listen, but the noises tormented him.
On the night of their visit to Felipe he sat up late, listening and trying not to listen. As midnight passed into the small hours he could hear her walking about the room. But then the movements stopped, and the silence was worse.
He thought of her that afternoon, letting him hold her while she was torn by pity for the old man, but slipping quickly out of his arms again. And tonight, when she might have turned to him, she had pleaded a headache and gone to bed early. That was six hours ago and she was still awake.
When he could endure it no longer he went out into the corridor. There was no sound from behind her door, and at last he pushed it open and closed it quietly behind him. She was standing in the middle of the floor. She turned when she heard the click of the door.
‘Can’t you sleep?’ he asked.
‘I don’t want to sleep. Not after this afternoon. Every time I close my eyes I see him.’
‘Felipe?’
‘No-
There was no further need to ask who
‘I can’t bear my nightmares,’ Maggie said desolately. ‘He’s always there.’
He came close to her. ‘He mustn’t be there,’ he said. ‘Nobody must be there but me.’
‘Then drive him away,’ she said desperately. ‘Can’t you make him go?’
‘Yes,’ he said, taking her into his arms. ‘I will make him go away, so that there is only me. Tell me that is what you want.’
‘Yes,’ she whispered, slipping her arms about his neck. ‘It’s what I want.’
Still he couldn’t be sure, and his uncertainty was reflected in his kiss, gentle and loving, passion held in abeyance. There was something new in her response, a desperation, almost a plea, that hurt him. He kissed her repeatedly, trying to bring her back to him.
‘Margarita,’ he murmured, ‘Margarita-where are you?’
‘With you-where I want to be. Hold me.’
‘What do you want?’ he asked her urgently.
‘I want you-
He longed to ask her what she really meant by that, but the need was rising in him, making his caresses more urgent, his kisses deeper. As always her beauty entranced him, but tonight it had a special quality. He tossed her night dress away, then his own robe, and held her naked body against his.
‘Sebastian-I do want you.’
It was all he needed. He reached the bed first and sat, drawing her against him so that he could lay his head between her breasts, revelling in their sweetness and warmth. They were already proudly peaked, testament to her desire. When he caressed them with his lips, she let out a long sigh of pleasure and satisfaction, clasping her hands behind his head, inviting him.
He leaned back so that she slid down onto the bed beside him and began to bestow subtle, lingering kisses on her face, her neck, silently calling her to return to him.
Maggie could feel the change in him through her skin, her sensations, the beating of her heart. Their other lovings had been wild encounters, each seeking and giving pleasure, almost like rivals. Now Sebastian was using desire to give her something else, something she needed far more than pleasure. With every touch he spoke of tenderness, protection, reassurance, and her terrors began to fade. In her need she reached out to him, and he was there.
