An Apple in Eden Read online

  'Juan?' Lynn's eyes went from her face to that of the man who had perched himself comfortably on the end of her lounger, and some new expression seemed momentarily to leap in them before she laughed suddenly and pushed at his arm with her outstretched toe. 'What have you been up to, Ramon ?'

  'Nothing at all,' he answered without turning a hair. 'I never said I was Juan.'

  'You never denied it either,' Eve pointed out with some heat, and he lifted his shoulders in a laughing shrug.

  'It was far more interesting to allow you to go on

  assuming that I was my brother—especially after you'd so clearly expressed your disapproval of me as a fitting husband for your sister.'

  'I didn't say ...' began Eve.

  'You didn't say, but you looked,' he interrupted smoothly. 'And you were right. I could never equal Juan—in that capacity, or any other.' One lean brown hand reached out and stabbed at a bell push set into the arm of the chair. 'You would welcome a cool drink, I think. Do you have any special preference?'

  Eve shook her head, not trusting her voice. When she thought of all the things she had said to him on the way here she wanted to sink through the floor. Not that he hadn't asked for it, leading her on the way he had. The nerve of the man!

  A manservant appeared from the direction of the house. Ramon gave an order in Spanish, and transferred to a canvas chair as the man went off, leaning back to regard both girls with lazy interest.

  'You're not at all alike in looks,' he commented.

  'Lynn takes after her mother,' replied Eve. 'She was quite a well-known photographic model about ten years ago.'

  'And you have your father's features?' appraising them. 'A man of some character, I would say, and not a little stubbornness. Are you like him in other ways, too?'

  'Too true she is.' Lynn said it lightly enough, but there was something in her smile which belied her tone. 'Dad and Eve were inseparable. Always going off on some jaunt together and leaving Mom and

  me to our own devices. No one else got a look in.'

  Green eyes met black briefly and defensively. 'You were neither of you very keen on his kind of work,' Eve pointed out. 'And I only went with him when he was working on digs within reasonable distance of town. That one weekend you did go with us you hated every minute of it.'

  'I should think so.' Lynn gave an exaggerated shudder. 'All that scraping and sifting just to get a look at an old paved floor '

  'Mosaic,' corrected Eve patiently. 'That Roman villa was one of Dad's most important finds.'

  'You didn't tell us your father was an archaeologist,' put in Ramon, and Lynn shrugged.

  'It never came up. He wasn't a well-known one, anyway.'

  'Not to the general public perhaps. In his own circles he was regarded with a great deal of respect.' Immediately she had said it Eve wished she had held her tongue. She didn't have to defend her father to anyone, least of all a man who meant nothing to her at all. 'He was perfectly content with that,' she finished stiffly.

  Ramon's gaze did not waver. 'I understand that both your parents were killed in an air accident?'

  'Yes.' Even now it took an effort to talk about it unemotionally. 'Dad was to have made a lecture tour in the States, and I persuaded Mother to go with him.' She put on a smile for the elderly Spaniard as he placed a tall glass on the low table in front of her. 'Gracias.'

  Lynn picked up her own glass and drank almost

  half the contents at one go. caught Ramon's eye and gave a sudden little laugh. 'Oh, heavens, I forgot! Are you going to lecture me again?'

  `No,' he returned equably. 'It's you who will suffer the most if you continue to take iced liquids so quickly in the heat of the day—although I doubt that Juan will be happy to see you ill. When do you expect him home?'

  `I've no idea. I didn't ask. The usual time, I suppose.' Lynn sounded faintly put out. 'Aren't you going to have a drink with us?'

  `Not now.' He was on his feet. 'I have to go to Puerto.'

  'On business?'

  Ramon laughed, and touched her cheek. 'Si, pequena hermana, on business. I'll be back in time for dinner.' His glance came back to Eve, and the dark head inclined mockingly. 'I look forward to continuing our discussion. Adios.'

  He was gone, striding off down the path by which the two of them had approached the pool, long, lean, and vital. Despite herself, Eve found her eyes following him until he had rounded the corner out of sight. When she turned back Lynn was watching her with an odd expression.

  'What did he mean, continue your discussion?' she asked. 'What did you talk about on the way_ up?'

  'You mostly,' returned Eve. She coloured again

  at the recollection. 'Lynn, we've a great deal to talk

  about ourselves. How did you come to meet Juan?'

  The younger girl examined her nails with

  meticulous attention. 'Through the family I was working for. He was visiting the mainland on business, and came to stay with the Rejons for a week. When he left I came with him.' She stirred restlessly. 'I suppose you'd like to see your room,'

  'I wouldn't mind,' acknowledged Eve, recognising that she was going to get the full story in instalments anyway. 'I feel terribly sticky and grubby, and I still have to meet Senora Perestrello.'

  'Oh, you'll not see her before five,' was the indifferent reply. 'She takes her siesta very seriously.' She got up, pulling on a flimsy jacket. 'I'd better show you where it is.'

  Indoors it was dim and blessedly cool after the shimmering heat of the pool side. Eve went with her sister up a gracefully curving staircase with a balustrade of wrought iron, and along a corridor to a room shuttered against the sun and coolly tiled underfoot. The furnishings were few and simple, the decorations mostly white with touches of pale green. There was an adjoining bathroom, and Lynn showed her how to manipulate the shower.

  'The water pressure up here fluctuates like mad,' she said. 'One minute it's a mere trickle, the next a flood. It's the one bit of excitement you can expect in an average day.'

  Eve followed her back into the bedroom, watched her wander restlessly across to peer out

  between the slats of the blind, said hesitantly. 'You can't be bored already, Lynn. You've only been here such a little while, and it's so beautiful. Besides ...'

  'Besides, I've got Juan.' Lynn turned suddenly to face her across the width of the room. 'Supposing I told you I'd made a terrible mistake over Juan?'

  Eve stood motionless for a long moment. 'Then I'd say,' she managed at last, 'that it's a good thing you found out before the wedding and not after. Have you told him?'

  'Of course not. How can I when it's barely a month since I said I'd marry him?'

  As long as that? thought Eve distractedly. That meant Lynn had been here on the island some three weeks before sending that letter. Surely the Perestrellos might have done something about informing her sooner than they had? But that was irrelevant at the moment anyway. She regarded her sister with a familiar sense of helplessness. 'But if you're so sure you've made a mistake you're going to have to tell him sooner or later. are you so sure, Lynn? You must have believed you were in love with him when you accepted his proposal.'

  'I suppose I was, in a way. He seemed so mature, so sure of himself compared with the boys I'd been going around with. And he's crazy about me.' This last with a complacency which made Eve want to shake her. 'They're in the tobacco business, the Perestrellos, you know. Cigar manufacturers. The factory is down in Santa Cruz. The family also owns a couple of banana plantations down in the Orotava valley. You must admit that security has its attractions too.'

  'To a certain extent perhaps. Only I don't think it should be all-important. I take it the Perestrellos

  haven't gone bankrupt overnight, or anything?'

  The irony was lost on Lynn. 'Of course not.' she said again. She was beginning; to sound impatient. `So far as material things are concerned I could have anything I wanted from Juan.' Her voice changed. 'It wasn't until he brought me here that I r
ealised what was missing. Ramon is the kind of man I should marry. What's more, he feels the same way.'

  'He's told you that?'

  'He doesn't need to.' Lynn's head was up, her mouth curved. 'It's in the way he looks at me, the way he speaks. And today, pretending to you that he was Juan. It shows, doesn't it, that he wishes he was?'

  How young she still was. thought Eve numbly. The same Lynn indeed, never content with what she had for longer than it took her to see something she considered better. Only this was different. This was someone's life and happiness she held in the palm of her uncaring little hand.

  'Juan and Ramon are brothers.' she said. 'There are bound to be similarities which would lead you to feel an attraction for Ramon, but that isn't necessarily love.'

  'What would you know about it?' Her sister's pretty mouth had tightened ominously. 'You can't even make up your mind about someone you've known for two years! What I feel for Ramon is quite different from anything I feel for Juan. only I didn't recognise the difference until I met him.

  Compared with Ramon, Juan is so ... so slow!' 'You mean he's older?'

  'No. That's what makes it so much more noticeable. They're twins, you see. Both thirty, although I think Ramon is the eldest by an hour. He takes after his father, who was half English, while Juan is more like his mother. Ramon went to school in England, and he's travelled all over the world just about, while Juan stayed right here, quite content. I don't want to hurt him, but ...' She stopped, held out her hands appealingly. 'Eve, you've got to help me. Please l '

  Eve said quietly, 'You want me to tell Juan for you, is that it?'

  'Well, yes, I suppose it is.' Her voice was cajoling. 'You could do it so much better than I can. Explain things better. He'll understand. Actually,' she added, 'you're far more his type than I am.'

  Suddenly Eve wanted to laugh. Hysteria, she thought. 'Oh, that would sort everything out comfortably, wouldn't it?' she said. 'I take Juan off your hands, leaving you free to take up with Ramon. I'm sure the whole family would love that!'

  'Oh, well, of course, if anything like that did happen we wouldn't stay on here,' returned Lynn with an airy practicality which left Eve speechless. 'I'd get Ramon to take me away somewhere, start a new life. We could live on the mainland and still be involved in the Perestrello affairs.'

  Castles in the air. It had always been Lynn's

  favourite game when they were both children, and she still hadn't learned to draw the line between fact and wishful thinking. Standing there, Eve became aware of a growing anger against the man who was the cause of all the trouble. Ramon no doubt found his brother's young fiancée very attractive, and saw no reason why he should not indulge in a mild flirtation with her, but that was as far as it went with him; his attitude by the pool had convinced Eve of that. In some ways that made his conduct even worse. One could forgive a man suddenly and desperately in love a lot of things.

  'Lynn, give it a little more time,' she begged. 'You might imagine yourself in love with Ramon now, but ...'

  'I should have known you wouldn't understand,' said her sister disgustedly. 'It was a waste of time getting you here! ' She flounced to the door, turning when she reached it to deliver her parting shot. 'The trouble with you is that you're jealous because you know you couldn't attract a man like Ramon yourself. You always have been jealous of me!'

  Eve sank slowly to a chair as the door banged. Lynn didn't mean all she said; it was just her way of hitting out at someone who had disappointed her. Yet what else could she have said or done herself in a situation like this?

  Fatalistically, she knew the answer. Lynn had to be convinced that Ramon had no real romantic interest in her, leaving her free to make up her mind about his brother once and for all. Someone

  had to talk to him, and it seemed that it was going to be up to her to broach the subject, although just how she was going to do it she had no idea at all.

  CHAPTER TWO

  LYNN did not return during the rest of the afternoon. Eve rested in her slip on the bed for an hour, and at five was brought a tray of tea and cakes together with the message that Senora Perestrello looked forward to meeting her guest before dinner in the salon.

  Appreciating the gesture scheduled to make her feel at home, Eve gratefully drank two cups of tea and ate a cake, then spent the next couple of hours unpacking and getting ready for the evening. With no idea as to whether or not the Perestrellos dressed for dinner, she decided to play safe with a knee-length dress in lemon cotton simple enough to take the string of pearls which had been her parents' eighteenth birthday present. By seven-forty-five she was ready to leave her room and seek out Senora Perestrello in the salon, wherever that was.

  The hall was empty when she went downstairs, and she hesitated at the foot, wondering which of the doors leading off it would be the one she wanted. As she was standing there one of them opened suddenly and a man came out. Apart from the fact that he was dressed in a dark suit and crisp white

  shirt as opposed to the tailored slacks and casual cotton sweater in which Eve had last seen Ramon, the brothers were so much alike that at first Eve couldn't be quite sure which of them she was looking at. It was only when he looked up and smiled at the sight of her that she began to realise the differences. Juan was perhaps an inch or so shorter than Ramon, and rather heavier in build, and his eyes completely lacked the taunting challenge of his brother's.

  'I am so very glad that you were able to come,' he said with obvious sincerity. 'I was sorry to be unable to meet you at the airport as I had planned, but I am sure that Ramon managed excellently.' This last on a faintly dry note. 'You have seen Lynn, of course?'

  'Yes, earlier.' She added quickly: 'I would have called for her now, only I wasn't sure which her room was. I've been resting for a few hours.'

  'That was sensible,' he said. 'You will not yet have met Madre—my mother?'

  'No, though she very kindly sent up tea for me. She is very considerate.'

  'Yes.' He gave a wry smile. 'I wish that Lynn would try to discover this too. I'm afraid that Madre spoke her mind on the day that we discovered your existence, and Lynn has not yet forgiven her. It was a shock to all of us. I would not have dreamt of asking your sister to become my novia without first seeking your permission. You must believe this.'

  So that was it! Had things gone as planned, Lynn

  would have deliberately kept the Perestrellos in ignorance until after the wedding rather than run the risk of having her older sister say or do something which might conceivably pull down her castle before it was finished. But things hadn't gone as planned because there had been Ramon, and suddenly it had become necessary to have someone to help her wriggle out of the situation she had found herself in. Oddly enough, Eve felt no pain, just a kind of philosophical acceptance. That was Lynn, take her or leave her.

  'She doesn't need permission,' she said in as light a tone as she could manage. 'She's fully of age.'

  'Perhaps in your own country. Here ...' He paused, smiled a little. 'Our girls marry even younger, and yet in many ways they are far older than your sister. Lynn is so very vulnerable. The moment we met I wanted to cherish her, to protect her.' With simplicity he added, 'I love her very much.'

  Eve's throat felt tight. Lynn didn't deserve a man like this, didn't know how lucky she was. In that moment she resolved that if Lynn was going to break off her engagement at all then she must do it herself, and with honesty. Juan deserved that much at the very least.

  The sound of a car broke into her thoughts, and she felt her pulses quicken suddenly. Juan glanced at his watch, said, 'This will be Ramon,' and went to open the outer door as the car came to a stop in front. Watching him, Eve saw the broad back stiffen slowly. Then he was stepping back to allow

  his brother and his fiancée free passage into the house.

  'You're back early,' said Lynn with a hint of defiance. Her eyes bright, she glanced from Juan to her sister and back again. 'Ramon had to come back again this afternoon f
or something he'd forgotten, so I did a quick change and went with him to Puerto.'

  You should have let someone know that you were going out,' reproved Juan mildly, as he put his lips to her cheek. His eyes went beyond her to his brother leaning unconcernedly against a table just inside the doorway. 'It was hardly polite to leave our guest alone on her first day with us.'

  'I understood you were resting,' said Ramon to Eve with a lift of his brow which included the lemon dress. 'You look fully recovered from the exertions of your journey.'

  'I feel it,' she answered coolly. 'I was on my way to find Senora Perestrello.'

  'So Madre has issued a summons,' Ramon grinned. 'You'll find her in the salon—down that corridor over there. Or would you prefer me to show you the way?'

  'I will take her myself,' said Juan firmly, and then with a look towards his fiancée, 'Lynn ...'

  'I have to go and change,' announced the latter with haste. 'I feel a wreck She looked charming, and knew it, and knew that the others knew it too. 'See you all at dinner.'

  Ramon straightened lazily away from the table. 'I'd better go and change myself,' he said. He gave

  Eve a long, deliberate wink in passing. 'Until dinner.'

  Eve accompanied Juan down the corridor with confused emotions. Had Ramon really forgotten to take something with him earlier on, or had that simply been an excuse to return when she was out of the way and get Lynn to go with him? If the latter were true, then perhaps she was equally wrong about the strength of his feelings for her sister. Perhaps he did, after all, want her for himself. The thought was somehow singularly depressing.

  The room into which Juan showed her was simply but beautifully furnished in Moorish style, with heavy silk drapes drawn across the window embrasures. Señora Perestrello was seated beneath one of the wrought iron standard lamps, a tapestry frame in her hands. She was dressed in the traditional black of her class, and looked aristocratic and faintly intimidating until one noted the warmth in the still lovely dark eyes.