Island Fiesta Read online

  Jane Corrie

  ISLAND FIESTA Jane Corrie When Corinne's cousin, who happened to have exactly the same name as herself, was left some money by her grandfather, she didn't particularly want to go out to the Canary Islands to claim it so she persuaded Corinne to go in her place. But it wasn't as simple as that as Corinne found when she met the co-inheritor Juan Martel and found herself trapped into marrying him ! And a highly unsatisfactory marriage it was going to be since Juan expected her to behave as a docile Spanish wife and turn a blind eye to his blatant affair with Dolores Galdo ! How on earth could Corinne get herself out of this mess ?

  Books you will enjoy by JANE CORRIE

  THE STATION BOSS If only temporarily, Sheena just had to get away from Doyle Charter who had treated her so badly, so she accepted Clay Dayman's offer to take her off to his cattle station in the north of Australia. All she really wanted was to get back to Doyle as soon as she could yet somehow, in all her dealings with Clay, she found she had no choice. What was it about this forceful man ?

  TASMANIAN TANGLE Tanya's return to her old family home in Tasmania wasn't exactly a happy one, and now all she wanted was solitude and a settled home. But any hopes of peace were shattered by the constant presence of Kade Player, who had been a thorn in her side years ago and hadn't mellowed in the interim. Why did he seem bent on making her life a misery? THE

  SPANISH UNCLE, Ever since her sister's death Mary had looked after Sheila's small son but now she had taken the child to visit his father's family in Spain and the boy's uncle, Rafael Alvarados, had made it clear that they would prefer the child to live with them. How could she give him up? And was it just because of little Paul that she found the idea unbearable?

  CARIBBEAN COCKTAIL In any other circumstances, Cassy would have been thrilled to be going to the Bahamas. But as her reason for going was to discover just what her naughty cousin Sylvia was up to, and as the first thing she did when she arrived was to incur the suspicion of the annoying Justin Pride, she didn't have much hope that her stay would be a very enjoyable one. And how right she was to be pessimistic !

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the Author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individuals known or unknown to the Author, and all the incidents are pure invention. First published 198o Jane Corrie 1980 Australian copyright 198o

  ISBN o 263 o97o7 2 Set in Linotype Pilgrim ri on rz1/2 pt. Made and printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press), Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk

  CHAPTER ONE

  CORINNE SUTER stared at her cousin. 'Go in your place ?' she said in an incredulous voice. 'All that way ? I couldn't ! For goodness' sake, Clair, where did you get such a crazy idea from ?' she demanded.

  Clair Suter met Corinne's astounded stare with an impatient shake of her ash-blonde hair. 'Well, I can't go, can I ?' she replied irritably, and waved an elegant hand towards her left foot encased in plaster of paris. 'Besides,' she added in a bored voice, 'deathbed scenes are definitely not my forte.'

  Corinne's soft mouth set. 'I wouldn't have said that they were mine, either,' she said firmly. 'And he is your grandfather. Quite apart from the fact that he doesn't know me, what do you hope to gain from it ?' she asked in exasperation.

  'He doesn't know me either,' said Clair, and gave a casual shrug. 'It won't matter anyway. He won't look for any family likeness; he went blind about two years ago. All you do is say you're me, he'll only be waiting to hear an English voice, and he'll believe you.'

  Corinne's dark blue eyes widened, and she gave Clair a look of distaste. 'Well, you'll have to find someone else, Clair. If all he needs is an English voice, you won't find it too hard finding someone to stand in for you, particularly as you're paying the fare out there. I imagine someone would jump at it.' She got up from her chair and walked restlessly to the win

  6 ISLAND FIESTA dow, then looked back at Clair. 'How you can even think of deceiving him is beyond me. I know your mother walked out of her home all those years ago, but he is still your grandfather. Why don't you write to him and tell him that you've broken your ankle and can't possibly pay him a visit ? Someone will read the letter to him. That letter you received didn't actually say he was dying, did it ?' she added pleadingly.

  Clair's thoughtful light blue eyes rested on Corinne in an almost calculating way. 'No, it didn't,' she replied brusquely. 'But this Juan Martel, whoever he is, was most insistent that I should lose no time in going to see my grandfather,' she gave another casual shrug. 'I can't see any other reason for the urgency, can you ?' she asked Corinne. 'And that's why it must be you,' she added adamantly. 'Apart from the fact that you know all there is to know about the family, where else could I find another Clair Suter ?' she queried with an ironic smile.

  Corinne looked away from her quickly. The bald fact that she had been christened Clair she could not deny, but as the respective mothers of the girls had perversely insisted on naming their daughters Clair, an old family name that went back several centuries and was a source of family pride, the fact had caused much friction between the families. In the end, Clair's mother had won the battle by the mere fact that she had given birth to her daughter precisely one hour before her sister-in-law had had Corinne, and although defeated Corinne's mother had still christened her daughter Clair, but for the sake of peace the child was known by her second name, Corinne. It would have been so much simpler if one of them had had a boy, Corinne thought ironically,

  ISLAND FIESTA 7 but that did not help her out of her present dilemma.

  She shook her head slowly. Her light brown hair that rested on her slim shoulders gently swayed with the movement. 'I'm sorry, Clair, but I can't do it,' she said quietly.

  Clair's red lips clamped together and Corinne recognised the signs only too well. `So that's what I get for looking after you and Joy, is it ?' she said in a low furious voice. 'I took you in when your grandparents died and gave you a home, and what do I get in return ?' she glared at Corinne. 'Well, you'd better make the most of it, because the way things are going, I'm going to have to sell up !'

  Corinne's shocked dark blue eyes met Clair's furious ones. 'You can't mean that, Clair !' she said in disbelief.

  'But I do mean it !' Clair retorted, biting off the words in her fury. 'You've no idea how expensive things are. I simply must keep my London flat, I can't possibly commute each day to work well, I suppose I could,' she conceded gru,dgingly, 'but I don't see why I should have to put up with all that inconvenience, and there's certainly not enough room there for you and Joy. Not,' she added meaningly, 'that the London air would do Joy much good not with her weak chest. Look,' she said, her voice changing to a cajoling one, 'I could look after Joy while you're out there. I can get Mrs Addle to come in and cook our meals and do the housework. You'll not be gone much above a week or two, and if it looks like hanging on if Grandfather well, you know what I mean you can always say you must come home or you'll lose your job, or something like that. Just as long as you go. It's not much to ask, is

  8 ISLAND FIESTA it ?' she added sulkily. 'Think of Joy, she needs good country air, think of how much better she's been since you've moved into the cottage.'

  Corinne did not bother to argue not after this. Clair had meant what she had said, of that she had no doubt. It would never have occurred to her that what she had suggested was unethical, she thought bitterly, or how mean Corinne would feel about her part in the business, and for the basest of all reasons, money ! She must have been stupid not to have realised it before. Clair would never have bothered to go to such lengths just to please an old man she barely knew, although he was her grandfather, even though he had ruled his family with a rod of iron, forcing his daughter to take the only way out if she wanted to marry the man of her choice and leave her home in the dead of night to put thousands of miles between her and the wrath of her father, to join her sweetheart in Englarid and subsequently marry him.

  As Clair had said, Corinne knew the story well, for in spite of the slight squabble over the christening of the girls, the families had been close. She knew that Clair's mother had rarely spoken of her old home in the Canary Islands, and only on rare occasions when Clair had exasperated her beyond reason would she comment crossly, 'You're just like your grandfather ! You must have your own way, or you make life miserable for everyone ! '

  Corinne also knew that there had been several attempts made by Gabriel Mowbray to get his daughter to return to her home, the last one being when she lost her husband, Corinne's uncle, who had survived Corinne's parents by only a few years. That he had been able to keep tabs on his daughter after

  ISLAND FIESTA 9 all those years, and must have had some source of information forwarded to him from England, certainly made him out to be a very formidable character, and by all accounts a wealthy one. However, Clair's mother had strongly resisted these overtures, and had said that once there, neither she nor her daughter would be able to call their lives their own, and as much as she missed the warmth and beauty of her homeland she knew that this would not compensate for the loss of freedom that she and Clair would be subjected to.

  Her blunt refusal to comply with his wishes had resulted in a stony silence, and no more had been heard from him, much to the relief of Clair's mother.

  On Mrs Suter's death, however, Clair's grandfather had made one other communication, this time to Clair, inviting her to visit him at any time, and that there would always be a welcome for her.

  It was a lette
r that Clair had never replied to. She was too busy having a good time in London where she held an extremely well paid job in an advertising agency.

  `How long are you going to be away ?' queried Joy, later that afternoon as they sat in the small lounge where she was doing her homework, and had now done all that she was going to do.

  Corinne looked up from her sewing task; she had been lengthening the skirt of Joy's new school uniform. Not much above a fortnight, I hope,' she replied, and bent to her task again. She had a lot of sewing to do between now and the date she was due to leave. Mrs Addle would manage the housework and the cooking, but could hardly be expected to cope with the numerous odd jobs entailed in look

  ID ISLAND FIESTA ing after a fifteen-year-old girl.

  There were seven years between Corinne and Joy, and they had lost their parents in a multiple car crash caused by fog on a dual carriageway when Corinne was ten years old and Joy only three. Corinne had not been with her parents on that fateful journey, but Joy had, and had been thrown clear at the time of the crash to lie unconscious in the thick wet grass by the side of the roadway. There had been so much confusion at the scene of the crash that the rescue teams, hampered by the fog, had not found her until quite some time after the crash.

  Although she was physically unhurt, the shock of the crash had produced double pneumonia within a day or so of the accident, and had left the child with a permanently weak chest. It had not been an easy task for their grandparents, then in their early fifties, to take on the upbringing of two young girls, but they had set to the task with a will that only love can bring.

  Now there was only Corinne and Joy, and Corinne jumped at Clair's offer to move into her cottage on the outskirts of a small Kentish village, referred to by Clair as 'my place in the country' to various town friends of hers. Although fully aware that behind this outwardly kind offer lay another purpose, that of having someone in residence all the year round to cope with the cleaning and the tidying up of the small garden at the front and rear of the property, that had turned into a wilderness by the time Corinne and Joy moved in, Corinne had no hesitation in accepting the offer.

  The built-up area of Lewisham was fine if you worked in the city, but not so good if you had the

  ISLAND FIESTA II worry of a delicate girl on your hands as Corinne had, and she had snatched at the opportunity of taking Joy to the country.

  'I don't see why you should go,' complained Joy, pushing her books and pen back in her satchel. 'She's got lots of London friends, hasn't she? Why can't they go for her ?'

  Corinne looked up at her and frowned. 'I've told you, it's a family matter, and no one else can go.' She swallowed on the thought, no one else at all. 'If Clair hadn't broken her ankle she would have gone herself as it is ' she left the rest unsaid.

  `It hasn't stopped her from enjoying herself, has it ?' Joy commented with a slight moue of her pale lips. 'I thought she didn't like Ralph Patterson, but you should have heard her buttering him up when he suggested that he took her for a spin this afternoon.'

  `Well, she has been stuck in for a week,' replied Corinne lamely.

  'And don't we know it ! ' re-joined Joy smartly. 'I wish she'd go back to her London flat, but I suppose she's got no one to look after her there and that's why she's here.' She stared at Corinne in consternation as a thought hit her. 'I say, I'm not going to wait on her hand and foot, so she needn't think I am !'

  'It won't be as bad as that,' replied Corinne with a smile. 'She can get around, can't she ?' The smile was replaced by a stern look. `Do try to be a little bit helpful, Joy. We're lucky to be here, you know. We could still be living in that dismal street if Clair hadn't offered us a home here.'

  `So that you could look after this place and have it ready for her to pop down with a couple of her friends whenever she feels like it ! Joy replied candidly, as

  12 ISLAND FIESTA she picked up her satchel. 'She doesn't do a thing about the house when she's here, you do it all. I know you don't mind, but it's the way she expects everything done for her that gets me so mad ! ' she declared fervently, as she made her way to the door and then turned to look at Corinne. 'You'll be back as quick as you can, won't you ?' she said, with an anxious look in her grey eyes, and tossed her dark brown hair back. `Don't worry about me, I'll be good, providing she's reasonable,' she added darkly, and left Corinne to her musings.

  On the day of her departure Corinne, having spent a fretful night worrying over her coming ordeal, since she was certain that it would be an ordeal, owing to the bald fact that Clair had not bothered to even reply to her grandfather's last letter, wondered what kind of reception she would get. She would not be surprised if she was turned away at the door, and it seemed an awfully long way to go to receive what Corinne had to admit was just retribution for what could only be termed as wilful neglect on Clair's part. It would not have hurt Clair to answer the letter and thank him for his kind offer.

  With these thoughts uppermost in her mind she snapped her case shut and carried it down to the lounge where Clair reclined on the settee with the telephone placed on a low table beside her, and her address book in her hand. As it was Friday, Corinne surmised she was about to ring up some friends of hers with a plea to come and relieve her boredom for the weekend.

  `All packed ?' she said breezily to the scowling Corinne. Corinne gave an abrupt nod and sat down opposite

  ISLAND FIESTA 13 her with a determined look on her face. 'What if I'm turned away on the doorstep ?' she demanded. 'Have you thought of that ?'

  Clair gave her a surprised look and then waved a nonchalant hand as if to refute any such possibility. 'Of course you won't be turned away,' she said lightly. 'From what Mother told me of Grandfather no one would dare go against his wishes. I imagine this Juan Martel is probably his secretary and is acting under orders.'

  Corinne was not at all placated by this explanation, for it gave rise to another unpalatable thought. Suppose the old man wanted to air a few grievances, in other words, lure his granddaughter out there just to level an old score ! 'I hope you won't blame me if he doesn't leave you anything,' she told Clair, practically certain that that was what Gabriel Mowbray had in mind. 'He might just want to make you think you're going to inherit and leave you nothing. Have you thought of that ?' she asked her, a hopeful light coming into her eyes as she saw that her words had caused Clair a few bad moments, and the possibility that she was paying out a large sum of money on a fruitless errand began to make an impact on her.

  `Nonsense ! ' replied Clair, although her voice did not hold much conviction. 'Get me out there just to tell me that I'm not going to get anything ? Now why should he do that ? His quarrel was with Mother, not with me. He wrote and asked me to visit him, remember ?' she added, with more certainty.

  Corinne gave her a straight look. 'And you never replied to that letter,' she reminded her accusingly.

  A nonchalant shrug followed this accusation. 'I meant to,' she replied, trying unconvincingly to look

  14 ISLAND FIESTA rueful, 'but I never got around to it. Ah, here's your taxi ! Now remember to tell him how busy I am I mean, you are and what a good job I've got you've got,' she amended hastily. `Oh, you know what I mean. I know you won't let me down. You've got a streak of sentimentality in you that will be bound to impress him.'

  At seven o'clock that evening Corinne found herself sitting nervously in a handsomely furnished room that she had been led to after giving her name to the forbidding-looking woman who had admitted her to what at first appeared to be a terrace property much like many such buildings to be seen in the back street of any big city.

  Once inside, however, she found herself in a different world. From where she sat in the large airy lounge she could see a garden area that appeared to be set in the middle of the house, for beyond the lit-up miniature fountain in the centre of the small garden, Corinne could see a high wall.

  In spite of her nervousness, she was intrigued and longed to explore the area, but she remained where she was, particularly as she did not have Clair's faith in her expected welcome.

  On her arrival in Las Palmas two hours ago, she had disobeyed Clair's orders that she should go straight to the address that she had given her, and had booked herself into an hotel for the night, as she did not want to find herself walking the streets of a strange city looking for accommodation should her gloomy predictions turn out to be correct.