Haunting Alliance (A Family Secret)

179 Pages·2016·0.7 MB·English

by  George Catherine

HAUNTING
ALLIANCE

Catherine George
'It is enough for you to know that you bear a remarkable resemblance
to a beautiful girl I knew.'

Catherine had come to the glorious Minho region of Portugal to see
her friend Ana married, never dreaming she'd find Ana's older
brother, Conde Eduardo Barroso, so attractive! He was intrigued by
her too, but the more she found out about Isabel her haunting double
from Eduardo's past the more Catherine had to pull away from his
magnetic passion. Love might banish those shadows of long ago, but
was it any match for what the future had in store?
To Dona Maria Filomena da Camara Manoel
Renolds de Abreu Coutinho
and her family, with grateful thanks

The author says:
'Married, with two children, I was born in Wales and spent nine years
in Brazil, where I became fluent in Portuguese. Now UK-based, I
visit Portugal whenever possible, charmed by the beauty of the
countryside and the warmth of the people; I also enjoy the
wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, including delightful Lisbon. The
research I did in the Minho was a pleasurable experience, made all
the more memorable by the unstinting help given by everyone
encountered there - in particular, the charming chatelaine of the
seventeenth-century manor house where the holiday was spent.'
CHAPTER ONE
ONCE the slight tension of take-off was over Catherine relaxed,
watching misty southern England fall away beneath her as the plane
headed for Oporto. In a window-seat next to a young couple too
wrapped up in each other to notice, she gave a little wriggle of
anticipation at the thought of the holiday ahead.
Some of her friends, Catherine knew, thought her life was one long
holiday already. She accepted the teasing amicably enough on the
rare occasions when they got together, but firmly defended her
decision to see something of the world before settling down. Selling
designer dresses on a luxury cruise liner was much harder work than
most people realised. Besides, if she hadn't been on board when the
ship docked in Lisbon on a sunny day last June, she'd never have run
into Ana again.
Catherine, who loved Lisbon best of all the ports of call, had gone
ashore as early as she could, sharing a taxi with a couple of girls from
the purser's office. While the others drank coffee outside one of the
cafes Catherine had wandered away to gaze at the tempting handbags
in a shop in the Rua Augusta, and could hardly believe her ears when
a husky voice called her name. Exclaiming in delight, she'd spun
round to face the small, vivacious person of Ana Maria Barroso, ink-
black eyes sparkling under heavy tawny hair, her stylish dress a far
cry from the jeans and jerseys of her year in Putney as Catherine's
room-mate.
Ana hugged Catherine hard, kissing her on both cheeks, then held her
away to gaze at her with joy. 'Que maravilha to find you here! You
are on holiday, querida?'
Catherine returned the embrace with equal warmth, explaining she
was still working on the cruise liner. 'I'm only ashore for a few
hours—the ship sails at five.'
Demanding every moment of Catherine's company before then, Ana
paused only long enough for an introduction to the girls from the
ship, then swept Catherine off to eat a seafood lunch in the Travessa
do Santo Antao, both of them talking non-stop as they filled in the
events of the time since they'd parted. Ana had been working very
hard since college, helping her brother with his tourist venture, as
intended, but now, she informed Catherine, Eduardo was obliged to
find a new slave to help him.
'Because I am getting married!' she finished in guileless triumph.
Catherine beamed, toasting her in mineral water. 'Congratulations.
But I thought you were dead against marriage.'
Colour flooded Ana's face as she gave a very expressive shrug. 'E
verdade, cara, but I was stupid. I did not know then what I know
now.'
'And what's this great truth you've discovered?'
'Love,' answered Ana simply.
'Ah, I see. Who's the lucky man?'
Ana gurgled. 'Carlos da Cunha.'
Catherine frowned. 'But isn't that the man your brother picked out for
you in the first place?'
'E, sim. But I was furious because Eduardo wished to arrange my
marriage. When I rebelled he—how do you say? Washed his hands
with me?'
'I see, I see! Once your brother stopped pushing you saw Carlos in a
new light.'
'Exatamente!' said Ana happily. 'Also I discovered Carlos wished me
to help him in his work, Catherine. This changed everything. I love
the turismo business, you understand. It is so interesting and I meet
so many people. It was not my wish to be just a dona de casa like my
sisters.'
'Is Carlos in the tourist business, then?'
'He trained as advogado—lawyer—like Eduardo. But now the parents
of Carlos wish to move to Estoril, leaving Carlos at their Quinta da
Floresta in the Lima valley. He admires Eduardo's success and
wishes to develop his home for guests in the same way.' Ana gave a
contented sigh. 'So I told Carlos that if it was a true partnership, if we
could work together, I would marry him. Carlos promised on his life
that I could do whatever I wish, always. And when he-he -' She
stopped dead, the colour rushing to her cheeks again.
Catherine smiled affectionately. 'And when he made love to you that
was that.'
'How did you guess?'
'A certain look in your eye, my pet. Quite unmistakable.'
'Only the kisses, you understand,' said Ana with dignity.
Catherine's eyes softened. 'Of course, love.'
'He desires more,' said Ana candidly. 'I also, every time we kiss, but
it is not possible. So we wait until a noite de nupcias—our wedding
night.'
Catherine patted Ana's hand, feeling centuries older instead of a mere
month or two. 'I hope you'll be very happy, love.'
'I expect no miracles. I shall work hard at my marriage,' Ana assured
her, then demanded all Catherine's news in turn.
'I've started looking out for jobs ashore,' said Catherine, sighing. 'It's
time I joined the rat race, I suppose—not that my job on the ship's
any picnic, believe me. I'm on my feet for hours on end in the
boutique, do the books, arrange fashion shows and try not to get
claustrophobia in a tiny cabin shared with another girl. But on the
plus side I earn good money, meet a great many interesting people,
and get the chance to see something of the world before I settle
down.'
'But are you never enjoada—seasick?' asked Ana, making a face.
'No, luckily. I can't say I exactly enjoy a life on the ocean wave in a
force-ten gale, but there haven't been many of those, fortunately.'
Ana beckoned the waiter to pay the bill, then looked at Catherine
questioningly. 'And Dan? You do not speak of him. You are no
longer together?'
Catherine's face shuttered. 'No. Once he graduated Dan made it
mortifyingly clear there was no place in his future plans for me. So
when I heard of the job on the liner I went for it. The travelling was a
way of gluing my ego together again.' She shrugged philosophically,
shaking back her dark hair. 'And how about you, Ana?' she asked
gently. 'Have you come to terms with your own heartache?'
Ana nodded gravely. 'Mais ou menos. I still grieve, naturalmente.
But life must go on, nao e?' She brightened. 'But never shall I forget
your kindness when I was so unhappy. To lose my mother and my
brother within days of each other was so terrible that without you I
would not have recovered from such a blow.' She reached a hand
across the table to grasp Catherine's. 'But let us talk of happier things.
Now fate has brought us together again, promise you will come to
my wedding! Come a week or two sooner and have a little holiday at
the Quinta das Lagoas first. I would so love your company. My
sisters are always busy with their families.' She made a face. 'I am
only here in Lisboa now for the baptismo of Leonor's new son. I
cannot wait to return to work at home! Say you'll come to stay for a
little, querida. It would please me so much.'
In the end it had been impossible to refuse. Not that Catherine had
any desire to. She'd always been intrigued by Ana's stories of her
family, and her home in the Minho in the north of Portugal.
Catherine's knowledge of the country was restricted to the periodic
dockings in Lisbon on the cruise ship. She had disembarked at
Southampton for the final time just the previous week, much to the
relief of her mother, who complained of seeing far too little of her
globe-trotting daughter. Sometimes they could only manage an hour
or two together in Southampton before the ship turned round and
headed out to sea again, taking Catherine with it.
The airport at Oporto, minuscule by Heathrow standards, charmed
Catherine from the moment she descended from the plane to take the
small bus to the Customs building. Glad of her dark glasses, she tied
a scarf over her head to protect it from sunshine blazing down in such
contrast to the damp, dull London she'd left behind. As always in
Portugal, everyone she spoke to at the airport was courteous and
pleasant, including the young man from the car- hire firm, who was
waiting for her, to her surprise, when she emerged from the terminal
building.
'Miss Ward?' he enquired, indicating the badge on his lapel.
Having expected to go searching for him, Catherine smiled warmly,
and in an admirably short time the necessary formalities were
completed, the keys to an almost new Ford Fiesta handed over, and
Catherine was on her way out of the airport after a few instructions as
to the route.
For a while she drove with great care, adjusting to the right-hand
drive of the car and what felt like the wrong side of the road. But
soon she was driving automatically, able to spare attention for the
scenery along the route which followed the coast from Oporto to
Viana do Castelo and on to Valenca do Minho.
Catherine had been deliberately vague about her time of arrival to
Ana and felt no compulsion to hurry. Something in the very air of
rural Portugal made a nonsense of any urgency. She soon settled to a
speed leisurely enough to appreciate her surroundings as she passed
groups of smiling pedestrians on the walkways at the side of the road,
carts loaded with barrels of grapes and drawn by oxen with lyre-
shaped horns and carved wooden yokes, their attendants often sturdy,
brown-skinned women who paced beside in an unhurried way totally
in keeping with the sun-drenched landscape. Catherine sighed with
pleasure. Life had been hectic for a long time. Before she tackled the
next phase of her career she intended to enjoy this unexpected
interlude in Portugal to the full.
After an hour or so Catherine felt a leap of excitement as the signpost
marked Pontalegre finally came into view. The last lap of her journey
led her off the main highway on a road which meandered along the
banks of the River Lima through a landscape drenched with sunlight.
Time seemed at a standstill in the sleepy little villages along the
route, some of them no more than handfuls of small dwellings
clustered near a church.
Catherine had no trouble in finding the Quinta das Lagoas, which
was easily recognisable by the imposing arched gateway set in walls
Which lined the road. She signalled a right turn, waited for a lorry to
come trundling by, then steered the car carefully through the arch and
along a narrow gravelled track. As she approached the house her eyes
widened behind the lenses of her aviator glasses. Ana had described
Quinta das Lagoas as a farm, but to Catherine it looked more like a
small stately home, complete with turreted tower and a second