Read Online Masquerade by Hannah Fielding - Free Book Online Page B

later use as a weapon to extort money and any other favour from Luz, maybe even from her family.
    With a sense of final conviction, Luz determinedly pushed away these sombre thoughts. Slowly she started back to L’Estrella, head down against the wind, her hands thrust deeply into her jeans pockets.
    She got home to find her parents had arrived from El Pavón. They greeted her effusively as they always did. Whether they had been apart for a few months or a couple of days, it mattered not – Salvador and Alexandra de Rueda doted on their daughter and were always delighted to see her.
    Luz was never adept at hiding anything from her mother. ‘You’re a little pale,’ Alexandra remarked, taking her daughter’s hand in both of hers and leading the way into the airy living room. ‘Is anything the matter?’ Luz had inherited her mother’s glorious complexion, which today seemed a little sallow. Like Alexandra, she was tall for a woman. She had what the French call allure , with a neat perfection about her dainty figure. There the physical resemblance between mother and daughter ended. Luz had inherited Salvador’s sleek raven hair and his fine aristocratic features; she was alsopossessed of the most amazing cobalt-blue eyes, which could turn a contemptuous steel-grey, just as her father’s did, when riled.
    Luz went over to the window so her mother could not read her eyes, which did not know how to lie. ‘No, I’m fine, really, Mamá . I just need a good night’s sleep,’ she replied, giving her slow smile.
    ‘She’s been working too hard,’ Salvador declared as he came over to his daughter and hugged her. She lifted her head up to receive his kiss. Her father was a tall, handsome man with a fierce love for his one and only daughter that meant that he could be quickly moved to worry over any matter concerning her. He regarded Luz fondly, keeping an arm around her. ‘It’s this job you want so badly. I’ve told you that with one call to Santiago de Calderón, the father of the young man who’ll be interviewing you, I could get you hired. We haven’t seen each other for a while but he’s an old friend. It would make everything so much easier for you.’
    ‘That’s not the point, Papá ,’ Luz protested. ‘I know you’re just trying to help, but you can’t protect me the whole time from what’s difficult. I need to do this myself. You know how I hate nepotism,’ she told him firmly.
    ‘Nepotism! Nepotism! You’re always going on about nepotism. What are parents for, niña , if it’s not to help their children?’ he countered, giving her a final squeeze and shaking his head. ‘You are one stubborn woman, just like your mother.’ At this Salvador glanced towards Alexandra, his eyes sparking with the same fire that had burned in them when the pair had first met.
    His wife laughed as she fussed with some cushions on the sofa before sitting down. ‘Don’t look at me, I have nothing to do with this,’ she said.
    Luz gently pulled away from her father and wandered over to the dining table. She plucked a ruby-coloured grape from the fruit bowl and bit into it. ‘By the way, talking of old friends, I met one of yours today,’ she ventured, only the slightest hesitation in her voice.
    ‘Yes?’ Salvador’s eyebrows shot up quizzically. ‘Who?’
    ‘Paquita, she said she was called. The gypsy fortune teller.’
    At the name Alexandra paled, while Salvador looked towards Luz, then burst out laughing. ‘Paquita, eh? I’m surprised the old hag is still alive. She must be at least ninety. What has the witch been up to now?’
    ‘I met her on the beach, she recognized me. She said I had your eyes and my mother’s complexion,’ Luz told him. Now that she had this opportunity, perhaps she could unravel the mystery of her parents’ connection with the gypsies.
    ‘That’s very shrewd of her,’ Salvador said evenly.
    ‘What else did she say?’ Alexandra whispered. There was a light in her irises and