Read Online The Sin of Cynara by Violet Winspear - Free Book Online
Authors: Violet Winspear
Ads: Link
murmured. 'We've been travelling for hours and it was rather hot on the bus.'
'My dear, you must be tired yourself.' Gena stubbed her cheroot and slipped her foot into her sandal. 'Have you everything you need? I guess you won't feel like coming down to dinner tonight?'
'Oh no.' Carol had never felt less like facing this family which she had so far succeeded in fooling, and all she wanted right now was to be safely alone with Teri. 'I'll make an early night of it, and please believe that I'm deeply grateful to all of you for making us welcome at Falconetti.'
'Thank Rudi, my dear. He's the padrone here and the one who makes the important decisions. It may have helped that you're rather a nice-looking creature, with exceptionally pretty hair—'
'What do you mean?' Carol looked at Gena with a sudden alarm in her eyes. 'Why has it helped that I -I've nice hair?'
'Rudi is a man, cara.' Gena looked amused by Carol's alarm. 'Very much so, unless you didn't notice and were concentrating only upon his scars? They're frightening, I know, but his eyes are still as keen as they always were and I'm willing to bet that he noticed your hair and your fair skin that takes a blush so attractively - oh, don't let it panic you. My brother knows the effect that his face has on women and he'd never risk being hurt by one of them — never again !'
'Again?' Carol could feel the sudden tension in the room, as if a coldness had crept in, and a sense of those dark passions that could exist between a man and woman. 'Was it—?'
'Yes.' Gena's face was suddenly as hard as if carved in marble. 'The slim and delicate hand of a woman did it — with vitriol. He was lucky not to lose his sight.'
'How absolutely awful!' Carol had gone so white that her eyes looked intensely violet 'But why? I — I thought perhaps there had been a fire and he'd been hurt in it.'
'One of those emotional fires, Carol, in which a man and a woman are sometimes caught. An inferno almost as terrible as the real thing.'
'But why - how could anyone do such a thing?' Carol shuddered as she thought of it, the burning acid, searing into his face, creating an agony which he would never be able to forget. It was far more terrible than being trapped in a fire, for that was a natural sort of hazard, but to have acid thrown at you - instinctively Carol threw her hands up against her own face in a self-protective attitude. Her imagination was vivid and she had a fearful mental picture of those fine Italian features being destroyed while a woman looked on, the empty vitriol bottle in her slim, cruel hand. What could have made her so bitter, so revengeful that she put her mark on a man with corrosive acid?
'You ask why.' Gena shrugged her shoulders. 'I have asked Rudi that question and he has never answered it, and when my brother puts up a shield of reserve then it's useless to try and penetrate it. All I can tell you is that the woman fled and my brother never had a warrant taken out against her. It was a love-hate quarrel, that's about all I know. He never talks about it.'
'How could anyone love and hate to that degree!" Carol asked.
'Deep people often do, my dear. Will the little boy want a milky drink before you put him to bed?'
'He likes Horlicks, if that would be all right? Otherwise just warm milk with a teaspoon of sugar.'
'They'll probably have Horlicks in the kitchen. I'll tell one of the maids to bring it up, with a glass of wine for you. I insist. It will help you to sleep, for I've always found that it's never easy to drop off in a strange bed in an unknown house, and this is a very large one - the bed as well, eh?'
Carol glanced at the great bed and nodded. 'You're being very kind to us, signorina.'
'Please call me Gena. Molto bene, questa la vita.'
'Good night.' Such was life, indeed.
When the door had closed behind Gena, the room seemed larger than ever and Carol gave way to a shudder of sheer nerves
'My dear, you must be tired yourself.' Gena stubbed her cheroot and slipped her foot into her sandal. 'Have you everything you need? I guess you won't feel like coming down to dinner tonight?'
'Oh no.' Carol had never felt less like facing this family which she had so far succeeded in fooling, and all she wanted right now was to be safely alone with Teri. 'I'll make an early night of it, and please believe that I'm deeply grateful to all of you for making us welcome at Falconetti.'
'Thank Rudi, my dear. He's the padrone here and the one who makes the important decisions. It may have helped that you're rather a nice-looking creature, with exceptionally pretty hair—'
'What do you mean?' Carol looked at Gena with a sudden alarm in her eyes. 'Why has it helped that I -I've nice hair?'
'Rudi is a man, cara.' Gena looked amused by Carol's alarm. 'Very much so, unless you didn't notice and were concentrating only upon his scars? They're frightening, I know, but his eyes are still as keen as they always were and I'm willing to bet that he noticed your hair and your fair skin that takes a blush so attractively - oh, don't let it panic you. My brother knows the effect that his face has on women and he'd never risk being hurt by one of them — never again !'
'Again?' Carol could feel the sudden tension in the room, as if a coldness had crept in, and a sense of those dark passions that could exist between a man and woman. 'Was it—?'
'Yes.' Gena's face was suddenly as hard as if carved in marble. 'The slim and delicate hand of a woman did it — with vitriol. He was lucky not to lose his sight.'
'How absolutely awful!' Carol had gone so white that her eyes looked intensely violet 'But why? I — I thought perhaps there had been a fire and he'd been hurt in it.'
'One of those emotional fires, Carol, in which a man and a woman are sometimes caught. An inferno almost as terrible as the real thing.'
'But why - how could anyone do such a thing?' Carol shuddered as she thought of it, the burning acid, searing into his face, creating an agony which he would never be able to forget. It was far more terrible than being trapped in a fire, for that was a natural sort of hazard, but to have acid thrown at you - instinctively Carol threw her hands up against her own face in a self-protective attitude. Her imagination was vivid and she had a fearful mental picture of those fine Italian features being destroyed while a woman looked on, the empty vitriol bottle in her slim, cruel hand. What could have made her so bitter, so revengeful that she put her mark on a man with corrosive acid?
'You ask why.' Gena shrugged her shoulders. 'I have asked Rudi that question and he has never answered it, and when my brother puts up a shield of reserve then it's useless to try and penetrate it. All I can tell you is that the woman fled and my brother never had a warrant taken out against her. It was a love-hate quarrel, that's about all I know. He never talks about it.'
'How could anyone love and hate to that degree!" Carol asked.
'Deep people often do, my dear. Will the little boy want a milky drink before you put him to bed?'
'He likes Horlicks, if that would be all right? Otherwise just warm milk with a teaspoon of sugar.'
'They'll probably have Horlicks in the kitchen. I'll tell one of the maids to bring it up, with a glass of wine for you. I insist. It will help you to sleep, for I've always found that it's never easy to drop off in a strange bed in an unknown house, and this is a very large one - the bed as well, eh?'
Carol glanced at the great bed and nodded. 'You're being very kind to us, signorina.'
'Please call me Gena. Molto bene, questa la vita.'
'Good night.' Such was life, indeed.
When the door had closed behind Gena, the room seemed larger than ever and Carol gave way to a shudder of sheer nerves
Similar Books
