ISLAND FIESTA 73

  When Clair had first muted the idea that Corinne and Joy should move into the cottage that she had just bought situated on the edge of a small Kentish village, Corinne had had doubts on the wisdom of such a move. From what Clair had told her of the cottage, and its partly isolated position on the fringe of the village, it had sounded ideal, for Corinne was not one for social gatherings, and had valued her privacy. While she had listened to Clair as she had enthused about the merits of having somewhere to go, away from the crowded London scene, Corinne had thought it sounded a little too good to be true, and decided to withhold her judgment until she had seen the cottage, even though the need to get some good country air into Joy's lungs was a pressing matter. The trouble was that she knew that Clair was apt to make snap decisions and then change her mind with equal rapidity.

  With this thought well in mind, Corinne had gone to look at the cottage, and found herself hoping that it would not come up to expectations, and that she could honestly say so, and therefore refuse Clair's offer.

  One look at the small cottage tucked away behind a thick hawthorn hedge, had settled the matter once and for all for Corinne, for she had fallen in love with it. As she went through the small but compact rooms, with their low oak beams, she fervently hoped that Clair would not change her mind this time.

  Later, when she had wandered through the small village, she had seen an advert for a part-time bookkeeper required by a local market gardener, in the window of the small post office, and had made a note

  74 ISLAND FIESTA of the telephone number given for the applicants to ring. She could still recall the sense of wonder she had felt on seeing that advertisement, and she had known she would get that job. It had been that sort of day for her, when all was right, everything had had a magical touch about it. You could not argue with these signs that shouted at you to go ahead, and Corinne certainly did not, but accepted the offerings of fate with a grateful heart.

  Employment had been another factor in her earlier worries. Would she be able to get the type of work she had been trained for ? Her natural aptitude for figure work at school had led to her taking a course in bookkeeping in her final year, and although she had not known it at the time, this training had stood her in good stead when she had had to take on the task of looking after Joy when their grandparents died. This had meant finding some employment that would enable her to work from home, and bookkeeping was the ideal answer. There had been several small firms around the district that they lived in that could not afford to employ a full-time bookkeeper, and after placing an advertisement in a local food store, Corinne soon found herself gainfully employed at home.

  Two weeks later, she and Joy moved into Hawthorn Cottage, and Corinne, having successfully applied for the job at the market garden only a short distance away from the village, settled down to country life.

  She moved restlessly in her seat on the plane. She might have known it was too good to last, she thought sadly, and wondered miserably what the future held for her. She sighed. Clair wasn't going to

  ISLAND FIESTA 75 like it one little bit. It would mean finding someone else to caretake for her, although she should not have too much difficulty in finding a replacement, she thought sadly, as she could not see anyone passing up the chance of living in such delightful surroundings.

  It was seven-thirty when the taxi Corinne had hired to take her from the sleepy railway station to the cottage drew up in front of the cottage. For the first time since she had lived there, Corinne felt no pleasure as she gazed towards the diamond-shaped glass window panes of the sitting room that looked out on the short drive, the curtains of which were drawn cosily against the dark of the evening, and a warm orange glow of light shone out invitingly into the still chilly atmosphere.

  As Corinne paid off the taxi and gathered her cases up she expected to hear the front door open with its customary slight squeak and to find herself receiving a hug from the no doubt relieved Joy, on her early return from foreign parts.

  When no such welcome was afforded her, and she had to search for her key to let herself in to the cottage, she knew Joy was not at home, and this fact worried her until she recalled what evening it was, then she relaxed. Joy would be at the local youth club with her friend Jean.

  Leaving her cases in the tiny hall, Corinne took a deep breath and prepared herself to meet Clair and face the somewhat embarrassing questions that would inevitably crop up. For the life of her she could not see how she was going to handle the explanation of how she had come to find herself married to Juan Martel not only married, but forced to ac

  76 ISLAND FIESTA cept his ultimatum to return to Las Palmas in ten days' time.

  Well, here goes, she thought miserably as she walked towards the sitting-room and on opening the door, was assailed by the loud wailing of a police siren emitting from the film on the television that Clair was apparently engrossed in.

  Her amazed, 'Good gracious ! I didn't hear you come ! Oh, switch that thing off ! I was only watching to help pass the time.'

  Corinne took her time in carrying out this small chore, and Clair asked impatiently, 'Well ?' in a voice that showed her tension. 'Is it all right ? Did he accept my verbal agreement ?'

  Corinne nodded abruptly, and sat down, suddenly feeling very tired. 'Yes, it's all right,' she said quietly. 'You will inherit a half share of your grandfather's estate. Juan Martel inherits the other half.'

  Clair's arms were flung into the air in a gesture of pure exhilaration. 'Blast this ankle,' she said impatiently. 'I want to rush out and celebrate, and here I am stuck in this position,' she grumbled. 'Well, we'll celebrate anyway ! A large vodka and lime for me,' she said happily, and gave the wan-looking Corinne a hard stare. 'You look peaky, I should have a brandy if I were you,' she advised Corinne cheerfully, and Corinne was obliged to produce the celebratory drink.

  While she poured out their drinks, Corinne's mind was busy working out how to get over the next hurdle, and she poured herself a liberal dose of brandy thinking she might well need some kind of stimulant. So would Clair, she thought grimly, if she knew the whole truth.

  ISLAND FIESTA 77

  She was in the act of handing Clair her drink when it occurred to her that she was not going to tell her the whole truth. She would follow Juan Martel's advice--well, nearly, she told herself, since she could not see herself repeating his veiled suggestion that he had succumbed to her charms, Clair was not likely to believe that for one moment. She would just have to think up another more plausible explanation.

  'Cheers !' called the exhilarated Clair, and took a sip of her drink. 'You know what this means, Corinne ?' she went on, her blue eyes narrowed in speculation. 'I'm rich really rich ! Bill Harding, that's the legal eagle at the office, has a friend working in Las Palmas, and he got him to put a few feelers out about Grandfather's affairs. According to Bill, he had the Midas touch in all his business dealings, and was disgustingly rich.' She placed the rim of her glass against her carmined lips. 'And Mother didn't let on,' she said, with a shake of her blonde head. `To think that she walked away from all that !'

  Corinne eyed her dispassionately, and surmised that the said Bill Harding had been acting under Clair's orders in surveying her future prospects. It was highly unlikely that he would carry out such a task of his own volition. As for Clair's mother walking out on a fortune, there were some things money couldn't buy, and one day Clair might find that out for herself, she thought ironically.

  'How do you fancy giving up that petty little job of yours and running an eight-bedroomed manor for me ?' Clair suddenly asked the startled Corinne, and went on before Corinne had got her breath back. 'We've outgrown this poky place,' she said, her eyes

  78 ISLAND FIESTA flicking disdainfully over the small cosy sitting-room they sat in.

  Corinne stared back at Clair in dismay, the thought that she was going to sell the cottage taking prior attention above all else. 'Oh, Clair, you're not going to sell the cottage 7' she exclaimed in a horrified voice.

  'Of course I am ! ' Clair snapped back crossly. 'I can afford a much better place than this. I know just the place, too,' she went on smoothly. 'The manor house here. It's that huge place on the hill opposite the church, you must have seen it. They're distant relations of Ralph Patterson's, you know, and he was only telling me the other day that they were putting it on the market, said something about them not being able to afford the running costs.'

  Clair went on happily about how lucky she had been in hearing about the proposed sale, and how she would now be in time to stop the house going on to the open market, but Corinne was no longer listening to her. She was too busy pondering on the cruel vagaries of fate. To think that she had been put through twenty-four hours of anxiety and shock, only to learn that it had all been in vain. Even while realising that there was very little chance of her managing to extricate herself from the bonds Juan Martel had placed around her, she had still subconsciously clung to a ray of hope that all would come right in time, and that she would be able to settle down again with Joy in the home that they both loved so much.

  That Clair was now expecting them to uproot themselves and live in a huge mausoleum, for that was exactly what Corinne thought of the large house on the hill that overlooked the village, was really

  ISLAND FIESTA 79 the last straw, and she wanted to shake Clair hard for adding to her misery.

  'With all that room,' Clair went on in a dreamy voice, unaware of the furious thoughts going through Corinne's mind, 'we shall be able to put my friends up for the weekend. We'll have a house-warming party first, of course. I shall have to make a list out of who I want to invite. You can ask a few people too, if there's anyone you'd like to invite,' she told Corinne magnanimously.

  'I'm afraid you'll have to count me out,' Corinne got in swiftly, unable to bear even the thought of the swinging, noisy parties that Clair was so addicted to, of which there would be many in the not too distant future.

  Clair's finely plucked eyebrows raised at this adamant statement of Corinne's. 'You're tired,' she said after a moment's thought. 'It's all that travelling. We'll talk about it tomorrow,' she added soothingly.

  'Tomorrow won't make any difference ! ' said Corinne irritably. 'Juan Martel offered me a job, and I accepted,' she added swiftly, surprising herself with the calmness of the statement. 'We'll be leaving for Las Palmas on the twenty-fourth of this month Joy and I, that is.'

  Clair's eyebrows shot up even higher, and Corinne saw the familiar pout of annoyance on her lips. 'Just like that ?' she exclaimed furiously. 'Leaving me when I'm practically helpless ! Well, it's out of the question ! Who else can I rely upon to see that every-things done the way I want it done ?' she demanded querulously. 'You'll just have to tell him you can't take the job, whatever it is. And what about Joy's

  8o ISLAND FIESTA schooling ? The whole idea's ridiculous !'

  'There are some good schools in the Canaries,' replied Corinne firmly, again surprising herself. She had never thought to find herself on the same side as Juan Martel ! `Mr Martel said that he was sure we could find a suitable one for Joy,' she added quietly.

  'You did get chummy with him, didn't you ?' Clair remarked, studying Corinne through narrowed eyes. 'Tell me, what's he like ? It's odd to think that he's my husband, and I don't even know what he looks like. He wouldn't be tall, dark and handsome, by any chance, would he ?' She gave a high titter of amusement. 'No, that would be too much to ask, wouldn't it ? I see him as a stout balding character I mean, he can't be all that much to write home about if he's a bachelor, can he ? I must say his letter to me sounded a bit disapproving.'

  Corinne looked quickly away from Clair and studied the glass in her hand. Her mind's eye showed another similar scene, where Juan Martel's strong lean hand held his glass of whisky. She knew she ought to tell Clair the truth, but she couldn't resist getting her own back on the autocratic Juan Martel. 'Oh, I'd say your summing up was pretty accurate,' she replied casually, hoping that Clair would not spot the spark of unholy amusement lingering at the back of her dark blue eyes. 'And by the way, he's not your husband, he's mine !'

  The amusement was now in danger of getting out of hand, and Corinne wasn't too sure that it wasn't hysteria, for she badly wanted to laugh at the amazed expression on Clair's face. 'Are you having me on ?' she demanded furiously, then as a thought occurred to her she visibly blanched. 'You told me that I

  ISLAND FIESTA 81 couldn't inherit unless I married that man. If you've messed things up, you'd better go to the Canaries !' she added viciously.

  Corinne swallowed the impulse to laugh. If she gave way to this desire she knew she would never stop. It was hysteria, of course, and she recognised it as such. She had been put through a variety of emotions during the past twenty-four hours, and this was nature's way of releasing the tension that had built up inside her.

  She swallowed again, and forced herself to remain calm. 'I didn't mess anything up ! ' she said, managing to inject a note of indignation into her voice. 'You did ! You were certain you'd be able to get the authorisation over in time, and you didn't ! In the end there was a bit of a mix-up,' she went on quickly, not giving herself time to dwell on the true facts of the matter. 'I thought Juan Martel had the necessary papers, and he thought I had them, and we didn't discover this until after the wedding when I got that cablegram from you telling me that there'd been a hold-up.'

  Corinne fell silent for a few seconds. The next part could be tricky, she thought, but she had to go on. 'I was dreadfully worried then, and thought that you wouldn't inherit, but Mr Martel said that as I had the same name as you had, it would be all right. The terms of the will stated only that he should marry Clair Suter and he had done that.' She looked away from Clair. 'He had my passport, you see,' she went on slowly. 'I suppose he had to give it in to the registrar, and the marriage certificate has my name on it, that is to say, my full name, Clair Corinne Suter, and not yours.' She let this fact sink in to the

  82 ISLAND FIESTA fully attentive Clair, before adding, 'Well, when I saw that certificate, I could see what had happened so could Mr Martel,' she gave a light shrug. 'Of course, he felt he was partially responsible for the mix-up, and rather feels responsible now for me,' she swallowed quickly. 'He wanted to know all about me, and I told him about Joy then he offered me a job out there in one of his businesses. There's nothing else to it,' she added firmly. 'It's a business transaction, if you like, and the marriage will be anulled as soon as possible.' She hesitated before adding, 'It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. I mean, actually living in a place like that with a job thrown in. The climate will suit Joy too, I heard someone on the plane say how much better her husband was, and he'd got some kind of chest trouble,' she tacked on, now almost babbling in her anxiety to prove that all was well.

  To her vast relief, Clair did not seek verification on any of the points raised. If she had, Corinne would have been lost, and would have had to tell her the plain unvarnished truth of how she had come to find herself trapped into marrying the forceful Juan Martel !

  In the event, Corinne found that she need not have worried. Clair was too relieved herself on the vital point that she would inherit a fortune to seek further enlightenment, and it occurred to Corinne that Juan Martel had not been far off the mark when he had intimated that she would get no help from Clair when faced with the possibility of losing out on the inheritance.

  Now that she was assured of a rosy future, Clair turned her attention back to Corinne. 'It might not

  ISLAND FIESTA 83 only be a job he's offering you,' she said meaningly. 'Have you thought of that ?'

  Corinne's cheeks turned pink at the very thought of Juan Martel turning amorous. 'There's absolutely no chance of him taking advantage of the situation,' she replied firmly. That at least was the truth, she thought ironically. 'Don't worry about that side of things. I'm not. I'm looking forward to Joy and me getting a sun tan ! '

  `While I have to struggle through at this end,' Clair replied complainingly. 'I don't see why you couldn't have put him off a few months you might have thought about me,' she added crossly.

  `You'll be having that plaster off next week, won't you ?' asked Corinne lightly, feeling that she could relax now that she had got through the worst hurdles. 'And you can now afford to throw your job up, can't you ? You won't have any trouble in getting a housekeeper, you know. There aren't that many jobs going in the village. You'll have them queueing up to be interviewed. You'll love every minute of it !' she added accusingly.

  Clair pouted, but it was plain to see that she was starting to relish her forthcoming position as the village benefactor. 'I still think you'll have to watch it,' she remarked meaningly, not ready yet to relinquish her complaint where Corinne was concerned. 'He might find Joy's presence slightly de trop !'

  `Who's de trop ?' queried Joy as she entered the sitting-room, and giving Corinne a hasty hug, settled herself on the arm of her chair.

  Corinne gave Clair a warning look before she replied hastily, 'Not you, dear,' and went on quickly to change the subject. 'I wasn't able to bring you any

  84 ISLAND FIESTA thing back in the souvenir line, but when you've heard my news I don't think you'll be disappointed.'

  Joy gave her an odd appraising look, then looked at Clair. 'Everything's all right, isn't it ?' she asked in a doubtful voice.

  Clair gave a slight moue at this. 'Oh, fine,' she replied in a sarcastic voice. 'Corinne's got landed with a husband in the Canaries, that's all !'

  'Clair !' expostulated Corinne, giving her a glare. `You know very well what happened ! You ought to be grateful to me for not kicking up a fuss about it. If I had, you might not have inherited, have you thought of that ?' she demanded furiously.

  Clair's pencilled eyebrows rose laconically. 'If you say so,' she retorted sulkily, 'although I'm sure it could have been handled a better way. This Juan Martel doesn't sound very bright to me,' she added meaningly.