Rinaldo’s Inherited Bride

CHAPTER SIX

GOING down to an early breakfast next morning Rinaldo found his brother standing at the landing window gazing out at something that was enjoying his full attention.

‘Any excuse not to start work,’ he said.

‘Well that is quite some excuse,’ Gino said, not taking his eyes from the figure running through the trees.

At first Rinaldo saw only a flash of scarlet. Then it resolved itself into a slim, perfectly honed female body, clad in tight-fitting scarlet shorts that smoothed their way over her hips almost down to her knees, gleaming with every movement she made.

Above a bare midriff she wore a matching scarlet sports bra that left no doubts as to the beauty of her figure.

This was Alex’s daily workout, and she was running with great intensity, her eyes fixed just ahead, breathing steadily and powerfully.

The brothers watched as she headed for the barn and went inside. After exchanging puzzled frowns they went downstairs and out in the direction of the barn.

They soon saw what had made her choose this place. Part of the barn was only one storey high, and the ceiling was crossed from side to side with wooden beams. To one of these Alex had attached hanging rings and was swinging along from one to the other hand over hand. A bale of hay just below showed how she had managed to launch herself up there.

Inch by inch she swung along the rings. At the end she turned and started the journey back, heading for the bale where she could land easily.

But then Gino was there, kicking the bale aside, reaching up to receive her.

‘Come on,’ he cried.

Alex took a deep breath and launched herself forward, landing in a pair of powerful hands.

But they were Rinaldo’s.

Somehow he had taken Gino’s place and was now holding her with his hands about her bare midriff, looking up at her with a face full of grim irony.

‘Oi!’ Gino protested. ‘No need to shove me out of the way like that.’

‘There was every need,’ Rinaldo said. ‘We haven’t got time for you two to fool around. This is a busy, working farm.’

‘But you had no right-’

‘Could you two have your private argument some other time?’ Alex demanded, incensed. ‘I’d like to get down.’

Rinaldo lowered her to the floor. After her exertions she was breathing hard and heat seemed to be pounding through her body.

‘Thank you,’ she gasped.

‘Do you intend to indulge in these antics very often?’ he asked politely.

‘I exercise every day. It keeps me fit.’

‘Working on the farm has the same effect,’ he observed drily. ‘You might find it interesting. In the meantime, if you intend to go on doing this, may I suggest you dress more modestly? I don’t want my workers distracted.’

He walked away without looking back, so he didn’t see Alex lunge after him, only restrained by Gino.

‘Save it,’ he said.

‘I’ll kill him!’ she muttered. ‘I’ll kill him!’

‘Nah! Fantasise about it like the rest of us do.’

‘What does he mean modestly?’

‘Well, you are quite an eyeful, and an armful.’

He wrapped his arms about her waist, making no effort to release her.

‘Well, you’d better let me go,’ she said grumpily. ‘It wouldn’t do for me to distract you.’

‘You distract me all the time,’ he said wistfully.

‘Gino!’ came a yell from outside.

‘Let’s kill him together,’ Gino muttered, releasing her, resignedly.

Before having breakfast Alex took a cool shower. She felt hot all through, deep down, intensely hot in a way that no water could soothe. The feeling had been there since Rinaldo’s hands had encircled her waist, holding her against him.

Perhaps it was lucky, she thought, that Gino had not caught her. He would certainly have turned that intimate moment into a kiss.

But Rinaldo had been completely unmoved.

She rubbed soap over the place, feeling again the pressure of his fingers, and the warmth going through her in endless waves. She turned the water onto cold, and let it lave her again and again, hoping for the feeling to go.

She waited a long time before going downstairs, and when she did she found that the brothers had gone.

Despite the occasional battles Alex found her introduction to Belluna genuinely fascinating. Rinaldo had given her a view from a distance, but now she rode with Gino, getting a closer view of fields full of corn and olives, vineyards stretching away on steep slopes.

‘We grow the Sangiovese grapes that make Chianti,’ he said. ‘True Chianti, made and bottled in this region. We have our imitators all over the world, but they’re not the same.’

His voice contained a hint of Tuscan arrogance, that made Alex smile, realising that there was more to him than an easygoing charmer.

But for pure arrogance, the kind that made her want to dance with rage, she thought there was no beating Rinaldo. He made no comment about their long absences together. The whole matter seemed beneath his notice. Nor did he show much interest when they discussed their adventures in the evening.

He would listen, grunting, to the day’s events, then take himself off to his study at the first opportunity.

‘He makes me want to bang my head against the wall,’ Alex raged one evening when he’d gone.

‘Bang his,’ Gino suggested. ‘More fun.’

‘Ah, but would I make any impression on it?’

‘Not a hope. People have been trying for years.’

‘How does anyone put up with him?’ Alex asked bitterly. There was something about the way Rinaldo overlooked her that made her seethe.

‘It takes long practise,’ Gino said, yawning. ‘It’s been a tiring day.’

‘Yes, I’m going straight to bed.’

She had grown even more fond of the bedroom, whose décor and furniture were so far behind the times. She had soon gotten into the Italian habit of stripping off the duvet and all the sheets each morning and hanging them out of the window to air. Teresa protested that a guest should not be working, but Alex enjoyed the job.

She particularly relished the moment when she’d lost her grip, and the duvet fell from the window, landing on Rinaldo who happened to be underneath. His yell and the infuriated look he cast up at her were among her happiest memories. In fact, much the pleasure of her stay lay in the knowledge that she was infuriating him.

‘Teresa is upset with you,’ he observed one morning at breakfast.

‘Yes, I know. She thinks it’s shocking that I do my own room and help her in the kitchen.’

‘Then why hurt her feelings?’

‘Because I don’t want to put any more burdens onto her aching bones. Have either of you any idea how old Teresa is?’

‘Older than I can count, I know that,’ Gino said.

‘Do you really think she can manage this great house with no help?’

‘I’ve offered to get someone else in,’ Rinaldo informed her. ‘She won’t have it.’

Alex made a sound of exasperation intended to cover all men.

‘And you left matters there because it was convenient,’ she snorted. ‘Great!’

‘May I remind you that my father was alive until recently?’ Rinaldo said coldly. ‘It was his decision.’

‘Then it was the wrong decision and you should have overruled him. Don’t tell me you couldn’t have done that. Teresa is an old woman and it’s too much for her. She won’t admit it because she’s proud, and she’s afraid you’ll send her away.’

‘What nonsense! Of course I wouldn’t!’

‘Don’t tell me, tell her. Say she’s got to have someone else in to do the heavy work, whether she likes it or not. Be firm. Are you a man or a mouse?’

‘I’m beginning to wonder,’ he said, eyeing her grimly.

‘Oh, stop that! You know I’m right.’

‘Heaven preserve me from women who say, “You know I’m right”.’

‘Yes, because you know they are.’

‘Can’t you two talk without fighting?’ Gino asked plaintively.

Alex shrugged. ‘It’s as good a way of communicating as any other,’ she said, her eyes on Rinaldo. ‘At least it’s honest. People are never so sincere as when they’re abusing each other.’

‘I don’t understand that,’ Gino said.

But Rinaldo understood perfectly. She could see that. He was giving her the same look of ironic complicity that she’d seen after Enrico’s funeral. It said that they saw the world through the same eyes, and to hell with the others.

‘I’m merely astonished at your extravagance,’ he said. ‘The more wages I have to pay the longer you have to wait for your money.’

Alex rolled her eyes to heaven.

‘Give me patience!’ she implored some unseen deity. ‘This house is full of empty rooms. The new maid will live in one of them, which will be part of her wages that will cost you nothing. You see? All problems solved.’

‘When I consider how anxious I was to bring you here,’ Rinaldo observed, ‘I can only wonder at my own foolishness.’

‘For pity’s sake stop arguing,’ she told him. ‘Just do it. Soften it by telling Teresa she can choose the person herself. She’s probably got a relative who’d be ideal. Go on. Do it.’

‘You’re taking a risk,’ Gino muttered, his eyes on his brother as if he was a lion about to spring. ‘He doesn’t like being ordered about. Never fear. I’ll protect you.’

‘I can protect myself against Rinaldo perfectly, thank you,’ Alex said, although she too was watching him carefully. ‘After all, what can he do to me?’

‘Throw you out,’ Rinaldo growled.

‘Not you,’ she jeered. ‘You might think you want to, but then you wouldn’t have me under your eye. Think of the sleep you’d lose, wondering what I was doing, who I was seeing. No, I’m safe enough.’

‘Alex,’ Gino begged, ‘please be careful.’

‘Who wants to be careful? That’s boring.’ She was enjoying herself.

‘I understood,’ Rinaldo said frostily, ‘that we were to have first refusal.’

‘Certainly. That’s what I’ll tell Montelli and all the others, but who’s to say I can’t tell them over a candlelit supper?’

‘Hey,’ Gino said at once, ‘if there are any candlelit suppers to be bought, I’ll buy them.’

‘With champagne?’

‘With anything you want, amor mio.’

Rinaldo rose sharply and went into the kitchen. A little later they heard the sound of argument and weeping, interspersed with Rinaldo’s voice, speaking more gently than Alex had ever heard before.

The next day he drove Teresa to the village where she had been born, about fifty miles away. When they returned in the evening they were accompanied by two hefty young women whom Teresa introduced as her great-nieces, Celia and Franca.

When she had shepherded them into the house Rinaldo detained Alex with a touch on her arm.

‘Thank you,’ he said gruffly. ‘I never thought of it but-you were right.’

Alex smiled. ‘She’ll be happier with their company, too.’

‘I never thought of that either. She and Poppa used to chat in the evenings sometimes, when he wasn’t out with Enrico. Since he died she sits in the kitchen alone. Why did you see it and not me?’

‘I’m a stranger. Our eyes always see the most clearly.’

‘You are no stranger,’ he said abruptly, and walked away.

Within a couple of days Celia and Franca had brought the heavy work under their expert control, leaving only the cooking to Teresa. This she guarded jealously.

Whether Rinaldo had told her or whether she had guessed the truth Alex couldn’t say. But it was clear that she now regarded Alex as a friend. She would take special care in serving her food, and her eyes would meet hers in a silent question. Was this how she liked it? Yes? Bene!

On those occasions Alex would look up to find Rinaldo regarding her, and remember the odd note in his voice when he said, ‘You are no stranger.’

She rented another car and, with the knowledge that she now had independence of movement, she no longer felt any need to leave the farm.

Evenings that had once been spent going to parties and first nights were now spent contentedly combing grass seeds out of Brutus’s long fur. He came to expect it and would present himself, rolling over on his back to make it easy.

‘I used to do that,’ Rinaldo observed, ‘but these days he tends to stay in the house, so he doesn’t wander among the long grass so much, and it stopped being necessary. Until now.’

‘He joins me when I run in the morning,’ she said. ‘At least, he starts out with me, then drops out when he gets tired, and goes and waits for me in the barn. When I swing from the rings he watches in a puzzled sort of way, and you can almost hear him thinking, ‘What on earth is she doing?’

‘We’re the best of friends now, aren’t we, old boy?’ she asked Brutus tenderly. ‘And if I don’t get these seeds out, you’re going to grow a lawn.’

Rinaldo no longer seemed to object to her petting Brutus, and when she looked up a moment later she found him looking at her with a faint smile on his face.

One day he said to her, ‘It would be doing me a favour if you’d wait in the house this morning. The vet is coming to give Brutus his injection, and if I’m not back in time at least you’ll be with him.’

‘Of course. The vet comes all the way out here?’

‘You mean, why don’t I take Brutus to the surgery? Because he hates cars and goes mad in them, climbing all over the place. That’s bad for his arthritis.’ After a moment he added uneasily, ‘Of course, it costs a lot more-’

‘So I’ll have to wait an extra five minutes for the money? I wish you’d stop saying things like that.’

‘I’m merely trying to assure you that I’m not being wilfully extravagant-’

‘No, you’re not,’ she said indignantly. ‘You’re rubbing my nose in it. It’s worth the expenditure to save Brutus pain, and you knew I’d say that, so please let it drop.’

He nodded, and left.

She spent the morning sitting on the sofa with the old dog, who panted in a way she hadn’t seen before and was disinclined to move.

At last the vet arrived. He was a youngish man called Silvio, whom Alex liked at once. She explained who she was but had the feeling he already knew. Was there anyone in the whole of Tuscany who didn’t know the situation, she wondered?

‘How long has he been panting like this?’ he asked when he saw Brutus.

‘Since this morning. I thought his arthritis must be hurting since it must be so long since his last injection. But the next one will make it all right, won’t it?’

‘I can take away that pain, but this is something else.’ Silvio felt in Brutus’s throat, and the dog whined softly. ‘There’s a lump there, and at his age it’s probably bad news. Look at how white his snout is. He’s very old. He’s had his life. The kindest thing now is to let him go peacefully.’

‘I can’t authorise you to do that,’ Alex said. ‘He’s Rinaldo’s dog.’

‘Tell him to call me and I’ll come back, preferably today. Rinaldo can’t put the inevitable off any longer. Do you still want me to give him the injection?’

‘Of course,’ she said at once.

When Silvio had gone Alex rubbed the dog’s head, laid trustingly in her lap.

‘How is he ever going to let you go?’ she murmured. ‘You were her dog. You’re all he has of her.’

Gino returned first. When she told him what had happened he dropped to his knees beside Brutus, patting him and murmuring sympathetically.

Rinaldo arrived a few minutes later and Brutus slid off the sofa and went to meet him. He was moving more easily now, and Alex watched the pleasure come into Rinaldo’s face as he saw the improvement and ran his hands over the rough coat.

‘Thank you,’ he told Alex. ‘He’s still panting a bit though. Did the vet have anything to say about that?’

‘Yes, he thinks it’s something bad,’ Alex said. ‘He wants you to call him and discuss-’ she hesitated ‘-putting him to sleep.’

‘Nonsense,’ Rinaldo said impatiently. ‘A good meal is all he needs.’

‘I fed him this afternoon. He only ate a little and then he brought it up.’

‘He’ll eat what I give him. You’ll see.’

But Brutus only stared mournfully at the food his master put down for him.

‘Come on,’ Rinaldo urged gently. ‘It’s your favourite.’

The dog looked up at him with eyes that Alex couldn’t bear to see. They were full of understanding, and trust that his master would face the truth and do what must be done.

Rinaldo saw Alex and Gino looking at him.

‘You’d think no dog had ever been off his food before,’ he snapped.

He went into the next room and they heard him on the phone to Silvio. When he came back he said,

‘He’s on his way. I’m going for a walk.’

He didn’t speak to Brutus but he looked at him, and the old dog wandered slowly out after his master, into the twilight.

Gino sighed. ‘He hasn’t seen it yet.’

‘He’s seen it,’ Alex said softly.

Silvio arrived in an hour to find Rinaldo and Brutus sitting under the trees. Gino and Alex went out and arrived as the vet was saying, ‘All I can do is give him some tablets, that would keep him with you for a few more weeks. But they wouldn’t be happy weeks. Not for him.’

Rinaldo shrugged. ‘That settles it. The barn is the best place.’

He began to walk away, Brutus following.

‘Shall we come?’ Gino asked.

‘No need,’ Rinaldo said over his shoulder.

Silvio followed them into the barn and remained for ten minutes before coming out and driving away.

After a moment Rinaldo emerged. His manner was calm and his face betrayed nothing. He shut the barn and walked off under the trees.

Alex spent the rest of that evening alone with Gino, talking in a half-hearted fashion.

Rinaldo returned after an hour, brushed aside their attempts at conversation and went straight to his office, where Teresa brought him coffee.

Gino, who made a well-intentioned visit, returned looking glum.

‘Rinaldo says he has to concentrate on the books. He says there’s work to be done and he can’t waste time on something that’s finished with. When I left he was studying figures.’

‘The ultimate sign of heartlessness, according to him,’ Alex said wryly.

‘Heartless is right,’ Gino snapped.

Rinaldo had not appeared when Alex went to bed. She tried to sleep but couldn’t, and at last she got up and went to stand at the window, where a full moon was turning the land to silver.

Suddenly she grew still. From down below she could see movement, as though someone was hiding just beyond the trees.

Pulling on her dressing gown she left her room and went along the corridor to Rinaldo’s room. But her knock produced no response. After a moment she knocked louder, but still there was no answer.

She stood in the hallway, listening to the quiet of the house about her, unwilling to try again and awake Rinaldo for what might be nothing. She could imagine his caustic remarks.

After a moment she turned away and went down the stairs, into the corridor that led to the back door. She could just make out that that there was still someone beyond the trees. Now she could also hear the sound of rhythmic movement.

She stepped forward as silently as possible, gliding through the trees until she came to a small clearing. Then she stopped. What she saw made her draw a sharp breath and step back quickly.

The man in the clearing would not want anyone to see what he was doing, and especially he would not want to be seen by her.

The spade flashed as the hole grew deeper. Rinaldo stood inside, waist deep. He wore no shirt and his body gleamed with perspiration as it rose and fell. His concentration was fierce and total.

At last he stopped, leaning on the spade, his head bent, his shoulders heaving. Then he straightened up, and reached out to something Alex had not noticed before.

Now she saw that Brutus was lying on the ground. She waited for Rinaldo to toss him into the grave, but instead he drew the cold body toward him and gathered it into his arms. Slowly he began to lower it.

Alex held her breath, awed by his incredible gentleness to an animal who could no longer feel it.

At the last moment he paused and laid his cheek against Brutus’s head. For a long time he was still. Then he moved his head slightly, caressing the fur, and she thought she saw something shining on his cheek. Still he held his friend, as though unable to face the final moment.

‘Perdona mi! Ti prego perdona mi!’

Forgive me. Please forgive me. The last words she had ever expected to hear from this unrelenting man.

At last he dropped to his knees, out of Alex’s sight. He remained there for a long time.

She backed away slowly, knowing that he must not find her here. When she was safely out of the trees she began to run back to the house. As she went, she called herself a fool.

She had never known anything about Rinaldo. Or rather, she had known exactly what he wanted her to know, and no more. Tonight she had witnessed a consuming grief that he would keep hidden from the world, if he could.

Nobody saw her slip into the house, for which she was thankful. She wouldn’t have known what to say to Gino just now.

Once in her room she went to the window and waited. At last, after a long time, he emerged from the trees. She stepped back from the window, lest he see her, but he walked with his head down and his shoulders hunched, not looking about him. As she watched, he crossed the yard and disappeared.

At breakfast next morning Rinaldo looked as though he hadn’t slept. Which was probably true, Alex thought. His face was pale beneath his tan, and she could see the tension about his mouth

She longed to say something that would ease his pain, but she knew he would never let her get so close, and would resent her for even trying.

He didn’t sit down, but snatched up a coffee in one hand and a roll in the other, eating on his feet as though longing to be gone.

Gino came into the kitchen, looking worried.

‘I’ve just been to the barn. Brutus has gone.’

Rinaldo shrugged. ‘So?’

‘I thought we might bury him properly.’

‘What for?’ Rinaldo asked coldly.

‘What for? You loved him. I did too, but you and he were so close-’

‘He was a dog, Gino. Dogs come and go.’

‘But-’

‘I’ve already disposed of him.’

‘Disposed of him?’ Gino echoed, aghast. ‘Like a piece of rubbish? That was Brutus! How can you be so callous?’

‘He was dead,’ Rinaldo said, his voice on the edge of exasperation. ‘There was nothing more to say or do. He was dead.’

‘So you just threw him out. No grave, no-’

‘I advise you to grow up and stop being sentimental,’ Rinaldo said coldly.

He drained his cup and walked out quickly before his brother could speak again.

‘Well, I’ll be-!’ Gino almost tore his hair. ‘He was supposed to love that dog. Some kind of love!’

‘People have their own way of showing their feelings,’ Alex suggested.

‘Always supposing that they have any feelings. Brutus is dead. Chuck him out! That’s how Rinaldo sees it. He didn’t even cry when the poor old fellow died.’

‘You don’t know. We weren’t there.’

‘You saw his face when he came out of the barn. Blank.’

‘But that doesn’t mean anything,’ Alex protested, thinking about the tell-tale gleam she’d seen the night before, as Rinaldo laid his face against the lifeless dog. ‘He wouldn’t let anyone see. He’d probably think it was weakness.’

‘Rinaldo thinks having feelings is weakness, never mind showing them. That’s why he cuts them right out.’

For the first time she found herself irritated by Gino.

‘I’ll bet you don’t know half as much as you think you do,’ she said. ‘Maybe a stranger can pick up more-’

‘Oh ho! Here comes woman’s intuition!’

‘Here comes the coffee to pour over your head if you talk like that.’

He grinned and hopped nimbly out of the way.

‘Pax! I take it back. But trust me on this. I understand Rinaldo as you never will.’

And I, she thought, am beginning to understand him in way that nobody else does.

She didn’t know what else to say. She longed to make Gino see the truth about his brother, but it was Rinaldo’s secret and she had no right to betray it.