Beware of the Beast (11 page)

"Ah, so you are Charlotte."
Eleni
Faulkner spoke first, her
voice strong and firm. "Why has my grandson not brought
you to meet me?"

Charlotte's lips parted. "
Er
— won't you sit down,
Kyria
Faulkner?" she invited awkwardly. "I -
er
- Alex
isn't
here
at the moment."
        
_

Eleni
regarded her suspiciously for a few moments and then with an indifferent tilt of her head allowed herself to be seated
on one of the straight-backed armchairs. "Well?" she
said,
when she was seated. "You haven't answered my question."
• Charlotte glanced round and saw with relief that Maria had
come to hover near the doorway. Turning back to her
visitor, she said: "Can I offer you some coffee?"

Eleni
made an impatient sound with her tongue against the
roof of her mouth. "I don't drink coffee," she replied.
"Chocolate, yes."

Charlotte shrugged and looked at Maria. "Can we offer
Kyria
Faulkner chocolate?" she inquired, and at Maria's nod:
"For - two, please."

Maria gave her a slightly sympathetic smile and went away,
and Charlotte subsided into the chair opposite her visitor.
"I don't know where Alex is," she said conversationally,
almost as though he had just disappeared within the last few
minutes. "I'm sorry he's not here to see you. I'm sure he'll
be sorry if he misses you. Perhaps you could come to lunch
one day. Or dinner
— "

"Do stop blabbering, girl." Clearly,
Eleni
was not above
using her age as an excuse for rudeness. "I didn't ask where my
grandson was. Knowing him, he's probably messing about
in a boat somewhere. I asked why he had not brought you to
see
me
."
          
_f

Charlotte made a helpless gesture. "I — we've only been
here four days. There really hasn't been time
- "

"Nonsense.
Alex knows me. He knows I was expecting to
ir-eet
you.
Akooste
,
after I have waited almost twenty years
for him to take a wife, is it so unreasonable that I should wish
to meet her?"

"Of course not."
Charlotte linked her hands between her
knees. "It's just that - well, you know how it is."

"No, I do not know how it is. That is why I am asking you."

Eleni
wasn't letting her get away with that, and reluctantly
Charlotte remembered that Alex had intended to show her the island. No doubt that would have included meeting his
grandmother, but she had refused to go with him.

Realizing excuses were getting her precisely nowhere, she said: "I'm sorry. I did not imagine you would be so - interest
ed in me."

Ekni's
dark eyes narrowed.
"And why not?
Why should I
not be interested in my new granddaughter?"

"What Charlotte means is that back in England grand
parents do not perhaps take such an interest in their grand
children's affairs."

Alex's unmistakable tones had never been so welcome, and
Charlotte glanced round with a deeply drawn sigh to find her husband leaning negligently against the door frame. The fact
that he was dressed much as she had seen him that first morn
ing - in shabby shorts, only this time with the doubtful
distinction of a short-sleeved shirt hanging loosely from his
shoulders - meant less than her intense relief at his appearance. Her eyes encountered his, read their unmistakable censure, and
quickly looked away.

Alex came into the room and took his grandmother's hand,
raising it to his lips, and
Eleni
said: "
Alexandro
!" in gently
reproving tones. Then she stared at him searchingly, shaking her head at his lack of attire, and went on: "
Alexandro
, why have you been keeping yourself aloof from me?"

Alex straightened. "Grandmother, we are newly married,"
he said mildly. "Were you and my grandfather eager for
company on your honeymoon?"

Eleni
moved her head from side to side. "That was different.
Your grandfather and I were not honeymooning in the bosom
of the family, as it were.
Alexandro
- you promised to come
and see
mel
"

Charlotte listened to this interchange with an acute feeling
of discomfort. On the one hand she felt responsible for Alex's
tardy behaviour, and on the other she objected to the entirely misleading impression he was allowing his grandmother to
acquire. And yet what else could he say? How could he
explain to this arrogant old woman that his only reason for
making this marriage at all involved a hastily contrived
gamble and a latent desire for a son and heir?

Maria arrived with the chocolate
Eleni
had requested, and
rinding
Alex with the two women, offered to get another cup.

"Oh, then
pirazi
,
Maria," replied Alex, shaking his head,
and Charlotte guessed he had refused. He turned once more to his grandmother. "You'll join us for lunch, of course. I'll
go and change."

Eleni
looked piercingly up at him. "No,
Alexandro
, I
won't stay to lunch today. I did not come here to intrude
upon your privacy. I came to meet your wife, and I have."
Her eyes flickered over Charlotte. "She's a beautiful
creature,
I can understand your desire to keep her to yourself. But I
expect to see you again - soon,
ne
?"

Charlotte glanced up at her husband, realizing something
was expected of her. "
Er
- please stay," she ventured, not
quite knowing what he wanted. "You're very welcome."

"Thank you, my dear, but I know when I am not wanted."
Eleni
indicated the chocolate which Maria had set on a low
table in front of Charlotte. "If I can just have some chocolate, I’ll
be on my way."

"Chocolate?
Oh, yes. Sorry." Charlotte had almost for
gotten the chocolate. She struggled to pour the steaming liquid without spilling any.
"Of course."

Eleni
frowned up at Alex. "You're looking pale, my boy,"
she commented, startling Charlotte still further. "And your
wife is nervous of me," the old woman added, with wry
perception. "What have you been telling her?"

Alex managed a smile, although his eyes remained
sombre
.
"You're imagining
things
,
yaya
"
he told her firmly. "And
remarking on someone's nervousness is not likely to put them
at their ease."

Eleni
shrugged, and took the cup of chocolate Charlotte
handed to her. "She's too thin, of course," she went on,
changing the subject with confusing speed. "But once babies
start
coming, that
will soon change."

"I hope not," retorted Alex calmly. "I like her just the way
she is."

Eleni
sipped her chocolate slowly, and Charlotte made an
effort to drink hers. As his grandmother had refused his offer
to stay to lunch, Alex had not gone to get changed, and for
that she was grateful; even though it meant he would probably
disappear again the minute his grandmother departed.

At last
Eleni
got up to leave, and both Charlotte and Alex
accompanied her to the door. To Charlotte's surprise and
delight, a small cart waited outside drawn by a donkey with
his ears poking through the brim of a straw boater. Giving a
little exclamation of pleasure, she left her husband and his
grandmother to approach the animal, stroking his neck and
murmuring to him. Until then, she had not given a thought
as to how
Eleni
must have "made the journey across the island.
She had seen no cars since her arrival, and as most places
were accessible on foot she had naturally assumed there was
no means of transport.

Eleni
came to join her, climbing up on to the front of the
cart where a
benchiike
seat was made a little more comfortable
 
by the addition of cushions. Alex helped his grandmother up,
and she took up the reins and a small whip.

"What's his name?"
Charlotte asked, unaware of the sud
den warmth in her voice as she spoke to the donkey.

Eleni
regarded her strangely. "
Pepe
," she said at last.
"Do you like animals?"

Charlotte nodded eagerly.
"
I
love them. We had a dog
once..," She hesitated. "After my mother died, there was no
one to exercise it when I was away at school." She bit her
lip, unconsciously wistful. "Daddy said we had to get rid of
it."

Eleni
and Alex exchanged glances, and then
Eleni
flicked
the whip. "I must be off. I will see you both in a few days.
Do not forget,
Alexandro
."

The donkey cart rattled away along the track which led to
the village, and Charlotte felt suddenly bereft. In spite of the tension involved in speaking with Alex's grandmother, there had been
a certain
stimulation in the exercise, and now she
had gone and things would resume their dull pattern.

Alex turned and walked back into the house, and after a
few moments she followed him, wandering along the hall
which led to the back of the house. The lounger she had
occupied earlier awaited her, her book laid conveniently
within arm's reach.

There was no sign of Alex and she guessed he had gone to his room. She had learned, by a process of elimination, that
Alex occupied the room several doors along from her own,
and the brief glimpse she had had of it had shown her that
he did not use his wealth for his own comfort. Compared to
the room she slept in, it was almost bare, with a locally woven
coverlet on the bed and plain white curtains at the windows.
The only rug she had seen had been beside the bed, a simple
divan of the type to be found in any department store.

She glanced at her watch. It was barely twelve o'clock and
there were two hours to kill until lunch time. She felt sweaty
after the tension of her encounter with Alex's grandmother, and she thought with longing of that pool Alex had offered to show her. She wondered where it was and whether she
could find it on her own, and then discarded the idea. It was
too hot to wander aimlessly about the island, and she had no
wish to develop sunstroke to add to all her other worries.

She was hesitating at the doorway to the patio when hard
hands on her midriff shifted her firmly aside, and Alex passed
her to walk across the sun-bleached tiles. He leant against one of the wide stone pillars which supported the entrance
to the villa; and glanced back at her with cool appraising
eyes. He had changed his shorts for close-fitting cotton pants,
but had discarded his shirt altogether.