Rinaldo’s Inherited Bride Page 8

  ‘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.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  F RUSTRATED , she went out into the yard. A movement from the barn drew her steps there, and she found Rinaldo.

  ‘Have you come to tell me what a heartless monster I am, too?’ he asked ironically. ‘Because if so, don’t.’

  ‘No, I won’t say that. After last night, I know better.’

  He shot her a sharp glance. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I saw you bury Brutus.’

  For a moment he was quite still. Then he said curtly, ‘Nonsense.’

  ‘It isn’t. I noticed something moving in the trees and went down. I was there while you dug the grave and put him in it. I saw-everything.’

  ‘You have a vivid imagination, I’ll say that for you. You and Gino make a good pair.’

  Anger at his rebuff made her snap, ‘You think Gino would be interested in what I saw? Let’s try.’

  She turned to go but he was beside her in a flash, seizing her arms in a fierce grip.

  ‘Don’t dare to tell him anything,’ he growled. ‘What concern is it of yours what I do?’

  ‘But it’s true, isn’t it? Losing him broke your heart. Why deny it?’

  ‘Because it’s nobody else’s business!’

  ‘But he’s your brother. Don’t you think he’d feel for you?’

  ‘I don’t ask him to feel for me. Nor do I ask you.’

  ‘Who do you ask?’ she said quietly. ‘Now Brutus is dead, who do you share your feelings with?’

  ‘There’s a lot to be said for a dog,’ he snapped. ‘They keep quiet and they don’t fret about things that are none of their business. Why did you have to come Belluna and interfere?’

  ‘You more or less forced me to come.’

  ‘And it was the worst day’s work I ever did.’

  ‘You said I needed to learn about this place and the things that went on in it. That’s just what I’m doing. I’m learning that nothing is ever quite what it seems.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘You, for instance. You work hard at being one thing and seeming another. I wonder why.’

  ‘It keeps me safe from snoopers.’

  ‘Does that include Gino? Because you hide from him too. You don’t let anyone in, do you? Except Brutus.’

  His fingers tightened on her shoulders, giving her a tiny shake.

  ‘Will you stop?’ he asked fiercely. ‘Will you stop?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said gently after a moment. ‘I know it isn’t really my business. But now I can’t help getting involved. Where do I draw the line?’

  ‘Right here,’ he said, still holding her. ‘You’ve reached the boundary. Stay on your side of it, and we’ll manage.’

  Suddenly she realised that he was shaking. Through the contact of his fingers on her bare arms she could sense his whole body vibrating.

  In her turn she reached up to take hold of his arms.

  ‘Rinaldo,’ she said. ‘Don’t shut me out. Let me help.’

  ‘I don’t need your help.’

  But she refused to be snubbed. ‘After last night it’s too late,’ she said quietly. ‘I know what I know.’

  She knew she was treading on dangerous ground and for a moment she thought he would lose his temper. But instead he sighed and the anger went out of his face.

  ‘How can you possibly help?’ he asked heavily.

  ‘You mean I’m the last person who ever could. Because I caused all the trouble, didn’t I?’

  Hearing his own accusation put so bluntly seemed to do something to Rinaldo. She saw his eyes full of shock as
he realised that he was still holding her. He dropped his hands from her arms.

  There was an ache inside her that had something to do with his misery. She wanted to assuage it and ease the hurt for them both.

  He sat down on a bale of hay, leaning back against a post of the barn, his hands hanging loose as though he’d lost the will to fight.

  ‘No, it’s not your fault,’ he said tiredly. ‘I know I said that at first, but in truth I know better. It wasn’t you who created the situation.’

  He took a long breath. His face was livid.

  ‘It was my father,’ he said at last. ‘A man I trusted, and who let me live in a fool’s paradise. He never warned me, that’s what-’ He made a confused gesture.

  ‘That’s what hurts, isn’t it?’ she whispered, sitting beside him.

  His eyes were full of resignation, almost despair.

  ‘Yes,’ he said simply. ‘We used to sit up late at night, discussing problems. I thought we were a team, and all the time he was keeping me at a distance, not trusting me with the truth.’

  ‘Oh, no,’ she said at once. ‘It wasn’t like that.’

  ‘How can you possibly know?’

  ‘Because in an odd way I feel as if I do know him. Everyone talks about how lovely he was, laughing, singing, always looking on the bright side. I think that probably made him a wonderful person and a loveable father, but maybe not a very practical farmer.’

  He nodded. ‘That’s true.’

  ‘But you are practical. I expect you hauled him back from the brink a few times.’

  ‘That’s true as well. He was always going after madcap schemes and having to be rescued. You’d think he’d learn.’

  Alex shook her head.

  ‘People like that never do learn,’ she said gently. ‘They’re always sure they’re going to get it right next time. I think he relied on you completely, and was just a little bit in awe of you.’

  ‘Nonsense, how could my father-?’ But Rinaldo checked himself, and a strange, distant look came over his face, as though he were hearing distant echoes.

  ‘Perhaps,’ he said after a while.

  ‘You’ve said that the money helped this place.’

  ‘A lot. Poppa ploughed it into Belluna-he was a good enough farmer for that. The investment has enabled us to prosper as never before.’