Moth To The Flame. Sara Craven
back in her chair, lifting her face to the sun. ‘I think—in fact I know—he hoped Mario would make a sensible marriage, in other words marry some other industrialist’s daughter and bring about another kind of merger as an added bonus. I don’t figure in his scheme of things, naturally.’
‘But that’s terrible,’ Juliet said heatedly. ‘Arranged marriages are a thing of the past, anyway.’
Jan lifted her eyebrows. ‘Apparently they’re still very traditional in the South. Santino’s ideas aren’t as extraordinary as you think.’
‘But—but does he know about the baby?’
‘Lord above, no!’ Jan raised her eyebrows exaggeratedly. ‘As a matter of fact, in view of his open hostility, we haven’t told him very much at all. Mario feels it’s best to maintain a low profile and just present him with a fait accompli after the wedding.’ She sounded almost bored. ‘Once we’re married, there’s very little he can do about it, and I doubt if he’ll actually carry out any of his threats.’
‘Threats?’ Juliet pushed the remains of her roll away uneaten, and stared at her sister.
Jan laughed. ‘Not aimed at me, silly, although I’ll admit he’s made some damned unpleasant remarks in the past. No, he’s told Mario that he’ll cut him off with the proverbial shilling—or lira, I suppose, to be exact. But he’ll soon relent. For one thing Mario’s his heir, and Santino himself isn’t married or likely to be. He’s far too busy making money and having a good time—the damned hypocrite! His strait-laced views on morality don’t exactly extend to his own conduct,’ she added on a little flash of petulance.
‘I thought you didn’t know him.’
‘Only by repute,’ Jan said. ‘And I did see him once—at a safe distance in a night club. And once seen, never forgotten.’
‘What is he like?’ Juliet’s curiosity was aroused almost in spite of herself.
‘Very tall. Towered head and shoulders above everyone else around him and knew it. And as dark as Satan,’ Jan said after a moment’s thought. ‘That’s as much as I noticed, because Mario hustled me off at the speed of light out of harm’s way.’ She gave a faint giggle. ‘Actually, I think he’s a bit jealous of him. I said quite casually that I thought he was very attractive and Mario simply exploded. And he’s never taken me up on any of my offers to beard the lion in his den and convince him what a simply wonderful and suitable addition I’ll be to the Vallone family.’
Juliet stared at her wonderingly. Jan’s tone seemed almost to be one of relish. She did not seem to care that her future brother-in-law’s attitude to her was an insult. All that seemed to matter was the fact that he was an attractive man, and according to the hints she had dropped, an accomplished rake.
‘I wonder why not?’ she said a little grimly.
Jan smiled again rather smugly. ‘As I said, I think poor Mario has always been just a teeny bit in the shade. Perhaps he was afraid that Santino might try to cut him out yet again.’
Juliet compressed her lips tightly together. ‘I see,’ she said with sarcasm. ‘Your future relationship with your husband is obviously going to be founded on mutual trust.’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, don’t be so damned suburban,’ Jan said crossly. ‘We don’t all suffer from the same romantic illusions as you seem to. They may sing “O Perfect Love” at weddings, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it exists. Mario suits me very well in a number of ways, and it’s time I was thinking of getting married anyway. Modelling’s fine while you’re young, but people are too fond of relegating you to the scrap heap once you’re over twenty. All these schoolgirls, just waiting to claw their way over you on their way up the ladder. It’s almost worth the prospect of being fat and hideous for months to think that I’ll be kissing all that goodbye.’
‘I thought you loved it.’ Juliet stared at her. ‘Mim and I always thought that this was your world—your life. You could always have come home.’
‘To what?’ Jan demanded. ‘This is all I know. I’m not trained for anything else, and I can’t imagine things are any different in London from what they are here. Or do you imagine that I’ll get some kind of second-rate job showing dresses in some tatty provincial department store? Thanks, but no, thanks. I’ll settle for Mario instead and put up with whatever I have to from his family.’ She glanced at her plain and very expensive-looking gold wristwatch. A present from Mario? Juliet found herself wondering. ‘Lord, I must fly, or I’ll have that Di Lorenzo bitch breathing down my neck.’ She gave a slight giggle as she rose. ‘I might offer to model maternity gear for her, just for the pleasure of seeing her face. ’Bye, love. See you tonight.’
Juliet’s thoughts were frankly sombre as she tidied the apartment and washed the breakfast dishes. Any pleasure she might have derived from the prospect of her first day’s sightseeing in Rome had been almost destroyed by Jan’s news—or at least her attitude to it.
She supposed she should have been relieved for all their sakes that Jan’s lover was willing to stand by her and give their child a name, and that Mim would not have to be burdened with a scandal that would wound her deeply. It was all very well to argue with herself that this was the age of the permissive society, and that unmarried mothers were no longer treated as outcasts. The world had not changed as far as Mim was concerned. If Jan had come home confessing that she was pregnant and deserted, Mim would have instantly supported and comforted her, but Juliet knew just what the cost would have been to her mother whose principles had been formed in a gender, more old-fashioned mould. Quite apart from anything else, the fact that it was Jan, the lovely and the beloved, who had betrayed Mim’s deeply held views of chaste behaviour would have been a blow from which Mrs Laurence might never have recovered no matter how brave a face she might put upon it.
Life had not been easy for her since her husband had died leaving her a widow in her late thirties. Materially they had been provided for, but Mim had never been able to hide the fact that she needed her husband’s strength, and Juliet had often considered that it was a pity that her gentle, rather diffident mother had never remarried.
In their younger days, both Juliet and Jan had always taken care to protect Mim from the seamier side of life, as revealed in the media and often in the lives of those about them. There was much, they had tacitly agreed, that it was better for Mim not to know. Now Jan herself had spoiled this tender conspiracy, but what troubled Juliet was not so much the mess her sister was in but her attitude towards it and its solution.
For one thing, she had never given Juliet the slightest indication that she was in love with the unknown Mario. Juliet even had a clearer picture of the hostile and disturbing Santino than she had of her future brother-in-law. All she had really gathered about Mario was that he was in awe of Santino to a certain extent and apparently dependent on him. It was also clear that if these considerable hurdles could be cleared he was capable of giving Jan the standard of living she had apparently decided she wanted, and glancing round at the luxurious fittings of the apartment, Juliet decided wryly that this was no small consideration. But she had no idea at all how the couple actually felt about each other.
They were obviously physically attracted to each other, and presumably, if he was going to marry her in defiance of his brother’s wishes, then Mario must be in love with Jan. Perhaps that was enough, Juliet thought unhappily. Hadn’t someone once said cynically that in every relationship there was one who loved, and one who allowed such loving? It was not an idea that appealed to her. Juliet had no very clear idea of the man she wanted, but she had always taken it for granted that their feeling for each other would be totally mutual. Where love was concerned, half a loaf would certainly not be better than no bread at all.
On the other hand, maybe she was worrying unduly. Jan had always condemned her for being too sentimental. Perhaps now she was in love and shy about exposing her deepest feelings even to her own sister. After all, as Juliet was forced to admit, they had never been close confidantes. Jan had always had her own friends to talk and giggle with for hours on the telephone and presumably to