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befell, once he had her married — but for
amusement's sake. . .
              .
             
             
              He would give the matter some thought, he decided. It would
be a pity to risk his ace carelessly in a minor game when the main one promised
so well. But, so long as he chose his cards with due care. . .
             
             
              He realized that his wife was looking at him oddly, and
quickly brought his thoughts back to the present, fixing her with a limpidly
enquiring stare that made her colour and look away. It was a ploy that always
worked.
             
             
              'So it seems that you have succeeded in finding our nephew
a wife at last,'
              she murmured.
             
             
              'Provided I can patch up - the ceremony without delay the
boy will be beside himself when he hears!' De Castaneda pulled a face, clowning
now. 'He did not brook the last disappointment lightly. They can meet tomorrow,
and we shall hold the betrothal ceremony the next day.'
             
             
              'What if-he does not like her?‘ Her words were very faint.
             
             
              'My dear, you saw her! He will be at her feet!' At her
skirts more like, he amended silently, but aloud he said, 'Bartolomé would be a
strange thing indeed if he refused so delicate a creature for his bed.'
             
             
              'And if she does not. . . like . . . him?'
             
             
              He grinned wolfishly. 'As to that, I have her father's
written consent to the marriage, so what can she do? She incensed him by trying
to run off, and I was able to persuade him to grant me custody of her-as well
as to stay away until she was married, to show his displeasure. You
underestimate me, Luisa - I always get what I want, and I want this marriage.'
             
             
              His eyes were feverishly bright as he smiled at her, then
he downed the rest of his wine at a gulp and put the empty cup in her hands. At
that moment, with his rounded cheeks flushed and his expression challenging, he
reminded Dona Luisa of the eager, ambitious youth she had married.
             
             
              She turned away hastily to set the cup on a nearby table,
saying, 'And you think you can achieve it without the King' s consent?'
              'I shall not do it with the King's consent— not while this
King lives! We shall contrive somehow. The longer we can keep all secret, the
safer we shall be.
              'He pinched his lower lip between finger and thumb. 'Torres
is safe in Madrid -I made sure of that on my way back from Navarre - and if we
make haste, the marriage can be solemnized before he can learn that I have
taken a journey.' He patted her thin shoulder as if she were a dog. 'Never
fear! One of my best arts is the keeping of secrets.'
             
             
              Dona Luisa nodded without lifting her gaze from her own
fingers, wreathed tightly round the base of the cup. Please God, she thought,
she would never know all the secrets that he kept from her - she knew too many
already for her peace - and let him never learn of the letter she had sent to
Madrid, without a signature, telling the Duque de Medina de las Torres that a
bride had been found for Valenzuela.
             
             
     
     
    CHAPTER 2
             
     
             
              Juana was alone as she entered the Duquesa' s apartments,
and for the first few moments that was all she cared about; if she had had to
endure Tia's censorious eyes and busy tongue for much longer, she thought, she
might have screamed aloud. But Dona Luisa, without seeming to take more