you think you could get round me by pretending you imagined you'd landed in paradise?' he snapped sarcasticaly.
'I wasn't pretending,' she gulped, 'neither was I trying to impress you.'
'Weren't you?' he shrugged, so totaly disbelieving that she was convinced he was being deliberately unkind and getting some sadistic pleasure from it.
They were met by a car driven by a coloured Barbadian caled Belasco, who greeted Rick as Boss but appeared much more interested in Emma.
'New missus, boss?' he asked.
'Yes,' Rick introduced them and Emma smiled, feeling a little happier than she had done since Rick's cruel remarks.
Surprisingly Belasco appeared to be looking at her with approval and she sensed she had at least made one friend.
They traveled north, towards Speightstown, where Rick informed her briefly most of the sugar plantations were to be found. To Emma the countryside was beautiful, with orchards of lemon and orange trees along with avocadoes and bananas and hosts of others she failed to recognise. She would liked to have asked Rick about some of the things she saw but dared not risk another rebuff like the one she had suffered at the airport. Then she had felt hurt tears stinging the back of her eyes and she guessed how scathing his remarks would be if she gave in to them and broke down completely.
Turning her eyes from the enticing views on either side, she caught sight of Belasco's curious face in the driving mirror. It wasn't until then that it suddenly struck her that Rick's people would surely be expecting him to bring home a beautiful bride. If Belasco could look surprised by her plainness, how much more so would Rick's family be?
Emma's face was visibly paler as she stepped out of the car in front of a wonderful old colonial-style mansion. 'Is—is this all yours?' she breathed, in an agonised whisper.
'Just one of those things you'll have to try to get used to.'
His voice was curt, but his eyes were a little kinder as he understood she wasn't used to living in a house like this. He had to spoil it all by adding derisively, 'It's much easier to become addicted to wealth than poverty. Just as long as you remember you only have a year.'
'It—it isn't your wealth,' she dismissed that, for hadn't she discovered it was perfectly possible to live without it, 'and you don't need to keep on repeating that I only have a year
—I heard the first time and I don't want any longer. It's what your family are going to think.'
'Meaning?'
'They'll be expecting someone quite different from me.
Someone beautiful.'
'Wel, work on it,' he drawled carelessly. 'You never know what you might achieve. A lot of lovely women look far from pretty first thing in the morning.'
How did he know? Unhappily Emma stared at him, but obviously thinking she was still thinking of his family, Rick sighed shortly. 'They aren't ogres, you know, and a plain girl might just happen to be more acceptable than a beautiful one, women being what they are.'
'You obviously being an authority?' she was stung to retort.
'I've known plenty,' he admitted dryly.
Plenty who would have been only too wiling to become Mrs Rick Conway, she guessed, with sudden insight, her unhappiness curiously deepening.
Leaving Belasco unloading their luggage they went into the house. Emma folowed Rick silently as she saw he was clearly impatient with the conversation they had been having and had no intention of discussing the matter further. As they entered the impressive hal, a woman and a girl came out of one of the rooms and crossed the cool tiled floor towards them.
'Rick darling!' the woman exclaimed, 'we didn't look for you as soon as this.
Bending, he kissed the woman's smoothly made up cheek lightly, then the girl's in the same manner, before he caught Emma's hand, drawing her forward.
'This is Emma,' he said cooly. 'Emma, meet my stepmother and my stepsister Gail.' He didn't explain why he had returned sooner than he had apparently intended.
Emma was
'I wasn't pretending,' she gulped, 'neither was I trying to impress you.'
'Weren't you?' he shrugged, so totaly disbelieving that she was convinced he was being deliberately unkind and getting some sadistic pleasure from it.
They were met by a car driven by a coloured Barbadian caled Belasco, who greeted Rick as Boss but appeared much more interested in Emma.
'New missus, boss?' he asked.
'Yes,' Rick introduced them and Emma smiled, feeling a little happier than she had done since Rick's cruel remarks.
Surprisingly Belasco appeared to be looking at her with approval and she sensed she had at least made one friend.
They traveled north, towards Speightstown, where Rick informed her briefly most of the sugar plantations were to be found. To Emma the countryside was beautiful, with orchards of lemon and orange trees along with avocadoes and bananas and hosts of others she failed to recognise. She would liked to have asked Rick about some of the things she saw but dared not risk another rebuff like the one she had suffered at the airport. Then she had felt hurt tears stinging the back of her eyes and she guessed how scathing his remarks would be if she gave in to them and broke down completely.
Turning her eyes from the enticing views on either side, she caught sight of Belasco's curious face in the driving mirror. It wasn't until then that it suddenly struck her that Rick's people would surely be expecting him to bring home a beautiful bride. If Belasco could look surprised by her plainness, how much more so would Rick's family be?
Emma's face was visibly paler as she stepped out of the car in front of a wonderful old colonial-style mansion. 'Is—is this all yours?' she breathed, in an agonised whisper.
'Just one of those things you'll have to try to get used to.'
His voice was curt, but his eyes were a little kinder as he understood she wasn't used to living in a house like this. He had to spoil it all by adding derisively, 'It's much easier to become addicted to wealth than poverty. Just as long as you remember you only have a year.'
'It—it isn't your wealth,' she dismissed that, for hadn't she discovered it was perfectly possible to live without it, 'and you don't need to keep on repeating that I only have a year
—I heard the first time and I don't want any longer. It's what your family are going to think.'
'Meaning?'
'They'll be expecting someone quite different from me.
Someone beautiful.'
'Wel, work on it,' he drawled carelessly. 'You never know what you might achieve. A lot of lovely women look far from pretty first thing in the morning.'
How did he know? Unhappily Emma stared at him, but obviously thinking she was still thinking of his family, Rick sighed shortly. 'They aren't ogres, you know, and a plain girl might just happen to be more acceptable than a beautiful one, women being what they are.'
'You obviously being an authority?' she was stung to retort.
'I've known plenty,' he admitted dryly.
Plenty who would have been only too wiling to become Mrs Rick Conway, she guessed, with sudden insight, her unhappiness curiously deepening.
Leaving Belasco unloading their luggage they went into the house. Emma folowed Rick silently as she saw he was clearly impatient with the conversation they had been having and had no intention of discussing the matter further. As they entered the impressive hal, a woman and a girl came out of one of the rooms and crossed the cool tiled floor towards them.
'Rick darling!' the woman exclaimed, 'we didn't look for you as soon as this.
Bending, he kissed the woman's smoothly made up cheek lightly, then the girl's in the same manner, before he caught Emma's hand, drawing her forward.
'This is Emma,' he said cooly. 'Emma, meet my stepmother and my stepsister Gail.' He didn't explain why he had returned sooner than he had apparently intended.
Emma was
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