Indiscretion Read Online Free PDF Page B

although hungry, she was reluctant to buy food or refreshments from any of the streetsellers.
    Soon she came to the harbour. It teemed with a picturesque populace, so very foreign to her but so very intriguing. Men in wide-brimmed hats strolled with women in brightly coloured dresses and mantillas, while old men played draughts at quayside café tables. The clamour of fishermen and fishmongers was everywhere. Sea air mingled with the acrid smell of tar and the reek of fishing nets.
    In front of her, the ocean disappeared into infinity. Lines of huts, their mouldy wood gracefully draped with white nets drying in the sun, stretched as far as the eye could see on the shore’s expanse of golden sand. In the far-off backdrop of hills loomed the sombre green shadow of pinewoods and, on the opposite side of the harbour, Cádiz, the bright pearl of the Costa de la Luz, lay shining under a scorching sun.
    To the north, she could see the vast terrace of a public beach, framed by palm trees, and the parasols and tables of cafés. Out in the turbulent bay, multi-coloured fishing boats and pleasurecraft, sailing boats, small tugs and an enormous liner swayed and bobbed on the phosphorescent waves of the Atlantic Ocean like tipsy dancers in a carnival.
    Alexandra joined the bustle on the jetty where the trawlers were moored. She made her way through the unsavoury, eager crowd gathered there to watch the unloading of the big fishing boats. Never before had she seen so many fish. They were of all sorts and all sizes; some grey and silvery, others blue and pink; big fish with thick scales, others thinner and daintier, wriggling and jumping about like quicksilver; crabs, prawns, lobsters, shrimps … all spread out in a slippery, crawling mass of pincers, shells and scales.
    Men in shirtsleeves, out of breath and sweating, were piling this abundance into big, flat baskets; then, bent double under their heavy burdens, they loaded them into carts for delivery to the various markets. Fishermen close to the shore were bringing in their nets. Alexandra watched them carry out this endless task, seemingly ill-rewarded, for their catch appeared meagre. It was hard to say how long she spent daydreaming, admiring the strange landscape of light and colour, but she was brought back to earth by the chimes of the town clock. Six o’clock already, it was time to return.
    She crossed the road, then turned to get a last glimpse of the flaming sunset. The sea was turning gold, the sky streaked with rose and orange and angry red; a canvas where the supreme artist used colours unknown to any earthly palette. Wanting to imprint this painting on her soul to use it as the opening of the first chapter to her new book, Alexandra stood there breathless and, lifting her face to the sky, she stepped back, inadvertently bumping into someone. Jerked out of her contemplation, she turned apologetically.
    ‘
Lo siento
…’ she breathed as she looked straight into the striking grey-blue eyes of a man, a man very different to those she had glimpsed since she had arrived in Spain.
    Tall, slim and well built, he was gazing at her intently, the greyness of his wintry eyes emphasized by a tanned complexion.
    Alexandra felt the rush of heat burn her cheeks and gave him an embarrassed smile. ‘I was admiring your dazzling sunset, I’ve never seen such amazing colours.’
    ‘One can just as much be dazzled by a lovely sunset as by the unexpected encounter of a stunningly beautiful woman,’ the stranger murmured almost imperceptibly.
    Alexandra knew that these words, spoken by a Spaniard, were just an ordinary compliment that one should not take seriously, a compulsory courtesy that was part of the Latin charm. Besides, as he pronounced them, the stranger’s face had kept its inscrutability and she had seen nothing she could easily interpret in his pale eyes. So why did she feel a secret stirring inside her?
    She had no time to answer him. The dark
hidalgo
had taken