The Arrogant Duke Read Online Free PDF Page A

trepidation.
    'Hello,' she said, in a friendly fashion. 'You must be Teresa. My name is - Rosemary.' She almost slipped up altogether and said Juliet.
    The girl viewed her critically, putting aside her magazine. 'Who else would I be?' she asked pointedly, glancing down at the wheelchair.
    Juliet drew a little closer. 'Yes, perhaps it was a stupid remark. However, I couldn't think of any other way of introducing myself.'
    Teresa's eyes flickered for a moment, and then she resumed her sullen expression. 'Where have you come from? London?'
    'Yes, that's right.'
    'Estelle never gives up, does she?' Teresa gave a short laugh.
    Juliet deemed it better not to answer this. She had no desire to take sides without first knowing all the circumstances of the case. So she seated herself in a basketwork chair, also placed near the table, and sighed. 'What a beautiful place this is. You must love it here. '
    Teresa shrugged her thin shoulders, and Juliet noticed how painfully thin she really was. 'It's all right,' she said. She spoke with little accent, and Juliet could only assume she had attended a British school. 'It's better than hospital, anyway.'
    Juliet bit her lip. 'Yes. Were you in hospital long?'
    'Long enough.' Teresa was scrutinizing her intently. 'What did you used to do, before you came here?'
    Juliet felt the colour seeping into her cheeks. 'Well, I -er-this and that!'
    Teresa sniffed. 'Why did you come here? Did you think it would make a nice holiday.'
    'No.' Juliet was swift to deny this. 'No. I came because there was an advertisement in a British newspaper and I thought the job sounded interesting.' This at least was true.
    Teresa wrinkled her nose. 'I hear my uncle did not exactly welcome you with open arms.'
    Juliet had to smile at this. 'That's true,' she answered.
    'I expect he was good and mad,' said Teresa, a little enthusiasm entering her voice now. 'After the last time!'
    Juliet did not ask the question that trembled on her tongue, but Teresa went on: 'Estelle keeps trying to get me off her neck, you know! I think she's jealous!' This was said with some satisfaction.
    Juliet frowned. 'Jealous? Senhora Vinceiro? Why should she be jealous?' This was one question she could not help but ask. She was only human after all.
    Teresa fingered the pleat of the blue skirt she was wearing. 'Estelle wants Felipe - it's as simple as that! She wanted him ten years ago when she married his cousin because he lived on Venterra also, and my uncle was obviously not prepared to marry her then. And Pepe - her husband - died two years ago, he was years older than Estelle, of course, and she was granted her wish. To live on Venterra - and to have, a second chance with my uncle.'
    Juliet swallowed hard. This - from a sixteen-year- old!
    'I think you're dramatizing the situation, Teresa,' she said, glancing round with relief as the young maid appeared with the tray of tea.
    'I am not!' Teresa sounded angry. 'Estelle hated it when Felipe brought me here, installing me in his house, making her plans doubly difficult.'
    'Oh really,' exclaimed Juliet disbelievingly. 'You're his niece!'
    'Only by marriage,' retorted Teresa, at once. 'My father was not Felipe's brother. My mother had been married before. My father died ten years ago. He suffered from heart disease.'
    'I see.' Juliet thanked the maid, and stood up. 'Shall -shall I handle this?'
    Teresa nodded with some dignity. 'Of course now I am an orphan. And family ties are strong among Portuguese families. I am just as much Felipe's responsibility whether my relationship to him is distant or otherwise.'
    'I see,' said Juliet again. Heavens, she thought to herself, what a situation!
    The tea was weak, but hot, and the wafer-thin biscuits rather delicious. Teresa drank one cup of tea, but ate nothing, and Juliet felt greedy because she ate three biscuits. Conversation lapsed, and Juliet wondered what was going through the girl's head. She was obviously obsessed with intrigue, seeing herself as a