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life, fidelity. In death, fidelity.' Then he had asked her,
`Can you understand what that means, Amanda?'
She had frowned, reaching for the concept, as serious
as himself for all her youth. 'I think so, Cesare. We must
be faithful in life or death?'
He had searched her smooth-skinned little face with
those cold grey eyes of his, then nodded with satisfaction.
So that as Amanda walked through the narrow, wind-
ing streets that afternoon, with Piero, she was not sur-
prised by the reserve she met with, the holding back which
HAWK IN A BLUE SKY
41
she recognised where a stranger might have been fooled
by their affectionate smiles Their disapproval was so
subtly expressed. The smiles never quite reached those
dark, watchful eyes, and their greetings were ambiguous,
shaded from courtesy to downright disapproval. The
people felt that Amanda was betraying the Conte. They
knew, as did everyone in the city, that Cesare had once
asked her to marry him. They knew the long-cherished
dreams of the Contessa and Amanda's mother. In the
eyes of the city Amanda was betrothed to Cesare and
therefore could never belong to his brother Piero.
How could she, in these circumstances, fail to feel ex-
tremely uncomfortable? She could not even protest that
her refusal of Cesare ended the matter, for she knew very
well that these people knew their Conte better. He had
never brooked opposition to his will in the past. Why
should he permit a chit of a girl to defy him now?
When they returned" to the castle Piero led her into the
walled garden which lay within the building, a small
enclosure built into an angle of the crenellated wall look-
ing out over the valley. A few box trees made a pleasant
shade in which the women of the household often came
to sit with their sewing. Long stone troughs contained
geraniums, pansies and carnations, petunias and other
gaily coloured flowers. Creepers insinuated themselves
along the walls, softening the starkness of the stone and
encouraging birds to perch and sing among their leaves.
Piero pulled her close. 'It seems like a hundred years
since we were alone.'
`Piero, did you get the feeling that we're unpopular out
HAWK IN A BLUE SKY
42
there?' Amanda tried to laugh, but it was difficult.
`There were icy fingers running up and down my spine
everywhere we walked. If looks were daggers I would lie
out there on the cobblestones as cold as charity.'
Her colloquial English had evaded him.. He frowned
down at her. 'What do you mean? I do not understand.'
She reverted to Italian. 'They hate me.
`I should have married you in England,' he said
shakily, without denying her accusation.
`We couldn't!' Amanda's emancipation in England
had not gone so far as to allow her to consider such an
affront to the family. She looked up at him sombrely.
`They would never have forgiven that.'
Piero looked desperate. 'What are we going to do, cara
mia? Cesare's face when we arrived! I never suspected.'
He caught back his breath, then released it with a shrug.
`Had he struck me he could not have astonished me
more! I thought he had forgotten you, that he had only
proposed out of family duty and perhaps even been re-
lieved when you turned him down. He has barely men-
tioned your name *since you left.' He looked down, his
narrowed eyes probing hers. 'Amanda, tell me the truth
now. Does Cesare love you?'
`No, no!' She recoiled, going first scarlet, then white,
her breath suddenly hurting in her lungs. 'Of course not!
You were right to call it a matter of family. duty. You
know our mothers always wished it, talked of it as some-
thing- expected. It came as a bolt out of the blue to me. I
was too young to listen to them, but afterwards I realised
they had always planned it.'
HAWK IN A BLUE SKY
43
`Then why is he so angry ?' Piero asked unanswerably.
`Perhaps it is as your mother said pride, Druetso
pride. Cesare was always an arrogant, unbending brute. I
wounded his pride when I refused him, now I've re-
opened the injury by coming back engaged to you.'
`It is strange that you never loved him,' Piero said
thoughtfully. 'Half the girls in the city fell for Cesare at
one time or another.'
`I suppose I saw him as a tyrannical older brother,' she-
shrugged. 'I was half English, remember. I didn't want
to marry without love. I needed my independence.'
Piero caught her closer, kissing her with a hungry
desperation. 'You shall not marry without love, I prom-
ise you. Cesare shall not separate us. The city shall not
come between us.'
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