The House of Adriano Read Online Free

about somebody she had seen for only a few moments, but secretly had always known she would dislike any member of the Adriano family chance ever caused her to meet, because Mandy and Eric were such thoroughly nice people who had grown to mean as much to her as the brother and sister she had never had - and it had happened just as she had expected. The moment that dark glance clashed with hers there had been instant enmity on her part. She did not delude herself that it would mean anything to Duarte Adriano, even if he had noticed it. He had probably completely forgotten her by now. Men in his position did not remember little nonentities like Aileen Lawrence.
    She had a swift little hope j ust then that fate would take a hand in it, and when he married make the girl have enough spirit not to let him have everything entirely his own way. It would serve him right!
    That brought Eric to mind again, because he had originally made the remark, and her thoughts, which had been a mixture of amusement and asperity, became tinged with a little curiosity. She had never been able to make up her mind whether or not Eric had disliked his Spanish cousin. Sometimes she had thought he had not known himself. Possibly that wild Irish spirit in him had not been able to understand his cousin’s Spanish correctness in everything he did. They came from such very different backgrounds. Now there could never be any hope of further attempt at understanding, because both Mandy and Eric were dead.
    Their deaths had occurred during the year when everything seemed to happen one on top of another. Fir s t Aileen’s mother had died after a heart attack - she had hidden from everyone the fact that she had heart trouble - and then, only a few months later, while Aileen was still recovering from the death of her mother, both Mandy and Eric had been killed in a train smash.
    Aileen had felt too shocked and sick even to cry when she first heard about it, and she did not know how she was going to break the news to Peter. He had been left at home while Mandy and Eric had gone into town to see a show, and Aileen had been minding Peter for them. She had been faced then with telling him that his mummy and daddy had gone away and would not be coming back. He had been only five years old at the time and, although he had cried a lot, he had not really understood, and ultimately he had come to accept it as natural that it was Aileen who should be looking after him now. He never remembered a time when she had not been there and she had always been a great favourite of his. His mother and father had gone away, but Auntie Aileen was still there, and slowly his tears had dried and he had smiled again.
    As for Aileen, it had seemed quite natural that she should take on the responsibility of caring for him. After all, there was nobody else, and they had all been so close, besides which she had lost everyone herself except Peter.
    There had to be change, though, and perhaps it was just as well, because there were reminders of the three people who had died so soon after each other all over the house. She had found a small flat more suited to her means, and Peter and herself had moved in and settled down quite happily after a while. That was two years ago now.
    Sometimes it had been suggested to her that she was spoiling her chances of marrying, as it would be hard to expect any man to take on a ready-made family - and a child who was not even related to his wife at that - but Aileen had never even considered any other way out than that she should take Peter. Mandy had no living relatives and Eric had always claimed that he was quite alone in the world - or at least that he was quite cut off from the Adrianos - so it had seemed quite natural to Aileen that she should care for Peter. She did not want it any other way.
    In any case, she had already proved people wrong when they said that Peter would prove an encumbrance if she wanted to get married herself. Paul had asked her time