Nyctophobia Read Free Page B

house.’
    ‘My god, what a bizarre idea.’
    ‘Are you really sure this is what you want?’ Mateo asked.
    ‘I won’t know until I’ve tried,’ I admitted.
    ‘It would be strange for you at first. I mean, it’s pretty isolated. That’s what’s keeping the price low – well, that and the fact that it’s an albatross for the bank.’
    ‘I’ve checked out the distances. Ronda’s not that far, and there are other towns. Estepona’s on the coast, Marbella’s not hard to reach and has great shops, and of course I can head over to London on EasyJet if you don’t mind funding me,’ I said.
    ‘No, of course not.’
    ‘And I’m sure I’ll find myself a project, and Bobbie will be with me for a while at least.’
    ‘I guess you’ll make friends in the village. Gaucia is only –’ he checked the mileage, ‘– seven kilometres away.’
    ‘I know there are bound to be a few problems. I’m an inner city gal – I don’t drive. For me, going to South London is always a culture shock. It’s going to do my head in for a while but I’ll find ways to cope. I promise I won’t go mad and do a Mrs Danvers.’
    ‘Good. One crazy woman in my life is my limit.’
    ‘Are you referring to my mother or your ex-wife?’
    ‘Okay, make that two. Anyway, you could easily learn to drive while you’re here.’
    ‘I have to learn to speak Spanish first. I can say por favour and gracias .’
    ‘It’s a start.’
    We parked and crossed the drive. Elegantly framed by the cliff behind and entirely of a piece with itself, the house looked as if no-one had ever considered adding an extension or a porch for fear of spoiling the overall effect. It was a perfect example of urban rococo that might have been lifted from Barcelona’s Gracia barrio and carefully reset here in the harsh countryside. It seemed to have been born in perpetual light, its façade aglow and warm to the touch. Only the sides were lost in the black shadows of the olive trees and the wall of rock that nursed its back. All around us I could hear birdsong and the buzz of bees, so many of them that I could actually see them swarming in the distance.
    Around the edges of the sloping red-tiled roof, interspersed with the urns, were languorous caryatids and squat but friendly-looking gryphons with beaming infant-faces. Beneath these guardians ran a terracotta frieze of classical figures, a parade of healthy young men and women dancing through bounties of fruit and flowers. Okay, the paintings were a little tacky but they added to the overall charm of the place.
    I sensed Mateo was immediately drawn to the house and found myself praying that he would love it, but the decision was hardly mine to make. I had no money of my own. I mean, we were married but we hadn’t yet set up any joint accounts. I didn’t want to rush him on that score – it would have seemed pushy and ungrateful. And I was grateful, for everything he’d done so far.
    We reached the main gate and I dug out the keys, wondering if Julia had managed to get the doors to the servants’ quarters open at last.
    ‘Please do me one favour, and wait until you’ve been around the whole place before you say you hate it,’ I pleaded.
    ‘ You like it,’ he said simply. ‘That’s all that matters to me.’
    I was always amazed that he could be so smooth without sounding glib and insincere, even when he was wearing his big gold cufflinks. ‘It’s better that you see it first,’ I said.
    Above, the gryphons looked down on us with benevolent smiles.

 
     
    CHAPTER THREE
    The Party
     
     
    I HADN’T INTENDED to get married; I had just wanted to upset my mother.
    What happened was this; we were at a party in Pimlico, not my usual neck of the woods, but Anne, my mother, was there on business. I remember watching three tanned and tightened wives in mini-dresses dancing very carefully to Katy Perry’s ‘Telephone’, ageing hipsters living it up while the kids were at boarding school. Anne would have