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CHAPTER ONE
‘I COULDN’T possibly pretend to be you…’ Lucy’s shaken voice trailed away, her incredulity unhidden
‘Why not?’ Cindy demanded sharply ‘Guatemala is half a world away and Fidelio Paez has never met me He doesn’t even know I have a sister, never mind an identical twin!’
‘But why can’t you just write back and explain that you’re not in a position to visit right now?’ Lucy asked uneasily, struggling to understand why her sister should have suggested such an outrageous masquerade in response to aso worked up about the matter
‘I wish it was that simple!’
‘You’re getting ly ‘As I see it, that makes a tactful refusal very simple’
‘You don’t understand It wasn’t even Fidelio rote toman called Del Castillo!’ Cindy’s beautifully esture, her fullthat I come over and stay for a while—’
‘What business is it of his to de?’
Cindy gave her an alhter-in-law, his only surviving relative…well, that I owe the old boy a visit’
‘Why?’ In other circumstances Lucy would have understood the deht of her twin’s short-lived first e five years earlier
While working in Los Angeles, Cindy had enjoyed a ind romance with the son of a wealthy Guatemalan rancher However, her sister had been ithin days of beco and apparently healthy man, Mario Paez had died of a sudden heart attack At the ti severe floods The whole country had been in uproar, with the communications system seriously disrupted With what little she had known about her late husband’s background, Cindy had found it iet in touch with Mario’s father in tione ahead without the older ht back home to London
‘You know, you never even mentioned that you still kept in touch with Mario’s father,’ Lucy admitted, her violet-blue eyes ith approval
High spots of colour lit Cindy’s taut cheekbones ‘I thought keeping in touch was the least I could do, and now that Fidelio’s sick—’
‘The old man’s ill?’ Lucy interrupted in dismay ‘Is it serious?’
‘Yes So how can I write back and say that I can’t visit a dying ain?’
Lucy winced That would indeed be aresponse In fact, from Fidelio’s point of vieould only serve as a horribly cruel reically premature death of his only son
‘That hbour of his, has actually sent er I wouldn’t want to go,’ Cindy confessed in a sudden raw rush of resentment ‘I hate sick people! I can’t bear to be around the sympathetic and all that sort of stuff!’
Lowering her gaze, Lucy suppressed a sigh, unhappily aware that her tas telling the truth When their mother had become an invalid, Cindy had been hopeless On the other hand, her sister’s financial help had eased thedifficult ive up work to nurse their ht them a small apartment close to the hospital where their parent had been receiving treatht now that apartment was back on the enerosity
‘But you could easily cope with Fidelio,’ Cindy pointed out, her eagerness to persuade her twin to take her place unhidden ‘You were absolutely ale to the life!’
‘But it wouldn’t be right to deceive Fidelio Paez like that,’ Lucy interposed uncoer—’
‘Roger?’ Cindy froze at that reference to the man she adored and was soon to marry ‘He’s the very last person I want to know about this!’ Crossing the roo look in her eyes ‘If Roger kne much I owe Fidelio he would probably think that we should cancel the wedding so that I could go over there…and I couldn’t bear that!’
Lucy stared back at her twin in bewilderment ‘What do you owe Fidelio Paez?’
‘Over the years, he’s…well, he’s sent me a lot of money,’ Cindy admitted with visible discomfiture
Lucy’s brows pleated, for her sister lived in soe been short of cash in recent years ‘Why would Mario’s father have sent you money?’
‘Well, why shouldn’t he have?’ Cindy deot nobody else to spend it on I got nothing when Mario died!’
Lucy flushed at her twin’s frank annoyance over that reality
Cindy’s taut shoulders bowed then, and she breathed in deep ‘Yet in spite of all Fidelio’s invitations I never visited hie a date to come over here to meet me a couple of years back, I made excuses’
Lucy was shocked by that confession ‘For goodness’ sake, why?’
Cindy gried ‘I haven’t always been the world’s nicest person, like you are, Lucy!’ sheaway the tears in her eyes with an infuriated hand ‘Why would I want to go and stay on some ranch in the back of beyond with an old man? And ould I have wanted to be landed with entertaining him here in Lo
ndon? I always had so better to do, but I did intend to ht now happens to be lousy ti!’
‘Yes’ Lucy could see that, and no longer wondered why her sister’s conscience was troubling her so much
‘Roger knows nothing about Fidelio, and I wouldn’t like him to know about the money because he wouldn’t think veryanything back,’ Cindy confided grudgingly, biting at her lip, her eyes filling with tears again ‘There’s a lot that Roger doesn’t know about ed I ot back in touch with you and Mum last year, and I haven’t taken a penny from Fidelio since then—’