they might have been better able to deal with it. From the start she had tried to be open with him, to face the things she knew to be difficult. Yet what had been his response? Let's pretend it didn't happen.
'I'm not going to make excuses, Elena. I should have told you.'
'So tell me.'
'When the siege was successful I thought the worst was over - until I saw our own troops run amok. It was as though we were not dealing with men any more but wild animals, made savage and uncontrollable by drink.'
Her eyes glittered. 'The British troops were indeed like wild animals.'
'They were impervious to command or reason. They even turned on their own officers.'
'So I heard.'
'Half a dozen were killed as a result, including one of my closest friends.'
'I'm sorry to hear it, but then many terrible deeds were done at that time.'
'It was the most shameful episode I ever witnessed.' He paused. 'Those men were a disgrace to their uniform and to their country. But you know this if anyone does.'
'Oh, yes, I know it,' she replied.
'I am truly sorry about your father, Elena. It was an unspeakable act.'
'Everything that happened to my family that night was unspeakable.'
Harry frowned. 'Others were killed too?'
'Concha's mother, Amparo - although some might say she was fortunate.'
'Fortunate?'
'You know what I mean. After all, my uncle told you what happened, did he not?'
'He did not mention Concha's mother. Nor do I see why her death should be regarded as fortunate.'
A dreadful suspicion began to take root in her mind. 'What exactly did he tell you?'
'That your father was murdered and that his death was the catalyst for your decision to join the guerrillas. In consequence your fiance ended the engagement between you.'
'What?' Elena paled as the significance of that statement sank in, along with the extent of her uncle's duplicity. Clearly Harry had no idea of the truth. All this time she had fondly imagined that his forbearance about her past had been based on full knowledge. The ramifications of that misapprehension were so enormous that she could not see past them. She didn't know if there was a way past them.
'Did he leave something out?'
'Only the truth,' she replied.
Harry's gaze grew piercing. 'I think you'd better tell me, don't you?'
Elena's stomach knotted as anger mingled with dread. At the same time she knew this had to be faced even if the consequences meant disaster. There had been enough lies. 'All right, but I warn you, it isn't pleasant.'
'So I infer. Nevertheless, let's have it.'
'The British soldiers broke into our house and when my father tried to stop them they shot him. When Amparo went to his aid they shot her too.'
A muscle jumped in Harry's cheek but all the words he wanted to utter would have sounded like mere platitudes. Besides, Elena was no longer looking at him but inward, remembering.
'Then they came after the rest of us - my sisters and me, the women servants. We attempted to flee but it was too late.' She swallowed hard. 'We tried to fight them off but they were too many and too strong. They stripped us and then held us down while they took it in turn to have their will.'
Harry's face went white. 'Elena, you don't have to...'
'I think I do. After all, we're being honest, no?'
He winced inwardly but made no reply.
'I don't know how long it went on,' she continued. 'It seemed like a lifetime. Eventually I lost consciousness. When I came round the soldiers were gone and so was everything of value in the house. The place looked as though a hurricane had swept through it. Every part of me hurt and I was covered in cuts and bruises, but I was alive. Miraculously my sisters had also survived, though at that point we wished that we had not.'
'I wish that I had been able to stop it,' he replied. 'I wish that there was something I could say now to take away your pain, but I know very well that there isn't.'
'Nothing can erase the pain of that memory, of seeing my sisters' despair and shame, of sharing those emotions.' She drew a long, shuddering breath. 'I remember that what I wanted most of all was to bathe, as though somehow I could wash away the memory along with the filth. I went to the well in the yard and pulled up bucket after bucket of water and scrubbed myself repeatedly, but it didn't seem to