Eldorado

by Yvonne Whittal

  'If you had a choice, what would you do?' His compelling glance drew hers and held it for a moment, and a tiny wave of shock charged along her nerve ends before she looked away.

  'I don't have a choice, so your question is irrelevant, Mr Attorney,' she answered coldly, turning from him to walk towards the horses.

  'I wonder where and how my mother got the idea that you were a sweet, gentle, and even-tempered girl,' he said, evoking in her a stab of longing for her godmother, and Gina halted abruptly in her stride to face Jarvis.

  'Your mother was a wonderful woman, and I loved her very much.'

  A cynical smile curved his mouth. 'My mother was also a woman who knew what she wanted, and she always made sure that she got it.

  He sounded bitter. He also made Evelyn Cain sound like a conniving, manipulating old lady. Why? Was he so incapable of understanding and forgiving?

  'I'm actually pleased that I have this opportunity to speak to you privately.' Gina determinedly broached the subject which had disturbed her since she had paid that visit to Aunt Evelyn's lawyer. 'I assume you must know about the money your mother left me in her will?'

  His eyes narrowed in a way that sent a stab of fear through her, and he replied, 'Yes, I know about it.'

  'I feel guilty about that inheritance because I don't consider that I ever did anything to deserve it.' She blurted out her feelings with her usual honesty.

  'You meant a great deal to my mother, especially during these last few years,' he said with an odd tightness about his mouth. 'That was my mother's way of saying thank you, and I suggest you accept that inheritance without reservations.'

  'If you say so,' she murmured, turning towards the horses, and feeling easier in herself now that she knew how Jarvis felt about the unexpected legacy from Aunt Evelyn. There was also something else she had to know, but she could not look at Jarvis when she asked, 'Did you talk to her before she died? I mean… '

  'You mean… did I make my peace with her?'

  'Yes,' she nodded, slanting a glance up at his tanned and unfathomable features with the short, dark hair lying in unruly, windblown strands across his broad forehead. 'Did you?'

  That hint of bitterness was visible again in the tight smile that curved his sensuous mouth.

  'We had a long discussion a few days before she died, and afterwards I thought we understood each other a great deal better.'

  He thought? Wasn't he sure? She observed him warily, and whispered an appropriate, 'I'm so glad.'

  'So am I.'

  They were standing barely a pace away from each other as the sun rose higher into the April sky flecked with stray clouds, and there was something about the way he looked at her that made her feel uneasy. It was time to return to the house, and Jupiter obviously thought so too. Gina was nudged between her shoulder-blades, the unexpectedness of it sending her stumbling into Jarvis. His hands shot out at once to steady her, but he did not set her aside immediately, and she was in the grip of a momentary paralysis when she came into contact with his hard, male body.

  Her hands had reached out instinctively to clutch at his arms in an attempt to save herself, and she could feel the tautness of his muscles through the thin wool of his black sweater. Touching him like that sent an electrifying sensation rippling through her, and she tilted her head back, an apology hovering on her lips, but the words were stifled beneath his mouth.

  Gina was too stunned at first to think of anything except the feel of that hard mouth so expertly drawing a response from her own. She tried to push herself away from him eventually, but one of his hands had found its way beneath her hair to the nape of her neck while the other had trailed down her spine to settle firmly in the hollow of her back, drawing her closer into the curve of. his body until she could feel the unfamiliar hardness of male hips and thighs against her own. Her body went rigid with resentment at this suggestion of intimacy, but the next instant her pulse rate was escalating sharply. Jarvis's mouth was moving back and forth against her own with a sensual expertise that parted her lips for the invasion of his tongue, but a sweet stab of pleasure brought her abruptly to her senses. She thrust him from her with a burst of strength she had not known she possessed, and there was green fire in her eyes when she glared up at him.

  'Damn you for doing that, Jarvis Cain!' She spat out the words, untethering the black Arab and leaping on his back. 'Come on, Jupiter, let's go home!'

  Jupiter was in his element during that mad gallop down the hill and across the veld towards the house, and there was perfect co-ordination in that muscled body as Gina urged him on. She wanted to get away from Jarvis, and away from the sensations he had aroused with that kiss. As an adolescent she had often wondered what it would feel like to be kissed by Jarvis, but she had never dreamed that his kiss could awaken such stormy feelings within her. His mouth had been firm, warm, and pleasantly moist, and… God help her… she had actually enjoyed it! But how dared he! How dared he kiss her like that! And how dared he play with her feelings when he had a steady relationship with the blonde and beautiful Lilian Ulrich!

  Gina reined Jupiter in as they approached the stables. He snorted loudly after the exhilarating exertion when she slid off his back and handed the reins over to Solomon. Jarvis arrived on Star seconds later, but Gina did not wait for him, walking on towards the house at a brisk pace.

  'Georgina!'

  She heard his quick, heavy footsteps behind her and felt his hand brush against her arm to detain her. She rounded on him with pent-up fury blazing in her eyes. 'Don't touch me!' she hissed.

  'I shan't touch you if that's what you want, but it hadn't been my intention to offend you,' he said quietly, his hands raised in a gesture to appease her. 'The temptation to kiss you was quite irresistible, and I'll apologise if you really want me to.'

  A gleam of mockery shone in his eyes together with a hint of challenge. He was much too clever for her, damn him! He was not a callow youth, and he must know how his kiss had affected her. To demand an apology would be ridiculous under the circumstances, and Jarvis knew that just as well as she did.

  She drew a deep and calming breath as she forced herself to meet the challenging onslaught of his piercing glance.

  'I guess I'm overreacting.'

  'My dear, how charitable of you to say so.'

  He was mocking her openly. She could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes, and her temper rose again by several degrees, but she bit back a sharp retort as she turned from him to walk towards the house.

  'Let's go and have breakfast.'

  His deep-throated chuckle added to her annoyance when he fell into step beside her, but she looked straight ahead and desperately tried to ignore his lean, muscular presence next to her when they walked up the verandah steps and entered the house.

  Gina made sure that she stayed out of Jarvis's way as much as possible during the course of that morning, but she could not avoid having to face him across the luncheon table. She tried to ignore him, but at close range or at a distance, she found that Jarvis was not a man she could ignore. He had the personality and bearing of a man accustomed to commanding everyone's attention, and Gina could feel herself slipping back into the past when she had been fascinated almost into a lovesick trance by his intelligence and wit.

  'No! Not again!' she rebuked herself sharply. She would not fall into that trap a second time.!

  Gina almost jumped for joy when Jarvis announced that he was returning to Johannesburg after lunch, and politeness forced her to hover in the background when it was time for him to leave. There was a genuine warmth in the exchange of words when he took his leave of Raymond, Clifford and Susan. Gina, standing a few paces behind the others when Jarvis got into his silver Jaguar, was studying him speculatively when he turned his head abruptly, and she was aware of that familiar stab of shock when their eyes met.

  His mouth twitched in a suggestion of a smile as if he was aware of her reaction. 'I'll see you during the week, Georgina.'

  Not if I c
an help it! she thought angrily, and seconds later the silver Jaguar was kicking up a cloud of dust as it sped out of the yard and away from the farm.

  A sigh of relief escaped Gina when they went inside. Her family appeared intent on having a post mortem, but she left them in the lounge to go to her room.

  I'll see you during the week. Jarvis's parting words echoed through her mind while she was preparing for her own departure later that afternoon, and his remark suddenly took on the proportions of a threat, but Gina was determined that their paths would not cross again unless it was absolutely necessary. She felt safe away from Jarvis, and that was how she liked it.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Monday morning started badly for Gina. She had barely arrived at the office when she was enmeshed in problems that had arisen in the computer room. It was going to be one of those days when everything seemed to go inexplicably wrong, she could feel it, but Norman Thorpe telephoned her from his office before her spirits could sink too low, and invited her to dine with him the following evening.

  'The Diggers restaurant is advertising a floorshow which I think you might enjoy,' he explained briefly, knowing her taste in entertainment, and she accepted without hesitation.

  'I'll call for you at seven tomorrow evening,' Norman ended their brief conversation, and Gina left her office almost immediately for the computer room.

  She did not return to her desk until two hours later, and she was gulping down a cold cup of tea when the telephone rang shrilly. Mitzi answered it and placed her hand over the mouthpiece before she turned to Gina.

  'It's for you,' she said, 'and it's the second time this particular gentleman has called this morning.'

  Gina frowned. 'Did he give his name?'

  'No,' Mitzi shook her head, a sparkle in her grey eyes, 'but he's got the sexiest voice I've ever heard!'

  Gina felt a stab of uneasiness when she lifted the receiver of the extension telephone on her desk. 'Gina Osborne speaking.'

  'Good morning, Georgina.' Jarvis's deep, smooth voice came over the line when Mitzi replaced the receiver at her end. 'I trust you had a pleasant trip back to the city yesterday?'

  Gina became aware of an unaccountable tightness at the pit of her stomach. 'I did, thank you.'

  'Are you pleased to hear from me?'

  No! she wanted to shout at him, but instead she injected a cool aloofness into her voice. 'Should I be?'

  'Naturally,' he drawled, the mockery in his voice arousing her antagonism. 'It's twenty-one hours since the last time we saw each other.'

  'I've survived.'

  'You sound so cold and distant on the telephone, Georgina.' He was silent for a moment as if he were taking time to consider his own statement. 'What about having dinner with me this evening?'

  'That's out of the question,' she declined his invitation abruptly.

  'May I know why?'

  Her mind was spinning in search of a reasonable excuse to offer him. 'I've got stacks of washing and ironing to do, and my carpets need a good vacuum.'

  'Don't you have a serviced flat?'

  'I'm not that fortunate.'

  'What about tomorrow evening?' Jarvis persisted.

  Thank God for Norman! Gina thought, when she could answer truthfully, 'I'm dining out with a friend.'

  'Male?'

  That hateful hint of mockery was still there in his voice, and she resented it. 'Does that surprise you?'

  'Not at all,' he laughed shortly. 'You did mention that there was someone in particular, if I remember correctly.'

  Gina was tiring of this conversation, and Mitzi was beginning to stare at her curiously. 'Look, I'm very busy at the moment, and I don't—'

  'Wednesday evening?' Jarvis interrupted her, and she had yet another valid excuse to offer.

  'I shall be working late.'

  'My, but you are a difficult young lady to pin down,' he laughed derisively. 'I shall simply have to try my luck some other time.'

  Their conversation ended abruptly at that point, and Gina dropped the receiver back on its cradle as if she had been holding a poisonous reptile.

  'Who was that, or shouldn't I ask?' Mitzi questioned her inquisitively.

  'That,' Gina sighed heavily, 'was Jarvis Cain.'

  Mitzi's eyes widened. 'Your godmother's son?'

  'That's correct.'

  'I gather he wanted you to go out with him, and you refused.'

  'Yes, I refused,' Gina admitted, drawing a file towards her and pretending to study it while she took time to calm herself.

  'Why?'

  'Do you have to ask so many questions?' demanded Gina with a rare touch of irritation.

  'Sorry.' Mitzi eyed her with a teasing, speculative look in her eyes. 'Isn't he as sexy-looking as his voice suggests?'

  Gina sighed exasperatedly. 'If you must know… yes, he's terribly sexy, he's a knock-out, but I don't happen to be interested.'

  'You're crazy!'

  'Quite right,' nodded Gina, closing the file and pushing it across the desk, 'and if you haven't got anything better to do you can take this file through to the computer room.'

  'Work, work, work!' Mitzi muttered reprovingly. 'That's all you ever think about.'

  Gina leaned back in her chair with a jerky sigh the moment she was alone in the office. Jarvis's telephone call had left her disturbed and disorientated to degree she would not have believed possible. Her insides were shaking, and there was a tightness in her chest which did not leave her entirely for the rest of that day.

  The Diggers restaurant was not a stylish place, but the food was good, and the floorshow consisted of a variety of entertainers doing their best to enhance the relaxing atmosphere. Gina needed to relax after having to endure two days of laborious activity at the office, and Norman was never a taxing companion. He demanded nothing of her except her friendship and her company, and that was the way she liked it. She was, nevertheless, exhausted when he left her at her door later that evening, and all she wanted to do was go to bed to sleep away the hours until morning.

  Gina had known that she would have to work late on Wednesday evening, but she had not imagined she would be caught up in a mad race against time from the moment she stepped into her office that morning. The computer room staff began to snap under the strain, tempers were flaring, and Gina had difficulty controlling her own at times. She voluntarily cut her lunch-hour by half, and was in no mood for company when she stepped out of the building at one o'clock that day to see a silver Jaguar pulling up beside her. Paralysed into immobility at the sight of the man behind the wheel, she could only stare at Jarvis when he leaned across and opened the door on the passenger side.

  'Lunch?' he invited, and raised a questioning eyebrow when she hesitated nervously. 'You do have time for lunch, don't you?' he prompted.

  Gina stood as if she had become rooted to the sunlit concrete beneath her feet, but her heart missed several uncomfortable beats. 'I have half an hour.'

  'Hop in,' Jarvis instructed curtly, and for some obscure reason she found herself obeying him. The interior of the Jaguar was luxurious, but she could not relax in the expensively cushioned seat when he steered the car into the stream of lunchtime traffic. 'I know a little place which is practically around the corner from here. There's ample parking, and the food is generally good.'

  Gina did not answer him. She was too overwhelmingly aware of his lean masculinity in the dark grey, impeccably tailored suit, and the years seemed to roll back uncomfortably to fill her with that well-remembered feeling of awe which his presence had always aroused in her. As a young girl she had been aware mostly of his suave, handsome exterior, but as an adult she sensed in him a quality of steel and a ruthlessness which she imagined would make him a dangerous adversary in his professional as well as his personal life. Her rational mind told her that she had no reason to fear him, but there was something deep inside her that warned her of the threat he presented to her complacency.

  Jarvis turned in a multi-storey car park, and drov
e up to the fourth level before he stopped his car and helped her out. Gina had no idea where he was taking her, but the lift swept them at a sickening pace up to the twenty-second floor of the building. The restaurant was new, the freshly painted sign indicating this, and the female patrons were elegantly dressed in the latest fashions. Gleaming silverware competed with glittering jewels, and Gina felt herself shrink mentally and physically from the scene confronting her.

  'I'm not suitably dressed to enter a place like this,' she protested, and Jarvis paused in his stride to cast a critical glance at her pale green suit with the white silk blouse.

  'You look perfect to me.' He offered his opinion after he had looked her up and down. 'Come, Georgina,' he instructed, taking a firm grip on her arm. 'I'm not in the mood for more excuses.'

  His touch seemed to burn her skin through the cloth of her jacket when he steered her into the restaurant, and they were shown almost at once to a table for two. They ordered the salad speciality and coffee, and Gina glanced about her with interest while they waited. The walls were panelled and the lights were concealed in basket-shaped shades which hung low over the tables. It created a tranquil, intimate atmosphere, and she had no doubt that the cuisine would be expensive.

  'Are you genuinely working late this evening, or was that merely an excuse not to dine with me?' Jarvis questioned her when their lunch had been served.

  'I'm genuinely working late,' she confirmed, sampling her salad and attempting to relax despite the tight feeling inside her.

  'Did you enjoy your dinner date last night?'

  She looked up into mocking eyes and felt her back stiffen with resentment. 'I enjoyed it very much, thank you.'

  'Did you spare a thought for me knowing that I would have to dine on my own?'

  'I never thought of you once,' she lied, 'and I'm quite sure you would have had no difficulty in locating a female companion to dine with you if you'd tried.'

  'You obviously think I'm in possession of a list of telephone numbers which I could plough through when in need of female company,' he smiled sardonically, and she lowered her gaze to the salad on her plate to hide her embarrassment at her own temerity.