'Do you have to reduce everything I do or say to a sexual level?' she demanded coldly, hating him for making her feel like a cheap wanton who had only one thought in mind—to get him into bed with her. 'Hasn't it ever occurred to you that there could be more to life than just sex?'
'Such as reading to pass the time until your husband gets home to your waiting arms?' he demanded cynically, removing the book from her hands to glance at the title and dropping it back into her lap. 'Reading is such a poor substitute for the passion you could experience in a man's arms, and you're a passionate woman, Georgina. In fact, you're quite the most passionate woman I've ever known.'
'And you would know, of course, since you have such a vast experience to draw your conclusions from,' she countered sarcastically, her fingers tightening about the book in an attempt to hide the fact that her hands were trembling.
'You have one fault, my dear wife,' he continued, ignoring her sarcasm. 'You enjoy sex, but you refuse to admit it. Instead of being proud of the pleasure your body can give and receive, you persist in behaving as if you've participated in something shameful.'
'Does that surprise you?' she demanded, shaking with pain and fury as she watched him strip off his shirt and fling it on the chair in a visible display of anger. 'Do you think I enjoy being the wife of a man who tricked me into marriage simply to claim his inheritance? Do you think I have cause to rejoice in the knowledge that I can find pleasure in your arms while I despise you for what you did?'
His mouth tightened as her verbal arrows found their mark, and his narrowed eyes glittered in the bedside light as he approached her where she sat propped up against the pillows on the old-fashioned four-poster bed.
'If you think I liked the idea of having my freedom curtailed by that crazy stipulation in my mother's will, then you're mistaken, but since I had no choice in the matter, it seems logical to me that we might as well make the best of it, and draw whatever enjoyment we can out of a situation which has become unpalatable to both of us.'
'That may be your solution to the problem, but it isn't mine!' she hissed up at him furiously.
'Oh, come now, Georgina,' he laughed harshly. 'You're an intelligent, attractive, and very desirable woman. Did you expect me to live under the same roof with you for a year without touching you? That would be defying the laws of nature, don't you think?'
He strode into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, leaving her fuming inwardly at her inability to find a suitable answer.
What was there to say? she wondered rationally when she had calmed down a little. Most of what he had said was true, but her heart was involved, and that hurt. She loved him, and she had told him so, once… perhaps several times before their marriage, but instead of returning her love he had taken it and used it to his own advantage. That was what she found so difficult to accept—and forgive.
She put her book down on the bedside table and switched off the light. She could hear Jarvis in the shower as she slid between the sheets, and she closed her eyes, determined to go to sleep, but sleep did not come easily to her that night. She could imagine Jarvis in the shower, the drops of water clinging to his tanned, virile body, and deep inside her there was an ache for which she despised herself intensely.
Oh, God! she groaned inwardly. What kind of woman have I become?
Jarvis emerged from the bathroom, but Gina did not stir. Let him think she was asleep, let him think anything, but don't let him come near her. Not now! Not now when she knew his touch would inflame her and shame her!
The bedroom door was opened and closed quietly. She heard his footsteps going down the passage, and the tension eased slowly from her taut body. She was safe, safe for this one night at least, and perhaps now she would sleep.
It was, however, quite futile trying to go to sleep after that argument with Jarvis. She tossed and turned restlessly in the darkness and she was still awake when he entered their bedroom two hours later. She felt the bed sag beneath his weight when he got in beside her, and she lay rigid, scarcely daring to breathe, but in that uncanny way of his he knew that she was still awake.
'Dammit, Gina, don't pretend to be asleep when you're not!' he accused, switching on the bedside light and lifting himself up on one elbow to look at her.
'I wasn't pretending,' she protested, turning her expressive face away from that glaring light which would reveal her statement as a lie, but his strong fingers gripped her chin and forced her to look at him.
'We've got to talk, Gina.'
He looked tired, she thought for the second time that night. The lines about his eyes and mouth seemed more pronounced, and she wanted to smooth them out with her fingers, but she dared not. 'Can't this discussion wait until morning?' she sighed.
'No, it can't.' He released her chin to brush a strand of red-gold hair away from her cheek, and his fingers lingered against her skin in a casual caress. 'I want you to know that I don't find marriage to you quite as intolerable as I may have made it sound earlier this evening.'
Gina stared up at him warily, and failed in her attempt to discover what lay behind those steel-grey eyes. 'Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?'
'You may take it whichever way you please, but I want us to stop hurting each other unnecessarily.' His hand played with a heavy strand of her hair as if he loved the silky texture of it between his fingers. 'I had no legal control over that clause in my mother's will, and I acknowledge the fact that you didn't deserve to be tricked into this marriage, but, circumstances being what they are, I do think we should make the best of it.'
'You mean a year isn't exactly a lifetime, is it?' Her mouth curved with a hint of that bitterness which had been gnawing away at her since their wedding day. 'Two months have already passed quite swiftly, and the remaining ten months might not be such an ordeal if we decide to be nice to each other. Is that what you're saying?'
'You could say so, yes.'
She searched his face for some sign of mockery, but found none, and she dared to consider his suggestion. The desire to create a harmonious atmosphere between Jarvis and herself was something she had been contemplating for some time, but his cynicism, his mockery, and, to a large extent, his deceitful behaviour before their marriage, had prevented her from making the attempt. Should she agree to make the attempt now? Love, after all, kindles love, and perhaps… !
'Oh, God!' she groaned, tears filling her eyes as that forlorn hope manifested itself in her heart. Should she take the chance?
'Gina?' he questioned her, moving closer to her beneath the sheets until she could feel the disturbing warmth of his body through the thinness of her nightdress. 'Do we call a truce?'
'Yes,' she heard herself agreeing in a whisper, and a hint of devilment lurked in his eyes as his fingers trailed a fiery path to the base of her throat where that treacherous pulse was throbbing erratically.
'Shall we seal our truce with a kiss?'
'Yes,' she whispered again, not caring at that moment if he should mock her eagerness, and she drew his head down to hers until his warm mouth claimed hers in a sensually arousing kiss that inflamed her with a need for more. 'I think we're going to seal our truce with more than a kiss,' she murmured without resentment against his mouth.
'You're damn right we are,' Jarvis laughed throatily, his hand dipping beneath the bodice of her filmy nightgown, and she trembled in response when his fingers stole around her softly rounded breast.
They made love fiercely and passionately, but there was a part of her that still remained untouched when they lay exhausted and physically sated in each other's arms. Gina hungered for that love which she knew he could never give her, but she would have to learn to live without it and, for the first time in all the weeks of their marriage, she went to sleep in Jarvis's arms.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Vittorio's was filled almost to capacity on Friday evening, but the Italian restaurateur and his staff always succeeded in creating a tranquil atmosphere in which to dine. Gina would, howeve
r, have preferred to spend a quiet evening at home, but Jarvis had insisted they celebrate their newly formed truce in style, and Vittorio had been asked to bring out a bottle of his best champagne. Their usual table in the alcove was secluded, shielding them partially from the rest of the patrons, and Gina had begun to relax and enjoy her self when she caught a glimpse of Lilian Ulrich dining with a fair-haired man at a table across the restaurant.
Her heart plummeted. Had Jarvis known that Lilian would be dining at Vittorio's on that particular evening? Her mind was in a chaotic and somewhat frantic mood until she took a firm hold on her thoughts and told herself not to be silly. The fact that they were dining at Vittorio's on the same night was a coincidence; a very unfortunate coincidence; but that was all.
Gina tried to ignore the presence of the woman who had, until a few months ago, featured so prominently in Jarvis's life, but she found she was observing Jarvis closely in an attempt to ascertain whether he was aware of Lilian's presence. Not once did she catch him glancing in that direction, but she could not, of course, be sure.
During the course of their meal she looked up from her beef Stroganoff to find her glance colliding with Jarvis. There was an expression in his eyes that made her pulse rate quicken as he reached across the table to cover her hand with his.
'Have I told you yet this evening that you look beautiful?' His eyes caressed her as he spoke, his glance trailing from the silky radiance of her red-gold hair down to where the low V of her evening gown exposed the tantalising cleavage between her breasts, and her nipples hardened unashamedly for his inspection against the clinging folds of the amber-coloured material. 'When I look at you I find I can barely wait for us to return to Eldorado where I'll have you to myself,' he added with a lazy smile.
Her body tingled beneath the sensual warmth of his glance. It had never ceased to astound her that she reacted to him like this, but it no longer embarrassed her that he could arouse her without actually touching her.
'Neither can I wait,' she smiled provocatively, and the flash of desire in his eyes was sufficient reward, but his fingers tightened punishingly about her before he released her hand.
'You choose the darnedest places for confessions of an arousing nature,' he rebuked her with a deep-throated growl.
'So do you.'
'Touché,' he acknowledged, his strong features relaxing in a rueful smile that made him look years younger. 'You haven't been home for some weeks. Shall we drive out to the farm early tomorrow morning and stay until Sunday?'
'I'd prefer to spend this weekend alone with you at Eldorado.'
'I think I like the sound of that,' he agreed, and the warmth in his eyes made the blood flow a little faster through her veins.
'Jarvis darling, how marvellous to see you here this evening!' Lilian Ulrich's musical and faintly accented voice intruded on their private world, and Gina raised her glance sharply to see the blonde pull up a chair to seat herself at their table without being invited. 'We meet again,' she remarked to Gina, her eyes cold despite the smile that curved her beautiful mouth.
'You've met Gina before?'
'Yes, darling,' Lilian answered Jarvis's surprised query.
'Didn't she tell you we met on your wedding day at Eldorado, and that I took the liberty of warning her that she might find you're a taker in some instances and not a giver?'
'It must have slipped her mind, but I dare say Gina would have gathered that information for herself,' Jarvis remarked drily, and a coldness trickled along Gina's spine when his shuttered glance met hers briefly across the table.
Won't you join us at our table for the remainder of the evening?' Lilian invited, placing a possessive hand on Jarvis's arm.
'We have no desire to join you at your table.' Jarvis declined Lilian's invitation bluntly and quite ruthlessly while he removed his arm from beneath her hand. 'You may not have noticed, but you're gatecrashing on a private party.'
Lilian drew a sharp, audible breath, but she recovered her composure with an admirable swiftness. 'You can be so brutally frank at times, my darling, but I'll forgive you as I always do, and I hope you'll save a dance for me later.'
She rose gracefully, her crimson evening gown shimmering and clinging to her seductively proportioned body as she returned to her table across the restaurant, and male heads turned to observe her progress, but Jarvis picked up his knife and fork and continued eating as if nothing of significance had occurred to interrupt their meal.
Gina should have rejoiced at the way he had dealt with Lilian, but instead she lost her appetite. She popped a morsel of food into her mouth, but lack of enthusiasm seemed to change the superbly prepared Stroganoff into tasteless leather. If Jarvis had been aware of the fact that she was merely toying with her food, then he did not comment on it, and her plate was removed some time later, the food practically untouched.
The band was playing a slow, romantic Gershwin tune when Jarvis led Gina on to the floor. He held her close, their bodies touching when they danced, but the magic of the moment was marred by the disquieting thoughts racing through her mind. She had been used as leverage by her godmother to disrupt the relationship between Jarvis and Lilian, and she did need a psychoanalyst to explain to her that attraction between two people could be enhanced by the mere fact that they had been forced to terminate their relationship prematurely.
Lilian's violet-blue eyes were observing them from across the restaurant, and the message in those eyes seemed to confirm Gina's suspicions: You've poached on my terrain, and I don't like it!
'Relax, Gina,' Jarvis ordered, his arm tightening possessively about her taut body. 'And stop behaving as if I'm not here.'
'I was thinking,' she apologised hastily. 'You were rather nasty to Lilian… quite rude, in fact.'
'That's the only language she understands.' The knife-edge coldness in his voice sent an involuntary shiver racing through her. 'You have no reason to feel uncomfortable.'
Gina's head shot up to encounter the gleam of mockery in his steel-grey eyes, and she expelled the air from her lungs on a shaky laugh. 'You read me so well that it scares me sometimes,' she confessed.
'You have nothing to fear from Lilian.'
'I wonder, Gina thought cynically while she made a concerted effort to ignore the fact that Lilian's eyes had never left them for an instant while they danced.
They talked and flirted mildly with each other when they returned to their table to drink their coffee, but Gina did not quite succeed in shaking off the disquieting feeling that Lilian Ulrich had no intention of allowing the evening to pass without making her displeasure known.
Gina left the table later and her suspicions were confirmed when she closed the padded door to the ladies' room behind her to find that she was not alone. Lilian was there, and she was taking her time with the reparations to her make-up as if she had waited for this moment. Their eyes met in the mirror, and Gina was aware of icy shivers racing along her spine when Lilian snapped the cap on to her lipstick and turned to face her with a smile.
'What did you use as bait to lure Jarvis into marriage?' she asked bluntly, studying Gina with a speculative and vindictive gleam in her eyes. 'Did you withhold yourself from him sexually?'
'I consider your question impertinent!' snapped Gina, her body stiffening with indignation and anger.
'Perhaps so,' Lilian agreed. 'Jarvis has a way with women, and he always gets what he wants. If you were not withholding yourself from him sexually, then I can only assume once again that he stood to gain something of importance by marrying you, and I suspect you've discovered what it is.'
'I know why Jarvis married me,' Gina answered her with a calmness she was far from experiencing, 'and the reason why he chose to do so doesn't concern you.'
'It does concern me,' Lilian contradicted her with a venomous smile curving her mouth. 'Jarvis and I belong together, and this cruel intervention on our happiness is a matter I will not overlook. I shall make it my business to discover the truth, and I will no
t leave one stone unturned until I do.'
Lilian walked out of the ladies' room, but her heady perfume hovered in the air like a lingering threat. You have nothing to fear from Lilian, Jarvis had said, but Gina was not in agreement with him. Lilian Ulrich was a calculating and determined woman who would not rest until she had uncovered the truth, and Gina also knew that this woman would not hesitate to subject her to a brand of humiliation that would finally crucify her.
Gina remained in the ladies' room until she had controlled her nervous tremors sufficiently to go out and face Jarvis. She dabbed powder on her nose and added a touch of colour to her lips, but there was little she could do to improve the sickly pallor of her cheeks. Nothing ever escaped Jarvis's notice, and she could only hope that her paleness would go unnoticed in the dimly-lit restaurant.
Lilian was nowhere in sight when Gina made her way hesitantly among the tables to where Jarvis was waiting for her. He rose at once to pull out her chair, and she smiled up at him in a way she hoped would look natural, but his glance sharpened on her features and his mouth tightened.
'You're very pale, Gina.' His hand gripped her arm before she could sit down. 'Aren't you feeling well?'
His keen perception shattered her fragile hopes that her appearance would go unnoticed, and his unexpected gentleness and concern brought her horribly close to bursting into tears, but she somehow managed to control herself.
'I—I think I must have eaten something that—that didn't agree with me.' She said the first thing that came to mind, but she could not look at him while she spoke. 'It will pass, I'm sure.'
Jarvis seemed to hesitate a moment before he said abruptly, 'I'm taking you home.'
He did not attempt to make conversation during the drive back to Eldorado, and Gina was intensely grateful for his silence. Her throat felt as if someone had taken a stranglehold on it, and her jaw was so firmly clenched with tension and unhappiness that she could not speak even if she had wanted to. She had foolishly credited Lilian with a victory by allowing her to mar an evening which had started out as a celebration dinner, but Gina could not alter the way she felt. She was afraid: afraid of the power that woman might still wield where Jarvis was concerned, and afraid of the harm it could do to a marriage which had been perpetrated for all the wrong reasons.
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