Alarmed at her own thoughts, she rolled over on to her other side, but Daniel’s voice rang in her ears, taunting her cruelly. ‘I don’t desire you, Joanne Webster. I admire your beauty, but you needn’t fear that I shall make passionate love to you. ’
She raised her hands to her hot cheeks and was surprised to find them wet with tears. ‘Oh, God,’ she whispered into the darkness. ‘Daniel must never know how much I care. I shall never be able to face him again if he should ever discover the truth. ’
The wind came up and whistled through the cedar trees, and, on that hot February night, Joanne shivered, sliding deeper beneath the sheets as if to escape from the mournful sound that echoed what lay in her heart.
CHAPTER FIVE
Despite Joanne’s misgivings, their stay at Salt Bay turned out to be a holiday she would always remember. Their days were spent on the beach, swimming, walking, or just lying on the golden sand to soak up the sun. She was beginning to
know the man she had married in a totally different way. His abruptness gave way to a lazy mockery, and her senses had become sharpened at the sheer maleness of him, making her more aware of her own femininity than she had ever been before.
His mother’s health became a subject they seldom discussed after that first night. It was almost as if they had both silently agreed that it was a forbidden topic, but Joanne’s thoughts often dwelled on the woman she had come to love and admire in those few short weeks before their marriage.
She thought of her now as she stepped out of the bath and dried herself, wondering whether they would find her condition had remained constant during their absence.
A sound behind her made her turn, wrapping the towel about her with one hasty movement as she did so, while her heart leapt throbbingly to her throat.
‘What do you want?’ she demanded, fighting down a wave of panic.
Daniel, his one hand on the doorknob, and the other against the wall almost as if he barred her way, gave no sign of retreating as her bewildered glance registered the fact that he wore nothing but the briefest pair of shorts, while she wore nothing except the inadequate towel which she had to hold in position with her hands.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said unconvincingly, his eyes travelling down the length of her, and giving her the peculiar sensation that she had been stripped of her only protection. ‘I thought you were in the kitchen seeing to the breakfast.’
‘Would you mind going out again, Daniel, so I can get my clothes on?’ she asked, keeping her voice level with an effort.
To her horror he closed the door and leaned against it with his arms folded across his tanned chest which was sprinkled liberally with short dark hair. ‘I have no objection to watching while you change, and I’m in no hurry to shave either.’
His eyes flickered strangely and darkened, making her catch her breath sharply. ‘Daniel ... please go!’
He moved away from the door, but her hopes died a sudden death as he came towards her with slow, deliberate steps, making her heart hammer wildly in her breast as she sought desperately for escape. She had no way of guessing his intentions, and neither did she want to dwell on the possibilities which crossed her mind, but she felt decidedly faint as he reached out and drew the pins from her hair, letting them scatter on to the tiled floor while he pushed his fingers through her hair as it cascaded to her shoulders.
‘Lorelei,’ he mocked, his hands against her throat and sliding across her bare shoulders with a sudden possessiveness that made her tremble. ‘You’re nothing but a seductive water-nymph.’
‘Daniel, don’t,’ she begged, but he gripped a handful of hair and forced her head back, and she was powerless to resist if she did not want to lose her grip on the towel wrapped so carelessly about her.
His hand was in the hollow of her back, drawing her against him unresistingly until she felt the warmth of his hair-roughened chest against the back of her hands. Her eyes were wide and pleading, but he brushed them shut with his lips before his mouth descended upon hers with a sensuality that broke through her paltry defences as he proceeded to coax her lips apart. She fought against the response clamouring within her, felt the hardness of his thighs against her own, and knew finally that she would have to make some effort to escape before she found herself submerged in sensations that sharpened to desire.
Grasping the towel with one hand, she used the other to lever herself away from him, while at the same time dragging her mouth from his. ‘Let me go, Daniel!’
Her voice sounded hoarse and unconvincing, and his beard scratched her cheek as his lips sought the hollow behind her ear. ‘Be still, Lorelei, and I shan’t hurt you. ’
His hands tugged at the towel and, fearing her own emotions more than she feared Daniel, she made a final effort to get through to him. ‘You gave me your word!’
He drew back instantly as if she had slapped him, his face pale beneath his newly acquired tan. ‘Get your clothes on, sea-witch. I’d better go into the village after breakfast to buy a bolt for this door, or I might be tempted to walk in on you again.’ He strode towards the door and turned, casting a sardonic glance in her direction. ‘I was wrong about you. When you’re out of your starchy Sister’s uniform, and with your hair let down, you’re very desirable. So don’t tempt me too much, Lorelei, or I might not keep my word next time. ’
Joanne was shaking when he closed the door firmly behind him, but whether it was anger, or discovering the extent of her own emotions, she did not care to think as she hastily pulled on her clothes, zipping up her slacks with trembling fingers and tying back her hair into a pony-tail.
How dare he suggest that she had tempted him, when he had walked in on her without knocking, and had simply ignored her request that he should leave.
‘Lorelei, indeed!’ she muttered to herself angrily as she stormed from the bathroom, but her anger was accompanied by a flicker of pleasure. Contrary to his original statement, he did find her desirable, but desire was not quite what she wanted from Daniel Grant, and love was something he did not believe in.
Daniel went into the village after breakfast that morning as he had said he would, and Joanne, restless and uneasy after doing the few necessary chores, went down to the beach. It was not a day for swimming with the sky overcast and the wind blowing, but she rolled up her slacks to just below her knees, removed her sandals, and waded through the shallow water.
This was their fifth day at Salt Bay and there was still the week-end ahead of them, but Joanne was all at once in a hurry to return to Cape Town. She was being silly, perhaps, she told herself as she curled her toes into the cool wet sand, but her uneasiness had begun the day before, and she seemed unable to shake it off.
She walked on, past a group of children playing games on the sand, and on to where the rocks jutted out from the sea. A lonely fisherman stood on the rocks, throwing his line repeatedly into the angry-looking sea, but Joanne watched him absently, preoccupied with her own swirling thoughts, until she realised that she had been away from the cottage for longer than she had intended. Daniel would be back, and he would wonder what had happened to her.
Quickening her pace, she took the short cut over the sand dunes where a narrow path was marked out among the wild grass, but, with the cottage in sight, an involuntary cry escaped her as she felt a sharp sting beneath her heel. Going down on one knee to examine the injury, she was surprised to see the blood oozing from a small cut, caused by a broken bottle left by some careless person, and which had become embedded in the loose sand. Prising it out carefully, she threw it into the dense bush a few feet away and, admonishing herself for not wearing her sandals, she tried to stem the flow of blood with her handkerchief, her eyes filling with tears at the stinging pain.
She tried unsuccessfully to tie her handkerchief about her foot, and was considering hobbling back to the cottage when she looked up suddenly to see Daniel striding towards her across the sand, his grey slacks fastened with a broad leather belt about his narrow hips, and his blue shirt
unbuttoned almost to the waist, displaying a tanned muscular chest.
‘What the devil have you been doing?’ he demanded as he reached her side.
‘I went for a walk.’
‘That’s obvious,’ he bit out the words as he kneeled down beside her. ‘What’s wrong with your foot?’
‘I—I’ve cut it rather badly on a broken bottle.’
‘Let me have a look.’
His hands were surprisingly gentle as he held her foot on his lap to examine the wound, but she winced at the sharp pain that shot up her leg when he began to probe it. ‘There’s too much sand in it at the moment to examine it properly. I shall have to get you home so I can cleanse it first. ’
‘I’ll put my sandals on,’ she said through clenched teeth, but Daniel had other plans. He slipped an arm about her waist and the other beneath her knees, lifting her as if she were a baby. ‘Daniel, put me down. Please ... I can manage.’
‘To walk on that foot now would only cause more harm, so put your arms around my neck, woman, and stop chattering,’ he ordered abruptly without halting in his stride, and Joanne, flustered by his nearness, did as she was told.
His breath fanning her cheek, and the hard warmth of his body against her own, temporarily dulled the ache in her foot as he carried her in silence, and with effortless ease. His face was so close to hers that she could see the fine wrinkles beneath his eyes, and the way his hair grew back from his temples, soft and springy to the touch as she had once discovered.
The hard steel of his arms tightened about her as he kicked open the gate and walked up the path towards the front door. ‘Your hands are free, so will you open it?’ Joanne turned the door handle and pushed it open, but Daniel did not relinquish his hold on her until they reached the kitchen, where he lowered her into a chair before fetching the first-aid box. He returned a few seconds later and drew up a chair, lifting her foot on to his lap as he gently cleansed the wound.
‘This is going to hurt,’ he warned eventually. ‘I must make sure that nothing stayed behind, so grit your teeth. ’ Joanne nodded silently, closing her eyes and biting down hard on her lip as he gently probed the cut. The perspiration stood out on her forehead when he eventually produced a tiny piece of glass for her inspection.
‘It’s fortunately not a very big cut,’ she said in a voice that was slightly off key as he disinfected the area and applied a dressing.
‘It’s not very deep either,’ he added, glancing at her white face. ‘I’m sorry I had to hurt you, but it shouldn’t take long to heal now. ’
‘I know,’ she said thickly, fighting against the ridiculous tears as she bent down to ease on her sandals. ‘It was silly of me to walk across the sand dunes without wearing something on my feet, and I deserved what I got. ’
‘Yes, you did,’ he said without a shred of sympathy. ‘But next time you will know better. ’
Next time. There would not be a next time. Not at Salt Bay with Daniel, she thought disjointedly as she rose to her feet and tested her heel by carefully putting her weight on to it and, satisfied that it would not cause her much discomfort, she put the kettle on the stove to make a pot of tea while Daniel returned the first aid kit to its proper place in the bathroom.
It was at the luncheon table that day that Joanne could no
longer keep her uneasiness to herself and, pushing her plate aside, she said: ‘Daniel, don’t you think it’s time we returned to Cape Town?’
His glance was instantly mocking. ‘If you would care to take a look, you’ll notice that I’ve put a bolt on the bathroom door. Or are you afraid I might break the door down?’
‘It isn’t that,’ she protested, blushing profusely under his close scrutiny. ‘It’s your mother.’
His expression altered instantly. ‘What about my mother?’
‘I don’t know,’ she admitted, lowering her glance to the checkered tablecloth. ‘I wish I could explain, but I—
I have had this awful feeling since yesterday that—that we should go back. ’
Absolute silence greeted her remark, and for a moment she expected a rebuke before he said quietly, ‘Is this what they call women’s intuition?’
‘Call it what you like,’ she replied, raising her glance to his, ‘but I can’t rid myself of the feeling that something is wrong. ’
Daniel’s eyes narrowed slightly. ‘I learnt during my first few years as a medical man that I should always take note when a nursing Sister has a hunch about a patient, or an intuitive feeling concerning their health. ’ He pushed back his chair and rose to his feet. ‘I’ll take a drive down to the Post Office and telephone home. ’
‘I’m coming with you,’ Joanne said quickly, piling the dishes into the basin before she followed him out to the car. ‘How would Sister Johnson have got a message through to you if your mother was seriously ill?’
‘The switchboard operator at the Post Office has instructions to contact me the instant any such calls came through,’ he said abruptly as he started the car. ‘Knowing
Mother, and how she feels about our spending this week on our own, I wouldn’t be surprised if she instructed Sister Johnson not to let us know that she was ill.’
‘Would Sister Johnson allow herself to be overruled in this respect?’
‘Mother can be very determined if she puts her mind, to it,’ Daniel replied with a brief smile as the car picked up speed on the dirt road.
They seemed to reach the Post Office in no time at all, and Joanne remained in the car while Daniel went inside to use the telephone. She was beginning to have serious misgivings about her feelings of uneasiness. What if she had brought Daniel out into the village only to discover that her concern had been unnecessary?
Daniel emerged from the red brick building after what seemed an eternity, and from his tight-lipped expression she gathered that her intuition had been correct.
‘Daniel?’ she questioned anxiously as he climbed in beside her and slammed the door.
‘Dr Erasmus has ordered her to bed for a few days after she collapsed yesterday morning. She wouldn’t hear of Sister Johnson telephoning us, and as there was no immediate danger, Sister Johnson agreed.’
Remaining at Salt Bay until after the week-end seemed senseless in the face of Serena Grant’s ill health, and Joanne herself put an end to their stay.
‘If we leave immediately, we could be in Cape Town before dark.’ Daniel gazed at her intently for a moment before he nodded. ‘Right! Let’s get back to the cottage and pack. The honeymoon is over. ’
They arrived at Constantia just after six that evening, and dusty and tired as they were, they left their suitcases in the
entrance hall and went immediately to Serena Grant’s room.
‘Children!’ Her eyes widened with surprise as they approached her bed, and Joanne felt a measure of alarm as she glanced at the painfully thin body in the lace nightie and bedjacket. ‘Why on earth have you come home so soon?’ Sister Johnson excused herself politely as they kissed Mrs. Grant’s pale cheeks and seated themselves on either side of the bed.
Daniel smiled at Joanne with convincing tenderness. ‘My wife grew tired of having me under her feet all day. ’
‘That’s not true, Mrs. Gra—Mother,’ Joanne stumbled over her words, still finding it strange to think of herself as Daniel’s wife. ‘We both decided that we wanted to spend the week-end at home with you. ’
The clear blue eyes gazing up at them were filled with suspicion. ‘Was Sister Johnson silly enough to disobey my orders? Did she telephone you and ask you to cut your honeymoon short on my account?’
‘Why should she have telephoned us?’ Daniel asked innocently.
‘You know very well why, Daniel,’ Serena said crossly. ‘I was silly enough to faint yesterday, and here I am, trussed up in bed like an invalid, and hating every minute of it. ’
‘The rest will do you good, Mother,’ he said, patting her hand reassuringly, but Serena Grant was not to be soothed.
‘Rest? What rest do I get with that woman fussing over me all day with pills, and those dreadful injections. I’m beginning to feel like a pincushion, and I dare say Sister Johnson enjoys getting her own back on me by jabbing that needle into me. ’ She lay back against the pillows, exhausted by her effort, but with a gentle little smile playing about her lips. ‘Oh, I can’t say I blame her. I do tend to make life difficult for her, and she takes it all so calmly. Bless her! ’
‘That’s quite a confession, Mother,’ Daniel laughed, his glance including Joanne. ‘Just wait till we pass this on to Sister Johnson,’
‘I shall deny every word,’ Serena Grant announced with a gleam of stubbornness in her eyes. ‘Now, go and get yourselves ready for dinner—Oh, dear! I hope Violet has cooked enough. We didn’t expect you till Sunday. ’
‘Violet normally cooks enough food to feed three families, let alone one,’ Daniel remarked dryly, rising to his feet and gesturing that they should leave. ‘We’ll see you later, Mother.’
‘Yes, later,’ she agreed, closing her eyes. ‘Joanne and I must still have a long talk. There’s so much I still want to tell you, and so much I still want to know. ’
Once outside the door, Joanne turned to Daniel. ‘She doesn’t look too well. ’
‘No,’ he admitted with a frown. ‘I shan’t be surprised if she never gets up again.’
‘Daniel, don’t say that!’ she whispered, alarmed by his deduction, yet knowing deep in her heart that he was right. ‘Come, let me show you to our rooms.’
Daniel led Joanne to the north-facing side of the single-storeyed house where she knew the master bedroom was situated, and as they entered the large bedroom with its four-poster bed and white drapes, a nervous pulse fluttered in her throat. A bathroom adjoined this room, but it was the second door that caught her attention and held it.
‘That will be my room,’ Daniel told her, a flicker of mockery in his glance. ‘As you can see, there’s a key in the door, and you can lock it if it would make you feel any better. ’
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