‘You wouldn’t do that, would you, Daniel?’
‘Wouldn’t I?’
‘But that’s blackmail!’ she cried in disbelief as she remained standing.
Daniel stretched out his long legs and studied the tips of his expensive leather shoes. ‘Call it what you like, but the choice is yours. ’
‘You know very well that I have no choice at all,’ she argued, clenching her hands at her sides. ‘If it should be discovered that—that I’m your wife, my career will be ruined, and you know it. ’
‘Not only that, Joanne,’ he said with infuriating calmness. ‘If I make it known that we’re legally husband and wife, then I shall insist that you come and live with me as such.’
‘Never!’ The word escaped her lips with a violence that surprised even herself.
‘As I said—the choice is yours,’ he repeated, dropping the envelope which contained her resignation on to the small table between them, and Joanne felt her slender body tremble with anger.
‘I hate you!’
‘Yes, I know,’ he replied carelessly, glancing about him. ‘Hm ... nice little place you have here. You have good taste, Joanne. Perhaps you could help with the decor of some of the rooms up at my house. ’
Ignoring this, she asked: ‘Did you know I was here at Willowmead when you decided to come here?’
His blue gaze met hers with a touch of insolence. ‘Yes, I did.’
‘Bruce,’ she said with conviction, knowing without being told who had offered the information.
‘I’m sure he didn’t intend to give away your whereabouts, but he’s a very honest young man at heart, and I doubt whether he even realises that he mentioned it.’ He held her glance compellingly. ‘Why didn’t you start divorce proceedings when you had the opportunity, Joanne?’
She shrugged and walked away from him, hugging her arms about herself as if they offered some protection. ‘I was too busy trying to forget, besides, I thought you ...’
‘I was too busy trying to remember,’ he said a brief smile on his lips as she swung round to face him. ‘The Swiss Alps is a great place for remembering things one would rather forget. The warm sunshine of one’s own country, the sea on a moonlit night, and,’ his glance went to her hair, ‘the flash of gold in a certain woman’s hair.’
‘Don’t! ’ she said hoarsely, finding that his lean muscular body, reclining so comfortably in one of her chairs, still had the power to radiate that magnetism she had found so difficult to resist.
‘You know, Joanne,’ he continued quietly, ‘when you’re in a strange country you have plenty of time to think. You think about the good things that have happened in your life, and the bad. The sensible, and the foolish. You can’t alter what’s happened, but you can have a damn good try at not making the same mistakes again.’
Her eyes darkened with suspicion. ‘I don’t think I quite understand what you’re getting at. ’
‘Don’t you?’ His lips twitched slightly. ‘Perhaps I don’t understand it myself. However, here I am at Willowmead, I’ve bought that lovely old house Dr. van Amstel used to live in, and I think I intend to stay. ’
Joanne’s chin lifted with defiance and determination. ‘I’m going to see a lawyer tomorrow.’
‘No, you won’t,’ he said harshly, ‘because I shan’t give you a divorce. ’
‘You can’t refuse. You could be—’
‘I shall install you in my home, by force if necessary, and your claims will be worthless. ’
‘You think you’re very clever, don’t you?’ she hissed at him, her angry heartbeats pounding against her temples.
‘Not really,’ he smiled lazily. ‘I’ve acquired a taste for playing games. At first we were married, but pretending that our platonic marriage was real. Now we’re married, pretending that we’re not.’ Again he smiled infuriatingly. ‘It’s a little confusing, but it would make interesting listening, don’t you think?’
His arrogance astounded her. ‘I never realised you could be so hateful!’
‘I never realised before how beautiful you are when you’re angry,’ he quipped back, his keen glance flicking over her flushed cheeks, and the way the greenness of her eyes deepened.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ she exclaimed. ‘If you’ve said all you intended to say, then please go!’
‘Don’t you usually offer your guests something to drink?’
‘You’re not a guest,’ she retorted angrily, realising her error too late.
‘No, I’m your husband,’ he said darkly. ‘Be thankful that all I’m asking for is a cup of coffee. ’
Her cheeks flamed. ‘You have a nerve! I—’
‘Make that coffee, and be quick about it, or I might change my mind,’ he threatened and, hesitating only briefly, she fled to the kitchen and switched on the kettle.
If this was the only way she could get rid of him, then she had no intention of wasting any time about giving him what he had asked for, she thought furiously. Confound the man!
She joined him in the lounge again a few minutes later and placed a cup of coffee on the small table beside his chair. ‘I hope it chokes you. ’
‘Sit down.’
‘I—’
‘Sit down!’ he ordered, gripping her wrist with firm fingers and forcing her into the chair beside his. ‘That’s better. I’ve heard quite a lot about you during the few days I’ve been at the Clinic.’
‘Have you?’ she asked, her skin still tingling where his fingers had touched her wrist.
‘None of it sounds quite like you, though,’ he remarked, drinking his coffee quite calmly as if he were in no hurry to leave.
‘Really?’ she murmured sarcastically.
‘Hm ...’ he nodded. ‘Things such as “cool, aloof and mysterious”. It makes me wonder whether I ever knew the real Joanne. ’
‘What a pity that I shan’t give you the opportunity of getting to know me now either.’
‘Sarcasm?’ he mocked, shaking his head. ‘That’s not like you at all. ’
‘I wish you’d go,’ she said coldly, staring down at her clenched fists in her lap.
‘Inhospitable too, I see,’ he laughed briefly, draining his cup and placing it on the table beside him before he pinned her to her chair with those incredibly blue eyes of his.
‘Daniel, I’ve been happy here. Don’t make it impossible for me to stay,’ she begged now. ‘Could we, in future, keep our meetings restricted to the Clinic?’
‘That would be rather difficult,’ he remarked after a momentary pause, his glance openly mocking. ‘I happen to like your company, even when you’re so unsociable.’
‘I don’t happen to like your company,’ she blurted out angrily, jumping to her feet and wishing at that moment she could throw something at him.
‘A pity,’ he murmured, following it up swiftly with an abrupt, ‘but you’ll like my company in time.’
Her temples throbbed. ‘Don’t be too sure of that.’
To her relief, he rose to his feet, but her pulse jumped violently as he closed the gap between them, his nearness disturbing her more than she cared to admit.
‘Goodnight, Joanne ...’ he hesitated mockingly, ‘... or should I say, Sister Webster.’
Choosing to ignore him, she led the way to the door and opened it. ‘Goodnight, Dr. Grant.’
She heard his footsteps on the stairs, and moments later a car started down below in the street. Joanne expelled the air
from her lungs, realising for the first time that she had been holding her breath for seemingly endless seconds, and then she began to shake quite uncontrollably. How long would she be able to fight against the feelings he aroused within her, and what did he hope to gain by forcing his attentions upon her?
CHAPTER NINE
While having lunch in the canteen the following day, Joanne spotted Dr. Chris van der Merwe making his way towards her table. He was of average height, with broad shoulders, rugged features, and brown hair that tended to tumble in an unr
uly fashion across his forehead. He had accompanied Joanne on two occasions to functions which had been organised by the staff of the Clinic, but she had discouraged a third invitation to attend a dance at the local hotel with him. He was the kind of man who could very easily become serious about the woman he was taking out, and she had no intention of encouraging anyone into an affair; hot after what she had been through with Daniel.
‘May I join you, Sister Webster?’
His voice was pleasant with a slight Afrikaans accent, and she smiled absently. ‘You may.’
‘I should like to apologise for my filthy temper these past weeks,’ he said, seating himself opposite her and leaning his arms on the table.
‘You don’t have to apologise to me, Dr. van der Merwe. ’
‘You’re right, of course,’ he nodded ruefully. ‘I should actually be apologising to the entire theatre staff, but I thought that if I explained my behaviour to you, you would at least understand.’
‘You don’t really have to explain, Doctor,’ she said
quickly, feeling sorry for him.
‘It would make me feel better,’ he insisted gravely. ‘You see, I’d worked with Dr. van Amstel for almost eight years. I knew his techniques so well that when he fell ill and died I thought Dr. Ellis would consider me as his next partner. Instead, he sold Dr. van Amstel’s shares to Dr. Grant, a man who has brushed aside Dr. van Amstel’s ideas in favour of new, modem techniques that make me shudder when I think I have to make use of methods that are unheard of in this country. ’
Joanne felt a twinge of pity for him, but her admiration for the work Daniel performed made her jump to his defence. ‘Dr. Grant is a brilliant surgeon. ’
‘Oh, yes, I know he has a reputation for accomplishing the impossible,’ Chris van der Merwe admitted readily, ‘but I had hoped that Dr. Ellis would have taken my years of service into consideration.’
‘The choice was entirely, Dr. Ellis’s, I presume?’ she asked quietly.
‘Definitely! After Dr. van Amstel’s death his shares went straight back to his partner to do with as he pleased,’ he told her. ‘It’s taken me some time to accept the fact that I wasn’t good enough. ’
Joanne frowned as she met his glance. ‘Don’t labour under an inferiority complex, Dr. van der Merwe. You’re an excellent surgeon, and I’ve worked with several in my time.’
‘You’re certainly good for my ego, Sister Webster,’ he smiled, and the conversation drifted on to lighter topics until Joanne became aware that someone was watching her closely.
She sent a casual glance across the crowded canteen until it collided with Daniel’s thunderous eyes, and her heart thudded uncomfortably as he moved away from the self-service counter, bringing his cup of coffee across to her table.
‘Good afternoon, Dr. van der Merwe,’ he greeted his colleague with cool amiability before his mocking glance met hers. ‘Hello, Joanne. I’m sorry I kept you waiting.’
‘Take my chair, Dr. Grant,’ Chris van der Merwe said quickly, rising to his feet after overcoming his initial surprise. ‘I was just leaving.’
‘What do you mean by barging in on my conversation with Dr. van der Merwe, and calmly apologising for keeping me waiting?’ Joanne demanded in a lowered voice once they were alone. ‘I never arranged to meet you here.’
‘No, of course you didn’t,’ Daniel replied calmly as he took the chair Dr. van der Merwe had vacated and stirred his coffee. ‘But the two of you looked very chummy from where I was standing, and I wouldn’t like the poor chap to get any ideas about you.’ He leaned towards her menacingly. ‘You’re mine, and I intend to keep it that way.’
‘How dare you!’
‘Careful, darling,’ he warned softly. ‘People are watching.’
‘Don’t call me “darling”,’ she said fiercely, lowering her voice more and getting a grip on herself. ‘I’m not your darling, and I never shall be.’
His eyes flickered mockingly as he lowered his cup and took in the starched primness of her appearance. ‘Never is a long time, Joanne, and my patience is wearing thin. ’
‘You have no right to lay any claim on me, and what I do outside this Clinic, or in my lunch hour, is my business. You had no right to interrupt Dr. van der Merwe and myself in that way, giving the impression that—that—’
‘That I’ve taken a fancy to you?’ he finished for her with that infuriating calmness she had noticed the night before. ‘Yes, that was exactly the impression I wanted him, and everyone else, to have. I have a certain document locked away at home that says I have every right to be possessive, and I am possessive, Joanne. What I have, I hold.’
Her pulse rate became nervous and erratic. ‘Why?’
‘Why do I want to hold on to you?’ Those penetrating eyes beneath the dark brows sent a shiver of apprehension along her spine. ‘I happen to like beautiful things, and you’re beautiful, my Lorelei.’
‘Don’t call me that! ’ she ordered sharply, pain stabbing her heart at the half-forgotten name.
‘I would suggest you keep your voice lowered, unless you want everyone in the canteen to sit up and take notice,’ he warned mockingly.
‘You’re despicable!’ she hissed.
‘Yes, and plenty more besides,’ he admitted, draining his cup and following her out of the building into the sunshine. ‘I’ll see you this evening.’
‘I shan’t be home,’ she announced firmly, quickening her pace, but his fingers latched on to her wrist and forced her to keep in step with him.
‘You’d better be,’ he threatened, his eyes narrowed against the brilliance of the sun that gave his hair a bluish tint. ‘If you’re not, all hell will be let loose in the village until I find you. ’
When they met again later that afternoon in the theatre, he was his usual abrupt self, giving no indication that he was even aware of the threat he had uttered to her as they had left the canteen, but that evening, as she glimpsed his dark green Citroen from her window, she experienced a wave of helplessness that drove her to anger. Why would he not
leave her alone?
The doorbell chimed, and knowing quite well who it was, she called: ‘Who is it?’
‘Daniel,’ his voice came strongly through the door. ‘Open up.’
‘Go away! I don’t want to see you.’
‘Joanne ...’ There was something ominous in the sound of her name on his lips, and she shivered even before he continued to speak. ‘Either you open up this door, or I cause a performance here on your doorstep which should interest your neighbours intensely. ’
She hardly knew her neighbours, but the thought of them rushing to their doors to investigate any sort of noise coming from her flat was just too much, and she sighed as she lifted the latch and opened the door wide. ‘Come in, then.’
‘That’s better,’ he remarked calmly, kicking the door shut and facing her in the small entrance hall. ‘Lorelei, you’re as pale as a ghost. ’
His arms closed about her with an unexpected force that gave her no time to resist, or to escape the lips that captured hers with a gentleness that shook the barriers she had erected about her heart. His hand was in her hair, scattering the pins on to the floor as he pushed his fingers through the thick silky tendrils.
He released her just as suddenly as he had taken her, and she fell back against the wall, her breath coming fast over parted lips as she stared down at the pins lying at her feet.
‘I wish you’d leave me alone!’
‘I can’t do that, Joanne, and leave your hair down.’ His glance slid down the length of her, scorching her through the long-sleeved jersey dress that accentuated her slenderness. ‘It makes you look so very feminine, my sea-nymph.’
‘Don’t call me that!’ she flared, her cheeks hot with embarrassment.
‘Ah, yes, I forgot,’ he smiled cynically. ‘Get your coat, we’re going out.’
‘Out?’
‘Yes,’ he said abruptly, ushering her towards her room. ‘I’m taking you to my
home. I need suggestions on how to furnish it. ’
‘I’m not interested in helping you furnish your home,’ she told him firmly, drawing back.
‘I shan’t buy a single item of furniture for those vacant rooms unless you choose them. ’
‘For all I care you can live in a partially unfurnished house for the rest of your life,’ she spat out angrily.
‘Tch, tch,’ he shook his head mockingly. ‘Such venom dripping from such beautiful lips!’
A tremor of anger shook through her. ‘Just leave me alone, Daniel ... please!’
His eyes darkened. ‘I shall shout the place down if you don’t come with me.’
‘Then shout if you want to.’ He opened his mouth as if to do so and she gestured anxiously. ‘No, don’t!’
‘I knew you’d see reason,’ he remarked with a satisfaction that made her want to slap his face. ‘Get your coat, it’s cold outside. ’
She was in such a fury that she grabbed the first thing she could lay her hands on, and it was only afterwards that she realised she had taken a camel-hair coat which had been given to her by his mother. She fingered the wide collar, lifting it to lie against her cheek as they sped towards his home. It was strange how close she felt to Serena Grant at times; close enough to awaken a deep longing within her to hold those thin hands between her own in an effort to seek reassurance.
The car slowed down and she snapped out of her reverie to see the two stone pillars caught in the beam of the lights, then they drove through them and up the long drive towards the double-storeyed house with its thatched roof, its walls covered in ivy creeper, and its wonderful terraced garden leading down to the tennis court and swimming pool.
‘After you, my dear,’ said Daniel as he unlocked the front door and stood aside. She stepped across the threshold hesitantly, noticing familiar objects in the hall, and wishing herself miles away from the painful memories that seemed to crowd her mind. A hand gripped her arm and steered her off to the right. ‘Through here.’
She found herself in the large living-room, but the furniture he had kept from his old home seemed lost in the vastness of the room. ‘You’ve kept most of your furniture, I notice,’ she remarked for want of anything better to say.
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