Black Ingo

by Margaret Way

  ‘It won’t be for long. You’re turning into a woman right in front of my eyes. God knows I’ve waited long enough for it to happen.’

  Blandly he dropped an arm about her slight- shoulders, turning her towards the jeep. She said nothing and the two of them moved in perfect rhythm, a mysterious intimacy that had never been there before.

  Genny had a mad urge to fling her arms about him, crush him if she could, which was ridiculous considering his lean powerful frame.

  ‘Do you think I’m beautiful, Ingo? Do you?’

  ‘Yes, you’re beautiful, damn you.’

  ‘Thank you. One of us ought to be friendly. I’m trying.’

  He lifted her like a featherweight into the jeep, dropping a hard kiss on her parted mouth. ‘Don’t try too hard.’

  ‘Why not?’ she asked abruptly, touching the tips of her fingers to her burning mouth.

  ‘Don’t be so naive, little one. For all you know I might be madly in love with you.’

  ‘And are you?’

  ‘My God, what a questions.’

  ‘I take it the answer is no.’

  He gazed at her. ‘You could take a man apart if you wanted to.’

  ‘And that’s not going to happen to you?’

  ‘My life revolves around Tandarro. What’s mine is mine and it will never get away from me.’

  ‘Is that a warning?’ Her dark eyes were fixed on his face, her cheeks rather flushed.

  ‘One you can’t ignore. You know the score!’

  ‘Talk to me,’ she begged him.

  ‘About what?’

  ‘Reality-the way you act like you do. Why you ever bothered to kiss me.’

  ‘That was some occasion. Move over.’

  ‘I keep remembering,’ she confessed.

  ‘Naturally.’

  ‘Yet you never tell me anything. I really don’t know the first thing about you.’

  ‘Now you want to get me to talk about myself. Giannina darling, you’re priceless.’

  ‘I’m only trying to be pleasant.’

  ‘You’re breaking my heart. ‘ he mocked.

  ‘I doubt if you’ve got one.’

  ‘Oh, it’s real enough. Who used to pick you up when you cried as a child? It wasn’t Flick.’

  ‘You loved me then. Have I really turned into something quite different?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said crisply.

  ‘Which leaves me with nothing to say,’ Genny concluded.

  ‘And that’s a promise?’

  ‘Start the jeep, Ingo,’ she said through her clenched teeth. ‘If I sit here much longer I’m going to catch fire.’

  ‘Where’s your hat?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t damned well care.’

  ‘Baby, you have the most beautiful skin. Are you really going to burn it to leather?’

  ‘A lot you’d care.‘ she snapped.

  ‘On the contrary, I’d make a big fuss!’ He reached over to the back seat of the jeep, seeing Genny wasn’t moving, retrieved her gaucho hat and rammed it on her silky curls. They rayed out like silver whorls against the black brim, making the most enchanting frame for her face.

  ‘Well?’ she said rather aggressively, returning his frank stare.

  ‘Yes, well, I might feel like heading off to where no one would ever find us, but I’m not going to do it.’

  ‘Good for you, because I wouldn’t go along with it.’

  ‘So you say.’ he said mockingly. ‘Why can’t you be a woman instead of a perverse child?’

  ‘Tandarro is all that keeps you going,’ she retorted. ‘You want to be supported, don’t you?’

  He had spoken carelessly as he put the jeep in motion and reversed it out of the shade, his dark profile relaxed, yet she swung her head towards him with a kind of urgency.

  ‘You don’t support us, Ingo. Or do you?’

  ‘Why would it annoy you?’

  ‘You know perfectly well I’d be prepared to get a job if that was so.’

  ‘Mind telling me why?’

  ‘You don’t, do you?’

  ‘I don’t, as you say. Flick has her own money, and occasionally I give her a little something. That’s quite common knowledge and none of your business. Flick happens to be one of my great favourites despite her self.’

  ‘I really would care. ‘ exclaimed Genny.,_

  ‘How terrible.’ he said as though he didn’t care at all. ‘That’s rather pathetic, the idea of your working.’

  ‘I could do it.’

  ‘So you keep telling me. But seeing you’re such a clever girl we’ll have to insist on you finishing your education. A doctor’s wife is expected to turn herself into something.’

  ‘You have an infinite capacity for riling me.’

  ‘Did you say ruling?’

  ‘That too. It puts me on the defensive.’

  ‘A salutary experience for one too accustomed to getting her own way. Tell me, have you thought out anything to keep Dave entertained?’

  ‘Nothing in particular. We should have a house full,Trish and the kids, and darling Sally for sure. I bet you’ve thought out your plans there. Dan looks like staying on with Flick all set to show him a good time. A full house.’

  ‘The only kind to have. Even Evvy asked me could she invite old Lady Maxwell.’

  ‘That’s too full.‘ Genny said, surprised.

  ‘She mightn’t come, with the whole State her oyster. Still, Evvy did ask me, which is more than I can say for you.’

  Genny looked eager. ‘What about giving a big wonderful gala party and inviting everybody? We could open up the ballroom. It’s so beautiful and it’s never used.’

  ‘All my fault! My way of life hasn’t permitted dancing up to date. God knows why it was ever built.

  There must have been lunacy in the family.’

  ‘And it hasn’t burned itself out.’

  Ingo grinned. ‘You can say that again. Flick will probably want to announce her engagement.’

  ‘If I thought that, I’d break down and cry.’

  ‘Better if you don’t. I might have to stop and comfort you.’

  She sat up straight and smiled at him, her heart, had she known it, right in her eyes. ‘That settles it.

  Nothing would make me fall into your arms again.’

  ‘I think you will.’

  His answering smile tore at her senses. Pure devastation, impeccable white teeth in a dark, selfcontained face. ‘Smile at me like that,’ she said slowly, ‘and I’ll fall in love with you.’

  ‘Nothing would surprise me. A girl like you lights her own fires.’

  ‘And it isn’t safe. ‘ she wailed.

  ‘You seem to be enjoying yourself.’

  ‘I’m in search of myself.’

  ‘I know it.’

  ‘You know me too well.’

  ‘Perhaps-Genny, the little girl. It’s Giannina, the woman I have to reach.’

  She shivered at the caressing note in his voice and fell silent. She needed time to consider all the reckless overwhelming emotions he was arousing in her that she couldn’t quite control since he had held her in his arms and shown her the force of her own feelings, nothing could ever be the same again. Her reaction to him, passionate and headlong, had flowed naturally, when for years now she had hardly been able to talk to him without flying into a fury. Ingo had not been notably kind and patient with her either.

  Flick had even assumed they were incompatible except for the odd times when the storms had broken and they achieved the perfect rapport that had been normal in her childhood. Ingo’s influence on her had been remarkable. She had always wanted and needed his company even when she had cried out unabashed and unrepentant that she hated him, like there was no other way. Ingo the known and the unknown. Ingo, Big Brother. Ingo, a lover. The thought suddenly frightened her, making the blood surge through her veins. Unconsciously her expression had become tense, a small pulse throbbing at the base of her throat, colour staining her cheekbones, darkening her v
elvety brown eyes to black.

  Ingo glanced at her, reading her mind with no difficulty. She had taken a very long time to arrive at that possibility and her young panic was showing. His eyes slipped over her slender body and his hard, handsome mouth softened. No one could be sweeter than Genny when she was frightened.

  ‘Don’t lose your cool, baby.‘ he said lightly.

  She lifted her head, her expression very soft. ‘I‘m like that with you.’

  ‘You’re very temperamental, I have to admit. You’re also shatteringly beautiful.’

  ‘Am I?’ she asked, honestly unaware of her own sexuality.

  ‘Don’t let’s talk about it.’ Ingo groaned, his silver grey eyes very cool and full of self-mockery.

  ‘And that’s what’s wrong with everyone.‘ she protested, her quick temper stirring. ‘No communication.’

  ‘We can communicate, stupid.’

  ‘No, we can’t. ‘

  ‘Let’s test that out.’

  She stared at him, but he seemed completely serious, pulling the jeep off the track and running it in under a glossy-leafed tree. He switched off the ignition and turned to her, his light eyes sparkling in contrast to his darkly tanned skin, ‘You were talking about communication.’

  ‘Oh, really.‘ she started to say, her heart thumping.

  ‘I do believe you’re nervous,’ he drawled.

  ‘Do you think I’m fool enough to ask for a repeat performance?’ she demanded.

  ‘I‘ll bet you ten to one you are.’

  ‘You’d better apologise.‘ she threatened.

  ‘It would take a big, big man to do that.‘ he taunted.

  ‘Isn’t that what you are? I mean, I’ve had years and years of personal attention with a kind word now and them ‘

  ‘Then why call me.Black Ingo?’

  ‘I didn’t know just how right I was. Now I really believe it. Black Ingo.’

  ‘You picked the wrong time, baby.’

  ‘You said you’d take care of me. ‘

  ‘Well, this is what happens.‘ He reached for her, ignoring her cry if he even heard it, his hands clamped high around her narrow rib cage, hard and taut.

  ‘Don’t use me for target practices’ she cried feverishly, acutely sensitive to his frightening strength. ‘Just because Sally’s not around.’

  ‘Who’s Sally?’ he asked.

  ‘Do you have to?’ she clenched her fists and hit at him. ‘Oh, listen, Ingo, you scare me.‘ It was true, because excitement was leaping jaggedly fight through her like a lick of flame, going higher and higher and threatening to devour her like a fire out-of Control. It was almost unbearable, and her enormous doe eyes began to drown in tears.

  He released her abruptly, the dangerous deliberation going out of his face. ‘I see what you mean,’ he said in a low, even voice. ‘Relax, cherub, you’re in no danger. That alarm in your eyes is one hundred per cent genuine. It even upsets me.’

  Shaken, she slid down into the seat again, half collapsing against his shoulder. ‘I never thought that after all these years... I mean, it’s impossible. I can’t think what it’s all about.’

  ‘You love me and we both know it.’

  She tilted her head back, staring at him. ‘No. No, I don’t. ‘

  ‘What is it you feel?’

  ‘Just a tremendous response. You make me come alive-too alive. It’s breathless, like a disaster.

  Ravishing, like crossing over into the desert and losing your bearings. Nothing’s the same again. But that’s me, just a child so far as I can see. You’re way ahead of me, terribly sure of yourself, ready for anything. It could be a new game for you. You’ve trained yourself for years and years now to an iron control-turn it on, turn it off. You don’t really need anyone.’

  ‘Don’t say any more.‘ he said with icy disfavour.

  ‘It isn’t possible I’ve hurt you?’

  He put a hard finger along her cheek, turning her face towards him. ‘Would I let you, you silly little girl?’

  ‘How long are we going to go on like this?’ she sighed.

  ‘Does it matter all that much?’

  He sounded unbearably cynical and she moved very carefully right up against him, laying her lips along his cheek. ‘Now listen, Ingo, don’t sound like that. You worry me.’

  ‘Stop it. You could have made a great actress. How does your Dave kiss you?’

  ‘Oh, something like this. ‘ she murmured, kissing him very quietly on the corner of his mouth.

  ‘Agreeable. Controllable. A warm glow, you know.‘ She didn’t say that her pleasure at that moment was glaring. ‘Now you, you outpace me in every way. It’s like a fight for survival. A takeover with kisses for bribes. ‘

  ‘How graphic,’ he said sardonically.

  ‘If I let you, you could bring me to breaking point.’

  ‘Poor little Giannina. What a nightmare. Ravished by her wicked cousin.’

  ‘That’s one way of looking at it,’ she said coolly. ‘Also you’re a good deal older than I am and I’d never catch up with you either. ‘

  The flash in his eyes was part amusement. ‘And what am I supposed to say? Ciao, baby, see you some time? I didn’t know we were locked in some kind of sexist duel.’

  ‘What makes you think you’ve got to be the boss?’ she challenged him.

  ‘Because I’m one of the lucky ones. It’s the way I’m made. Do you particularly want to be treated like a little man? The trouble with you is that you want it all ways. Women are the real dictators. Haven’t you seen Maggie pushing Ted around? Half his size, too. She won’t even leave him with a mumbling word.’

  ‘She’s a terrific cookl’ Genny pointed out fairly. ‘It’s only Ted she snaps at. I think he even likes it.’

  ‘God forbid. That kind of thing would be impossible to tolerate.’

  She slid her hat off her head and settled herself gently into his somehow accommodating shoulder. ‘It’s moments like these when I can’t help feeling I’m complaining about nothing.’

  ‘Don’t I know it.‘ he rejoined.

  ‘One of our perfect moments again,’ she said with an ecstatic sigh. ‘It’s like a fantasy. Our other world turned upside down.‘ With something like elation she twined her fingers through his, not anticipating the betraying urgency that drove her to rain a series of featherlight kisses along his hard jawline. She heard her own voice, very soft and shaken, almost endeavouring to explain her own spontaneous actions.

  ‘It’s a paradox, I know, but you’re physically perfect to me. In fact you’re really a very beautiful man.’

  His low laugh was sharp and derisive. ‘Do you mind? A man’s not beautiful.’

  ‘A differing order of beauty, but beauty all the same,’ she affirmed.

  ‘Then what are you so frightened about anyway?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know.‘ she said, half mesmerised by the feel of his hand in her hair. ‘Whatever it was, I’ve forgotten. Right now I’d do anything to make you happy. ‘

  ‘Then I’m going to take what I want at this moment. ‘

  He lifted her shining head to him, his hand sliding down to shape her creamy nape, a curious expression very like tenderness on his handsome dark face. She could only look back at him, knowing what he was going to do, but affected by the same drug, a fevered sensual awareness that sprang up between them, linking them with a delicate violence; a demand as exquisite as it was terrible. Her mouth parted instinctively, accepting him before he even touched her. In spite of everything she was going to allow this torrent of emotion to engulf her. She lifted her hand almost in a trance to bring his head down to her in the last moment, clinging to him, lifting her slender arms and locking them about his neck. If this was possession it was inescapable. Ingo’s hold on her could never be broken. She experienced one moment of resistance, then she let it all close over her like a dark golden storm. A man as complex, as compelling as Ingo was bound to consider her his private property, over-indulged in one way, but a posse
ssion without question. She was saying his name over and over against his mouth, her heart beating in agitation, wildly disturbed. All his tremendous energy and authority, all she had ever resented, now held all the magic in the world. Her body gave a half agonised shudder as though her feelings were too strong for her.

  ‘Genny?’

  She lay back against him, her dark eyes wide open, full of the urgency that fired her blood. ‘I need you so desperately. You’re rather cruel.’

  ‘If I am I’m being cruel to both of us.’

  ‘I‘d like to fly straight off into the sun.‘ she said on a wave of reaction.

  ‘I‘ll fix anything for you, but not that!’ he murmured.

  ‘Your name is Ingo, isn’t it?’

  ‘And what do you know about me?’

  ‘I‘m learning fast.’

  ‘That’s what you’re here for.’

  ‘Is the world swinging around or are we?’ she inquired.

  ‘You’re rambling, darling. ‘ he said, tumbling her soft curls.

  ‘Damn, there you go again. I’m the idiot and you’re the devilish adult.’

  ‘There are times one just has to let the fires fizzle out. I’m dead set on abiding by a ruthless set of rules.

  You’re my sweet little Genny, and you’re an innocent for all your incomparable allure.’

  ‘It seems to me now you’ve coloured my thoughts for all the days of my life,’ she said softly.

  ‘Well, let’s say you’ve come through the worst of your adolescence.’

  She tried to sit up, failed the first time and allowed him to help her. ‘I won’t risk any more comments.

  What do we do now?’

  ‘I thought you’d never ask. I want to ride out with Spook and the rest for part of the way. You can come!’

  ‘What a delightful invitation. Thank you. ‘

  ‘Put your hat on.’

  ‘Yes, boss!’ she said in an excellent imitation of Spook’s melancholy voice which actually earned him his nickname. He glanced back at her with some amusement, his silver-grey eyes gleaming, noting and accepting the subtle radiance that lay over her, heightening her beauty. Already they had come out of yesterday.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The feeling of discovery and mutual attraction persisted for Felicity and Dan in the week that followed.