CHAPTER FOUR
'I should have asked before, but I'm afraid it slipped my mind,' Kate broke the strained silence in the car on the way to Stellenbosch. 'What about Barbara Owen?'
Rhyno's face remained as dark and impassive as his perfectly tailored suit and sober grey tie. 'What about her?'
'Does she know about—about us?' she asked uncomfortably, casting him a sidelong glance.
'She knows we're getting married today,' he replied bluntly.
'You told her, of course, that it was merely a business arrangement.'
His dark, angry eyes met hers briefly before he concentrated on the road once more. 'I told her nothing of the kind.'
'You mean she thinks that—that—'
'Like Gavin Page, she thinks we've suddenly discovered that we're crazy about each other,' he finished for her with a derisive twist to his lips, and Kate shrank back against her seat when she felt her cheeks grow warm with embarrassment.
'She must have been terribly upset,' she remarked, making an effort to control her quivering nerves.
'Does it bother you?'
His words stung, insinuating that she was callous and insensitive, but she was determined not to let him guess that it had hurt as she said coldly, 'Not if it doesn't bother you.'
They lapsed into a silence which lasted until they arrived at the magistrate's offices where Aunt Edwina and Naomi van der Bijl awaited them, and Kate's legs were shaking beneath her when they entered the building.
The ceremony was impersonal and businesslike, and the magistrate's voice was cold and emotionless as he went through the brief ritual of joining two people together in the eyes of the law, but Kate's hand trembled when Rhyno slipped that plain gold band on to her finger. It was a perfect fit, but her mind was too numb to register anything beyond that. She signed her name as Katherine Duval for the last time, and a few minutes later they walked out into the sunshine again. She was aware of Aunt Edwina and Naomi kissing her cheek, and then she was seated beside Rhyno in his Citroen and being driven to Hubert Walton's office.
Hubert could not see them at once, and while they waited Kate somehow managed to gather her scattered wits about her. Rhyno sat beside her, his arms crossed over his broad chest, and his eyes fixed broodingly on the autumn leaf pattern of the carpet beneath their feet. What was he thinking? Did he feel as detached from everything as she did? In the breast pocket of his jacket was a document which proved beyond doubt that she was his wife, but he was, in actual fact, as much a free agent as he had been before, and down in the very depths of her being she was still Kate Duval.
He looked up suddenly and their eyes met and held for frightening seconds before he remarked cynically, 'Did you expect to feel different?'
His uncanny habit of reading her thoughts was nothing new to her, but it had never unnerved her more than at that moment. She tried to think of something to say, but couldn't, and then Hubert's secretary was announcing that the attorney was awaiting them in his office.
Hubert Walton observed them in silence when they entered the room and seated themselves on the opposite side of his desk. The grey eyes beneath the bushy brows were cool and expressionless at first, then a flicker of humour lit up their depths.
'It's a damnable situation,' he began at length. 'I'm not quite certain, under the circumstances, whether I should offer you my congratulations or my condolences.'
'Neither,' Rhyno's deep voice announced abruptly before Kate could open her mouth to speak. 'Let's just get down to the core of the matter in question, and get it over with as quickly as possible.'
'Yes, well…' Hubert cleared his throat and lowered his glance to the papers on the desk before him. 'There's very little left for me to tell you, but it's nevertheless important.'
'We gathered that, and that's why we're here,' Kate said quickly before Rhyno had a second opportunity to snap at the attorney, and without wasting further time Hubert Walton briefly outlined their future.
'It's expected of you, Rhyno, to move into Solitaire with Kate. You will both receive an adequate monthly allowance for the next twelve months, and all expenses and profits with regard to the estate will be dealt with through my office.' He looked up and glanced from one to the other. 'Are there any questions?'
'Just one,' Rhyno said abruptly. 'What happens in a year from now?'
'I shall approach you with one final question before Jacques Duval's file is closed.'
'I know what that question will be, and I can give you the answer right now,' Kate bit out the words, the very essence of her resentment returning to spark the blue flames of anger in her eyes. 'No, we do not wish to continue with our marriage,' she stated coldly.
'Don't be hasty, Kate,' Hubert warned. 'You may both feel differently in a year from now.'
'Don't bet on it, Mr Walton,' Rhyno intervened harshly, and the attorney ceased to exist momentarily as Kate's angry glance clashed with Rhyno's in a silent battle that left neither of them the victor.
Hubert Walton coughed politely, drawing attention to himself in that manner, and when Kate and Rhyno turned to face him, he said somewhat drily, 'Well, that's all I have to say to you at the moment, except to wish you both the very best in this venture.'
They drove back to Solitaire in silence; two strangers with nothing to say to each other, and nothing in common except an inheritance which resulted in the unfamiliar weight of that gold band on Kate's finger. She felt like wrenching it off and flinging it out of the window, but that would achieve nothing. They were legally married, and it made no difference at all whether she was wearing a ring or not.
Naomi van der Bijl and Aunt Edwina awaited them at Solitaire, and Rhyno opened a bottle of the estate's sparkling white wine before they sat down to lunch. The conversation simply would not flow, and the silences became progressively longer. Kate's plate was returned to the kitchen almost untouched, and when they had had their tea Naomi announced that it was time she went home. Rhyno got up to accompany his mother out to her car, but Kate remained seated, facing her aunt broodingly. Close to Kate's hand, on the white damask tablecloth, stood the glass of wine she had been loathe to drink. It had lost its sparkle, and had gone as flat as she felt at that moment.
When Rhyno entered the dining hall a few minutes later, Kate rose to her feet and excused herself. 'I'm going to my room.'
'Kate!' Aunt Edwina's voice stopped her before she had reached the door. 'I've had your things moved into the master bedroom.'
The fire of anger was in her eyes, but in her chest she felt positively claustrophobic. 'Who gave you permission to do that without consulting me?'
'There wasn't much time to consult you in this matter, but you surely realise that although we know the true reason for this marriage, it's preferable that the servants remain in ignorance.'
'Your aunt is right, Kate,' Rhyno intervened, and she cast him a swift, chilling glance.
'Kindly stay out of this!'
His mouth tightened and his thin nostrils flared. 'This affects me as much as it affects you, and if you're too stubborn to recognise the wisdom of your aunt's actions, then be it on your own head if the estate workers begin to speculate about us.'
'They can speculate all they like!'
'And in the process they'll lose their respect for you.'
The arrow found its mark with familiar precision, leaving her with the sickening thought that she was as transparent as glass to this man she had married that morning. Somehow he was familiar with her weaknesses, and he used his knowledge like a weapon.
'You think you have all the answers, don't you?' she muttered in a voice that shook with suppressed anger as she stared up into his expressionless face.
'Kate…' Aunt Edwina intervened gently, but Kate whirled on her in the aftermath of her fury.
'Oh, leave me alone, both of you!' she cried in a choked voice, then she ran out of the house, neither knowing, nor caring where she went, just as long as she could rid herself of that awful feeling that she had been
caught in a trap from which there was no escape.
She paused for breath under the oak tree at the end of the drive, then she walked on through the vineyards, the heels of her expensive shoes digging into the soft earth. The sun came out from behind a stray cloud to sting her face and arms, but it did not trouble her, and she walked on through the vineyard until she reached the clearing ahead of her. To her right stood a gnarled old acacia tree, and she wandered towards it to seek shelter beneath its thorny branches. She stood there for a moment, drinking in the blessed peace of her surroundings while her gaze dwelt on the mountains in the distance with their rocky peaks jutting into the sky, then she walked on until she reached the small stone hut where she had played as a child, and an audible sigh escaped her.
Oh, those carefree days when her only problem had been slipping into the house without Aunt Edwina noticing the mud she had messed on her clothes, or the tear in her new frock. Those problems had not been insurmountable. There had always been someone at home to wash away or patch up the evidence of her misdemeanours, but nothing could wash away or patch up the mess she was in at that moment. She was trapped by that circle of gold on her finger, and what hurt most was the knowledge that her father was the cause of it all.
She sat down on the upright tree stump which had been partially hollowed out to serve as an imaginary oven for the many mud pies she had baked as a child, and helpless tears filled her eyes and paved their way down her cheeks. She despised herself for being so weak, but she could not stop the tears once they had started, and she cried silently for long minutes before she managed to control herself to a certain degree. She longed for those days when Aunt Edwina's shoulder had offered her the comfort she had needed, but those days were gone for ever. Aunt Edwina was against her just like everyone else, she thought bitterly, but then she realised that she was allowing herself to become submerged in a well of self-pity, and she pulled herself together sharply while she used the back of her hand to dash away the evidence of her recent tears.
Her action made the sun glint on the ring Rhyno had placed on her finger that morning, and she stared down at it fixedly. Her hand had almost disappeared in his big, rough palm when he had slipped the ring on to her finger, and she recalled now how she had looked up to find him observing her with a look in his dark eyes which had momentarily stilled the breath in her throat. It had been an odd, penetrating look which had left her shaken and disturbed for a time, but she thrust the memory from her almost as if it were something distasteful.
Kate could not say for sure how long she sat there, but she was jerked out of her thoughts when Rhyno's white, dusty Citroen came to a crunching halt a little distance from her. He had changed into beige slacks and a green open-necked shirt, she noticed vaguely when he climbed out of the car, but when he approached her with that lithe, panther-like tread she was all at once made incredibly aware of the virile masculinity encased in that lean, hard body. The desire to run, and never stop running, swept through her with an equal suddenness, and it was only with the greatest effort that she managed to remain seated on that tree stump with her eyes riveted to his approaching figure.
'You're a long way from home,' he remarked casually when he stood directly in front of her with his feet planted firmly apart, and his thumbs hooked into the narrow leather belt hugging his hips.
'So what!' she snapped defiantly.
'Don't blame your aunt for doing what she thought was best, Kate.'
'Best for whom, may I ask?'
'For all of us.'
Kate looked away from him to, where a patch of wispy clouds shifted lazily across the sky, and her mouth tightened stubbornly. 'I refuse to share the master bedroom with you, and if you and my aunt think I'll carry this pretence that far, then you can both think again!'
'There's a perfectly comfortable bed in the dressing-room, and someone very kindly put fresh linen on it.'
He was laughing at her, she could see it in his eyes, and helpless anger loaded her voice heavily with sarcasm. 'How nice!'
'What are you afraid of, Kate?' he asked with a derisive twist to his mouth. 'Are you afraid I might at some time become feverish with desire for you, and demand my conjugal rights?'
'Don't be ridiculous!' she snapped, her cheeks flaming.
'You're the one who's being ridiculous.'
'Oh, go away, and leave me alone!' she shouted angrily, jumping up and walking swiftly away from him.
'I'm damned if I will!' He was beside her in an instant, his hands biting into her shoulders as he turned her roughly to face him. 'Stop behaving like a child, Kate, and accept the fact that we're going to have to live this way for the next year. We entered into a business agreement, remember, so stop this nonsense and honour your commitments like the sensible adult you're supposed to be.'
'Stop preaching to me, Rhyno van der Bijl!' she snapped, her eyes blazing up into his as she tried to free herself.
'Kate—'
'And take your hands off me!'
He released her so abruptly that she staggered, but his face was taut with anger, and had she not been so stubborn she would have adhered to the warning signals flashing through her mind when he said quietly, 'Get into the car. Your aunt is waiting for us to join her for tea.'
Kate brushed a long, silvery strand of hair out of her eyes, and glanced up at him defiantly. 'I'll walk, thank you.'
'If you're going to behave like a child, then I'm going to have to treat you like one,' he announced savagely, and before she had time to guess his intention he was swinging her off her feet and carrying her towards his car.
'Let me go, you beast!' she cried, beating him about the chest and shoulders with her clenched fists, but he merely laughed infuriatingly and tightened his arms about her.
When he reached the car he set her on her feet to open the door on the passenger side, but his arm remained about her waist like a vice despite her efforts to twist herself free. She was thrust unceremoniously into the front seat, and the door was slammed in her face, shutting off her angry protests.
Kate was not beaten yet, and when Rhyno walked round the front of the car towards the driver's side, she wrenched open the door and almost fell out in her haste to get away from him, and the peculiar feelings he had aroused when he had held her in his arms. She had been a good sprinter at school, but that was some years ago, and then, she had to admit, she had never tried it before in high-heeled shoes. Rhyno caught up with her before she had gone very far, and this time his hands were punishing as he literally dragged her back to the car while she fought like a wildcat and subjected him to a barrage of insults.
Without a word, he flung her face down across the bonnet of the car and twisted her arms behind her back in a way that made her fear they would be torn out of her shoulder sockets. He held her arms there with his one hand, while with the other he pulled off his belt, and then, to her horror, he was tying her hands securely behind her back.
Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them back rapidly as she twisted her head to glance at him over her shoulder. 'You're a brute, and I hate you!' she cried in a choked voice.
'You may hate me as much as you please, but I'm taking you home, and you're going to apologise to your aunt for speaking to her in that insubordinate manner after lunch.'
'I'll do nothing of the kind!' she spat out the words vehemently.
'We'll see about that,' he replied harshly, giving the belt about her wrists a final vicious tug that made her bite down hard on her lip in an effort not to cry out in pain, then she was thrust into the car and the door was slammed on her a second time.
Stripped of her dignity, she had only her fury left, and it shook through her with a force that made her feel murderous at that moment when Rhyno slid behind the wheel and turned the key in the ignition.
'You can't treat me like this and think you can get away with it!' she informed him through tightly clenched teeth, but his face remained a bronze mask of unconcern as he glanced at her briefly.
'
You asked for it, Kate.'
'I'll make you pay for this if it's the last thing I do!' she hissed, blinking back her tears of anger, and twisting her hands behind her back in an effort to release them, but Rhyno had tied her wrists so securely that every movement inflicted pain.
She sat there in an ungainly, huddled heap, glaring at him in silence while he took her back to the house, but it was she who broke the silence when he parked the Citroen in the circular drive and walked round to open the door for her.
'Untie my hands,' she said over her shoulder.
'Are you going to do as you're told?'
'Go to the devil!' she cried furiously.
'Very well, then.'
'No!' she exclaimed anxiously when he took her by the arms, intending to lift her out of the car.
'Have you changed your mind?'
His eyes challenged her, and she hated him more than ever at that moment as she said icily, 'You're a bastard, Rhyno, and I'll get you for this.'
'That's not the attitude to adopt if you don't want me to drag you into the house like a naughty child,' he mocked her, and his hands tightened threateningly on her arms.
'Do that, Rhyno, and I shall never forgive you.'
'That doesn't scare me, Kate,' he laughed harshly, 'but if you give me your word that you will behave, and do as you're told, then I'll untie you.'
The embarrassment of being taken into the house while bound Eke some sort of criminal was too much even for Kate, and she submitted to his will, albeit reluctantly. 'You have my word.'
Her hands were untied, and she sat for a moment rubbing her wrists gently where the leather had bitten into the tender flesh, then a large, rough hand gripped her arm above the elbow, and she was practically lifted out of the front seat. She might have appeared outwardly docile as he escorted her into the house, but inwardly she was fuming and, when they joined Aunt Edwina in, the living-room, Kate rattled off the appropriate apology.
Late Harvest Page 6