Eldorado

by Yvonne Whittal

  Eldorado

  By

  Yvonne Whittal

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  ELDORADO

  To Gina, her whirlwind romance with Jarvis Cain was a dream come true. But to Jarvis, it seemed, it was just a short cut to getting him what he considered his rightful inheritance. So what hope was there for Gina?

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  First published in Great Britain 1987

  by Mills & Boon Limited

  © Yvonne Whittal 1987

  Australian copyright 1987

  Philippine copyright 1987

  This edition 1987

  ISBN 0 263 75694 7

  CHAPTER ONE

  'Its time you found yourself a husband, my dear.'

  Georgina Osborne's green eyes sparkled with amusement, and she crossed one long, shapely leg over the other as she faced the grey-haired woman seated in the chair close to hers. What had prompted that particular remark? she wondered humorously, but her humour waned as she continued to study the older woman. Evelyn Cain was in her late sixties, but she had aged visibly in recent months, and Gina's concern for her godmother escalated sharply.

  'I'm not ready for marriage and the responsibilities that accompany it, Aunt Evelyn,' Gina responded, her voice attractively husky, and a smile plucking once again at the corners of her wide, soft mouth.

  'When is one ever ready?' her godmother protested, raising her eyes briefly towards the beamed ceiling in Eldorado's gracious living-room while her hands gestured expressively against the mohair blanket covering her legs. 'Some man will come along one day, he'll sweep you off your feet, and suddenly you're married… regardless of the responsibilities.

  'I guess you're right,' Gina sighed, leaning back in her chair and allowing her appreciative glance to rest for a moment on the antiques and priceless porcelain ornaments surrounding her. But her mind was not on what she was looking at.

  She was thinking of Norman Thrope with his rugged good looks and calm, gentle nature. He was senior accountant at the firm of Becketts Engineering where Gina was a computer systems analyst. They had met two years ago when she had joined the company, but he had most certainly made no attempt to sweep her off her feet and into marriage, and neither had she wanted him to. They were friends, friends who shared an interest in the theatre, music, and the outdoors, and they enjoyed each other's company.

  'Is there a man in your life at this moment, Gina?'

  Evelyn's query sliced into Gina's thoughts, and for a startled second she wondered if the older woman had been capable of reading her mind.

  'Yes and no,' Gina answered cautiously, and her godmother gestured impatiently with her thin, bony hands.

  'Don't be evasive, child!'

  'Yes, there is a man,' Gina admitted reluctantly, brushing back a heavy strand of red-gold hair which had fallen forward across one shoulder, 'and he's a good friend and companion.'

  Evelyn Cain's grey eyes observed Gina intently, and with a strange anxiety in their depths. 'How long have you know this man?'

  'Two years.'

  'If, after two years, he's still merely a good friend and companion, then he's obviously not the right man for you. Imagine!' Evelyn snorted disparagingly. 'Two years!'

  'It's a comfortable relationship,' Gina argued softly.

  'Who wants comfort?' her godmother exploded. 'It's passion that counts, and it's passion that puts fire in your blood… not comfort!'

  'I don't think I'm capable of that grande passion you're talking about,' Gina replied, colouring with embarrassment.

  'Nonsense! Of course you are!' Evelyn's grey eyes were almost feverishly intent as she studied Gina's delicate features with the finely arched brows and small, straight nose. 'Why have you never told me about this man?'

  'Oh, I don't know.' Gina felt vaguely unnerved, and she shifted uncomfortably in the carved satinwood armchair that dated back to the Elizabethan era. 'Perhaps I didn't think of telling you about him since there's nothing really to tell, except that we're friends and that we go out together occasionally.'

  'Hmph!' The wrinkled features settled into a grim mask. I was hoping I would live long enough to see you safely married.'

  'Of course you're going to live long enough!'

  'No, Gina.' Evelyn shook her grey head, striking fear into Gina's heart. 'There's no sense whatsoever in ignoring the fact that I've got a heart that is becoming too tired lately to function.'

  'I wish you wouldn't say things like that!' Gina protested, frowning, the husky quality in her voice deepening with concern.

  'I must, my dear,' her godmother sighed from her reclining position in the comfortable wing-backed chair, and her features were grave in the soft light of the porcelain table lamp beside her. 'My time is limited, and although I have so much to be grateful for, there are certain things that I regret most deeply.'

  Their conversation was interrupted when a maid entered the living-room with a tray of tea and, as always, placed it on the low table close to Gina.

  These Friday evenings with Evelyn Cain had become a pleasing ritual during the two years since Gina had come to live and work in Johannesburg. She would drive out to Houghton when she left the office on Fridays and stay until after dinner in this magnificent old house, with its history that dated back to 1905. Her pleasure on that particular evening was, however, tainted by an icy fear that was beginning to gnaw away at her.

  'Shall I pour?' Gina asked quietly, aware of the need to occupy herself in some way.

  'Please do,' her godmother nodded, and Gina poured two cups of strong tea, adding milk and sugar to both. 'I'm worried about my son.' The subject was altered abruptly.

  'Jarvis?' Gina spoke his name warily, but her mind had no difficulty in conjuring up a vision of a tall, dark-haired man with cold grey eyes and a mocking smile. 'He's a self-sufficient man with an established career as an attorney,' she added as she passed Evelyn her cup.

  'He's also thirty-five, and I've lost count of the many women who had drifted in and out of his adult life,' her godmother explained with a measure of distaste. 'His latest is a hard-faced woman by the name of Lilian Ulrich, and the reason I am concerned is because his relationship with this woman has lasted much longer than any of the others.'

  Gina did not particularly care for this discussion. Jarvis Cain, as a topic of conversation, had in recent years been shifted to the very bottom of her list of categories for discussion, b
ut, for her godmother's sake, she pretended to show some interest.

  'If he loves this woman, then surely—'

  'Loves her!' Evelyn snorted in disgust as she stirred her tea with unnecessary vigour. 'He couldn't possibly love a woman like that! She's been married twice before, and her interest in men like Jarvis is purely for material gain. The only comforting thought I have to cling to is that marriage doesn't fit into my son's plans for his future.'

  'You don't think Jarvis will ever get married?' asked Gina cautiously, and hating herself intensely for her curiosity.

  'Not by choice, he wouldn't,' her godmother enlightened her, with a strange sadness replacing the displeasure in her grey eyes. 'And I'm afraid I am partially to blame for his cynical attitude towards marriage.'

  Gina's sensitive features registered surprise.

  'Why do you suppose that, Aunt Evelyn?'

  'It's a long story,' Evelyn sighed, raising the gilded cup to her lips and taking a sip of tea. 'My husband and I made a mess of our marriage. We were both hot-tempered, stubborn, and too proud to admit our mistakes. Clement finally insisted on a separation, and I agreed… on condition that I would be allowed to remain here at Eldorado. I was hurt, and I retaliated by striking back where I knew it would hurt my husband most. It was, however, the cruellest thing I could ever have done, but at the time I didn't see it that way. Clement loved Eldorado with a passion which had been passed on to him by his father, and which Clement, in turn, has passed on to our son, Jarvis. It shattered my husband to leave his family home, and, God knows, I did eventually go to him in an attempt to set the matter right, but I failed. Clement chose to remain stubborn, and Jarvis consequently blames me for his father's early demise.'

  'Have you explained this to Jarvis?'

  'I have tried. Heaven knows, I've tried, but I'm afraid our cool and distant relationship doesn't exactly allow for the sharing of such intimate confidences.' Evelyn sighed again, but this time there were unmistakable tears in her eyes. 'Jarvis is a brilliant and sometimes ruthless attorney, and as a man he can be equally ruthless if he chooses. He has also inherited that hot-tempered, stubborn pride which drove his father and me apart. I am aware that my son has never forgiven me, and I often think that the only reason I still see him so frequently is that his love for Eldorado outweighs the resentment he harbours towards me.'

  'Oh, surely not!' Gina could not believe that anyone could be so unforgiving towards this woman she loved so much. 'Uncle Clement has been dead for fifteen years or more!'

  'I know my son, Gina,' Evelyn smiled, her mouth thinning with a touch of cynicism. 'Jarvis wouldn't turn a hair if I left every cent I possessed to charity, but Eldorado is quite a different matter. He wants this house, and I know he'll do almost anything to get it.'

  A disturbing thought occurred to Gina. 'You're not thinking of depriving him of his home, are you?'

  'Oh, no, my child,' Evelyn smiled again with that touch of cynicism which Gina found so disturbing. 'Jarvis will inherit Eldorado. Oh, yes, he will inherit it, have no doubt about that!'

  There was something indescribably odd in her godmother's tone of voice, and for the first time in her life Gina felt uneasy beneath the intense scrutiny of those grey eyes. The clock on the mantlepiece chimed musically, alerting Gina to the fact that it was nine o'clock and long past the time when she should have left.

  'Good heavens, look at the time!' she exclaimed, swallowing her last mouthful of tea. 'I'm leaving early in the morning for the farm, and I still have hordes of things to do before I go to bed tonight.'

  'I shall look forward to Friday next week,' Evelyn smiled when Gina rose to kiss her wrinkled cheek. 'And give my regards to your family.'

  Gina let herself out of the house. It was a dark February night, but that summer warmth was still lingering in the air as she slid behind the wheel of her blue Alfa and inserted the key in the ignition. She drove away from Eldorado, the twin beams of her car headlights slicing through the darkness down the circular drive. She left Houghton behind her and headed towards the centre of the city, but her mind was not focused entirely on what she was doing, or where she was going. Her conversation with Aunt Evelyn had left her feeling disturbed and decidedly anxious. She had known that her godmother suffered from angina, but she had never imagined that it could be this serious. It was a disquieting thought trying to imagine life without Aunt Evelyn. Ever since Gina's mother had died ten years ago, Evelyn had been there for Gina to talk to, to share her secrets with, and to weep on her shoulder occasionally about something that her father and her brother would not understand. Her death was something Gina did not want to think about, but it gnawed away at her until she arrived at her one-bedroomed flat in Hillbrow.

  She packed a bag for the weekend, bathed, and got into bed. There was a stack of ironing to be done, but it would simply have to wait. If she wanted to leave early the following morning for her father's farm near Heidelberg, then she would have to have an early night.

  But when she put out the light she could not fall asleep. She lay there in the darkness thinking about the conversation she had had with Aunt Evelyn, and the revealing information about her godmother's separation from her husband. I'm aware that Jarvis has never forgiven me—her godmother's remark leapt into her mind, and it left her wondering. Why had Aunt Evelyn chosen this particular evening to tell her about it? Why tell her at all?

  Jarvis Cain. His strong features came unbidden on to the screen of her mind and she could not erase them. In recent years she had often seen his photograph in the daily newspapers, and always with a different woman clinging to his arm, but, as her godmother had pointed out, during the past months there had been only one woman—Lilian Ulrich!

  Gina tried to shut her mind to these thoughts, but failed. Jarvis Cain had been nothing but a name to her until five years ago. His visits to the farm had never coincided with her school holidays, but on one particular Sunday, shortly after her sixteenth birthday, she had been sitting up in a tree, eating an apple, when her brother Clifford had shouted: 'Hey, George! Come down and meet Jarvis!'

  She had looked down into smoke-grey, mocking eyes and, totally disconcerted, had lost her balance on the branch where she was perched. Jarvis had moved with a commendable agility. He had caught her smartly, his arms cushioning her fall, making her aware of the whipcord strength of his body, and Gina had fled the moment he set her free. Her embarrassment was something she had never forgotten, and neither had she forgotten his mocking laughter. It had followed her all the way to the stables where she had hidden until long after he left.

  Whether by accident or design, she had seen him frequently after the incident. His charm, his brilliant mind, and his cynical attitude towards life made a fascinating combination to Gina at the age of sixteen, but, as a man of thirty, it was only natural that he had scarcely noticed her, and neither… thank God… had he noticed that she had developed an over-sized crush on him. For three years he had been her hero, the man of her dreams, but she had come to her senses at the age of nineteen realising that it was not worth her while bothering about a man who could pick up and discard women as easily as he did his clothing.

  That was two years ago, and during this time she had avoided him as rigidly as she had tried to put him out of her mind, but she failed to do the latter on this occasion, and it was some time before she finally went to sleep.

  The weekend at the farm might have helped Gina relax, but it did nothing to lessen her anxiety, and during the ensuing weeks she witnessed a deterioration in her godmother's health that filled her with a growing alarm. Evelyn never mentioned her health again, it was as if that discussion had never occurred between them, but her death, two months later, still came as a shock to Gina even though she had expected it.

  It was her godmother's personal maid who telephoned Gina early the Wednesday morning to inform her that Evelyn had died quietly in her sleep. Gina had been almost too distraught afterwards to speak when she had telephoned home to give her family the
news. The funeral was arranged for the Friday, and Gina took the afternoon off work to attend it. Clifford and his wife, Susan, could not come to Johannesburg for the funeral since Susan was expecting to go into hospital at any moment for the birth of their first child, but Gina's father arrived at her fiat just before two that afternoon to accompany her.

  Gina was pale but composed when she stood beside her father at the graveside. Facing them across the flower-decked coffin was Jarvis Cain, his tall, lean body clad in a dark grey suit which had been tailored to perfection to emphasise the width of his shoulders and the leanness of his hips. His tanned, perfectly chiselled features were set in those familiar lines of severity which had always filled her with awe, and the nervous leaping of her pulses was a startling indication that he still had the power to disturb her emotionally.

  The shock of this discovery made her tremble, but she pulled herself together the next instant to hear the old priest saying: 'Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear sister here departed, we therefore commit her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.'

  Gina felt the steadying grip of her father's calloused hand beneath her elbow when she started to shake with suppressed tears, and when she finally raised her tear-filled glance it collided with Jarvis Cain's across the open grave. There was instant recognition in his steel-grey eyes, and there was something else that she could not define which disturbed her so much that she averted her eyes hastily.

  Friends and family were beginning to disperse from around the graveside, and Gina and her father followed suit, but their departure was delayed by none other than Jarvis Cain.