Eldorado
Page 6
He turned on his heel and, removing the key to prevent her from locking herself in, he closed the door firmly behind him. Gina felt trapped, beaten, but the fight had not gone out of her yet. He had won this round, but she was determined that the next round would be hers.
She picked up the dress which Jarvis had flung across her bed, and recognition made her eyes widen in alarm. She had been in a crazy mood when she had bought it the previous summer, but she had never summoned up sufficient courage to wear it. She did not want to wear it now, but, taking Jarvis's present mood into consideration, she did not think it wise to emerge wearing anything other than the dress he had selected.
She studied herself in the mirror a few minutes later, and wished she could hide rather than walk out of that room to confront Jarvis. The silky folds of the material were held together on her shoulders with pearl-studded slips to leave her arms as well as a considerable amount of the rest of her anatomy bare. It dipped low in front, too low for comfort, and the back plunged down almost to her waist. The dress fitted snugly about her narrow waist, and her hands trembled when she nervously fingered the skirt which flared out in soft pleats from her hips. She was adding a touch of coral-pink to her lips when the bedroom door was opened abruptly, and her heart lurched wildly in her breast.
'Are you ready?' demanded Jarvis.
Gina took a deep, steadying breath before she turned and said coldly, 'It's customary to knock before you enter someone else's bedroom.'
Her reproving remark made not the slightest impression on Jarvis, and it was Gina who finally stood cringing inwardly beneath his gaze. He devoured her slowly with eyes in which hidden fires had been lit, and his glance lingered deliberately on the shadowy cleft between the soft swell of her breasts. She had the oddest sensation that he was mentally stripping away the silky material to touch her with his eyes, and her body responded in a way that heightened her alarm. Her breasts grew taut, the nipples thrusting against the soft, restraining material, and a fiery warmth surged into her cheeks when a slow, sensuous smile curved his mouth. Jarvis was not a fool, and neither was he blind. He was aware of the way she was reacting, and there was a ring of triumph in his soft, throaty laughter which made her hate him at that moment.
'You should wear something like this more often,' he said, his warm glance trailing over her once again with the same shattering results. 'You have a beautiful body, and you should be proud of it, but for some obscure reason you always take great care in hiding it.'
'When I want your opinion I'll ask for it and pay for it like everyone else,' she retorted icily, picking up her wrap and draping it about her shoulders as if it were a shield.
'My opinion I give freely, Georgina,' he answered smoothly. 'It's my advice I charge for.'
Gina flashed him an angry glance which was lost on him as he ushered her out of her flat and down to where he had parked his Jaguar. A wave of helplessness threatened to engulf her, but she would not surrender to it, and she maintained a stony silence in the car during the drive to the restaurant.
CHAPTER FOUR
The restaurants Gina had frequented in the past seemed shoddy in comparison with the elegance and extravagance of the decor at Vittorio's. Candlelit tables in pillared alcoves offered the diners seclusion and privacy, and part of the floor was clear for dancing to the music provided by the four-piece band on a dais in one corner of the restaurant. Vittorio himself welcomed them at the door, and the lean, dark-haired Italian bowed low over Gina's hand when Jarvis introduced them.
'I have your usual table prepared for you, Signor Cain,' Vittorio announced, leading the way, and their footsteps were muted on the thick pile of the wine-red carpet. 'What about a good bottle of wine while you study the menu?' the Italian suggested when they were seated.
'I'll leave the choice and vintage to you, Vittorio,' Jarvis agreed pleasantly.
'I have a very special Italian wine in the cellar, and this is a very special occasion, is it not?'
Gina was aware of the flattering appraisal of those dark Latin eyes when she had summoned up sufficient courage to remove her wrap and drape it across the back of her chair.
'It is a very special occasion,' Jarvis agreed, his eyes glittering with laughter in the candlelight.
Damn the man! He seemed to read her like a book, and it was disquieting to know that she could not hide her discomfiture from him.
'I will have the wine brought to your table at once,' Vittorio told Jarvis, and then they were alone.
The music was rhythmic and soothing, but Gina was incapable of relaxing while she made a pretence of studying the menu. Several couples had ventured on to the dance floor to sway in time to the foot-tapping beat, but her feet felt like lead beneath the table.
The wine waiter brought a bottle to their table. Jarvis nodded his approval after he had tasted it, and their glasses were filled with the rich red wine which had been cultivated in the vineyards of southern Italy. Gina took a sip to steady herself, and found it smooth and fragrant.
Vittorio came to enquire whether the wine was to their liking, and that flicker of curiosity in his eyes before he walked away made Gina glance at Jarvis with a faintly derisive smile curving her soft mouth. 'Vittorio must surely be more accustomed to seeing you here with Lilian Ulrich,' she remarked.
'Forget about Lilian!' Jarvis instructed, his jaw hardening. 'Tonight it's you and me, Gina, and I won't have anyone else intruding!'
'You shouldn't cast people aside like old garments the moment they're of no further use to you.'
'And you shouldn't look so beautiful when you're indignant and angry,' he countered, placing her at a disadvantage. 'What would you like to eat?'
Gina stared with unseeing eyes at the menu in her hands, and closed it decisively. 'I'm not very hungry.'
'If you're determined to be obstinate, Georgina, then I shall have to order for you.'
Jarvis, she discovered, was not a man to make idle threats, and he demonstrated this by beckoning the waiter and proceeding to order without consulting her again. Her resentment finally gave way to fear, and she knew she would have to tread carefully in future.
'Relax, my dear.' He smiled at her across the table when the waiter had left, and his glance lingered with a hint of insolence where the parting folds of her evening gown allowed him a tantalising glimpse of the curve of her breasts. 'You look delectable, but I'm not going to eat you.'
Gina felt a wave of heat surge into her cheeks, but her glance did not waver. 'Your charm is wasted on me, Jarvis,' she said coldly.
'You're playing hard to get, and I must warn you that I thrive on a chase.' His sensuous mouth curved with mockery, but his grey eyes glittered like chips of steel when he rose to his feet and held out his hand to her. 'Shall we dance?'
It was an invitation, but she had the strangest feeling it was primarily a command, and she was annoyed when she found herself obeying. Her hand was in his as he led her on to the floor, and Gina had dreaded this moment, but she could not avoid it. His arm went about her, his hand touching her bare back, and her body stiffened at the electrifying sensations that spiralled through her. Being this close to Jarvis seemed to throw the natural mechanism of her body into discord, and her steps faltered.
'For God's sake, relax, Gina!' he growled close to her ear, and she had to make a determined effort to do as she was told.
She focused her attention on the music, and tried to forget that it was Jarvis with whom she was dancing. The latter was quite impossible, but her steps matched his beneath his expert guidance, and her tension waned as her enjoyment increased. His arm tightened about her, bringing her body closer to his until his thighs brushed against hers, but she had lost the desire to object as a strange warmth erupted deep inside her to spread throughout her body, and with it came the unquestionable knowledge that this was where she had always known she belonged.
Such a feelin's comin' over me,
there is wonder in 'most everything I see…
A membe
The music ended soon afterwards, and Gina drifted slowly down from that blissful cloud when Jarvis led her back to their table with his arm still lingering about her waist.
'That wasn't so bad, was it?' he questioned her when they were seated facing each other across the table, and she shook her head.
'You dance very well.'
'I've had experience.'
There was a sensuality in his voice that gave a deeper meaning to his remark, and the corners of her mouth lifted in an involuntary smile. 'Yes, I'll bet you have!'
'Gina, I detect a naughty look in your eyes,' he teased, his glance meeting hers over the rim of his wine glass. 'Could it be that you're referring to sex, and not dancing?'
Her eyes sparkled with humour as she raised her glass to her lips, but she was not going to be provoked into answering that question.
'Have you moved into Eldorado?' She changed the subject.
'Not yet.' He smiled faintly as if he had probed her thoughts. 'For the moment I still prefer my flat in town.'
'Eldorado is not a house that should stand empty,' she voiced her opinion. 'It needs to be lived in.'
'It won't be standing empty,' he assured her with an odd smile curving his mouth. 'Not for long, anyway.'
The arrival of the waiter interrupted their conversation. Jarvis had ordered a seafood dish for himself, but for Gina he had chosen a small fillet steak with a spicy sauce, tiny potatoes, and a salad. Gina's appetite had been non-existent after their arrival at the restaurant, but suddenly she was ravenously hungry.
'It's been a pleasant evening so far.' Jarvis raised his glass when they were alone. 'Let's drink to the rest of it.'
Gina found herself agreeing with him. It had been pleasant, so why not drink to the rest of it? she thought, touching her glass to his before she raised it to her lips.
The dinner was superb, and when they had been served with a cup of aromatic coffee, Gina leaned back in her chair with a sense of well-being. It was at this point that she began to feel the after-effects of her sleepless night. Her body felt lethargic, and twice she had to stifle a yawn on the pretext of dabbing her lips with her table napkin.
They talked while they drank their coffee, and it was much later when Jarvis drew her again on to the dance floor. He held her close while they moved in time to the throbbing rhythm of the music, and Gina's blood began to pound through her veins with a rhythm of its own when his fingers trailed a path along the hollow of her spine. The sensations his touch aroused were wholly pleasurable and, coupled with tiredness, robbed her of the desire to resist. She relaxed against his hard body and her head went down on to his shoulder as if that was the most natural place for it to be.
Gina was drifting in a heaven of her own making, but when her steps faltered, he held her a little away from him and looked down into her sleepy eyes. 'I think it's time I took you home.'
'Yes, I am rather tired,' she admitted with a self-conscious laugh when he led her off the floor.
Jarvis placed her wrap about her shoulders, and his hands lingered there for a moment with a strange possessiveness before he escorted her out of the restaurant. The plush, comfortable interior of the Jaguar and the soft hum of its engine seemed to enfold her, and she was almost asleep when Jarvis pulled up at the well-lit entrance to the yellow-brick building in Hillbrow.
'Are you going out to the farm this weekend?' he questioned her in the lift which swept them up to the sixth floor.
'Yes, I am,' she answered him, wondering at the reason for his query.
'Then I dare say I shan't see you until Monday week.' He answered her unspoken query as the lift came to a halt and the doors slid open. They walked the short distance to her flat, and Jarvis took the key from her to unlock the door. 'Will you let me see you again?' he asked, following her inside.
Her mind warned against it. She was ill-equipped to cope with a man like Jarvis, and she was vulnerable. But somehow she heard herself saying, 'If you really want to.'
'I want to,' he smiled, faintly trailing his fingers along the curve of her cheek to her firm, rounded chin.
'Are you staying for a cup of coffee?'
What was she saying? It was late and she was exhausted, but for some obscure reason she did not want him to go.
'I'd like to accept your invitation, but you're wilting on your feet.' He smiled and touched his lips to hers in a warm, fleeting caress that quickened her pulse rate. 'Goodnight, Gina.'
'Jarvis…' Her voice was a husky whisper and he turned with his hand on the doorknob to observe her curiously. 'Thanks for a lovely evening,' she finished lamely.
An unfathomable expression flitted across his lean, deeply tanned face, and she was wondering what he must think of her when she found herself crushed against his hard body. Her head went back, her red-gold hair spilling across the dark sleeve of his dinner jacket, and her soft, pink lips parted in an unconscious invitation he did not ignore. His mouth swooped down on hers, taking what she had so unintentionally offered, and Gina was plunged into a crazy world of clamouring emotions she had not known she possessed. Her wrap and handbag had slid to the floor, and his fingers were trailing in a sensual caress along the sensitive hollow of her spine. She trembled and clung unashamedly to his shoulders while she lost herself in the sensations his touch was arousing. And then she was set aside firmly.
'Sweet dreams, George,' he smiled twistedly, brushing his knuckles lightly against her flushed cheek. Then he was gone, leaving her confused and bewildered by the stormy response he had awakened in her.
Her hands were shaking when she slid the safety chain into position, and she cursed softly when she bent down to pick up the wrap and handbag. What was happening to her, and why did she invite him to kiss her like that? She had a feeling that she knew the answer, but for some inexplicable reason she was afraid to probe too deeply.
It was during the course of the following morning that an enormous arrangement of pale pink roses was delivered to her office.
'This can't be for me!' Gina protested when it was placed on her desk.
'It most certainly is,' laughed Mitzi, detaching the small white envelope from the decorative white ribbon and passing it to Gina. 'Aren't you going to open it?' she prompted almost impatiently when Gina hesitated.
Gina nodded speechlessly, and lifted the flap to extract the small card. Her heart was thudding against her ribs when she stared at the words written in bold black letters, and she could almost feel the steely strength of the hand that had penned them.
Until Monday. JC.
'What does it say?' demanded Mitzi.
'You're much too inquisitive,' Gina admonished her with a teasing smile hovering about her mouth.
'They're from Jarvis Cain, aren't they?'
'Yes,' Gina admitted, and Mitzi pressed her hands to her breast while her eyes rolled towards the ceiling in a swooning attitude.
'Oh, how romantic!'
Gina could not curb her laughter. It bubbled past her lips and, dropping the card into her desk drawer, she got up to place the arrangement on the cabinet against the wall. The delicate fragrance of late autumn roses filled her nostrils, and she gently fingered the satiny petals. She had somehow never imagined Jarvis to be the type to send a woman flowers, but then there was so little she really knew about him.
Norman walked into their office later that morning, and his eyebrows rose in surprise when he noticed the roses. 'Do you have a secret admirer?' he enquired.
'I… not exactly.' Gina was annoyed with herself. Why on earth should she feel guilty? 'They're from Jarvis Cain.'
Her confession seemed to convey something to him, and an odd expression flitted across his face as he dropped a file on her desk and left the office without a word. Gina stared after him, not quite sure how she was to interpret his behaviour, but the ringing of the telephone interrupted her thoughts, and she brushed the matter aside.
Gina went home that weekend with the hope that she would be able to escape from the events of the past week, but she could not rid her mind of Jarvis. He seemed to haunt her like a ghost wherever she went until she was aware only of an increasing desire to be with him, and to talk to him. It angered her that she could feel like this, but she was incapable of doing anything about it.
Until Monday, Jarvis had written on that card accompanying the roses, and excitement mingled with impatience when she returned to Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon. 'This is ridiculous!' she tried to tell herself, but the feeling persisted and grew until her longing for him was like an ache deep inside her. She recognised the signs—she was on the verge of falling in love with him all over again, and her heart would not listen to logic.
Gina had left the farm rather late, and it was after six that evening when she arrived at her flat. She unpacked her suitcase, bathed and washed her hair, and changed into a long-sleeved floral dressing-gown that zipped up the front. She used the hand drier on her hair and brushed it vigorously before she went into the kitchen to make herself some coffee, but she had not completed that task when her doorbell rang.
'Jarvis!' she gasped moments later, her treacherous heart missing a suffocating beat before it went on the rampage, and she stared at his tall, imposing frame as if he were an apparition her mind had conjured up. 'Just a moment,' she said, pulling herself together.
She closed the door, slid back the safety chain, and opened the door again to let him in. The now familiar scent of his cologne stirred her senses when he stepped inside, and she closed the door hastily to shut out the cold April breeze that had wafted in with him.
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