Jarvis was surprisingly gentle in his possession of her, as if he had known that she was still a virgin, but that initial stab of pain made her desire plummet briefly before it rose again to take on a new dimension. Her heart seemed to still in her breast, and it felt as if she could scarcely breathe while his hard, thrusting body initiated her into a world of new, piercingly sweet sensations. Her pleasure was intense, rising and swelling inside her like a wave in a storm-tossed ocean. She could not think, she could only feel, and she clung helplessly to Jarvis, her arms and legs locking about him while her body arched towards his and willed him never to stop. She was trapped in a vortex of the most exquisite sensations, which took control of her body, dictating her actions in the rhythm of love and intensifying her pleasure in the union of their bodies until she almost cried out with the need to be released from the aching, paradisiacal sweetness of it. His name passed her lips on a jerky sigh when, at last, that near intolerable tension snapped inside her, and she was caught up in a wave of the most ecstatic pleasure that left her tingling and trembling as it spread through her body until every vital part of her was satisfied. Jarvis groaned, shuddering as he sagged heavily on top of her, and then there was only their ragged breathing while their hearts raced in unison in the aftermath of a passion shared.
They were lying beside each other in the now darkened room, not touching each other while the glow of rapture faded and sanity returned to bring with it the stinging reality of her marriage. Hot tears filled her eyes, and they spilled silently from her cheeks on to her pillow. If she had made a sound, then she was not aware of it, but something alerted Jarvis to her distress, and he raised himself on one elbow to lean over her in the darkness which was broken only by the strip of moonlight filtering into the room through the slight gap between the curtains.
'Gina?'
His hand touched damp cheek, but she brushed it away angrily and rolled over to lie with her back towards him. 'For pity's sake, leave me alone!' she croaked.
'As you wish,' he said in a voice which had become so cold and impersonal that it sent a fresh stab of pain through her.
Her tears flowed faster, but this time she stifled the sound of her weeping in the pillow. She hated Jarvis! She hated him! But she hated herself as well. She had been a fool to believe in his sincerity, but she was an even greater fool for still wanting him.
Gina did not sleep very well. She spent most of the night listening to the waves beat against the rocks, and the sound of Jarvis's deep, even breathing. This should have been the happiest night of her life, but instead it had become a nightmare. How was she going to survive this year ahead of her while knowing that Jarvis had married her solely to inherit Eldorado? What would he expect of her when that period drew to a close? Would he tell her to go, or would he ask her to stay?
Her mind was beginning to reel with one frantic thought after the other, and she somehow suspected that the nightmare was only just beginning.
It was a hot, humid morning. The rocky stretch of beach was ideal for fishermen, but unsafe for swimming and the hotel pool beckoned almost like an oasis in the desert. Jarvis had gone down earlier to secure a place for them on the smooth lawn surrounding the tiled pool, and Gina was relieved to have these few moments alone to herself in their suite. This was the last day of their honeymoon. It had been two weeks of recrimination and self-disgust, and Jarvis had not spared her for a moment. He had mocked her, and he had baited her. He had driven her to a peak of blinding fury which she had not known before, but he had also revealed to her some of the many exciting facets of making love. Bitterness and resentment had at times made her fight him like a wildcat. She would scream abuse at him, but in the end she had always surrendered humiliatingly to that driving, passionate need he had aroused in her, and which would never cease to make her feel ashamed of herself.
She blushed and cringed inwardly merely at the thought of it when she put on her short, towelling robe over her bikini and pushed her feet into low-heeled sandals. The two weeks at the coast had been glorious in one way. The sun had deepened the colour of her skin to a creamy, golden tan which credited her with a healthy appearance despite the shadows which frequently lurked in her eyes.
It was not difficult to find Jarvis among the many hotel guests sunbathing on the green, well-kept lawn surrounding the pool area. He was lounging on a recliner close to the pool when Gina joined him, and she could not help noticing that his skin had tanned to a deep ochre. Her glance trailed freely over his muscular body in the snug-fitting bathing trunks, and her heart skipped several thudding beats at the mere pleasure of looking at him. An attractive blonde was roasting her oiled body in the sun a short distance from them and, despite Gina's presence, the blonde's admiring glance seemed to be drawn repeatedly towards Jarvis. You may look as much as you want, but he's mine! It was a proud and strangely possessive assertion that leapt unbidden into Gina's mind, but it was also a sobering one. Jarvis would never be hers. He belonged to himself, and perhaps also to Eldorado, but he would never belong to her!
'Give me that,' he instructed, sitting up to take the bottle of suntan lotion away from her, and pouring some of the sweet-smelling liquid into the palm of his hand.
He joined her on her recliner, seating himself behind her, and her body tensed when his fingers began to spread the protective lotion over her back. His touch was firm, almost therapeutic, and she felt her muscles relax slowly. She closed her eyes, finding joy in his ministrations, but his touch altered abruptly. The sensuality flowing unexpectedly from his fingers drew a lightning response from her that filled her with dismay, and her anger rose sharply.
'That's enough!' she snapped, turning to take the suntan lotion from him and twisting the cap on to the bottle.
'Stop hating yourself, Gina,' he mocked her, trailing his fingers in a morally destructive path down the hollow of her spine. 'It isn't a crime for a woman to want a man, and especially when that man happens to be her husband.'
'I wish you'd shut up!' she fumed in a lowered voice, jerking away from him. 'And don't touch me!'
'I'm afraid it's common knowledge that we're on our honeymoon,' he laughed softly, returning to his recliner, 'and I've warned you before that people would find it odd if we never touched each other in public.'
'Go to hell!'
'I think I'm beginning to like this wildcat side of your nature, Georgina.' He infuriated her with his unperturbed attitude. 'I happen to find you extremely attractive, and very desirable when you're bristling and hissing with anger and indignation.'
'Really?' she murmured sarcastically, adjusting the recliner and settling herself comfortably to relax in the sun.
'Do you suppose that when my mother wrote that clause into her will she might have known that I would find you irresistible?'
Her eyes were shooting darts of green fury when she turned her head to glare at him. 'She had no right to manipulate my life the way she did!'
'Our lives,' he corrected smoothly and somewhat cynically. 'My mother was a very headstrong woman, and she had the ability to make sure that she always got what she wanted. In that respect I am unfortunately very much like my mother.'
'I don't approve of what she did, but I can partly understand what had driven her to it.' It had taken almost two weeks to find a valid reason to forgive her godmother, but it might take an eternity to forgive Jarvis. 'Your mother desperately wanted to see you settled, and she was terribly afraid you might decide to marry someone whom she considered totally wrong for you.'
'Someone like Lilian Ulrich, perhaps?' he smiled derisively.
'Yes,' she confirmed in a whisper, the mention of that woman's name was enough to send a renewed shaft of pain through Gina, and Jarvis gestured disparagingly with his hand.
'There was never any danger of that. Lilian and I were quite content to play the game by the rules, and the rules excluded marriage.'
'That was something you should have told your mother,' Gina said accusingly, knowing in her heart th
at none of this would have happened if there had not been such a break in communication between Jarvis and Aunt Evelyn.
'Perhaps I should have,' Jarvis agreed mockingly, his eyes narrowed against the sun, 'but then I might never have made the effort to get to know you, and just think of all the excitement I would have missed out on.'
There was a painful ring of truth in his remark. He might not have made the effort to get to know her if it had not been for his mother's will, but she would have had so much less pain to endure if he had stayed out of her life altogether. Would there ever be an end to this agony she was going through? she wondered as she turned her head to glare at him once again.
'You're a callous, egotistical, and sadistic brute! You care only about the things you want in life, and it doesn't seem to bother you if anyone else gets hurt in the process!'
'Have I hurt you, Gina?' he asked blandly, but there was a blatant sensuality in the eyes that held hers. 'Have I hurt you at any time during these past two weeks?'
Her cheeks went hot with shame and anger. 'How typical of you to reduce everything we discuss to a physical level!'
'Isn't that what we've both been doing these past two weeks?' Jarvis struck back, and she drew a quick, strangled breath as if he had slapped her.
'Yes, damn you!' she shouted at him furiously, her knuckles whitening as she gripped the sides of her recliner to prevent herself from striking out at him physically. 'But a relationship is bound to peter out swiftly if it's based purely on a physical' attraction, and I find that thought consoling.'
Jarvis smiled noncommittally, and his silence seemed to infuriate her more than any words could have done.
She closed her eyes against the blinding sunlight and tried to relax, but her mind gave her no peace. Jarvis had stormed into her orderly life, he had shattered the defences she had erected so carefully, and all she was left with was the painful knowledge that he had tricked her into giving him her heart while his was still free.
Gina left him asleep on the recliner some time later and went into the pool to cool off. She had it entirely to herself for a few minutes, and she swam a few lengths before she got out to get dry.
She was putting on her towelling robe when Jarvis opened one eye lazily. 'Where do you think you're going?'
'I'm going up to our suite to shower and change before lunch,' she answered sarcastically as she pushed her feet into her sandals. 'Any objections?'
'I'll come with you,' he announced, sitting up and pulling his T-shirt on over his head.
'I don't need you to hold my hand while I'm showering.'
'Ah, but you might need me for something else,' he smiled mockingly, picking up his beach towel and slinging it across one broad shoulder as he accompanied her across the lawn.
Her face flamed, and a suitable rebuke escaped her in her fury as she marched on ahead of him into the air-conditioned hotel.
She could not look at him in the lift. Her heart was beating in her throat, and she prayed that his remark had been made purely in jest, but when they entered their suite she knew that she had not misunderstood that look in his eyes.
He reached for her when they walked into the bedroom. She tried to avoid his hands, but they were all over her. Her towelling robe fell to the floor, her bikini was peeled rather roughly off her sun-heated body, and her inability to get away from him made her beat against his chest with her clenched fists.
'Leave me alone, Jarvis!' she cried desperately. 'Take your hands off me!'
'If the physical attraction is going to peter out as swiftly as you said, then we'd better make the best of it while it lasts.' He flung her own words back at her, lifting her naked body effortlessly and carrying her towards the bed.
Her efforts to escape were futile. He needed only one hand to imprison her arms against the pillows above her head, and his heavy thigh pinned the rest of her body to the bed while he discarded his T-shirt and bathing trunks. Her breath was rasping in her throat, and her eyes shot green fire at him, but her body quivered in shameful response when he trailed a sensually arousing hand along her hips and thighs and up again to cup one of her breasts. She groaned helplessly when his fingers expertly teased the pink nipple into a hard button of desire, and she could not withhold that husky cry of pleasure when his mouth continued the erotic arousal his fingers had begun.
Jarvis raised his head when her struggles desisted, and his smouldering eyes followed the path of his hand as it trailed over the feminine contours of her body to set fire to her blood. His fingers stroked her gently, intimately, and aroused a sharp, swift response that made her hips arch towards his with an invitation that prompted him to crush her against his own shuddering and aroused body.
'God, Gina, you're so beautiful, and I can't seem to get enough of you!'
His voice was low and vibrant, like the throaty growl of an animal staking his claim on his mate. It frightened and excited her, and the last fragment of her fragile resistance fled when his mouth devoured hers with a savage hunger that drove every vestige of thought from her mind.
There was no escape from this violent onslaught on Gina's emotions. She was defeated and swamped with feelings she could not control, and their bodies fused together in a seemingly endless, pagan rhythm which left them both drained, but physically sated.
'You're everything a man could ever wish for and more,' Jarvis murmured throatily a considerable time later while he slid a possessive, caressing hand along her relaxed body.
Gina might have been physically sated, but her mind was filled with discontent as she rolled away from him and got up to put on her towelling robe. 'I may be everything a man like yourself could wish for, but that feeling will last only until you tire of me.'
'Will you tire of me, Gina?' he questioned her with that stinging mockery she knew so well, and she glanced at him over her shoulder, her lowered lashes veiling her pleasure at the sight of his magnificent and superbly fit body reclining in unashamed nakedness on the bed.
'Yes,' she answered coldly and untruthfully. 'I have no doubt I shall tire of you eventually.'
Bitterness, disappointment and anger had prompted those words, but deep down inside her there was a nagging voice that cried out the contrary. Jarvis smiled, his eyes gleaming with mockery as if he had looked into her soul and discovered the answer to something she stubbornly ignored, and she hated him all the more for his keen and uncanny perception.
'I'm going to take a shower,' she said icily, but helpless tears filled her eyes as she marched into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
Gina was wandering aimlessly through Eldorado's many rooms, switching on lights and switching them off again as she went. Jarvis had told her not to expect him home for dinner, he had an important meeting with a client, and he was going to be late. But she was restless and edgy on her own in that enormous house. She had always loved Eldorado. Its peace and tranquillity had always enfolded her like a warm blanket in winter, but now that was all gone. The rooms seemed cold and unfriendly, and she was beginning to hate it. Eldorado was the cause of her unhappiness. It stood between her and Jarvis like a secret lover, but Gina's feelings were far stronger than jealousy.
The past six weeks since their return from their honeymoon had been agonising for her. They had been to the farm twice, but the strain of having to be polite to Jarvis in front of her family had been intolerable, and she had refused to go again. Their only method of communication these days was through insults, mockery and sarcasm. It was as if they each kept a private score card to tally up their hits, and how often they could hurt each other. Life had become a battleground. She despised herself almost more than she despised Jarvis for what he had done to her, yet he had only to walk into the room and she would find herself aching for him.
It was despicable of her to want a man who did not love her. The torment of it nearly drove her out of her mind, and yet she could not help herself. The only time she felt truly alive was when he made love to her, and afterwards she would go
through a private hell of her own. Her soul was being ripped to shreds, and with each tear something died inside her.
She had no one she could talk to, and no one whom she could ask for advice. Norman Thorpe was the only friend she had had, but their friendship had disintegrated when the news of her engagement to Jarvis had leaked out. She had realised then that Norman's feelings for her had gone far deeper than she had imagined, and she had decided it would be kinder to stay out of his way.
To make matters worse, she had begun to suspect that Jarvis was seeing Lilian Ulrich again. If this was true, then it was all being done very discreetly. No one could point a finger at them, not even Gina, but Lilian had been at every function they had attended during the past weeks, and the evenings when Jarvis did not arrive home until after dinner were becoming more and more frequent.
Gina went to bed eventually and tried to read a book to take her mind off her problems, but she had difficulty in concentrating. Was Jarvis with a client, or was he with Lilian? She writhed inwardly as she twisted the knife in her own heart. Oh, God, why did she have to torment herself like this?
She tried to read again, but without much success, and she was staring blankly at the printed pages at ten-thirty that evening when she heard Jarvis's car come up the drive. Her fingers tightened on the book, and tension seemed to take a grip on her lungs which made it difficult to breathe normally.
Jarvis walked into their bedroom quietly some minutes later, and his eyebrows rose in mild surprise at finding her awake. He looked tired, she thought, compassion softening her features as she lowered her glance to the shirt he had unbuttoned at his throat, and the dark grey suit jacket draped casually over his arm. But she cringed inwardly at the mockery in the eyes that met hers a moment later when he crossed the room and flung his jacket carelessly on to the chair beside the window.
'I'm flattered that you waited up for me, but I'm afraid I shall have to disappoint you this evening,' he mocked her cruelly, his glance resting insolently on the agitated rise and fall of her breasts beneath the lacy bodice of her nightgown. 'I'm going to take a shower, and then I have an important brief to work on which should keep me busy for another hour or so.'
Eldorado Page 10
