To Tame a Vixen

by Anne Hampson

  Her uncle looked directly at her.

  ‘You’re going to ask him to wait?’

  ‘Yes, of course I am.’

  ‘And if at the end of the year you feel the same about him you’ll be willing to forfeit your share?’

  ‘Yes, Uncle, I will.’

  ‘I rather think, my child, that this David of yours won’t be so interested in you without the fortune he expects you to receive.’

  Beth looked at him, only now realising just how clever he was. He had doubted his success in this plan he had devised for the safeguarding of his money, but Beth could not see any real snags that might come in the way of total success, since both David and Dick would—according to Uncle Jack—throw the girls over if they decided to accept disinheritance. She thought about her own position and felt that Kevin would feel just the same. He knew

  that she had great expectations, simply because he had met Uncle Jack last time he was over and in the course of conversation between Beth and her cousins he had learned of the old man’s wealth and of the fact that he intended leaving everything to his three nieces.

  Well, Beth was willing to test the strength of Kevin’s feelings for her. She liked him a lot but was no fool. If she should marry him, and inherit a fortune, then she had no doubts at all that Kevin would squander most of it. He could change, though, with her guidance. This was what she had been trying to do—change his way of life, but now she was more concerned with pleasing her uncle. He had been so very kind to them always, paying their fares over to South Africa every year when they were small, and later, when they had jobs and they were absorbed in making lives of their own, he had not minded too much if they had put off a visit. It was two years since their last one, but they had been due to go this year, in August. However, their uncle had devised this plan and he expected them all to co-operate. Jo and Beth were agreeable, but Carole seemed to have an obstinate light in her eye.

  However, she agreed to talk it over with her fiancé, which she did, and the result was that the three girls went off for a year to South Africa, to take over the management of their uncle’s farm.

  ‘I still can’t quite see what Uncle Jack hopes to prove,’ Carole was saying on the day they arrived at Jacana Lodge. ‘It’s just struck me that none of us has anything to gain.’

  ‘It’s his idea of making us forget our men,’ said Jo.

  ‘Personally, I think it’s going to be a good test for them and for us. If we find at the end of the year that we’re still in love, then we’ll let the fortune go hang. If we don’t find we still love them then we’ve escaped the sort of marriage that Uncle was worried about—one that would end in divorce and the consequent claim of our husbands on Uncle’s fortune.’

  ‘Uncle just wants to separate us from three men whom he dislikes,’ submitted Beth. ‘Don’t forget that Uncle Jack, unlike his neighbour, Chad Barret, worked for all this—’ Beth spread a hand to indicate the thousands of citrus trees that spread as far as the eye could see to the north and east of the homestead. ‘It’s only natural that he doesn’t want his money to go to people he can’t take to.’

  ‘I don’t know why he can’t take to my Dick,’ said Carole petulantly.

  Beth said nothing; she had never cared much for Carol’s fiancé but of course she had never allowed her dislike to show in any way at all. She thought that Jo’s David was nice but uninteresting. As for Kevin—well, he too was nice, and he was kind, but there was no real manliness about him. Beth had known from the first that she would always be able to get her own way with him. This thought led through some devious paths to their neighbour, Chad Barret. They had not seen him yet, but their uncle had said that he would be over some time on the day of their arrival. He had been told of Uncle Jack’s plan, and had promised his friend that he would keep an eye on the girls. Beth hadn’t been too pleased about this, but had been forced to agree with her two cousins that it was useful to have a good neighbour, especially as they were taking on the management of such a large estate. Not that there were expected to be any real hazards, as the foreman, and indeed all the workers on the estate, were fully trustworthy. If they had not been, Uncle Jack had said, he’d never have dreamed of passing it all over to the girls.

  It was evening before Chad Barret put in an appearance. He rode over on a beautiful chestnut gelding; Beth saw him following the dry river bed that formed the boundary between the two estates. She had the urge to remove herself from the stoep where she was sitting, waiting for Jo and Carole to join her for a sundowner. But she remained where she was, mainly because she knew he had seen her and she would look silly if she ran away.

  She watched him come on to the forecourt, dismount and, after throwing the bridle over a convenient post, take the steps two at a time. The action seemed to stir her temper; she felt it rise within her. Pompous creature! Why couldn’t he come up without showing off like that? He always had had too big an opinion of himself, she thought, even while grudgingly having to admit that he had just about everything any man could have by way of looks, physique and health. Even his teeth had to be perfect! But he needn’t smile at her! She would be civil and that was about ill. She only hoped and prayed that nothing would go so wrong that his help would have to be sought.

  ‘Good evening, Beth.’ He stood for a moment looking down at her, his alert blue eyes all perceptive. He knew she still held on to her resentment of him, still experienced some slight embarrassment whenever she came face to face with him. She glanced up to notice that his brown hair not only was bleached at the front but had gained a few sprinklings of grey in the last two years. He was getting old, she thought, with a kind of spiteful satisfaction. Soon he would be in the crusty old bachelor class—unless he married this girl with the heart of stone. She said stiffly, in response to his greeting,

  ‘Good evening, Chad. Uncle said you’d be coming over.’

  The blue eyes twinkled.

  ‘I expect you assured him that I’d be very welcome.’ Without being asked he sat down after drawing out one of the rattan chairs that were tucked under the table. He did it with his foot, a slick action which brought the chair to where he wanted it. Beth tightened her mouth, again silently calling him pompous. A show-off!

  ‘I see you’re ready to be sarcastic with me again,’ she said, adding with emphasis, ‘as usual!’

  He laughed, flashing those perfect white teeth against a tawny skin.

  ‘Still sore about that hiding I gave you, eh—not physically of course, but within that small and peevish mind of yours you’re harbouring animosity still.’ He paused and flicked his eyes over her. ‘I ought to give you another,’ he said casually, ‘ought to have done it two years ago when you adopted this same attitude.’

  She coloured, as he meant her to. She drew a long breath, wondering how much she could stand. Her visit of two years ago had been for a fortnight only, as that was all the holidays she had to come, but now—There would not be the same chance of evading him, of keeping out of his way, not now that she was here for a full year. Ought she to snub him once and for all? She dared not, on account of upsetting her uncle. He thought a lot about Chad, who had done him some small services now and then. Uncle always maintained he had saved his life, by having serum handy when Uncle was bitten by a snake. Beth rather thought that the snakebite wasn’t all that serious, because the men got bites often and never seemed to come to any harm.

  ‘If you came to say hello to Jo and Carole then you’ll have to wait a while. They’ve both washed their hair and it’s drying.’

  ‘On their first day?’

  She nodded.

  ‘The dust blew into the car that brought us from the airport. I had a scarf round my head.’

  Chad stretched his legs out in front of him. She eyed his clothes, not at all struck by the tight denims or the checked shirt. Brown didn’t suit him anyway. He should know that he oughtn’t to wear a shirt that was the same colour as his hair.

  ‘Well, are you satisfied?’ The lazy
voice she knew so well was edged with satire. He hadn’t changed one bit!

  ‘Satisfied?’ She lifted her eyebrows in a gesture that was meant to be arrogant, but to her vexation it seemed only to provide him with something to smile about. ‘What exactly do you mean?’

  ‘The examination. My pants and shirt. Perhaps you’d like to see what I wear underneath?’

  She flushed, and clenched her fists. She had known there’d be friction, but hadn’t expected it to be quite like this, especially on the very first day.

  ‘You’re determined to be unfriendly, that’s for sure!’

  ‘And you?’ he murmured in a very soft voice. ‘Aren’t you determined to be unfriendly?’

  ‘I treat others as they treat me!’

  ‘How childish. Yes, you are a child, Beth, and I have a feeling that it won’t be long before I treat you like one again.’

  ‘Just you dare to lay a finger on me and I’ll have you charged with assault!’

  The blue eyes became glacial.

  ‘If you did, Beth, you’d rue it for at least a week.’ So quiet the voice, but dangerous as the sparkle that lit his eyes. She saw that his mouth was taut, his jaw flexed. ‘I’d take a whip to you, and I’d not heed your screams.’

  Her whole body quivered with the fury that his words had ignited. Nevertheless, she suddenly decided that cold hauteur would serve her best and she tried to inject this into her voice when she said,

  ‘Shall we change the subject?’

  ‘And introduce a more friendly one? Tell me, how are you feeling about this little plan of your uncle’s?’

  ‘We’re resigned,’ replied Beth non-committally. Her gaze was far away, where the mountains were aflame with all the colours of an African sunset. Orange and flame mingled with gentler saffron and peach-toned pearl. Twilight was short, with colours becoming indistinct, yet there was a soft caressing veil of purple to blend with the encroaching afterglow of the sun’s final descent. The whole of the bushveld was ready for slumber; magic was there, in the scenery that faded before her eyes, leaving only nebulous shapes steeped in mystery, in the lazy colours which would soon be drenched in moonlight, in the exotic perfumes of a myriad flowers growing in the gardens of the homestead.

  ‘You’re all going to miss your boy-friends.’

  Beth looked across at Chad as his voice broke the silence.

  ‘We’ll survive,’ she returned shortly.

  He looked hard at her, eyes glinting. She had to smile to herself despite the anger that possessed her, for it was as plain as could be that he would love to do her an injury. There was something rather satisfying in being able to rile him, decided Beth. She would do it more often—at every opportunity that presented itself, in fact.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Dawn in all its glory flared across the sky. Beth stood at her bedroom window and stared out over the extensive private grounds of Jacana Lodge to where the distant kopjes stood draped in the gentle glow of first light. The atmosphere was soft as silk, the perfumes that filled it sweet and heady. Beth was happy and peacefully content. She seemed never to have considered marrying Kevin for all the thought she had given him these past few weeks. Jo too seemed not to be missing David, but Carole was not too settled. She had been restless for days after receiving a letter from Dick, and it would not have surprised Beth if she had suddenly made up her mind to return to England. However, the period of restlessness passed and eventually Carole was able to work again.

  Not that there was any real hard work for any of the girls to do. Beth’s main task was to keep the accounts, Jo’s to supervise what went on outside, while Carole was the domesticated one, an expert at running a house. She planned the meals, did the shopping, supervised the work done by Rikuya and his female counterpart. Chad came over about twice a week, and it was now plain to the girls that their uncle had asked him to watch carefully and not let them make any mistakes. His advice was not sought but he gave it nevertheless. Beth resented what she called his interference; Jo treated it with indifference but was charming to Chad. Carole seemed in some way to be attracted to Chad—always had been, Beth recalled, in spite of the fact that she was in love with someone else.

  Just what the attraction was Beth could never ascertain. For herself, the man’s attractions began and ended with his looks and physique; there was absolutely nothing else to recommend him. She and he had had one or two further slanging matches, and to her chagrin she seemed to have come off worst each time. He was so darned arrogant and sure of himself, so superior in his manner with her or, if he were not superior, he was treating her with a sort of bored amusement not unmixed with contempt. More and more she disliked him, and when at a dance at the Savanna Club she met Rosa Marshall she decided at once that the two were well and truly matched.

  The girl was tall and svelte and supercilious. She obviously considered herself to be far above the three cousins who had been sent by their uncle to spend a year on his farm. She adopted a condescending air that made Beth’s blood boil, caused Jo to be downright rude to her and Carole to lapse into a sort of morose silence.

  ‘What’s up with you?’ Jo had demanded of Carole.

  ‘That horrid girl! I feel like a worm, the way she looks at me. I don’t see why we have to come here and be treated like dirt!’

  ‘Give it back to her,’ advised Jo, her thin face red with temper. ‘I’ve just given her a nasty snub that she’ll not forget in a hurry!’

  Beth decided to treat the girl with icy indifference, and it afforded her a good deal of satisfaction when at last she was asked by Chad the reason for her attitude towards his girl-friend.

  ‘So she’s riled, is she?’ Beth’s expression was enough to bring that glint to her antagonist’s alert blue eyes.

  ‘You appear,’ he said coldly, ‘to be intent on making yourself objectionable both to me and to Rosa. Well, my girl, I advise you to be careful! Goad me too much and you’ll find yourself regretting it.’ ‘Thanks for the advice,’ she flashed, then went on to say that it would be ignored.

  ‘By God, you’re asking for it!’

  She laughed in his face.

  ‘It’s only natural that I’d want to get even with you, Chad Barret! You attacked—brutally attacked—a defenceless child, and so—’

  ‘I gave you a spanking you deserved, and in any case, woman, it was donkey’s years ago!’

  ‘I’m not that old!’ she retorted, stung by his words.

  ‘It was so long ago that you ought to have forgotten about it by now.’

  ‘Well, I haven’t and I never will!’ Beth and Chad

  were on the verandah of the Club, she having come out after a dance to get a breath of fresh air; Chad had followed, intent on finding out the reason for her treating his girl-friend so coldly. Chad had not asked Beth to dance and she hoped he would not do so. Last Saturday he had asked her twice, and she hated every minute of being so close to him. She hated his after-shave, detested the contact of his hand, the swing of his body which brought it too intimately close to hers.

  He was looking at her now with more exasperation than anger.

  ‘Need we be at loggerheads all the time like this?’ he asked. ‘The position worsens every time we meet. I fail to see why you should want to make an enemy of me, but it’s obvious that you do.’

  Beth found to her utter amazement that she disliked his talking to her in this way; it seemed that she alone was to blame ... and she was to blame. No use trying to deceive herself. He was accusing her, and rightly so.

  ‘I suppose we have carried things a bit too far,’ was all she was willing to say, and of course his brows lifted in that superior way, just as Beth had known they would.

  ‘We—’ he murmured, his eyes flicking over her

  contemptuously. ‘Wouldn’t give an inch, would you?’

  Beth had the grace to blush.

  ‘I think I’ll go back into the hall,’ she said, furious at feeling defeated.

  He looked down at her from h
is incredible height.

  ‘You’ll come and dance with me,’ he said imperiously, and before she realised his intention he had seized her arm and was propelling her none too gently into the dance hall. She was wild with anger but could scarcely make an exhibition of herself by struggling to get away.

  ‘I didn’t want to dance with you!’ she seethed.

  ‘Calm down, you little bitch, and enjoy the dance.’ He was, laughing with his eyes when she looked up at him, her own eyes fiercely glowering as the word bitch rang again and again in her ears.

  ‘You’ve trodden on my toe!’

  ‘No, my dear,’ he corrected calmly, ‘you missed a step and put your foot under mine. If you’d concentrate more on the dance and less on thinking up shrewish barbs to fire at me you’d not be making such a mess of your steps.’

  She missed another step, drew a deep breath and counted ten. That was better! Much as she would have loved to scratch out those mocking eyes of his she did have to remember that she was a lady, and also that she and her cousins were fairly well known to many of the people present at the Club.

  '‘Well,’ Chad was saying when the music had stopped, ‘we got along fine after the bad start. Let me take you to the buffet table—’

  ‘No, thank you; I prefer to go with Jo and Carole.’

  ‘As you wish.’ He left her and went to Rosa, who happened to be chatting to a small group of people whom Beth had never seen before. She later learned that they were a family on holiday, staying with Leslie and Dorothy Hawkes, who farmed the lands beyond Chad’s.

  Later, after refreshments, Chad surprised Beth by coming up to her again. She began to shake her head, but as before he had her by the arm and in seconds she was swung into his arms and on to the dance floor.

  ‘Good girl,’ he applauded. ‘No argument.’

  Beth looked up at him, two bright spots of colour in her cheeks, the only indication of what seethed within her.

  ‘I decided,’ she rejoined with acid sweetness, ‘to ignore your ill-bred, high-handed behaviour, to forgive you since you obviously don’t know any better.’