Late Harvest

by Yvonne Whittal

  Kate swallowed down the lump in her throat, and nodded. 'I appreciate your interest and your concern, Gavin, and I shall remember your offer of assistance.'

  'Shall we order?' he asked when the waiter appeared beside their table with the menu.

  'Yes, please,' she smiled, aware of that uncomfortable hollow at the pit of her stomach. 'I am rather hungry.'

  Gavin did not mention marriage, nor Solitaire again, but he did speak often of starting his own computer firm if he could acquire a partner who would be willing to buy himself into the business. Computers were the thing these days, Gavin had explained enthusiastically, and if Kate had had more than just her allowance, she would have considered going into partnership with him, but under the circumstances it was impossible, so she remained no more than an avid listener to his plans.

  As the days lengthened into weeks Kate's life seemed to follow a certain pattern. She worked hard during the day, and most evenings she dined with Gavin, or went out to a show with him. Her weekends, too, were spent with Gavin, and they would go for long drives into the picturesque countryside to enjoy a picnic somewhere. Occasionally they spent the day at Solitaire, swimming, or having a game of tennis, but Kate preferred not to remain where she could run into Rhyno at any moment to have her memory jolted back to the things she wanted to forget.

  Aunt Edwina disapproved of Kate's behaviour, and made no secret of the fact, but for the first time in Kate's life she paid no heed to her aunt's reprimands. Gavin was an entertaining companion, and when she was with him she somehow managed to shake off her disturbing thoughts.

  Gavin drove her home one evening after they had been out to dinner and a show, and when he parked his car in Solitaire's circular driveway, she turned in her seat to face him.

  'I won't ask you in, Gavin,' she said softly. 'It's late, and I'm rather tired.'

  'I'll see you tomorrow evening, then,' he replied, drawing her into his arms and kissing her lingeringly on the mouth.

  His lips were passionate as always, and tiredness made her respond with more warmth than she had intended. Gavin was instantly aware of this, and he drew her closer into his embrace, but when his hand came to rest against the side of her breast she hastily extricated herself from his arms and, fumbling for the handle of the door in the darkness, she murmured a quick 'goodnight'.

  Gavin did not attempt to stop her from leaving the car, and when she ran lightly up the steps she heard him drive away.

  Solitaire's Gothic gables stood etched against the starry sky, and there was not a light on in the house as Kate quickened her step to reach the heavy oak door. The scent of honeysuckle mingled with that of the roses and gardenias, but when she inserted the key in the latch her sensitive nose detected the pungent and familiar aroma of tobacco in the night air, and she did not need to be told who was emerging from the shadows of the tall hibiscus.

  'What are you doing here?' she asked sharply, her eyes straining in the darkness to see Rhyno clearly.

  'I had dinner with your aunt and stayed on to keep her company, but when she went to bed I decided to hang around until you returned home.'

  'Don't tell me you've decided to install yourself as a guard dog now,' she laughed sarcastically when he stood directly in front of her.

  'Do you think it's wise to stay out this late every evening when you have to be up at dawn the next morning?' he asked tersely, ignoring her remark.

  'I've always been an early riser no matter what hours I keep.'

  'I accept that,' he replied blandly, 'but then you haven't always had to put in a hard day's work after a heavy date the night before, have you.'

  Kate stiffened with resentment. 'If you've expected me to be slack on the job, then I'm sorry I've disappointed you.'

  'It's not your slackness on the job that troubles me, it's your health,' he contradicted harshly. 'You can't burn the candle at both ends, Kate, and that's what you've been doing these past three weeks.'

  'Don't concern yourself,' she snapped up at him, the moonlight glinting in her angry eyes. 'I know what I'm doing.'

  'Do you?' he queried with a mixture of condescension and mockery in his voice that infuriated her more.

  'I don't interfere in your life, Rhyno van der Bijl, so don't interfere in mine!'

  That would have been a perfect exit line, but when she would have turned away his hands shot out and gripped her shoulders firmly.

  'Time is running out,' he reminded her bluntly, 'and we have to come to some sort of decision about the future.'

  'To hell with the future!' she spat out the words fiercely, and when his hands tightened on her shoulders she bit back a cry of pain.

  'That's not you talking, Kate,' he said harshly. 'You love Solitaire too much to turn your back on it and say to hell with it.'

  'Take your hands off me!'

  To her surprise he removed his hands, but he did not move away from her, but stood there towering over her in the darkness, dominating her with his height and the breadth of his shoulders.

  'Stay home tomorrow evening so that we can discuss what's to be done,' he suggested, but Kate flung back her head and stared up into his shadowed face defiantly.

  'I'm going out tomorrow evening, and the evening after that, and I shan't be home the weekend either. I'm going to Cape Town with Gavin to spend a few days with some friends of his.'

  'You're not being fair, Kate,' Rhyno accused. 'You're not being fair to your aunt, you're not being fair to me, but most of all you're not being fair to Solitaire.'

  'Solitaire!' she repeated cynically, her hands clutching her evening purse so tightly that her fingers ached. 'It's not Solitaire you're concerned about, Rhyno, it's La Reine. You just can't wait to get your greedy hands on La Reine, but the only way you can get it is through me, and I'm damned if I'll be used as your stepping stone!'

  She heard him draw a sharp breath, and the ensuing silence was suddenly dangerously explosive. She had perhaps gone too far, but she was beyond caring at that moment. He could do as he pleased, but nothing would induce her to change her mind.

  'We'll discuss this matter again when you're in a more sensible frame of mind,' he said at length with a coldness in his voice which would have chilled her had she not been in such a red-hot fury.

  'Not if I can help it!' she bit out the words, but he had already turned on his heel and was striding away to become one with the shadows.

  Alone in her room, when her anger had subsided, Kate experienced a twinge of shame, but that made no difference to how she felt about the whole miserable business. She was well aware that there was only a week left in which to decide what to do, but she dared not think about it. Working on Solitaire during the past weeks had, however, taught her one thing, and that was that she loved it too much to let it go. The solution was simple; all she had to do was marry Rhyno and stay married to him for a year, but the thought of becoming his wife sent a shiver of distaste up her spine.

  The whole thing was ridiculous from start to finish, she told herself. It was like those games she had played as a child when one had to pay a forfeit for some reason or other. In this instance marrying Rhyno was the forfeit, and the prize attached to it was Solitaire.

  Solitaire; her love and her life from those days when she had sat on her father's broad shoulders as he walked through the vineyards, pointing out the different cultivars, and explaining the intricate process of winemaking even though she had been too young at the time to grasp it all.

  She could not let Solitaire go, but she would not give in to her father's atrocious demands without a struggle.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The clock on the mantelshelf chimed seven-thirty. Gavin was late, Kate thought anxiously as she watched Aunt Edwina's knitting needles flashing in the light of the reading lamp. If Gavin did not arrive soon they would miss part of the show they were going to see, and nothing annoyed her more than arriving late and having to find her way about in the semi-darkness while people objected loudly to having their view obstruc
ted.

  A car approached the house, but Kate knew the sound of Rhyno's old Citroën too well to mistake it for Gavin's gleaming Peugeot, and her insides quivered with apprehension.

  'I wonder what Rhyno wants?' Kate asked when her aunt looked up from her knitting, but Edwina merely shrugged slightly and continued knitting until the end of that row.

  A car door slammed, and moments later Rhyno was entering the house as though he owned it, his footsteps muted on the carpeted floor of the entrance hall as he crossed it and approached the living-room.

  'Good evening, Aunt Edwina… Kate,' he nodded in her direction as he entered the room, and for some obscure reason her pulses behaved oddly as she sensed the whipcord strength of his lean body.

  Aunt Edwina muttered something that escaped Kate at that moment and, gathering up her knitting, she walked out of the living-room, leaving Kate and Rhyno alone.

  His white, short-sleeved shirt stretched tightly across his wide shoulders, and a broad leather belt hugged his brown pants to his slim hips, but Kate's glance was drawn irrevocably to those compelling eyes beneath straight dark brows.

  'If you've come to discuss something with me, then you're wasting your time. I'm expecting Gavin at any moment,' she broke the prolonged silence in the room.

  'Gavin won't be coming this evening,' Rhyno informed her, taking a packet of cigarettes out of the top pocket of his shirt, and lighting one as he stepped farther into the room. 'I took the liberty of letting him know that you couldn't make it.'

  Anger choked her as she rose from her chair, and her silk wrap fell unnoticed to the floor as she faced Rhyno across the space dividing them. 'How dare you do such a thing, you—you—'

  'Calling me names isn't going to solve anything, Kate,' he interrupted smoothly, his narrowed eyes on her face as he drew hard on his cigarette.

  'I hate you!'

  'I'm sure you do,' he replied with that infuriating calmness as he bent to pick up her wrap, 'but you know as well as I do that you have a responsibility towards everything your father has achieved here on Solitaire, and no matter how much you hate me, you're going to have to face it.'

  'You really want La Reine badly, don't you?' she spat out the words as she snatched her wrap from his fingers and flung it on to the chair behind her. 'I dare say you've spent the past eighteen months ingratiating yourself with my father in the hope that he would leave La Reine to you, and you succeeded, didn't you, but, like myself, you never bargained for the conditions attached to this inheritance.'

  Rhyno's glance did not falter and, except for a slight tightening of his mouth, his expression remained the same. 'All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work on the farm which was my birthplace. Inheriting La Reine never entered into my plans, but now that it has I'm determined that it shan't fall into strange hands, and if it would make you happy, then I shall pay you for it some day when I'm in a position to do so.'

  The fire ebbed from Kate's eyes, and she turned away from him abruptly to hide her shame. She felt mean and petty, and disgusted with herself. None of what she had said was true. She had intended to hurt him, but she had succeeded only in shaming herself.

  'I don't want to marry you,' she said in a relatively calm voice while she kept her back turned rigidly towards him.

  'Do you think I enjoy the thought of being forced into marriage?'

  She shook her head and sighed. 'No, I don't suppose you do.'

  'Then we at least agree on something.'

  'Oh, it's all so grossly unfair!' she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with renewed fury and frustration as she swung round to face him again, and with her arms wrapped almost protectively about herself she paced the floor very much like a caged animal.

  Rhyno watched her for a moment while he smoked his cigarette in silence, then he lowered himself into a chair and said mockingly, 'You won't achieve anything by wearing out the carpet in that way.'

  'All right,' she snapped, pausing in her stride to face him. 'If you're so clever then let's have a few suggestions.'

  'Before I make any suggestions there are a few facts I'd like to establish.' Twin jets of smoke came from his nostrils, making him look like the devil himself, then he crushed his cigarette into the ashtray and stretched his long legs out before him. 'You asked me how badly I want La Reine, and I've told you, but now I'm asking you—how badly do you want Solitaire?'

  Kate stared at him from across the room, her small, rounded chin set with determination, and her generous mouth tightening. 'I'd rather die than let it eventually go to strangers.'

  'Right!' He motioned her into her chair, and she obeyed like someone without a will of her own. 'Now we're at last on an equal footing. You want Solitaire, and I want La Reine.'

  'Clever!' she bit out the word sarcastically. 'That still leaves us with marriage as the only way out.'

  'Substitute the words "business arrangement" for "marriage", and you might find the idea more palatable.'

  Kate's hands gripped the arms of her chair. 'A business arrangement?'

  'Yes,' he nodded, a faint smile curving his hard mouth. 'What it amounts to is a legal arrangement which will be binding for a year. When that year is up we have the arrangement declared null and void, and we part company, but this time you'll have what you want, and the same will apply for myself.'

  'When you say it like that it sounds so simple, doesn't it?' she laughed shortly.

  'It is very simple and straightforward.'

  She gestured impatiently. 'No matter how much you camouflage it, it still means marriage, and marriage to you means making a pretence of living together for the stipulated period.'

  'Isn't Solitaire worth the sacrifice?'

  'Damn you, Rhyno, of course it is, but—' She was on her feet again, pacing the floor as if her life depended on it. 'I shall have to think it over.'

  'You haven't much time for that,' he reminded her coldly. 'We have less than a week.'

  'I'll give you my answer after the weekend.'

  'I'm afraid that's not good enough,' Rhyno replied abruptly, and her eyes flew to his as he got to his feet.

  'What do you mean that's not good enough?' she demanded with a suffocating tightness in her chest.

  'Don't play games, Kate,' he admonished her harshly. 'I've given you ample opportunity to meet me half way, but you've remained stubborn. You know as well as I do that there's only one way out of this situation, so there's no point in spinning it out until the very last minute.'

  She eyed him suspiciously. 'You sound as if you have everything arranged and waiting solely for my signature.'

  'As a matter of fact, I have,' he confirmed blandly. 'We have a harvest in progress on the estate, and neither of us can afford to waste time during the week for the necessary ceremony, so I've made arrangements for us to be married on Saturday morning.'

  'Well, you'll just have to cancel the arrangements, won't you?' she said icily, shaking inwardly with anger.

  'I'll cancel nothing!' he barked at her, his tight-lipped expression ominous as he breached the gap between them to tower over her. 'You marry me Saturday morning or you lose Solitaire, and that's final!'

  A cold hand gripped her heart, but her smile was cynical as she stared up into his dark, thunderous eyes. 'Don't forget it would also mean that you would lose La Reine.'

  'I'd rather lose La Reine than sacrifice myself on the altar of a woman's whims.'

  She winced inwardly and that coldness spread from her heart through into her veins. She knew him well enough to know that he had meant every word he had said, and the situation was suddenly humiliatingly clear. She was the one who was desperate, but not for anything in the world would she let him see this.

  'It seems as though I don't have much of a choice,' she finally broke the strained silence.

  'You've never had a choice, Kate, and neither have I,' Rhyno stated with such bitterness in his voice that she experienced the oddest desire to reach out and comfort him, but she suppressed it instantly when he cont
inued speaking. 'Your father knew what he was doing when he drew up that will. He knew how much these farms meant to us, but heaven only knows what he hoped to achieve by adding those impossible stipulations.'

  'If he had some crazy idea that we would eventually decide to continue with our marriage, then he was mistaken,' she almost spat out the words with renewed anger. 'I don't intend to stay married to you a day longer than is absolutely necessary.'

  'Those are my sentiments exactly.'

  His cold, clipped voice seemed to drain the breath from her lungs, and she turned away from him as she said dully, 'Then I'm sure we understand each other perfectly.'

  'Perfectly,' he echoed abruptly.

  Kate took a deep breath to steady herself before she turned to face him. 'Was there anything else you wished to discuss with me?'

  'There is one other matter,' he nodded, lighting another cigarette and taking his time about it. 'What have you told your boy-friend?'

  Her back stiffened involuntarily. 'I've told Gavin nothing.'

  'You'll be seeing him tomorrow evening, and I would like to suggest that you keep it that way when you tell him that you're going to marry me.'

  'Oh, I'm going to be allowed to see him again, am I?' she asked sarcastically.

  'For the last time, yes,' Rhyno nodded abruptly. 'I intend that our marriage should appear to be a real one, except of course to those immediately involved, such as Hubert Walton, my mother, and your aunt.'

  She stared at him aghast. 'You mean we're going to have to put on a show of affection in public?'

  'I shan't expect you to walk around looking starry-eyed and lovesick,' he replied, his mouth twisting cynically, 'but I shall expect of you a certain civility which will give the impression that our marriage was entered into for the usual reasons.'

  Her eyes, cold like chips of ice, met his. 'Was there anything else?'

  'Yes,' he said abruptly, blowing a stream of smoke towards the ceiling. 'When you see Gavin tomorrow evening, you will say what you have to say, then you will see to it that he brings you home at a reasonable hour.'