‘It appears so,’ she told him, studying his profile unobtrusively and wondering irrationally why he had chosen to hide those attractive features beneath a frightful beard. ‘That’s why I’m going to see him. My signature is needed to complete the sale.’ Bernard nodded absently and Olivia concentrated on the scenery so far below her. They were leaving the bushveld behind them, and flying instead over irrigated lands, winding rivers and fertile valleys. The Cessna’s engine droned on almost monotonously as the sun rose higher in the cloudless sky, sending its warmth into the chilly cabin and relaxing Olivia’s tense body.
She listened attentively as Bernard pointed out several interesting landmarks, and she was surprised to discover that they had been flying for almost an’hour when he said: ‘If you look below us you’ll see Potgietersrus.’
Olivia stared at the picturesque town with its sub-tropical gardens and tree-lined streets. She had driven through it several times during the past months, but there seemed to be nothing familiar about it at that moment.
‘It looks different from up here, doesn’t it,’ she remarked tentatively, expecting to be mocked, but Bernard merely nodded his dark head.
‘Did you know that it was originally called Piet Potgie-tersrus?’ he asked with a suggestion of a smile curving his lips.
‘No,’ she admitted, ‘but I know it was named after Commandant-General Piet Potgieter.’
‘Clever girl,’ he grinned, his eyes crinkling slightly at the outer corners, and she wondered for a moment whether he was mocking her as usual.
‘They farm mostly with tobacco and groundnuts in this area, don’t they?’ she continued to question him as she stared down at the neatly fenced off lands below them.
‘That, as well as citrus, cotton and maize.’
They flew in silence for some minutes before she asked the question which had been hovering on her lips for some time. ‘Who’s taking Frances back to school this morning?’
His eyebrows rose slightly, and Olivia was just beginning to think that he would tell her to mind her own business when he said: ‘I took her back yesterday afternoon.’
‘I don’t suppose she was very pleased about that.’
‘No,’ he admitted, his lips twisting wryly, ‘but it’s not the first time I’ve had to take her in on a Sunday afternoon when I’ve flown to Johannesburg the following day.’
They lapsed into another lengthy silence, but Olivia finally witnessed something from the air which made her gasp involuntarily with delight. Pretoria lay stretched out below them, its streets lined with purple-flowering jacaranda trees which were the trademark of this beautiful city. On Meintjeskop to the left stood the Union Buildings, built in a modified Grecian style with pillared pavilions flanking a colonnaded semi-circular central structure with two domed towers, and below the building the terraced gardens stretched down as far as Church Street. Directly ahead, and slightly to the right, stood the colossal granite-structured Voortrekker Monument with the laager of ox wagons circling it.
‘We’re almost at our destination,’ Bernard remarked moments before requesting permission to land from air control, and a few minutes later they touched down at the Halfway House Grand Central Airport.
Bernard unfastened Olivia’s seat-belt and helped her alight before he ushered her across the tarmac towards the dark blue Mercedes he had hired for the day.
‘It’s just after eight,’ he said as he climbed into the car beside her and flicked back the cuff of his jacket to glance at the gold watch fastened to his strong wrist. ‘What time do you have to be at Mr. Roberts’ office?’
‘No specific time,’ Olivia replied carefully. ‘All I told him on the telephone was that I’d see him during the course of the morning.’
‘In that case we can stop somewhere and have breakfast,’ Bernard announced, starting the car.
Olivia glanced at him in alarm. ‘Please, that’s not necessary. I—’
‘You may not be hungry, but I am,’ he interrupted firmly, and she knew by the sudden hardening of his jaw that it would be useless to argue further.
He was almost a complete stranger with his beard shaved off, she thought distractedly, glancing at him surreptitiously as they drove the remaining distance to Johannesburg. She could see now that there was a strong likeness between him and Vivien, except that Vivien’s features were more refined, more feminine, but they both possessed that look of stubborn determination about the mouth and chin.
A few kilometres from the city, Bernard turned off the Ml and some metres further he parked the car in front of a roadhouse which was open for business. The flight from Louisville had not been such an ordeal after all, Olivia realised a few minutes later, but sitting opposite him with the narrow width of the table between them was a different matter entirely. He was all at once too large and overpowering, his dark gaze too disturbing, and her relief was indescribably brief when the waiter handed them each a menu to scrutinise.
‘Steak and eggs for me,’ he said finally, meeting her wary glance across the menu. ‘And you, Olivia?’
‘A slice of toast and coffee would do, thank you,’ she replied, returning the menu reluctantly to the waiter who wrote down their order and departed.
‘No wonder you never grew much as a little girl if you can survive on toast and coffee,’ Bernard mocked.
‘That has nothing to do with my size,’ she protested. ‘My Aunt Georgina was just as small and, according to her, my mother was the same.’
‘Did your aunt have a family of her own?’
Olivia lowered her lashes to avoid his intense scrutiny. ‘My aunt wasn’t married. ’
‘Have you no other family?’ he persisted, and she felt her back stiffen in protest.
‘None.’
As if sensing her withdrawal, Bernard made no further comment and they lapsed into an uncomfortable silence until their breakfast was served.
‘What made you give up your job as a librarian to take on something like a bookshop?’ Bernard continued his questioning when he eventually pushed his empty plate aside and sugared his coffee.
‘Does there have to be a reason?’ Olivia sighed, disliking the way he was probing into her personal life.
‘There must be a reason for someone like yourself to give up a job in the city to go to a quiet place like Louisville,’ he remarked, his glance sharpening. ‘Was there someone you wanted to get away from?’
‘No.’
‘No entanglement of some sort?’ he demanded, raising a mocking eyebrow. ‘An affair, perhaps?’
‘Certainly not!’ she gasped with angry indignation. ‘The idea is preposterous!’
‘Why?’ His glance slid over her with a certain familiarity that sent the colour surging into her cheeks. ‘You’re attractive, you’re twenty-six, so Frances tells me, and I refuse to believe you’ve reached that age without having at least experienced one serious love affair. ’
Anger continued to stir deep down inside her as she raised her chin with a touch of defiance. ‘Is that what you want to believe?’
‘No,’ he said calmly, his lips twisting into a semblance of a smile as he leaned back in his seat and observed her through narrowed eyes. ‘Crawl out of that shell of yours, Olivia, and don’t let me drag everything out of you.’
‘Why must you know all there is to know about me?’
‘Perhaps it’s your reluctance to talk about yourself that makes me curious,’ he said, leaning forward suddenly and placing his hand over hers on the table. ‘If you don’t tell me, I shall go on being curious, and continue to question you.’
The tingling sensation that started in her hand, rose up the length of her arm, and she suppressed a shiver of dislike as she slipped her hand from beneath his and clenched it in her lap. An awkward silence hovered between them until she finally relented and told him what he wanted to know.
‘Well, I suppose this will sound silly to you, but—I love books, and I always had a secret desire to have a bookshop
of my o
wn. When my aunt died and left me some money, I made my dream come true.’
‘ So you stuck a pin in the map and that’s how you came to Louisville,’ he teased, and she felt her anger and tension subside as an involuntary smile quivered on her lips.
‘Not quite,’ she shook her head. ‘I spent a week at the Haskins Motel and Mineral Baths during June this year, and that’s how I learnt of the shop that was for sale. With the flat above it, it was ideal.’
‘So you bought it, came back to Johannesburg to give up your job, and finally settled in Louisville.’
‘Not entirely in that order, but yes, I did,’ she nodded, her lips curving into a smile that found no response in him.
‘You could have opened up a shop in Johannesburg,’ he argued calmly.
‘No.’ She lowered her glance, but was forced to meet his compelling gaze once more. ‘I wanted to get away from the city. Oh, not for the reasons you’re thinking of,’ she added hastily when she caught a glimpse of mockery in his eyes. ‘But because I wanted to go somewhere where people still cared about each other, instead of—’
‘Instead of?’ he prompted enigmatically when she broke off abruptly, and she wondered whether he would understand.
‘Instead of what?’ he insisted.
‘Do you know that I sat in a bus once in Johannesburg and watched a woman being beaten and robbed without anyone lifting a finger to help her?’ she said eventually, her glance unconsciously pleading. ‘Imagine that same scene in Louisville’s main street, and tell me whether you think everyone would just pass by and let it happen?’
His lips tightened percepdbly as he said tersely, ‘You’ve made your point. ’
They finished their coffee in silence before Bernard paid the bill and drove her directly to the estate agent’s offices.
‘Wait here for me,’ he said as he double-parked and leaned across her to open her door. ‘What I have to do
won’t take longer than an hour, then I’ll take you to that place where Vivien usually has her tapestries framed.’
‘That’s very kind of you, but—’
‘No buts,’ he interrupted sternly, giving her a gentle push to help her from the car before they held up the traffic. ‘See you later. ’
Olivia stared after him with a frown settling between her brows. She only hoped he did not intend to tag along wherever she went that morning, or she would never be able to do the personal shopping she had looked forward to. Suppressing a sigh of irritation, she entered the large grey building and took the lift up to the second floor. Mr Roberts could not see her at once and, not wanting to keep Bernard waiting, she glanced repeatedly at the electric clock against the wall. A tense half hour passed before she was shown into the large, panelled office, and within less than twenty minutes the transaction was completed. Olivia made her way down in the lift with a strange sense of loss. She could not possibly have kept the house, and yet she was finding it now so desperately hard to part with it. It had been the only home she had ever known, and now it was no longer hers.
Bernard arrived moments after she had stepped out on to the pavement, and she hurriedly climbed into the car beside him.
‘Have you been waiting long?’ he asked, steering the car expertly into the traffic.
‘No, I’ve only just come out of there.’
‘I think we’ll have tea first, don’t you?’
It was a statement, not a question, and Olivia heard herself say meekly, ‘If you say so.’
Bernard parked the car in a side-street eventually, and they walked the short distance to the tea room where he ordered tea and scones despite her protests. She was not in the least hungry, but, when their order arrived, Bernard’s stern glance told her that, whether she was hungry or not, the scones had to be eaten.
‘Do you have to see the agent again?’ Bernard asked conversationally when the scones and the tea had finally been dispensed with.
‘No,’ she shook her head, veiling her eyes. ‘The papers have been signed, and the sale has been completed. ’
‘So you’ve broken the final tie with Johannesburg.’ He put a rough finger on a tender spot, making her wince.
‘I suppose you could put it that way, yes.’
‘Any regrets?’
‘ No regrets, only ... ’ Her voice trailed off into silence as she swallowed down the lump which had risen in her throat. ‘I grew up in that house, and I have some very happy memories of the years I spent there.’
Bernard studied her closely for some time before he said quite firmly, ‘You’re going to be much happier at Louisville.’
‘You sound as though you’re very certain of that,’ she remarked, pulling herself together with an effort.
‘It’s inevitable,’ he shrugged his broad shoulders. ‘You’ll get married one of these days, and—’
‘Oh, no,’ she interrupted swiftly, her heartbeats quickening in protest. ‘I don’t think I—’
‘You’re not planning on becoming a spinster like your aunt, are you?’ he demanded, his incredulous glance sweeping over her.
‘No,’ she shifted uncomfortably beneath his gaze. ‘It doesn’t pay always to plan the future down to the last detail.’
His lips twitched slightly, indicating some inner amusement that merely served to anger her. ‘Then you do plan to marry some
day?’
‘If and when I meet the right man, yes,’ she replied stiffly.
His eyes darkened perceptibly, but he said nothing as he rose to pay for their tea and guided her from the tea room.
The firm Vivien had mentioned, which took care of the framing of the tapestries, was a little out of the city, but Bernard seemed in no hurry to get Olivia there although the traffic had thinned out considerably. When he finally parked the Mercedes in the parking area in front of a whitewashed building, she was surprised to see him climb out with her, accompanying her across the flagged path towards the entrance.
‘Do you have any idea what kind of frame Vivien would want?’ she was forced to ask once they had entered the building.
‘Vivien usually leaves the choice to the discretion of the framers,’ he answered abruptly, and Olivia had the distinct impression that he was angry with her for some reason.
Well, let him be angry, she thought miserably. His probing questions had infuriated her more than once during the past few hours, and if her replies were not to his satisfaction then she couldn’t care less what he thought.
‘I’m at your disposal for the rest of the day, so just say where you want to go, and I’ll take you,’ he said as they stepped into the sunshine once more and walked across to his hired car.
‘Please, Mr King ... Bernard,’ she corrected when his dark glance chastised her. ‘There’s really no need for you to drive me all over the place. If you’d drop me off at the news agency then we could perhaps meet each other somewhere in town for lunch, or—’
His large hand gripped her arm and silenced her more effectively than words could have done. ‘Must you always protest so much, Olivia?’
‘You surely have things to do, and I—’
‘I’ve done all I came to do.’
‘Oh!’
Her startled expression became mutinous as he assisted her into the car and walked round to his side. Was he so thick-skinned that he could not see that she wanted some time alone in Johannesburg to do some personal shopping? Or was he accustomed to Ilona dragging him all over the place when she required a new wardrobe? Olivia shook herself mentally. Somehow she just could not imagine someone as overpoweringly masculine as Bernard King sitting about in a ladies’ dress shop while Ilona made her purchases.
‘Do you find my company distasteful?’ he asked with a directness that was disconcerting as he slid his arm along the back of the seat and turned to face her before he started the car, and the warm masculine scent of his body so close to hers attacked her senses in a way that made her recoil from him inwardly.
‘No!’ she almost choked on the denial
. ‘No, of course not. It’s just that—’
‘You don’t like being an inconvenience, I know,’ he replied for her quite incorrectly. ‘Well, you’re not inconveniencing me, and I have nothing else to do, so let’s stop this senseless argument and tell me where you want to go.’
Olivia kept her eyes riveted to her hands in her lap. She could tell him, of course, that she needed to purchase a few items of clothing, but how embarrassing if he should insist on coming with her. She had no specific shop in mind, and had intended browsing through several until she found what she wanted, but, with Bernard intending to play chauffeur, it was out of the question. She relented eventually, giving him the address of the news agency she had to call on, and deciding, with angry reluctance, that her shopping spree would have to be postponed indefinitely.
To her relief, Bernard moved away from her and started the car in silence, and when they finally reached their destination, he would once again not allow her to enter the building on her own. She was forced to suffer his presence while she collected the books which the news agency still had in stock and handed over a list of titles which they told her would have to be ordered specially, but there was not a moment that she was not aware of that tall, bulky figure standing silently beside her, listening, watching, and appraising her with those dark, inscrutable eyes of his.
‘Where to now?’ he wanted to know when they were seated in the car once more, and Olivia felt her nerves being stretched to a point where she could no longer think straight.
‘I ... there’s nothing else I have to do,’ she said helplessly.
His eyebrows rose incredulously. ‘No friends you want to look up either?’
‘No.’
‘Lost contact with them so soon?’ he demanded mockingly.
‘Or is it that you don’t want me to meet them?’
Olivia’s anger flared sharply. ‘If you must know, I haven’t any friends to look up.’
‘No friends?’ he mocked, turning towards her. ‘But surely—’
‘The friends I had at university are all married with families of
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