Love's Golden Spell. William Maltese

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СКАЧАТЬ that you’d find horribly boring, Janet,” he said. “I hope you’ll accept my apologies for cutting our evening short.” He smiled that same maddening smile. “I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.”

      “That won’t be necessary, I assure you,” Janet said, more affected by her dismissal than she would admit.

      “Feel free to take the dress with you as a consolation prize,” he called after her, making her skin turn hot with embarrassment. She knew what Donald Geiger was thinking. “You certainly look better in it than the other women did,” Christopher added. His amused laughter was still ringing in her ears when she reached the top of the stairs. She was tempted, but she didn’t slam the door of the bedroom. She refused to give him the satisfaction.

      She had no intention of keeping the dress. The tapes were all she wanted from him. By tomorrow, they would be safely on a plane for Seattle. Whatever glimmer of hope she had had of dissociating him from his despicable father was shattered.

      The zipper stuck in her hurried attempts to shed the offensive silk, and she began to panic during the following moments of struggle. She couldn’t go back to the library for help, but the alternative was to tear the dress. She couldn’t ruin something so lovely that, by her standards, was so extravagantly expensive, even if Christopher cared less.

      “Thank God!” she said, heaving an audible sigh of relief when the zipper came loose.

      She changed, knowing Christopher would be curious about the delay. He would think she had misgivings about leaving Lionspride. The sooner she set him straight on that score, the better.

      Ashanti was waiting patiently at the front door. There was no sign of Christopher. Janet was the last thing on his mind at the moment. A large golden diamond was more interesting than a busybody come to do him mischief. At least that’s the way Janet saw it.

      CHAPTER THREE

      THE ROLLS ROYCE SILVER SPIRIT was long, roomy and had all the creature comforts, including a television set and a bar. However, Janet couldn’t get comfortable. She was leaving Lionspride. Again. Nothing horrible had developed from Christopher’s stolen kiss and his insults. They merely confirmed what she had known all along: the past was over and done, never to be lived again.

      She was disappointed and knew why. She touched her fingertips to her lips. The feel of Christopher’s stolen kiss lingered somehow. She was disgusted by the pleasure evoked by the memory of his mouth on hers.

      That kiss set her up. It took her by surprise, as though hinting of worse things to come. The resulting horrors, though, were figments of Janet’s overactive imagination. Christopher had enjoyed a delicious meal. He’d played games in the darkness of the basement. He’d terrorized her with a few suggestive words and looks. Then, satisfied that he’d paid her back for her plotting against him, he’d sent her on her way. He was a king tired of his court jester, offering her a used dress in reward for stale amusements.

      She put herself in his position. He graciously consented to let her into his home. He personally greeted her, trying to make her feel comfortable. He offered her punch after her long drive from the city. He cooperated in every way, only to have it dawn on him that she was there to do a hatchet job on his family.

      Well, Janet didn’t feel guilty. Fair play was a luxury owed those who played by the rules, and the Van Hoons never did that. Their fortune originated with Petre Van Hoon’s swindling of a poor native who didn’t know a diamond from a pretty stone.

      Janet laughed—not in amusement, either. It was ironic to have witnessed Christopher drooling over a diamond just as Petre Van Hoon must have done. Christopher was no ragged vagabond with only the belongings on his back, but the same greedy gleam was in his eye. She had seen it there when he was packing her off moments after that precious stone had entered his life.

      She leaned into the luxurious leather of the seat. Ahead, the largest man-made structures in the world were piled high across the horizon. Some of the rock crystal in those enormous heaps of mine tailings were dragged from over two miles beneath the city. The foundation of Johannesburg was honeycombed with kilometers of tunnels stretching in all directions. As much traffic went on below the surface as on the streets above. All for the sake of gold.

      Christopher’s hair was gold. Christopher’s eyes were gold.

      She wouldn’t think of Christopher’s hair, or his eyes. She wouldn’t think of him, period. He had lost something in his transition from boy to man, just as Janet had lost something in her painful journey from girl to woman.

      The car stopped. She didn’t wait for the chauffeur to get out and open the door for her. She opened it herself. She wasn’t a pampered woman who couldn’t take care of herself without a paid retainer’s assistance. Those women were of Christopher’s world. She was of quite another. Those women draped themselves in animal skins that brought the leopard, cheetah, lynx and tiger to the brink of extinction. Janet wanted to save those animals. Not just the ones killed to satisfy some society matron’s twisted notion of fashion. Not just those massacred to bolster some hunter’s macho image. Rhinoceros were slaughtered for their horns, believed to restore sexual prowess to impotent Asian men. Elephants were killed for their tusks, made legal tender by uncaring speculators.

      Christopher had a room full of elephant ivory. With each elephant killed, the source of that ivory was depleted by one. Christopher became richer. When all the elephants were dead, like the quagga and bluebuck were dead, Christopher would be a very rich man.

      Damn it, he was rich enough already! He shouldn’t think of how to add more money to the family coffers. He should take steps to insure that his children would see live elephants instead of just pictures of them.

      But Christopher was childless. He wasn’t married. Janet felt funny inside as she swept through the doors of the Carleton Hotel. The hotel was part of a vast complex of boutiques, movie theaters and restaurants, none of which claimed her attention. She wasn’t all that interested in the spectacular view of city lights from her hotel window, either.

      The bed had been turned down by the night maid. Janet searched a suitcase for her cotton pajamas. Her negligee was in the closet, but she didn’t want it. It was too provocative against her skin. She shouldn’t have brought it. It was extra baggage. Pajamas were more practical where she was going.

      The negligee was black silk. Christopher had dressed her in black silk, like a doll, tossing her aside as soon as a honey-colored diamond came along.

      The phone rang. Her sweet visions were of his calling to apologize—better yet, telling her that he realized who she was, that he was angry for not realizing it right away, that he wanted to see her again. She was a fool for letting them get off to such a ridiculously bad start. There were memories to talk about after sixteen years.

      It was Jill. She wanted to make sure Janet was back safely. She wanted to satisfy her curiosity. Tim and Roger had rushed her away from Lionspride grinning from ear to ear like two Cheshire cats. “Janet really landed herself a big one this time!” Roger had said as they drove off.

      Janet was in no mood to talk about Christopher. She wanted to forget him. All the interesting tidbits Jill wanted to hear hadn’t happened. “Did you get the tapes ready for shipping?” Janet asked, using business to counter Jill’s snooping. There was silence at the other end. “Well?”

      “You’ve the tapes,” Jill said. “Don’t you?”

      “How could I have them?” Janet asked. Frustrated. Something was wrong. She didn’t need this. “I СКАЧАТЬ