Serpent in Paradise Page 9

  'The reason I left here is personal. I was looking for something, and I think I found it. But Vins Doux is home, I know that now.'

  Teri felt a lump rise in her throat. She had never heard Emma quite so serious, with the words seeming to come from her heart. The attention of the others was also riveted on the elderly woman.

  'I know too that I won't be here always. In recent months I have been giving a great deal of thought to the estate, and to what will happen to it. My beloved Roger is no longer with me, and I don't have children. You, my dear Virginia and Bruce, are my only relatives.'

  If it was possible for the silence to have become more concentrated, then this had now happened. An ember stirred in the fire, and the crackle sounded as loud as a rifle-shot.

  'My doctor assures me that I'm in fine health and likely to be here a long time,' Emma went on. 'But I don't want the people closest to me to wait to come into their inheritance. I want them to enjoy it now.' She smiled. 'That way I can share in their enjoyment.'

  'I don't want to be rude, Aunt Emma,' Virginia said silkily. 'But perhaps Teri should be excused from this… from a family discussion.'

  The merest flicker of annoyance crossed Emma's face, but it was quickly erased. 'On the contrary,' she countered firmly, 'what I have to say concerns Teri as much as it does the rest of you.'

  The apprehension that had been with Teri all evening quickened. A little hammer began to pound in her head. She wanted nothing so much as to leave the room, to take a walk outside in the cool night air.

  Emma spread her hands. 'I want the four of you to have Vins Doux now, and in equal shares.'

  There was an instant buzz of noise. Teri gave a small incredulous gasp, and heard Bruce exclaim.

  Emma gestured, and they quietened. 'I shall continue living here. Obviously it will be my home for as long as I want it.'

  'This is very generous of you, Aunt Emma.' Bruce looked a little stunned.

  Virginia came to her feet and kissed her aunt on the cheek, and said, 'That's fantastic!'

  Teri said nothing. She couldn't have spoken, not now. Now when she felt as if she was in a dream, as if she must waken at any moment.

  Sloan did not speak either. She looked across at him. His eyes held hers steadily, and she saw that they were sardonic. His lips were firmly set, and his jaw was a cruel line.

  Teri felt a trembling seize her, and she had to curl her fingers hard into the palms of her hands, letting the nails bite into the soft flesh to prevent the trembling from becoming visible.

  Emma, as if she was unaware of the tension she had caused, was talking once more. 'Of course there are certain legal procedures—I won't go into the details now. But there is just one thing I must mention.' She looked from one to the other. 'Though I want you all to think of Vins Doux as yours, you will only receive legal ownership a year from now.'

  Bruce looked at her puzzled. 'A kind of probation?'

  'In a sense. I want you to spend as much time here as you can. And for each of you there will also be a special project.'

  'Project?' This from Virginia.

  'We'll go into all that tomorrow.' Emma smiled as she stood up and went to a trolley on which stood a tray with glasses and a bottle in an ice-bucket. 'This moment calls for champagne. Sloan, would you help me please?'

  This isn't happening, Teri thought, as she watched Sloan uncork the bottle. I'm dreaming, I must be. But if I'm not, if I'm awake, why did Sloan look quite so angry?

  Emma poured the champagne, and then they were all standing, clinking glasses, wishing each other good luck in what would be their mutual endeavours.

  It was only when the excitement had died a little that Virginia voiced the question that had been on Teri's mind since Emma's announcement. 'Why did you include Teri, Aunt Emma?'

  'Because it's what she deserves.'

  Virginia's face went red, but she persisted nevertheless. 'She's your companion!'

  Only a companion, the tone seemed to suggest. Paid to perform her duties, few as they are.

  'She's more than a companion,' Emma corrected. 'She's a friend. A very dear friend.'

  Her tone was pleasant, yet firm. Even Virginia knew better than to take the subject further.

  It was a restless girl who tossed and turned between the sheets that night. She had convinced herself, finally, that she was not dreaming. That Emma had meant what she'd said. Teri was really to have a share of Vins Doux.

  It was wonderful. Incredible. Beyond any fantasy she could ever have dreamed up.

  It was also impossible.

  Minute by minute the reality of the situation became clearer to her. It was one thing to live on the wine estate as Emma's companion. It would be quite another to be one of the owners, having to cope with the resentment of Virginia and Bruce, a resentment that was inevitable, for as Emma's relatives they would not feel that an outsider was entitled to a share of Vins Doux.

  The hardest thing of all would be the fact that Sloan would be here. Sloan, with his arrogance and contempt. Sloan, who could excite Teri with a touch, who could disturb her with the mere fact of his presence in the same room.

  The solution came to her suddenly. It was so simple that she wondered why she had not thought of it sooner. Sleep came at last.

  In spite of her disturbed night, Teri woke at dawn. Jill was already chattering to her doll in the adjoining room, and she greeted Teri with a bright smile and the hug of two warm arms around her neck.

  'I'm going to dress you, honey,' Teri told her, 'and then we'll go outside. But it's very early, and everyone is asleep, so we'll have to be quiet.'

  On tiptoe they stole out of the house, Jill with rubber Miffi—her inseparable companion—held tightly in one hand. In the garden the shrubs were still webbed with dew, and the ground was wet underfoot. The air was crisp and sweet-smelling and Teri was glad that she had dressed Jill warmly.

  They walked a little way, stopping once to watch some birds calling to each other in a tree; a few minutes later to see a centipede trail its many-footed way across the path. A butterfly hovered over the grass, and Teri stood smiling as a rapturous Jill darted hither and thither behind the brightly-coloured insect.

  Where the garden gave way to the vineyards they stopped and turned. It was too early to walk here, for the vines hung heavy and wet over the narrow path and Jill would get soaked.

  The house was before them as they began to walk back. Brooding, mysterious in the light of early morning. Shuttered and closed still, yet on the threshold of a new day.

  A new era, Teri thought. The first day on which four people would begin to think of Vins Doux in a different way. With pride, with interest. With love. Its foundations laid almost two hundred years earlier, Vins Doux had a remarkable history, a new chapter of which was about to unfold.

  Four people—Bruce and Virginia; Sloan; Teri. Each would add to the history of the lovely wine estate in his or her own way. Teri felt a lump rise in her throat, and she blinked away sudden tears.

  Realisation came suddenly. Four people? What on earth was she thinking about? Last night she had made a decision, and she meant to abide by it. Taking Jill by the hand, she walked back the way she had come, and tried to keep her eyes away from the beautiful house.

  'What a delicious thought!' Emma Roland was smiling as she took the steaming cup from Teri. 'Coffee in bed—a nice luxury for an old lady!'

  'You're not an old lady, and you know it.' Teri smiled affectionately back at her. 'May I stay while you drink it?'

  'You know you may. Sit down, Teri, and tell me what's bothering you.' She chuckled as the girl looked at her startled. 'You came in here with anxiety written all over your face.'

  'I did want to catch you before you join the others for breakfast,' Teri admitted ruefully.

  She took a sip of her own coffee. Now that she was here, it was surprisingly difficult to get the words out.

  'Why not start at the beginning?' Emma suggested.

  Teri gave a shaky laugh. '
You're a fairy godmother, perceptive and shrewd and handing out all sorts of lovely temptations. All right, Emma, I'll start at the beginning. I'll say what I should have said last night, which is thank you. I couldn't say it then, I'm sorry.'

  'You were in a state of shock.'

  'Yes, I was. Emma, I do thank you, from the very bottom of my heart. It was a wonderful thing to do for me. Too wonderful...' She looked up, and green eyes were troubled. 'I can't accept it.'

  'Why not?'

  'I feel I'm not entitled to it.'

  'And there you're wrong.'

  'Virginia and Bruce are your family.'

  Sloan, of course was not, but she couldn't mention him. It was very hard to speak Sloan's name with any degree of naturalness.

  'Virginia and Bruce are my sister's children. I love them very dearly, more so perhaps because I never had children of my own. But I'm not blind, Teri, I'm aware of their shortcomings.'

  'You don't have to tell me this,' Teri said gently.

  'I won't go into details. But I will say this—for much of my life, Teri, people have given me friendship and respect because I was Emma Roland. Because I had money and status.'

  'No.' Teri shook her head. 'They like you because of what you are. Warm and friendly and compassion-ate.' She stopped suddenly. 'So that's why you left Vins Doux…'

  'And now you are perceptive.' Grey eyes were warm. 'I had a great need to live incognito, to see if I could make it on my own. Can you understand that?'

  'Yes,' said Teri after a moment, wonderingly.

  'I had a wonderful time in Johannesburg. Not always easy, but pretty wonderful. I found out things about myself that I had never known. Things about people.' Once more she smiled. 'I could go on at length, but right now I want to talk about you. You helped an elderly lady who'd turned her ankle in a supermarket.'

  'It was what anybody would have done,' Teri said awkwardly.

  'Not the people I've known till now, my dear. You did more than help me that day. You befriended me. You did my shopping, and brought me library books. You visited me when your own time was at a premium. You've no idea how you and Jill cheered me up when I was immobile.'

  'Emma—' Teri began, but the other woman silenced her with a gesture.

  'You did it all because you wanted to. Without any thought for yourself or for my position—you didn't know that I had one. You have some qualities, my dear, that are increasingly rare in today's world.'

  'I'm very ordinary,' Teri protested.

  'Not in my eyes. I want you to have a share in Vins Doux, Teri.'

  'It doesn't seem right somehow.' She stopped. And then, 'Is Sloan special to you?' Until the moment the question was out she had not known she would ask it.

  'Very special. Sloan Garfield is one of the finest people I know.' Grey eyes were steady, as if they were trying to tell her something beyond the words Emma had spoken. Teri found she could not sustain the gaze, and she looked away.

  'I can't accept my share,' she said unsteadily.

  'I thought my reasons for giving it to you are now clear.'

  'They are—oh, they are. Emma, don't press me.' Teri's head was throbbing. She had not thought this would be so difficult. 'I can't explain,' she went on after a moment. 'Emma… I think perhaps I should leave here.'

  'No.' The older woman's voice was firm. 'I won't hear of it. You made a commitment, and I want you to stay.'

  'You don't understand…' Teri's tone was tinged with despair.

  'Perhaps I do.' It was said gently. 'Let's make a bargain. Don't tell the others that you've declined your share. Give yourself time to think. A year, Teri, that's all I ask of you.'

  A year. Such a short time in the frame of a lifetime. A year for Jill to revel in the sun and sand of the Cape, in the good food and luxuriousness of Vins Doux.

  A year in Sloan's presence. Could Teri live through it and emerge with peace of mind and heart intact?

  'There's so little for me to do here,' she said at length. 'It's not as if you need someone to take care of you.'

  'That's true. Last night I spoke of projects. I'll tell you now what I have in mind for you, Teri.'

  A history of Vins Doux. The librarian in Teri thrilled with excitement as Emma spoke. The history of Vins Doux was long and complicated and interwoven with the history of the Cape. But the written word was fragmented; it had never been set down in one piece before.

  'It's a project that's very dear to my heart,' Emma said. It was also one that would take months to research before pen could be put to paper.

  'Think you'd enjoy it?' Emma asked at length.

  'I'd love it,' Teri said softly.

  'And you will stay?'

  'Yes.'

  Teri was in the garden with Jill when Jessie came outside and asked if she could play with the child. With the library on her mind, Teri was happy to say yes.

  The room was even more beautiful than she had realised. Till now she had obtained no more than an impression of it. Now, alone, able to walk around the book-lined walls, she was fascinated. She had not dreamed that such a wealth of books could be in a private collection.

  Librarianship was more than an occupation for Teri. She loved books with a passion. Reverently she touched pages that were a hundred years old or more, wondering as she did so about the generations of people who had read them and touched them in years gone by.

  There were books of all kinds. Biographies, history, tales of exploration. Fiction both classic and modern. Books on wine-making. Books on the history of the Cape.

  Like Jill in the toy department, Teri did not know where to look first. She wanted to see everything, read everything, and knew she could spend years in this room and not see all of it.

  'I'm hooked,' she said aloud, joyously. 'You knew I would be, Emma, you clever woman!'

  She knew where she would start. The history of the Cape was as much a part of the story of Vins Doux as was wine-making. Some of it she knew already, it was time to refresh her memory.

  She was standing at the bay window, attention riveted on a tale of the past, when someone queried, 'Interesting book?'

  'Oh Sloan, yes! A story about a woman called Anna Deltjie. The most fascinating woman. Do you know about her?'

  In the elfin-shaped face, green eyes were shining. Like emeralds, thought the man.

  'A familiar name,' he said dryly.

  'Silly question.' She smiled up at him. 'You read biography, you would know about her. What a character, Sloan!'

  'Not unlike you.' He said it softly.

  'Me?' The smile left her face as something in his face made her take a step away from him. As usual he was casually dressed, a fawn tee-shirt showing every muscle of his chest and shoulders, the corduroy trousers revealing the tautness of his legs. Virility was proclaimed in every long inch of him.

  'Don't you recognise yourself in Anna?' He was smiling, but there was no amusement in the blue eyes, and the lips were sardonic.

  'No.' For some reason the joy was suddenly gone. 'Should I?'

  'Anna was unscrupulous, but she got away with it because she was a woman of great charm,' he said, and now his tone was definitely dangerous. 'It was said that she could charm the birds from the trees. Do you think, like you, she could also make them sing to her tune?'

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The colour drained from Teri's cheeks. 'How dare you, Sloan! You're suggesting I conned Emma…'

  'She was also very sexy,' he went on, as if he had not heard a word that she had said.

  Heart beginning to pound, she stared at him. Sexy? Sloan thought she was sexy? 'About Emma, you don't understand…'

  'And beautiful.'

  'Beautiful.' Anger at his insinuation was submerged in the greater amazement at his compliments. 'Sloan, I'm not sexy and beautiful.' And then more doubtfully, 'Am I?'

  'Don't you know?'

  It took him just seconds to cross the small space between them. There was no time for her to move away, and short of jumping out of the wind
ow, no place for her to escape. Even then, a part of her knew that she did not want to escape.

  He drew her to him, hands closing on her shoulders before sliding sensuously down her back to her waist. For a long moment he stood quite still, looking down at her, and he was so near to her that she could see each tiny dark speck in the blue of his eyes.

  'Sloan?' On a dry throat the name came out on a whisper.

  'You want me to kiss you, is that it, Teri?'

  She shook her head. 'Am I really beautiful… and sexy?'

  'I'll prove it to you.'

  His mouth touched hers gently, tantalisingly. With the tip of his tongue he trailed a path around her lips, circling them before moving to her eyes and her cheeks, and then down to her throat. Last time he had kissed her there had been roughness, anger. This kiss was different, undermining her resistance and making her feel weak. Even before his hands slid to her hips, drawing her closer against him, she felt desire stir within her.

  By the time his lips rose in search of hers again her own response was unthinking, instinctive, and her mouth opened willingly beneath his as she returned kiss for kiss.

  Her body was filled with an excitement that grew minute by minute as his hands began to move over her, from her hips back to her waist, over her stomach and then up to her breasts. She was barely aware of the fingers that went to the buttons of her shirt, and later she knew she could not have stopped him. He was kissing her deeply now, his mouth never leaving hers, and as she felt his hand on the bare skin of her breasts a moan emerged from her throat. Mindlessly she wound her arms around his neck, pressing herself closer against him, letting her own fingers bury themselves in the thickness of his hair.

  It was Sloan who broke contact first. His head lifted and he looked down at her, and beneath his tan he was a little pale.

  'You are sexy,' he murmured huskily.

  Only for you, she wanted to say. I've never felt this way with any man before. Never imagined I could respond like this. She was about to put something of her feelings into words, mindless at that moment of how Sloan would construe them, when he added, 'Like Anna.'