Dance-of-the-Snake-Yvonne-Whittal Read online

brown eyes. 'Are you encouraging me to have an affair with him?'

  'Certainly not!' her mother exclaimed in a shocked voice.

  'Well, that's all Dane Trafford is interested in,' Jessica said, the mischief in her

  eyes replaced by bitterness.

  'No man is interested in marriage until the right woman makes it her business

  to see to it that he is,' Amelia persisted.

  'What makes you think that I'm the right woman to make Dane interested in

  marriage, and who says I'm interested enough to try?' Jessica returned swiftly.

  'Stalemate,'Jonathan observed drily, rising tiredly from his chair. 'I'm going to

  bed.'

  'Wait for me, Jonathan,' Amelia said quickly and, getting to her feet, she shook

  her head at her daughter. 'I really wish I understood you, Jessica.'

  Jessica was too busy during the following week to see much of Dane, and most

  of her evenings were spent at the hospital, or at home trying to catch up on a

  few hours of sleep.

  She arrived home a little late from the consulting-rooms on the Friday afternoon,

  hoping for at least one peaceful night in this long, tiring week, but her hopes

  began to dwindle when she saw a strange car parked in the street outside the

  cottage. The woman who climbed out of the car was also a stranger to Jessica.

  Tall, fair, and possessing an unmistakable elegance, she finally approached

  Jessica, and she was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women Jessica had

  ever seen.

  'Dr Neal?'

  The voice was musical, the feline purr faintly familiar, and a frown settled on

  Jessica's brow as she nodded slowly. 'That's right.'

  'I was hoping to see you.' Grey-green eyes travelled over Jessica, carrying out a

  critical inspection which was totally confusing until she said: 'I'm Sylvia

  Summers.' 'Oh!'

  Coral-pink lips parted in a smile to reveal small, perfectly even teeth, but the

  smile did not reach the cat-like eyes. 'I can see you've heard of me.'

  'I believe Dr Trafford has mentioned you, yes,' Jessica replied with care, her

  calm outward appearance giving no indication of her bewildered and slightly

  confused feelings at that moment. 'Won't you come in?'

  'Thank you,' Sylvia smiled, accepting Jessica's invitation graciously, and

  Jessica unlocked the door, standing aside to allow Sylvia to precede her into the

  cottage.

  Seated in her lounge, Jessica realised that one would have to be blind not to

  realise what Dane had seen in this woman. She was sophisticated, beautiful, and

  extremely feminine, and the latter was something which would appeal to

  someone with a virile masculinity such as Dane's.

  'What can I do for you, Miss Summers?' Jessica asked politely when an

  awkward silence threatened.

  'It's not what you can do for me, but more likely what I can do for you,' Sylvia

  replied, crossing one shapely leg over the other. 'What I have to say to you is by

  nature of a warning.'

  Jessica stiffened in protest. 'Miss Summers, I think you've made a

  '

  'Don't misunderstand me,' Sylvia interrupted smoothly. 'I'm not here as the

  jealous mistress who intends scratching your eyes out for meddling with what I

  considered my property. I'm here to warn you that if you think Dane is going to

  marry you, then you're mistaken. He doesn't operate that way. And if you think

  that by becoming his mistress you could hold him to you in some way, then

  forget it. You'll last a year, maybe two, then he'll give you your walking ticket,

  and tell you to scat.' There was something malicious in her smile now. 'That's

  Dane Trafford, and it will take someone mighty special to put the chains on him.'

  Jessica did not need to be told that she could never be that someone, and even

  though she had known this from the very beginning, it somehow still had the

  power to hurt her.

  'May I know who or what led you to believe that there could possibly be

  anything between Dane and myself?' Jessica heard herself ask in a cool, detached

  voice.

  'Dane told me,' came the smooth reply, and that coral- pink mouth twisted with

  bitterness. 'You should know by now that Dane isn't one to mince his words.

  When he wants to end a relationship he says so, and then tells you why.'

  Jessica could not quite believe that she had heard correctly. 'Dane told you that

  there was—something between us?'

  'No,' Sylvia smiled thinly. 'His exact words were, "I want her, and I'm going to

  get her", so be warned. He's set his sights on you, and if you don't duck you're

  going to get it right where it hurts most.' She rose elegantly to her feet, and

  Jessica followed suit a little more jerkily to

  withstand the intense scrutiny of this woman's critical glance as it swept over

  her. 'Funny . . .' Sylvia smiled coldly, 'I would have said that you weren't his

  type at all.'

  The silence was broken by the sound of tires crunching on the gravel outside,

  and then footsteps could be heard approaching the cottage. Jessica stiffened.

  She knew the identity of her caller, and so, apparently, did Sylvia, judging by

  the odd expression that flitted across her beautiful face.

  The door was flung open and Dane filled the lounge with his awesome

  presence. He was still wearing the dark grey suit he had worn that day, but he

  had removed his tie, and the top buttons of his shirt were undone, giving Jessica

  a glimpse of his tanned, hair-roughened chest.

  Cool grey eyes met Jessica's briefly, then he glanced at Sylvia, and his voice

  possessed that icy chill of winter as he said: 'I thought you were on your way

  back to Pretoria.'

  'As a matter of fact, darling, I'm just leaving,' Sylvia laughed easily, and with

  a careless wave of a perfectly manicured hand, she added: 'Have fun!'

  She swept past Jessica arid Dane, her heavy perfume lingering in the air

  between them like an impregnable barrier long after she had driven away.

  'I had an idea she'd come here,' Dane's harsh voice sliced through the

  incredibly tense silence. 'What did she tell you?' he demanded, but Jessica was

  in no mood for a post-mortem of her enlightening conversation with Sylvia

  Summers.

  'She told me nothing that I don't already know,' she snapped.

  'That leaves a lot to the imagination, so you'd better tell me,' he insisted with

  biting cynicism.

  'You don't need to be enlightened as far as your character is concerned, but

  111 tell you what I think of you,' she rounded on him in a blinding fury. 'You're

  a cruel, callous brute, and all I can feel for you at this moment is contempt!5

  His mouth tightened and his expression darkened with ominous fury. 'So it's

  contempt you feel for me, is it?'

  He was like a sleek, black leopard, his muscles tensed and ready for the kill.

  Jessica prepared herself for the inevitable, but it never came. The shrill,

  persistent ring of the telephone intervened, jarring her tortured nerves, and she

  turned from Dane during that brief moment of respite to answer it.

  'Dr Neal speaking,' she, said into the mouthpiece, hoping the caller would not

  notice the slight tremor in her voice, but the girl on the hospital switchboard

  was fortunately too intent upon the urgency of her call. Jessica gathere
d her

  scattered wits about her to listen intently to what the girl was saying, and

  moments later she replaced the receiver with an abrupt, 'I'll come at once.'

  When she turned round she discovered that she was alone, and neither was

  Dane's car outside when she reversed her Alfa into the street. She had never

  seen him in such a fury before, and she shivered at the thought of what might

  have happened had the telephone not interrupted at that precise moment. Her

  own anger had been more than enough for her to cope with at that moment, but

  the hurt was something else. Sylvia Summers had told her nothing she had not

  known before, this much was true, but she had somehow axed every scrap of

  hope Jessica had still been foolish enough to nurture.

  There was no time to think of herself during the next few hours. She had a

  difficult confinement on her hands, and it was well after eleven that night

  before the baby was born. Jessica had to deliver him with instruments, and

  although the mother was exhausted, the infant was none the worse for the

  delay.

  'You look a bit puckish, Doctor,' the night Sister on duty remarked when

  Jessica had changed out of her

  theatre clothes. 'Have you had anything to eat yet this evening?'

  'There hasn't been time, ‘Jessica smiled ruefully, aware of that hollow

  feeling at the pit of her stomach.

  'I thought not,'-the Sister nodded and, ushering Jessica into her small office,

  she ordered tea and sandwiches from the canteen, and left Jessica alone for a

  few minutes.

  Jessica slumped into a vacant chair, too tired to object. Her limbs felt like

  lead, but her mind was in a chaotic mess. Thoughts came and went with

  frantic precision like painful darts aimed at her very soul. Her image was re-

  flected in the glass cabinet against the wall, and she looked small, drab, and

  pathetic. Her shoulders sagged with weariness and, in comparison with

  Sylvia's elegant beauty, she looked about as interesting as the faded, rather

  tatty paper flower in the empty peanut butter jar on the desk. Seeing herself as

  she was at that moment, she knew that she never did and never would stand a

  chance to win Dane's love. 'It would take someone mighty special to put the

  chains on him,' Sylvia had said, and Jessica felt as if she were dying slowly

  inside with the agony of despair.

  The refreshments arrived, but Jessica was barely conscious of drinking her

  tea, let alone eating the sandwiches, although she did feel a little less hollow

  on the inside a half hour later.

  'I hope, for your sake, Doctor, that there'll be no further calls tonight,' the

  Sister announced pleasantly when Jessica finally wished her goodnight with a

  tired smile.

  Jessica was physically and mentally exhausted when she arrived back at her

  cottage. It was after midnight, and all she wanted at that moment was to crawl

  into her bed to sleep away the rest of that disturbing night. Everything a else

  could wait until tomorrow, she decided as she turned the key in the lock and

  pushed open the door.

  'Jessica?' Dane's voice, coming out of the darkness

  behind her, jarred her sensitive nerves with such violence that a choked cry

  escaped her, and she swung round sharply to see him disengage himself from the

  shadows of the bougainvillaea ranking on the pergola. He looked so tell, so dark,

  and so devastatingly attractive that fear, excitement and longing clamoured

  simultaneously through her veins to leave her leaning weakly against the door

  frame as she watched him walk towards her. 'I'm sorry if I startled you/ he

  surprised her with an apology.

  She stared up into those unfathomable grey eyes when he stepped into the

  square of light coming from the lounge, and a frown creased her brow. 'What are

  you doing here at this time of night?'

  'I had to talk to you.'

  'Couldn't it have waited until the morning?'

  His jaw was set in a hard, unrelenting line. 'What I have to say can't wait.'

  'I suppose you'd better come in, then,' she sighed at length, knowing only too

  well that it would be futile to argue with him, and she led the way inside. She felt

  incredibly tense and nervous as she dumped her bag on the nearest chair and

  pushed a tired hand through her already touselled curls. 'Coffee?' she asked

  abruptly out of mere politeness.

  'Later, perhaps,' he declined, discarding his jacket and turning to face her.

  'Jessica, I'd like to explain.'

  'Explain?' she laughed with forced casualness, gathering her scattered wits

  about her to do battle with him. 'Good heavens, Dane, I can't think of anything

  that needs explaining.'

  'I have an idea that Sylvia never told you the entire truth.'

  'She didn't have to spell it out for me, Dane,' she told him tiredly, turning away

  from the fatal attraction he had for her. 'You told me quite some time ago that you

  wanted me, and Sylvia merely underlined the fact that you were planning to

  intensify your efforts to lure me into an affair.5

  'Is that all she told you?5 he laughed, and his laughter ignited her dormant fury.

  Tor God's sake, Dane!5 she exclaimed, swinging round to face him once more,

  and her eyes were dark pools of pain in her white, pinched face. 'Do you need me

  to repeat verbatim everything she told me?'

  'It would make it a lot easier for me if I knew exactly what I'm supposed to have

  said to her.5

  'Oh, very well,5 Jessica sighed, willing to do anything at that moment if it would

  get rid of him. 'With regard to myself, you were supposed to have said, and I

  quote—"I want her, and I'm going to get her55—unquote, and I can tell you right

  now, Dane, that you're not going to succeed. You have a misguided idea that you

  can pick up and discard women in much the same manner you do your clothes,

  but I won't be picked up and dropped at your pleasure.'

  'Jessica . ..'

  'Don't touch me!' she cried hoarsely, moving jerkily out of his reach. 'I think

  you're the most insensitive man I've ever had the misfortune to meet, and if you

  don't mind I'd like you to leave now.'

  Cold fury suddenly etched his lean features. 'I'm damned if I'll leave before I've

  had my say!5

  'Nothing you may say could be of any possible interest to me.'

  Dane was again that sleek, black jungle cat leaping into action,, and this time

  there was no escape. Her arms were pinned ruthlessly at her sides as he crushed

  her against the hard length of his body, and she could only stare up into the

  glittering fury of his eyes with a helplessness that made her want to weep.

  'If it isn't words you want, Jessica, then perhaps you'll settle for this,' his voice

  lashed her before his mouth

  claimed hers with a savagery she had known once before.

  She tried to struggle free, but her puny efforts were futile, and the punishment

  continued until, exhausted, she went limp against him, surrendering herself to

  the primitive emotions aroused by his savage kiss. Dane did not spare her, not

  even when her lips parted in an unwilling response. Tears filled her eyes and

  spilled from beneath her lashes, but it was only when a sob rose in her throat

  that he released
her.

  'Will you listen to me now?' he demanded harshly as she stood shaken and

  trembling before him.

  'I hate you, Dane Trafford!' she cried huskily, her vision distorted through a

  film of tears. 'I hate you, do you hear me?'.

  'Will you marry me, Jessica?'

  She sucked her breath in sharply, and a fresh bout of fury shook through her.

  'Are you crazy? You know damn well that you're offering me marriage for the

  simple reason that you know you can't get me any other way.'

  'I don't want you any other way.'

  She dashed the tears from her eyes with an impatient hand, and stared up at

  him, wanting desperately to believe him, but not a flicker of emotion crossed

  his granite- hard features. There was nothing there to give her any indication as

  to his feelings, no tenderness in his eyes, no softening of the hard, often cruel

  mouth, and she clamped down firmly on that rising tide of hope.

  ,

  'You don't mean that, Dane. You're only saying so because you think it might

  act as a persuasive. Oh, you're very clever, I'll grant you that,' she laughed

  bitterly. 'You know just how to bait the hook, but I'm not going to bite.'

  'Dammit, Jessica!' He slammed his fist into the palm of his left hand as if he

  wished she were the recipient, and she flinched nervously. 'Why don't you want

  to believe me?' he demanded harshly.

  . 'Do you recall the conversation we had that night you forced me to have dinner

  with you at your home? You scoffed at marriage, and afterwards you made it

  quite clear that you wanted me to become your . .. mistress.' She virtually choked

  on the word. T refused you, and the very next weekend you had Sylvia Summers

  staying with you.'

  'I can -- '

  'Afterwards you had the gall to tell me that all I had to do was to say "yes" to

  you, and you'd send Sylvia packing,' she continued blindly as if he had not

  interrupted. 'What sort of an opinion am I supposed to have of a man who could

  make a callous remark like that about a woman he'd just spent a passionate few

  days with?'

  'I never touched her.'

  'Oh, really, Dane!' she protested cynically. 'Do you expect me to believe that?'

  'I thought I could shake off what I felt for you, but I couldn't. You were there

  between us all the time, and . . . dammit, I couldn't touch her!'

  There was something about him now, something in his eyes that made her heart