Today's Embrace (27 page)

“That he'd deserted her when she became pregnant?”

“He didn't desert her! It was necessary he marry Camilla. He knew that. So did she. What happened to Katie was the result of their propensities toward stubbornness. I had warned Katie on several occasions to stay away from Anthony, that there could never be a marriage between them. She wouldn't listen. I fear her daughter Evy followed in her mother's footsteps marrying Rogan.”

Darinda lapsed into silence. She didn't want to feel sympathy for the memory of Katie van Buren, but somehow she did. A woman could understand how her fellow sister had fallen in love with Anthony and trusted his intentions before he had made a permanent commitment. If Anthony had actually wanted her for his wife, then he should have been man enough to choose Katie regardless of Grandfather Julien's plans. Yet—how could she think this when she was willing to do a very similar thing to gain control in the family diamond business?

Darinda smiled, but she felt a hardness stealing over her emotions. “I'll play the spy for you, Grandfather, but I want something in return.”

“My dear, you know very well I shall leave you most of my accumulated fortune—even the Kimberly Black Diamond. I've no doubt it's buried with Lobengula, and I'm going to get it back.” His eye flashed. “It's mine … it's always been mine. And no one is going to rob me, or you and your future children of the right to own it!”

His pronouncement gave her a chill. She admired him, yet there were times when his determination seemed more like an obsession.
But I'll be different. I won't totter on a precipice of ruin. I'll always leave a way back to safety
.

“All that is fine and good, Grandfather. But I want to contribute to the family business and take the place left vacant by Anthony to follow you as head of the family dynasty.”

Julien smiled, but little joy or warmth came through. His thoughts appeared to be elsewhere. He patted her shoulder.

“First learn what I need to know about the Boers and whether Kruger suspects we're going to aid the Uitlanders at Pretoria, and I will make you my partner, Darinda. I'll train you to follow my steps, and change my will to stipulate that you'll take over after me.”

She sucked in her breath. “Grandfather, do you mean it this time, really mean it?”

He gave her a little shake by the shoulders, still smiling. “Yes, I've decided. I invested years on Anthony, only to be robbed of him in the end. You're already inclined toward my way of thinking. You'll go a long way, Darinda. Just make certain you don't allow your heart to overrule your head when it comes to Captain Retford.”

“Never. I'm quite content at this stage of my life. Marriage and family can always come later. About Parnell …”

“Bah! He's not worthy of you. He'd be unnecessary baggage for years to come. Parnell could work as your husband only if you were in control of the marriage. I suspect he would submit, my dear, but—”

She pulled away, shaking her head. “I don't want that kind of man. I'd not respect him, and I'd lose my own respect. I don't love him … and his drinking problem—”

“Parnell is useful to me now. As long as he has hope that he will eventually marry you, he'll cooperate with me. I need him right now to accomplish some things.”

She nodded. Parnell was to be strung along for the foreseeable future. At the right time he would be dropped. She pushed the thought
from her mind.
Why should I feel guilty just because Grandfather's taking advantage of him?

“Aren't we risking a good deal by sending troopers into the Transvaal?”

“It's a chance we must take, but we are in great danger of having a traitor, one who's allied with Retford while pretending to cooperate with Doc Jameson. I need you to find out who that person is. The sun never sets on the British Empire, my dear. There is a reason for that. The British were made to rule. It's in our blood.”

“You sound horribly arrogant, Grandfather, like Mr. Rhodes and his dream to make the Dark Continent ‘all red' like the Union Jack.”

He waved a hand. “Never mind that. Since you hope to take over after me, you must guard your emotions from the missionary lobby. You're not here on a crusade. We've England's interests, and those of our own family, to put first. Loyalty to Her Majesty must inspire us both. Your ability to learn what the Boers are up to is essential.”

“Why should Captain Retford trust me? He'll see through my questions at once.”

“I've taken care of that. You'll tell him you've been sent ahead to prepare business matters for me. We're in a race to win South Africa. And the Boer Republic is the one we must defeat.”

She nodded, wondering if she could prevail.

“From Retford you can learn much, but most important, I want the name of the turncoat who is working with Rhodes and Jameson.” Could she accomplish that?

Her thoughts must have shown on her face, because he slipped an arm around her shoulders. “You can do it, and you will. If we can route the turncoat into the open and reveal him, it will give Jameson's Troopers enough time to move into Pretoria and overthrow the Kruger presidency. We'll beat them at their own game.”

A rush of excitement rampaged through Darinda's brain. There was a turncoat, a spy for Paul Kruger who was known to Ryan Retford. But why would Ryan find it in his heart to support the Boers over his own British ancestry?

“As for Retford, we'll need to be shrewd. We need to play along with him for the present. You're the bait.”

She looked at him. He gave a short chuckle.

“Don't worry. If I didn't know he was a gentleman, I wouldn't let you take him on. It's Retford who is in trouble—I've confidence in you, my dear.”

What of me?
she thought, unexpectedly alarmed. Was not there great risk to herself? Captain Ryan Retford was one man she found attractive.

“Once I'm through with him, Rhodesia will offer many interesting prospects for seeing to his demise.”

Her eyes swerved to his. “What do you mean?”

“Don't look so concerned. I'm not speaking of his death. You just learn everything you can about what he is up to with the Boers. Who knows? This may have a blessed ending after all.”

A blessed ending
, Darinda thought. Was there such a thing?

Julien left the bungalow to meet up with Harry Whipple and the Company police on the road to the induna's kraal. Darinda waited inside the bungalow for Captain Retford, moving restlessly around the room as she mulled over her Grandfather's words.

What's come over me lately? I never worried unduly about the consequences of my actions before
.

The reason for her concern was simple: Captain Ryan Retford. She did not wish to admit it, but she cared unreasonably about Ryan's opinion of her. And so far, thanks to her past behavior over Rogan's old map, Captain Retford's opinion of her was not exactly admirable.

She suspected he found her attractive, just as Grandfather had shrewdly noted. What Julien did not understand, and underestimated in importance to the success of his plans to use her, was Captain Retford's own solid character.

Over the past year she had discovered that Captain Retford also considered character to be of chief importance in a woman. Arcilla seemed to know something about the woman he was writing to back in London; she was involved in works of charity.

Darinda mused about that, absently lifting a pair of spectacles from the rattan table where the oil lamp glowed brightly, fingering them while her thoughts drew a mental image of the woman, Ann. Probably very sweet and full of humility.

Unreasonable irritation took control. No doubt he thought she was
without scruples. Ryan Retford had been keeping company recently with that freckle-faced Derwent Brown! And, no doubt, hearing all of his little lectures. Now there was a scrambled-brain boy, if she'd ever met one! And Alice, his wife, was nothing less than a catastrophe. If Arcilla was a hysterical crybaby about wanting to go home to Grimston Way, Alice Tisdale Brown was a sour bit of goods that wanted to stick it out in Bulawayo until she had her hands on a pile of gold. It was almost humorous. As though Derwent was somehow going to come home to their bungalow one evening pushing a wheelbarrow full of shiny gold coins.

She played with the spectacles. Was Arcilla right when she said Ryan was helping to build Dr. Jakob van Buren's station not far from Bulawayo? With interests of this sort on Ryan's mind, he wasn't likely to become involved in passing secret information to her about a spy in Rhodes's camp. Bridging the social and romantic divide that stood between them wasn't a likely task for Ryan to wish to accomplish anytime soon. He'd more likely remain standing at attention behind his uniform.

So how to win his trust and gain the information Grandfather wanted?

What would winning mean to her in the end when Ryan discovered her attention had all been a ruse for Julien to gain the upper hand?

She would have what she wanted most—a leadership role in the family diamonds, perhaps even a partnership with her grandfather that would eventuate in her assuming control when he passed on.

What else? Certainly, she would not have Captain Ryan Retford. The question was, did she really want him? There were other men, plenty. Parnell, of course, plus a host of wealthy and powerful men in both London and Capetown, many of them members of the British nobility. They were also partners with Rhodes and others in diamonds and gold.

Darinda used the tips of her fingers to massage her aching temples. She felt a terrible headache coming on. One of those rare ones that put her to bed for twenty-four hours.

Oh how frustrating choices could be.

I've got to make up my mind, and soon!

If she let Grandfather Julien take the helm of her little ship, he would direct her life's course into gigantic swells of turmoil. If she survived the storm, she could be very successful in business. But if not—or if she learned that what she really wanted in life was a man like Captain Ryan Retford—then it would be too late for her to change course.

I must think carefully about this. I need time. No matter how urgent Grandfather says it is
.

Ryan intrigued her. Was she falling for a man of unusual character? The idea maddened her. How could she admire him when it was her grandfather she most admired? Did not Julien's shrewdness impress her? No sentimentality affected his plans, just hard, cold facts on the balance sheet.

It seemed to her that lack of character made it simpler to make choices. As Julien had often told her when she was growing up at Cape House, “Just choose what benefits you most and forget all the rest.”

But what if Dr. Jakob is right? What if there is a God who keeps an accurate record of one's life? A righteous Judge who cannot be bought off with diamonds and gold?

Darinda shuddered.
I won't think about that now
.

For a moment or two, she listened to the wind fluttering the shrubs outside the bungalow like little rats running here and there.
Rats—the world is full of them. Like the ruthless human kind that can be far worse than ordinary rats. Rats do what rats are supposed to do, but mankind is shrewd in its sin
.

Why am I thinking this?
She rubbed her forehead.
Don't be a fool, Darinda. This is your chance to be the first woman to head up the family diamond business. Think of the notoriety you'll get in London. Think of the powerful men, even earls, who will see you in a new light. How important you'll be, and how intelligent you'll appear
.

Where was Captain Retford, anyway? It was rude of him to keep her waiting.

She set the spectacles down on the table and turned to leave. She paused, looking back at them. Whose were they? Not that it mattered. Anthony didn't wear spectacles, nor did Arcilla—she was too vain to do so, even if she really needed them. Parnell? Not that she recalled. She picked them up again, wrinkling her nose, turning them over several times. Gold rims, expensive, with the initials,
JB
.

Of course, Grandfather's. She placed them inside her pocket to return to the house.

Driven with impatience, she decided to leave the bungalow. She didn't need to wait for Captain Retford to escort her back to Government House! That was more in line with what Arcilla would expect, or even that religious girl from a vicarage in England somewhere, Evy van Buren, now Mrs. Chantry. She vaguely thought about the wire that arrived some time ago from Squire Lyle Chantry in Grimston Way, telling his stepbrother, Julien, that Rogan and his wife had sailed for Capetown weeks ago. Their arrival would mean little to Darinda now that Rogan had married.

She went down the dark bungalow steps. Dust lifted around her booted feet as she entered the moonlight from the shadows of the bungalow.