Rage - Smith Wilbur (читать книги онлайн без сокращений .TXT) 📗
'You are wonderful,' Garry murmured. 'I've never met anybody like you in my life." Holly smiled again and stroked his thick dark hair. It sprang up under her fingers.
'You've got a double crown,' she told him softly. 'That means you are lucky and brave." 'I didn't know that,' he said, which was not surprising, as Holly had invented it as she said it.
'Oh yes,' she assured him. 'But it also means that we have to grow our hair a little fuller over the crown, otherwise it will stand up in a tuft like this." 'I didn't know that either." Garry reached up and felt his tuft.
try that, but you'll have to tell me how long to let it grow - I don't want to look like a hippy." 'Of course." 'You are wonderful,' he repeated. 'I mean, totally wonderful." 'The woman is obviously a gold-digger,' Centaine said firmly.
'We can't be sure of that, Mater,' Shasa demurred. 'I have heard that she is a damned good architect." 'That has absolutely nothing to do with it. She is old enough to be his mother. She is after one thing, and one thing only. We'll have to put a stop to this immediately. Otherwise it could get out of hand.
It's the talk of the town, all my friends are gloating. They were at Kelvin Grove on Saturday, smooching all over the dance floor." 'Oh, I think it will blow over,' Shasa suggested. 'Just so long as we take no notice." 'Garry hasn't slept at Weltevreden for a week. The woman is as blatant and shameless --' Centaine broke off and shook her head.
'You'll have to speak to her." The?" Shasa raised an eyebrow.
'You are good with females. I'd be sure to lose my temper withe hussy." Shasa sighed, although secretly he welcomed the excuse to have look at this Holly Carmichael. He couldn't imagine what Garry taste in women would be. The lad had never given any indicatio before. Shasa imagined sensible shoes and horn-rimmed glasses, f and fortyish, serious and erudite - and he shuddered. 'All righ Mater, I'll warn her off, and if that doesn't work we can always sen Garry down to the vet to be fixed." 'I wish you wouldn't joke about something as worrying as this said Centaine severely Although Holly had been expecting it for almost a month, whe the call finally came the shock of it was unmitigated. Shasa Courtne had addressed the Businesswomen's Club the previous year, so sh, recognized his voice instantly, and was glad that it was he rathe than Centaine Courtney she had to content with.
'Mrs Carmichael, my son Garry has shown me some of your preliminary sketches for the Shasaville township. As you know, Court.
they Mining and Finance are considerable shareholders in the project Although Garry is responsible for the development, I hoped we coulc meet to exchange a few ideas." She had suggested her own office, but Shasa neatly thwarted her attempt to choose the field of battle and sent a chauffeur to bring her out to Weltevreden in the Rolls. She realized that she was being deliberately placed in surroundings which were intended to overpower her, and show her up in the splendour of a world in which there was no place for her. So she went to endless pains with her dress and appearance, and as she was ushered into Shasa Courtney's study she saw him start and knew that first blood was hers. She made the room with all its treasures seem as though it had been designed around her, and Shasa Courtney's cool supercilious smile faded as he came to take her hand.
'What a magnificent Turner,' she said. 'I always think he must have been an early riser. The sunlight only has that golden lustre in the early morning." His expression changed again as he realized there was depth below her striking exterior.
They circled the room, ostensibly admiring the other paintings, fencing elegantly, testing each other for weakness and finding none, until Shasa deliberately broke the pattern with a direct personal compliment to fluster her.
'You have the most remarkable eyes,' he said, and watched her keenly to see how she would react. She counter-attacked instantly.
'Garrycalls !hem amethyst and sapphire." She had wrongfooted him neauy. He naa expected her to avoid that name until he raised it.
'Yes, I understand the two of you have been working closely." He went to the ivory-inlaid table on which glasses and decanters had been set out.
'May I offer you one of our sherries? We are very proud of them." He brought her the glass and looked into those extraordinary eyes.
'The little devil,' he thought ruefully. 'He has done it again. Who would have expected Garry to come up with something like this!" She sipped the wine. 'I like it,' she said. 'It's dry as flint without any astringency." He inclined his head slightly to acknowledge the accuracy of her judgment.
'I can see that it would be fruitless to attempt to obfuscate. I didn't ask you here to discuss the Shasaville project." 'That's good,' shesaid. 'Because I didn't even bother to bring the latest drawings." He laughed delightedly. 'Let's sit down and get comfortable." She chose the Louis Quatorze chair with Aubusson embroidered upholstery because she had seen the twin to it in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and she crossed one ankle over the other and watched him struggle to get his eyes back up again.
'I had fully intended to buy you off,' he said. 'I realize, after having met you, that would have been a mistake." She said nothing, but watched him over the rim of the glass, and her foot swung like a metronome, with the same ominous rhythm.
'I wondered what price to set,' he went on. 'And the figure of one hundred thousand came to mind." The foot kept swinging and despite himself Shasa glanced down at her calf and exquisitely turned ankle.
'Of course, that was ludicrous,' he went on, still watching her foot in the Italian leather court shoe. 'I realize now that I should have considered at least half a million." He was trying to find her price, and he looked back at her face, searching for the first glint of avarice, but it was hard to concentrate.
Sapphire and amethyst, forsooth, Garry's hormones must be boiling out of his ears - and Shasa felt a stab of envy.
'Naturally, I was thinking in pounds sterling. I haven't adjusted to this rand business yet." 'How fortunate, Mr Courtney,' she said, 'that you decided not to insult us both. This way we can be friends. I'd prefer that." All right, that didn't work out the way he had planned. He set down his sherry glass. 'Garry is still a child,' he changed tack.
She shook her head. 'He's a man. It just needed somebody to convince him of that. It wasn't difficult to do." 'He doesn't know his own mind." 'He is one of the most definite and determined men I have ever met. He knows exactly what he wants and he will do anything to ge it." She waited a moment to let the challenge contained in thost words become clearer, then she repeated softly, 'Anything." 'Yes,' he agreed softly. 'That's a Courtney family trait. We will dc anything to get what we want - or to destroy anything that stands ir our way." He paused, just as she had done and then repeated quietly 'Anything." 'You had three sons, Shasa Courthey. You have one left. Are yoL willing to take that chance?" He reared back in his chair and stared at her. She was unprepared for the agony that she saw in his expression and for a moment she thought she had gone too far. Then he subsided slowly. 'You fight hard and dirty,' he acknowledged sadly.
'When it is worthwhile." She knew it was dangerous with an opponent of this calibre, but she felt sorry for him. 'And for me this is worthwhile." 'For you, yes, I can see that - but for Garry?" 'I think I owe you complete honesty. At the beginning it was a little bit of daring. I was intrigued by his youth - that in itself can be devastatingly appealing. And by the other obvious attractions which you have hinted at." 'The Courtney empire and his place in it." 'Yes. I would have been less than human if that hadn't interested me. That's the way it started, but almost immediately it began to change." 'In what way?" 'I began to understand his enormous potential, and my own influence in developing it fully. Haven't you noticed any change in him in the three months since we have been together? Can you truly tell me my influence on him has been detrimental?" Despite himself Shasa smiled. 'The pinstripe suits and the hornrimmed glasses. They are a vast improvement, I'll admit." 'Those are only the unimpo?tant outward signs of the important inward changes. In three months Garry has become a mature and confident man, he has discovered many of his own strengths and talents and virtues, not the least of which is a warm and loving disposition. With my help he will discover all the others." 'So you see yourself in the role of architect still, building a marble palace out of clay bricks." 'Don't mock him." She was angry, protective and defensive as a lioness. 'He is probably the best of all the Courtneys and I am probably the best thing that will ever happen to him in his life." He stared at her, and exclaimed with wonder as it dawned upon him. 'You love him - you really love him." 'So you understand at last." She stood up and turned towards the door.
