Tomorrow's Treasure (3 page)

She turned back to the window. Her fingers ran along the smooth rich texture of the portieres as her eyes narrowed. Cousin Henry Chantry just might be the answer to her present dilemma. The sight of the knave of hearts, baggage in hand, brought Katie a new expectation. Schemes took shape in her mind. Perhaps he could help her escape to the mission station to find her baby, and even arrange passage on a ship to London, and America. Perhaps all was not doomed after all!

As she turned from the window she caught a glance of her image in the gilded mirror. She stopped short, surprised by her own expression. The little upturn of her lips looked sly. For a brief moment her conscience smote her—an uncommon experience since her father's death in the explosion. How disappointed Carl van Buren would be in his daughter if he knew how she had grown up!

Her tawny, wavy hair fell loosely across her shoulders, and her blue velvet empire gown showed a desirable woman. She clenched her teeth.
Too late … too late to undo the past. I am unwed with no prospects of marrying the father of my child. I need money for myself and Evy. No
—she met the amber gaze reflected in the glass—
there is no turning back for you, Katie van Buren. You have set your sails, and now the wild winds must bear you along.

Ideas churned in her mind, like little weeds growing taller and stronger, and she paced.

How would she get money enough to escape, and a great deal more? It would do no good to flee if she ended up on the streets of New York with a babe in arms, no place to go, and nothing to make her new life
respectable. That was no way to start if she was to realize her dream of one day establishing Evy in high society.

I am still young. There can be another love in New York with a respectable name who will marry me and adopt Evy as his daughter.
Yes. That was how it would be. After all, she had a right—she was Carl van Buren's daughter. He had been partners with Julien Bley. Why shouldn't she have what had rightfully belonged to her father? What Julien was now keeping!

She must have the Black Diamond, the stone Sir Julien was always enticing buyers from London with by waving it under their noses. Once she had Evy and the Black Diamond, she would be free to do anything she wished.

Her mind made up, she felt nervous perspiration running down her ribs. The Black Diamond. How could she get it?

Henry Chantry was the man to approach about that. He insisted
his
father had found it, and that the diamond was by rights Chantry property, that Sir Julien had used deceit to secure it for himself.

Katie grimaced. She must be desperate indeed to turn to Cousin Henry.

A noise caught Katie's attention, and she spun to see that Inga was about to leave. “Leave the door unbolted. Don't you see? I
must
sneak downstairs and speak alone with Cousin Henry.”

“If you get caught, Miss Katie, you know what Sir Julien will do to me for not bolting the door.”

“I won't get caught. Please, Inga, I'm desperate.”

Inga fiddled with her apron. “Just this once, miss, but do be heedful. Do, please.”

“He won't catch me. I promise to be careful.”

Katie waited until the woman's steps faded away down the hall, then inched the door open.

It was quiet. She crept to the stairway in time to see Cousin Henry entering the downstairs hall. He was looking toward Sir Julien's office with a dark countenance that matched his swarthy appearance.

Henry Chantry looked as dangerous as any blackguard pirate. He was
tall, with black hair and mustache, and Katie suspected he carried a pistol somewhere beneath his white linen jacket. The last she had heard he had been in uncharted territory in Mashonaland on an expedition to locate a mysterious gold deposit that he avowed his grandfather had learned about from some tribal chieftain. No one believed Henry about the gold, although he claimed to have his grandfather's map. Henry's wife had died several years ago on an expedition, and the Brewster family held him responsible. Katie doubted Sir Julien would receive Henry at all kindly.

She stooped behind the banister, not wishing to be seen. She must approach Cousin Henry with caution—Sir Julien was downstairs in his office. What would he do when he heard of Henry's arrival? Perhaps she could learn something to aid her own quest if she could listen in on their conversation. Putting her scruples aside, she hid until Henry walked toward Julien's office, then prepared to sneak down the stairs to listen at the door.

Henry Chantry left the veranda with its bright sunlight and was now standing in the entrance hall looking toward the room he remembered to be Julien's office. His restless gaze flitted over the mansionlike amenities of Cape House, which was just as he remembered. He'd left for England two years ago, after his wife's death of African fever. They had been camped out on the Shangani River on their way back to Bulawayo to bring her to a doctor at the mission station when she had succumbed to the summons of death. Her aunt, Lady Brewster, had never forgiven him for bringing Caroline on the trek.

Henry forced his features into the semblance of a smile when he saw his stepbrother, Sir Julien Bley, standing in the hall beside the door to his office. Julien must have heard the carriage arrive out front.

Henry felt the icy stare of Julien's single eye; it seemed to bore through him with malevolent intent. So, matters had not changed.

“What are you doing here?” Sir Julien demanded, his voice low and chilled.

Henry felt the muscles in his jaw tense. The anger he had been living with ever since Julien had ordered him to leave Cape House blazed, feeling like hot coals in his chest.

“Did I not tell you two years ago”—Julien spoke as though through gritted teeth—“not to come back until you have turned your last allowance into a profitable business?”

Henry recalled that last meeting. He had relived the argument a thousand times over while in England. Each time he replayed the humiliating memory, he promised himself he would one day make Julien pay.

Henry felt his shoulders beginning to sag in the face of his stepbrother, who stood straight-backed, his head high, a diamond stickpin flashing loudly on his black lapel. The day of revenge had not yet arrived. Though Henry had worked hard in London, it seemed that money in his palm turned to straw, while in Julien's it multiplied into diamonds … heaps of them, all flashing brilliantly.

Yet was he not a son of the family as well? Didn't he have as much right to share in the family diamond mines as Julien?

“Well?” Sir Julien's tone was thick with disdain. “Have you come crawling back to me again? Cannot stand on your own two feet, eh? Well, you'll get nothing from me. Do you hear? Nothing. If you want anything to fill your empty pockets, my boy, you can go work in the mines along with the Africans!”

Sir Julien turned on his polished heel and strode into his office, shutting the door.

Henry stood there, tasting bitter gall. His heart slammed in his chest. Tiny beads of sweat formed on his upper lip. It was enough that he had to deal with his own constant string of failures, but when Julien's success was thrown in his face like this, it fed the resentment that ate at his heart like a canker.

I'll get my rightful share of the diamonds—or kill him in the trying.
He walked with slow, steady steps toward the office door. His hand was sweaty as he grasped the doorknob and turned it. If it was locked—

It wasn't. He opened it and stepped in, shutting it quietly behind him.

Sir Julien sat behind his polished desk, a small, golden lamp glowing on the surface. The Black Diamond sat glittering under the light like midnight fire. The very sight of it—and the thought of its value on the world market—made Henry's breathing tense.

The corners of Sir Julien's mouth turned up, but his eye held no humor. “So you persist.”

Curse the man, he sounded downright bored. Henry schooled his voice to be even, calm. “You will hear me out, Julien. I demand to be treated with respect.”

Sir Julien's mouth widened into a smile that Henry loathed, then inclined his dark head with what was clearly mock gravity.

“Very well, I am listening.”

Henry walked to the center of the room and stood. The diamond flashed. It was all he could do to keep from gazing at it.

“It was my father who found that.” He nodded toward the diamond. “Both Lyle and I want what is rightfully ours—as his sons.”

“Everyone suddenly claims to have found the Black Diamond, but I have an eyewitness who has sworn by the laws of England that it was I who discovered it, along with the Kimberly mine.”

It seemed to Henry that the black patch on Julien's blind eye began to expand into a gaping pit into which Henry would soon be engulfed.

“A
Chantry
found the Black Diamond!”

“As you found a gold mine?” came Julien's impatient retort.

“I did find a gold mine.” Henry braced himself with both hands on the wide desk as he leaned toward Julien. “One day I shall be rich. But I need that diamond to resume my expedition into Mashonaland.”

“Don't be a fool, Henry. You've had these expeditions before. The last time it was emeralds. Until”—his voice grew even colder—“you filled your pockets with wind and had to bury your dreams beside Caroline's grave!”

He straightened as though he'd been slapped across the face. “Curse you, Julien. Leave my poor wife out of this!”

“It was you who dragged her into it, hauling her with you across wild, savage land—all while expecting your child! That they are both
dead now lies at
your
doorstep—just as surely as though you had killed them.”

Henry could bear it no longer. He would shut Julien up if it was the last thing he did! He made a lunge for Julien's throat, but stopped cold when Julien lifted a large caliber pistol from his lap. He aimed it at Henry's chest, his eye flickering in the lamplight—and Henry had the oddest impression that that one eye was a reflection of the Black Diamond.

“You will get nothing from me, Henry. And nothing from Lady Brewster. She blames you for Caroline's death. You robbed her of her only granddaughter—and her unborn great-grandchild lies buried in Mashonaland with her. Do you think either of us would give you a single shilling?” Julien stood. “Now get out of my office … and out of my life.”

Dazed from bitter humiliation and weight of his guilt over his late wife, Henry just stood there. He felt as though he were in a trance, and the only thing that got through was the rage toward Julien.

His stepbrother walked around the desk and moved to open the door. He stepped back and gestured, still holding the pistol. “Get out.”

Henry turned and walked with leaden steps toward the door, then paused to meet Julien's icy gaze. Neither spoke. Henry straightened his shoulders and walked out, his heels clicking on the polished marble hall.

The housekeeper loitered nearby, glancing from the office door to Henry before she hurried toward the front door and opened it. Her gray eyes darted here and there as she managed a curtsy. “A good day to you, Mister Chantry, sir.”

Henry walked out of Cape House onto the veranda. He stood there for a moment, staring at nothing. Now what? What to do next?

He pressed his lips together. If it had not been for that pistol …

Katie had listened at the door of Julien's office through the entire exchange. When the housekeeper noticed her listening, Katie warned her to silence.

Katie hurried out of sight when footsteps approached the door. When Henry exited the office, the housekeeper showed him to the door, then looked only too glad to get away and be about her duties.

The house was still now, with a sense of impending doom. Katie remained hidden behind the bottom of the staircase facing her guardian's office. She was about to come around and go up to her room to think over what she had heard when the office door opened and Julien stood in the doorway. She dared not move … could not breathe. If he saw her, he would twist the truth from her, making her admit what she had overheard.