Antarctic Affair (4 page)

“Which you’re not,” Taj reminded him
quickly.

“Nor do I wish to be. I wouldn’t give up
Maria for the world. I said
if
I was
single…”

Just then the subject under discussion
waltzed straight into the bar and every male head in the room turned to stare.
Georgina looked around her appearing not to notice.

“She sure knows how to make an
entrance,” Don muttered.

“That she does,” Taj acknowledged.
“Unfortunately she’s in way over her head.”

“What are you talking about?” Don was
still staring at Georgina.

“She’s totally unsuitable for this kind
of assignment. I spoke to her on the plane. She thinks we’re going on a luxury
cruise!”

“Tell me you’re kidding?” Don dragged
his eyes away from Georgina momentarily.

“I wish I was,” Taj told him. “She’ll
probably kick up a fuss if she can’t get a decent cappuccino on board.”

“Okay, well she’ll need a little
orientation then.”

Taj rolled his eyes and his friend
chuckled.

Georgina was scanning the room. Finally
her eyes settled on Taj and she advanced in his direction.

“Uh-oh, here she comes,” Taj murmured
under his breath.

“Does she ever,” agreed Don softly.

The tight black velvet skirt she wore
was buttoned at her waste and clung to her slender thighs, ending fashionably
just below the knee. She’d complemented it with a wide belt decorated with tiny
silver studs. The snug-fitting black T-shirt was made of a sheer lycra fabric
and would have left little to the imagination had she not worn a cropped
waste-coast over it. Several long strands of beads hung loosely around her neck
and the dark colour of her outfit contrasted vividly with her bright red hair,
which Taj now noticed had different strands of colour shot through it varying
from orange to dark auburn. She looked every bit the fashionable London
journalist.

“Hello again.” She spoke with friendly,
confident air and made direct eye contact with Taj. He noticed she wore a lot
more make-up then on the plane. It emphasised her lips, but made her blue eyes
look colder somehow.

“Hello! How are you?” Don stuck his hand
out under her nose.

Taj grinned at his friend’s obvious
enthusiasm and made the introductions. “Georgina, this is Don
Mackley
. He is leading this expedition. I know he looks a
bit scruffy but I assure you we’re in very good hands. Don, Georgina McKellar,
from Verve Magazine.”

Georgina laughed and they shook hands.
“I’m so pleased to meet you, Don. I’m very excited about this trip. I’ve never
been on a ship before.”

Don purposely didn’t look at Taj. “Well
there’s a first time for everything,” he said smoothly. “I’m sure you’ll have a
great time. Antarctica is a very beautiful place and there’s no one like Taj
here,” he whacked his friend on the back, “to show it to you in all its
splendour.”

She looked at Taj and nodded, “Great.”

“Would you like a drink?” Don asked.

“Sure, I’ll have a glass of dry white
wine. Thank you.”

“No problem,” said Don as he beckoned to
the barman.

He ordered two beers and a glass of wine
and it was when Georgina reached up to take the glass that Taj noticed the
ring, or rather the rock on her finger. It was hard to miss. For someone who
was so fashionable, he was surprised at the garish stone. Now
that
would put a spanner in Don’s
matchmaking plans. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed the ring before. Perhaps
she hadn’t been wearing it on the plane.

“Wow,” said Don suddenly. He’d obviously
also noticed the ring. Georgina looked surprised and followed his gaze to her
left hand. She closed her fist self-consciously. “Yes, I’ve just got engaged,”
she said. Taj thought she looked almost embarrassed. Perhaps she didn’t like the
ring either.

“Congratulations.” Taj spoke up when it
became obvious Don wasn’t going to.

“Thanks,” she said. “I actually
postponed the engagement party because of this trip, so it had better be worth
it.” She gave a little laugh. Taj managed a weak smile and Don looked
embarrassed.

“Congratulations. I’m sorry if I was
rude,” he said sincerely. “It’s a pity your fiancé couldn’t join you on the
expedition. Antarctica can be very romantic.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure he would have loved
it, but he couldn’t take the time off, he’s got an important book launch next
week,” she said brightly.

“He’s a writer?” Taj enquired.

“No, he’s in publishing,” she replied.
“Actually, his family owns the company, so he’s really busy.”

“Maybe next time,” Don suggested kindly.

Georgina smiled at him wistfully. “You
never know.”

“Well, I have to go and do my thing up
there,” he nodded towards the front of the room. “It was lovely meeting you,
Georgina, I’m sure we’ll get a chance to chat later, on board the
Explorer
.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” she smiled.

“Be there in a moment,” Taj called, as
Don took his leave.

“I must apologise for my behaviour on
the plane yesterday,” Georgina said, taking advantage of the fact no one was
around them. “I was totally unprofessional. I’m afraid you caught me completely
off guard.”

Taj was impressed by her attempt to
smooth things over between them. Even he had to admit they’d got off to a
rather bumpy start.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said
casually. “I wasn’t in the best of moods either.”

She nodded and exhaled. He realised
she’d been holding her breath. He found that to be quite endearing. She was
nervous. Who would have thought?

“I’ve been reading about you,” she
began, touching the rim of her glasses. “I had no idea photography could be so
dangerous.”

I’ve
been reading about you.
Now why did that thought make him feel
distinctly uncomfortable?

“It can be,” he acknowledged. “What does
it say in my file, or is that still confidential?” He was teasing her and was
quite amused when she blushed.

“Nothing much really,” she told him. “I
read about a few of your past projects, Hawaii, Africa and the Namib Desert. I
loved the shots of the sand dunes, by the way. Beautiful.”

“It’s hard not to take a beautiful photo
in a place like that,” he said modestly.

“You haven’t seen my holiday pics,” she
laughed.

“I thought you didn’t take holidays?”

“I haven’t in a long while,” she
admitted. “That’s why I’m looking so forward to this one. I’m way overdue.”

Now there was a turn for the books.
Perhaps his first impression of her had been a little harsh.

“Does it say anything about my, er,
colourful social life in the file?”

“Only that you like women,” she grinned.
“A lot.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” he
grimaced. “It’s not true, I promise.”

“What, you don’t like women?” She was
teasing him now.

He laughed. “Actually, I’m serious you
know. It really isn’t true. They get tired of waiting, that’s why they leave.”

He could see she was momentarily
confused. Then she blinked, “You mean your girlfriends?”

He nodded. “I’m never home. I’ve got a
house in Santa Monica, but I’m never there. Nobody wants a boyfriend who’s
never around.”

“I see,” said Georgina softly, studying
him with her pale blue eyes.

“I wanted you to know that up front,” he
said matter-of-factly. “It may make a different to what you write.”

“Of course,” she reassured him. Then
after a moment, “I was wondering about the interviews, whether we should set up
some kind of schedule or something.”

“Schedule?” He scowled. He hated
schedules.

She frowned. “You know, like when we can
fit interviews around your work.”

“We’ll be on board for ten days, I’m
sure we’ll find time to fit in a couple of interviews.”

They didn’t need a schedule for one or
two interviews, surely.

She looked put out. “I don’t want to
feel I’m harassing you all the time. I’d rather we had a set schedule for
interviews. You know, like every evening we meet at six and go through what you
did that day.”

He ran a hand through his hair. That
sounded like absolute hell. He was just beginning to think she wasn’t so bad
when she’d brought up the schedules.

“No offence, but I’m terrible with
schedules. Every since boarding school I’ve hated routines. I don’t operate
well under that kind of pressure.” At least he could try to explain. Be nice,
Phil had warned him. He tried a smile, “Tomorrow afternoon we board the ship.
Everybody gets together for dinner then usually hangs out at the bar. Let’s
talk then, okay?”

Georgina bit her lip. He could tell she
wanted to argue but thought better of it. “Okay, you win. No schedules. But I
definitely want a preliminary interview before you get started with the
photography. It’s important that I get a feel for what you’re working on.”

“Isn’t that in my file?” he asked
hopefully.

She shook her head. “No, unfortunately
not.”

He sighed. “Okay, you’ve got a deal.
Until tomorrow then,” and he hurried off to give Don a hand with the
presentation.

CHAPTER THREE

As irritated as Georgina was with the
man, she had to admit Taj Andrews made for fascinating reading. He’d certainly
earned his reputation as the ‘wild man’ of nature photography. He made a name
for himself fresh out of college when he hung upside down out of a helicopter
to shoot pictures of the massive waves at the remote storm-tossed reef 105
miles off the coast of Southern California called the Cortes Bank. What made
his shots even more unique was that unbelievably there were guys surfing those
waves. His photograph ended up on the front page of The New York Times, as well
as various other sporting magazines. After a few more stunts like abseiling
into active volcanic craters and summit helicopter landings, Discovery Channel
did a documentary on him calling him the ‘rebel photographer’. After that the
offers came flooding in. The feather in his cap came when National Geographic
asked him to become part of their team.

His biography was interesting too.
Georgina was surprised to learn his father was a Supreme Court attorney and a
political heavy-weight in Washington circles. That didn’t sound at all like
Taj, well, the little she knew of him anyway. His parents were divorced and his
mother, a sculptor, had remarried and currently lived in San Francisco. A
sculptor, now that she could believe. Taj must have got his artistic ability
from his mother’s side of the family.

The file went on to outline some of his
more famous photographs, along with a couple of articles he’d written, also for
National Geographic. So the man could also write? Very interesting. He had
seemed so ‘anti’ reporters when she’d spoken to him yesterday at the reception.
Publicity shy might be a better way of putting it.

After her initial conversation with him
at the reception last night, he’d gone out of his way to avoid her. When her
few attempts to corner him had failed, she had given up and retired to her room
in frustration. Until then Georgina hadn’t realised just how challenging this
assignment was going to be. It was quite obvious her subject didn’t want her
around. Well, she didn’t particularly want to be here either, but then she
didn’t have any choice in the matter. If he thought he could continue to ignore
her he was very mistaken. She needed this cover story to be a good one. In fact
it had to be her best one yet. The assistant editor position depended on it.
Eric had practically promised her the job if she came through on this feature.
She’d been working herself to the bone for years to prove she had what it took
to be assistant editor and now that the opportunity was within reach, she
wasn’t about to lose it. She was thoroughly irked that Taj was being so
difficult. She had yet to discuss with him his ideas for this trip and she
planned to do that after dinner tonight in the bar. He’d said they could talk
then and talk he would, even if she had to tie him to the bar counter to do it!