Robyn Donald – Iceberg (11 page)

there wouldn't be anywhere near so many trees and shrubs in the garden. They're destructive little beasts."

'Do you ever see them?'

'In the twilight, occasionally,' He looked around. 'About now. Care to go looking for some?'

Her hesitation was only momentary. 'I'd -love to,' she said eagerly. 'Should I change my shoes?'

-He looked down at her slender feet clad in light sandals. 'Perhaps something a little stouter might be an idea.'

Five minutes later she was back, bare arms and legs covered in insect repellant, low-heeled shoes on her feet.

'Sarah's dead to the world,' she told Justin somewhat breathlessly.

'Once she's off she rarely wakes unless she has a night-mare.' .

'Oh. What do you do then?"

'Comfort her. That's all she needs.' He smiled. 'Once she was so distraught that Anna thought it might help if she

discussed the dream with her, but she refused, sobbing out that it would frighten Anna, too. Unfortunately I

wasn't there.'

Linnet immediately wondered where he &ad been. On a business trip, no doubt. But perhaps not. Something

Bronwyn said floated back, uncomfortably vivid, something about him assuming that Bronwyn had wanted an

affair.

As they walked down the paths through the perfumed tangle of the old-fashioned mixture of flower and shrub

beds she stole a look at him. Of course he was experienced; it would be very easy for a man possessed of his

powers of attraction and that exciting blend of ruthlessness and mastery to interest any woman, except one

already in love. It was difficult to imagine that he had lived the life of a celibate since his wife died.

What was strange was her reaction
to
the idea. It made her feel rather sick.

Hurriedly, before she had time to explore the reasons for this, she said, 'Well, I hope she doesn't have any while

we're here.'

'She seems to be growing out of them.'

They had reached a high, strong netting fence, hidden from view by a dense covering of many different

creepers. Justin undid the latch of the wooden gate, held it open for Linnet to pass through, men closed it

carefully behind them.

And it was another world. The pines continued along the peninsula and beyond the fence to climb the hill which

formed the spine of this part of the island, but whereas those on the peninsula swayed above an undergrowth so

dense that it would be practically impossible to push through it, here the ground was bare, the roots of the trees

forming convoluted patterns across the hillside. The little stream which ran down to the head of the bay was

densely embowered in the green arrows of arum lilies, their white flowers eerily vivid in the gathering gloom.

'Incredible!' Linnet breathed. 'Is this all due to wallabies?'

'Not entirely. Cattle and sheep used to run through" here, but now that the Maritime Park Board has taken it

over as a reserve they've cleared them away. There's some regeneration.'

The ground was Slippery with pine needles, it was, no ,doubt, inevitable dial she should trip on the steep path.

She was caught before she touched ground, held firmly, then allowed free.

It was just as well she had her back to Justin, or even in that dim light he couldn't have helped seeing the sudden

bewildering blush which swept over her in a hot tide.

What's the matter with me? she asked herself.

‘You’d better take my hand,' he said calmly. 'It gets steeper.'

'Next time I'll wear boots,' she answered, aware that to refuse his help would be giving the incident exactly that

emphasis she wanted to avoid at all costs.

But his hand seemed to scorch her skin and when they reached the top and came out on to a small grassy area

she was glad to move/away on the pretext of examining a notice-board which asked them to protect and enjoy,

and not destroy.

This is the track down to Mansion House,' he told her. 'If we go across here we might see a wallaby. They quite

often come out to graze.'

He walked, panther-quiet, across the grass, made his way between the bushy, fragrant branches of manuka and

kanuka, holding them back so that she was not swished by them. After a few seconds he took her hand again,

held up a finger in an admonition to silence and slowly, drawing her behind him, made his way to the edge of

another grassy clearing, this time completely surrounded by bushes.

And there were the wallabies, two of them, small creatures like a cross-between an opossum and a rabbit, one

eating while the other kept eyes and ears on the alert. Miraculously they were not disturbed; Linnet held her

breath as the feeding one stood up, revealing a tiny head poking from her bulging pouch.

In all her years in Australia she had come no closer to these beautiful, primitive creatures than at the zoo, and

now, in New Zealand of all places, she was so close to them that one unwary movement would have sent them

scampering off for shelter.

Without the slightest fear they moved across the clearing in the gathering dimness while she stood as still as the

man beside her, clutching his hand without realising it.

Then, from below, a dog barked, and they were gone, leaving behind only a reverberating thump, thump,

thump, as those strong back legs hit the ground.

'That was marvellous!' Scarcely aware of what she was doing, she turned to Justin, half laughing with sheer

delight. 'Thank you so much for bringing me."

'My pleasure,'-he said coolly, then pulled her close with the hand she had just dropped, while the other splayed

across the back of her head, keeping it still.

Linnet met the cold irony of his glance, found that her heart was beaming with threatening intensity in her ears.

Her whole being screamed out at this violation, but she knew that it would be useless to struggle. Justin would

enjoy subduing her, just as he was enjoying her indecision.

'You disappoint me,' she said, trying to infuse the right amount of scorn into her tones.

'Really?' He smiled without humour. 'Because I'm as ready as any other man to accept your invitation? You

must think I'm made of ice, Eiluned. You've been pleasantly provocative all evening; I don't like disappointing

anyone.'

'I have not been provocative!' She was angry at his calm assumption, furious with herself for behaving in such a

manner that he could misunderstand it.

'No?’ He smiled again, lowered his head so that his mouth rested on her forehead and spoke quietly against the

skin. 'You have, as you damned well know, The restlessness, the lowered voice, the eagerness to come up here

with me—the trip on the path. I'd be a fool not to have realised what you want.'

'You're an arrogant, conceited, oversexed fool!' she flung back at him, horrified to find that her voice was

trembling. 'You asked for a truce and like a fool I thought you meant it.'

He laughed. 'My dear girl, so I did. This is a very pleasant bonus.'

Gritting her teeth, to hide the fear that his self-control gave her she retorted, 'I am not your dear girl! Will you

please let me go? I will not be treated like a—like a flirtatious moron!'

'Why aren't you struggling?'

'Oh!' She stamped her foot in rage, trying to believe that it was only anger which made her tremble. "You'd like

that, wouldn't you, so that you could prove just how strong you are. Will you let me go? You've spoilt every’

thing!'

'In that case—' he murmured, lilting her chin with fingers which allowed no resistance, '—I might as well blot

my copybook properly.'

The kiss was devastation, a relentless attack on her mouth and sensibilities, the act of a pirate intent upon his

own pleasure and gain, caring not at all who he hurt in the process.

Blood drummed in her ears as she pushed futilely at the hard muscles of his chest. Then, when she thought he

wanted to smother her, she folded her fist and hit him just below the ribs. With her foot she caught his shin, and

as he straightened up, arched herself away, ready for flight.

But he did not let her go, though she must have hurt him. Instead his lips drew back in a snarl, those eyes blazed

with demonic purpose and he laughed deep in his throat. Man the hunter, that icy self-control removed by pain

and her resistance; Linnet felt real fear as she realised that she had loosed a demon. This was the man who had

driven one woman to suicide. She could believe it now.

'You little bitch! Justin dragged her against
him,
both hands pinioned in one of his behind her so that she was

unable to resist without further inflaming him by the movement of her body. She stiffened, waiting for another

onslaught like the last, her eyes enormous in her face, her bruised mouth held firmly straight. She would
not

show her fear!

For a long moment he stared at her, then the fierce glare died from his eyes, to be replaced by a cold mockery

which repelled her even more.

Her breath came in gasps through her lips, but she 'managed defiance.’ Will you please let me go?' she asked. 'I

imagine you've had your kicks.'

'On the contrary.' He released her, put a hand on either side of her face and held it still, surveying her with

unsparing intensity. 'You were quite right when you said I would enjoy subduing you to my will. But brute

force is too easy—it lacks finesse. I prefer this way ...’

His mouth touched the sensitive skin at the base of her throat, moved with soft insistence up the vulnerable

length to rest in that other hollow beneath one ear. Al-though she Was rigid with outrage Linnet was too

relieved at the departure of his anger to resist as she would almost have certainly done otherwise; beside, she

found to her horror that some sort of magic was getting 'through to her, weaving a spell of glamour which

threatened her more than the anger of a moment ago.

‘No!' she exclaimed loudly, using the sound of her voice to bring back-sanity.

But he ignored her and his mouth continued to move over her face as if he were blind and he could only see by

touch. When his lips closed her eyes she began to tremble, caught by the potent attraction she had

subconsciously feared from the moment of meeting him.

'You're frightened;’ he whispered, half mocking, half surprised. 'Just relax..."

When she tried to answer him he kissed her mouth, softly at first, then with increasing urgency, using his

considerable expertise to win some response from her.

But Linnet could-only recall that young wife who had been wilful and laughing before she married him, and

Bronwyn, who hoped to marry him. And for some strange reason slow tears forced themselves beneath her

lashes.

'Eiluned!' Justin sounded startled, his massive self-confidence gone for the moment, and his hands fell from her

head.

Impelled by a feeling as primitive as it was overwhelming she took flight, running through the bushes as fleetly

as a deer. He called once, then there was silence, except for the soft sound of her feet on the grass and the

harshness of her breathing.

Miraculously she arrived at the gate in one piece, having negotiated the track without slipping once. As she

raced through it she glanced over her shoulder, but there was no sign of him in the thickening darkness beneath

the pines.

By the time she had, showered in the small bathroom between her and Sarah's bedrooms it was dark enough to

go to bed. Wrapped in her white towelling gown, she paced across her dark room, feeling a desolation of spirit

which appalled her by its intensity. It was, she told herself, because she hated the thought of being taken for a

cheap flirt and treated with such casual intimacy that it was an insult.

But deeper down she knew that the reason she felt soc-so wearily disappointed was because Justin had been

revealed as a man who thought he was entitled to take what he wanted even though he was almost engaged to

another. Poor Bronwyn—and poor Alison, who must have known that blind fury which had so frightened

Linnet.

After a while she sat on her bed, staring through the window at the moon, triumphant as it rose above the hills

across the harbour. For once its beauty failed to thrill her, as she wrestled with the realities of the situation she

seemed to have got herself into.

Blast Sarah and her tantrum, exacting promises that were going to be so hard to keep! But she could not really

blame the child, in spite of the fact that it was she who had got Linnet into this’ pickle. Blast Justin Doyle,

rather! The arrogance of the man repelled her, but when she thought of those moments spent in his power the

only thing she could recall was the tide of sensual hunger which had swept over her, blotting out for a few

seconds the principles she had always thought so firmly rooted within.

So that was desire. Incredibly, it was the first time she had ever been at its mercy. And, quite frankly, she didn't

care if it never Happened again. Bronwyn was right: to lose control was a shaming thing to happen, especially

as she was prepared to believe that he had felt nothing so earth-shaking. That had been indolent lust in his

mouth and voice, hot the kind of shattering need she had felt.

No doubt, she thought waspishly, driving the point hard
in,
if she had shown willing he would have enjoyed

himself with some heavy lovemaking, but retained enough control not to seduce her.

And that was humiliation. To be treated as a toy, something to while away a few otherwise boring minutes and

'then discarded when he went on to the important things of life.