Storm Cycle

by Margaret Pargeter

  The door was closed but not locked. Inside it was clean but spartan, reminding Zoe very much of the cottage where the otter and his master had lived in Ring Of Bright Water. There appeared to be only one room, containing a rough bed squeezed into one corner. In front of the open hearth stood a sturdy table, while makeshift bookshelves lined the walls, packed with an assortment of dusty books.

  'A poor place but mine own,' Reece misquoted softly, drawing Zoe inside and closing the door.

  'Did he really live here? The writer, I mean,' she asked, still gazing around curiously.

  'Five years, I believe.' Reece tossed the wet hair from his eyes, brushing it back with an impatient hand as he began piling wood on the hearth. 'He was study­ing the seals and birds, then suddenly decided he'd had enough.'

  'He must be a very good sort, all the same,' she commented appreciatively, 'to have left all that dry wood.'

  'I wasn't criticising him.' Reece glanced, with a hint of amusement, at her indignant face. 'I'm really very grateful that his house is here and available. As for the wood, people living on islands often make a habit of collecting it, driftwood, washed up on the shore. As we were,' he muttered more harshly.

  Zoe found she was shivering, both from his tone of voice and the cold. 'Have we any matches?' she asked, realising with dismay that they might not have any-thing to light a fire.

  'I have a waterproof packet on me.' Reece threw of his soaked jacket to enable him to get at them. As the flames leapt to an almost instant heat, he gave a grunt of satisfaction and added more wood. Turning to Zoe again, he said curtly, 'Better start getting out of thosewet clothes, unless you want to catch pneumonia.' Flushing slightly, she glanced at him quickly. 'Is there anything we could wear, do you think, while our own clothes are drying?'

  His mouth twisted. 'I see what you mean. I'll have a look.' He opened the door of an old cupboard and she was relieved to see it contained an assortment of garments.

  'A shirt, anyway,' he threw it to her. 'It looks bigenough to cover you completely. There's a pair of pantswhich might do for me. I can't seem to see anothershirt, so I'll have to do without until mine dries. Goodjob there's a difference in our anatomy.'

  As he withdrew his head from the cupboard, the colour in Zoe's cheeks deepened. 'We only have oneroom.'

  Reece eyed her sardonically. 'I'm afraid I can't do anything about that, but we can always turn our backs on each other.' Mockingly, as though to punish her lack of trust, he added, 'If we must.'

  What he meant was, if she must. Suddenly, as a feeling of recklessness swept over her, Zoe found her-self railing against the conventions she had observed all her life. Reece was right to mock. What place had foolish, silly pride in a situation like this? They were both cold, almost ill with it, despite their joint efforts to make light of it. If she distrusted Reece enough to believe he was about to rape her at any moment, then she didn't deserve his respect.

  'It doesn't matter,' she bent her head so he shouldn't notice her regrettable embarrassment. 'That was stupid of me, after all we've been through.'

  'Yes,' he agreed, but as though he didn't attach much importance to it. Hastily she began struggling with buttons.

  'Here, let me,' he went to her assistance almost in­differently. 'Oilskins can be very unwieldy.' Removingthe coat from her slim shoulders, he threw it aside. 'That didn't keep you very dry, did it?'

  Ruefully she glanced at it. 'I don't think anything would withstand total submersion!'

  Her thick sweater came next, then her shirt and jeans, all the time Reece working methodically, no expression on his face. Her jeans caused the most trouble. Through being wet, they were too tight and there were patches of red on her long, slender legs before he managed to get her out of them. When at last she stood in only her scanty bra and panties, he picked up the shirt and passed it to her.

  'You'd better do the rest yourself, Zoe, I think.'

  She could tell nothing of what he was thinking. There was only a faint tinge of red over his cheekbones which she put down to exertion. Quickly she slipped the shirt over her head, wriggling out of her under-clothing beneath its protective folds. 'Your friend must be a giant!' she smiled.

  'Yes,' Reece turned his attention to his own wet clothes, 'he's tall, anyway.'

  While he changed she saw to the fire and when she looked up again she noticed his pants fitted him very well, apart from around the waist where they were a little on the big side.

  'There's a kettle,' he said, 'and, I think, a spring at the door. While I go and fetch some water, be a good girl and see if you can find some coffee or tea.'

  Feeling awkward in her long shirt and bare feet, Zoe opened the door of another cupboard which she hoped might hold such things. Now she was dry and warmer, she felt much happier. She even began to feel a sense of adventure, which seemed surprising, after what they'd been through.

  She didn't find any coffee, but there was half a packet of teabags and a tin of milk. As they waited for the kettle to boil she discovered some tins of baked beans and biscuits, along with some sugar. 'At least we won't starve,' she said, showing them to Reece.

  'We'd better open one tin at a time,' he said. 'We don'tknow how long they may have to last.'

  About to pass him a tin-opener, Zoe paused. She and been absorbed with other things, but it was stillincredible that she hadn't given a thought as to howthey were to get away from here. Or about the people at home.

  'Do you think we'll have to stay until the storm passses over?' she asked.

  Glancing at her quickly, he replied bluntly, 'We'll probably have to stay here all night. In the morning I'll take a look at the boat, if she's still there, but Ican't promise anything until I see what kind of condition she's in.'

  'I see.' Zoe's forehead creased anxiously. 'And what about letting anyone know where we are? My grand-parents are bound to be terribly worried.'

  'It's a pity you didn't think of that sooner,' he remarked acidly. 'It's not my fault they won't know you're with me.'

  It was the first time he had mentioned it and shehad the grace to look ashamed. 'I told Gran Iwas going with you. I hoped you might change your mind, you see.'

  'But I didn't.'

  'No.' She pushed the tin and opener towards him before she dared meet his narrowed eyes and answer his unspoken question. 'When you refused the second time, I was so mad I didn't stop to think. I hid on board while you were making your phone call and fell asleep.'

  'I thought something like that must have happened.' Reece tipped the beans in a pan, placing it on a hob near the fire. As he turned back to her, his face was grim. 'You always were a spoiled little brat, Zoe. If I'dknown what you were up to you wouldn't have been able to sit down for a week!'

  'All the same,' she muttered stubbornly, while her pulse raced with fright, 'I don't regret what I did. You can pretend to hate me, but you know you would have been drowned if it hadn't been for me. I had an awful struggle to get you off the deck. Not that I expect gratitude ..."

  'You aren't getting any,' he said coldly. 'No amount of whining or effusive speechifying is going to solve our immediate problem, my girl. The fact remains that because of your stupid inability to take no for an answer, your grandparents are in for a very anxious time. It's too dark and wild to even try to get to the yacht to send a message tonight.'

  Glancing through the window, Zoe didn't argue. The storm had scarcely abated and she was aware of despair and pain because of the things he had said to her. Home-truths were seldom easy to listen to, but it was the dislike in Reece's voice when he spoke to her which she found hardest to bear.

  'If you hadn't come I might have been dead,' he said coldly, 'but no one would have been unduly worried.'

  'That's a beastly thing to say!' she choked, her face going white, her head reeling.

  His mouth merely twisted cynically. 'Your concern might be touching, darling, if I thought it was genuine. Now, I think we'd better eat our supper and go to bed, and see what tomorrow brings.' />
  He had taken aspirin and insisted his head was none the worse. He was irritated when she kept on enquiring about it, so she decided to do as she was told. The beans tasted good and the biscuits, washed down with cups of hot, sweet tea, provided a fairly adequate finale to their meal. Reece ate and drank more than Zoe. Knowing how worried Janet and Taggart would betook away most of her appetite. Reece's attitude didn'thelp either. Meeting the disapproval in his eyes, as theysat together at the small table, she wondered bleaklyhow she had ever come to imagine she loved him. 'Isn't there any other way of getting word?' she askedeventually.

  She didn't have to explain what she was talking about. 'If there was do you think I wouldn't try?' he said tersely.

  'I don't know,' she muttered distractedly. As his face darkened, she hurried on, 'Yes, I'm sure you would, but I was thinking more of the island than the boat.

  Are you sure it's uninhabited? Just supposing you'd made a mistake and there were other houses?'

  Grimly, he shook his head. 'I'm quite certain I have my facts right, and if I did go and search to make absolutely sure, in the dark what could I see? On un-familiar ground it could be madness—I might easily fall into a bog or over a cliff.' He shrugged, as if to say as far as he was concerned it wouldn't matter, but he asked, his eyes glinting, 'How would you manage if I did? Left here on your own, it could be weeks, even months before you were found.'

  Shivering, on both counts, Zoe attempted to apolo-gise.'I'm sorry, Reece. There must be something the matter with my head.'

  'I'm afraid I'm inclined to agree.' Grimly he rose to his feet and began to clear the table.

  Zoe watched dully as he gathered up the pan and cups, putting everything in a large plastic dish and pouring over them the last of the hot water in the kettle. Somehow she hadn't the heart to help. While they'd eaten supper, Reece had aired the blankets off the bed beside the fire. After finishing the dishes he remade it, remarking, with some satisfaction, that both the bed and the blankets were quite dry.

  Coolly, when he had completed this task, he commanded, 'Come and get in, while I make up the fire. I'll probably wait until you're asleep before I join you.'

  'Join me?' Zoe was shocked out of her apathy. Childishly she exclaimed, 'We can't share a bed, we aren't married!'

  With a harsh expletive, he turned on her angrily.

  'Have you no sense? It's a case of survival, keeping, warm. Or would you rather take turns? I'll sit by thefire for a few hours, then we can change over.'

  Zoe stared at him, her small face hot with frustration. If she refused to sleep with him it would imply that she believed he would take advantage of the situation, yet, if she agreed, how was she to feel when they were in bed together?

  As something of her indecision showed, he observed mockingly, 'You still don't trust me, Zoe?'

  Suddenly it all proved too much for her. She averted her head, but not before he had seen the tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. With a muffled groan- he reached out, drawing her to him.

  As his arms went closely around her trembling body, through the thin cotton of her shirt she could feel the warmth and hardness of him flowing into her like a burning tide. When his lips crushed hers, swiftly and passionately, she responded unthinkingly, feeling unable to move, let alone struggle. Dazedly she wondered if this was a kind of punishment for her contrariness as the kiss went on and on, as if he was seeking out every bit of rebellion in her, draining her lips of the last bit of resistance until she could hardly breathe.

  'Zoe,' he muttered, in a kind of savage voice, thick with urgency, 'you know I wouldn't hurt you, but you make it damned difficult—the things you say. Even what you merely think!'

  'I'm sorry,' she murmured, clinging to him, notreally aware of anything, uncaring if she was hurt. He caressed her cheek gently with long fingers. She could feel the roughness of his chest almost bruising her breasts. The belt of his pants pressed into her stomach and the muscles of his strong legs were rigid against the softer slenderness of her own. Vaguely she realised he was exercising great self-control. 'I'm sorry, too,' he replied slowly. 'I owe you a lot for saving my life. I won't forget.'

  'I don't want you to remember it as a debt.' She letone slim hand travel experimentally over his shoulders.

  His skin was warm, slightly roughened, but she had anirresistible desire to touch her mouth to it.

  'A debt is a debt,' he murmured, almost as if hewasn't thinking of what he was saying but intent onthe course her hand was taking. Then with a soundwhich was halfway between a sigh and groan he bentto her again. Their mouths met and clung and she felthelpless to deny the wild flood of response he arousedin her, for all she tried to resist it. Her arms lockedaround his neck, which was smooth and strong likehis shoulders. Fiercely she pressed against him, murmuring his name, until the sound of it, mingling with the accelerating beat of her heart, threatened to sendher into a kind of frantic delirium. As he kissed hereyes, her cheeks and her hair, she offered up her mouthagain with a complete lack of pretence or restraint.

  Then his head jerked, like a man sensing danger,and he stopped. Suddenly he was picking her up,ignoring her trembling lips as he carried her to thebed. Tersely he said, 'I think it's time you got some rest.'

  Though it might be what she needed, it was the lastthing she wanted. As he laid her down, none too gently,she clutched at him tightly. 'Kiss me goodnight,Reece,' she begged, refusing to be ashamed. 'I Iwould like you to.'

  Her husky confession didn't have the desired effect. His face shuttered and dark, he exclaimed, 'Must you be so brazen? What you really want is a rude awakening! You're like a child crying for candy, and you aren't getting any!'

  Instantly driven, as always, by the hurt of his rejection, Zoe cried defiantly, 'Want to bet?'

  The mounting fury, almost leaping from his glittering eyes, removed her fleeting bravado. Without waiting for his verbal reply, she turned over, burying her hot face in the cool pillow. If Reece had anything to say, and she could guess the nature of any further comment, she had no wish to hear it.

  She was so tired that despite what had just taken place she thought she would have dropped off at once,, but curiously she found sleep evaded her. Her eyes kept opening, straying towards Reece as he sat by the fire, clinging to him as if she had never seen him before. Was it only because she imagined she loved him that he had turned into an exciting stranger?

  Stirring uneasily, she decided she was possibly deluding herself. What they had been through together had obviously heightened her emotions to a pitch where love and desire became so interwoven it was impossible to tell one from the other. Perhaps Reece was right when he said she was like a child crying for candy. If she had any sense at all she would forget the way in which his kisses had affected her and go to sleep.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Zoe was still trying to deal firmly with her irrationalemotions when she saw Reece get wearily to his feetand look across at her. Immediately she pretended to be sleep. After a moment's hesitation, during which be must have decided she was, he came to the bed andstretched out beside her. Lifting the rumpled surplus of the blanket covering her, he pulled it over himselfwith an impatient sigh. As Zoe held her breath, something difficult to achieve, the way her heart was pounding, he turned on to his back, lacing his hands behind his head.

  Why had he put them there? Was it to keep them out of mischief? she wondered, her mouth quirking wryly at the unusual trend of her thoughts. Then she remembered her grandfather, visualising his anger if he could see her now. Not surprisingly every vestige of humour fled as a quiver of apprehension rushed over her.

  Instinctively seeking protection, as she had done many times before, she turned to Reece nervously, with a half smothered cry. 'He'd kill me!' she muttered indistinctly.

  Swiftly, with a soft word of comfort, Reece took his hands from his head to take hold of her. Gently he drew her nearer to him, obviously believing she was having a bad dream.

  Zoe stopped thinking of her grandfa
ther. Feeling Reece's arms around her, she snuggled shamelessly closer. Something told her such an incident might not happen again and she wanted to savour every moment of i. 'Reece,' she murmured, drowsily content.

  At once he stiffened. 'I thought you were asleep.'

  'Does it matter?' she sighed.

  He didn't move, but she felt him tense. 'Why aren't you asleep?' he persisted.

  'How should I know?' she replied absently, rubbing a soft hand against him, meaning to appease. As she touched him his muscles went rigid under her tentative fingers. There was the slight tang of salt tantalising her delicate nostrils. 'It must be the seawater,' she whispered shakily, breathing it in.

  'Zoe! What on earth are you on about now?' he snapped.

  'Your skin, it smells salty,' she tried to explain.

  'So does yours. And we will, until we get back to civilisation and have a bath,' he said curtly.