Incredulous at the extent of Max's consideration, but still glowing from the warmth of his kiss, she stifled the instinctive protest that came to her lips at being mollycoddled. She just nodded silently and let him help her to her feet. They gathered their bags and continued on their way.
* * *
It was early evening by the time they arrived at the lake, although Elise was amazed at how quickly the last few hours had passed. She'd thought that the rest of the trek might be awkward after the kiss they had shared, but Max hadn't allowed any opportunity for uncomfortable silences or embarrassed looks. Instead, he'd grasped her by the hand, maintaining the light physical contact between them that already had her heart beating just a bit more quickly than normal, and they'd chatted casually about London and its outskirts, and possible places she might be happy to live if she decided to take the editor position.
"Wow!" Elise stopped in her tracks and just gazed, awestruck, at the sight that greeted her. Where the river flowed into the lake there was a spectacular waterfall. She'd known from her research that it was located in this area, and could even hear the thunder of the water beating down as they'd approached the site, but nothing had prepared her for the beauty of the shimmering water in the evening light, or the majesty of the sheer drop of water, resembling a sheet of opaque glass, as it fell over the rocks.
"Impressive, isn't it?" he asked, although it was a statement more than a question. "No matter how many times I come here, it never ceases to amaze me."
"It's just beautiful." She knew that her words couldn't do justice to the sight. "I thought I'd seen some inspiring sights in the places I've been, including waterfalls, but there's something about this... I don't know, it's somehow just, well... moving, I guess."
"I know what you mean. Maybe it's the remoteness, the lack of tourists here. In a lot of places where there are waterfalls they're surrounded by tourist traps and gift shops, whereas here the emphasis is still on the beauty of the land and the water. It's somehow more isolated and remarkable because of it."
Predictably, Elise retrieved her camera, wanting to capture the scene as best she could, and he smiled.
"Do you mind?" she asked, conscious that it had taken them longer than expected to arrive at the lake and she wasn't sure how much longer they had to go.
He laughed. "Not at all. I've spent hours myself trying to capture the glory of the falls on camera. Not," he added wryly, "that I have your skill. My photos just seemed to show a misty spray of water."
She laughed back at him. "You probably had the wrong exposure on the lens, that's all. I'm no expert in capturing this sort of scene, but it's impossible to walk on by it without trying!"
"Good thing you don't have to then, isn't it?"
She furrowed her brow at him, unsure as to his meaning.
He indicated a point about a couple of hundred metres above where they were standing, "That's our camp up there, where we'll be based for the next few weeks. It's a cabin that's used by the park staff every so often. You'll get to see the falls each day, so even if today's photos aren't perfect, you'll have the opportunity to try again."
"The camp's up there? Really?" In the distance she could see a small hut.
"Yep. It's pretty basic, but it's dry and will be warmer than camping outside. Even though it's the beginning of summer, I wouldn't recommend old-fashioned camping until later in the season unless it's absolutely necessary. I brought camping gear more as a safeguard for if we needed to stay overnight away from the cabin. Even in June, temperatures can still fall to sub-zero here; so it's much better to have the protection of the shelter. I checked with the park officials and they're fine for us to base ourselves here. It's still so early in the season that there are hardly any tourists or hikers around yet."
Elise shivered involuntarily at his comment about the weather. Although the day was bright and relatively mild compared to reported temperatures only a few weeks ago, as the hours had passed and it was now evening, she'd been taken aback at how cold it had become, even with the warmth that the walk had naturally brought. She'd been glad she'd erred on the side of caution and brought with her professional cold season gear. She was well prepared, even if they had to camp outside. The only thing she could have kicked herself for was not trying her gear out to break it in properly beforehand. Her snug new boots were certainly warm and sturdy, but were also now killing her heels, and she knew that she'd prevaricated at times over her photography in order to give her feet a bit of a break. Oh well, she had a supply of plasters in her bag and she could patch them up later.
"I arranged for some extra supplies to be sent ahead of us, and they should already be at the shelter," he commented.
"Really?" She was surprised. "I thought that we'd brought everything." She nodded at one of the bags he'd insisted on carrying himself rather than let her help.
He was clearly amused. "You didn't really think that that would last us two full weeks, did you?" The bag was not a big one and she flushed with embarrassment.
"Well, no. But I figured we'd head somewhere to replenish supplies every few days, as it was only supposed to be three hours between here and the village."
"Well, we could do that, but it would take up a lot of time that I figured you'd want to spend photographing. Though," he added, with a mischievous glint in his eye, "we can certainly do that if you'd prefer."
"No, no!" she assured him hastily, before catching sight of the grin forming over his lips. She rolled her eyes in exasperation before turning her back on him quickly to set up her camera. She winced slightly as her boots caught once again on the back of her heels.
"Are you okay?" he asked immediately, seeing her wince.
"Oh, yes, fine, fine..." she assured him, not wanting to make a big deal out of her feet. "I just stumbled on the rock, that's all."
"The rock?" he asked suspiciously, looking down at the relatively smooth surface on which they were standing. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure, Max!" Deliberately, she turned her attention back to the falls and the camera, beginning to click away and ignoring his thin-lipped look of scepticism.
Eventually she put away the camera and they made their way up a steep path to the cabin.
"Oh!" she exclaimed as they entered. "There's lots of stuff here! I was expecting it to be way more basic!"
The cabin comprised a single room containing a small table with some rudimentary wooden chairs, and four decent sized wooden bunks jutting out of the wall, as well as shelves stacked with basic medical supplied, dried food, and some old, well-thumbed books in various languages that seemed to have been left by previous travellers. There was a stove in the corner of the room and a well-worn easy chair that had clearly seen better days.
"It's not a five star hotel, admittedly, but it is much more than you'd get in a makeshift campsite, or even in an average shelter in these parts. It's kept in pretty good shape as the park wardens sometimes stay over here. It's a good base for them if there are emergency call outs from people getting trapped on the other side of the falls, or if there are polar bear sightings in these parts."
"Polar bear sightings?" she asked, surprised. She didn't think they were quite far enough north for polar bears to venture out.
"Yes. I was going to talk to you about that later, but it's really important that you don't stray from the cabin without me there. Although they're not commonplace, we do get polar bears wandering around here every so often. It's obviously more usual the further north you go, but even here the environment is pretty good for them and they sometimes stray further than you'd think. So," he continued, "no venturing outside the perimeter of the cabin's grounds without me, and definitely no wandering off by yourself for photographs. We need to be together at all times, and I need to make sure that we're protected." He indicated the rifle that he'd been carrying throughout the trek. It hadn't bothered her earlier when she'd seen it; in fact, she'd expected it, knowing that it was a necessity in these parts, but the thought of hi
m having to use it still sent a quick chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the falling temperatures.
"Don't worry," he said, as he turned his attention to the small stove and the fuel that sat by it. He put a small puff of dried moss in the bin, layering kindling over it, and struck a match to light it. The sweet-sulphur scent of the match was quickly overpowered by burning pitch and soft pine. The small flicker winked cheerfully. With very little effort, he soon had a warm fire going.
"We've got a tranquilliser gun with us, also. If at all possible, I'd always tranquillise rather than kill," Max added, continuing where the awkward conversation had let off.
She nodded, taking him at his word, instinctively knowing that he wasn't the kind of man who would take any pleasure in killing an animal for the sake of it, and would only do so if he had no choice.
Elise hung her jacket and scarf on the hook behind the door and began to unpack a few of her essential items from her backpack.
"Do you mind which bunk I grab?" she asked, not sure whether there was a protocol in these matters.
He laughed. "Not at all. Take whichever one you want. I know you've got camp blankets with you, but there should also be some extra layers in the cupboard." He pointed to a small cupboard in the far corner of the room. "If you need them. The bunks have thin mattresses but you might find it's more comfortable if you layer a few more blankets on top of the mattress."
"Okay," she said easily. She also had a small inflatable travel mattress with her that she'd used countless times before; but she wasn't going to turn down the offer of a bit more comfort. Before she went to investigate the blanket cupboard, she sat down on the edge of one of the lower bunks and gingerly untied one of her boots just as Max began to boil some water that he'd gathered at a springhouse near the falls, ready to make them some hot tea.
She bit her lip to rein in her instinctive cry as she saw that, beneath her boot, her sock was caked in blood and glued to her heel. She'd known that it was rubbing badly, and she'd been in pain, but she hadn't realised it was quite so bad. Slowly, she removed the boot and tried to peel back her sock, but with each millimetre that she peeled it back, it pulled at the underlying wound. A couple of long minutes went by and she bit her lip each time she tried to remove the woollen material from the apparent injury underneath.
Max cursed softly above her, startling her. He picked her up from the edge of the bunk and sat her on one of the chairs. He moved another chair in front of her, sat down on it and took her foot into his lap to take a closer look at it in better light. She hadn't even noticed that he had seen what she was doing, let alone sensed him approach her.
"It's fine, Max, really." She bit her lip again as he prodded at her foot. "It looks worse than it is, I promise."
Looking up at him, she saw that his features had hardened. "When did your boots begin to hurt, Elise?" he asked shortly.
"Well, I'm not sure," she hedged.
"Elise..." his voice was low, but filled with warning.
"Not that long after we set off. It's my own fault. I should have broken in the boots more... I just didn't think."
"And you didn't think to mention that you were in pain, after all I said to you last night about needing to be open and honest about any problems?" His tone offered no opportunity for argument. He was clearly annoyed and disappointed in her, but she tried to pacify him all the same.
"I didn't want to hold things up and, really, I didn't think it was that bad. Ow!" Elise cried out as Max, obviously being as gentle as possible but unable to prevent the worst of the sting, unhooked the fibres of her sock from the underlying wound so that the sore was exposed to the light.
"Shh... the sock's off now, sweetheart," he said. He stroked the top of her foot to reassure her, even though his eyes remained hard as he saw how the boot had dug into her heel, causing a large blister that had ruptured and then bled.
"Am I right in assuming that the other foot's the same?" he asked as neutrally as he could under the circumstances. She nodded miserably. Max removed the other boot as well, and prepared to remove her remaining sock. He saw that that foot was in the same, if not worse, state.
"Okay, be brave sweetheart," he said. She sucked in her breath as he quickly removed the sock. She couldn't prevent the cry of pain as it pulled at sore flesh.
"You should have told me, Elise," he said again sharply, as he saw for himself just how sore her feet must have been. "There's absolutely no excuse. You knew the ground rules."
"But I didn't want to hold things up!" she admitted miserably.
"Elise!" he exclaimed, disbelievingly. "You were taking photographs throughout the trek, which added hours to our time, and I told you that was fine. If I'd had a problem with the timing, I would have told you!"
"But that was only because of my feet..." She now felt as small as a young child under his chastening gaze.
"What?" He was incredulous. "You mean you were only taking the photographs to give your feet a break from the pain?"
"Well, no... not entirely. Most of them I really wanted, but it may have taken a bit longer than normal so it would take the pressure off my feet."
She could tell from the set of his face that she'd now succeeded in making him properly angry.
"Okay," his tone was frosty. "We'll discuss this in a few minutes, but first we need to sort out your feet." Quickly he went over to the stove and filled a bowl with the warm water that he had been heating for tea. He brought the bowl over to the table together with a clean cloth and a small bottle of something Elise recognised as a strong antiseptic.
Meticulously and, despite his obvious displeasure with her, tenderly, he used the warm water and cloth to clean the wounds on the backs of her heels, ensuring that there were no stray fibres or dirt that could infect the sores. He felt her tension, and as she jumped at the sting, he soothed her by massaging the balls of her feet as he went. Once he was content that the sores were completely clean, he dabbed antiseptic on them and applied some padded plasters that had miraculously appeared from a small box in one of his bags.
"All done," he said, as he capped the antiseptic and put it back on the shelf. "How does it feel now?"
"Better," she admitted, grateful that he'd helped her to sort out the mess she'd made. She started to get up from her chair only to freeze under his withering gaze. Before she could comprehend what he was doing, he'd scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the frayed easy chair in the corner of the room, and sat down with her still cradled in his arms.
"What?" she stammered, taken aback even as she curled into the cocoon of his chest.
"Time for us to have a talk, Elise. Now," he paused, "tell me again why you didn't talk to me about how much your boots were hurting."
"I told you... I just didn't want to hold things up and, well, besides that, it was my own fault. I should have worn the boots before coming out here. I just assumed they'd be okay. I've bought the same brand before, but I guess not ones for cold weather, and the fit just seems to be a bit different."
He pushed a strand of hair away from her face and looked down at her now bleak eyes. "It's not your fault that you didn't think to break in the boots, Elise. It's a mistake anyone could have made. But you know you should have told me that you were in pain. If it had become worse before we reached the cabin, we could have had problems getting you here. I could have carried you, but that would have then meant leaving some of the bags. If you'd told me, we could have rested properly on the way and we could have padded your heel to take the pressure away from where it rubbed. If we'd done that, you'd be unlikely to have those sores now." His tone was matter of fact, but made Elise feel again that she was a small child being told off by a teacher.
"I'm sorry," she said simply. "I promise it won't happen again. I know I should have told you earlier."
"I warned you yesterday, Elise, what would happen if you didn't abide by my rules out here..."
"What... what do you mean?"
"You know
exactly what I mean, Elise. I told you in no uncertain terms that I needed to know immediately if anything was wrong or if you were struggling with anything. By not telling me about the pain, you've ended up hurt. You're lucky that those sores aren't a lot worse."
Without giving her time to voice the protest that formed on her lips, he quickly tipped her over so that she was face down over his knee, adjusting her swiftly so that her bottom was raised up and resting over one of his broad thighs whilst his other leg caught round her lower legs to prevent her instinctive kicking.
"What on earth! Max, no... This really isn't necessary. It was a simple mistake, and I've promised it won't happen again!"
"It certainly won't happen again, Elise, and this is the best way of making sure of that."
Without any hesitation, he brought his hand down in a hard smack over her bottom, knowing from her yelp that although her waterproof trekking pants prevented her feeling the worst of the sting, she was still feeling the lesson that he knew he needed to teach her. He had warned her yesterday of the importance of putting health and safety first, and she clearly hadn't taken on board just how important that was. He knew that she was experienced in wildernesses, but he also knew that the Arctic was very different to what she was used to, and, besides, he suspected that in the past she'd probably taken a much more laid back approach to her own health when she was travelling, as previously she'd had no one to whom she had to answer.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
His hand descended on her bottom again and again. Usually, he wouldn't have administered quite so many spanks, but he knew her clothing was cushioning her from the full impact, and he wanted to make sure she took this seriously. He would never hurt her, but she needed to feel the sting to learn the lesson. His heart had jumped as soon as he'd seen the determined young woman stride away from the plane when she'd arrived in Kuvanerk and he couldn't bear it if any harm fell upon her because she didn't alert him to any possible problem.
Elise's Story: A Bentley Sisters Novel Page 4