'Keep your hair on,' he remarked casually. The remark only added to her fury, but she gave a shrug as if she couldn't care less what he thought.
'I can assure you,' she said coolly, 'I always do keep my hair on.' Good job he couldn't tell how frightened she'd been coming through that jungle of swinging creepers and howling animals! It would be different when they reached the research station, set as it was in primary forest.
'Been out here before?' he asked abruptly.
She shook her head.
'Don't push yourself too much at first. You'll only exhaust yourself.'
'Will I?' She heard the sarcastic edge in her voice but couldn't change it, it was already out.
She saw his lips tighten.
It was his own fault if he made her sound ungrateful for his advice. He seemed to think she was a complete dimwit—at least, he had such an air of confidence, of authority, it stood to reason he must think that.
But her glance was pinned to his lips again. There was something about them, their soft mobility, their sheen, their promise, she realised with a gulp, that was making her pulses race. She steadied herself. The last thing she wanted was any distraction from work—and certainly not in the shape of a man like this who --She bit her lip, cutting off the sudden teeming and unbidden images of what a man like this could do if...
He seemed to loom closer. 'What's wrong?' he asked bluntly.
She put up a hand as if to ward him off. 'N-nothing,' she managed to whisper. 'It's just so hot here and...' She glanced down at the sleeping form of the guide. 'I suppose I'd better wake him.'
'Do that.' The ranger was curt again. 'You've lost precious time arguing with me.' With that he slid into the thick wall of vegetation on the rim of the clearing and vanished from sight.
Of all the cheek! thought Chrissy when he'd gone. The very air seemed charged with the man's magnetism. He certainly had presence, she would give him that— but it was wasted out here, she told herself crossly. He should be in films, or running some political party or other. Something that demanded charisma. She could just see him riding at the head of an armed band, astride a white horse... Stop it! she warned herself. The reality was he was a nasty customer—bossy, interfering, very possibly dangerous—and so arrogant he didn't even try to hide his arrogance!
She bent down and shook Pedro by the shoulder. When he woke up she didn't mention the stranger, but instead suggested they get a move on. He rose dazedly to his feet, and within a few minutes the group was back on the track.
The sun was already slanting towards evening when they eventually came out on to the river-bank. They had followed the single-line track for the last hour, the one the stranger had taken, and when they didn't catch up with him on the way—unlikely, thought Chrissy, as he was the type to push himself to the limit whatever the physical discomforts of the climate—she fully expected to see him waiting for a craft to take him up-river. But she was relieved to see no sign of him.
The paddle-steamers came several hundred miles inland from the sea-port but they didn't come as far up as this. She knew they would have to travel the last part of their journey by canoe.
Gavin had described the journey in detail. 'A dugout,' he had told her, 'can take up to a dozen people, plus baggage. Forget the little canoes you see in the Wild West Park! These are the real thing.'
Now Chrissy saw what he meant. But it only made her even more puzzled as to why the stranger had already left.
The canoes were like water buses. Already there were several people waiting beside an assortment of goods. A couple of hens in bamboo cages pecked at the specks of grain a group of dark-haired children were pushing through the bars for them. She wondered if they were travelling in the same dug-out. They were. She watched in trepidation as the porters loaded the provisions for the research unit, wondering if the narrow craft could really bear such a load. Pedro beckoned. 'Time to embark!'
Shadows were purpling ever thicker beneath the branches of the trees by the time they came in sight of a wooden landing platform jutting out into the water. Suddenly all was movement and noise as one of the men threw a length of twine up to a boy leaning over the edge and everybody prepared to disembark.
When Pedro tapped her on the shoulder she was already stretching her cramped limbs. There were plenty of willing helpers to hand up their equipment, and as soon as everything had been stacked on the landing-stage she climbed up after them.
Unable to help herself, she cast an anxious glance over the faces in the crowd as if expecting that unforgettable one to be among them, glowering down at her as she climbed up. Thankfully her attention was diverted when she noticed a couple of Europeans in the throng. One of them came towards her.
'Welcome, Christine!' He raised a hand in greeting. 'Good journey I hope?' It was a sandy-haired man of around thirty-five.
'You must be Hans Bergdorf!' exclaimed Chrissy, recognising him as the supervisor Gavin had described to her.
'Indeed. And this is my colleague Pierre Martin,' he gestured to the small, dark-haired man standing beside him. 'The others are preparing a sundowner at the main house. We've been awaiting your arrival with interest. And now I can say we greet you with delight.' He took both her hands and bowed over them. Gavin had warned her that Hans pretended to be something of a womaniser, but nothing she couldn't handle. He was a gentleman first, he had added with a twinkle. A fine scientist, who would be her number one friend.
Chrissy now turned to greet Pierre. 'Another good guy,' Gavin had reported. 'His wife is attached to the unit too. She's a professional photographer. You'll like them both.'
Not used to having her mind made up for her, she couldn't help feeling that, on first sight at least, the two men were just as Gavin had described. A few minutes later she met Eloise, Pierre's wife, and Lars, the final member of the small group, as they stood on the steps of the veranda that ran round the side of a large wooden house in the clearing.
'You won't get two words out of Lars,' Gavin had warned. 'He's a zoologist and frankly I think he prefers feathered birds to the human kind.' Gavin had concluded by telling her she would have to be prepared to work alone much of the time as everyone else was busy with their own research. 'Social life is a bit monotonous, but you'll get used to it soon enough.'
'I'm not going for the social life,' Chrissy had told him primly. 'I'm going in order to further my career.' She had ignored the gleam of disbelief in Gavin's eye. It was a reaction she had become used to ever since she'd won that infernal contest!
Now she gazed round with a contented smile. A welcome aperitif had been pushed into her hand at once, and she leaned on the balustrade with it clutched in her hand, almost too weary to take a sip. The nice thing was they all seemed to know how she was feeling. 'It's quite an introduction, isn't it?' observed Hans. 'We've all done the same journey ourselves.'
'Probably dinner then bed would be your favourite plan tonight?' suggested Eloise. 'Not that other nights are so very different!' She was a tall, attractive red-head, and when Chrissy had first caught sight of her she'd wondered how she managed to cope with the climate with such sensitive colouring. That had been one of her own major worries. With her own pale blonde hair and delicate skin she couldn't have chosen a worse place to spend the next six weeks from a beauty point of view. She shook herself. It simply added to the challenge. It made her even more determined to win through.
She allowed Hans to usher her into a long low room in the middle of the wooden house. Rattan blinds hung over two windows at the back, clacking slightly in the evening breeze as the earth cooled after the sun had released its hold. Already the sky had darkened in the short time it had taken to walk from the landing-stage to the house, and several oil lamps shed a soft glow over the simple decor. A scattering of bamboo armchairs and loungers and a good-sized dining table were all the room contained.
'I'll show you where to wash,' murmured Eloise, prising her away from Hans. 'These men! I'm sure you'd like to freshen up. Run a comb rat
her than the mere fingers of one hand through your hair!'
She took Chrissy by the arm and led her down a short corridor. Its floor of polished wood creaked as they stepped along it. The air was rich with the scent of night blossoms, their perfume released now the heat of day was over.
'This is paradise on earth,' murmured Chrissy sleepily, trying in vain to stifle a yawn. 'How are you ever going to tear yourself away?'
Eloise gave a soft smile. 'I doubt whether we'll come back after we leave at the end of the year,' she admitted. She gave a glance down at her tummy. 'I wanted to have the baby out here, but Pierre has become suddenly cautious at the thought of fatherhood. Who knows?' She smiled gaily. 'It is ages yet. He may become devil-may-care all over again when the novelty has worn off!'
Chrissy chatted interestedly to Eloise about the baby and about what it was like to live so far from all the facilities of a city which she had so far taken for granted. Then they returned to the others.
Pedro was to stay for a day or two until the water bus returned from further up-stream and Chrissy was just in time to hear Hans ask him if he'd met Garcia Montada down-river.
She saw Pedro shake his head. There was a small silence and she was about to mention the man they had met down-river when dinner was brought in and conversation turned to other topics. The others wanted to know how Gavin was progressing in hospital and all about her job at the medical research lab back home.
'What brought you out here, Chrissy? You know it's tough,' probed Hans.
Chrissy nodded. 'I know. That's why,' she replied succinctly. Then, seeing from his expression he wanted more, she felt compelled to tell him all about the beauty contest that she had been dared to enter one mad day after finals when a group of them had buzzed off in somebody's ramshackle old car to the nearest seaside resort.
'We wanted to let our hair down, but,' she grinned, 'I'd no idea I'd get roped into something like that!' She flicked a strand of hair back from her face. 'I couldn't believe my ears when they said I'd won! It meant television appearances, photo-calls, champagne parties— that summer before my exam results came out was one long party. I went along with it because I hadn't got a job—my interview with Cavendish at the lab had gone off well but I knew he wouldn't take me on if my results were poor. In a way the contest took my mind off the grim weeks of waiting.'
'Weren't you tempted to continue in the beauty business?' asked Eloise.
'Heavens no! After all those years of studying? I couldn't just throw it away like that!' She didn't elaborate on the background to it all—the childhood when her mother, left in the lurch by an irresponsible husband, had had the struggle of bringing up two children alone. Chrissy remembered those years clearly, how her mother had resumed the studies that marriage had interrupted and, by juggling two part-time jobs with her classes, had eventually managed to qualify as a doctor. Chrissy had made her mind up at the age of ten that she would never land herself in a situation like that—she would make sure she always had the possibility of earning her own living at her fingertips should the necessity arise.
But she was sleepy now and, recognising this, Hans and the others let her go. Soon she was sliding down under the mosquito netting that hung over her sleeping platform. Too tired to take in her surroundings, she plunged at once into the total black-out of sleep.
CHAPTER TWO
Next morning Chrissy couldn't remember getting into bed. The last hour or so before turning in was just a haze. Someone—Eloise, she supposed—must have helped her. Certainly when she awoke her clothes were folded neatly and she could see her travel bag safely stored on one of the shelves across the room. There were no cupboards, she noticed, looking round. A row of hooks on a rafter supported half a dozen empty metal coat-hangers. There was a small mirror on the wall, a spindly bamboo table and straight-backed chair and that was it. Spartan lodgings, she thought. But the food had been good last night, though she had been too befuddled with exhaustion to notice what it was.
She lay in the half-light beneath the misty fall of the mosquito netting with the unfamiliar sounds of the rain forest drifting around her. The day was still cool and she decided to start work as soon as possible.
Just for a moment, though, she wanted to relish this, her first morning in the forest. She listened to the raw sounds of wild animals beyond the perimeter of the compound and tried to identify them without success, then she lay there letting her thoughts drift, reluctant to let the moment go... Unfortunately the more awake she became the more her thoughts kept slipping back to that brief encounter the day before.
She could hear his voice, with its seductive accent and the deep bass of his laughter. If only he hadn't been laughing at her! A picture of his lips swam before her eyes, taunting and enticing. She flung the light cotton sheet back with a gesture of annoyance.
It was no good lying here dreaming of a man she wouldn't want even if he came to her on bended knee! For all his sexy charm he just wasn't her type, and if he knew she was daydreaming about him it would merely add to his arrogance. His manner showed her he was entirely used to getting his own way in everything. His facile compliments showed which way his mind worked!
She padded across the room to get her bathrobe and sponge-bag.
Gavin had instructed her in what he called the mopping-up operation here, and she would make the lab her first port of call this morning, sort out the unfinished work on his bench, then hopefully be in a position to plan her schedule for the following weeks. Later, if there was time, she would explore the forest—or at least she would try to follow the plan marking out Gavin's finds. Then there were drawings to be done, photographs to be taken. She was going to have her work cut out in the short period available. Certainly there would be no time for daydreaming!
She was looking forward to getting on with it, she realised as she showered in the cubicle down the corridor and slipped into a clean shirt and pants. Everything seemed to have gone without a hitch so far and the people she would be living with were a good bunch. She brushed out her long pale hair and began to coil it up in a way that would feel cool during the heat of the day.
When she was ready she went out into the corridor and made her way towards the welcome smell of coffee. There were far more important things to think about than jungle predators—especially if they came in the shape of a handsome khaki-clad ranger with a gun! Ahead lay a wonderful six weeks.
The housekeeper, Senhora Suarez, turned with an ample smile as Chrissy came into the kitchen. It was a large, airy adjunct to the house, the whole of one wall opening on to a balcony where, Chrissy saw, breakfast was to be taken. As she practised her few words of Portuguese she glanced across at the wooden refectory table and saw that someone had already had a cup of coffee. Senhora Suarez came on to the balcony and removed the cup without explanation before setting down a fresh one for Chrissy.
'No one else is up yet,' she told her surprisingly. 'Senhor Bergdorf is usually the first. You are taking Mr Bartlet's place?' When Chrissy nodded, the woman went on, 'A very nice man. He would try to be out before Hans—friendly competition. You have won this morning!'
Chrissy smiled. 'And I didn't even know I was competing!' She tried to explain that it was excitement at being somewhere new that had dragged her so precipitately from her bed. She hoped she wouldn't disgrace Gavin when the novelty wore off! Quickly dealing with breakfast, she went down the steps towards the long wooden building that had been pointed out to her from the veranda the previous evening. It was kept locked and Senhora Suarez gave her a key of her own when she told her what she wanted to do.
She peered into the bright, orderly room. Benches on both sides with additional islands for special tasks made it look adequate for the work she had on hand. She walked between the counters and the shelves, past Hans's collection of beetles, the specimens, drawings and photographs and the graphs and wall-charts, looking for Gavin's space. Then, undisturbed by anyone, she settled down to sort things out.
She had been work
ing steadily for about half an hour when the door opened, making her turn with a smile of welcome on her lips. A screen in front obscured the entrance and she laid bets with herself on whether it was Hans or Lars who had come in.
Then she gasped. A rapid beating of her heart took her by surprise, but some atavistic fear had already grabbed hold of her. It wasn't the friendly German, nor the silent Norwegian—it was someone quite different... She half rose and groped for the back of her chair.
'Please...' The newcomer spread his hands with a harsh growl and gestured for her to remain seated—as if she'd been getting to her feet as a sign of respect for him! Already he had covered the intervening distance and seemed to tower over her. 'I don't wish to drag you away from your work...' he began, and although the words were innocuous enough his tone seemed to convey the exact opposite to what he said, reducing her research to the level of a mere hobby.
This annoyed her. 'You?' she squeaked, still stunned, and before he could continue she demanded, 'What are you doing here?' Then she bit her lip, annoyed at betraying the same antagonism that his presence had aroused yesterday when they had clashed for the first time.
He frowned, the blue eyes narrowing. 'You seem to imagine I owe you some sort of explanation for every move I make,' he murmured in a throaty drawl. She could detect some slight accent but couldn't place it. His English was good. He must be English, she told herself. But what was he doing here? Gavin hadn't mentioned anyone else with the right to walk about the lab as if they owned it!
'I have a right to know who you are,' she told him as coolly as her bumping heart would allow. 'This property belongs to the foundation. As far as I'm aware there are only five people with the right to come in here—apart from a cleaner or two --' She broke off as he gave a harsh laugh.
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