Tina found her voice just before they turned away. She was very angry. Inez had a penchant for making sly innuendoes that could mean all or nothing, and she had no intention of being made a butt for her remarks. The haughty tilt of her chin emphasized the disdain she felt towards both Inez and the censorious señor when she spoke.
'Perhaps it is not possible for friendship to exist between the sexes in your country as it is in mine, Doña Inez? If such is the case, then I shall be generous and pity you for your insularity instead of being annoyed by it!'
There was an astonished silence. She heard Theo stifle a choked laugh, then turned to face the sparkling anger in the señor's eyes. She knew she had been unpardonably rude, but she had no intention of apologizing to the señora who, judging from her heightened colour, was fully aware of the insult. But Inez was clever. Tina gritted her teeth as she watched her make a distressed movement towards the señor, as if seeking protection, and she had to bite her lip to silence further angry words when, after instinctively sheltering Inez with his arm, he bit out,
'I'm sure Señorita Donnelly did not mean to be offensive, Inez, and I am equally sure,' his blue eyes bored into Tina's, 'that she will tell you so herself, later when she tenders her apology.'
He could not possibly have heard Tina's 'not likely!' but his expression hardened into lines of teak and she swiftly looked away, feeling as she did so a sneaking sympathy for Theo's feeling of the previous evening.
She tossed her bright head in a gesture of defiance when he turned to escort Inez to her seat, but she had a worrying notion she had not heard his last word on the subject. Only too well, she realized that Ramon Vegas was not a man who was likely to allow his commands to go ignored.
5
RIGHT in the heart of the Amazonas, in Casiquiare territory, they set up base camp. As they had journeyed on, Tina had felt the stirring of wild panic as the sprawling, brooding jungle had begun pressing closer and closer until there seemed, to her over-active imagination, to be nothing left in the world but impenetrable vegetation and sluggish, black water. Towering trees whose foliage mingled into a thick screen which shut out the sun's rays completely rose up from each side of the steaming river like solid, gloomy walls, while the matted vegetation woven thickly around their trunks was like a sinister cloak that could be hiding unimaginable horrors.
It was here they were to stay for the next two weeks to allow the scientists and geographers to study the plant and river life of the region; and it was here that she intended to ask Ramon Vegas to allow her to form her own private expedition to penetrate the interior in search of the herb doctor. Her mind baulked at the prospect.
Since the incident with Inez, she had been left severely alone by all but Theo, but each time her eyes had clashed with the señor's she had been reminded very forcibly of his demand that she should apologize to the coolly complacent señora. She knew she would have to comply if she were ever to have her request granted, but the more she thought about it the more daunting the prospect became. To have to humble herself to a woman who was so expert at appearing in the best possible light in front of the men was galling, but, for the sake of science, it had to be done.
The opportunity arose soon after the hovercraft was beached. Everything had to be unloaded from the craft so that Joseph Rogers and his mechanics could give it a thorough overhaul and make certain no damage had been done on its gruelling trip. While the men buckled to unloading the gear and stores on to a flat piece of river bank, Tina stood helplessly by, uncertain what she should do to help. Glancing around, she saw Inez posed a few yards away idly watching the activity that surrounded her. As Tina watched, she negligently placed a cigarette in a long jade holder, then waved it with a gesture of helplessness towards the busy men, appealing for a light. Tina suppressed a smile. In their eagerness to get organized, they were all too busy to spare Inez a glance, so, pouting with displeasure, she began searching her pockets for a match.
Tina grappled with her pride, then clenched her hand over her lighter and strolled across to her.
'Can I help?' she proffered coolly, holding the lighter towards the señora's still unlighted cigarette. As Inez measured glances with her over the flame, its orange flicker illuminated the smouldering hate in her eyes, causing Tina to draw a deep breath of dismay. She stepped back, repelled, when Inez laughed unpleasantly and blew a screen of smoke between them. Every instinct urged her to walk away from the woman who was making her feelings of dislike so obvious and she had to hold on grimly to her resolve by reminding herself what was at stake before pressing determinedly on.
'Señora...' she began.
Inez raised her eyebrows. 'Yes?' she inquired with cold disinterest.
'I owe you an apology,' Tina jerked out, 'I was extremely rude to you earlier and I want you to know I'm very sorry.'
Inez shrugged, not really interested. Her eyes were sweeping the men to see if one of them had finished and was therefore free to entertain her, but the clearing was still a hive of activity, so she turned impatiently to Tina and vented her frustration upon her.
'Señorita Donnelly,' she bit out, 'you surely don't think I care an iota what you say?' Her burning black eyes travelled from the top of Tina's head down to her small, dusty boots before she continued spitefully, 'I am completely indifferent to the babbling of a chilly, repressed Englishwoman who is so afraid of life, and men, that she curls up and hides in a shell of frigidity each time she is paid even a modicum of attention!'
Her scornful laughter was even more insulting than her words, and Tina's fists clenched into a tight bunch as she felt the effect of both. Frigid! Repressed! If Inez only knew how exactly opposed her emotions were to those stated, her annoying complacency would vanish immediately! Her small, even teeth snapped with anger as she prepared to do battle. Never in her life had she been so unjustly and so often provoked as she had been since joining the expedition, but from her trial a new facet of her nature was being forced to emerge and she made the immediate discovery that under her facade of imperturbability which had remained undisturbed for years was a temperament as molten as her fiery hair. Just as her lips parted, ready to spill out all the irritation Inez had aroused, the señor's voice, in unknowingly timely intervention, addressed them both from behind.
'I am glad to see you two are now friends and have made up your differences,' was his opening remark, made with true masculine obtuseness. At his sudden unexpected appearance, they both swung round to face him. His eyes glanced from Inez's swiftly acquired expression of pleasure to Tina's still mutinous face and lingered there while she valiantly attempted to compose herself sufficiently to allay the suspicion she could see forming in his mind. In that instant, prompted by feminine instinct, she realized she would have to compete with Inez at her own game if she were not to remain for ever in the señor's bad books. So she turned to smile brilliantly at her, ignoring her surprised intake of breath, and smiled her agreement.
'The señora and I are mature enough, I hope, to overcome petty grievances without your urging, señor. Of course we are friends, and by the time the trip is over I'm sure we'll have found we have much in common, don't you agree, Inez?' she challenged the astonished señora.
She was almost compensated for her efforts as she watched Inez's struggle with indecision. To have disagreed would have appeared boorish, so, under Ramon Vegas's keen eyes, she had to strive to overcome her chagrin even though hampered by the wicked delight Tina was displaying under a cloak of smiling charitableness.
With a magnificent effort, she managed to smile back at Tina and to utter a small throaty laugh that was meant to deceive the señor completely. 'But certainly we are friends, Ramon! How could you possibly have thought otherwise?'
He gave an impatient shrug, dissociating himself entirely from the contrariness of women, and looked down at each guileless face. After a slight hesitation, he gave a grim smile. 'In that case,' he offered each of them an arm, 'let me show you where your gear has been stowed before
we sit down to supper.'
All during the meal, Tina was buoyed up with effervescent feeling. For once, things had gone her way and the heady triumph she felt at her successful handling of Inez gave her confidence to chat to the men as she had never dared do before. As they sat around the camp fire eating a mystifying curry concocted by Felix Crilly, who was on kitchen duties, she thrust and parried her way through the conversation with an ease much appreciated by her companions. All but two. Theo was both annoyed and puzzled by her volte-face and by his consequent loss of her exclusive attention. He could not complain that he was ignored, she allowed him as much attention as the others, but his vanity was dented by having to share a property he had come to regard as his own.
Inez, too, was subdued She sat in her usual place, at Ramon Vegas side, looking progressively angrier as she noticed his enigmatic eyes being drawn more and more across the crackling fire towards Tina. Finally, as if she could endure no more, she stood up and bade everyone an abrupt goodnight Reluctant, but tired, the men began to follow her example and the clearing rang with their cheerful adieus as one by one they departed.
Sulkily, Theo escorted Tina to her hammock. But when she turned to leave him he caught hold of her arm and swung her round to face him. Sharply, she protested at the roughness, 'Please, Theo, you're hurting me!'
A wave of dismay swept her when she saw his eyes glittering at her out of the darkness. Instinct warned her to make her escape, but even as she tensed for flight he pulled her into his arms and forced his thick sensuous lips against her protesting mouth. During the short second she was his prisoner, she experienced a revulsion so strong it gave her the strength needed to twist her face away from his devouring lips and to force his arms from around her tense body. Her voice shook with disgust when she charged him,
'Don't you ever touch me again, do you hear! If you attempt to come one step nearer I'll scream for help!'
At this threat, he stopped in his tracks. Ugly mottled colour stained his face and added to the menace of his expression. His harsh, sneering answer accentuated her fear.
'I suppose you prefer the Brazilian's attentions to mine? Don't think I haven't noticed the way you look at him when you think you're unobserved and the way your eyes light up when he condescends to notice you!'
The embarrassed colour flooding her cheeks did not help to give credence to her answer. 'Don't be ridiculous, you're letting your imagination ...'
'Then tell me,' he crudely interrupted, 'why you're so absorbed in the Brazilian's every word and action!'
Frantically she sought for an excuse. 'You told me yourself,' she stammered, 'that the señor was practically engaged to Inez, so why would I waste my time on another woman's fiance?'
His eyes narrowed. A hesitant smile quirked his lips, then, to her amazement, he gave his thigh a hearty slap and began to laugh with genuine amusement.
'Why, you cute little devil!' he enlightened her. 'You're doing it to annoy the señora. You hate her guts and you're trying to filch her boy-friend to teach her a lesson!'
She flinched. Only Theo's mind could have envisaged such a happening, but if agreement was enough to keep him from airing his previous views about her attachment to the señor then she was prepared to let him think his assumption was correct. She swallowed hard, and nodded her agreement. To her shamed relief, he then doubled up with appreciative laughter and staggered away to his waiting hammock without further questioning.
When he had disappeared into the darkness, she felt so edgy and so full of foreboding that she decided to stroll around the clearing until her jangled nerves had settled enough to allow her to sleep. Down by the river, she leant against a tree and pushed aside all thoughts of Theo by reflecting upon the earlier part of the evening. She smiled as she remembered the way Miles Debrett, the quiet scholarly geographer, had beamed his approval of her. And Jock Saunders' soft burr as he had whispered in her ear: 'A ken whatever was botherin ye has passed, lassie, and A'm weel pleased for ye!' Felix Crilly had shown his pleasure at her change of heart by heaping her plate with curry and the two Breckling boys - handicapped by the language barrier but surprisingly sensitive to atmosphere - had laughingly encouraged her to eat up every scrap of the piping hot mixture. But the thing that had set a seal upon her happiness was the way in which they had all, quite unselfconsciously, called her Tina. The señor was the only exception; he alone had persisted in addressing her with stiff formality.
The river, enhanced by a softening cloak of darkness and stroked with rippling moonbeams, was whispering its way between the banks with deceptive innocence. She knelt down to trail her fingers in the water and to revel for a few seconds in its refreshing coolness. She could never quite exactly recall what happened next. One minute she was happily enjoying the mysterious beauty of the soft tropical night, and the next she was being jerked bodily to her feet by two steel-fingered hands that dug agonizingly into the soft flesh of her shoulders. Across her bewildered senses scythed the furious Brazilian imprecation, 'Madre de Dios, are you mad? Are you completely insane?'
To her utter humiliation, she was then given a shaking thorough enough to set her teeth chattering and to jerk her head back and forth with as little resistance as a rag doll. The attack was so swift - and so unmotivated - it unnerved her completely. When, at last, his temper was leashed enough to allow him to speak, Ramon Vegas released her to demand in a voice just barely under control,
'Well? Defend, if you can, your criminal foolishness!'
The impetus of her sudden release sent her staggering back, dazed and at a loss to understand his action. Her distraite eyes stared up into his furious face like those of a child who has been unfairly punished and her hands trembled as she made a futile attempt to pin back the heavy rope of hair that had been jerked from its confining pins by the shaking she had suffered.
'I don't understand!' she gasped. 'What have I done wrong?'
His breath escaped in a furious hiss. 'What did you do wrong?' he enunciated. 'Are you telling me you had forgotten about the piranas?'
She was jerked into shocked awareness. Of course, she had read and heard about the horrible little cannibal fish who, in seconds, could reduce a human body to a skeleton. Reaction caused her hand to shake as she lifted it up to her stricken eyes, as if seeking confirmation that it was still there.
'Yes,' he nodded grimly, 'you were very lucky, Señorita Donnelly, for it has been known for a man to trail his hand in these waters and to bring it out minus his fingers! What, in heaven's name, possessed you to take such a chance? If there had been the slightest cut on your hand those furies would have been attracted by the smell of blood and would have descended in hordes to strip the flesh from your bones!'
She shivered. The ground beneath her feet began to sway as the callous cruelty of his words portrayed the nauseating picture of what might have been. It was useless trying to explain that she had forgotten such horrors existed amid the beauty that surrounded them, and she was incapable of trying to brazen out her lapse with the excuse that she had known the piranas would not be interested in anyone with a whole skin — if she dared to argue that people had been known to swim amongst the tiny cannibals without coming to any harm he might, in his wrath, throw her in the river and tell her to prove it!
This thought provoked an hysterical giggle that escaped before she could stifle it. Enraged anew by the sound, he muttered something violent beneath his breath and pulled her out of the shadows and into the full, clear light of the moon.
'So you think it amusing?' he clipped through tight lips. 'As I said once before, Señorita Donnelly, you must be either insensitive or stupid, but whichever it is, you are certainly not capable of being left alone in the middle of a jungle!'
Numb with shock, she was unable to do more than stare back at him with dismay tautening her ashen face. Her heavy coil of hair fell from its last confining pins to slump across her shoulder as if ashamed to display its glory any longer in the face of such burning contempt, and as
it fell, Tina's spirits fell with it. She felt his hands tighten on her shoulders, and looked up, mutely pleading to be excused the physical retribution she sensed he was only just managing to withhold. Aggravated frustration because she was a woman and therefore immune from the thrashing he so obviously thought her flippant attitude merited added a dangerous flicker to his eyes, and once again she sensed his caged fury as convention fought to contain his natural instinct, which was to punish. She shied away from the devil that slumbered in his deep blue puma's eyes, but was not quick enough to escape his clasp. She was pulled forward with a jerk that precipitated her against his hard body and she just had time to whisper an agonized, 'No!' before his hard lips silenced her trembling mouth.
The kiss was meant as a punishment, and she met its deliberate cruelty with passive acceptance. But then, slowly, her treacherous lips began to move beneath his with an eager passion she was unable to control until, like a flower starved of sun, she was returning his kiss with a fervour that betrayed to him all the surging emotion she had striven so hard to conceal.
He drew in a short, startled breath and lifted his mouth from hers. As he looked down at her bemused face the hardness slowly drained from his eyes and in its place dawned a smouldering emotion that promised rapture if she should ever share in its climax. Slowly, he reached out to twine her thick braid of hair around his lean brown wrist where it contrasted against his tanned skin like a bracelet of burnished gold. His voice held an impact almost as physical as his kiss when he admitted softly,
'I suspected ice could not exist beneath such a fiery crown, querida.'
The stage was set for love. The deep mysterious river played music as it flowed past their feet; the indigo sky held a great benevolent moon whose light added to the appeal of the night; even the rustles and sudden cries from the enclosing jungle gave her a valid excuse for nestling closer in his arms. She tried to fight, but everything combined against her holding on to her sanity. So much so that when his lips lowered a second time she did not resist, but lifted her quivering mouth with disarming innocence to meet his caress. His second kiss told her so much. The heavenly ecstatic feeling that flooded her very soul at his touch told her that if she could not have him she wanted no one. It told her, too, that he was a man of many facets; he was at once tender and ruthless; strong yet gentle; considerate but demanding. As she was pressed still closer against the whipcord strength of his body the soft song of the river swelled to a symphonic crescendo; the scent from the nearby flowers had added pungency, the tender Spanish words he whispered against her mouth moved her more than the sweetest poetry. She yearned for the kiss to last for ever. The bitter-sweet, ecstatic agony of it aroused to a fever pitch all the passionate instincts that had lain buried, just waiting for his spark to light the torch. She closed her eyes, savouring to the full the new emotions that fired her.
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