CHAPTER SEVEN
MADDISON heard him come back into the hut a few minutes later. She listened as he ran the tap in the bathroom, heard the sound of him brushing his teeth and the tread of his footsteps as he approached.
She moved as close to the edge of the bed as she could, clutching the torch like a weapon under the bedclothes.
A single candle burned faintly on the apple carton that apparently served as a bedside table and it flickered in protest when he opened the bedroom door.
She clamped her eyes shut, feigning sleep, but she felt his penetrating gaze all the same. She heard the rustle of clothing and her heart began to thump. Surely he wasn’t getting undressed? She was neck to ankles in her heavily pilled tracksuit, fluffy socks on her feet, but if he made up his mind to finish what he’d started she wasn’t sure if a full suit of armour would be enough to put him off. She wished she’d thought to wear her mismatched, most unattractive underwear but hadn’t had time to think about it in her rush to pack under Demetrius’s command.
She felt so tense that she was sure she’d never be able to sleep even if he didn’t follow through with his veiled threat.
She felt the depression of the mattress as he got in the bed, his superior weight tipping her towards him. She grabbed the edge of the bed and righted herself but knew her cover was well and truly blown.
‘Could you blow the candle out, Maddison?’
She stared at the pathetic little flame, torn with the desire to remove the light source from the room so she didn’t have to suffer the sardonic gleam in his eyes, but her inbuilt fear of the dark held her back.
‘Go on,’ he said.
‘Can’t we leave it going?’ she asked as her fingers curled around the torch underneath the quilt.
He shook his head. ‘Afraid not. It could start a fire.’
Oh, the irony!
He’d already started the biggest fire she’d ever experienced inside her own body! The embers of it were still glowing, waiting for the touch of his fingers to reignite them to full heat and power.
His body glowed in the incandescent light, the smooth muscles of his naked shoulders and chest so intensely male she could feel her breathing rate begin to escalate.
She leaned forward and blew out a soft puff of air and the room was instantly shrouded in a darkness so heavy she couldn’t see through it.
‘It’s very dark,’ she said unnecessarily and somewhat nervously.
‘It’s the dead of night,’ he answered with a touch of dryness. ‘It’s supposed to be.’
Her fingers tightened around the torch as she heard him slide down the bed, her body freezing into stillness when a very male leg touched hers.
‘Go to sleep, Maddison.’
She held her breath as he shifted his body in the cramped bed, keeping herself as far away from him as possible.
After what seemed like endless minutes his breathing pattern changed and she realised he’d drifted off to sleep.
Her earlier fear turned to frustration.
How could he possibly fall asleep so easily? The bed was too small, the mattress lumpy and with that last turn he’d taken most of the quilt with him, leaving her uncovered and shivering.
It was all she could do not to turn on the torch for comfort. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept all night without a soft lamp on in the background. She knew it was childish but the loss of her mother when she was ten had turned a habit into a compulsion and now, years later, there was nothing she could do about it.
After another miserable hour or so of fidgeting she finally gave up. She carefully extricated herself from her side of the bed, taking the torch with her to pad out to the sitting room.
The fire had died right down but she gave it a quick poke and placed a piece of wood on the stirring coals.
She sat on the floor, watching as the flames started to lick their fiery tongues at the wood, gradually spreading heat and a warm glow around the small room.
She felt her shoulders gradually begin to relax and settled into a more comfortable position on the old rug on the floor, her head resting on her arm, her eyelids falling…
Demetrius woke to the dawn chorus and stretched languorously. He loved waking up in the bush. The sounds of the wind in the trees, the birdsong, the trickling waterfalls and the clean, fresh air restored his sense of well-being as nothing else could do.
He turned his head and frowned at the soft indentation of the pillow beside him. He threw the bedclothes off and, stepping into a pair of jeans, made his way out to the sitting room.
She was lying in front of the now dead fire, her small body tightly curled as if she didn’t want to take up any more space than she needed to.
Her hair was lying in a pool across the floor, a few strands touching her face as if she’d spent a restless night. In one of her hands was the torch he’d given her the night before, and he could see the switch was pressed forward to on even though the beam of light had died out long ago.
He stood watching her for a long time, not really sure why he felt the need to do so but unable to stop himself.
She slept like a child, her cheeks slightly flushed, her mouth open just a fraction, her free hand splayed like a starfish on the floor near her face.
He wondered how long she’d been there, so determined not to share his bed she’d suffered the unyielding cold floor rather than lie next to him. He thought of all the women who’d come to his bed so willingly, and he couldn’t help a faint smile. She was so unlike anyone he’d ever met that he knew he was in very great danger of letting his guard slip when he was around her. That was, if it wasn’t already too late…
Maddison wasn’t sure what woke her but when she opened her eyes she found the sun fully risen and the sound of birdsong filling the fresh morning air.
She stretched and grimaced instantaneously, her limbs feeling awkward and stiff from lying on the rug on the floor.
‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ Demetrius asked. ‘I’ve boiled the billy and made some toast.’
She struggled up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the pins and needles in the arm that had clutched the torch to her side all night.
‘Thank you.’
She took the mug and hid behind its rising steam, cupping her hands around it as she brought it to her lips.
She watched him covertly, taking in his casual attire, the well-worn jeans and the faded sweater, and the heavily shadowed line of his jaw leaving no trace of the well-heeled billionaire in sight.
‘I suppose it’s pointless to ask if you slept well,’ he said.
There was something in his tone that brought her gaze to his. Was it guilt?
‘Better than I expected,’ she answered dryly, dipping her head to her tea.
He handed her some toast.
‘How did you make the tea and toast?’
He pointed to the fire next to her. ‘I did it on the fire while you were sleeping.’
She felt distinctly uncomfortable with the thought of him standing so close to where she’d been lying, no doubt watching her every unconscious movement. It made her feel vulnerable in a way she wasn’t keen to feel around him. She could only just hold him off while awake, but asleep? What defences did she have?
‘Don’t look so worried,’ he said, obviously reading her look. ‘I didn’t touch you.’
‘I didn’t think you would.’
‘Didn’t you?’
‘Surely your deplorable standards wouldn’t sink to that level?’ She gave him a frosty glare.
It was a moment or two before he responded. ‘After you’ve had breakfast I thought we could go for a walk.’
‘Where to?’
‘To the waterfall and back. It’s a nice walk and if we’re lucky we might even see a lyre-bird.’
‘If we’re lucky we might even find our way back,’ she muttered with sarcasm as she bit into a piece of toast.
‘I can assure you, Maddison, I know this bush like the back of my hand. I’ll make sure you don’t get lost.’
She finished her breakfast in silence, not sure she wanted to go anywhere with him except back to civilisation and as soon as possible.
‘Have you got comfortable shoes with you?’ he asked, taking her empty plate and mug from her.
She nodded and left the room to prepare for whatever form of torture he next had in store for her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like bushwalking—she did—it was just that there was a long list of people she’d prefer to go with rather than him.
A short time later Demetrius led the way down a roughly hewn pathway which led into the densely vegetated forest, tall trees towering above them, their blue-green leaves trembling in the slight breeze.
She tucked in behind him on the first part of the narrow path, her eyes wandering to the firm shape of his muscled thighs as he stepped over rocks and tree roots. She lifted her eyes another fraction and encountered the tight shape of his buttocks, her mind wandering to what he would look like naked.
It was clear he was no stranger to the gym if the well-developed muscles in his arms were anything to go by, and the ease with which he traversed the rocky incline suggested he was currently in the peak of fitness.
She gave herself a mental shake and forced her eyes to the pathway underfoot, marvelling at the soft lichen clinging to centuries old fallen logs, their craggy limbs in some places reaching across the path as if to caution them against going any further into the deep, dark forest.
She could smell the damp earthiness of the forest floor, filling her nostrils with its clean freshness until she could almost taste it on her lips.
The pathway grew even more shadowed the further in they walked, the silence surrounding them broken from time to time by the flap of a bird’s wings as it flew upwards or the snap of a twig beneath their feet.
After a while Maddison could feel the dampness in the air increase, and soon after heard the trickle of water to their left. She peered through the screen of trees and saw the sinuous curve of a creek, its brackish water flowing over smooth river stones that looked as if they’d been finely polished.
Not long after she could hear the roar of falling water, sounding like distant thunder until they got closer and closer, when it became more like a deafening roar.
Demetrius held back a tall frond of fern for her to pass through before him, and as she moved past she looked up and saw the water cascading from a rocky shelf above, the fine spray anointing her up-tilted face. The sound of it falling to the creek below was so loud she almost had to shout when she turned to look at him standing beside her.
‘It’s beautiful!’
He gave a brief smile and pointed to the top of the falls.
‘See up there? There’s a rocky shelf we can climb up to and look down at a great view all over the valley.’
She followed his lead and when it came to a particularly tricky spot didn’t resist when he offered her his hand. She slipped her hand in his and his warm fingers closed around hers, his in-built strength clearly obvious as he guided her up the rocky slope even though his hold was gentle.
He was still holding her hand when they reached the top.
‘Careful,’ he warned. ‘The rocks here can be slippery from all of the spray.’
She stepped with caution, increasingly glad of his hold as she chanced a look downwards to the creek below.
The rushing water was thunderous in her ears, the swirling vortex beneath them so spectacular she found it hard to recall ever seeing a scene so vitally alive with energy.
The wild water was frenzied in its mad pace to reach the bottom, and once it crashed to the wild whirlpool below, ran on over the submerged rocks and logs with such haste and fervour Maddison wondered how they didn’t get caught up and carried on with the force of rushing water.
The cool mountain air was like a restorative drug in her system, she felt as if she couldn’t breathe in enough of it.
She brushed at a strand of hair that had come over her face and noticed that the fine spray coming off the waterfall had left beads like tiny diamonds in her loose hair.
She felt Demetrius’s shoulder brush hers and his breath caressed her cheek as he pointed into the distance. ‘You can see for miles up here. Not a house or high-rise building in sight.’
She followed the line of his vision and felt her breath catch at the scene before her.
The mountain range had a blue tinge to it in the clear spring air, the tall peaks stretching for as far as the eye could see. The landscape seemed endless, without reference to the hustle and bustle of civilisation, the air pristine and the breeze through her hair just like soft fingers in a caress.
Maddison felt something inside her shift and settle.
It had been a very long time since she’d felt anything so remotely akin to peace. The sudden death of her father and her worries over Kyle had taken every ounce of her energy. She’d become so used to the feeling of pressure building to a frantic pace in her breast as she’d tried to deal with the next obstacle life dished out to her that it had taken until now to see how much her inner peace had been sacrificed.
But out here life took on a different context. The soft soughing of the wind through the trees automatically eased her tension, the lacy sunlight through the high canopy gave her a feeling of energy and the sound of the water running over the creek bed filled her head with the symphony of nature unspoilt.
She felt Demetrius suddenly stiffen beside her, his hand on her arm tensing as if to warn her.
She turned her head to look at him, but his eyes were on the path ahead.
‘Shh.’ His voice was just a whisper of sound. ‘Look.’
She looked to where he was pointing and saw a grayish-brown bird. It was scratching around in the undergrowth but it must have sensed their presence for it turned its head and scuttled with the speed of lightning into the thick bush, instantly vanishing from sight.
‘What was it?’ she whispered close to his downbent head.
‘A lyre-bird.’ His voice caressed the shell of her ear as he turned to speak to her in an undertone. ‘A male one of the Superb species, I think the South-eastern form.’
She felt his hand take hers once more as they continued on, the silence between them not tense now, but somehow companionable. Maddison felt as if something had passed between them in seeing the shy bird. It was like sharing a secret with someone, as it seemed to create an invisible bond between them.
It was a long while before either of them spoke.
Maddison was ******* to listen to the sounds of the bush around them. She heard the call of birds she’d never heard before in her life, and even the sound of her feet treading the bush path was like a new sound to her ears. The crack of a twig, the crunch of spent leaves and the susurration of the wind through the trees seemed so far away from the concrete towers, frantic traffic and choking fumes of the city.
Demetrius led them even further into the bush, the dappled sunlight above gradually changing to the darker green shadows of rainforest. Rich green lichens clung to every limb of fallen timber and the forest floor was soft with decades of leaf litter which felt like a priceless carpet under Maddison’s feet. The air was even richer with the moistness of the earth and the silence beneath the heavy canopy was like nothing she’d ever experienced before.
She stole a look towards Demetrius who was standing with his dark head turned to where a slim arrow of sunlight was penetrating the shadowed forest floor like the beam of a spotlight on a stage.
She followed the line of his gaze and saw a blue wren darting about in the lush undergrowth, his beady eyes noticing their presence but, unlike the lyre-bird, unthreatened by the arrival of company.
‘It’s a male one, isn’t it?’ she whispered, coming a little closer to where Demetrius was standing.
His arm brushed against hers when he turned to look down at her.
‘Yes, the females are brown in colour.’
‘He’s not at all shy,’ she observed, letting her eyes fall away from his to follow the hopping movements of the little wren.
‘No, he probably has no reason to fear us. Very few people come through here.’
A moment or two of silence passed between them.
The wren hopped to a higher perch and, after a few seconds of tilting his head back and forth at them, flew away.
‘Come on.’ Demetrius reached for her hand once more.
Maddison felt the warmth of his fingers wrap around hers, a tinyfrisson of sensation running through her hand at his casual touch. She couldn’t stop herself from imagining those long fingers on her, touching her, tracing the intimate contours of her body.
The pads of his fingers had a faint trace of roughness about them, as if he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty doing the sort of outdoor tasks most men in his financial position would never dream of doing. It made her see him in a totally new light. It confused her in a way. She was supposed to see him as the enemy at all times and in all places but now, here, in the middle of the silent rainforest, he didn’t seem like the enemy at all.
Now he was much more dangerous to her unprotected heart, much more dangerous than any adversary…
They walked through the lichen-adorned glade to where the creek cut across the path, the brackish water slower this far from the falls, but Maddison still balked at the fallen log connecting the two banks in what appeared to be a makeshift bridge.
‘I’ll fall in.’ She pulled against Demetrius’s hold as he stepped towards the log.
‘No, you won’t,’ he reassured her.
She felt the tightening of his fingers around hers and stepped on to the log behind him, trying not to look down at the swirling water beneath.
‘How are you doing back there?’ he asked at the halfway mark.
‘Fine so far,’ she said, trying to keep her balance on the log.
‘Almost there,’ he called out, taking the last few steps.
She was close on his heels, but a sudden movement from the undergrowth on the opposite bank took her attention off her feet and she felt herself begin to topple.
She clutched at the back of his T-shirt even as his hand tightened simultaneously around hers, but the log was slippery and her worn-out trainers inadequate for the task of maintaining any sort of grip. She felt herself slipping and was sure she was going to take him with her, but then he stabilised himself with legs wide apart, his hand around her wrist like a vice as he hauled her up against him.
‘I told you that you wouldn’t fall in,’ he said with a reproachful glint in his dark gaze as it rested on her slightly flustered one.
She could barely breathe this near to him.
His chest was pressed against her breasts, his thighs either side of hers in a bracing position. She could feel the iron strength of his muscles against her trembling legs and the indentation of his belt buckle against her stomach made her acutely aware of how very close she was to him.
‘It was touch and go there for a second.’ Her voice came out husky and breathless.
She tried to put at the very least some air between their bodies but he held her fast.
‘Don’t move; that’s deep water down there,’ he cautioned.
‘How deep?’ She gave him a worried glance.
‘Probably not as deep as what’s up here,’ he said, looking at her mouth.
She stared at him in confusion, her tongue snaking out to moisten her suddenly bone-dry lips.
‘How can there be deep water up here?’ Her voice was a bare whisper of sound.
He didn’t answer.
She watched as he lowered his head as if in slow motion, his lips coming closer and closer and closer until they were just above hers. She felt her breath tighten in anticipation, her breasts springing to attention against the wall of his chest and her thighs softening between the steely brace of his.
His lips came down to hers, softly at first, tasting her as if committing her to memory. She felt the unfolding of his tongue as it stroked between her pulsing lips, not just asking for entry but demanding it.
She opened her mouth to let him inside and a rush of sensation hit her at the electric heat of his tongue as it dipped and dived to conquer every corner of her trembling mouth.
This was the deep water he was talking about, the sort of water that would drown her if she didn’t take great care, she thought as he deepened the kiss even further.
She was trapped in a whirlpool of feeling, too frightened to pull away because of the rushing waters below and yet fearful of allowing the kiss to continue in case she couldn’t control her responses to him.
She was already in well over her head.
He had only to look at her with those brown, almost black, eyes and she melted, her tight resolve to hate him at all costs unravelling like a ball of string rolling down a steep decline, leaving her defenceless heart totally unprotected.
She couldn’t allow herself to fall in love with him.
She’d be better off falling into the rushing water below; at least then she could swim to safety. But if she were to fall in love she would have no chance, and neither would her brother, Kyle.
Demetrius had already proved how merciless he could be, and if he were to find out she cared for him in any way he would surely use it to achieve his own ends, and those ends most probably would include seeing Kyle go to prison for what he’d done to his boat.
Demetrius’s mouth softened on hers and she took the chance to carefully ease some space between their bodies.
He lifted his head to look down at her, his dark gaze far too penetrating for her comfort.
‘It’s three steps to the bank,’ he said. ‘And about an hour’s walk back to the hut. Think you can manage it?’
It exasperated her that he was so obviously unmoved by the kiss they’d just shared. How could he stand there so casually with his breathing unaffected and his expression so calm?
‘Of course I can manage it,’ she answered with a touch of tartness. ‘What do you think I am, stupid or something?’
Maddison pulled her hand out of his loosened hold with a strength he hadn’t been expecting. He made a quick grab but it wasn’t quite quick enough. He watched in wide-eyed alarm as she stepped backwards into nothing, falling from sight to land with a resounding splash below.
11-11-07, 01:18 PM
جديد مواضيع قسم الارشيف
العرض العادي
