‘Anyway, relax, have a good soak. If you’re not back in half an hour, I’ll come and get you, just in case you’re feeling bad again, but you should be ok.’
He smiled at her, left a towel and a block of soap on a ledge of rock away from the edge of the pool, and left her to it.
Tamsin watched his retreating back through a gap between the rocks till he was almost at the Hermitage, then stripped off her clothes and stepped tentatively into the water, the breeze bringing her bare skin up in goosebumps. She’d expected the bottom to be slippery, but it was sandy textured. The pool itself was no larger than the children’s pool at her local baths and a lot warmer. With a sigh, she let herself down into it, stretching her legs in front of her and leaning her head back against the smooth rock. The water came up to her chin, so she hooked her elbows on the stone shelf behind her and floated gently for a few minutes, letting the warmth soothe her bruised body. Her hair floated in a cloud around her, so she swilled it carefully, easing the last of the blood loose and massaging her scalp. Then she worked soap over her arms and chest.
She couldn’t see beyond the rocks without standing up and hoped Jed wouldn’t come back too soon and catch her naked. That thought sent an unexpected thrill through her and she slid further down in the water, hands moving over her skin in a languid rhythm as she rinsed and cleansed. The surface of her body seemed unusually alive and responsive. She thought of Jed again and her mind conjured the vision of his firm chin and sensuous mouth - whose shape, with it’s curved upper bow and full lower lip, she seemed to recall perfectly, even though she hadn’t been aware of it consciously till that moment. Before she knew what was happening, she found herself wondering how those lips would feel on her body. Then her fingers were gliding over her breasts, imagining his mouth there, the hard nubs of her nipples responding with an urgency that shocked her. A flame leapt through her, igniting an answering pulse from her clitoris. Tamsin groaned and put her hand down there, finding her labia flooded with sensation. She stroked slowly, slipping a finger inside herself, moving it in and out, then brought her other hand to her clitoris, caressing in slow circles, imagining Jed’s hands instead of her own, visualising him pushing her legs open, entering her, filling her. She groaned again, arching her back, a rush of pleasure flooding her, peaking, receding, peaking again as her fingers moved faster, till she exploded into one of the most intense orgasms she’d had in her life. And at the moment of release, she had a sense that what had happened was like a sacrament, as though something gratefully received the energy she gave.
Hearing a clatter of stones, she leapt up and grabbed the towel, wrapping it round herself. Then she heard Jed’s voice calling, but it still seemed a way away, so she dried off quickly and scrambled into her clothes before going to meet him. Thankfully he hadn’t seen what she’d been doing moments before, though she was sure her flushed face and glowing eyes must give her away. She could hardly look him in the face after her fantasy about him.
He seemed unable to meet her gaze too, or, at least, he kept looking away from her to the horizon. But he seemed relaxed enough, asking if she’d like a trip round the island, since he needed to check on another colony of sea birds.
‘The island is only about two miles long and about a mile and three quarters or so wide,’ he said. ‘You can see the whole of it from Long Warren, the highest hill. Come on, let’s get back to the Hermitage and pack some food to take with us’
Chapter 5
It felt as if they were on the roof of the world up here. There were apparently no roads on the island, but there were several well worn tracks and the Land Rover made short work of the ascent; though the hill was very steep and surprisingly high - more like a mini mountain. The landscape was much like the Cornish mainland, rugged, with rocks and gorse and broom, last autumn’s dried bracken providing a russet counterpoint to the fresh, curling green fronds that clothed the slopes. But the coastline appeared almost tropical, with oak woods coming down to meet white beaches, beyond which the sea was deepest aquamarine. And it was true, you could see the whole of the island, it’s roughly triangular shape laid out like a scale model, the distant edges hazy with heat now that the sun was high. She marvelled that a tiny area could have such a variety of scenery.
She’d stripped off her thick sweater on the drive here, and now the sun warmed her skin and the fresh, strong breeze lifted her hair from her brow. Tamsin felt suddenly alive in a way she hadn’t since the conflict with Damien had surfaced: or, if she were to be totally honest, since she’d first got involved with him. She glanced at Jed, who was turned away from her so that she was presented with his profile. His presence still sent her thoughts into turmoil, and yet she felt at ease with him in a way she would have thought impossible on such short acquaintance. The sight of his tanned wrists and muscular forearms was sending her pulse rate up, but she felt tranquil, dreamy and filled with well-being, even so.
Jed turned and caught her eye. The intensity she saw there made her blush then lower her head.
‘Are your eyes really that colour?’ he said, moments later. ‘I mean, I thought you must be wearing coloured contacts at first. But you presumably don’t have any cleansing solution with you. Besides which they seem to change colour with the light.’
She smiled. ‘Yes they are, and yes they do. And, for what it’s worth, I don’t dye my hair either, though I have a hard time making people believe me. My mum’s eyes are hazel and my dad’s eyes are blue, so me and my sisters landed up with green eyes. Naomi’s are more brownish and Lucia’s are paler. I got the boring bottle green ones. It makes it hell finding eye makeup that suits me, which is why I don’t bother half the time.’
Jed looked into her face again. ‘You don’t need makeup. You’ve got naturally thick dark lashes and healthy skin. Just as well: we don’t have any shops here where you could stock up.’
‘Nobody ever believes I’m not wearing it anyway. Apparently dark reddish blonde hair goes with blue eyes and pale lashes. And, while we’re at it, I really am this slim, no matter how much I eat, and, no, I haven’t got breast implants, they really are like this naturally. I don’t care, people can think what they like.’
‘Whoa, ok. And is that your philosophy on life, not to care what people think of you?’
Tamsin looked for some indication that he was teasing her, but he seemed serious. ‘Not a philosophy,’ she replied with a shrug. ‘It’s just that I got so sick of trying to defend myself that I stopped bothering about it. I know what the truth is, and so do people I’m close to.’ Then she fell silent because she remembered that Damien had isolated her from those who cared about her the most. Being here seemed to be clearing her mind, throwing unexpected light on the areas of life she’d most taken for granted.
Shrugging in turn, Jed said, ‘Come with me. There’s something I want to show you, over the hill.’ He held a hand out to her to help her up the narrow pathway to the summit and she scrambled after him, feet slipping on loose stones. His palm was rough and calloused, his grip firm, and she felt a current of vitality travel from his fingers to hers.
Over the crest of the rise, the ground fell away again quite steeply, with a twisting path going down between boulders and gorse. Trees clothed the lower slopes, mostly ash and scrub oak, but with a stand of silver birch nearby. Tamsin jumped as a roe buck leapt from among their trunks and started down the hill, sleek red coat gleaming in the sun.
‘Don’t tell me that’s native here,’ she said.
‘No, a breeding pair was shipped here in Victorian times by the land owner. I think he had some idea of building a lodge and bringing people over to hunt, but he died before he could put his plan into action. They’re all over the island. I suppose if their numbers increased too much, they’d have to be culled - which would be a pity - but, so far, the population seems to be self regulating.’
‘Wow…this really is paradise.’
Jed nodded. ‘Pretty much. It’s certainly no hardship being here for weeks
on end.’
‘But don’t you get lonely when it’s just you on your own?’
A shadow seemed to cross his face, and his easy-going mood faltered.
‘Let’s just say I like my own company.’ His furrowed brow indicated something deeper behind his words, though he made a visibly conscious effort to disguise it.
Tamsin let the conversation go and concentrated on traversing the narrow track. But she was puzzled and intrigued by Jed’s reaction. Maybe the happy, smiling exterior was more of a mask that she’d realised.
Anyway, soon her attention was on where to place her feet as the path narrowed further, coming down at an angle. Then they’d reached a grassy meadow, flat and wide and bare except for gorse, grass and broom where orange butterflies flitted and bees were busy, though the hill continued to slope downwards beyond its edge. There was a bewitching floral perfume in the air, warm and exotic. In the centre of the area was a circle of nine standing stones, their surfaces glistening and pitted. They looked to be formed of pinkish brown granite rather than the sandstone that was prevalent near the Hermitage. One or two towered above head height, but the rest were quite small.
‘Wow!’ Tamsin found herself saying again.
Jed’s good mood seemed to have reasserted itself and he grinned at her reaction. ‘The island may be off the beaten track, but it’s been inhabited on and off since Neolithic times. People came over from Cornwall and built burial mounds, as well as this stone circle. There are several barrows to the south of the island. There’s even the remains of a Viking settlement. I’ll take you to see the a cave on the northern coast when we leave here - it’s filled with spiral carvings rather like the ones at New Grange in Ireland or Gavrinis in Brittany.’
He took her hand again and led her into the centre of the circle. A heat haze rippled across the stones, so that they seemed to be submerged in a current of clear water. It was very hushed, the birdsong, which she’d been aware of in the background all morning, somehow muted and distant. She could feel a tingling playing over her skin and raising the roots of her hair, and it made her start back.
Jed gave her a quizzical glance. ‘Fi is Pagan: she insists there is some sort of concentrated earth energy here. I don’t know about that, but there’s definitely a tangible atmosphere.’
‘There really is.’ Tamsin nodded, relaxing a bit and turning towards the stones again, saying, over her shoulder, ‘You mention Fi a lot.’
There was that guarded look again, shuttering his eyes so that they seemed flat and cold. ‘Yeah, well,’ he responded, after a pause, ‘we were involved. I thought it was serious, but in the end she decided she didn’t want to be tied down.’
‘Ah…’ So that was it, the cause of the over bright geniality and the hint of pain she’d seen on his face a couple of times. Fi, the woman whose boots she was wearing right now. That made her feel really odd, though she brushed it aside.
She began to walk around, pausing to caress the stones, feeling that strange tingle again. Perceptions seemed heightened within the bounds of the circle too, and she was acutely aware of Jed’s deeply tanned skin, olive in places, almost coppery in others, the tawny depths to his eyes and the way his dark green T-shirt moulded itself to the muscles of his torso. He was lean and fit and muscular, nose aquiline, cheekbones oblique. Beyond, the searing yellow broom flowers and the dazzling sky provided a counterpoint to his darkness. She realised how beautiful he was, far more so than she’d realised before. She shook herself mentally. If she allowed herself to be drawn to his charisma, she sensed she would be sailing into dangerous waters, though she wasn’t sure why.
That feeling was forgotten moments later when he said: ‘We need to move on. I want to check the other colony. It’s where the cave is too, so we can have lunch, then go there.’
So, after sandwiches - the bread was made by Jed - and a Mars Bar apiece, washed down by water, Tamsin found herself back in the Land Rover, though the drive was very short. The north coast was rugged and rocky, much more so than the eastern shore where she’d landed. Here the noise the sea birds made was deafening, almost drowning out the roar and splash of the waves as the sea was sucked in and out of the hollows at the base of the cliffs. She marvelled again at how such a variety of scenery could be packed into a very small area.
Jed had brought both camera and binoculars and went off to the foot of the cliffs, scanning around and taking shots. She followed his line of vision and saw how splashes of white, like snow, streaked the cliff face itself, showing the layers of guano that had built up from the seabirds’ occupation. Its acrid tang blended with the sharpness of ozone and salt from the sea.
After, he led Tamsin over slippery rocks, where spray hung in the air inches from their faces and the sun glinted on still pools filled with seaweed and starfish, then up the cliff itself for a little way. Here Tamsin could see that some sort of wide stone pathway had been hewn from the rock and lined with slabs of sandstone, like the ones near the Hermitage. This route-way continued for about fifty yards, hugging the cliff face, till she could see the wide mouth of a cave, set at right angles to the path itself.
‘Come in. It’s light inside,’ Jed told her.
She walked inside - the roof of the cave was way above her head, so no need to duck - and looked around. Light flooded in from the open air behind them, and there was a thin slice of illumination that slanted from above, ten feet or so within the cave, presumably from a hole or shaft in the cliff.
Then she saw the carvings: dots and spirals, lozenges and chevrons all over three enormous oval sarsens. Both the paving for the path, and these boulders, must have been brought from the other side of the island - heaven knew how, as they were pretty hefty. She marvelled at the feat of engineering that must have been involved, even as she admired the beauty of the work. An aura of mystery hung over the place, much like the atmosphere at the stone circle, and yet more concentrated in this enclosed space.
When Jed spoke, his voice echoing, it made Tamsin jump, so engrossed had she been.
‘The cave faces east. Fi insists it was chosen because it lines up with sunrise at the Winter Solstice. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s certainly a mystical place.’
‘It certainly is.’ She ran her hands over the grooves and notches on the stone surfaces as she spoke, feeling a definite tingling in her fingers as she did so. Then there was a jolt of sexual energy that rose from her groin to her breasts, shocking in its force and suddenness. She turned to see Jed staring at her, eyes almost predatory in their intensity, before he seemed to mentally shake himself, turning on his heel and exiting the cave. What happened there? she thought, following him meekly into the sunshine and back to the Land Rover for the drive to the Hermitage.
Chapter 6
It was dark and very quiet. That evening, Jed had lit a fire after all, as the temperature had dropped again, and now the last embers gave a glow by which she could just make out the details of the room. There was no sign of Jed himself.
After coming back to the Hermitage, they had left the Land Rover by the side of the building and gone inside to cook a proper meal. After, Jed had gone out for a while to feed the goats and chickens. Tamsin had offered to help, but he’d brushed it aside, saying that she’d done enough for one day after her recent concussion, and tomorrow would be soon enough. He was right: she’d felt overwhelmed with tiredness and had lain down, falling into a deep sleep, only surfacing when Jed came back in and built the fire. They’d chatted for a while as the day drew to a close, exchanging information about themselves, Tamsin telling him about home in Tunbridge Wells and her job teaching drama in London, where she now lived with Damien, and Jed, in his turn, telling her he lived near St Austell when he wasn’t on the island.
After that, they’d made tea and toast and had sat by the fire while it grew darker outside, he going through the day’s work on the laptop and she trying to get into a detective novel on the borrowed Kindle. After ten minutes, she gave up and took herself off t
o bed, waiting till he went to the kitchen before wriggling hastily out of her jeans and diving under the blanket, wearing the same striped top she’d arrived in. She hadn’t felt him get into bed, in fact wasn’t even sure if he had, so deeply asleep had she been. Till this moment, when something must have disturbed her.
She waited for half an hour or so, having checked both kitchen and bathroom, but he didn’t come back, and she began to worry in case he’d slipped on the rocks and had some sort of accident. At last, she pulled on jeans, sweater and boots and ventured outside.
It had warmed up since sunset and was almost balmy. Overhead a slim crescent moon seemed to be heading for the horizon, and the sky was filled with stars so brilliant and huge that they seemed feet above her head. There was not a hint of light pollution and the air was clearer than she’d ever seen it, so that the distant hills looked close at hand and the outline of the cliffs was startlingly sharp. The gulls wittered and squabbled a little and, nearby, the chickens let out a drowsy clucking, then settled again as she moved away.
Tamsin didn’t know whether to head inland or towards the shoreline, but in the end chose the latter, picking her way carefully - though, after a few minutes, her eyes became accustomed to the dark and she could see quite well. Daffodils brushed her legs and released their bright, fresh smell as she passed. Ahead, the sea was a tranquil line of pewter, glimmering near the shore but darker as it stretched away. The waves barely raised a murmur as they met the beach. Ten minutes walking brought her to the cove, feet leaving hard ground and beginning to sink into pale sand. The tide was in and the beach was a narrow strip bordering the cliffs.
Tamsin looked around her. She wondered whether to call Jed’s name, but something - maybe the utter peace of the night - stopped her. Instead, she kept walking. The cove wasn’t that large and it took her barely ten minutes to explore the whole of it, her progress lit by the glow from the water. At one point, she saw a pile of splintered planks and realised she was looking at the remains of her boat. She shivered, hastening by, her stomach a tight knot at the thought of how close she must have come to dying.
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