Sally Wentworth - Conflict In Paradise

by Sally Wentworth

  The canoe surged joyously through the water as she put all her strength and skill into sending it flying through the waves. When she had covered a fair distance she glanced back for a last triumphant look at Blake stranded in his rock prison—but he was no longer there! Instead she saw his dark head cutting through the water not thirty yards behind her. Panic-stricken, she dipped the paddle in the sea again, but fumbled and almost dropped it. The fool! He couldn't possibly hope to catch her, especially swimming against the tide. But he was still coming on relentlessly. Then Tansy froze with the paddle in mid-stroke as she remembered the grazes on his back that hadn't yet healed. If a shark got the scent of them!

  He was much closer now and she turned the canoe broadside on to let him catch up and climb aboard. Again he had outsmarted her, and she knew that she would have to give up her plan to abandon him on the atoll and take him back to Aparoa, there to face the consequences of her actions. Blake was only a few yards away and still swimming strongly when Tansy thought she saw a movement in the water just behind him. Quickly she stood up and lifted the heavy paddle in both hands, raising it high above her head to try to beat off any attack until Blake got into the boat.

  Lifting his head from the water, he saw her above him and raised an arm to catch hold of the side of the canoe, but instead of hoisting himself into it as she expected, he suddenly brought all his pressure to bear and turned the canoe over, pitching her headfirst into the sea. Her first thought was that a shark must have got him and she beat the water and shouted as loudly as she could in the hope of driving it away. But then she found herself caught in a powerful grip as Blake took hold of her. She tried to struggle free to reach the upturned canoe, but he only held her tighter, catching her under the arms and turning on his back to swim her along with him back towards the atoll. The sound of the surf breaking over the reef became even louder now and she forgot all about the shark as the tide carried them inexorably nearer.

  A long, curling breaker picked them up as easily as a scrap of driftwood and surged forward towards the reef. The roaring noise of the sea filled her ears and she found that she had turned in Blake's arms and was clinging to him as tightly as he was holding her. She felt sharp points catching at her clothes and then the wave had carried them over the reef into the calm waters of a small lagoon.

  The force of the wave had left her limp and exhausted so that she had to lie gasping on the sand when Blake at last pulled her out of the sea. He, too, collapsed on the beach, his chest heaving as he tried to recover his breath.

  'You—all right?' His voice rasped in his throat.

  'Y-yes. You?'

  He didn't answer, but Tansy saw him nod as he raised himself on one elbow. They lay there until their breathing steadied, then Blake stood up and began to walk along the waterline. Tansy sat up, alarm in her eyes.

  'Where are you going?'

  Blake looked at her briefly. 'To see if there's any sign of the canoe.'

  He walked off, his feet leaving footprints in the virgin- white sand, and Tansy tried to wring some of the water from her clothes; her shoes she had lost in the sea. Five minutes later he returned without seeing any sign of the canoe.

  'It probably broke up on the reef,' Tansy remarked. 'We were lucky not to get caught on it ourselves. It was a pity about the canoe. I thought the shark had got you when you overturned it.' She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to untangle it.

  'Shark? What shark?' Blake crouched down beside her as Tansy turned to stare at him.

  'I thought I saw a shark behind you. Why else did you overturn the boat instead of climbing into it?'

  There was a disbelieving curl to his lip as Blake retorted, 'Because I didn't want to have my head smashed in by the paddle! I knew you hated me, lady, but by God, I didn't think you'd go that far!'

  Tansy stared back at him, shocked horror in her eyes. 'You thought I was going to hit you?' She spoke almost in a whisper. The enormity of the accusation held her stunned for a moment, then she scrambled hastily to her feet and glowered down at him resentfully. 'I wish the sharks had got you! I wish you'd drowned in the sea! But most of all I wish you'd never come into my life!' And she turned and started to stride away up the sloping beach, but Blake caught her arm and pulled her round to face him.

  'All right, so give me your version of what happened.'

  'Why the hell should I? You've already made up your mind so you wouldn't believe me anyway.' Vainly she tried to pull herself free. 'Let me go, damn you. God. how I hate you!' Then stupidly, she found herself held in his arms as she began to sob with rage and frustration.

  Raising her tear-filled eyes, she said earnestly, 'I thought there was a shark behind you. I was going to try to hit it if it attacked you.' For some inexplicable reason it suddenly seemed important that he should believe her.

  Putting his hands on either side of her face, Blake gently drew her towards him and she felt a wild surge of emotion as she thought that he was going to kiss her again. Her mind told her to break free, but something held her quiet beneath his hands. There was a strange light in his eyes as he looked deeply into hers, as if searching for something he wanted desperately to find. Then he gave a little sigh and dropped his hands to her shoulders. 'I know. I'm sorry.'

  A queer feeling of something like disappointment filled her, but she had no time to dwell on it because

  Blake was saying briskly, 'We'd better try and dry out our clothes as much as possible before the sun goes down. If you find yourself a bush you can bring your things out to me and I'll wring them out and then spread them to dry.'

  He had already begun to unbutton his shirt as Tansy found a clump of pandanus palms, graceful, pretty trees with long aerial roots that made them look as if they were growing upside down, but which formed a screen while she took off her clothes. Her bra and panties she wrung out as best she could and put on again. Luckily they were of nylon and would soon dry in the heat of the sun. Feeling strangely shy, although heaven knows her underthings covered her far more than a bikini, she carried her sweater and slacks out to where Blake had already spread his shirt and shorts out on a convenient shrub. Hardly glancing at her, he took the clothes and squeezed out most of the water before hanging them to dry.

  'Is there any chance of a boat coming this way?' he asked matter-of-factly.

  'Not at this time of the day. But won't your men come to look for you in your boat when they find you haven't returned?'

  'Unfortunately they don't know where we are,' Blake reminded her drily. 'And I doubt whether they'd be able to get even the dinghy over that reef even if we could attract their attention with a signal of some sort. Can this island be seen from Aparoa?'

  'Only from the mountain or from the highest rooms in the prison. It was seeing it from your office that gave me the idea.'

  'That was the charming idea of abandoning me here, I take it?'

  'It would have served you right for locking me in that terrible cell!' Tansy retorted hotly, her scanty attire forgotten as she turned to face him.

  He looked into her face for a moment, said, 'You're right—it would have done,' and then turned abruptly away. 'I left my belt out on the rocks before I went after you,' he went on. 'I'll swim out and get it Are there likely to be any sharks in the lagoon?'

  'No, they can't get past the reef.'

  He waded out and then swam across the lagoon leaving Tansy looking after him as if she couldn't believe her own ears. Had he really said that? And why on earth had he bothered to admit that he had been in the wrong? But she hardly had time to even begin to work out the implications before he was back. Spreading the belt out on the sand, he undid a leather pouch attached to it and took out a waterproof bag.

  'Emergency pack,' he explained, taking things out of it one by one. 'Matches, so that we can light a fire to try to attract attention; water-purifying tablets, a fishing hook and line, a miniature torch, and various pills designed to keep your strength up for about a week.'

  'Very impress
ive,' Tansy said rather sarcastically. 'Any little Boy Scout would be quite proud of it.'

  Blake smiled wryly. 'Why don't you go and collect whatever wood you can find to make up a fire while I find a suitable place to build it?'

  'You don't need wood,' she informed him with some satisfaction. 'We always light fires of coconut fibre, and you don't have to look for it because the crabs have already collected it for you.'

  'The crabs?' He sounded startled.

  'Look, I'll show you.' Tansy led him to where a heap of coconut fibres lay in a cleft in the sand. Gently she pushed the heap aside to reveal a small, round hole. 'The sand crabs use the fibre to disguise their holes from the birds,' she explained, 'and you can easily collect all you need.'

  They soon gathered armfuls of the material and Tansy followed Blake to the highest point facing Aparoa where he had chosen to light the fire. As she walked behind him her professional eye noted that the wounds on his back were healing well. He walked easily, his muscular legs carrying him effortlessly over the broken terrain. Dressed as he was, in only his short pants, he was a perfect example of physical fitness and forceful masculinity.

  Silently she stood and watched him as he went to light the fire, but the match merely sputtered and died, as did the second and third that he tried. Ruefully he looked up and said, 'I'm afraid some damp must have got into them. We'll have to dry them out and then start again.' He spread some of the matches on a stone, but Tansy looked doubtfully at the sun which was sinking low on the horizon, fearing that there wouldn't be enough warmth left to dry them.

  Suddenly she wanted to get away from the atoll quickly, away from Blake and her awareness of him. 'I'll try and light it like the natives do,' she volunteered. Searching under the trees she found two pieces of softwood, and taking them back to the pile of fibre began to rub them against each other. After several minutes a little wisp of smoke came from the wood as she manipulated them ever faster, then they began to glow and soon the wood began to smoulder and she was able to hold them close to the coconut fibre until it sprang into flames. Exhausted, she sank back, her hands and arms throbbing from her exertions.

  'Well done,' Blake congratulated. 'I'll gather some more fuel.'

  They kept the fire burning brightly, but hope gradually began to die as the sunset faded into a haze of soft lavender and her eagerly searching eyes could see no trace of any approaching boat or canoe.

  'They won't come now,' she said at last, her voice empty. 'It's too dark.'

  'Yes,' Blake agreed. 'I'm afraid you're right. It looks as if we shall have to spend the night here.'

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The atoll was a small, horseshoe-shaped piece of land that had gradually emerged as the coral growth covered an underwater volcanic peak, the highest point of which was only fifteen or twenty feet higher than sea level, so there was little to protect them from the wind from the south which swept up from the Antarctic.

  Tansy shivered as the warmth went out of the sun, and Blake, noticing this, said, 'Our clothes should be almost dry now,' and handed her her sweater and slacks which he had put near the fire to finish drying. 'We'd better find something to eat before the light goes,' he remarked as he buckled on his belt, fully dressed again now. 'There obviously isn't any water here, but if we can find something to put it in, I can purify some seawater.'

  'I think I'd rather stick to coconut milk,' Tansy said wryly. 'Look, there are several nuts under that tree.'

  They found two or three young nuts that sounded as if they had milk in them when shaken, and also some wild bananas which were green but edible, and these they carried back to the fire. Blake drew his knife from the sheaf on his belt and cut a branch from a tree to make into a fishing rod.

  'How many fish can you eat?' he asked.

  'What makes you think you're going to catch any?' Tansy returned.

  He grinned but didn't bother to answer, going down to the lagoon to wade in and cast the line with a crab as bait. Tansy turned her attention to the bananas which she wrapped in leaves and then put in the outer embers of the fire to bake. Finding a piece of jagged coral, she skilfully split the coconuts, being careful not to lose the precious liquid. It reminded her of when she had been a child and she and Ruari had gone exploring Aparoa together, relying for their food on what they could gather from the jungle.

  Blake came back with two good-sized fish and soon the delicious smell of cooking food and wood-smoke made Tansy feel less cold and vulnerable. For she was very much alive to the fact that she and Blake were alone together on the tiny island. For the moment they had called a tacit truce, but not far below the surface lay the antagonism and barely suppressed hatred that she felt towards him. But overriding this was her awareness of him as a man, of his strength and forcefulness, of his easy command of the situation. She realised that if she had succeeded in abandoning him on the island he would have suffered no more than a little indignity, a mere prick to his ego, for he had proved that he was quite capable of taking care of his creature comforts.

  Across the flickering firelight she looked at his lean, hard profile as he fashioned pieces of flat wood into plates for them. This man, this stranger, who had come to overturn her ordered and sheltered world—he had the ability to rouse her to rage and fury, but he also aroused other emotions in her, feelings more intense than she had ever known before and which made her afraid because they threatened to overpower her reason and make her wonder what it would be like if he again kissed her as he had kissed her once before on the beach at Aparoa. Then he had let her go as soon as she had started to struggle. But then there had been houses and people nearby; here, on the coral atoll, they were alone with no one within call to help her if she needed it—if she wanted it.

  As if aware of her regard, Blake raised his head and looked at her, but Tansy picked up a stick and poked the fire, avoiding his eyes and glad of the gathering dusk that hid the slight flush in her cheeks. 'I think the fish should be ready now, don't you?'

  'Mm, they look done.' Blake hooked out the fish and put them on the makeshift plates together with the unwrapped bananas. 'Those smell good, but why bother to cook them?' He spoke quite matter-of-factly, as if they were having a Sunday afternoon picnic.

  'They're really plantains, they don't taste as good as cultivated bananas and the natives always bake them.'

  He passed her a coconut and Tansy forgot everything but her hunger and thirst. At last, like a kitten, she licked her fingers clean and said, 'That was good. I didn't realise I was so hungry.'

  'A banquet,' Blake agreed. 'Almost as good as the feast last night.' He looked at her across the firelight, one eyebrow raised mockingly.

  His words brought all the memories of last night and the events since then flooding back, she also remembered how he had gone off into the jungle with Lait She said stiffly, 'I'll wash the plates,' and took them down to the gently lapping water's edge to rinse.

  Taking her time, she washed the wooden platters and then sat on the beach to watch the last light of day fade into night. She felt totally unable to cope with her own emotions, rather like a child who is frightened by something but too fascinated to run away, and she bitterly resented the unrest that Blake had evoked in her. At last the cool breeze drove her back to seek the warmth of the fire where she found that Blake had taken his pistol from the holster on his belt and was carefully checking to make sure it was still in working order.

  Tansy watched him for a few minutes, then said irritably, 'Do you have to do that? We're hardly likely to be attacked by hordes of marauding savages!'

  He glanced across at her, then closed the pistol and said evenly, 'Not if it annoys you.' After replacing the gun in his holster, he turned back to look at her. 'What's the matter, Tansy?'

  'Matter? What should be the matter? It's just my idea of heaven to be stuck all night on an uninhabited atoll with a—with a tin soldier!' There was a hard, sarcastic edge to her voice.

  His brow darkened. 'That's what you think of me, isn
't it? That my work is just one long game? Will nothing get it through that crazy head of yours that I'm in deadly earnest?'

  'No!' Tansy retorted. 'Like you said, it's just a game —a game played by boys who haven't grown up into men!'

  Immediately she had said it she knew that she had gone too far, but something inside her had driven her on into goading him, into trying to break his iron self- control. Blake stood up precipitately, his eyes staring down into hers while Tansy sat frozen, unable to move. Then he bent and picked up a coconut shell and walked a few feet away to where some shrubs gave a little shelter from the wind, and kneeling down began to vigorously scoop away some of the sand.

  Tansy bit her lip, knowing that he had every right to be angry with her. Slowly she got up and walked over to him. 'What are you doing? Can I help?' As a peace offering it wasn't much, but he accepted it all the same.

  'I'm digging out a hollow for us to sleep in. It should give a little protection from the wind. If you want to help you can take my knife and cut some leaves to pull over us.'

  By the time she returned with an armful of palm and pandanus leaves, Blake had almost finished making a hollow about four feet wide and a foot deep with a banked-up wall around the edges. Tansy looked at it, then said carefully, 'That's fine. Where are you going to put the other one? On the other side of the fire?'

  He looked up. 'What other one?'

  'One for you and one for me.'

  Turning back to his task, he said evenly, 'This one is for both of us. We'll keep warmer if we're together.'

  Very clearly, Tansy said, 'Well, that's just where you're wrong!'

  'Be sensible, Tansy. It's going to be hard enough to keep warm even with the fire going. If we…'

  Her voice rising, Tansy interrupted angrily, 'I wouldn't sleep in the same hollow as you if you—if you were the last man on earth!'

  Raising an eyebrow he grinned in amusement, and she realised how ridiculous her words had sounded. 'You wouldn't get a chance—you'd get killed in the rush,' he said with a chuckle. But then, his voice becoming serious, he added quietly, 'You have nothing to fear from me, Tansy.'