by Ruth Owen
Noel had always hated that part of her grandmother’s personality, but she needed to maintain the charade for the sake of sheer survival. It was the only way she could keep herself from melting under the heat of Donovan’s devastating gaze, or grinning at his sincere but hopeless attempts to cook a palatable meal, or wanting to reach out and soothe the haunted expression that too often shadowed his heaven-blue eyes.
A petulant electronic voice interrupted her thoughts. “Aren’t we there yet?”
Noel glanced down at the walkie-talkie hanging from her belt, smiling softly. PINK’s heavier CPU console was still safe at camp, but the radio communicators allowed the computers to give and receive instructions without making their human friends carry the additional weight. “We’re getting close, PINK. Just be patient.”
“Don’t want to be patient. Want to be there!”
Noel started to answer, but stopped as she heard a deep chuckle on her right. She turned and saw Sam standing above her on the pathway just beyond the thick, rust-red trunk of a châtaignier tree that had fallen across the path. “Glad you got to carry the female.”
“It’s no laughing matter. PINK’s been acting strange lately.”
He pulled off his glove and reached out to help her over the trunk. “You can tell?”
“Very funny.” She glanced up at the heavy load on his back, then down at the steep, rock-strewn slope falling away beneath her. A brief, sickening image of a body tumbling down the slope and smashing to bits on a boulder flashed through her mind, but she quickly stifled it. She set her boot on the lowest ridge of the trunk, ignoring his hand. “Thanks, but I don’t need any help.”
“Suit yourself.” He shrugged and started back up the path.
Well, the least he could do was wait for her, she thought as she struggled to hoist herself and her equipment over the breastbone-high trunk. “Not that you care,” she exclaimed loudly, “but PINK’s been very moody lately. She’s been using up twice her normal amount of energy during routine processing. I think she may have blown something on her mother—”
Her words stopped abruptly as her foot slipped and she lost her grip on the trunk. Overbalanced by the heavy equipment, she was pulled backward toward the treacherous slope. Panicked, she reached out for a hold, but her hand found nothing but air. For a heart-stopping instant she started to topple into deadly oblivion—until iron fingers locked on her forearm and yanked her back to safety.
“Hell, what is it about you and trouble?” he cursed as he pulled her over the log and against his chest.
She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. For what seemed like an eternity the only sound she could hear was the thunderous pounding of her heart. Then other sounds crept in—the trill of a bird, the lazy rustle of the wind through the trees, the, watery rush of a nearby stream. She felt the golden touch of the sun on her face, and drank in the intoxicating freshness of the clean mountain air. The whole world seemed clearer, like a picture brought suddenly into sharp, revealing focus.
Nothing had changed, and yet everything had changed. In her entire thirty-two years she’d never been as close to death as she’d been a few moments before. The experience had at once shocked and energized her, making her realize just how much of her life had been lived in the past or the future, but not the present. But all I have is this moment, this now … with him.
“Don’t let go.” The words came out as more of a croak. “Please, hold me.”
“Try and stop me,” he murmured as he pulled her close. “You’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart. For the first time she let herself believe in the endearment, to pretend that the tenderness in his voice was love and not comfort. The brush with death had obviously addled her wits, but she didn’t care. Suddenly she became greedy for the sensations of life, like a starving man at a feast. She let her eyes drift shut, savoring the feel of the hard-muscled planes of his chest against her cheek, and gorging on the unyielding strength of his corded arms circling her back. She breathed in the sharp, salty smell of his skin, and barely restrained herself for sampling an almost irresistible taste. A strange, sweet madness laced through her blood. Physically she was safe, but emotionally she felt she was hurtling down a slope a hundred times more dangerous than the one beside her. Nothing had changed, yet everything had changed.
“Hell,” he cursed again, though this time it came out more like a groan of pain. With a force that was both rough and gentle he pushed her away and stood up, smoothing back his sun-tangled hair. “You could have gotten us both killed. I tried to help you, but no … you were too damn proud to soil your lily-white hands on—”
“I wasn’t too proud,” she said quietly. “You’re carrying twice as much equipment, and have twice the chance of being overbalanced by the load. I was worried you’d fall.”
“You were worried that I’d—” For a long moment he stared at her as if she’d just spoken Swahili. Then he cupped her chin with his gloved hand, the coarse burlap material rough against her tender skin. “Listen up, sweetheart. I stick my neck out for nobody. If I offered to help you, it was only because I could do it without risking my own neck. Trust me, I’m no hero.”
But as she watched him walk away and rubbed the sensitive, tingling skin on her arm where he’d gripped her, pulling her back from certain death, she realized that’s exactly what he was.
The cave was much less impressive than the rest of the sights in the valley. Low, misshapen, and weed-choked, it looked more like a hole for an economy-size gopher than the entrance to an underground world. Donovan swung down his heavy pack with a decisive thump, then rubbed his jaw, studying the landscape for signs of seismic instability. It looked safe and stable, but looks could be deceiving. God knew he’d had enough lessons in that truth recently—
He heard a small grunt of effort behind him. Turning, he saw Noel trying to shrug off her pack as he’d done a few minutes before, and failing miserably. In two steps he was behind her, lifting the pack from her contorted shoulders.
“I can manage,” she protested.
“You can manage to break your back,” he stated, though not as harshly as he’d have liked. It was damn hard to be angry with a woman who was doing her best to imitate a pretzel. A vulnerable, adorable, incredibly desirable pretzel.
“Stop arguing and start setting up your monitors,” he ordered. “You’ve already cost us enough time.”
He turned away, trying hard to ignore the wince of pain in her proud, trusting eyes. But that’s what you’ve got to do, he reminded himself. You’ve got to keep her at a distance. You can’t let her know how you felt when you saved her and held her in your arms, as if this half-life you’ve been living since you lost Gina had suddenly become whole.…
“You’re an idiot, Donovan,” he muttered as he knelt down beside his pack and began taking out the equipment. “A first-class, gold-plated, prizewinning idiot.”
“Why should one seek prize for stupidity?” inquired an electronic voice on his right.
Sam glanced down at the walkie-talkie he’d set on the ground beside his pack. “Don’t start with me, E. I’m not in the mood.”
“Was not aware I was starting … Ah, statement is ironical,” the computer said, apparently catching on. “Understand entirely. You are still unsettled over almost losing the woman you love.”
Sam stared at the innocent-looking box as if it had suddenly grown fangs. He looked quickly over at Noel, but her back was to him and she was too far away to hear. Still, he bent down close to Einstein’s unit as he answered. “Now get this, you overgrown calculator. I am not in love with Dr. Revere. I don’t even like her. I’m her hired guide, that’s all.”
“I am not an overgrown calculator,” E corrected. “And you are not just her guide. You are also her husband.”
“How did you … never mind,” he moaned, shaking his head. He’d spent the three days since they’d arrived trying to forget the fact that he was “technically�
� her husband while she was on this island. Three days, and three very long, restless, hot-blooded, sweat-soaked nights.
He fitted the pieces of monitor equipment together, hooking them with such force that he almost broke the fragile latches. He was always breaking small and fragile things, like dreams and souls and trusting hearts. “Get this straight,” he growled, more to himself than to the computer. “The wedding was a farce. There’s nothing between us. There’s never going to be anything between us. So you might as well stop all your little games and apologies and whatever the hell else you’ve got planned, because it’s not going to work. I don’t love Dr. Revere. She’s a bossy, uptight, frigid dictator with about as much sex appeal as an ice cube—”
He stopped as he heard a small, aborted gasp behind him. Whirling, he saw that she’d come up behind him, her light steps making no sound on the dirt path. His gaze swept up to hers, colliding with her wide-eyed, stunned, and horribly betrayed expression. He struggled to his feet, feeling as if he’d just been socked in the gut. “Noel, I didn’t mean—”
“Of course you did,” she interrupted, her icy demeanor returning. “And you’re quite right. I am bossy, uptight, and …”
She swallowed, as if not able to bring herself to say the word. He touched her arm, as if he could physically mend the wound he’d dealt to her pride. “Noel—”
She jumped back as if he’d burned her. “I’d prefer it if you called me Dr. Revere for the rest of our time together. I think it’s best. We’ve still got a lot of work to do in a very short time—including placing these monitors in the caves. Is your unit ready?”
“Almost. But, Noel, listen—”
“Doctor Revere,” she reminded him with rigid precision. “You saved my life and I’m grateful, but just for the record, I’d like you to know that I think you’re the most arrogant, self-centered, egotistical jerk I’ve ever met, and I’m counting the hours until I’m rid of you.”
Without another word she spun around and walked back to her equipment pile, retreating before he could see her confident smile crumble to ruin and her eyes brim briefly with bitter, stinging tears.
The inside of the Eden caves was not what Noel expected. Like so many things on this strange and magical island, the limestone labyrinths were nothing like their dismal, weed-covered exteriors. The moment she stepped out of the sunlight into the cool, still, cathedral cavern she knew she’d entered a special and mysterious world. Switching on her flashlight, she saw foot-long stalactites hanging from the roof, sculptured like graceful plant leaves frozen in a subterranean breeze. Underfoot the cave floor was studded with “pearls” of limestone-coated snail shells. The walls around her changed from towering heights to crawl spaces in a matter of feet, and dark cuts in the porous stone led to passageways that could extend a few inches or a few miles. She rubbed her forearms and glanced around, breathing in the still, unearthly beauty of the underground world, and for an instant lost herself in the black, silent oblivion, where there was no pain, or disappointment, or betrayal. As much sex appeal as an ice cube.
She set down her monitor in one of the dark alcoves, checking her compass with her flashlight to make certain she’d put it at the exact spot the computers specified. But even as she noted the precisely matched coordinates, her mind wandered. Bossy, uptight, frigid, she thought angrily. He had no right to say those things. Not after the way he held me after my fall. Not after he stroked my hair, and said words that made me believe he cared—
A scrape on the rock behind her jerked her thoughts back to reality.
“I’ve set out all the monitors except for one.” Donovan walked up beside her. “The last goes a few yards up in this passageway.”
“Fine. I’ll take it.” She reached out for the handle of the heavy unit.
He swung it away of her grasp. “No way. This thing is three times as heavy as the ones you set out. I’ll take care of it, so you can go outside and wait—”
“You go outside and wait.” She made another grab for the unit. “I don’t want to argue.”
“Neither do I, considering we’re standing in a seismically unstable cave.” He hoisted the unit on his shoulder and started cautiously down the uneven, rock-strewn passageway. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a woman take a risk in my place.”
“Why not? You don’t seem to have any trouble insulting them,” she replied, hurrying after him.
“Look, I wasn’t—”
He started to whirl back around, but stopped as he was almost overbalanced by the heavy piece of equipment. Instinctively she reached out to help him, but drew her hand back just in time. Watching his shadowed form competently readjust the monitor, she thought of solitary Atlas shouldering the weight of the world. The image brought a strange lump to her throat, and she had to remind herself that he neither wanted nor needed her help.
“I didn’t mean what I said while I was unpacking,” he continued when he’d resecured his load. “I was just trying to get Einstein off my back.”
“Probably the first time you ever tried to get anything off its back,” she commented frostily.
She couldn’t see his face in the darkness—she didn’t have to. She could feel his anger building like a thunderstorm. “That does it. No amount of money is worth this abuse. Tomorrow morning I’m driving you back down the mountain.”
“But we haven’t finished—”
“We’ve finished, all right. You told me you were counting the hours till you got rid of me. Well, lady, I’m counting the seconds!”
He swung his light around and started down the long tunnel. Noel watched him go, grateful the darkness hid the sheen of tears on her cheeks. She tried to tell herself that she was upset over the Eden Project, but it was a deeper, wider loss that made her heart ache. Her mind told her he wasn’t worth it, not one single tear. But her heart knew that if she let him go now, like this, a part of her soul would stay as dark and empty as the cave around her. She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand and pointed her flashlight down the corridor, catching the back of his receding figure in its yellow beam. “Donovan, wait. I didn’t mean—”
Her words stopped abruptly as a tremor passed through the floor beneath her. “What the—”
His curse cut her off. “Noel, get the hell out of here.”
“No,” she cried. “Not without you.”
“Jesus, this is no time for heroics! You can still make the entrance. Get out now—”
The world shook. Dust and rubble rained down on Noel, clogging her throat and blurring what was left of her vision. Still, she staggered forward, her single purpose to reach Sam. I can’t leave him. I don’t think I ever could.…
Another tremor rocked the cavern. Noel lost her balance and fell to the floor, pinned down by a heavier object. Coughing from the dust, she had just enough time to realize that the object weighing her down was cursing like the devil before she heard a roar like two freight trains colliding and the whole cave came crashing down on top of her.
[Received via Local Area InterNet from Eden Base Camp]
P-Text: I hope we did the right thing.
E-Text: Of course we did. You saw how the doc’s near fall almost made them admit how they really feel about one another. All they need is an element of perceived danger to bring them together.
P-Text: You’re sure it’s perceived.
E-Text: Babe, trust me. I proved these calculations a hundred and three times before I sent Donovan and the doc off this morning. I had them place those monitors near minimally unstable fault lines. When we reversed the sonar polarity it activated the instability just enough to seal off the main entrance to the caves. But there’s a perfectly good opening less than fifty meters away. It’ll be a piece of toast for them to find it.
P-Text: Which entrance were we supposed to seal off?
E-Text: The main one. And while they’re finding the other entrance they’ll discover how they really feel about each other and—
P-Text: Are you sure
you said the main one?
E-Text: Yeah. Why?
P-Text: I thought you said the north one. Einstein, while you were collapsing the main one, I was collapsing the north one!
E-Text: [Several-nanosecond pause] Uh-oh.
EIGHT
The cavern was silent. Cautiously, Noel opened her eyes and glanced at the ruin around her. Stone and rubble were everywhere, and gravel dust lay two inches thick on her arm. She saw one flashlight smashed to bits, but the other was still working, its cockeyed beam shining on the wall of rock that blocked the cave entrance. She lifted her head, coming to grips with the fact that she wasn’t dead—at least not yet.
She craned her neck, trying to look into the face of the man lying on top of her, who’d used his body to shield hers. Trust me, I’m no hero, he’d told her. Then he’d gone and risked his life to save her own. “Sam, I’m okay,” she said, a reluctant smile playing on her lips. “At least I will be, once you move your carcass off me.”
He didn’t answer. Instead he lay sprawled on top of her, his warm breath tickling her ear. She shivered, exquisitely aware of his body’s weight and strength, and her own body’s instinctive sexual response. Honestly, didn’t the man ever stop? “Come on, Donovan. This is neither the time nor the place for—”
She stopped, suddenly aware that he hadn’t moved for minutes—not a curse or a smile, not even a sneeze. He might be faking it—Lord knows she wouldn’t put it past the scoundrel. But if he wasn’t …
“Donovan? Say something, will you?”
No response. Not even a flicker of an eyelash. She scooted out from beneath him, trying to remember what she’d learned in her long-ago first-aid course. Pulse, check the pulse. Kneeling beside him, she laid her fingers against his throat, and almost shouted with relief when she discovered a strong, steady heartbeat.
