Wilderness Liaison Page 7

  “Jodie?” She frowned as his unusually gentle tone penetrated her thoughts. His hand fumbled across her shoulder. “Jodie. It’s Danny Wharetau.”

  Jodie’s heart gave one solid thump and then forgot to beat as it jumped into her throat. She felt the blood draining from her face as her legs turned rubbery. Arms caught her and she slumped against a solid wall behind her. She saw Rick’s lips moving but heard no sound.

  Unconscious of the strong arms around her until she forced herself upright, Jodie turned a dazed look behind her. She looked straight into Shal’s concerned eyes.

  “Sit down.” He gently pressed her onto a fallen log.

  “Danny? They’re sure it’s Danny?” Jodie sucked in a painful breath as Rick nodded.

  “What happened? Where is he?”

  “He got caught in a slip and went over Jeffers Bluff.”

  “Oh, no.” She wrapped her arms around herself as images flashed through her head—graphic pictures of her childhood friend broken and dead at the bottom of Jeffers Bluff.

  “He survived the fall, Jodie.” Rick knelt beside her, his arm tight around her waist. “He was alive when his mate left to get help.”

  For a moment Jodie leaned into Rick’s shoulder, accepting his youthful strength while she struggled with the shock of his news. Dear Danny. She hadn’t seen much of him over the last few years, but their childhood bond had never weakened. I must help him. Her mind galloped ahead.

  She nodded toward the others. “Can you get them to MacLaren?”

  “With my eyes shut.”

  “The crossing should be okay by tomorrow.” She quickly described the site she’d found up river. “You can decide whether to go on, or rest at MacLaren for a couple of days.” Her back stiffened and she stood up. “I’ll need the radio.”

  “You can’t go alone,” Rick quietly voiced the obvious.

  Jodie surveyed the party. Tony was struggling with blisters, Michael’s slashed hand made him less than one hundred percent fit. Kelly had amazed everyone, including herself with her fortitude, but she wasn’t up to the speed Jodie would be covering through the untracked bush. Jenny and Georgia weren’t options, which only left...

  Jodie cringed as she fought against the inevitable. Shal is the only one halfway capable of accompanying me. Wouldn’t I be better off going on my own rather than subjecting myself to his sole company for a couple of days?

  “Rick’s right.” Shal stood in her way. “You can’t go alone. I’m coming with you.”

  Jodie was startled by the spontaneity of his offer. Having no idea what lay ahead, he had unselfishly offered to help.

  She bit her lip to stop the jibe that burst into mind of whether he’d be able to keep up. Instead she murmured, “It won’t be easy.”

  “I’ll try not to slow you down.”

  Turning from his all-seeing eyes, Jodie ignored her consternation. Rushing up to Jeffers Bluff on my own won’t help Danny. Shal is strong and physically capable. Between us we might be the difference between life and death to Danny.

  I’m a mature, sensible adult, well used to male company. There’s no need to feel any apprehension being alone with Shal. He isn’t so different from other men I know.

  Liar, liar, whispered a little voice in her head as she hastily sorted through her pack, taking extra first aid equipment from Rick.

  Shal Gregory was nothing like the other men she knew. None of them triggered the extremes of emotion in her that he did. The passionate turmoil...

  The group jumped to Rick’s orders and was dismantling one of the tents, which Shal stuffed into his pack.

  Jodie hardly noticed the little huddle around Shal as she and Rick pored over a map, deciding which general route to follow and discussing scenarios she might find at the Bluff. Then Shal appeared with two aluminium dixies full of steaming food, one of which he passed to Jodie.

  “I know it’s not long since breakfast, but we don’t want to stop to eat later, do we?”

  Jodie murmured her thanks as she tucked into the food, again surprised at Shal’s thoughtfulness.

  Only a short time after they’d rushed out of the bush to Rick’s call, Jodie and Shal made their goodbyes and headed back into the tall beech forest.

  She was now alone with Shal, and would be for at least the next thirty-six hours. So much for my plan to avoid his company. “Rick will get the others back safely.” Her voice sounded stiff and unnatural, but she couldn’t help it.

  “I have the utmost confidence in him and so do the others. They’re not worried about themselves. They’re worried about you and me getting back, and your friend, of course.”

  Nodding absently, Jodie guessed he was right. They hadn’t appeared concerned she was leaving them with only one guide, and a young one at that. She knew they’d be okay—now that the rain had stopped, they could complete their tramp.

  In the process of lengthening her stride, Jodie paused. She needed them to reach Danny safely. An hour or two wouldn’t make too much difference, not when it was going to take a full day to get anywhere close to him. “Tell me when you need a rest.”

  She saw the ruddy colour flush into his face, and knew he was remembering this morning. “I’m sorry about earlier,” she mumbled, as the terrain allowed them to walk side by side. “It was real bitchy of me.”

  “I guess I gave you plenty of provocation. Shall we forget it and call a truce?” His smile seemed genuine. “We’ve got quite enough to worry about.”

  “Thanks.” She swallowed, glancing at him. “I wasn’t being smart about the rests just now. If we take short breaks we’ll be able to keep the pace up.”

  Shal nodded. “How long will it take us to get where we’re going?”

  “A day, maybe a day-and-a-half, depending on how much water’s in all the creeks.” She glanced up at the sky, detecting the position of the sun even with the cloud cover. “We have over eight, maybe nine hours of daylight,” she mused aloud. “There used to be a track along the ridgeline of the Tairaki Range. If we can make that by dark, then tomorrow we’ll be able to pick up the pace.”

  ****

  Shal managed to smother his groan. They seemed to be moving at a cracking pace already. Tomorrow they’d be picking it up?

  “This deerstalker, he’s a friend of yours?”

  “We were at school together.”

  Shal opened his mouth to question her further. She veered away to her right and began climbing the steep slope, pulling herself up by grabbing at trees as she passed. Shal took a deep breath and followed, sensing he’d have little energy left for talking.

  Hours later Shal sucked in an exhausted gasp as, cresting yet another ridge, they came upon an overgrown track weaving its way through the trees. Jodie slumped against a tree, her head falling forward in exhaustion.

  “Let’s stop here for the night,” he suggested. He didn’t know how she’d kept going. His lungs screamed for more oxygen and his legs had ceased to feel like they belonged to him hours ago. Knowing their progress could be the difference of life or death to the injured deerstalker was all that had kept him moving. It would soon be dark. Surely they’d achieved her objective for the day?

  Shal groaned aloud when she jerked herself upright and, shaking her head, consulted her map and compass again.

  “We need water.” She suddenly smiled. “Only another few hundred metres, I promise. We’ll find some water, then stop.”

  “You’re on,” he agreed as he strode off along the track.

  It wasn’t too bad as campsites went, Shal decided later as he stood back and surveyed the area where he’d pitched the tent across the track beside a tiny waterfall. Fishing into his pack again, Shal stripped off his sweaty shirt. Grabbing his dixie, he filled it with water. Mindful of Jodie’s earlier warnings about the Giardia, he veered away from the trickling stream to sluice the cold water over his sweaty body.

  As darkness closed in, their makeshift camp became an eerie world of its own, with unidentifiable bush night no
ises surrounding them. Shal knelt down next to the small fire, aware he was the cause of the Jodie’s tenseness but uncertain how to reassure her.

  His assumption she might be concerned about their sleeping arrangements proved way off key when his gallant offer to sleep in the open air was met with an apparently unconcerned refusal. “It’s a two-person tent,” she’d said, “and there’s no guarantee it won’t rain again. You getting wet won’t help us.”

  His ego had deflated, but then her unwillingness to meet his eyes restored his self-esteem. The thought of sleeping together in that minuscule tent was unnerving her. He hadn’t misread her vibes. She was aware of him, and for some odd reason that scared her.

  He grinned, almost rubbing his hands together with glee. His chest expanded with the certainty he was not imagining the tension surrounding them. She was attracted to him, despite all her efforts not to be.

  Watching her in the flickering firelight, Shal marvelled at how much he’d gleaned of her personality in the couple of days they’d been together, whilst knowing nothing about her actual life.

  “Tell me about yourself.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I think you’re an interesting person.” He smiled, shrugging. “And we don’t have much else to do.”

  “Tell me about you, then.”

  “What would you like to know?” He wriggled into a more comfortable position and smiled across at her, allowing her to neatly turn the conversation.

  “Your name...where did you get a name like Shal? Is it short for something?”

  Shal’s smile widened; having an unusual name could come in handy sometimes. “My mother is from Saudi Arabia, or at least her parents are. My name is actually Shalah.” He spelt it for her

  “Oh,” Jodie murmured. “What does Shalah mean? It does have a meaning, doesn’t it?”

  “Of course.” He inclined his head. “It means gorgeous or irresistible, a sexy beast.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “You just hit it on the head.”

  “Uhh?”

  “I believe it actually means righteous.”

  “How appropriate,” she shot back, not trying to hide her irony.

  Shal grinned at her jibe. “My brother would agree with you there.” He grimaced.

  Why Mazin flashed into his mind just then, he had no idea. He sighed, accepting his brother would never take his responsibilities seriously. There isn’t much I can do to relieve the resentment Mazin feels. It’s not my fault for being right more often than not about things.

  “Is there just the two of you?”

  Jodie’s question drew his mind from heading toward whatever mess Mazin was likely making of running the firm in his absence. “Ah, no, we have a sister, Leila.”

  “Your father’s Middle Eastern, too?”

  “No, he’s a Kiwi. Born and bred in Auckland.” Shal answered her question, thinking that the more he shared, the more he could ask her later.

  “You don’t get on with your brother?”

  She was quick. “Mazin needs to grow up, learn some responsibility.”

  “He’s obviously younger. How old is he?”

  “He’s five years younger than me, so twenty-six. He’s got as much sense as the proverbial village idiot.”

  Jodie jumped back as the stick Shal was jabbing at the fire dislodged a spray of sparks.

  “Something will go wrong while I’m here, I can feel it in my bones. He’ll stuff up somehow.”

  Jodie felt a deepening sympathy for Shal’s brother.

  “Perhaps he’ll surprise you.”

  “I doubt it. I’m just hoping his stuff-up won’t cost us too much money.” Taking a deep breath he quick changed the subject.

  “Enough about me and my problems. Tell me something about you. You love the bush, don’t you?”

  Shal watched her stiffen, as if looking for hidden innuendo in his question, but then she relaxed and looked into the darkness surrounding them before she answered. “I used to hate going to school because it took me away from the bush. When we were kids we spent so much time there I wonder how Mum didn’t go white-headed with worry.”

  She smiled as her thoughts obviously drifted. “Sometimes, during the summer we’d go for days on end. But our parents taught us well—we knew the rules and never broke them.”

  “You and Rick?”

  “Nah, Rick was too young—he was a pain in the butt. We used to let Tim come with us sometimes, but mainly it was just me and...” Shal’s eyes widened as her voice halted and she jumped to her feet. The darkness hid the expression on her face.

  “I’m turning in. It’ll be a hard day tomorrow, and who knows what we’re going to find.”

  ****

  Jodie jammed herself into her sleeping bag, appalled her guard had slipped. No one, no one outside the family ever heard her speak Rhys’s name. Talking about him was just too painful. As she lay listening to Shal moving around, and dousing the fire, she gnawed her lip to stop the tears, for those few moments talking with Shal, her memories of him had been happy ones.

  Her back was firmly turned as Shal manoeuvred his long body into his sleeping bag and settled down beside her. Closing the outside flap had enveloped them into a tiny world of their own. Jodie caught her breath. The tent was so small it was impossible to put any space between them. Though she sensed his effort to maintain a gap too, she could feel the heat from his body.

  She edged further away, wanting to curl into a foetal position and cry herself to sleep, but neither the tent nor the company allowed her that indulgence. For the first time in her adult life she strove to recall her dead twin. To bring his image into her mind was a deterrent to allowing other images to surface and take hold of her.

  “Bloody hell.” Shal wriggled some time later. “I didn’t notice how noisy the nights are. I guess the rain drowned it out. Will this racket ever quieten down? How’s a body supposed to sleep?”

  Some of the tension left Jodie’s body at Shal’s whispered words.

  “Give me trucks rumbling down the motorway any day,” he muttered. “At least you know what they are, and that they’re not going to eat you while you sleep.”

  “I doubt there’s anything here big enough to eat you,” Jodie murmured.

  “What about those razor-back pigs? I’ve heard they’re pretty mean.”

  “The biggest thing likely to come calling would be a little brown gecko, and it’ll be terrified.”

  “Didn’t you ever get frightened in the bush?”

  Jodie shifted slightly, knowing he couldn’t see her shaken head in the darkness. “Dangers in the bush are predictable. Not like in the city.”

  “Mmm, I suppose. Cities are man-driven, and man is unpredictable.”

  Jodie was surprised he’d understood, and even more surprised when he chuckled and added, “Or at least people are unpredictable. I wouldn’t want to be accused of sexism again.”

  She felt her eyes bulge in the dark. Political correctness from him, even in jest, was a shock. He struck her as being a man in charge of himself and everyone around him, with little tolerance for those weaker than himself.

  Having him make small talk to put her at ease with their situation gave her an insight into his character she suspected he wouldn’t be proud of. Gentleness was unlikely to neither be a trait he’d admit to nor admire.

  Dumbfounded that the hard ground was now bothering her more than Shal’s company, Jodie finally murmured a quiet goodnight and forced her breathing to slow. She drifted off to sleep with the bird calls of the wekas and moreporks being music to her ears.

  Chapter Seven

  Shal expected to find sleep elusive as he lay beside this alluring, green-eyed Xena. Listening to her quiet breathing, the toils of the day soon took their toll. The next thing he knew his eyes were opening to the dawn’s dim light.

  Jodie was beautiful, he decided as he lay watching her sleep. Her inner strength and certainty of her place in this natural world added to her allu
rement. It was so refreshing to meet a woman not constantly worrying about her appearance. She didn’t need to fret on that count.

  He almost reached out to see if her skin felt as soft as it looked but snatched his hand back just in time. Watching her eyelashes lying against her cheeks he realised he hadn’t noticed how long were before. The colour of her eyes was so incredible he’d always found himself focusing on them instead—when he wasn’t looking at her body, that was.

  He held his breath as she stirred. Her arm landed across his waist. Is it wishful thinking or did she snuggle closer?

  His early morning discomfort thickened in response to the touch of her body, even through two layers of sleeping bag. Perhaps she’s used to having someone in her bed, maybe this Danny person. It certainly seemed so as her arm tightened.

  He stared at her, baffled by the confusing emotions whirling inside his head. He’d never been in quite the same situation before—awakening beside someone he desired but hadn’t yet made love to.

  Why am I holding back? Lean over and kiss those adorable lips into submission, a voice inside his head whispered. Slip your hand under that T-shirt and caress those beautiful breasts. Don’t just look at them.

  The zipper of her sleeping bag was millimetres from his fingers. It would be easy enough to slip it down and expose her sleeping body. Aside from the hard ground, the situation was ideal for seduction.

  Let’s face it, my body is screaming for her touch. Even as his thoughts flew into a fantasy world where he and Jodie were close, much closer together, his hand stilled. Is she even aware of me as a man? Or am I just an adversary? Perhaps I’m simply a paying client of her parents? An annoying one, at that.

  He admitted to himself that there had never been any encouraging looks or gestures. No indication she’d welcome such an advance. Quite the opposite, in fact. To hit on a woman without warning or encouragement was lower than he could stoop.

  He swallowed a ragged sigh as instead of doing what his body craved, he lightly flicked some of the dark hair obscuring her face and was content to lie and watch her.