Midnight Wedding Read online

  ‘What stuff?’ said Holly, as the truck drove on.

  ‘The raw material for a water-powered generator,’ said Jack with satisfaction. ‘I found a very nice little waterfall yesterday.’

  He turned and began to walk towards the main tent. Holly fell into step beside him. After all, she reasoned, he had not actually told her to get lost.

  ‘If they have a waterfall, why isn’t there power here already?’

  Jack raised his eyebrows as if she surprised him. ‘Good point. It’s a new waterfall. Formed by the landslides.’

  ‘It sounds very temporary.’ And dangerous, though she did not say that.

  ‘That’s why I wanted a second opinion yesterday. The geologists say it’s stable enough for our purposes. If I can give this place power even for the next few weeks, it will help.’

  ‘You can give them?’ Holly said uneasily.

  ‘My idea. My design. So I get to build the Lego.’ He was clearly exhilarated at the prospect.

  She looked up the ruined street. Mud had dried on the buildings, leaving them a uniform red-brown. They looked like a structure fashioned out of chocolate—and about as likely to melt. Behind them the mountains looked enormous but somehow no more solid. Holly shivered.

  ‘How stable is “stable enough”?’

  Jack glanced down at her in surprise. ‘Worried about me? There’s no need.’

  ‘Of course not,’ snapped Holly, recoiling from the suggestion as if she had seen a snake.

  They had reached the main tent. He hesitated.

  ‘If you really want to go, you can catch a ride out of here with those guys,’ he said, nodding to the army trucks.

  ‘Oh.’

  He waited but she did not say anything else. Her thoughts were in too much of a turmoil.

  He sighed. ‘Well, think about it and let me know. I can get the office to book you a flight to wherever you want to go.’

  He can’t wait to get rid of me.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said in a stifled voice.

  ‘Any time.’

  But he didn’t look as relaxed as he sounded. There was a little muscle throbbing in his jaw and he pointedly drew back so as not to touch her when she went through the narrow entrance to the tent.

  Holly registered signs of disturbance and was marginally encouraged. She turned to him. ‘Jack—’

  But they were interrupted.

  ‘Oh, there you are, Jack.’ It was one of the liaison officers. He had a cold and looked drained. ‘What’s this about you going back up the mountain today?’

  Jack was brisk. ‘I’ve identified a site. The guys and I will put the emergency generator up today.’

  The liaison officer was brisker. ‘Not today. The army haven’t brought an interpreter and I haven’t got anyone.’

  Jack assimilated this. ‘Free one up. This is priority one.’

  He made for the coffee urn. The liaison officer gave an exasperated sneeze and pattered after him.

  ‘You’re not listening to me, Jack. I haven’t got anyone. The nearest qualified interpreter is ten miles and two thousand feet away.’

  Jack drew a mug full of sludgy coffee and drank it down as if it was life-giving elixir.

  ‘What about Angelina? I thought she was up here for the duration.’

  ‘With the medical team. And I’m not pulling her out.’

  Jack frowned but he seemed to see the justice of that. ‘Well, we’ll just have to yell at each other. They’ll get the idea eventually.’

  The liaison officer looked aghast. ‘You’re crazy. It’s dangerous enough without you yelling orders at them in a language they don’t understand.’

  ‘Er—maybe I could help,’ offered Holly.

  The liaison officer turned to her with dawning hope but Jack’s frown deepened until his eyebrows met over his nose.

  ‘Out of the question,’ he said curtly.

  Holly bridled. ‘I may not be a professional interpreter but my Spanish is better than yours. By miles.’

  ‘That’s not the point.’

  ‘OK. What is the point?’

  ‘It’s difficult terrain.’

  She looked at him limpidly. He glared at the liaison officer.

  ‘She doesn’t know what it’s like up there.’ He turned back to her. ‘You haven’t got the right gear. You’re not technically qualified.’

  Holly still said nothing.

  Jack ground his teeth. ‘Believe me, you’re not prepared.’

  ‘Worried about me?’ Holly quoted maliciously. ‘There’s no need.’

  Jack’s eyes narrowed to slits.

  The liaison officer said swiftly, ‘That’s great. There you are, Jack. Problem solved.’ He gave him a friendly buffet to the shoulder. ‘All you’ve got to do now is talk the army into it.’

  Jaw tight, Jack said, ‘The weather’s too uncertain.’

  They both stared at him in disbelief.

  Holly said, ‘I thought that was why we were here in the first place.’

  ‘Me,’ said Jack swiftly. ‘Why I am here. You never signed up for dangerous sports.’

  Holly met his eyes. She wondered if she was mad. ‘For better, for worse. That’s what I signed up for, if you remember.’

  He was silenced.

  ‘Well, I’m glad that’s settled,’ the liaison officer murmured.

  He faded tactfully. Neither of them noticed.

  Jack said, ‘But you wanted to leave.’

  Holly transferred her gaze to his left ear. ‘Still do. But I can make myself useful until I go.’

  He stopped arguing. ‘Very well. Just get yourself a good breakfast. It’s going to be a hard day.’

  It was.

  Holly realised that she had never seen Jack at work before. She was impressed. If she had thought about it she would have said that he would be dictatorial in the extreme. She would have been wrong.

  He was friendly, even relaxed. But he was very, very focused. As they toiled up the steep valley, he talked to the soldiers direct so they could laugh at his bad Spanish. But as soon as they reached the waterfall, and precise instructions became important, he slipped seamlessly into using her translation skills.

  Holly soon found that he drove the team as mercilessly as he drove himself. They took only the briefest breaks for coffee or high-energy cereal bars. But he did not let them sit and eat, although Holly knew they had food packs and flasks with them.

  Yet no one complained. No one except her even seemed to notice. As the soldiers came to the end of one task, Jack outlined the next, illustrating exactly how far it took them towards their goal. They sweated and breathed hard but the soldiers stayed cheerful and the little installation took rapid shape.

  ‘Clever,’ said Holly as he dispatched her to the wiring party.

  Jack’s eyes rested on her unemotionally. Throughout the exercise he had treated her with utter professionalism. You would not have thought there was any relationship between them at all, let alone that they were husband and wife.

  Now he shrugged. ‘It’s what I’m paid for.’

  She paused, obscurely irritated. ‘Doesn’t anyone ever see through all that charm? You’ve made those guys work like slaves.’

  ‘I’ve helped those guys achieve a phenomenal result,’ he corrected. ‘They will be proud of this for the rest of their lives. If it works,’ he added under his breath.

  Holly was shocked. She had not, she realised, doubted his ability to achieve the goal he set himself. ‘What? You mean you’re not sure?’

  ‘Not a hundred per cent. That’s not for passing on.’

  ‘Of course not,’ she said impatiently. ‘But you’ve demanded a hell of a lot from those people if you’re only playing the odds.’

  Jack looked at her for a long moment. ‘You play the odds or you accept failure,’ he said quietly. ‘That’s the choice.’

  She looked at him sharply. Was he only talking about the half-built generator?

  His eyes glinted unreadably in the thi
n, hot sun.

  ‘And I always demand a hell of a lot,’ he said softly. ‘Now get going.’

  She did not challenge him again.

  Eventually he summoned the soldiers and told them to go back to Ignaz.

  ‘That’s it. All we’ve got to do now is see if it works. See you all later.’

  ‘I’m staying,’ said Holly.

  He looked at the sky. Low, black clouds were coming in fast.

  ‘I wouldn’t advise it. There’s going to be the mother of all storms.’

  ‘I’m staying.’

  Jack took one look at the set of her chin and did not bother to argue further. But when the soldiers had taken off, their weariness showing at last, he turned back to his installation before they were out of sight.

  ‘Have you ever been in a tropical storm?’ he asked over his shoulder.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Think power shower and double it.’ He leaned over the edge of the river bank and adjusted the position of one of the rods. ‘I’m aiming to get us back to Ignaz before it breaks if I can. But you’d better see if you can find some shelter in case I can’t.’

  Holly was as tired as the soldiers. But she did not say so. It was a matter of pride. Jack was stripped to the waist and she could see his muscles bunch and strain, bunch and relax, as he struggled with the collector rods. If he could keep going, so could she!

  It was just as well she did. There was an ominous note in the wind. By the time she went back to tell Jack that she had found a cave, the clouds were racing like video tape on fast-forward and mud-caked branches were rocking.

  ‘Up there,’ she told him, nodding to the head of the waterfall.

  Fat drops pancaked onto her bare arm, making her jump. Jack assessed the situation rapidly. He did not waste words. He gathered his equipment with swift economy, zipped it into a waterproof knapsack, and shouldered into it.

  ‘Show me.’

  ‘It’s a bit of a scramble.’

  Holly led the way. She was so tired now her joints were beginning to burn. She hauled herself along wearily, going onto all fours in the steeper parts. Even with his burden, Jack was tireless. As soon as he saw the cave mouth he pushed past and reached down to help her.

  Holly took his offered hand thankfully. He was half supporting her by the time they got into the dark cave.

  The wind rumbled louder. She shivered. And then there was a crack like a shattering window and the muddy hillside disappeared behind a sheet of water. Holly stared in disbelief.

  ‘Just in time,’ said Jack cheerfully. He unloaded his pack.

  ‘It’s like being behind that waterfall,’ she said blankly.

  ‘Told you. Power shower times two.’

  ‘You mean this is normal? Not the start of a hurricane or something?’

  ‘We’re not in hurricane country,’ he said comfortingly. ‘It’s spectacular but it will pass. We just sit it out. Tell each other our life stories and wait for the sun.’

  ‘Oh.’

  It sounded more dangerous even than the water chute outside. She sank down onto the cave floor and leaned against the wall, not answering.

  Jack gave her a shrewd look. He extracted the unopened coffee flask from his pack, poured a slug into the tin lid and offered it to her.

  Holly took it. She grimaced at the heavily sugared taste but its warmth was reviving. She returned the tin measure to him and tipped her head back wearily.

  He poured coffee for himself and slid down beside her. The cave was not cold but the heat seemed to come off his naked torso in waves. Holly tensed.

  ‘Hadn’t you better put your shirt on now?’

  ‘Why? I’m not cold.’

  In the semi-dark, she felt rather than saw him grin. It was just like their wedding night. Outside the elements thundered, only now it was rain not the steady sensuous beat of the sea on the shore. But inside it was the same, exactly the same—the hammer blows of their heartbeats. And Jack, amused and in control. Just as he was now.

  ‘That’s because you’ve been exercising,’ Holly said, inspired. ‘Now you’ve stopped you should cover up.’

  He stretched lazily. ‘My shirt’s in the bottom of the bag.’

  His bare shoulder brushed against her as he lowered his arms. Holly set her teeth and refused to react.

  ‘Right,’ she said grimly. ‘Our life stories. I was born in London. Only child. My mother was my father’s long-time lover and didn’t tell him about me.’

  He made a small sound of surprise and turned towards her. Holly felt the hardness of bone and sinew in the movement, and realised, with a little shiver of strangeness, exactly how strong he was. She drew away infinitesimally and went on with her story.

  ‘Then she died and left me to him as a sort of legacy. He took me back to the States—did I say he was American?’

  ‘Smallville,’ he murmured. ‘I remember.’

  ‘He had an adopted daughter by his first marriage. She found it difficult but she—Well, she tried. Her husband, on the other hand, was scared out of his mind. He thought I was going to hijack the family company, especially after Dennis died.’

  ‘Dennis?’

  ‘My father. I could never manage to call him “Father”. He said he understood.’

  ‘Ah.’ He shifted. ‘My father always expected met to call him “sir”,’ he said drily.

  She was taken aback. ‘You’re not serious.’

  He shrugged, dismissing it. ‘So what happened when your father died?’

  The sexy warmth of smooth golden shoulder was so close that she only had to droop her head a little and she could rest against him. The temptation was almost irresistible. Almost.

  She said, distracted, ‘Dennis left me the company. I was his only family, you see. Oh, Brendan and Donna got the real estate and other stuff, but I got the big potatoes. In trust until I was twenty-five or got married. That’s when Brendan got really scared. He tried to marry me off to the man he had brought in to run the company. Homer. Homer Whittard. He was some sort of cousin of Brendan’s.’

  ‘I begin to understand,’ said Jack slowly.

  ‘I tried to wriggle out of it. I got so desperate I even tried to give the company to Donna and Brendan. It was hopeless. No lawyer would touch me.’

  ‘Of course not.’

  Holly was indignant. She forgot the temptations of the broad shoulder and swung round on him, pugnacious.

  ‘Why of course?’

  ‘It wouldn’t have been very ethical for them to help you to get rid of your inheritance while you were still under age, would it?’

  ‘Ethical?’ Holly wriggled her shoulders in disgust.

  He said in an odd voice, ‘You’re so young.’

  That annoyed her all over again.

  ‘No, I’m not. I’ve been taking care of myself for years.’

  ‘Have you?’

  Her chin came up in pure reflex. ‘Yes, I have. Quite successfully, as it happens.’

  ‘It didn’t look like that in Paris.’

  ‘You know nothing about it,’ she flung at him.

  He was utterly still. She suddenly thought: He’s furious!

  ‘Don’t I? I know you were terrified to face Brendan. That you wouldn’t even write to your family unless I married you.’

  It echoed round the stone walls of the cave like a drum. Marry you…marry you…marry you…

  Their eyes met. Even in the half-dark she could see the tension in his body.

  Marry you…marry you…marry you…

  Holly looked away, shaken. ‘I never asked you to,’ she muttered after a moment.

  His reply was quiet. Deadly quiet.

  ‘Didn’t you?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Somehow she had managed to back herself into the rock face. He did not move. But she could feel the heat of his body, his breath. He was breathing unevenly, as he had not done all through the day’s physical labour. It seemed as if his body had suddenly remembered that he had climbed a
mountain to reach thin and dangerous air. Why?

  He did not answer her question. Or not the one she asked aloud.

  Instead he said softly, ‘How did we come to this?’

  Holly did not understand. She did not want to understand. Looking anywhere but at Jack, she shook her head violently.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Yes, you do.’

  Suddenly there was no longer humid air between their bodies. Unfairly, he took her chin in his hand and forced her to meet his eyes.

  ‘What?’ she said goaded.

  ‘Marriage was your only way out, right?’

  There was no doubt at all now. He was furious. Holly was so bewildered she forgot to answer. There was a muscle leaping in his jaw and his eyes were black.

  ‘Any man would have done, wouldn’t he?’

  Holly blinked. ‘No!’

  But he swept on, not listening. ‘I’m just the guy who drew the short straw. Again. Oh, God, how do I get myself into these things?’

  Again? Holly did not understand. But somehow she knew it was important to tell the truth about this.

  ‘Any man wouldn’t do,’ she said hotly. ‘Nobody else—’

  But the look he turned on her stopped the words in her mouth.

  ‘J-Jack?’ she said uncertainly.

  ‘Oh, it’s me you want, is it?’ It seemed to make him even angrier. ‘You sure about that?’

  And before she knew what he was doing, he had taken her face between powerful hands and was kissing her. Hard.

  Oh, God, it was devastatingly familiar. And so right.

  He was so confident; so horribly, justifiably confident. Holly felt as if his every movement was wired into her own circuits. On the one hand this man was a stranger—an impatient, driven stranger. Yet at the same time he already knew almost more about her than she did herself. Certainly he knew how to drive her responses to the very edge. And he was her husband!

  She screwed her eyes tight shut and struggled to make sense of it all. Or that was what she told herself as her pulse pounded and her body shook to its core.

  Jack made a small sound of satisfaction. His hands, those long, deft hands, moved with total assurance. She felt herself tipping, slipping sideways, stretching her length along the stony floor.