Stolen Feelings

He gave a bark of laughter, and it was surprising how it softened the harsh lines of his face and made him look more human. ‘Actually you’re half right. You, Ian and myself are moving to Isla Fragata, or Vulcan Island as it is more commonly known.’

‘Just the three of us?’ she asked cautiously.

‘Yes.’ He grew serious again. ‘It should prove very—interesting, from many points of view. Ian is very eager to learn, but—’ his tone sharpened ‘—his success depends upon you.’

Julie frowned. ‘Me? What do you mean?’

‘You’re fully aware of my stipulation?’

‘That you wouldn’t take him on your team if I didn’t come too?’

‘That’s right.’

‘I can’t understand why,’ Julie said strongly. ‘If you’re afraid of being chased by single girls you could have employed a man.’

‘Afraid, Mrs Drummond? Me?’ He looked considerably amused.

Julie shrugged. ‘Ian said that was the reason.’

Cameron Storm’s mouth twisted cynically. ‘I suppose it was a natural assumption, but he’s wide of the mark. The truth is I did not think it fair to part him from his wife for twelve long months; it could put his—marriage in jeopardy.’

He paused a moment, as though expecting her to say something. Julie hid her unease but remained silent. He couldn’t possibly know that she wasn’t Ian’s wife, she was being too sensitive.

‘Besides,’ he went on briskly, ‘I happened to need someone with your qualifications. You can—er—type, I presume?’

Julie inclined her head, her eyes flashing her impatience at such a question.

‘You’re not exactly what I expected,’ he added surprisingly. ‘I rather thought Ian’s wife was a blonde; I don’t know why. But then—’ he grinned widely, showing amazingly white teeth ‘—it’s amazing what you can get out of a bottle.’

Julie could not believe this man. He was totally confusing her and she wanted to get away from him, she wanted to speak to Ian, she wanted to ask him what, if anything, he had said. God, already it was so difficult.

‘All I ask,’ he said, the humour gone now, his voice brusque, ‘is that you don’t let your husband down.’

Taken by surprise, she asked sharply, ‘And what is that supposed to mean?’

‘I think you know.’ His blue eyes narrowed upon hers and Julie felt a quiver of unease. Another thought struck her. Surely he wasn’t aware that she already felt a faint pull of attraction? Surely she hadn’t given herself away in this short space of time? He didn’t think, he couldn’t think, that she was like this with every man she met? Could he?

‘If you can’t cope,’ he added crisply, ‘say so now and you and Ian can go back to England before we get started.’

Julie deliberately misinterpreted him. ‘I have no doubt at all that I can cope with the job.’ It had taken them ages to get their permits to stay and work here; Ian would never forgive her if she fouled things up now.

‘And everything else?’ he persisted, and this time there was no doubt what he meant.

‘But of course.’ She kept her eyes steady on his.

‘And may I suggest that you do something with your hair.’ His eyes raked over its long length. ‘Either tie it up or get the scissors to it. It’s totally impractical in this heat.’

She tossed her head. ‘You don’t have to tell me, I’ve already found that out. I have every intention of tying my hair back just as soon as I’ve had a shower and changed.’

‘Showered?’ He looked at her as though she were out of her mind. ‘There are no mod cons here.’

Julie felt slightly foolish, but she was damned if she would show it. She lifted her chin defensively. ‘Whatever.’

In the privacy of the tent Julie flung herself down on one of the camp-beds and wondered what she had let herself in for. Apart from the difficulty of the masquerade, she had never imagined anything like this. Had Ian known they would be sleeping under canvas? Had he deliberately misled her? Or had he thought it would be different too?

Throughout the flight from England to Ecuador she had tried to imagine what life in the Galapagos Islands would be like. Nothing had prepared her for camping out on the beach. She actually did not like sleeping under canvas.

When they were young, she and Ian had gone on a camping holiday with their parents and a violent thunderstorm had blown down the tent in the middle of the night. Several dozen frightened cows had come charging through their camp and frightened her even more than the storm. They had never managed to persuade her to sleep under canvas again.

It was a pity, Julie thought now, that she and Ian had not been able to fly out here together. They’d actually had difficulty in getting flights, and in the end he had come out more than a week before her.

She had stayed one night in Ecuador at a hotel in Quito, and had somehow expected things to be equally as civilised here. Perhaps, if she had thought about it properly, she would have realised that it wasn’t possible, that living in a tent was far more practical when it was necessary to move camp from one island to another—except that she hadn’t known they would be moving!

It was hot inside the tent and totally airless, and it was easy to see why most of them had no sides—obviously Cameron had thought that she and Ian needed their privacy!

Eventually she sat up and hugged her knees and looked about her. There was not exactly a lot of room and only one small area to store and hang their clothes. She had brought far too much, most of it totally impractical. When would she ever wear dresses, for instance? And high heels? She had thought they would dine out sometimes, that it wouldn’t be all work and no play. It certainly didn’t look like that now.

She knew that Santa Cruz was the second largest island and the main tourist centre, with the Charles Darwin Research Station stituated here, but she hadn’t really understood how remote their camp was going to be. And she was afraid to imagine what it was going to be like when they went to Vulcan Island. The stress would be intolerable.

Julie pulled off her dress and contemplated slipping into the sea as she desperately needed to cool down. Then the thought that Cameron Storm might be out there watching made her quickly change her mind. She would manage without, for the time being.

She opened her suitcase and tugged out a T-shirt and shorts. She saw no point at all in unpacking if they would shortly be on the move. She fished her comb out of her bag and raked it through her hair, twisting its length into a knot on top of her head which she fixed securely with a few hairpins.

When she ventured outside, Cameron, surprisingly and pleasingly, was nowhere in sight and she was able to wander through the campsite at will. She found the kitchen supplies tent and a stove that was run by Calor gas, which she supposed she was going to have to learn to use.

Intense fury ran through her. She wasn’t the world’s best cook, and it wasn’t a task she particularly enjoyed. If Ian had deliberately let her believe she was cooking only for the three of them, if he had known all along what he was letting her in for, then he would certainly get a piece of her mind.

‘I’m glad you did as you were told.’

Julie turned quickly at the sound of Cameron’s voice. He had come up so quietly behind her that her senses triggered in faint alarm. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked with a frown.

‘Your hair.’

Involuntarily she touched it, tempted to remind him again that she would have done so anyway, but deciding there was no point in provoking further antagonism. This was a very small community—and would be smaller still far too soon! It was best that they maintain some sort of halfway decent relationship.

He looked at her appraisingly and insolently, not missing one inch of her body, starting at the tips of her toes and working his way slowly upwards, pausing to rest on the pert thrust of her breasts before finally meeting her furious hazel eyes.

‘You’re too damned beautiful,’ he growled, and it wasn’t a compliment. ‘I’m not sure that it was a good idea after all; you could prove an unfortunate distraction.’

Julie knew he wasn’t talking about himself. In the short time she had spent in Cameron’s company she had got the impression that he was always in control, always in complete charge of his life, and that no woman, however attractive, would be allowed to intrude.

‘I’m sorry we did not meet when I was in England recently,’ he added.

‘Because then you wouldn’t have insisted that I accompany Ian, is that it?’ she asked crisply. ‘I think you’re being very insulting, Mr Storm, I can assure you I do not have a roving eye. I’m not interested in other men. I’m very happy as things are.’

Before Roger she had had no steady boyfriends. After what had happened to her mother she had always sworn she would never get married. But it had happened, she had fallen in love, and had really thought she had found the ideal man—until Roger’s jealously got the better of him.

He hadn’t been able to bear her to even talk to another man. At first she had been flattered, thought it proved how much he loved her, but when he had accused her of having an affair, when he would not listen when she’d explained that Tod Martin was a lifelong friend of the family and had taken her out for a meal because they hadn’t seen each other for over twelve months, she had ended their relationship.