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‘He just got a little unexpected R&R,’ she said hurriedly. ‘He had to catch all sorts of odd flights to get here, and now he has virtually to go straight back to be able to rejoin the team in time. Don’t you, Rafe?’
He looked at her, her heavy-handed emphasis wiping the stunned glaze from his green eyes, replacing it with a wicked admiration that made her creamy pale cheeks pinken. How she wished she had never embarked on this agony of deceit!
She nervously brushed non-existent crumbs from her lap, and her hand touched her stomach and stilled, acknowledging that she was fiercely glad her wish could never be granted. She had what she wanted and nobody, nobody, was going to take it away!
Rafe folded his arms over his chest, the thick cabling on his sweater pulling tight over his shoulders, letting his silence stretch until Jennifer was on the verge of panic before he drawled, ‘Actually, darling, I can take longer if I like. Everything’s been going so well we’ve pretty much done what we originally set out to do...and various members of the team are already splitting off to take up other projects. It won’t be a problem if I send a message that I’ve decided not to return...’
‘I thought there was no way to get communications in or out of your area of the rainforest?’ said Paula innocently.
Rafe pursed his lips to disguise his amusement. Jennifer had thought of everything.
‘Before, no—but I made special arrangements at every step along the way on my trip out,’ he replied with bland aplomb.
‘Well, that’s wonderful news!’ Paula beamed. ‘Isn’t it, Jenny?’
Her mother’s joyful exclamation was punctuated by a low rumble and a shimmer of windows in their wooden frames. Mount Ruapehu obviously had the same opinion as Jennifer.
Dot got up and crossed to the glass doors, peering towards the mountain through a fine haze of grey powder interspersed with twirling, fingernail-sized ash flakes.
‘It’s pretty black up over there now,’ she said. ‘There’s hardly a glimpse of clear sky left. I bet the colour of that plume means most of the crater lake has gone. We could see some real pyrotechnics soon.’
She rapped at the dust-coated glass with a stubby finger. ‘I hope the wind changes again, or I’m going to lose some of the plants to this damned ash. I’ve covered the most delicate ones, but at this time of the year they need as much sunlight as they can get.’
In spite of the fact that she travelled for about four months of every year, Dot had put herself in charge of the flower and vegetable gardens, and whenever she was in residence she worked with a passion amongst her beloved plants and planned all the new plantings. Over the years she had built up the grounds of Beech House to the point where they
were regularly featured in ‘open gardens’ tours during local festivals.
Rafe went to join her at the window, the seams of his close-fitting jeans whitening as he stepped across Jennifer’s legs, dragging her unwilling attention to his taut backside as he moved away. To her chagrin, her mother caught her looking and grinned, miming a silent whistle.
Jennifer smiled weakly in return as she began stacking the tea things on the tray. If her mother had never met her ‘husband’, the discreet long-distance ‘divorce’ that she had been planning to blame on their extended separation could have been achieved with minimum fuss. Now it would be that much more difficult.
‘Are we likely to be in any danger at this distance?’ she heard Rafe ask Dot.
‘Not from molten material. In an eruption the size they’re predicting the danger zone for that is only a few kilometres.’ Geology was another of Dot’s hobbies. ‘But the radio said that there’d already been several big lahars through the ski fields, and once the mud-flows reach the river systems they can cause havoc downstream. There was a big train-wreck in ’53, when a rail bridge over the Whangaehu River got washed away and a hundred and fifty people were killed. But our main problem will probably just be the ash flying around and clogging things up, and then you get water shortages when people try to clean it up. And it can be toxic when it’s breathed in, of course, so we’d better make sure the animals come inside...’
‘Oh, dear,’ said Paula. ‘Do you want to put a canvas over your car, Rafe? We have some spare covers in the garage that we bought after last year’s big blow. I know it’s only a rental, but heaven knows what this dust might do if it gets into the engine.’
Jennifer stopped what she was doing, aghast at the tacit invitation contained in the suggestion, but before she could think of an objection Rafe turned from the darkening view and strolled back to smile down at his eager hostess.
‘I suppose that would be a good idea, but I don’t want to impose, Paula.’ His diffidence was a beautifully calculated pre-emptive strike. ‘I know you weren’t expecting me, and Susie told me when I arrived that you had a full complement of guests. Actually, since I wasn’t quite sure of the set-up here, or what Jennifer’s immediate plans were, I had made a reservation at a hotel...’
‘Rafe! Of course you’ll stay here with us!’ Paula was visibly shocked by his offer. ‘We always have room for family, no matter how full we are. Jenny has a lovely big bedroom which takes up the whole of the upstairs, with en suite bathroom and outside access via the balcony, so you can both have tons of privacy. Goodness!’ she laughed, as the loaded tea tray crashed back down onto the coffee table. ‘Jenny would never forgive me if I tried to chase you away—look at her face, she’s horrified at the very thought!’
Rafe knew full well what she was horrified by, and it wasn’t the thought of their separation.
‘But, Mum...’ Jennifer was fast running out of spontaneous inventions. A contagious disease? A fear of heights? What reason could she dredge up for her pretend husband not sharing her room? She wracked her brain for inspiration. How about a pathological fear of being murdered in her bed?
Bed? A wave of heat flowed over her body. Oh, God, her mother expected her not just to share a room but to sleep with him, in the euphemistic as well as the literal sense. Her breath began to labour in and out of her lungs, as if she was outside, inhaling the smothering ash. She looked at the tall man in his stylishly casual clothes, the easy stance and confident set of his shoulders, the careless good looks, and simmered with hot resentment.
He had apparently earned a small fortune as a model when he was in his late teens and early twenties, enough to subsequently set himself up in the publishing business without using a penny of his father’s money or a shred of his influence, and it was obvious why he had been so favoured for spreads in GQ and Vogue. He oozed a kind of universal sex appeal, attractive to both men and women. And that was with his clothes on!
Jennifer’s knees weakened at the impossible task her mother had unknowingly set her. She was supposed to go to bed with that and not think of sex?
‘Now, Jen, I know what you’re going to say, but Dot and I can handle the guests.’ Her mother interrupted her scurrying thoughts with unaccustomed decisiveness. ‘You don’t seem to like to admit it, but we managed perfectly well for ourselves during those two months that you were in England. You just devote yourself to getting to know your husband again. After all, considering how little time you’ve spent together as a married couple, you’re still practically honeymooners...’
‘Why, so we are,’ purred Rafe, moving over to Jennifer and sliding his long arm around her waist, hugging her to his side while he nuzzled the side of her head, lowering his voice to a murmur.
‘Just think of it, darling—the two of us up there all alone in your lovely, cosy eyrie, exploring each other’s wants and needs...’ His warm breath hummed in her ear, lapping at her senses and teasing her overheated imagination. ‘Rather like the fantasies I used to weave for myself during those long, languid, steamy Amazon nights...when I’d lie awake, staring into the velvet-black darkness, aching with loneliness, yearning for the touch of a passionate woman...my woman...’
