Love's Ransom by Dana James

Author:Dana James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2013-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Zanthi stared into the gaping mouth of the cave. It was tall enough for Garran to enter without bending his head, and about twice as wide. The smooth rock floor was dusted with a light coating of sand and a scattering of dead palm fronds.

She swung round to face him, expecting to see his mouth curved in the teasing smile that would tell her she had fallen neatly into yet another trap. But he wasn’t laughing. Save for the quizzical arch of his left brow, his face was expressionless.

Zanthi snatched her hand free. ‘This?’ Her voice rose. ‘We’re sleeping in a cave? But – you said … No, don’t tell me,’ she added quickly as he opened his mouth. Her mind raced. ‘I remember what you said, “Old, large, warm and dry.”’ She looked around her once more, unobtrusively drawing in a deep, steadying breath.

‘Would I lie to you?’ His voice was low, his tone challenging and, though he smiled, the words held several shades of meaning.

Zanthi swallowed, letting the rucksack and bag slip through her fingers to the ground. He hadn’t lied. It was an interpretation of the facts, and she had built up an entirely different picture.

‘Don’t forget the spectacular views.’ He flung one arm wide to encompass the panorama of coastline and ocean spread out below and to either side. His other arm rested briefly, electrifyingly on her shoulders.

‘You –’ She cleared her throat. ‘You didn’t mention having to share.’

He turned her towards him, his hands firm and strong on her upper arms. Tipping his head slightly to one side, he studied her through narrowed eyelids. ‘I remember quite distinctly saying that there would be occasions when reaching a hotel or rest-house wouldn’t be possible.’

Zanthi moistened her lips. ‘I meant …’ She indicated the bats swooping silently in and out above their heads as daylight began to fade.

‘Oh.’ His eyes gleamed. ‘I see.’ His fingers tightened for an instant before he released her. ‘Just think of them as mobile pest control,’ he advised, moving the yellow backpack to a niche in the wall. ‘Without them the gnats would be unbearable. Look, the light is beginning to go, will you fetch some water from the stream while I –’

‘What stream?’ Zanthi interrupted, looking round.

‘Over there.’ He pointed. ‘You see where the far side of the cave entrance sticks out to form a sort of barrier? The stream runs down behind that.’ He crouched to unfasten the rucksack. ‘There will probably be a pool.’

Suspicion reared, ugly and threatening, in Zanthi. ‘Have you been here before?’ she demanded sharply. He looked up, his face expressionless. ‘No.’

‘Then how do you know?’ Her voice faltered as he straightened, towering over her, a black silhouette against a dusky sky still streaked with pink and gold in memory of the sunset.

‘These cliffs are limestone,’ he said quietly. ‘Limestone is porous. Rainwater filters through it. The water has to go somewhere. It gathers into streams or pools, forming caves such as this one. Over millions of years the course the water takes changes.

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