Stranded (2 page)

This time,
when she woke up, she felt
much more normal, though her previous waking and her conversation with Jed
seemed unreal and dreamlike. A thick blind was pulled over the window and there
was a light on above the desk, so she guessed it must be dark outside. There
was a sense of stillness too, except for the crackling of the fire. Certainly
the wind had died down, though she could now hear the distant wash and recede of
waves and, above and beyond that, a strange noise - like a querulous chatter
and the occasional shriek, though faint and far away - that at first she was
unable to identify, till she realized it was the sound of what must be a pretty
large colony of gulls.

There was no sign of Jed, but the fire was piled with
fresh logs that were blazing merrily away, so he couldn’t have gone far.
Tentatively, she eased herself up,
then
swung her legs
to the floor. The headache was gone, thank God, though she still felt wobbly.
So far so good.
She stood up, expecting faintness, but there
was just a residual weakness and that persistent sense of unreality. She was
also bursting for a wee, so, needs must, she had to find a loo, (did this place
have a loo?), or a bush, or something. Hopefully not a bush, since she was
still dressed in nothing but her underwear and a thin, sleeveless pastel-striped
cotton top, now the worst for its soaking in
sea water
and barely covering her bum.

Successfully making it across the floor, with every
step restoring a sense of strength and focus, Tamsin opened the door leading
from the room and stepped through. She’d expected it to open to the outside,
but she was in a vestibule with another door ahead of her and one to her right,
and a small galley kitchen to her left. The entryway itself was lined with
pegs, hung with bits and pieces of outdoor wear, and there were several pairs
of walking boots on the floor, all in different sizes. There was a faint but
perceptible draught coming under the door ahead of her, so it had to lead to
outside. She knocked on the other door, received no response and turned the
handle. A light came on automatically, startling her but illuminating, to her
relief, a tiny bathroom with loo, sink and a shower cubicle.

The loo even flushed, as she found out a minute or so
later, and there was running water to the sink, though she saw it was supplied
from a large plastic container above the taps and dispensed via a thin tube,
the water itself tepid and coming out a pale peaty
colour
. And, miracle of miracles, there was a mirrored
cabinet,
though she almost wished she hadn’t looked in it when she saw her pale,
strained reflection. That was definitely blood matted into her hair above her
ear; and her eyes, (that were muddy brownish green instead of their usual dark
emerald), were hollowed above stark cheekbones; there was a bruise on her jaw
as well. Ugh! A moment swilling her hair under the tap got rid of the worst of
the blood, and a splash of water over her face cleared her head and made her
feel properly awake, but there was nothing she could do about her pallid skin
and the bruises.

‘You’ve looked better,’ she muttered to herself,
drying her face and hands on a rather grubby towel, wincing as she discovered a
tender spot on her cheek.

Then she jumped a second time as the door was rapped
smartly and Jed called out: ‘Are you ok in there?’

She opened the door to him a bit sheepishly, keeping
her lower half behind it so he wouldn’t see her undressed state. ‘Sorry, I should
have looked around for you and let you know where I was.’

He smiled. ‘Ah, you’re properly awake. I just went out
to get some more logs then saw you weren’t in the living room. This batch
should do us; it’s warming up, the worst of the bad weather’s gone. It should
be pretty hot tomorrow. Oh, and you might need these.’ He handed her jeans to
her, now dry and clean, though with a tear in one knee, and gave her a cheeky
grin. ‘I have to tell you how weird it is having a strange woman washing up on
the island. Not that I’m complaining,’ he added, raising his hands, ‘though
it’s going to be tough on you till we can get the helicopter to take you back
to Cornwall. Now, I’ll leave you to get into your jeans while I knock some food
up.’

She passed him in the galley kitchen a moment or so
later. He had his back to her, but she could hear the sputter of something
frying. She paused for a moment to take in his broad shoulders and what was
actually a very nice bum showing trim and muscular under his jeans.
Tamsin
shook herself mentally. She already had enough
complications in her love life without having stray lustful thoughts about men
she barely knew.

As though he’d sensed her scrutiny, he turned his head
to grin at her - that grin seemed habitual and was very infectious. ‘Won’t be a
minute. Go and sit by the fire and I’ll bring it in.’ She started to offer her
help but he waived it away: ‘
It
’s room service for
now. You need to rest and take it easy.’

Muttering her thanks,
Tamsin
backed away and went into the main room, finding a padded bench to one side of
the fire, seating herself and holding her hands to the blaze.

Moments later, Jed was shouldering his way into the
room, forks in one hand and plates in the other, the top one piled with a huge,
fluffy omelet.
Tamsin’s
eyes widened. ‘Eggs? Here?’

He
plonked
the plates on the
desk, divided the omelet in two between them, then handed one half to her.
‘Yes. We’re set up for survival here. Fi, one of the others in the team,
introduced chickens. There aren’t any foxes on the island, so they’re safe to
roam around and don’t take a lot of upkeep. We’ve got wind power, solar panels
and an emergency generator too, just in case you’re wondering where the power
for the lights comes from. And the fishing in the cove, off the rocks, is
pretty good.’

Tamsin
began on the omelet and discovered she was almost wild with hunger.
‘This is pretty good,’ she said, between mouthfuls, forking it down furiously,
wiping her mouth unceremoniously with the back of her hand.

‘Thanks. There’s tinned peaches and
evapourated
milk for pudding. I’m afraid we don’t run to
fresh fruit, except for a week or so after the helicopter’s been, though we do
grow vegetables and salad stuff.’

‘You keep saying we,’ she said, spearing the last
chunk of omelet and putting her plate on the end of the bench.

He nodded. ‘We is the team. Sometimes all six of us
are here, especially when we’re tagging birds. We work in pairs sometimes. I’m
here on my own at the moment, but someone will come over in June and we’ll have
a
two week
overlap before I go back to the mainland.
When there’s more than one of us, we use field tents, but there’s nowhere to
store them in between, so this is the accommodation when it’s just a single
person. I’d like to be a gentleman and let you have the bed to yourself, but
this is the only place to sleep, at least till it gets warmer at night, so I’m
afraid we’re going to have to double up while you’re here.’

He must have seen the startled look she gave, because
he smiled and said, ‘Don’t worry, there’s plenty of room, we can have a blanket
each, and I promise not to snore or get too familiar in the night. Now, if
you’re not too tired, I’ll put the kettle on and get the pudding, then you can
tell me what you were doing adrift on the stormiest night this year.’

So
Tamsin
found herself, mug
of hot tea in hand, telling Jed a little about her mad dash to Cornwall to
escape Damien and that he’d faced her with an unexpected and urgent decision.

‘But won’t people wonder where you are? Your aunt must
have told someone when you didn’t come back last night.’ Jed asked.

Tamsin
shrugged, pushing a stray tendril of hair from her face. She was aware
of him following the movement closely, his eyes suddenly intent, and she felt
self-conscious and a little excited: his focus seemed to have shifted, so that
she was made very aware of her body and of the fact she was alone with him, and
of how attractive he was.
Stop it
,
she
chided herself
. For all you know, he might take total advantage of you:
after all, you’re completely at his mercy. A frisson of excitement sent a
shiver up her spine and she tried to steer her thoughts back to more sensible
things. But a part of her somehow knew she could trust him, though she wasn’t
sure why. She swallowed.

‘Nobody knows I went down there. The cottage is a bit
isolated, away from the rest of the village on a creek. My aunt doesn’t live
there, it’s just her holiday place, and we all have a key in case we want to
get away; we don’t need to ask.’

Jed nodded. ‘And the boyfriend? You haven’t said much,
but it must have been something pretty drastic to make you run like that.’

Tamsin
shrugged. ‘I’m not sure if I want to be as serious as he seems to
want.’

Jed’s mouth tightened and a look of deep sadness
shadowed his eyes briefly. ‘I know what that’s like, I mean someone not being
sure if they want to commit to you all the way.’

Tamsin
would have questioned him, but he changed the subject, asking her how
she was feeling now, gently drawing her hair away from the lump on her head,
probing with careful fingers and then pronouncing that she didn’t need stitches
as the cut was quite small. Then he leapt to his feet, picking up their mugs
and leaving the room. She would have to start pitching in and helping tomorrow,
but right now she could feel exhaustion and reaction overtaking her again. By
the time Jed came back in, she was fast asleep, curled up on the bed against
the wall, a blanket pulled over her, her back to the room.

It
was
light, the sort of light you get very early in the morning, warm,
luminous and the colour of runny caramel. The fire had gone out, but dapples of
sun and shadow spattered the walls high up, moving across the wooden ceiling
like the reflection of water. Tamsin yawned, rubbed her eyes and stretched
luxuriously, flinging the blanket off and crossing the floor to look out of the
window, her feet sinking into a brightly patterned woollen rug then traversing
floorboards. She felt alert and alive this morning, though there was still that
faint sense of shock and unreality. She had no idea if Jed had stuck to his
intention to share the bed with her: she had slept so deeply and totally that
she had no impressions of the previous night, not even the shred of a fading
dream.

A huge walnut tree framed the window, a faint breeze
stirring its leaves and making the shadows shift and weave. Beyond that
stretched a mass of daffodils, their radiant yellow dancing in the sunlight all
the way down to the distant shoreline, beyond which the sea was a silver strip,
polished to blinding brilliance and calm as a pond. To her right, the beach
flowed away to distant hills beyond the cove; to the left a wall of black
towering rock climbed till it merged with green cliffs that sloped down to meet
it. The cliffs themselves were dotted with grey, moving specks that she realised
must be the nesting sea birds: the tops of the rocks and the face of the cliffs
were streaked white by their droppings. Opposite, woods nestled in a cleft in
the rising ground, their trees small and twisty, leaves the fresh green of
springtime under a cerulean sky. The whole scene was tranquil, beautiful and
totally unspoiled.

She saw movement halfway to the shore, and realised it was
Jed, camera in hand, coming towards her. He walked with an economical grace, limbs
loose and supple, back straight and hair lifting a little in the breeze. She
was struck again by how gorgeous he was, and she watched him as he came closer,
unable to take her eyes off him, till she was able to see the sheen of sunlight
on his curls
 
- a jet black that was
almost blue, she saw today - and the flush of ruddy, wind tanned brown across
his high cheekbones.

As he came nearer, Tamsin moved away from the window so
that he wouldn’t know she’d been watching him, and a few moments later she
heard the outer door open and close and then the sound of footwear being
removed and unceremoniously chucked down. Then he was bounding eagerly into the
room, face full of sunshine and enthusiasm.

‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Let me start downloading these
pics
onto the laptop,
then
I’ll
find you something to wear. I thought you might like to look around, if you’re
feeling up to it. It’s still a bit nippy out there, though it’s going to be hot
later on.’

‘Ok, thanks. I’ll make some tea while you’re doing that. Or
do you have coffee?’

‘In the cupboard over the sink,’ he replied
absent-mindedly. ‘There’s cereal in there too, plus powdered cows milk, or
fresh goat’s milk in the fridge if you prefer.’

‘You have goats?’

‘Yep.’ He glanced over his shoulder with that engaging
grin.
‘
Fi’s
idea.
She makes
cheese when she’s here, though we’ve run out now. I find goats milk a bit
strong myself, but it’s good for cooking.’

Tamsin padded out to the kitchen, bare feet warm on its cork
tiled floor, located a huge jar of instant coffee, found the stove, matches and
a hob kettle and put the latter on to boil while she made herself a concoction
of muesli and reconstituted powdered milk. The water from the tap in here
seemed clearer than the bathroom supply, so she assumed it was either bottled
or filtered. The whole place seemed to be run efficiently, although on
primitive lines.

When she carried the mugs of coffee in, Jed took his, then handed
her a bundle of clothes: socks, a thick woollen Guernsey sweater in navy blue
wool, cord trousers, that were a bit on the big side but would be fine with the
proffered belt. ‘People leave stuff here. We just help ourselves when we need
something. Fi is about your size, so I think her boots should fit you.’

Tamsin took the pile from him. ‘Thanks,’ she said, blushing
as his hand brushed hers. What was wrong with her? He might be good looking but
he was just another bloke, nothing to get stirred up about, especially as she
knew perfectly well she was still in love with Damien.

She covered up her embarrassment by asking if she could
have a shower.

‘You can,’ Jed replied, ‘but the water is a bit chilly this
early in the morning; we have no way of heating it. It’s really just for when
the weather is foul enough to keep us indoors. I’ll grab you a towel and then
show you the usual bathing facilities. You can clean your teeth in there
though; there should be a spare toothbrush in the cabinet.’

Five minutes later, warmly clothed in boots, sweater and
jeans, Tamsin followed him outside, gazing around in delight. It really was
beautiful here. The little stone dwelling - she didn’t know whether to call it
a hut or a cottage, it was a bit of both - looked really old with its deep-set
window and sturdy wooden door, though she saw solar panels gleaming on the
pitched roof and the blades of a windmill jutting from behind.
It was surrounded by trees, mostly oak and ash
, and the
ground rose beyond it, rocky and rough as it swelled towards the distant hills.
The goats, two miniature brown and white females, were penned behind it, though
with plenty of space to wander around, and chickens pecked and foraged through
the coarse grass. And the air, still brisk and chilled, was bracingly clean and
fresh.

Jed led the way a short distance up the slope of the land
towards an outcrop of taller rocks, their sides glistening greyish-gold in the
early light. Tamsin watched his broad back and muscular thighs and felt a
tightening in the pit of her stomach. She had no idea why, but he seemed to be
having an abnormally strong effect on her, judging by the lustful thoughts she
was at pains to push away. Come on, she told herself, pull yourself together:
for all you know, he might be gay. And, anyway, you’ve got enough man problems
without adding to them with inappropriate thoughts about a stranger. None the
less, she felt a flood of warmth that made her nipples tingle and her groin
respond with a faint echo of pleasure - made worse when he turned and his eyes
locked on hers for a few mesmerising seconds. They were intensely dark, almost
black, she noted, but with a leap of gold glimmering in their depths. Bloody hell,
she thought ruefully, he should have a health warning printed on his forehead.

Her indiscreet thoughts were forgotten a moment or two
later, though, as they rounded the mass of rocks. ‘This is the bath,’ said Jed,
pointing to a round pool, steam rising from it’s surface, waters green and
mysterious, bubbles and ripples towards the centre showing where hotter currents
must be emerging from some subterranean source. There was the faintest mineral
smell, completely pleasant and a little bracing.

‘Wow!’ she gasped.

‘Pretty cool, huh?
Or rather really warm.
It’s not dangerous though; it isn’t volcanic. It happens because there’s a
fault here, and
rain water
sinks deep into the ground,
then gets pushed to the surface again, warmed by the layers deeper down in the
earth. Have a good soak; take your time.
There’s
only
me here, so you’re quite private. I’ll be back at the Hermitage when you’ve
finished.’

‘The Hermitage?’

‘Yes, it used to be a retreat. Monks came here from
mainland Cornwall at one time. It’s very old, probably twelfth century.
Gullwatch
, the organisation I work for, extended it. It was
once a single room.

‘Anyway, relax, have a good soak. If you’re not back in
half an hour, I’ll come and get you, just in case you’re feeling bad again, but
you should be ok.’

He smiled at her, left a towel and a block of soap on a
ledge of rock away from the edge of the pool, and left her to it.

Tamsin watched his retreating back through a gap between the
rocks till he was almost at the Hermitage, then stripped off her clothes and
stepped tentatively into the water, the breeze bringing her bare skin up in
goosebumps
. She’d expected the bottom to be slippery, but
it was sandy textured. The pool itself was no larger than the children’s pool
at her local baths and a lot warmer. With a sigh, she let herself down into it,
stretching her legs in front of her and leaning her head back against the
smooth rock. The water came up to her chin, so she hooked her elbows on the
stone shelf behind her and floated gently for a few minutes, letting the warmth
soothe her bruised body. Her hair floated in a cloud around her, so she swilled
it carefully, easing the last of the blood loose and massaging her scalp. Then
she worked soap over her arms and chest.

She couldn’t see beyond the rocks without standing up and
hoped Jed wouldn’t come back too soon and catch her naked. That thought sent an
unexpected thrill through her and she slid further down in the water, hands
moving over her skin in a languid rhythm as she rinsed and cleansed. The
surface of her body seemed unusually alive and responsive. She thought of Jed
again and her mind conjured the vision of his firm chin and sensuous mouth -
whose shape, with it’s curved upper bow and full lower lip, she seemed to
recall perfectly, even though she hadn’t been aware of it consciously till that
moment. Before she knew what was happening, she found herself wondering how
those lips would feel on her body. Then her fingers were gliding over her
breasts, imagining his mouth there, the hard nubs of her nipples responding
with an urgency that shocked her. A flame leapt through her, igniting an
answering pulse from her clitoris. Tamsin groaned and put her hand down there,
finding her labia flooded with sensation. She stroked slowly, slipping a finger
inside herself, moving it in and out, then brought her other hand to her
clitoris, caressing in slow circles, imagining Jed’s hands instead of her own, visualising
him pushing her legs open, entering her, filling her. She groaned again,
arching her back, a rush of pleasure flooding her, peaking, receding, peaking
again as her fingers moved faster, till she exploded into one of the most
intense orgasms she’d had in her life. And at the moment of release, she had a
sense that what had happened was like a sacrament, as though something
gratefully received the energy she gave.

Hearing a clatter of stones, she leapt up and grabbed the
towel, wrapping it round herself. Then she heard Jed’s voice calling, but it
still seemed a way away, so she dried off quickly and scrambled into her
clothes before going to meet him. Thankfully he hadn’t seen what she’d been
doing moments before, though she was sure her flushed face and glowing eyes
must give her away. She could hardly look him in the face after her fantasy
about him.
 

He seemed unable to meet her gaze too, or, at least, he
kept looking away from her to the horizon. But he seemed relaxed enough, asking
if she’d like a trip round the island, since he needed to check on another
colony of sea birds.

‘The island is only about two miles long and about a mile
and three quarters or so wide,’ he said. ‘You can see the whole of it from Long
Warren, the highest hill. Come on, let’s get back to the Hermitage and pack
some food to take with us’