Manda knew how to concentrate.
She concentrated her world into Nick’s voice, giving her a running commentary of his moves. She concentrated on his feet, his boots, one step ahead of her. And, one move at a time, she finally found herself not so much climbing out of the shaft as falling, tumbling, rolling sideways down a steep slope until his body brought her to a halt.
He said nothing, just took her hand, and she lay still while she regained her breath. Only then did a giggle explode from her. They’d survived, overcome all the odds, made it back from the dead.
Somewhere above them in the canopy a bird, or maybe it was some small mammal, joined in, setting up a cacophony of raucous laughter that echoed around the forest.
It just made her laugh all the more.
‘What?’ Nick said, turning to look at her.
She just shook her head, unable to answer him, unable to do or say anything. Laughing so much that tears were pouring down her cheeks.
And after a moment his beautiful, strong, sensuous mouth-the one that looked as if it hadn’t smiled in centuries-twitched in sympathetic response. Then widened into a smile and then he too was laughing.
Jago wasn’t sure when Miranda’s laughter tipped over into tears. It didn’t surprise him. There were always two sides of any emotional roller-coaster and hers had been a dark ride. He just held her hand so that she knew he was there and, after a while, hiccupping, sniffling a little, she rubbed a sleeve over her cheek. Then looked at the once white linen, the smears where sweat and tears had mingled with dust, a little blood where a loose stone had caught her cheek.
‘I’m filthy,’ she said.
‘You’re gorgeous.’
She turned to look at him. ‘So are you.’
‘Filthy?’
‘Filthy. Gorgeous. Gorgeously filthy. What we could both do with is a shower. You run a very slack establishment if you don’t mind my saying so. I was lured to Cordillera with the promise of beautiful beaches, thrilling scenery and every comfort known to man.’
‘Put your complaint in writing. I’ll give you the name of the Minister of Tourism.’ Then, because he didn’t want to think about that, because he was alive and he didn’t want to feel bad about anyone-not Fliss, not even Felipe Dominez-he said, ‘In the meantime, if you can stagger a hundred yards or so, I can offer you the basic facilities, always assuming that nature hasn’t messed with the plumbing.’
‘Plumbing?’
‘There’s a stream at the bottom of this hill. Cold and cold running water.’
‘Water! What on earth are we waiting for?’ She didn’t exactly leap up, but made a very good stab at it. She barely winced as her knee buckled. ‘Which way?’
He forced himself to his feet. ‘This way,’ he said, leading her down through the mess of dead leaves and shattered branches that littered the forest floor, towards the sound of running water.
She was limping, he noticed and taking her hand to give her support, he asked, ‘How’s your knee?’
‘Thirsty.’
The walk down the steep path to the bottom of a small side valley nearly finished them both, but the sight of water pouring over a small waterfall and into a pool brought him to a halt.
‘What is it?’
He shook his head. ‘Nothing.’ He’d expected change, devastation. ‘Apart from a few leaves floating on the water, it seems untouched…’
‘Well, that’s great,’ she said, urging him on and as one, they flung themselves down beside the pool, scooping up water in their hands to slake their thirst.
Manda drank, splashed water over her face, then lay still, her sore fingers trailing in the cool water.
‘Better?’ Nick asked.
‘I didn’t believe water could taste that good. Is it safe?’ she asked.
‘I’ve been drinking it for five years without any ill effects. It comes from a spring just below the main building of the temple and I ran a standpipe to the site.’
‘Maybe someone should bottle it.’
‘Maybe they should.’ He rolled on to his back. ‘It was considered sacred by the people who lived here and the original temple building was built over it to protect it. Then, as the power of the tribe grew, new buildings were added and the water was channelled through them for cleansing rituals.’
‘So why wasn’t there any down in the basement, where we needed it?’
‘Over centuries of neglect, the original spring gradually silted up. But water, being water, it found another way.’ Then, ‘Maybe we should make a move. There will be people looking for us.’
‘We’ll hear them,’ she stalled, not wanting to move.
The pool was unbelievably beautiful. There were ferns growing where the water splashed on to the rocks. Tiny blue flowers, epiphytes growing in the misted air and huge ivory lilies that filled the air with their scent. Trees bearing berries that looked good enough to eat…
It felt untouched, new.
‘You know those people, centuries ago, wasting all that time and energy building huge stone temples had it quite wrong.’
‘They did?’
‘You don’t need stone to make a temple. This is the real deal. The sky, the earth. Fruit and flowers…’ She stopped, her eye caught by a flash of shimmering colour as a dragonfly skimmed the pool. ‘Water.’
She scooped up another mouthful and then, realising that it wasn’t enough, she sat up and reached for her shirt buttons.
‘Miranda? What are you doing?’
‘I’m going to immerse myself. Soak in the water through my skin. And then I’m going to indulge in a little cleansing ritual of my own.’
Her fingers were stiff and awkward and she doubted they’d be up to the task of refastening them, but she’d worry about that later. For now, her only goal was to totally rehydrate herself. Be clean.
Her bra proved more difficult and she turned her back to Jago.
‘Are you going to just lie there and watch a woman struggle?’ she demanded. Before he could make any kind of move, the hook gave way and she peeled it off, tossed it aside. She’d revealed the darkest secrets of her soul to this man, her body was nothing…
Jago could not take his eyes off her as she stripped off her clothes, transforming herself without a hint of self- consciousness into Eve, before she stepped carefully down into the clear water of the pool. Standing for a moment, as if soaking it up, before kicking off to swim across to the waterfall.
The water streamed from her shoulders as she stood up, turning her pale skin to ivory satin against the jet of her hair. And then she turned and looked over her shoulder at him and said, ‘This is an equal opportunities cleansing ritual, Nick. There’s plenty of room for two.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘COLD?’
Manda turned as Jago’s broad shoulders emerged from the water to stand beside her beneath the waterfall.
He was lean, sinewy. There was nothing pampered or soft about him. No spare flesh. Lean, hard, with something gaunt, hollow-cheeked about the face that reminded her of an El Greco saint.
‘Not now,’ she said, and it was true. He did not have to smile to warm her, but when he did it was as if he’d switched on some internal central heating.
‘Liar,’ he said, ducking his head beneath the shower, dragging his fingers through his hair to shift the dust. And as he bent she saw the mass of purple bruising darkening his left shoulder, his shoulder blade, under his arm.
