told her roughly that she had to eat, so she chewed obediently on a sandwich. Packed into plastic boxes and sealed in the icebox, the food had stayed miraculously dry, and once they had started eating they all discovered that they were ravenously hungry. Eyes began turning to the other two iceboxes.
'Do you think we should keep the rest for later?' Cassandra asked, turning instinctively to Josh as their unelected leader.
'I think it would be a good idea,' he said. 'We should put out the empty icebox, too, and collect some rainwater.'
Bryn rolled his eyes to the awning above their heads where the rain was already gathering in another great pool. They had to keep knocking the canvas to send it cascading down the sides to stop the awning collapsing beneath the weight of the water.
'I wouldn't have said shortage of water was our problem here!' he said sarcastically.
'It might be when the storm passes,' said Josh evenly. 'I didn't see any fresh water on the island and it's best to be prepared. The boat got pretty bashed around on those rocks. If we can't get the engine going tomorrow we might be here some time and in that case the one thing we're going to need is water.'
'I'm sure you'd love that,' sneered Bryn. 'It would give you a chance to show off all those survival skills of yours. I can just see you rubbing sticks together to make a fire and impressing the girls by spearing a fish!'
'It wouldn't just impress the girls,' said one of the men who had helped bring the boat round. 'It would impress me too!'
'Yes, shut up, Bryn!' said Aisling sharply, getting up to put the empty icebox outside to catch the rain. 'You're behaving like a spoilt child!'
'Oh, right, just because I don't jump whenever your precious Josh says jump! Who put him in charge anyway?'
'He's in charge because he knows what he's talking about, which is more than I can say for you!' Aisling snapped back.
'If he's so perfect, why didn't you stick with him?' snarled Bryn.
'I'm beginning to wish I had!'
'Oh, well, fine!' he said petulantly. 'Just because I'm not macho man like Mr SAS over there!'
'You can say that again,' murmured Cassandra in Bella's ear. 'Did you know that his name is really Bryan? I had to collect in all the passports, so I queried it when the names didn't match. Apparently he dropped 'a' because he thinks Bryn is sexier and suits him better. Talk about self-deluded!'
Bella was delighted to have her theory confirmed, but hoped that Cassandra hadn't picked up on Bryn's jibe about Aisling leaving Josh.
She had, of course. Bella knew that she would have pricked up her ears at that too, and she was beginning to feel that Cassandra might be a kindred spirit.
'What was that about Aisling and Josh?' she asked curiously. 'Did they use to go out?'
'They were engaged briefly,' admitted Bella reluctantly, and Cassandra shot her a perceptive glance.
'No wonder you didn't like it when they went off diving together all the time! You don't need to worry, though,' she went on comfortably. 'It's obvious that he absolutely adores you.'
Bella knew that Josh adored her, but not in the way Cassandra meant. Until she realised how much she loved him, she would have said the same. 'Oh, yes, I adore Josh,' she would say if anyone commented on how nice he was, or how close they seemed, but she had meant as a friend, not as a lover.
Not the way she wanted him to adore her now.
Josh had ignored Bryn's taunts, and had gone out to check on the boat, leaving Bryn and Aisling to argue in snappy whispers. When he came back, he lay down beside Bella and, without a word, lifted an arm so that she could nestle into him, too tired to worry about looking clingy or needy or revealing too much and needing only the warmth and comfort of his body.
'How long do you think those sandwiches will last?' she asked sleepily. Lying close like this, they could talk without being heard by the others above the sound of the rain and in the darkness it was like being in their own private world.
'They'll stretch to breakfast,' said Josh. 'I wouldn't bank on any lunch if we can't get the boat going.'
'I hope we don't have to revert to cannibalism,' she murmured. 'We might end up like that parlour game where you have to argue that you're so essential that you shouldn't be eaten, and I'd be bound to be the first one in the pot. It's true,' she said as she felt Josh shake with quiet laughter. 'I must be the most useless person here. PR isn't exactly a survival skill!'
'Making people laugh is,' said Josh. 'You're a lot more useful than most people here, but if it comes to it, I'll make sure you don't get the short straw.'
'Thank you.' Bella snuggled into a more comfortable position with her arm across his chest. 'Anyway, I get the feeling that awarding the honour of first in the pot to Bryn would be a popular move!'
Josh laughed softly. 'He's just scared like rest of us.'
'
'Yes, I was.'
Josh thought about how terrified he had been when she had slipped out of his sight under the waves and wished he could tell her how essential she was to him. Unable to resist the temptation, he put his other arm around her and held her close into him. They might not be very dry or very warm or very comfortable, but at least she was here and she was safe.
The storm passed as suddenly as it had hit them. One minute the darkness was filled with the sound of the savage wind and lashing rain and the next there was a silence so deafening that for a moment none of those awake could actually believe that the awesome noise had stopped. There was just the slow drip, drip of the palm leaves and the trickle of left-over water running off the awning.
Bella heard it stop too, and felt guilty for being the only one to experience a pang of regret. The storm had at least given her a chance to he in Josh's arms. Now that it was over, there was no excuse not to go back to reality, to being careful, to remembering that they were friends, not lovers.
It was too dark to do anything about the fact that the storm had passed, so one by one they all drifted off to sleep again. Bella was horribly stiff when she woke the next morning, and her foot throbbed painfully. She told herself that it must be a good sign that she could feel it now, but couldn't help wishing that it would go back to being numb. She felt awful, damp and dirty in a way she had been too tired to feel the night before.
Limping outside, she found most of the party grouped anxiously around the boat. Josh and Elvis were peering into the depths of the engine and there seemed to be a lot of tinkering going on.
'They can't start the engine,' Cassandra whispered to Bella. 'Just as well we didn't eat all those sandwiches. Do you think Josh really knows how to spear a fish?' she asked hopefully.
'I'm not sure about that. He's usually quite good on engines, though.'
The words were barely out of Bella's mouth before a cheer went up as the engine spluttered into life and Josh looked up with a grin that told Bella just how worried he had been.
'OK!' he said, clapping Elvis on the back. 'Let's finish off those sandwiches and then let's go!'
Although the centre of the storm had moved on, it had left behind a sullen sea and dreary blanket of grey clouds that eked a constant drizzle that was almost more depressing than the rain had been. It wasn't cold, but everyone was tired and sick of being wet, and very nervous in case the boat broke down again, so after the first euphoria of leaving the island, it was a silent journey.
Aisling and Bryn were pointedly not talking to each other, and the atmosphere was so oppressive that the sight of the rescue boat at last came as even more of a relief than anyone had anticipated. They were still a couple of hours from the jetty, and transferred eagerly onto the faster boat, except Josh, who volunteered to stay on the boat with Elvis to talk to the authorities and make sure he didn't get blamed.
'We'll follow you in,' he said.
As the rescue boat sped away, Bella looked back at him, sitting calmly beside the boy in the tattered remains of his shirt and her heart turned over with love for him.
With its powerful engine, it was no time at all before the rescue boat had them back at the hotel, receiving the exclamations and commiserations of the others. The hotel looked as if it had received a fair battering from the storm itself, but a single night sleeping on the wet sand had been enough to make the rooms seem so luxurious as to feel faintly surreal.
