A Whirlwind Engagement

the classic response to surviving a crisis. However much he might want it to happen, she wasn't going to have suddenly forgotten how she felt about Will. Josh told himself that he had to accept that and find some way of staying friends without her feeling awkward or embarrassed or having to pretend something she didn't feel.

Outside, the tropical night had fallen without either him or Bella noticing. The downpour had stopped abruptly at some point, too, and now the insects were resuming their chorus of rasping and whining and clicking, punctuated only by the steady drip of rainwater from the veranda roof.

'It's just as well we don't get out of dangerous situations very often,' he said.

Pressed into his side, with her leg entangled with his and her arm over his chest, Bella was feeling utterly content, replete down to her fingertips and toes, and half-surprised to find that her body wasn't glowing with satisfaction in the dark.

She didn't want this moment to end, but Josh's wry comment was bringing reality seeping back. It might feel as if everything had changed, but nothing had really. In theory, they were both free agents, but it might not feel that way to Josh. There was Aisling to think about, and although Bella knew there was nothing between her and Will, that wasn't what she had told Josh.

Now was not the time to tell Josh that she loved him, not Will. He would think that she was just saying it because that was the kind of thing women said when they slept with you.

But perhaps she would be able to tell him when they got home, Bella told herself hopefully. Surely he couldn't have made love to her like that if he was still bound up in Aisling? Bella could think of plenty of ex-boyfriends who were more than capable of separating sex from emotion, but she didn't think that Josh was like that.

On the other hand, he was a man, she remembered, confidence fading rapidly. She was so used to thinking of him as a friend that it was easy to forget that.

No, she wasn't going to spoil this moment by going all intense and emotional on him, Bella decided. Much better to show him that she wasn't going to put any pressure on him. Let him go home and return to normal. He needed to decide for himself that Aisling wasn't what he wanted and then perhaps she could tell him how she felt.

In the meantime, she would treat things lightly. 'Is this how you always react after a crisis on expedition?' she asked.

'I wouldn't say that,' said Josh dryly, 'but sex is a common human reaction to a disaster.'

'We weren't part of a disaster, though.'

'We were lucky,' he said soberly. 'Things were pretty touch-and-go for a while yesterday.' His arm tightened around her as he remembered how close he had come to losing her. 'If we hadn't made the island when we did, I'm not sure how long we could have kept that boat afloat.'

He hesitated. 'Is this going to change things for us, Bella?'

'You mean being friends?'

'Yes. I don't want it to affect our friendship.'

'Nor do I,' said Bella, unable to resist the temptation of smoothing her hand over his chest in a way that a mere friend would never do. 'I don't think it has to, not if we don't let it. Like you say,' she went on, proud of her casual tone, 'we were both reacting to a crisis. It might be different for you, but that was the closest brush to danger I've ever had. It's been a strange experience, and it still doesn't feel quite real. And if it feels like that here, it's going to seem even more like a dream when we get home. Perhaps we should think about it like that.'

It would seem like a dream, Josh thought. 'You think we should pretend it never happened?'

Bella wasn't sure that she would be able to do that. 'I meant more that this is like time out of time,' she said, struggling to find the words to explain. 'The usual rules don't apply.'

From her comfortable position nestled against his shoulder, Bella couldn't see Josh's face, but she could practically feel him lifting an eyebrow. 'The usual rules?' he echoed. 'What are they?'

'That we're friends, good friends, and being friends is important for both of us, and it's not something we confuse with…with this.'

'With sex?'

'Exactly,' said Bella, who had begun to flounder. 'We're going home tomorrow anyway. Then it'll be back to reality, and we'll go back to being just friends, and tonight will just be something that happened, and was wonderful, but doesn't have any connection with the way we are at home.'

She lifted her head slightly to look at him anxiously. 'Does that make sense?'

'I think so,' said Josh. 'Everything will be different tomorrow.'

'It's not tomorrow yet,' said Bella, letting her fingers drift suggestively.

'That's true.' Josh shifted so that she lay beneath him, and kissed the curve of her shoulder. 'Are you thinking we should make the most of tonight while it still seems quite real?'

His hand traced her contours, fingering lovingly on the curve of her hip, and Bella arched with a shiver of pleasure as she felt him smile against her skin.

'I think perhaps we should,' she agreed breathlessly and wrapped her arms around him to pull him closer.

CHAPTER TEN

'Are you hungry?'

'Starving,' said Bella, and as if to underline the point her stomach let out an embarrassingly loud gurgle.

Josh laughed and patted her tummy. 'It sounds like it. Shall I go and see if I can find something to eat?'

Bella stretched across him to peer at the illuminated alarm clock by the bed. 'We've missed dinner. Pity there's no room service here.'

'The kitchens will still be open,' said Josh, getting out of bed and searching on the floor for his trousers. 'Having survived a near shipwreck, I can't let you succumb to starvation.'

He was gone for what seemed like ages, but Bella knew that he wouldn't come back empty-handed. Josh was nothing if not resourceful. When he did finally appear, he was carrying a tray laden with freshly cooked fish and steaming vegetables, all steaming hot, as well as two ice-cold beers.

'How on earth did you organise all this?' asked Bella, impressed, as he laid the tray on the bed with a flourish.

'It turns out that Elvis is the nephew of the barman and one of the cooks,' Josh told her, wondering if she knew how desirable she looked with her hair all tousled and her skin glowing.

'He told them how I went with him to the police to tell his story, and now they're insisting on treating me like some kind of hero, although I didn't really do anything. It was quite embarrassing,' he said, remembering his reception in the kitchen with a grimace. 'And when I asked if there were any leftovers from dinner, I was made to have a drink at the bar while Elvis's uncle cooked all this from scratch.'

Bella sniffed appreciatively. 'It smells wonderful,' she said, settling herself more comfortably against the pillows. She smiled at Josh. 'You are a hero,' she said. 'Anyone who can arrange a meal like this at this time of night definitely gets to be a hero in my book!'

They ate everything, sitting up in bed and then lolling across it to pick at the last few bits, and chatting easily. It felt extraordinarily relaxed, Bella thought at one point. There should have been some constraint, surely, given what they had been doing earlier?

But no. It seemed quite natural to be lying here with Josh, aglow with remembered delight, her foot sliding up and down his calf, while they talked and laughed exactly the way they had always done before.

Afterwards they walked-or in Bella's case, hobbled- down to the beach, where they sat in the dark shadows underneath the leaning palms and listened to the soft shush of the waves against the sand. The rain clouds had mostly dispersed by now, and the moonlight cast a shimmering silver stripe across the water. Above their heads, the faintest of warm breezes rustled the palm leaves.

'It's so peaceful,' sighed Bella contently, leaning back against Josh.

'Hard to believe what it was like last night, isn't it?' said Josh.

He was trying not to think about how soon tomorrow would come. He couldn't stop touching her now, couldn't control the way his hands moved lovingly over her, couldn't bear to think that this might be the last time he could