No Greater Joy (12 page)

It was midday when they reached the resting stop where they would spend the night. After unloading the pack- horses and storing the supplies, they would pitch the tents, then they would spend the remainder of the afternoon exploring on horseback, before returning to the rest stop for the evening
braaivleis
and camp-fire.

Alison was tethering her pack-horse when she heard Fraser's ecstatic cry.

'A brown snake eagle—wow! Look!'

'Where?' came other cries.

'Up there—on the cliff. It's actually holding a snake in its talons. Oh, wow!'Alison turned her head. But she never saw the eagle, as her horrified eyes fastened on the pack-horse Fraser had been leading. In his excitement, the boy's hand had loosened on the rein, and the horse had broken away from him.

'Fraser—the horse!' she shouted.

But it was too late. Even as the startled boy turned and tried to make a grab, the pack-horse was heading full speed down the mountain slope in the direction of the camp.

'Oh, Lord!' he groaned. 'That horse has all our precious water! I'll have to go after it.'

Alison stopped him as he was about to get back on his own horse. 'No, Fraser, I'll go.'

'But it was my fault. I saw the eagle, and I.. .1 suppose I got distracted. I just forgot I was holding the reins. Let me try and catch the horse, Alison.'

She put her hand on his arm. 'You're my responsibility, Fraser. I can't have you riding through the mountains alone.'

'At least let me come with you,' he insisted.

'No, you're the oldest here, and the most responsible. I want you and Alex to look after the others. Get the horses tethered, and then perhaps you could start a game of some kind going. Nobody is to get back on a horse till I return—that's an order.'

'Some kind of responsible I am!' Fraser was crestfallen.

Alison touched his cheek gently. 'Hey, it's not every day a person sees a brown snake eagle. You're forgiven, Fraser,' so don't be too hard on yourself. Look, I can't stay here talking. I have to get after that darn horse, maybe I can catch up with it before it gets to camp.'

But the pack-horse arrived at the stables before Alison did. Waiting for her, looking anxious, were Clint and Virginia.

'What
happened!
' Virginia demanded.

'The horse decided it preferred to be here rather than on the mountain. Unfortunately, all our water went with it.'

'It shouldn't have happened,' Virginia accused. 'Why weren't you more careful?'

Before Alison could answer, Clint asked, 'Are
you
all right, Alison?'

She smiled up at him. 'Exasperated, but otherwise OK.'

'I'm more concerned about my campers.' Virginia looked grim. 'Where are they? How do I know they're all right?'

'They're all at rest stop number four. I've left Fraser and Alex in charge, with instructions that nobody is to ride until I get back.'

'Which must be immediately.'

'I intend leaving right away, Virginia,' Alison said evenly.

'I'll ride along with you,' Clint announced unexpectedly.

'That isn't necessary,' protested Alison.

'I don't want you riding back alone.'

'You shouldn't have to go, Clint,' Virginia said quickly, her tone oddly high. 'If Alison had taken proper care, this wouldn't have happened.'

'I think we both know Alison had nothing to do with it,' Clint said easily. 'She's far too competent to let a horse get away from her. Who was the culprit, Alison— Fraser or Alex?'

Alison shot a glance at Virginia, then bit her lip. 'I was leading the group.'

'That's correct,' said Virginia. 'I don't like to think of those kids on the mountain alone. I really wish you'd get going, Alison.'

'In a moment.' There was authority in Clint's tone. 'Give me a few moments to saddle up first.'

'It really isn't necessary,' Alison said again.

'As far as I'm concerned, it is. I don't like the thought of you riding all that way alone. Wait for me—I'll just be a minute.'

Virginia's colour was high, the look she shot Alison angry, as Clint walked purposefully into the stables. She opened her mouth, then closed it again tightly, and strode away.

'How did you know what happened wasn't my fault?' Alison asked.

The man riding beside her, holding the rein of the pack-horse in one hand, turned his head and flashed a grin that made her heart turn over. 'I know
you
,' he told her.

'I appreciate your confidence.'

'So formal, Alison?' He chuckled. 'You never did say—was it Fraser or Alex?'

'Fraser. I couldn't tell Virginia.' She told him about the eagle. 'You're not going to be angry with Fraser, are you?'

Clint was still laughing at the story. 'Why would I be angry? Heavens, no! I can see exactly how it happened.' Leaning towards her, he touched her hand briefly. 'Besides, I'm grateful to young Fraser. I think you know how glad I am to be riding with you.'

It didn't seem to matter that Alison had wanted two days away from him. Happiness filled her heart, spreading like a warm, living thing through her entire body. The air was more sparkling all at once, the sky more vividly blue. Alison had to look away from Clint because she didn't want him to see that her eyes were shining.

It was quite late in the afternoon when they reached the fourth rest stop, and Alison was relieved to see that everything had gone smoothly in her absence.

She had imagined Clint would return to camp as soon as he had satisfied himself that all was well with the children, but to her surprise he showed no sign of leaving. He let Fraser lead him a little way up a bare cliffside, for a good view of the eagle. And after that he told the campers to get on their horses, and, with Alison riding beside him, led them all along a beautiful trail.

The first gold wash of sunset stained the sky by the time they got back to the rest stop. And still Clint showed no sign of leaving.

'You're not giving yourself much time to get back to camp before dark,' Alison worried.

He grinned. 'You sound like a wife!'

'Which I'm not,' she said, a little crossly.

'I didn't say I object.'

A sudden trembling went through her body, but she brought it quickly under control. A little too matter-of- factly she said, 'I just happen to be concerned.'

He tugged lightly at a strand of hair which had fallen across her forehead. 'Don't be. I know how to take care of myself.'

Half an hour later he was still there. By now the sky was a brilliant palette of colour. The highest peaks were bathed in golden light, but the lower slopes looked grey , and cold.

Alison was really anxious now. 'You can't leave it any longer, Clint. If you do, you'll have to stay the night.'

'Would you mind?'

'Mind? Why should I mind? But you didn't bring anything with you.'

'No pyjamas,' he teased. 'No toothpaste. Not even a toothbrush.'

'You're laughing at me. But you know quite well what I mean—you don't have a sleeping-bag. You could freeze up here on the mountain, Clint.'

'I could cuddle up with you.' His tone was teasingly seductive.

Her blood raced at the picture his words conjured. 'Even if I'd let you do that—which I wouldn't—there are all the children to consider.'

He burst out laughing. 'What a bundle of contradictions you are, Alison! Nonconforming and free like the wild horses one moment, concerned about social norms the next.'

'You
are
laughing at me.'

'I'm crazy about you, don't you know?'

She decided to ignore that. 'What
are
you going to do without a sleeping-bag, Clint?'

He laughed again. 'Coward! Every time I fire a personal question at you, you find a way of evading it. As for freezing—I'll find a way of surviving, Alison. It won't be the first night I've spent in the open.'

The sunset faded and with darkness it grew cold. A few of the campers brought out logs and coal from the rest stop, and Clint helped them make a fire in a special pit. Others were delegated to look after the horses and see that they were watered and fed.

When the flames were low and the burning coal had turned to grey, Alison brought out the food. Steak and chops sizzled and spat on the hot grid of the pit, and
mielies,
parboiled the day before, were put out to be reheated.

When they had all finished eating, Clint threw more logs on the fire and let the flames burn high once more. Shouts of glee greeted a bag of marshmallows produced by Alison, and while the the campers sat round the fire roasting them, Clint started a sing-song.

But the long hours in the saddle had taken their toll. One after another, the campers took their sleeping bags and retired to their tents; girls in one tent, boys in another. Alison waited a while, then went into each tent in turn. Everyone was sleeping soundly.

Going back to the fire, she sat down beside Clint. He put his arm around her and drew her head against his shoulder, and she didn't resist him. She could easily have spent the night snuggled against him, so good did it feel to be close to him.

It required all her effort to say eventually, 'I think I'll turn in, too.'

His hand tightened on her shoulder, bringing her round to face him. His kiss was so seductively sweet that she had to restrain herself from putting her arms around his neck and asking for more.

Somehow she managed to lift her head from his shoulder. 'This isn't a good idea, Clint,' she said quietly.

'Because of the kids? They're all in their tents and asleep. There's not a soul watching us.'

'Yes, but still, I don't think we should...'

His next kiss was a heady onslaught, silencing her » words and pouring fire through her loins. His arm tightened around her, turning her into his body. His free hand touched her throat, the fingers trailing a sensuous path along the most sensitive part of it. And then his lips traced the same path. He seemed to know all the most sensitive areas—the arch of her throat, the little hollow where her pulse beat a crazy rhythm, her eyelids and the soft skin behind her ears.

Alison was trembling as she began to touch him in turn. There was a quite intense pleasure in the feel of his cool skin beneath her fingers, the hardness of bone and muscle in his chest and shoulders. She could feel his beating heart against her chest, and her own heart seemed to pound in unison with it.

He was still kissing her, kisses that shook her to the depths of her being with their sensuousness. Kisses that were drawing a response from her—for the first time she was kissing him back without reserve. She would never have believed that any man could make her feel so abandoned that nothing mattered except the pleasure they could give each other. But Clint was doing just that.

'God, this is frustrating!' he groaned suddenly. 'I want so much more than this. If only there weren't the kids to consider! We should have been alone up here.'

The words brought back some semblance of sanity. 'I wish you weren't here at all. I wish you hadn't come with me, Clint,' Alison said softly.

'Because you want something that you won't allow yourself to enjoy?'

'Something like that.. .' she admitted shakily.

'You were responding just now.'

'I... I couldn't seem to help it.' Her lips quivered.

'Let's give it another try,' he coaxed softly.

She made herself move away from him, and wished it wasn't such an effort. 'I'll be sorry afterwards if I do.'

'Do you realise that it's not me you're fighting, Alison?' he asked huskily. 'You're fighting yourself every time. And the memory of a man who behaved very badly.'

She stood up abruptly. 'I'm going to my tent.'

'When will you stop fighting yourself? When will you see that it's a losing battle?'

Through lips that still quivered, she managed to say, 'The battle's not lost yet. Goodnight, Clint.'

'Sleep well, Alison,' he returned softly, as she went to her own tiny tent.

She did not sleep at all. Fitfully she tossed and turned in the snug comfort of her down sleeping-bag, and twice she peeped through the opening of the tent and looked across at Clint. He lay on a spare groundsheet beside the dying fire, covered only by his windbreaker and the jacket Alison had insisted on giving him. She had no way of knowing whether he was asleep.

Finally she could stand it no longer. Cursing herself for being a fool, she got up and went to him.

Touching his arm, she whispered, 'Come and share my sleeping-bag with me.'

Beneath her Fingers, she felt a muscle go rigid. 'Will you regret this later?' he asked.

'Probably. But I mightn't be able to live with myself if you froze to death out here in the cold.'

Clint's laugh was soft and amused. 'I never thought it would be conscience that would get me into your bed!'They unzipped Alison's bag and spread it flat on the groundsheet, then they lay down, side by side, underneath it.

Alison lay quite still, achingly aware of the long male body so close to her. Deep inside her, a primeval longing grew stronger all the time. It was a longing that seemed centred in the very core of her being.

'I suppose you expected I'd come for you, Clint?' she asked him quietly.

'I hoped you would,' he admitted.

'We can't let the children wake in the morning and find us together like this.'

'I'll make quite sure that I leave you long before they wake up,' he promised. 'Not a soul will ever know that we spent the night together.'

They spoke softly, so that the campers asleep in their tents would not hear them.

'Just one thing, Clint... Don't think that because I let you... What I mean is... don't start anything.'

'I won't overstep the limits,' he promised. 'I know there are fifteen impressionable youngsters nearby.'

Alison shifted restlessly on the groundsheet. 'I was just making certain.'

'Which is not to say I wouldn't like to do more.'

His thumb went to her throat, stroking along it so tantalisingly that Alison's blood turned to liquid fire in her veins.

'And some day we will,' he added. 'And don't tell me that's unlikely!'

Filling her nostrils was an exciting smell that said Clint. It dizzied her senses, inflaming emotions that were already raw.