Read Online Drowning by Jassy Mackenzie - Free Book Online Page B

washed away again,” I said, looking nervously at the sky.
    “No chance of that. It’ll take a few hours of sustained downpour to cause another flood.”
    He started the car and we headed down the muddy sand road in the direction of the river.
    “I don’t remember much about the drive,” I said. “The rain was so heavy. All I know is that we were definitely going the wrong way.” I’d been scared, claustrophobic in that hammering downpour, and I’d had other things on my mind.
    I could hear the rushing noise of the river before I saw it. We rounded a bend and there it was: a deep, fast-moving, brown-grey stream with occasional crests of white. It must have been thirty yards across. Looking at it made me feel strange, and very small, and as if I shouldn’t have been alive now. How had either Bulewi or I survived being swept downstream in those torrential waters?
    I was acutely aware of Nicholas’s presence beside me and thought he might have been observing me as I stared at the water. I did not dare to look back. Instead, I decided to take a photo of the river to send to Vince as proof. I took out my phone and turned it on. Immediately it beeped, signaling I had a message, and my hands began to tremble. I didn’t have just one message. I had six of them from Vince.
    I didn’t want to listen to them. Couldn’t. Instead I navigated to the camera facility on the phone and took a few pictures. In the poor light and with such basic photographic equipment, they were not great, but at least the road leading to the river could be clearly seen, and the road leading away on its other side was distinguishable.
    Then I hurriedly switched off the phone, worried that Vince would call me yet again because I felt incapable of speaking to him now. I needed some time alone first, to process what had happened. To work out exactly why I’d allowed that forbidden kiss.
    I knew now that I must confront Nicholas on the drive back to the lodge and explain where I stood. Apologize, and tell him that despite all the evidence to the contrary, I really wasn’t interested in taking him up on his audacious offer.
    Lightning flickered in the clouds and I flinched as a huge clap of thunder split the air.
    “You okay?” Nicholas asked, his voice like a caress, and I knew he wasn’t only referring to the sudden noise.
    “I’m fine,” I replied. Aware that my voice had sounded sharp, I added, “Thank you.”
    “We’d better get back. Storm’s coming,” he said.
    He turned the car around and headed away from the surging waters.
    The wheels skidded on the steep uphill road, spinning in a section of deep, slippery mud. I caught my breath, picturing vividly what might happen if we were trapped here in the rain while the river rose again.
    Completely focused on the treacherous path ahead, Nicholas engaged four wheel drive and carefully eased the big vehicle sideways, then forward again. The tires bit into the soft going, suddenly finding the grip they needed as he coaxed it patiently through the sticky patch.
    “Nothing to worry about,” he reassured me as we drove onto firmer ground. “This vehicle can handle far worse terrain.”
    I wanted to tell him that it was as much the driver’s skill as the car’s capability that had taken us so smoothly through the danger. But my words were silenced as Nicholas placed his hand on my leg.
    It rested there, just above my knee, warm and firm, while the car jounced over a large bump in the road and my stomach jolted just as hard, though for different reasons. I could not suppress the flood of lust I felt at his caress. It was as if that light touch was sending a message—a subtle signal with sex as its underscore—to every cell in my body.
    Staring down, I noticed again the beautiful squareness of his tanned hand, with long, strong fingers that looked as if they might equally belong to an artist or an engineer.
    “You’re an interesting woman, Erin,” he observed. Now those fingers were