“Maybe he’s worried you’ll break up with him,” he
suggested.
“I’ve never seen Charles worried in my life,” she
scoffed.
“
They do not
love, that do not show their love
,” quoted Taj with more than a hint of
sarcasm.
“Oh shut up,” groaned Georgina, “You’re not
helping.”
“I wasn’t trying to help,” he said softly. When she
looked up his hand reached out and traced a gentle line down her taut cheek.
“If I were Charles, I wouldn’t let you go for a second, let alone allow you on
a two week trip holed up with a wayward photographer with a reputation for
womanising.”
“He doesn’t know who you are?” she whispered. Taj
burst out laughing and his hand dropped from her face, which only made her long
to feel his touch again.
“Thank God for small mercies,” he drawled.
“Can’t you be serious?” asked Georgina, draining her
drink.
Taj reached across the table and took her hand in
his. She watched in shocked fascination as he tugged the engagement ring off
her finger, turned her hand over and placed it gently in her palm. “Excuse me
if I don’t bend over backwards to help you solve your marital problems. As you
can see, it’s not my speciality.”
She roughly pulled her hand away. “I take it back,”
she told him, “you are an arrogant bastard.” She leapt to her feet and said
curtly, “I’m going back to my room. Thanks for your stimulating company.”
She turned to march off when Taj grabbed her wrist
and squeezed. Wincing she came to a stand still.
He stood up. “I’m only frustrated because I want you
so much,” he said so quietly she hardly heard him.
“What?”
Taj’s gaze dropped to her mouth and suddenly, more
than anything Georgina wanted him to kiss her.
“You’re driving me crazy,” he whispered against her
lips. Georgina couldn’t think straight. She melted against him, their faces
only inches apart. He was so close she could feel his stubble on her lower lip.
Georgina closed her eyes and waited, but nothing happened.
“But I’m not going to touch you until you’ve made a
decision about Charles.”
Her eyes flew open. His words cleared the air
between them more effectively than any Antarctic wind could.
She pushed him away unsteadily. “But, but I
thought…” she stammered.
“You thought I’d be happy being the guy you had a
last minute fling with because you got cold feet? I’m sorry, I’m not that kind
of guy. I don’t do second best.”
Her cheeks burned with humiliation. “It’s not like
that. I’m confused.”
He shook his head, “Not my problem.”
Feeling shattered she blurted out, “And what if I
decided to go ahead and marry Charles?”
She missed the wretched look that shot across his
face.
“Then at least I would know what I’m working with. A
one night stand is always more enjoyable if you know it’s only going to be one
night.”
“You bastard,” she hissed, running out of the bar.
Collapsing in a heap on the bed she buried her face in the pillow hoping the
darkness would shut out the hurt she was feeling. It didn’t. Oh God, what a
mess. It had been a mistake going to see Taj. How insensitive of her to talk to
him about Charles. She wouldn’t have wanted to hear if he loved Miss Armani and
couldn’t decide whether to marry her or not. Just thinking about it depressed
her. No wonder he’d been so flippant. He was right, she had to make a decision.
Just the fact that she was so attracted to another man meant that she probably
shouldn’t be marrying Charles. Their disastrous telephone conversation aside,
if she were honest with herself, she would admit that she had never been
physically attracted to Charles, not in the rip-your-clothes-off kind of way
she desired Taj. For her, Charles had been an anchor, someone she knew would
always be there for her. She’d been like a baby bird, afraid to leap off the
cliff and fly. Then Taj had come along and pushed her over the edge, and
suddenly she’d found her wings.
Sitting up she stared at the ring on her finger.
Then she slid it off and placed it in her make-up bag, thinking how equally
worthless both items had been on this trip. Falling back on her pillow she
squeezed her eyes shut, willing sleep to come, but knowing full well that it
wouldn’t. She’d gone to the bar looking for a distraction, well, she’d
certainly found one and now she had to deal with it.
Georgina spent most of the next day alone in her
cabin, writing. Ironically, she couldn’t avoid thinking about Taj. As she
pieced her article together she realised how helplessly attracted to him she
was. It didn’t help that she had to list all his fine attributes, as well as
make him out to be as appealing as possible to stimulate the female readership.
As she described his easy-going style and quiet confidence, she realised how
much she was going to miss him once this expedition came to an end.
At midday she took a break and strolled around the
deck, inhaling great gulps of cold sea air, preparing herself for what she knew
she had to do. Putting it off was not an option. She’d told Taj last night that
the new and improved George didn’t fit into Charles orderly life, but after
sleeping on it she realised it was Charles who didn’t fit into her life, at
least the way she now wanted her life to be. She thought of all the wonderful
places she could visit, the people she’d meet, and the articles she could write
and she was filled with excitement and anticipation. Charles had been right in
asking her to rethink her decision, he would definitely not have wanted a wife
that couldn’t play society hostess to his boring friends, or look good on his
arm at book launches.
Full of determination, she placed another, what
would be her final call to Charles on the sat phone. It took all of two minutes
to tell him she was breaking their engagement. Strangely enough he didn’t ask
for a reason, or even put up a fight. He merely accepted her decision and said
he hoped they could remain friends. Then it was all over. It struck her how
emotionless Charles was and she thanked her lucky stars that she’d met vibrant,
adventure-loving Taj to show her how life could be when you injected a bit of
passion into it. She’d been so deep in thought that she’d strolled out onto the
quarter deck without even realising it. Amy and Claude were admiring the
passing scenery and she remembered that this was the last they’d see of the
Antarctic Peninsular as the
Explorer
made it’s way north to warmer waters.
“This is the probably the last iceberg we’ll see,”
Claude was saying. “I believe we’re not entering the Drake Passage for our
final leg back to Ushuaia.”
“I can’t believe this trip is almost over,” mused
Amy sadly. “It’s been such fun, hasn’t it love?” She turned to her husband who
ruffled her short, cropped hair.
“
Oui
,
mon
ami
,” he whispered into her ear.
Georgina smiled. For all his quirkiness, Claude
adored his bubbly wife. They were such different personalities, but shared a
common love of marine life and a passion for scientific discovery. She’d seldom
met a couple who were so happy together. It made her long to find someone of
her own to love. What scared her was that she suspected she already had, but he
lived in America, when he was home that was, he didn’t want a long term
relationship and to make matters worse, was currently ignoring her. All in all,
it didn’t look good.
“You must be looking forward to getting back to
civilisation?” said Amy. Georgina hesitated.
“Not really,” she admitted. “I’ve learned so much on
this trip. It’s been a real eye opener. I don’t want it to end.”
“That it has,” Amy agreed. “And I suppose you’ve
become quite attached to your subject too, since you’ve been spending so much
time together. London is a long way away.” She smiled knowingly at Georgina who
flushed.
“It’s not what you think,” Georgina stressed.
Amy laughed. “How
is
your article coming on anyway?” she enquired.
“Oh, it’s coming,” answered Georgina. “Since I’ve
been accompanying Taj on his photographic expeditions, there seems to be so
much to write about.”
“He’s an interesting man,” added Claude in his
French lilt. “And a talented photographer. He took some incredible photographs
of the amphipods for us. I’m very impressed with his work.”
“Yes, he’s very talented,” Amy agreed, her eyes
meeting Georgina’s behind Claude’s back. Georgina had to stifle a grin.
They chatted for a while longer, and promised to
exchange contact details at the farewell dinner that night – their last night
on board the
Explorer
.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Georgina
finally finished her article on Taj, and went to the communications room to
email it to Eric, her editor in London. She knew it was good, but would Eric
pick-up her intimate tone and realise she’d fallen for her subject? It was
true. She’d realised it during the conclusion, when she’d been summing up the
passion and excitement that was Taj Andrews. He was unlike anyone she’d ever
met. His love of life was contagious, and she feared she would miss him
terribly once this trip ended. En route she bumped into an overexcited Max, who
wanted to have a ‘quiet word’. She didn’t think Max was capable of having a
quiet anything, but promised to meet him in his cabin, after she’d emailed her
article, where he and Darryl had set up their editing equipment.
She opened Max’s door to see an array of computer
screens standing side by side on a long makeshift desk. The middle one had
footage of icebergs floating across it, while the other two had a multitude of
jagged lines resembling a heart monitor at a hospital and various onscreen
controls. All the electronics kept the room at a comfortable, warm temperature.
“Wow, I had no idea you had all this in here,” she
said in surprise.
“You should see what my den at home looks like,”
complained Max.
“I can imagine! What are these screens for?” asked
Georgina with interest.
“This is the digital audio workstation, or as we
call it, the editing suite,” he explained. “The middle screen is for video and
the other two are for sound mixing. This one,”
he pointed at the first screen,” allows us to add back-ground sound and
effects, as well as music, while this one,” he nodded at the third screen, “is
where we control voice and direct sound.”
The picture on the centre screen changed. “Oh my
goodness, is that me?”
“It sure is, honey,” said Max. He nodded at the
vacant seat, “Pull up a chair, we need to have a chat.”
Georgina sat as she was told. “What do you want to talk
about?” she asked.
Max leant over her and pressed a couple of buttons
on the keyboard.
“First, I want you to see something.”
The centre screen shot to life. Suddenly the camera
was zooming in on her face and she was speaking. She watched with fascination
as the edited version of her little ‘test run’ played out. When it finished she
turned to Max expectantly. “What did you think? Was I okay?”
Max grinned. “You were better than okay, darlin’,
you were terrific! You ad-libbed like a pro. I sent this back to my partner at
the network and he could not believe you weren’t reading from a word prompt.
There wasn’t a single mistake, no repeated words, no hesitation. You used
beautifully emotive language and the camera loved you. It was a seamless
audition.”
“Audition?” repeated Georgina confused. “Who said
anything about an audition.”
“Try out, audition – same thing.” He shrugged.
“You said you needed some test footage to take back
to Los Angeles. This was about the location, not me.”
“Honey, everything is an audition, and you just sold
yourself perfectly. Now all I have to do is convince you to come work for me.”
Georgina was blown away. She stared at Max in
astonishment.
“You mean stay in America? Not go back to London?”
At his nod she started to shake her head, “But that’s impossible. I have a job
to get back to, and I’m getting promoted! I can’t stay.”
Max just watched her, saying nothing.
“I wouldn’t be allowed to anyway, I don’t have a
working visa,” she informed him defiantly.
Max grinned, “That’s not an issue, the network would
provide you with a green card.”
She narrowed her eyes, “I have nowhere to stay. I
don’t know Los Angeles at all.”
“You don’t need to worry about that either. I will
personally help you find a place. I hear Santa Monica is very nice.” he winked
at her. For heaven’s sake, did everyone think her and Taj were having an
affair?
“I wouldn’t know,” she muttered.
“Any other excuses?” asked Max, his eyes twinkling.
Georgina paused, “I’m thinking.”
Max laughed.
“We wouldn’t expect you to start immediately. You’ll
want to settle in first, and find your feet. So I suggest we pay you in
advance. That way you won’t have to worry about money,” he offered.