White Heat (19 page)

He said with growing impatience in his voice, and as if he couldn’t endure the situation much longer:

‘Darling, I’ve
got
to kiss you!’

Karin laughed chokily close against his impeccably tied tie.

‘But you still haven’t said it,’ she reminded him. ‘You still haven’t said—’

‘I adore you? I don’t merely love you, I adore you! And you, you little wretch, you’re perfectly well aware of it!’ This time he forced her face into the open, but with perfectly gentle hands, and when he could look down directly into her eyes and watch them dilate as his handsome masculine mouth drew nearer and nearer, first lightly brushed her cheek and then her brow and the eyes themselves, he permitted himself the luxury of claiming her lips.

For a long time the kiss went on and on, and although at first it devoured it gradually grew tender, and his lips were humble when he finally whispered her name.

‘Karin!
...
Karin, I’ve got to hear you say it, too. Say, “I love you, Kent
...
”

She said it in a voice that was barely audible at first, although that, too, grew stronger as she gathered courage.

‘And I’ll marry you the instant we get to Sydney, because I don’t think ships’ captains can perform the offices of clergymen any more, otherwise I’d marry you tomorrow morning in the captain’s cabin!’

She laughed, protestingly:

‘Have I got to say all that?’

‘All of it.’

‘And although you’ve got red hair and I’ve got red hair I intend to be happy, and to make you happ
y...’

She repeated the words like one under a spell.

‘Until death us do part!’

Solemnly she vowed the last bit.

‘Oh, my darling,’ he murmured, when her ordeal was over, and he took her back once more into his arms. ‘You didn’t really mean it when you said you hated every minute of our time on the island, did you?’

‘Of course not. As a matter of fact,’ she confessed recklessly, ‘I was utterly, utterly happy while that hurricane was blowing and you were holding me in your arms.’

‘And now that it doesn’t matter I’ll admit that I considered it a grand excuse for holding you in my arms.’

The last of the light faded, and a moonless dark settled down over the heaving sea. In a short while, however, they knew that the m
o
on would rise, and they waited patiently for the moment while they gazed towards Castaway Island.

‘One day,’ Kent vowed, ‘we’ll go back. We’ll find it again.’

She shook her head against his shoulder.

‘You know that isn’t possible. It’s just one of a number of tiny islands
i
n the Indian Ocean, and it
hasn’t even a name. But I’m happy to know it’s there. Aren’t you?’

‘Very happy,’ he assured her. And then he kissed the tip of her nose, her chin, her ears, her throat and her mouth. ‘But I’m happier doing this,’ he said with fervour.