The Pleasures of Winter Read online

  Jack shook his head. ‘You don’t want to know.’

  Abbie eyed the small clearing. Her vague notions about staying up all night rather than sharing with Jack vanished like mist. When the others went to bed, she would be alone. Alone with the creatures. Plane crash survivor eaten alive by jungle creatures wasn’t the front-page story she had planned, but neither was My night in a hammock with Jack Winter. What would William say if he found out?

  Jack was oblivious to her dilemma. ‘I figure we have ten minutes before it’s dark. Now, are you coming to bed or not, Ms Marshall?’

  She had no choice. ‘Lead the way, Mr Winter.’

  4

  Abbie watched as Jack lifted the mosquito netting and slid into the hammock, patting the minuscule space beside him. Oh god – she would be lying that close to him. They would practically be on top of each other. At least she was feeling a bit more in control. That spider had done her a favour. After her meltdown at the thought of spending the night beside Jack Winter, the fright had brought her back to earth. Still, her stomach flipped at the prospect of the night ahead.

  She hugged her arms around herself. The evening had turned chilly. So she was going to spend the night with a bona fide Hollywood heart-throb. She could just imagine Kit screaming when she told her. If they got out of this. Her best friend and her cosy apartment in New York both seemed a long way away.

  ‘Abbie, quit dithering and get into bed. I promise not to bite.’

  She scrambled into the hammock and rolled against him. ‘But I don’t, Mr Winter, so keep your hands to yourself.’

  His response was a snort of laughter. Jack leaned over her so that he could adjust the mosquito netting. ‘There,’ he announced. ‘Snug as two bugs in a rug.’

  ‘You don’t have to sound so pleased about it, and watch where you put your hands,’ she said. Abbie rolled over on her side and slid into the middle of the hammock.

  Jack curved his body around hers and dropped his arm around her waist. ‘Where do you suggest I put them?’

  His hand slid to her hip in a slow sensuous glide. ‘Here?’

  Abbie swallowed. His hand was warm. In fact every inch of him was like a furnace, but the hand on her hip was dangerously close, making her very aware of her femininity. For a brief second she wondered what it would feel like if he touched her there. No. Absolutely not. Bad Abbie. She lifted his hand and moved it back to her waist.

  ‘If you insist,’ he said, but left it where it was.

  They lay in silence, listening to the sounds of the jungle, and almost in the blink of an eye, night fell.

  Jack shifted against her. ‘Would you mind if I moved my other arm? I’m getting cramp.’

  Abbie lifted her head and lay back down again. Oh my god, the man had biceps. William was … well, William was slight. There was no other word for it. He was an academic and more interested in working his mind than his body. William didn’t need muscles.

  ‘Much better.’ Jack’s warm breath fanned her neck, sending tiny shivers along her spine.

  ‘Are you cold?’

  ‘No. I’m fine, Mr Winter.’

  She felt laughter rumble in his chest. ‘Abbie, why are you calling me Mr Winter again? We’re going to spend the night together. I think we’re beyond the formalities.’

  Put that way, it sounded ridiculous. They were stuck in the jungle. She was sharing a tiny hammock with him. Calling him Mr Winter had been a ploy to create a feeling of distance between them. But she realized it made her sound like a prudish spinster. ‘Fine, Jack.’

  His arm tightened around her waist. ‘Good girl,’ he mumbled against her neck.

  She was about to tell him off when she heard a low snore. Jack Winter was asleep.

  Abbie sighed, letting the tension slowly leave her body. She wasn’t sure what she had expected. That he would paw her incessantly. That she would spend the night rejecting his advances. But here he was, sleeping like a baby.

  The weird thing was that after all the turmoil she had gone through in the last few hours, she felt safe. He had been obnoxious earlier, but now he was gentle. The heavy arm around her waist was protective, his breath against her neck, comforting. Abbie relaxed against him. Her eyelids felt as if they had weights on them. Her eyelashes fluttered closed.

  A low roar in the distance woke her and she jerked awake.

  Jack lifted his head. ‘It’s miles away, go back to sleep. I won’t let anything harm you.’

  She settled back into his arms. She didn’t know why, but somehow she believed him.

  Abbie stirred. She didn’t want to open her eyes yet, she was blissfully comfortable. William wasn’t usually so amorous, but now, oh god, it was like that time on vacation when he had really chilled out and stopped worrying about his research and departmental politics. His hand cupped her breast, toying with her nipple through the thin fabric of her shirt, sending darts of pleasure around her body like tiny fireworks. His other hand cruised her hip, holding her in place while his hips rocked gently against hers, pressing a sizeable bulge against her butt.

  ‘Mmm,’ she moaned as she rocked against him, seeking more of the delicious pressure. His mouth moved against her neck, making soft circles with his tongue, and then he nipped her playfully with his teeth. Abbie sighed deeply and the hand on her breast squeezed tighter. It felt amazing. William usually ignored her breasts but, oh, he was excelling himself this morning …

  Her eyes shot open and a series of confusing images filtered through the darkness. She wasn’t in New York. This wasn’t her apartment and those were definitely not William’s hands making her feel so good. The first rays of daylight brought a cacophony of noise to the forest, but her shriek was louder. She slapped Jack’s hand off her and rolled away from him, tumbling out of the hammock and on to the forest floor.

  Jack’s head appeared over the edge of the silk. His heavy-lidded expression left her in no doubt that he had been enjoying their early-morning encounter as much as she had.

  ‘You, you … groped me.’ Her voice echoed around the clearing.

  ‘Relax, Abbie. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t know it was you.’

  ‘Oh great. That makes me feel so much better.’

  ‘I didn’t hear you complaining.’ Jack flashed an amused smile.

  ‘Complaining, you arrogant –’

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ Zeke’s head emerged from beneath the mosquito net. ‘I’ve only just dozed off. Do you know how hard it is to sleep when you’re injured? The meds have worn off and my chiropractor is going to kill me when he sees what I’ve done to my back.’

  Oh great, just what she needed. Another day with the Hollywood hypochondriac. Darting a filthy glance at Jack, she headed for the bushes to take care of business.

  Jack distributed the packets of nuts, and watched Zeke make faces and mutter things about nut intolerance, but he ate them. There was only one unopened bottle of water left, so they shared that, then he filled their empty bottles at a small stream and dropped in water purification tablets.

  He carefully didn’t touch Abbie when he handed her bottle back to her. That night of sharing a hammock with her, of having her lush behind pressed up against him, had been worse than he had expected. A hard night any way you thought about it. So much for his vaunted self-control. He had been reduced to pretending to be asleep to get Abbie to relax and had battled an erection for hours. Too bad his control slipped when he slept.

  Waking up next to her, feeling her cuddled into his arms with her ass tight against him, that was too much to expect him to take without reacting. He knew his reputation, but he was only human, and Abbie Marshall’s ass would tempt a saint. A dead saint. He had to stay away from her. Or make sure she stayed away from him.

  Jack saw Kev’s glance slide from Abbie to him and back. He obviously wanted to know what, if anything, had happened last night. They went back far enough that Kev would know when he was interested in a girl.

  Not a girl, he reminded himself. A jo
urnalist, and a woman cut from the same cloth as Sarah O’Brien-Willis. Sarah had almost destroyed his life. He wasn’t going to let Abbie Marshall do the same thing. And she would. He had no doubt about that.

  He grinned. Oh, he knew just how to keep her pissed at him.

  ‘Anyone still hungry?’ he asked casually.

  Zeke and Abbie both said they were. ‘Not if it has wheat in it, though. Wheat gives me mucus,’ Zeke said.

  ‘Oh, I think I can guarantee there won’t be any wheat in this,’ he said. He noticed that Kev had guessed what was coming and was keeping his mouth firmly shut, but his eyes were alight with devilment.

  Jack moved to the side of the small clearing and listened to the branches of fallen trees. The second one sounded promising. He broke off a piece of bark and pulled out a couple of large wriggling larvae. ‘Breakfast is served. Wheat free.’ He offered one to Zeke and one to Abbie.

  Zeke backed away so fast he would have fallen off the log he was sitting on if Abbie hadn’t put out a hand to balance him. Kev, who had known what was coming, had his phone out and captured the horrified expression on the agent’s face, no doubt planning to upload it to YouTube as soon as they were home. Zeke was so occupied with the grub, he didn’t even notice. Nice one, Kev. A little retribution for allowing Abbie to stay behind on the plane.

  Abbie surprised him. She didn’t scream or back away. But she did look closely as the larvae writhed in his grip and said, ‘Ten dollars says you won’t eat one of those.’

  ‘You’re on.’ Jack popped one into his mouth and bit down. The creature wriggled for another half-second before the juices squirted out into his mouth. It was vile. It took every ounce of his acting skill to keep his face straight and keep chewing. Next time, I’m cooking it first. But it was worth it for the revolted, disbelieving expression on all their faces. With a final effort, he swallowed.

  ‘Ah, jungle food at its freshest. More protein per pound than grass-fed beef. Are you sure you don’t want one?’ He held out the other squirming larva to Abbie.

  She shuddered. ‘Not in a million years.’

  He gave her a knowing grin. ‘You’ll eat them soon enough.’

  ‘I’ll pay you ten dollars a time to eat them for me,’ she told him.

  He held out his hand, waiting. She stared at him in disbelief before fishing a note out of her pocket and slapping it in his hand.

  Well, that was one way to make her keep her distance.

  He had been putting off the job he dreaded, but it had to be done. ‘Kev, come on. Let’s go down to the plane and bury the pilot.’

  With Jack and Kevin gone, and Zeke Bryan lying back against a tree dozing, it was Abbie’s first opportunity to take stock of the last twenty-four tumultuous hours. It was nothing new to her, having to operate on the fly and only getting to take in the full picture later. She was an experienced reporter, after all – she should have something to bring to the party instead of being told what to do all the time.

  But when she tried to focus, her mind was a jumble of images and emotions. Worse, she kept flashing back to her wake-up call that morning – Jack Winter’s hands moving deliciously up her body, his fingers pinching her nipple, that bulge against her ass. She felt little flickers of pleasure again.

  No! She couldn’t let herself spend any more time in this state. She dug the Kindle out of her rucksack and opened the thriller she had begun reading a couple of days earlier. After a few minutes she was lost in the world of Norwegian cops and criminals. She was surprised when she heard the men’s voices and realized an hour had passed.

  They told her that when they got down to the bottom of the ravine, nature had done the job for them. They found the remains of the plane, torn apart and buried under a river of fresh mud. Abbie shivered at the reminder of the dangers of the rainforest.

  It was going to rain soon, Jack said, so he got them to pack up their little camp as quickly as possible. He handed Zeke a small waterproof poncho. The agent was white about the mouth and moved with difficulty. Jack gave him another couple of painkillers and a slug of tequila. Not the ideal combination, Abbie thought, but she guessed whatever helped the injured man stay on his feet was worth it.

  There was some silk left over from the parachute. Jack made a cap out of a piece and told them all to do the same. ‘It will keep the insects out of your hair,’ he said. He grinned when they all jumped to attention.

  After her encounter with a spider the previous night, Abbie was determined not to repeat the experience. She went behind Jack to check how he had tied the knot. She was shocked by the dark stain on his shirt. How had she not noticed it before?

  You’ve got blood down your back,’ she said.

  He twisted round to look and made a face.

  ‘I forgot about that. I gashed my head in the cockpit when the plane was coming down. Didn’t realize it had bled so much. You’re not afraid of blood, are you?’

  Abbie ignored the jibe. She wasn’t as weak as he seemed to think.

  ‘Sit down while I look at it,’ she said in a voice that was gratifyingly cool and businesslike. ‘You should have mentioned this last night. Did your survival training not mention the risk of infection out here?’

  He grinned but sat, allowing her to fuss over him. She parted his hair, checking the cut. It was long, but was beginning to heal.

  ‘It looks fairly clean. Lucky you’ve got thick hair.’

  She rooted through their tiny first-aid kit and found an alcohol wipe. As she parted his hair again, she was suddenly aware of the intimacy of what she was doing. Her fingers seemed to have a will of their own as they lingered, taking longer than was necessary to locate the cut. She rubbed it with the wipe. The sting made him hiss.

  ‘Big baby,’ she scoffed and sprayed on disinfectant.

  He looked up at her. ‘Oh, I’m no baby.’

  She flushed and busied herself packing away the kit.

  Next time she checked, Jack was studying his compass. ‘Time to move out,’ he said. ‘From what I saw from the cockpit, there’s a lagoon and a settlement of some sort if we head north, so that’s our best bet.’

  She was glad someone had a plan. Before they could move, the heavens opened and dumped what felt like the contents of an ocean on their heads. They stood under a thickly leaved tree trying to shelter from the downpour, but it was like using a tissue to shelter from a waterfall.

  ‘I always wanted to see Niagara Falls, but this is almost as good,’ Abbie said.

  They all huddled together. Yet again she found herself pressed against Jack Winter’s chest. It had been a full day since any of them had been near a shower, so what she was smelling was pure essence of Winter and it had an intoxicating effect on her.

  Almost as quickly as it started, it stopped. A few last heavy drops signalled the end of the rain. For now. Jack checked the compass again and led them out into the thick wall of vegetation.

  Pictures didn’t convey the reality of a jungle, she thought, as she watched him hacking away at the undergrowth. Each step involved several swings of his knife. It was a pity he didn’t have a proper machete. Every foot of progress disturbed more insects and wildlife. Kevin chatted to her but she didn’t pay much attention to what he was saying – she was too busy watching out for bugs. She was glad when Kevin brushed them off her head and back a few times.

  Kevin and Jack swapped places and Jack fell in beside her. The four of them walked in silence, all focused on conserving their energies and simply making their way. Abbie suggested taking a turn leading, but Jack and Kevin just stared her down. She didn’t push it – she wasn’t confident she would be that good at hacking through the greenery.

  By the time lunch came around, she needed to sit down. Jack lit a small fire, collected a number of larvae and grubs and put them on makeshift wooden skewers. She watched the bug kebabs cook, wondering how on earth she’d eat them but realizing that she had no choice.

  ‘Not haute cuisine, but edible,’ Jack said.

&n
bsp; She wasn’t sure. Starving New York journalist forced to eat bugs – my jungle hell, she thought as she took one off a skewer and reluctantly put it into her mouth. Imagining the headlines was the only way she was going to swallow anything. Oh god, oh god, she was going to be sick. She cast a sidelong glance at Jack. He was staring at her. Waiting to see if she would spit it out.

  Not a chance. If Hollywood and his sidekick could swallow one of these babies, so could she. It was just like sushi.

  Who was she kidding? It was a bug. A truly foul-tasting bug. She swallowed and flashed Jack her brightest smile.

  ‘Would you like another, Abbie? Plenty more to go round.’

  ‘No thanks, I’m good.’

  The sound of retching made her stomach clench. Zeke was bent over a log, puking up his lunch. Abbie gritted her teeth, trying not to do the same. Kevin winked at her before going to fetch some water for Zeke.

  Jack stretched his arms over his head and she caught a glimpse of a well-developed six-pack when his T-shirt lifted. Well, there was proof positive: he really had it. He didn’t use a body double. Then she had another flash – those rock-hard abs pressed against her back, his hands roaming her … Stop it, Abbie. Just behave.

  Jack winked when he caught her stare and she turned away quickly before he could see her blush.

  ‘You OK, Zeke?’ he called.

  The agent stood up, his face pale and beads of sweat along his forehead. ‘Of course I’m not OK. My gastroenterologist will go crazy when he finds out what I’ve been eating. My digestive system is very delicate.’

  Jack ignored that. ‘Great. I’ll take point. We’ll walk for another couple of hours before we make camp for the night. Abbie, you can walk with Zeke, and Kevin will take the rear.’

  ‘I bet he will,’ she laughed, then realized she faced two hours of listening to Zeke now that he had her to himself.

  ‘Can I take a turn with the knife?’ she asked again.

  ‘No,’ both men chorused.

  5

  Jack struck the first blow at the green curtain and they set off into the unknown. Abbie chose not to think of how far they still had to go.