Unknown

ISLAND OF CYCLONES

Wynne May

Jade refused to be his latest conquest

Laurent Sevigny, dark, handsome, appeared to be a reincarnation of a French corsair—a man who would steal a girl's heart while he plundered the seven seas.

Jade was not going to be seduced by his magnetism. She reminded him, and herself, she'd come to Mauritius to marry Marlow Lewis, a sugarcane planter.

Yet when the cyclone struck and Laurent held her in his arms, the devastation of the storm was no greater than the confusion in Jade's heart.

The
take-off had surprised her because, except for the thrusting and tilting sensation, there had been little else to indicate that the giant airliner was airborne. With a small sigh of relief she had opened her blue eyes. She had made it, and without hysterics. She was flying again. The only difference was that she was in a jet airliner, and it was amazing how motionless it was. She had ordered a whisky and ginger-ale and she had ordered it on purpose, to steady her shaking and fainting nerves. That had been soon after take-off, and she now found herself relaxing temporarily and almost enjoying the flight from Australia to Mauritius.

Beside her the handsome dark stranger was saying, ‘Would you care to exchange seats with me?’ He spoke English with a French accent, or so Jade thought, and seeing that he was on his way to Mauritius this could be so.

‘No, thank you,’ she replied, and fear came back and showed in her dark blue eyes. Tm quite happy here. I don’t particularly want to look down.’ She gave him a small uncertain smile. If only he knew! she found herself thinking.

‘It was obvious to me,’ he went on. his strange dark green eyes going over her face, ‘that you were very nervous. Now, however, you appear to have relaxed and I thought, to complete this, you might like the window seat.’

‘No,
really
? I'm surprised you noticed. Was it
that
obvious?’ She even managed a low laugh and then bit her lip.

‘Yes.’ His eyes held hers. ‘It was very obvious.’ Tanned and handsome, he appeared used to flying ... unconcerned and completely at ease.

‘Well,’ she shrugged her shoulders, 'it’s marvellous what a valium before take-off and a whisky, soon after, can do.’ She glanced away. At thirty-eight thousand feet the drinks trolley was on its way again, before lunch.

‘Valium—that is a tranquilliser, no?’ he said.

Suddenly on the defensive, Jade turned to look at him. ‘Yes. My doctor prescribed them for me.’ What right had he to query this?

‘He prescribed the valium, but
not
the whisky to go along with it. You don’t mix the two.’

‘I allowed a certain period of time to elapse.’ Her voice was on the stiff side now. She turned to look at him again and their eyes met. His skin was naturally dark and, into the bargain, he was excitingly suntanned and the tan somehow accentuated these dark, sea-green eyes. The colour of his eyes came almost as a jolt, for one would have expected them to be brown— or even blue. He was the kind of man most women would give anything for as a lover and there was an indefinable magnetism about him. Shivering slightly, Jade was acutely aware of him. He would, she thought, assert himself in every role he played, including that of lover.

‘I also happen to suffer from claustrophobia,’ she told him. ‘I don’t enjoy being cooped up in a pressurised cabin.’

'Well,' he hoisted rather than shrugged those elegant shoulders, ‘claustrophobia, in many cases, relates to a person who has a power psychology and cannot stand being frustrated and closed in—but it’s not so bad up here in this pressurised cabin, surely?’

‘I prefer not to think too much about it,’ she said, ‘if you don’t mind.’ She felt herself beginning to panic again. The sensation of being suspended in space was terrifying.

He must have sensed this because he said, ‘Look about you ... at the comfortable seats, the built-in fitments. It is all so ordinary.’

‘Yes.’ Her voice was small and tight. ‘It is.’ For a moment she concentrated on these things and the image of herself being projected in cloud, high above the earth, faded and banished the feeling of vertigo and claustrophobia.

Her face was pert and her eyes a startling dark blue framed by shoulder-length dark hair with almost tawny streaks in it. Like the man next to her, she was beautifully tanned from the Australian sun, where she had spent a year, after leaving England with her brother who had gone to farm there.

‘You are going to holiday in Mauritius?’ he asked. ‘I’m going to settle there,’ she told him, turning slightly so that she could look at him. Was that an air-pocket? Fright leapt back into her eyes. But no, everything seemed to be in order and, radiating confidence, a stewardess smiled and passed on up the aisle. Height and speed were meaningless once more.

‘Mauritius is an earthly paradise,’ he went on, 'and earthly paradises are becoming rare. On the world map, our tiny country is just a speck, but it is a paradise of white and golden beaches, palms and casuarina trees. Our mountains are quite fantastically shaped, created by volcanic eruptions. But perhaps you have already been there?’

‘No, I haven’t. This will be my first time. So Mauritius is your home?’ Jade tried to keep the interest she was feeling from showing in the tone of her voice.

‘Yes, it is. I was born in France, but I have made Mauritius my country because, moving as I do in a seemingly fast world of computers, I need a serene atmosphere. I am a very-involved-with-life person. I travel a lot. I have to, as a matter of fact. My work brings this about.’

The plane droned on and on. Passengers went through a routine of dozing, eating, drinking. The jets gulped up the kilometres and somehow, with the exciting presence of the man next to her, Jade managed to cope with her fear of flying.

A stewardess was handing out forms which had to be filled in by the passengers and, high above a glinting ocean, Jade gave her attention to this task while a feeling of panic began to mount within her. What goes up must come down, she found herself thinking a little wildly.

Some time later she heard her neighbour say, ‘Let me check your seat-belt for you,' and she experienced a physical weakening as the announcement came over. ‘In a few moments we shall be landing in Mauritius. Kindly fasten your seat-belts and extinguish all cigarettes.’

Flinching from the words, Jade knew she was going to pieces again and was too frightened to feel embarrassed about it. Watching the man’s hands at work, she said, ‘Thank you. Don’t take any notice of me. Fear of a crowded room, or an elevator, I can handle, because I can always leave when I want. It’s not like being trapped in a hideous jet airliner.'

‘Stop thinking along these lines!’ He sounded frankly irritated by her remark.

The seats tilted and they began the descent and, almost immediately, the giant airliner appeared unstable. With reverse-thrusting engines roaring it jerked and shuddered and the noise was terrifying. ‘I can’t stand these touch-downs and take-offs,’ muttered Jade, closing her eyes. When she dared to open them again she caught glimpses of vast sugar cane plantations. ‘Oh no! ’ she exclaimed. ‘Oh, no! I can’t bear this, honestly.’

‘It’s all right, I tell you.’ He had authority, obviously, and was demonstrating it now. ‘Pull yourself together.’

‘Just leave me,’ she told him. ‘Oh, just leave me.’ With surging terror she lifted an arm and began reaching for the dial which would give her air. ‘Air ... I just want air. Would you? Please? Oh, do something! ’

‘One moment.’ She felt him fidgeting beside her. ‘Is that better?’ he asked.

Shaking her head, she said, 'No. No. I feel awful—I can’t help it. I’m terrified and I feel awful. Right now, nothing can help. I’m sorry I’m being such a nuisance— such a coward.’

There were two loud thumps and the plane made sickening lurches.

He took her hand and she clung to it. ‘It is nothing,’ he told her. 'Just relax, you silly little thing.’

‘Will it never end?‘ she whispered, and bit her lip.

She was aware of the rising roar of the powerful engines and felt the aircraft’s protesting brakes and then the entire plane seemed to be falling apart. The passengers were very still and the tension was unbearable. Opening her eyes, Jade noticed two stewardesses strapped into previously vacant seats and the girls appeared, to her, tense and apprehensive. Then someone was whistling
The Way We Were
and Jade knew that, if she lived to be a hundred, she would never forget that tune.

Touching down on time, the Boeing began to dip towards the runway and the roar of its turbo jet engines reached a crescendo as it began to taxi at alarming and, so it seemed, increasing speed.

‘Captain Murray hopes you have enjoyed your flight.’ The voice was electronically polite and, suddenly, everything was orderly again.

‘Are we down?’ Jade asked stupidly, still clinging to the dark stranger's well-shaped hand.

‘Yes.’ She imagined she could hear the smile in his voice. ‘Look,’ he went on, still holding her hand while she became acutely aware of this, ‘quite apart from the fact that you appear to have a very earnest fear of flying, let me say that I have done this many, many times and it has never been as rough as this.’

‘So it
was
rough?’ Relief showed in her eyes.

‘Yes. It is possibly very windy outside.' His eyes held hers and suddenly her fingers seemed to be throbbing within the confines of his own.

‘It’s nice of you to say so,' she smiled. ‘I—I'm just a coward, let’s face it. How did it feel to be sitting next to a coward?’ Her blue eyes were faintly mocking now. ‘I’m terribly sorry for being such a nuisance to you.' His fingers on her own were a seduction of her senses and her eyes became serious.

‘I thrive on variety, when it come to the opposite sex,’ he said, releasing her fingers. ‘This is the first time that I have sat next to
such
a coward—and certainly the most beautiful. I can honestly claim to have sat next to the most beautiful coward.’ He laughed softly and those sea-green eyes went briefly over her.

‘W-well, you’re honest, anyway—about the coward, I mean,’ she stammered.

They were the last to leave the plane.

'We touched down on time,’ he said conversationally, as they stepped on to the tarmac The wind caught at Jade’s hair and swirled it about her face and she shook it back.

Yes.’ She discovered that her legs were still shaking.

'Let us not be so solemn,’ he mocked her. ‘It is all over now.'

‘Yes, I know, but I’m still shaking—like a fool.’ She turned to look at him.

Situated about three miles from the coast, on the south-east., and amidst the green sugar cane, Plaisance Airport welcomed them with its pink hibiscus and palms, swaying in the wind. Glancing about her, Jade came to the conclusion that the flavour of the island was a mixture of races, customs, creeds, cultures and languages.

‘Thank you for taking an interest in me,’ she said, clutching at her windswept hair. ‘It did help, believe me.’

‘Then I was of some help?’ He looked at her with an expression that unnerved her.

‘Yes, very much so. It’s—a long story-—about this terror I have, of flying. It’s just—something that—happened.’ Her voice dragged.

Regarding her with interest, he did not pursue the matter but said instead, ‘I see. Well, I hope you get over this terror—in time.’

Her blue eyes were suddenly troubled and unhappy. ‘I hope so too.’

However, life was suddenly beautiful and very simple now that they had landed safely.

‘You are being met?’ he was asking.

‘Yes. By American Express.'

‘I see.’ After a moment he said, ‘But no, this I don't see. You are to settle here—and yet there is nobody to welcome you, except for American Express?’

‘I’ve come here to be married,’ she told him, and for some unknown reason it was not easy to speak casually. ’He’s away at present, but the Comtesse de Speville has arranged for American Express to meet me. As a matter of fact, I’m going to work for her. You might have heard of her health and beauty clinic—the Coral Reef?' She stood to one side now, to allow two other people to pass her.

‘In other words, Nicole de Speville is expecting you?'

‘So you know Nicole?’ There was interest in Jade’s voice.

‘Yes,’ Their eyes met and held. Suddenly he said, ‘I dislike crowds—they affront me. Let’s get through the formalities.’

Although formalities at the passport and health control took time, there were no hassles. It seemed inevitable that they should scan the conveyor belts for their luggage together. Jade collected hers and then parted with it again, after Customs officials had made chalk marks on the eases. Her eyes were now free again to search for the man whose name she did not even know, but somehow he had vanished into the crowd and she felt alone and completely apart from the crowd.

‘Miss Lawford?’

Turning, Jade said, ‘Yes?’