In the Eye of the Storm (Storm and Silence 2)

‘Whoever you are,’ he said to the wall, ‘get on with what you’ve come here for and get out. I have no patience for time-wasters.’

‘I know, Sir.’

My voice was nothing but a whisper - still, his head whipped around the moment I spoke. His facial expression didn’t change when he saw me, but there was the slightest widening of his ey

es.

‘It’s you!’

‘Yes, Sir.’

Silence sank over the room. Mr Ambrose’s dark, sea-coloured eyes bored into mine, but his lips didn’t move.

Blast you, why can’t you say anything? You had no problem yelling at me on the ship, during the storm! You didn’t even have a problem with kissing me, for heaven’s sake!

‘It’s really you.’

‘Yes, Sir.’

Silence. More bloody silence!

Why can’t you say something, damn you? And I mean more than just ‘It’s you!’ You can! I know you can! Remember last time? Last time we spoke. Last time you held me. Last time your lips touched mine! Remember that? Why don’t you say anything about that?

‘I thought you were dead,’ he told me. My breath caught. The words themselves were as cold and curt as any you could think of, but the tone… Had I really heard emotion there? Surely not.

‘Well… I’m not, Sir.’ Whatever was in his voice, there was emotion in mine sure enough. Blast it!

‘I can see that. What took you so long?’

The corner of my mouth twitched up. ‘I’m glad to see you, too.’

My feet suddenly started to move. Before I knew it, I stood beside his bed. My fingers reached out, and I took his right hand in mine. Closing my eyes, I squeezed, gently, letting the feel of him, smooth and hard, fill me up.

‘What, pray,’ came his cool voice from down on the bed, ‘are you doing?’

‘I’m holding your hand,’ I murmured, basking in the feeling. He was real! He was real, and alive, and with me!

‘I realize that. To what purpose have you initiated this superfluous form of physical contact?’

‘Oh, shut up!’

There was a momentary silence.

‘I beg your pardon?’ His voice lowered to a dangerous level - but right now I didn’t care. ‘I am your employer! You will address me with respect!’

‘Fine. Shut up, Sir!’

‘That is not what I was referring to and you—’

‘Blast you!’ Wrenching my eyes open, I glared down at him. ‘I thought you were dead, too!’ And I would have bloody missed you! Really missed you!

He glared back just as fiercely. ‘In that case, you should have ceased searching. No point in chasing something that is already lost. It would be a waste of mon-’

Quickly raising his hand in mine, I drew it to my lips and placed one, swift, almost imperceptible kiss on the inside of his palm. His voice cut off as if severed with a welding torch.

‘I said shut up, Sir!’

Our eyes met, and there was silence again. But it was a different kind of silence. One I didn’t mind at all. One that wasn’t the least bit cold.