Free The Iron Tiger by Jack Higgins Page A

opened.
     
     
There was no time to put up the canvas tUt and he crouched behind the wheel, eyes narrowed against the stinging, ice-cold rain and Janet huddled at his side.
     
     
He drove into the courtyard at the mission, braked to a halt and they scrambled out and ran up the steps to the porch.
     
     
The thin silken dress was plastered to her body like a second skin and she shivered uncontrollably, laughing at the same time.
     
     
"That was marvellous, simply marvellous..
     
     
'Better get out of those wet things,' he said. 'You'll catch your death.'
     
     
'You could use a towel yourself.' She took his hand.
     
     
"Well go round this way. Father Kerrigan's probably gone to bed.'
     
     
They followed the verandah to the garden at the rear where the window of her bedroom stood ajar. She went in, turned up the lamp and found a spare towel.
     
     
'Do what you can with that while I get changed.'
     
     
'Like me to dry your back?' he said.
     
     
She gave him a quick push towards the window. 'Go on, get out of here.'
     
     
She pulled the curtain, peeled off her wet clothes and towelled herself briskly, still shivering. After a while, the shaking stopped and a warm glow spread through her body. She pulled on her dressing gown, tying the cord at her waist and went back outside.
     
     
Drummond wiped the rain from his head and face and hung the towel across the rail. It was bitterly cold by now and he stood there breathing deeply, taking the freshness into his lungs, filled with a strange inward restlessness.
     
     
'Feeling better?' she said quietly.
     
     
He turned slowly. Janet Tate was standing a few feet away by the rail and as lightning exploded, her face seemed to jump out of the night, the hair like a dark curtain to her shoulders. And she was beautiful, that was the thing which came to him with a sense of real wonder. Not just attractive, but beautiful, and he took two stumbling steps towards her, pulling her close.
     
     
The drumming of the rain on the corrugated iron roof increased into a solid roaring that seemed to fill her ears. She was aware of his strength, the arms crushing her to him and as her loose dressing gown parted, his lips found her bare shoulders, her breasts.
     
     
She leaned against him, caught in a strong current there was no denying, and was aware of his hands, fumbling at the cord of her dressing gown.
     
     
As it opened, she pulled away, straggling frantically. 'No, Jack, no P He paused, head slightly forward, trying to see her more clearly in the half-darkness, and she pushed him away violently with both hands. 'Not this way, Jack! I'm not one of your kept women!"
     
     
For a long moment he stood there, almost invisible in the shadows, staring at her, and then, without a word, he walked rapidly away.
     
     
As another brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the empty verandah, Janet turned with a dry sob, went back inside and threw herself on the bed, anger and frustration sweeping through her.
     
     
Drummond had left the window of his bedroom open deliberately in spite of the cold. He lay in bed, propped against a pillow smoking a cigarette and thinking about Janet Tate as the rain drummed endlessly on the roof.
     
     
If that was the way she wanted it, then.to hell with her. As he reached to stub out his cigarette in the ashtray on the locker at his bedside, there was a movement by the window, something stirred and Famia emerged from the shadows.
     
     
Her hair was unbound, hanging to her waist and she wore a loose silken robe fastened with a scarlet sash. There was a slight rustling of silk and as she moved into the narrow circle of the lamplight, the robe slipped to the ground.
     
     
She stood there for a moment, magnificent in her nakedness, breasts pointed with desire, hands flat against her thighs.
     
     
She moved forward quickly and his arms went out to enfold her, crushing her softness against him. He held her close, staring blindly out of the open