Free Robyn Donald – Iceberg by Robyn Donald Page B

dinner, but Sarah said imperiously, 'Come on,
    Linnet, we need you too.’
    Once in the sitting room Justin refused Bronwyn's offer of a drink and began, 'Sarah tells me that you have a
    week in hand before you know about this library job. Is that so?'
    For all the world as if she was a recalcitrant pupil and he a stem headmaster. Stifling the desire to answer pertly,
    Linnet said, 'Yes, about a week.'
    He nodded, 'In that case, would you like to go with Sarah to our house on Kawau Island, up the Gulf?'
    Momentarily his glance rested on the small silver head of his daughter, then flicked across to catch and hold
    Linnet's. 'She thinks—and I agree—that a week in the sun will benefit her. Anna is too busy to take her. If you
    agree I'll - be very grateful.'
    Sarah must have been warned against being importunate, but those pale eyes so like her father's grew enormous
    with the strain of staying silent.
    Linnet dithered. She wanted to go—Auckland had suddenly become stifling to her—but the thought of being
    beholden in any way to Justin was galling.
    Then Bronwyn said, amusement colouring her words, 'Of course she'll go, Justin. She's dying to say yes.'
    'Linnet?'
    She nodded. At once Sarah squealed with delight, flung her arms around her father's waist and hugged him
    hard, then danced across the room and fastened herself on to Linnet's hand.
    'I knew you would,' she stated with enormous contentment.

CHAPTER FOUR
    They left from Mechanic's Bay in the heart of Auckland, flying in a seaplane which took the three of them—for
    Justin accompanied them—and the pilot, but only just.
    It was, Linnet decided, quite the smallest seaplane in the world. As her Only previous experience of flight had
    been in the enormous jets which spanned the Tasman Sea—and they terrified her—she was convinced that
    she ,was going to be dead of fright before they reached the island.
    But the pilot seemed quite happy, Sarah was ecstatic and Justin—well, it would be a very foolhardy plane which
    would let Justin Doyle down!
    He was sitting now between them both, so that they could see through the windows. The warmth and hardness
    of his arm was against her shoulder, and she was acutely aware of the faint masculine scent of him. Something
    close to a panic drove her to peer intently out of the window at the enormous oil tanks on the shore.
    'We're, away!' the pilot shouted, and the note of the engines changed as the plane surged across the quiet waters
    of the bay. Within a few seconds another change in the engine noise revealed that they were airborne.
    Linnet forgot the size of the plane, forgot everything but the beauty of the scene below, the harbour glinting and
    sparkling in the sun, the islands spread Eke emeralds of differing shades scattered across the water and the
    darker, deeper colour of the outer Gulf sheltered by the length of Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel
    .Peninsular from the limitless Pacific Ocean.
    A ship made its way up As channel between the North Shore and the somber bulk of Rangitoto Island, the most
    recent volcano in all of that volcanic area.
    'It's only dormant, like all of the others,' Justin said into her ear. 'It erupted about nine hundred years ago. That's
    weathered lava, the dark rock it's composed of.’
    She nodded, conscious dial he had bent closer to her in order to make himself heard above the plane's engines. It
    was a relief when Sarah claimed his attention.
    In all too short a time the shape of Kawau Island, almost bisected by Bon Accord harbour, appeared, the white
    coves and beaches glistening in the sun.
    'Nearly there,' the pilot informed them unnecessarily over his shoulder. 'Seat belts tight? O.K., then down we
    go.'
    They landed on the calm waters of the harbour, taxied across to a bay protected from the south by a small
    promontory covered in pines. About half way down was a wharf, long and slender, from which a launch was
    leaving.
    'There's Mr McCarthy,' Sarah shrilled, 'Look,