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  ‘Glad you could join us, Jenny,’ rising like a leviathan from the depths of her embarrassment, Karl Anders stepped to the front of the podium. ‘Captain, this is Jenny Payne. Our new expedition specialist in marine biology. Jenny, meet Captain Haugen.’

  ‘Captain Haugen.’ Jenny felt an overwhelming urge to salute.

  ‘Jenny,’ the captain smiled at her. ‘Welcome aboard the Cape Adare.’ His accent, as much as his name, betrayed his Scandinavian origins.

  ‘Thank you, sir.’

  ‘You can meet the rest of the team later,’ Karl offered. ‘If you’d like to take a seat …’

  Jenny dropped into the semi-anonymity of the nearest seat. She slid as far down into it as she could; hunching her shoulders against the eyes she could feel staring at her.

  ‘As I was saying,’ the captain continued, ‘we’ll be using the next couple of days as shake-down before taking on passengers in Hobart. Each of you will be shown your assignments for the emergency drills. I believe most of you are experienced at this, so I don’t imagine there will be any problems.’

  No problems except of course that they were going in the wrong direction.

  How could this have happened? Jenny ran her conversation with Mr Schofield through her head. True, her mind had wandered a bit, but at no point did she recall the word Antarctica being spoken. It was equally true that no one had mentioned tropical islands either, but wasn’t that where all cruise ships went?

  Apparently not.

  Jenny sank even further into her seat, her eyes firmly fixed on the floor.

  So much for her visions of bikini clad sunbathing. That particular item of clothing was going to remain buried in the back of her drawer. There wouldn’t be much call for it where she was going. Jenny’s heart fluttered in a moment of panic. What was she going to wear? She didn’t know much about Antarctica, but she did know that even in summer the temperatures rarely got above freezing.

  Icebergs. Freezing temperatures. That was not what she’d signed up for. Who would want that?

  A pair of shiny black shoes appeared in the few square centimetres of floor she was gazing at. They stopped, apparently waiting for something. Slowly she uncurled herself and raised her eyes to find the captain looking down at her. This close, his lined face told of many, many years’ exposure to sun and wind, and he had an aura of quiet competence. This was a man who you could trust with your life at sea. His pale blue eyes were surrounded by deep laugh lines. At least she hoped they were laugh lines.

  Jenny leaped to her feet. She almost snapped to attention. Something about the captain just inspired that sort of reaction.

  ‘I understand this is your first expedition, Miss Payne,’ he said.

  ‘That’s right, sir.’

  ‘I’m sure you’ll do just fine. We’re not a big ship, but we like to think we are the best.’

  ‘Yes. Sir.’ At some point, she would have to say something else.

  ‘Fine. Carry on.’ The captain strode up the aisle, nodding to a few people scattered among the seats, then left the theatre.

  ‘Now – down to business,’ Karl had stepped onto the podium. ‘Has everyone got their schedules?’

  She seemed to be the only one not clutching a sheaf of papers. Tentatively she raised her hand. A few seconds later, a folder was passed back from the front row. Jenny opened it and inspected the first page.

  Cape Adare – Inaugural Antarctic Expedition.

  She shuddered again and quickly turned the page to find a map of their route. There it was. Antarctica. A great white mass at the bottom of the page. She tried to reassemble what she knew about it. Penguins and seals. Humpback whales and krill. Dead explorers. Lots and lots of snow and ice. That seemed to sum it up. Not her idea of a good time. Not at all.

  Was it too late to get out of this?

  The dining area was crowded, but Jenny had never felt so alone. She did not know the name of a single person in the room, which was not surprising considering she had only been introduced to three people on board the ship. She doubted the captain dined with the crew, Karl wasn’t here and Seaman Brown was probably off doing whatever it was that seamen do when they are not terrifying people in a blow-up rubber dinghy. All the other people in the room seemed to know everyone else. Friends were laughing together. Conversations buzzed around the dining tables, punctuated by greetings to newcomers.

  An overwhelming sense of loneliness and isolation threatened to knock Jenny’s feet from under her.

  If she didn’t know anyone, then the reverse was also true. Everyone here might know her name, particularly after her spectacular entrance into the theatre, but they didn’t know her. No one knew where she came from. Or about the huge family that had always been her support and comfort. No one knew that she loved eating baked beans on toast in front of romantic films. No one knew that her flat was slowly being overgrown by potted plants. No one knew about Ray. There was no one to whisper a secret to. No one to share a memory with. No shoulder to cry on.

  There was no one who knew or cared one toss about Jenny Payne.

  On the other side of the room, a woman noticed her. She said something to her companions at the table and five pairs of eyes turned towards Jenny. That was enough for her. She turned and walked out of the room. She wasn’t hungry anyway. She headed back towards the sanctuary of her cabin, but heard voices further along the corridor. More old friends catching up after some time apart. She ducked through the door into the lift lobby, feeling a sense of relief as the door shut behind her. Without giving any real thought to where she was going, Jenny hit the top button. The glass sided box moved slowly up through the decks, giving her tantalising glimpses of polished chrome and timber, and empty spaces.

  The lift stopped on the seventh floor. Jenny stepped out into the lobby. Behind her was the passenger’s bar, with huge windows and glass walls to provide spectacular views. During the voyage, this would no doubt be the social centre of the ship, where passengers would swap tales of their adventures while drinking beer and cocktails. With no passengers yet on board it was in semi darkness – gloomy and depressing and even more claustrophobic than the crowded crew quarters.

  Jenny headed for the outside deck. She pushed the glass door, but her hand slipped off the handle, rapping her knuckles painfully on the metal frame.

  God, that thing was heavy. What was it with doors on this ship? Did the designers not want them to be opened?

  Jenny tried again. This time she put her weight behind it and the door swung open a bit too fast. She almost fell through the opening onto the deck outside. A set of steep metal steps led up to the lobby roof. Without a moment’s thought, Jenny climbed them … and stepped out among the stars.

  It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

  The sky was inky black, patterned by great clusters of stars. More stars than she had ever seen in her life. They were so thick they almost looked like clouds. Shiny, glowing clouds. She spun slowly, her face turned to the heavens and the distant suns twinkled and danced around her like she had stepped into a fairy tale. Any minute now, angels would appear to dance with her …

  …. but they had better have very strong wings.

  Jenny was suddenly aware of the wind trying to blow the clothes from her body. The wind, strengthened by the speed of the ship was almost enough to chill her, despite the warmth of the evening. She moved forward, where a sloping glass wall offered protection from the wind. She turned and looked back. The ship’s funnel rose behind her, a spotlight picking out the cruise line logo on its side. Southern Cross Cruises. She lifted her face to the sky again and found the constellation, the stars brighter than any others. It really was quite beautiful.

  Jenny felt her spirits lifting. Wasn’t this what she had wanted? To get away from everything. If she was among strangers, at least no one knew about Ray. No one knew what a fool she had been to fall for someone like him. Jenny closed her eyes as tears threatened.

  No.

  She opened her e
yes again, blaming the tears running down the side of her nose on the wind, not on her emotions. She shook her head. She was not going to be like that. This was an adventure. It wasn’t what she had expected, but it might be fun. OK – it was going to be cold, but cold could be fun too. Couldn’t it? And anyway, she suddenly remembered her conversation with Mr Schofield. They were stopping in Hobart in two days to pick up their passengers. If she really hated it, she could always jump ship. They didn’t hang you for desertion from a cruise ship … did they?

  Jenny smiled and ran the back of her hand over her nose, which was also feeling the effects of the cold wind and made a note to herself to bring a tissue next time she came up here. Then she noticed the structure at the rear of the observation deck. She cast her mind back to the plan of the ship that she had studied earlier. The structure housed a sauna. One with a view. Intrigued, Jenny decided to investigate.

  The sauna was on a raised section of the deck at the very rear of the observation platform. Steps led up to the doors, marked male and female. A narrow access path led around the edge of the structure, but a gate blocked the path and the sign said crew only. Well, she was crew, wasn’t she? There would be a lovely view of the back of the ship and the white trail it left in the sea. She could go back there and bid a symbolic farewell to her old life. That was just what she needed. The gate wasn’t locked. Jenny tugged at the latch until it slipped open. With one hand in the metal deck railings, she made her way down the side of the sauna. To her left was a huge glass wall, and Jenny realised that was the picture window that allowed people in the sauna to look out. Positioned as it was on the side of the ship, no one would see in, except for someone on this tiny walkway. The sauna was in darkness. Jenny continued around the back of the structure. The walkway here looked down on the open deck below, which explained why the sauna wall was solid. No voyeurs here – just voyagers. Jenny chuckled at her own pun, and then out of curiosity peeked around the far corner of the sauna.

  The man was naked. And hot – in more ways than one.

  He was sitting on the wooden bench inside the sauna, facing the glass wall and the darkness beyond. His arms were spread across the back of the bench as he leaned back against the wall, his eyes shut. His well-muscled chest was damp with sweat, as was his dark hair. He looked like something out of the sort of dream you never told anyone about.

  Jenny gasped and took half a step back into the shadows. The sauna certainly did have a view – but probably not the one the designers had intended. She turned to sneak away, but stopped. She could no more walk away than she could swim back to Sydney. She just had to have a second look.

  Slowly she stepped forward, and peeked.

  His body was firm and muscular. Jenny guessed he spent time in the gym as well as the sauna. His chest was broad, with a light smattering of dark hair that faded down across the six pack of his stomach towards his hips. His legs seemed to go on forever. Only the condensation on the inside of the glass preserved his modesty. Jenny wished she could wipe it away.

  As for his face.

  Handsome wasn’t the right word. A lot of men are handsome. She had once thought Ray was handsome, but Ray has never made her breath catch in her throat like this. No one had. She could have looked at that face for hours. It was like a work of art. Beautiful, but powerful too, framed by longish wavy dark hair. Her fingers ached to touch the line of his jaw, to trace the sinews of his neck to the place where the pulse beat at its base. To feel his heart beating.

  He moved, slowly stretching his muscles, as if to ease stiff joints. Then he opened his eyes.

  Jenny gasped and ducked back into the shadows. Had he seen her? How embarrassing, to be caught staring in the window like some peeping Tom … or Thomasina. Jenny heard a noise inside the structure, and risked another quick peek around the corner. The sauna was dark – and now empty. The gorgeous occupant was no doubt in the locker room, putting on his clothes ready to re-join the rest of the crew.

  This raised an interesting point. Was he crew? There were no passengers on board – so he must be. But crew were not permitted to use the sauna. That was one of the rules she’d read in the paperwork Karl had handed her earlier today. Maybe the rules didn’t apply when there were no passengers on board?

  Before she could follow that thought, Jenny heard the sauna’s outer door open. The man emerged, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt that was damp enough to cling to his shoulders in a most appealing way. He walked across the open deck towards the stairs, seemingly unaware of Jenny peeking around the corner of the sauna. As soon as he vanished down the stairs, Jenny left her hiding place. Silently, she too walked to the stairs and peered down. There was no sign of her quarry – so she began to descend. She stopped at the next deck. The bar was still in darkness. She doubted he would be heading for the gym or the Jacuzzi – so she continued cautiously down the stairs.

  Deck six was the first of the passenger accommodation decks. A corridor led forward, past a few cabins to the restricted area where the senior officers lived, and to the bridge. Towards the rear of the ship, the cabins became larger, more luxurious and more expensive, culminating in the Australis Suite – otherwise known as the owner’s cabin. Jenny had noticed it on the ship’s plan. It was at least five times the size of the other passenger cabins and probably ten times the size of the shoebox where she was living. She peered cautiously down the corridor and there he was, striding confidently towards the rear of the ship.

  The figure turned the corner and was gone, presumably into the owner’s suite.

  Was that the ship’s owner? Surely not. He was so young and gorgeous. Outside the pages of romance novels, weren’t shipping tycoons old men with more chins than eyebrows? If he wasn’t the owner, and couldn’t be a passenger – was he crew? Maybe he was a stowaway.

  Jenny hesitated. She certainly wasn’t about to go knock on his door and ask him if he was a stowaway, and mention that, by the way, he looked good naked.

  ‘Here you are!’

  Jenny jumped and spun around to face the voice. A woman was coming up the stairs towards her. It was the same woman who had noticed her down in the crew dining room.

  ‘Hello …’ Jenny said.

  ‘I’m Anna. Karl’s wife,’ the woman said.

  Jenny had to struggle to keep a straight face. Anna was probably about thirty, with friendly brown eyes and hair in a long ponytail. She was also incredibly tiny. She would barely come half way up Karl’s chest. Jenny bit back a giggle.

  ‘I tried to catch your attention at dinner,’ Anna continued. ‘I know you’re new. I’m the ship’s nurse – but most of the time I’m not very busy, so I’m also sort of the mother hen for the new girls.’

  Mother hen sounded incongruous coming from a woman who barely came past Jenny’s own shoulder, but Anna’s face was kind, and Jenny realised that right now, she could use a friend.

  ‘Nice to meet you,’ she said.

  ‘You’re going to need uniforms and wet weather gear. Not to mention gear for when you’re on the ice,’ Anna said. ‘I can sort that out for you.’

  ‘Great!’ On the ice didn’t sound too good, but despite that, Jenny felt a wave of relief. At least she wouldn’t freeze to death.

  ‘Why don’t you come downstairs to the mess for coffee and meet some people,’ Anna’s smile suggested she understood why Jenny had fled the dining area earlier.

  ‘That would be nice.’

  ‘We’ve got it pretty easy as there are no passengers on board, so we’re all sitting around and catching up. You’d get a chance to meet everyone.’

  ‘I’d like that …’ Jenny hesitated. ‘I know there’s not supposed to be passengers – so who is the man in the owner’s suite?’

  ‘How do you know about him?’ Anna looked surprised. ‘You talked to him?’

  ‘No. No. I just saw him …’ Jenny almost blushed, ‘walking down the corridor there. I wondered who he was.’

  ‘He is a passenger,’ Anna said in a conspiratori
al whisper. ‘The only one we have. Some special deal to let him on board early. No one has seen him except the stewards who took him dinner in his cabin tonight. No one knows who he is, but we’ve been told to treat him with kid gloves.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Anna, a huge grin spreading across her face. ‘Anyway, that’s enough with our mysterious passenger. I’m sure we’ll find out eventually. In the meantime, come on. We can grab some coffee and chat.’

  ‘That sounds great.’ Jenny followed Anna as she headed back to the stairwell. She descended a couple of steps, then peered back down the corridor. There was nothing to see.

  Chapter Three

  The silence in the room was almost tangible. It curled around Jenny’s words as if to highlight the expletive in glowing neon. On the podium, the dignified gentleman in uniform slowly raised his eyebrows. Somewhere in the room, a girl sniggered. Jenny began to hope for an iceberg. Or a tidal wave. Anything to direct everyone’s attention away from her.

  ‘I’m sorry …’ Should she call him Sir? There was enough gold braid on his uniform to finance several small African countries. Jenny guessed that made him the captain.

  ‘Glad you could join us, Jenny,’ rising like a leviathan from the depths of her embarrassment, Karl Anders stepped to the front of the podium. ‘Captain, this is Jenny Payne. Our new expedition specialist in marine biology. Jenny, meet Captain Haugen.’

  ‘Captain Haugen.’ Jenny felt an overwhelming urge to salute.

  ‘Jenny,’ the captain smiled at her. ‘Welcome aboard the Cape Adare.’ His accent, as much as his name, betrayed his Scandinavian origins.

  ‘Thank you, sir.’

  ‘You can meet the rest of the team later,’ Karl offered. ‘If you’d like to take a seat …’

  Jenny dropped into the semi-anonymity of the nearest seat. She slid as far down into it as she could; hunching her shoulders against the eyes she could feel staring at her.