Bond got to his feet and walked the few steps to where she lay. He said, ‘You oughtn’t to aqualung by yourself. What’s happened? Has a shark been lunching off you?’
‘Don’t make silly jokes. I’ve got some sea-egg spines in my foot. You’ll have to get them out somehow. First of all get this aqualung off me. It hurts too much to stand on my foot with all this weight.’ She reached for the buckle at her stomach and released the catch. ‘Now just lift it off.’
Bond did as he was told and carried the cylinder up into the shade of the trees. Now she was sitting in the shallow water inspecting the sole of her right foot. She said, ‘There are only two of them. They’re going to be difficult.’
Bond came and knelt beside her. The two black spots, close together, were almost under the curl of the middle toes. He got up and held out a hand. ‘Come on. We’ll get into the shade. This is going to take time. Don’t put your foot down or you’ll push them in further. I’ll carry you.’
She laughed up at him. ‘My hero! All right. But don’t drop me.’ She held up both arms. Bond reached down and put one arm under her knees and another under her armpits. Her arms closed round his neck. Bond picked her up easily. He stood for a moment in the lapping water and looked down into her upturned face. The bright eyes said yes. He bent his head and kissed her hard on the half-open, waiting mouth.
The soft lips held his and drew slowly away. She said rather breathlessly, ‘You shouldn’t take your reward in advance.’
‘That was only on account.’ Bond closed his hand firmly over her right breast and walked out of the water and up to the beach into the shade of the casuarinas. He laid her gently down in the soft sand. She put her hands behind her head to keep the sand out of her straggling hair and lay waiting, her eyes half hidden behind the dark mesh of her eyelashes.
The mounded vee of the bikini looked up at Bond and the proud breasts in the tight cups were two more eyes. Bond felt his control going. He said roughly, ‘Turn over.’
She did as she was told. Bond knelt down and picked up her right foot. It felt small and soft, like a captured bird, in his hand. He wiped away the specks of sand and uncurled the toes. The small pink pads were like the buds of some multiple flower. Holding them back, he bent and put his lips to where the broken ends of the black spines showed. He sucked hard for about a minute. A small piece of grit from one of the spines came into his mouth and he spat it out. He said, ‘This is going to be a long business unless I hurt a bit. Otherwise it’ll take all day and I can’t waste too much time over just one foot. Ready?’
He saw the muscles of her behind clench to take the pain. She said dreamily, ‘Yes.’
Bond sank his teeth into the flesh round the spines, bit as softly as he could and sucked hard. The foot struggled to get away. Bond paused to spit out some fragments. The marks of his teeth showed white and there were pinpoints of blood at the two tiny holes. He licked them away. There was almost no black left under the skin. He said. ‘This is the first time I’ve eaten a woman. They’re rather good.’
She squirmed impatiently but said nothing.
Bond knew how much it would be hurting. He said, ‘It’s all right, Domino. You’re doing fine. Last mouthful.’ He gave the sole of her foot a reassuring kiss and then, as tenderly as he could, put his teeth and lips back to work.
A minute or two later and he spat out the last section of spine. He told her it was over and gently laid the foot down. He said, ‘Now you mustn’t get sand into it. Come on, I’ll give you another lift into the hut and you can put your sandals on.’
She rolled over. Her black eyelashes were wet with the tears of small pain. She wiped a hand over them. She said, looking seriously up at him, ‘Do you know, you’re the first man who’s ever made me cry.’ She held up her arms and now there was complete surrender.
Bond bent and picked her up. This time he didn’t kiss the waiting mouth. He carried her to the door of the hut. HIS or HERS? He carried her into his. He reached out a hand for shirt and shorts and threw them down to make a scrap of a bed. He put her down softly so that she was standing on his shirt. She kept her arms round his neck while he undid the single button of the brassiere and then the tapes of the taut slip. He stepped out of his bathing trunks and kicked them away.
19 | WHEN THE KISSING STOPPED
Bond leant on one elbow and looked down at the beautiful drowned face. There was a dew of sweat below the eyes and at the temples. A pulse beat fast at the base of the neck. The lines of authority had been sponged away by the lovemaking and the face had a soft, sweet, bruised look. The wet eyelashes parted and the tawny eyes, big and faraway, looked up with remote curiosity into Bond’s. They focused lazily and examined him as if they were seeing him for the first time.
Bond said, ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.’
The words amused her. The dimples at each side of the mouth deepened into clefts. She said, ‘You talk like a girl who has had it for the first time. Now you are frightened that you will have a baby. You will have to tell your mother.’
Bond leant down and kissed her. He kissed the two corners of her mouth and then the parted lips. He said, ‘Come and swim. Then I must talk to you.’ He got to his feet and held out his hands. Reluctantly she took them. He pulled her up and against him. Her body flirted with his, knowing it was safe. She smiled impishly up at him and became more wanton. Bond crushed her fiercely to him, to stop her and because he knew they had only a few more minutes of happiness. He said, ‘Stop it, Domino. And come on. We don’t need any clothes. The sand won’t hurt your foot. I was only pretending.’
She said, ‘So was I when I came out of the sea. The spines didn’t hurt all that much. And I could have cured them if I’d wanted to. Like the fishermen do. You know how?’
Bond laughed. ‘Yes I do. Now, into the sea.’ He kissed her once and stood back and looked at her body to remember how it had been. Then he turned abruptly and ran to the sea and dived deeply down.
When he got back to shore she was already out and dressing. Bond dried himself. He answered her laughing remarks through the partition with monosyllables. Finally she accepted the change in him. She said, ‘What is the matter with you, James? Is anything wrong?’
‘Yes, darling.’ Pulling on his trousers Bond heard the rattle of the little gold chain against the coins in his pocket. He said, ‘Come outside. I’ve got to talk to you.’
Sentimentally, Bond chose a patch of sand on the other side of the hut from where they had been before. She came out and stood in front of him. She examined his face carefully, trying to read it. Bond avoided her eyes. He sat with his arms round his knees and looked out to sea. She sat down beside him, but not close. She said, ‘You are going to hurt me. Is it that you too are going away? Be quick. Do it cleanly and I will not cry.’
Bond said, ‘I’m afraid it’s worse than that, Domino. It’s not about me. It’s about your brother.’
Bond sensed the stiffening of her body. She said in a low, tense voice, ‘Go on. Tell me.’
Bond took the bracelet out of his pocket and silently handed it to her.
She took it. She hardly gave it a glance. She turned a little away from Bond. ‘So he is dead. What happened to him?’