Knife Edge Read Free Page A

get back to them. But I’m just sending myself a text so I’ll have your number. That way I can call you tomorrow.’
    ‘OK.’
OK
? Nobody had ever spoken to her like this before. What was the matter with her? Why did she feel like this? What was it about this man that made her so accepting?
    She saw him hit ‘Send’, then he turned the phone in his hand and offered it to her.
    ‘I’m Rob,’ he said. Their fingers touched as she took her phone back.
    ‘Kim,’ she replied, then laughed as she remembered that he already knew.
    He ignored her mistake, holding her gaze for a long moment, then that wonderful warm smile lit up his face.
    ‘It’s been good to meet you, Kim.’
    She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there on the window seat. Behind her, the door opened and she heard him walk slowly into the room. Again, she wondered why she wasn’t more upset with him, but all those emotions had bled out of her in the night, and her anger was far away.
    ‘Hey.’ His voice was soft, careful.
    She sat up, pushing her hair back from her face.
    ‘Hey.’ Her own voice, flat.
    He moved across to where she was sitting, hesitating for a moment, then leaning forward to look out of the window. He was wearing the cologne she’d bought him.
    ‘Sun’s out.’ A long pause, then, ‘I thought we could go down the bay path, maybe have lunch on the beach?’
    She looked over her shoulder at him, searching his eyes for the man she knew, and finding him gazing down at her.
    ‘OK,’ she nodded.
    His expression softened and he smiled at her, the warm smile that had reassured her so many times before.
    ‘I’ll go and grab a few things from the kitchen,’ he said, straightening up and moving towards the door.
    Kim turned away to look out of the window again. She heard him pause, then come back over. His touch was gentle, fingertips lightly brushing her upper arms, then the familiar kiss on the top of her head as he stood behind her. Wearily, she leaned back a little, then relaxed and let her head rest against his chest. His arms circled her protectively and she clasped them in her hands as her eyelids gratefully closed.

3
    It was a difficult descent. The path was an uneven ribbon of packed earth and loose stones that snaked steeply down between ledges in the towering limestone cliffs. Treacherous in places, always narrow, it followed the twisted strata of the rock face, where great ripples of stone bent back on themselves, frozen in tortuous folds. Rob went ahead of her, carrying the rucksack, sure of his footing, leading her down under the shadow of the precipice. The rush of the waves drifted up from below, and she could almost feel the spray on her face as she followed him around a jagged outcrop. Now the path narrowed even further, and she could see the sheer, dizzying drop on her right-hand side. It was still a long way down, and instinct seized her, forcing her to lean back from the edge.
    ‘Stay with me,’ he called over his shoulder. ‘There’s a couple of difficult places but it gets easier.’
    Kim tensed, her fingers grasping at the tufts of rough grass that sprouted from the cliff wall beside her. Glancing down at the beach, she swallowed hard, her breathing quickening.
    Shit!
    Adrenalin coursed through her, rousing her from the numbness, making her want to cry out. A sudden rush of indistinct thoughts flickered through her mind as she wondered what would happen if she just pushed herself out into the emptiness …
    ‘Kim!’
    She tore her gaze away from the drop. Rob had turned back, his eyes full of care, his arm outstretched towards her. For a moment, she remained pressed against the cliff, but she knew that turning back would be impossible. Slowly, carefully, she reached out and took his hand. As his fingers clasped hers, his grip definite and firm, she glanced downward – suddenly the drop didn’t look so terrifying, but there was still a cold knot in her stomach.
    ‘You’re OK,’ he said