Read Online A Solitary Heart by Amanda Carpenter - Free Book Online
Authors: Amanda Carpenter
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fright as everything
solid and secure had fallen away and she was left for one
immeasurable instant suspended in mid-air.
The moment had passed too quickly for her to even cry out. Gravity
had claimed her tiny body, and she fell, and her father caught her
close into a great hug, and everything settled again into how it should
be. But Sian had never forgotten that pure terror as she began to
tumble helplessly back to the ground.
She had a mental flashback of it that broke her into a cold sweat as
she rested, panting, for a few seconds and surveyed her position.
Time had slowed and there was nothing but the present, and the quiet
sound of leaves rustling. She had discovered another hazard in her
climb, which was the slippery sun lotion that coated her body and
made her confidence of her grip very shaky. Her arms were
beginning to ache from the tight clench she maintained, but no hint of
her fear filtered into her calm, even voice as she talked to the boy and
listened for his occasional high treble of a reply.
She had reached the thinner branches and picked her way with
extreme care, testing their strength before trusting her weight to
them, and at each creak and sway her breath stopped in her throat and
she froze before continuing to inch upwards.
It could not have been more than five minutes before the quiet
surrounding the two in the tree was broken by the noisy approach of
people. Sian risked a glance down. She could see in the group
hurrying from the picnic site the same reactions that she and Jane had
had, the shock of hesitation as they took in the scene, and the various
positions of fright. Oh, lord, she thought in resignation, not a fit and
athletic man among the lot of them.
A woman cried out in a high voice, and Barry started to sob again,
quietly.
'Is that your mom? Not to worry,' said Sian, tilting back her head. She
Was at a level with one dirty sneaker, and it seemed very small and
vulnerable as it dangled in front of her eyes. 'I bet she has a fit if you
cross the street, doesn't she?'
'She's gonna kill me!' the boy burst out. Sian had room inside her for
one breathless chuckle.
Preoccupied with soothing the child, trying to ignore the panic below
her, Sian was unaware of another's approach to the scene. The man
sprinted, full out, with powerful distance-eating strides as swift at the
end of the half-mile as when he'd begun, a gold and tawny figure
spearing through the shallow water which cascaded from the force of
his urgent passage into sparkling diamonds.
His intent expression did not change when he saw the trapped boy
and Sian's slim body underneath, taut with striving feline grace,
seemingly suspended at the top of the tree by insubstantial green
fronds and a prayer. But his hazel eyes undertook a sharp dilation,
and his chest moved hard, where before the headlong dash had barely
quickened his heartbeat.
Then Sian heard the sound of another voice from the ground, deep
and firm and commanding, and her knees went to water in an intense
flood of relief as she recognised Matt taking charge of the threatening
pandemonium. He had been amazingly fast; Jane had to have raced
back to the camp as if all the hounds of hell were snapping at her
heels.
He must have summed up the situation at a glance, for, without any
of the horrified hesitation that had frozen the others, he called
quietly, 'I'm coming up, Sian. Don't try to free him until I'm
underneath you.'
'OK,' she said, and breathlessly waited as he swarmed up the tree
with athletic ease. She risked a peek over her shoulder. He had
stopped when the branches started to groan protestingly under his
greater weight, and his serious upturned face was about ten feet
below her.
Their eyes met: fatalistic, almond-shaped green and fierce hazel. Ten
feet might as well have been an eternity. His expression was terrible
and she closed her eyes to it. Sian heard the creak of another branch.
'Don't come any
solid and secure had fallen away and she was left for one
immeasurable instant suspended in mid-air.
The moment had passed too quickly for her to even cry out. Gravity
had claimed her tiny body, and she fell, and her father caught her
close into a great hug, and everything settled again into how it should
be. But Sian had never forgotten that pure terror as she began to
tumble helplessly back to the ground.
She had a mental flashback of it that broke her into a cold sweat as
she rested, panting, for a few seconds and surveyed her position.
Time had slowed and there was nothing but the present, and the quiet
sound of leaves rustling. She had discovered another hazard in her
climb, which was the slippery sun lotion that coated her body and
made her confidence of her grip very shaky. Her arms were
beginning to ache from the tight clench she maintained, but no hint of
her fear filtered into her calm, even voice as she talked to the boy and
listened for his occasional high treble of a reply.
She had reached the thinner branches and picked her way with
extreme care, testing their strength before trusting her weight to
them, and at each creak and sway her breath stopped in her throat and
she froze before continuing to inch upwards.
It could not have been more than five minutes before the quiet
surrounding the two in the tree was broken by the noisy approach of
people. Sian risked a glance down. She could see in the group
hurrying from the picnic site the same reactions that she and Jane had
had, the shock of hesitation as they took in the scene, and the various
positions of fright. Oh, lord, she thought in resignation, not a fit and
athletic man among the lot of them.
A woman cried out in a high voice, and Barry started to sob again,
quietly.
'Is that your mom? Not to worry,' said Sian, tilting back her head. She
Was at a level with one dirty sneaker, and it seemed very small and
vulnerable as it dangled in front of her eyes. 'I bet she has a fit if you
cross the street, doesn't she?'
'She's gonna kill me!' the boy burst out. Sian had room inside her for
one breathless chuckle.
Preoccupied with soothing the child, trying to ignore the panic below
her, Sian was unaware of another's approach to the scene. The man
sprinted, full out, with powerful distance-eating strides as swift at the
end of the half-mile as when he'd begun, a gold and tawny figure
spearing through the shallow water which cascaded from the force of
his urgent passage into sparkling diamonds.
His intent expression did not change when he saw the trapped boy
and Sian's slim body underneath, taut with striving feline grace,
seemingly suspended at the top of the tree by insubstantial green
fronds and a prayer. But his hazel eyes undertook a sharp dilation,
and his chest moved hard, where before the headlong dash had barely
quickened his heartbeat.
Then Sian heard the sound of another voice from the ground, deep
and firm and commanding, and her knees went to water in an intense
flood of relief as she recognised Matt taking charge of the threatening
pandemonium. He had been amazingly fast; Jane had to have raced
back to the camp as if all the hounds of hell were snapping at her
heels.
He must have summed up the situation at a glance, for, without any
of the horrified hesitation that had frozen the others, he called
quietly, 'I'm coming up, Sian. Don't try to free him until I'm
underneath you.'
'OK,' she said, and breathlessly waited as he swarmed up the tree
with athletic ease. She risked a peek over her shoulder. He had
stopped when the branches started to groan protestingly under his
greater weight, and his serious upturned face was about ten feet
below her.
Their eyes met: fatalistic, almond-shaped green and fierce hazel. Ten
feet might as well have been an eternity. His expression was terrible
and she closed her eyes to it. Sian heard the creak of another branch.
'Don't come any
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