A Lesson of Intensity: Season of Desire Part 2 (Seasons Quartet) Read Online Free PDF Page A

She looks frightened, in utter turmoil because Miles hasn’t come home and she’s been told that he was last seen heading off down the mountain into an oncoming blizzard.
    I glance at his hand. His ring finger is bare. And, from his scruples in denying me this morning, I don’t think that he’s the kind of man to get as intimate with someone as he did with me if he were married. The picture of the beautiful wife disappears, and I feel obscurely relieved that she doesn’t exist. Instead, I see Pierre, our head of security, cursing Miles for obeying my orders and taking one of the boss’s expensive cars and his beloved daughter on a fool’s errand to almost certain death.
    Maybe he has even fewer people who care for him than I do.
      I think of my sisters, my family and my friends. In the long hours of the afternoon I wrap myself up in the sleeping bag, and lie down so that I can see the fire dancing, and let my mind wander. It’s ages since I’ve done this. I’m so frightened of being bored that life is a ceaseless round of travel. If I’m not on the move or out with friends, I’m on my phone or tablet or laptop, or I’m at the movies, or watching TV, or at the gym. Relaxing for me usually means lying on the deck of a yacht chatting with friends as we bake a golden tan into our skins, but it’s just a chance to plan more activity – more parties, more trips, more of everything.
      Here, there is nowhere I can possibly go. There’s nothing to do. I’m reliant entirely on myself – and on Miles. I look over at him. He’s finished reading the guest book and examining the creased old map he found in the bottom of the box. He’s leaning back against the hut wall, a sleeping bag draped around his shoulders, gazing moodily into the fire.
      What’s he thinking about?
      I want to ask, but I fear being too intrusive. I’ve made my apology but I can’t presume too much on it.
      It’s getting dark outside, I can tell, and I check my watch. It’s only three o’clock but the storm is vanquishing what light there is left on this winter afternoon. It’ll be black as night soon.
      From my prone position on the planks, I glance over at Miles and find his eyes upon me. His dark-blue gaze sends a thrill rippling through me, and I wonder how I’m going to survive being near him and not being able to touch him. I give an involuntary sigh and a tiny shiver.
      ‘Are you all right?’ he asks.
      I nod.
      ‘Anything troubling you?’
      I shake my head slowly but he’s not convinced because he says firmly, ‘It’s going to be all right. I promise. I’ve had a good scout outside and I’ve studied that old map. I think I can get us out of here once the weather improves. Even if we can’t rely on a rescue.’
      The mention of rescue makes me think of my father again, and instead of feeling comforted, I swoop down into a kind of bleakness. I wriggle deeper into my sleeping bag and stare into the flames that are licking around the charred remains of a log.
      Miles leans towards me. ‘Really, Freya – are you okay? You don’t seem full of your usual fire and spice.’
      ‘I’m fine,’ I reply in a low voice. I turn my head to face him. ‘Is your family going to notice that you’re missing?’
    ‘No doubt they’ll be informed. They live a long way from here, so my mother won’t have been expecting me back for dinner or anything like that.’ He laughs lightly. ‘It’s a long time since those days.’
    ‘So your mother is still alive?’
    ‘Aye. She’s in her sixties now but she’s in good health, as far as I know. Still running around after my pa and my brother, and looking after her grandkids. She’s never thought she should take some time for herself after all these years.’
      ‘Don’t you see her then?’
    ‘Not as much as I should. She’d like to see more of me, I know.’ He looks thoughtful. ‘I suppose she’ll be worried about me, if they’ve told her what’s