Page 11 of Ignited in Iceland
Jonas raised his eyebrows at Siggi, a hint of humour in his eyes. ‘I am happy that Siggi has been such a good representative of our company,’ he said.
Iris seemed to miss the nuance in his tone, but Siggi felt himself blush. Jonas would definitely think Siggi was going above and beyond because he found Iris attractive. And while that was true to a point, there was much more to Iris than met the eye. And that was what intrigued Siggi far more than her blue eyes or the curls that kissed the edges of her face.
‘Siggi is our most experienced guide for that area of the country. He knows it very well.’
This time, Siggi shot Jonas a warning look. There was no need to explain to Iris what his credentials were for taking her to Hraunvik or why he knew it so well.
‘Okay, Jonas, so we will be off.’
‘Take care and make sure you take a satellite phone with you.’
‘It is already packed,’ said Siggi, patting his own small rucksack.
‘It seems as if you are the perfect person for the job,’ Iris said to him as they walked the short distance to where one of the company’s jeeps was parked. She was smiling, but even that didn’t make Siggi feel like elaborating. He would much rather get underway and grill her about what data she was after in Hraunvik than talk about himself.
‘It’s a nice day for a drive,’ said Iris, taking her coat off and settling herself into the front seat.
‘For now. It looks like we will see some rain or snow later this afternoon. It depends how long we are.’ He didn’t mind how long they were. He was looking forward to getting to know her better on the journey.
‘It might take an hour to set up the equipment once we find a good spot.’
‘We will not get trapped anywhere because of the snow at this time of year,’ he said. ‘Although Jonas got caught out a few years ago and had to camp in a summer cottage with one of our clients. They’re married now.’
‘Wow, that’s an intense way to start a relationship. So you and Jonas are friends outside of work?’
‘Yes, we went to school together. A few of us work for him. He’s a good guy. I like to travel and he lets me pick up where I left off when I am back here.’
‘Where have you been recently?’
‘I spent a couple of months in Thailand and then went to Hawaii on my way back.’
‘Hawaii? Really? I came straight here from Hawaii. I was working on The Big Island.’
Siggi’s heart leapt inexplicably, as if the fact that they had been in the same place before somehow cosmically linked them. ‘I was on the Big Island until a couple of weeks ago.’ He turned to smile at her and saw in her face that she was just as thrilled as him at having found this in common. ‘I enjoy surfing and although we have good waves here, it is too cold and dangerous to surf in the winter.’
‘My colleague, Dylan, learned to surf, so I used to go with him.’
‘You surfed too?’ Siggi tried not to focus too hard on the image that flashed up in his head of Iris in a close-fitting wetsuit.
‘Oh, god no. I’d be hopeless,’ she said, laughing. I mostly watched and occasionally swam if the waves weren’t too wild.’
‘We might have been on the same beach.’ This time when he glanced at her, she looked more thoughtfully at him.
‘We used to go to Kahaluu Beach. It’s close to Mount Kilauea.’
‘I did surf at that beach! Small world.’ It was crazy, but he started replaying those visits to the beach in his mind as if he might somehow see that Iris had been there.
‘It’s mad to think we might have been there at the same time,’ she said.
‘It is worrying me that if you were there, it is because you thought the volcano was going to erupt?’
She laughed. ‘Well, there had been some rumblings, but it came to nothing. You’d have been okay. It wouldn’t have been a big one if it had happened.’
‘And how about this one?’ Siggi looked across at her. ‘This could be big?’
He could almost see her switch into work-mode. ‘It’s hard to say at this stage. But it’s being closely monitored.’
They drove in silence for a few minutes, Siggi sensing the gravity of the situation, even though Iris hadn’t said in so many words. They were getting closer now, having turned south on the road to Hraunvik, a small, traditional fishing village near the coast. Grey clouds had started to build. If he’d been with anyone else, Siggi would have suggested stopping off to look at some geysers and steaming hot springs, but Iris was all business. Keen to get her work underway.
