by Karen King
The day after tomorrow? What brilliant timing, Amber thought. After her lesson with Jed tomorrow she’d be able to go sailing with Randy and not act like a complete novice.
‘I’d love too, thanks,’ she said.
‘Nice one, trying to make Randy jealous by spending time with Jed,’ Callie said when they were both touching up their make up in the ladies room. ‘He’s gorgeous, even if he isn’t a millionaire. Randy was on edge all the time you were dancing.’
‘I wasn’t trying to make Randy jealous, Jed’s just a friend,’ Amber told her. ‘He showed me how to dance and he’s going to teach me how to sail tomorrow.’
Callie frowned. ‘You shouldn’t be spending too much time with him. Keeping Randy on his toes is one thing, but you don’t want him to think you aren’t interested, do you? You should be going sailing with Randy, not Jed.’
‘I am, I’m going with him on Tuesday. That’s why I’m going with Jed tomorrow, so he can teach me the ropes and make sure I don’t make a complete fool of myself.’
‘Well, just watch what you’re doing. I’ve seen the way you look at Jed and how he looks at you. There’s definitely something between you. Anyone can see that,’ Callie replied.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Jed and I are just friends. I’m not interested in him in that way at all.’
Liar.
OK, she was. But Jed wasn’t interested in her and even if by some remote chance he was, there was no way she was going to blow her chance to marry Randy for a torrid affair with a nobody like Jed, no matter how sexy he is. No way at all.
Chapter Three
Rule number 3: Take an interest in his work and hobbies.
Great, she’d forgotten to check the name of Jed’s – or rather his boss’s – boat, Amber realised as she walked past rows of yachts moored along the marina front the next morning. Would she recognise it? It had stood out from the others, she remembered. It was noticing the yacht and looking for the name of it that made her tip the coffee over him in the first place!
To her relief she spotted it, and there painted across the side was the name Chenoa. She’d never come across that before - it must be foreign. Probably a woman’s name, she thought. His wife or girlfriend, perhaps. It certainly gave the yacht an exotic feel to it.
She climbed up the steps and onto the deck. ‘Hello? Anyone on board?’
There was no sign of Jed. He had told her to be here for ten o’clock, hadn’t he? She slid the patchwork leather bag, containing a packed lunch, drinks, and essentials such as make-up and hairbrush, off her shoulder and looked around. Where was he?
Then she heard footsteps behind her and turned. Her stomach tightened as she saw him walking towards her dressed in just a pair of black Bermuda shorts, a smattering of curly dark hair covering his bare, sun-tanned chest. He was soo sexy!
She tore her gaze away from him. What was she doing, thinking about Jed like this? It was Randy she had to snare. Jed was just a friend.
‘Good morning. Are you always this punctual?’ he asked, smiling. ‘I thought women were usually late.’
‘I didn’t want to keep you waiting, seeing as you’ve been kind enough to help me,’ she replied, her voice sounding far more husky than she wanted it to. ‘Any chance of a cold drink before we go?’ she asked. She needed something to cool her down. In fact, she’d have to keep a bucket of ice nearby if Jed intended to spend the entire day clad only in those shorts. She was only human, after all, and anyone’s temperature would rise faced with a body like that, even if they didn’t fancy the guy. Which she didn’t. Absolutely not.
‘Of course, mineral water or orange juice?’ he asked.
‘Mineral water, please. With ice.’
By the time Jed came back with a sparkling glass of iced water, Amber had managed to regain her composure by telling herself that there was no need to make a big deal about the fact that she found him attractive, it was a perfectly natural reaction to a good-looking guy. So when she reached for the glass and their fingers touched she managed to ignore the electrifying tingle that ran up her arm and smile sweetly.
‘Thank you.’ She sipped the water, savouring its coldness. ‘Where are we going today?’
‘Blyte Nature Reserve. It’s a little island just off the coast. Have you heard of it?’ he asked.
She shook her head. ‘What’s there?’
‘Mainly sea birds. They roost there every summer to breed. I’m going there because I need some photos of rare birds for an article I’m writing.’
‘You write articles?’ There’s no need to sound quite so surprised, she chided herself.
He shrugged. ‘Well, photography, especially wildlife, is my main interest but sometimes I’m asked to write an article to accompany the photos I take.’
‘What magazine is this article for?’ she asked. Jed intrigued her. She had a feeling there was much more to him than he chose to let people know.
He named a popular wildlife magazine and she whistled. ‘Impressive.’
‘What about you?’ he asked, leaning back against the rail, his arms folded across his chest. ‘What do you do for a living?’
‘I’m a graphic designer. I work for a small magazine that specialises in home designs.’
‘Did you study at Art College?’ he asked.
‘I did a degree at Uni. I freelanced for a while but got sick of never knowing when I was getting paid so I took this job. At least I get a regular salary.’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, enough about me. How far away is this Nature Reserve?’
‘Only an hour or so. I thought that would be long enough to find out if you were going to be sea sick or not,’ he said. ‘I presume you’d want to know that before you sail off with Randy tomorrow.’
Sea sick – she hadn’t thought of that! And he was right, she needed to know. It wouldn’t look good if she was puking the entire time she went sailing with Randy. Definitely not the way to impress someone.
‘I don’t suffer from travel sickness in a car, so surely I’ll be OK.’
‘Maybe. You’d amazed how many people can travel OK by car or plane but as soon as the waves start rolling they feel ill,’ he replied. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got some good remedies on board in case you need them.’
She grimaced. ‘Let’s hope I don’t.’
Jed smiled as he watched Amber struggle to fasten her life jacket – upside down and back to front. He knew he should point out her mistake right away instead of leaving her to struggle but she looked so cute, frowning with her tongue sticking out between her teeth, he couldn’t take her eyes off her. She was so natural and uninhibited with him, obviously deciding that seeing as he wasn’t a millionaire she didn’t need to try and impress him. She was far too trusting and open for a spoilt, selfish moron like Randy. She deserved someone who would care for her, cherish her, love her, not use her to gain his inheritance. She was using Randy too, he reminded himself.
‘There, done it!’ she said. Her face glowing with triumph.
He tried to keep his face straight but failed miserably.
‘What are you grinning at? Have I done it wrong?’
‘Let’s just say it’s a good job we had this practise run today.’
He walked over to her and started to unfasten the jacket, but the proximity of her body unnerved him so much he fumbled. He was so totally aware of her, the exotic perfume she was wearing, the softness of her skin, the way her honey-brown hair tumbled onto her shoulders. Get a grip, Curtess, he told himself sharply and quickly unfastened the jacket.
‘You’ve got it on upside down and back to front,’ he explained. ‘How about trying it again?’ He didn’t trust himself to take it off and put it on properly for her. Right now, it was all he could do to stop himself taking her in his arms and kissing her so passionately that she forgot all about this stupid damn plan of hers about marrying a millionaire.
And do what? Marry you instead?
He shook his head. Where had that come from? Then realised that Amber was look
ing at him worriedly.
‘Have I done it wrong again?’ she asked.
‘No, that’s fine,’ he told her. ‘Top marks!’
‘Great,’ she said, grinning. ‘I’d have hated to mess up tomorrow and have everyone think I’m stupid.’
Whereas it didn’t matter what he thought. Not that he thought she was stupid, far from it. But it hurt to realise his opinion was of no importance. He wasn’t sure why. Pride, perhaps. He wasn’t interested in a woman who wanted to marry for money, no matter how good her reasons were. He’d been down that path before.
He picked up his own lifejacket and quickly slipped it on, aware that she was watching him.
‘It’s really kind of you to take me under your wing like this, you know,’ she said. ‘Not many people would do it. Why are you?’
A good question.
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I guess I’m just a kind-hearted soul who likes to help out a damsel in distress.’
‘Even a mercenary one?’
It was direct question and he knew she wanted a direct answer.
‘I don’t think you’re mercenary,’ he said, slowly. ‘But I do think you’re being foolish. OK, marrying Randy will get your parents out of a hole but what about you? You’ll be in a loveless marriage.’
‘Yeah, well, I’m done with love,’ she said bitterly and he was shocked to see the pain in her eyes. ‘So I’m prepared to settle with helping my folks out. And who knows, maybe me and Randy – if he does ask me to marry him – will make a go of it.’
‘He, needs an heir. That’s one of the conditions of his inheritance,’ Jed reminded her. His gaze held hers. ‘Are you prepared for that?’
‘I’m not totally naïve,’ she said. ‘Of course I know that Randy will want … er … a physical relationship. I can handle it,’ she retorted.
She turned away and walked over to the rails. ‘The sea’s lovely and calm today, isn’t it?
He could take a hint. She wanted to change the subject, and who could blame her. He had no right to question her like that. But he liked her and didn’t want to see her hurt and he knew that Randy and his friends would chew her up and spit her out. She wasn’t tough enough for them. Not like her friend, Callie. It’s her problem, not yours, he reminded himself. The sooner this trip was over the better. He was beginning to think it had been a dumb idea to ask her to accompany him. He could do with putting distance between himself and Amber, not spending more time with her.
They’d been sailing for half an hour when Amber felt the first feelings of nausea in the pit of her stomach. She rested her back against it and took a deep breath.
‘Move to the centre of the boat and focus on the horizon, looking at the sea makes it worse,’ Jed told her.
She nodded and took a few wobbly steps forward, almost losing her balance. In a flash, Jed was besides her, taking her arm, guiding her to the nearest deck chair.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, clutching his arm, ‘I guess this means I do suffer from sea sickness.’
She sat down on the chair and buried her face in her hands. She felt awful. She would be mortified if this happened when she was on the boat with Randy and the others tomorrow.
‘Here, try and eat these, they’ll make you feel better. I promise.’ Jed passed her a couple of dry crackers. ‘I’ll go and make you some ginger tea.’
Amber tentatively nibbled on one of the crackers. Yuk, it was salty! The thought of actually being sick horrified her though, so she forced herself to chew it. And by the time Jed returned with a cup of ginger tea and some sliced apple she’d managed to eat one of the crackers.
‘Well done, now see if you can eat these apples. The combination of the salt in the crackers and acid in the apple helps calm your stomach.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ she said as another wave of nausea swept over her.
She nibbled the apple slices and sipped the ginger ale. By the time she’d finished them she felt slightly better, although she still didn’t feel capable of moving. The nausea had subsided a little but her head was swimming dizzily.
‘Here we are, put this on your wrist,’ Jed was kneeling besides her. He took his hand in hers and a new kind of dizziness raced through her body. How could she react to him like that when she felt so ill? She looked down to see him slip a grey, stretchy band onto her wrist. ‘What is it?’
‘A travel band,’ he told her. ‘They’re quite effective on some people. Let’s hope you’re one of them.’
‘How do they work?’ she asked, partly because she really wanted to know and partly because he was still holding her hand and she trying not to think just how much she liked it.
‘Those white buttons on the inside of the band press on your acupuncture points and are supposed to stop the queasiness,’ he explained, releasing her hand. ‘If they don’t work there’s another couple of cures we can try.’
‘I think I’d better back out of going sailing with Randy tomorrow,’ she decided. ‘I couldn’t cope with another day like this. I feel awful’
‘You’ll be fine,’ Jed reassured her. ‘Now we know you suffer from sea sickness we can give you some medication before you go. If you wear these bands as well then you should keep the nausea at bay. Anyway, the more you sail, the more you’ll get used to it.’
Amber wasn’t sure that bobbing about on the sea was something she wanted to get used to. She much preferred travelling on firm land and the journey seemed to be taking forever. ‘How much longer before we get there?’ she asked.
‘About an hour,’ he informed her.
Great, another hour of feeling sick, dizzy, and totally yukky. Why was she doing this?
To try and stop your parents losing their ancestral home because of that rat you got engaged to, that’s why, she reminded herself. Now stop whinging and remember what Jed said, focus on the horizon and thank your lucky stars that the sea is calm, otherwise you’d find out just how bad sea sickness can be!
After a while, she did start to feel better. Well, enough to stand at the rail and look out over the sea, watching the different birds soar overhead, squawking and cawing.
‘I never seen some of these birds before,’ she said. ‘Do you know the names of them all?’
‘Most of them,’ Jed replied. ‘That one’s a razorbill.’ He pointed to a black and white bird flying overhead. ‘See the white band near the tip of its black bill?’
‘What about that one?’ A grey and white bird was perched cheekily on the railings at the front of the yacht. ‘I think it’s hitching a ride.’
‘That’s a northern fulmar,’ he said. ‘And this one flying overhead is a kittiwake. See its red legs? There are black-legged kittiwakes too.’
Amber listened, fascinated as Jed told her a bit about the birds and their habitats. He was obviously a real authority on birds, yet he had a way of talking about them that brought their characters alive without being in the least boring.
‘How have you had time to study birds so much?’ she asked. ‘I thought your job would be really demanding.’
‘It is but I get time off to. It isn’t all hard work.’
She wanted to question him more, find out how long he’d been working for his boss and what line of business he was in but sensed that he didn’t like to talk about it. He sort of closed up every time she mentioned his work. He’s probably scared that I’m after his millionaire boss, she thought.
‘We’re nearly there. That’s Blyte Island,’ Jed said as a small craggy island came into view.
Amber peered at it, fascinated. As they got nearer she saw huge cliffs jutting up on each side of the island, guarding it like a fortress. It looked so wild, formidable, and deserted that she could well believe the scores of sea birds squawking as they flew to and from the cliffs were the only inhabitants. In fact, it appeared inaccessible, as there was no sign of any beach. The island seemed completely surrounded by cliffs. How did they get onto it? She peered closer for a sign of any gap in the cliffs but they looked i
mpenetrable.
‘We’ll have to drop the anchor and go over to the island in the dinghy,’ Jed said, seeing her puzzled look and guessing the reason for it. ‘Apparently, there’s a small landing beach over on the left side.’
‘Apparently? Does that mean you’ve never been here before?’ Amber asked him.
‘Nope.’ He grinned. ‘But don’t worry, I’ve done my research. I contacted the warden, Mike Swinton, a few days ago asking permission to visit the island and he filled me in on the procedure.’
She watched as Jed dropped the sails, switched on the engine, and took over the wheel so he could guide the yacht closer. He’s so strong and capable, she thought. She bet he could turn his hand to anything.
As they got nearer to the island they saw some large buoys bobbing up and down in the sea.
‘Those are the landing buoys,’ Jed said, pointing. ‘We have to drop our anchor in the specially designated landing bay so we don’t damage the wildlife on the sea bed. The whole area, including the marine life, is a nature reserve.’
‘I can see why, it’s beautiful.’ Amber gazed at the sun-kissed yellow granite cliffs in awe ‘So wild and untamed.’
‘It’s that all right. Apart from the warden and occasional visitor the only other life here are the animals and birds.’
Amber wanted to ask more questions but Jed was busy dropping anchor then releasing the dinghy, which thankfully had an outboard motor, into the sea. Shortly afterwards they were both aboard the dinghy, heading towards the small landing beach, leaving the yacht securely tied to one of the buoys.
Sure enough, to the left of the island they saw a small bay with a narrow stretch of sand. ‘There we are, what did I tell you?’ Jed said. ‘You’ll soon be on dry land again.’
It will be relief to feel solid ground beneath my feet again, Amber thought as they chugged through the sea. But she wouldn’t have missed this trip for anything. Jed was good company and the island was beautiful. She couldn’t wait to explore it.
When they got as close as they could to the beach, Jed moored the dinghy then they both got out and paddled through the shallow sea. Amber felt a tinge of excitement as she stepped onto the small stretch of golden sand and gazed up at the imposing cliffs. It was as if time had stood still and the twenty-first century hadn’t touched the island. Maybe not the twentieth or nineteenth either, she thought with a grin. She bet the warden didn’t have many mod cons.
