Brides of Penhally Bay - Vol 2

by Various Authors

  They were answers he found hard to come to terms with. At some time in the past someone had abused Chloe. Pain lanced through him at the unpalatable knowledge. And anger at the unknown person who’d hurt her. Various scenarios, each more disturbing than the last, played through his mind. The new knowledge explained why Chloe devoted herself to her work, ignoring her beauty and her sexuality, friendly and warm, yet always trying to remain professional, keeping up some invisible barrier. No wonder her close friends were so protective of her.

  He wanted to protect her, too, but he also felt daunted. It was a big responsibility to shoulder. Was he the right man to gentle Chloe back to life? Wary and anxious, he sat back and finished his drink, a succession of thoughts running through his mind. He doubted himself, yet Chloe’s closest friends had chosen to believe in him, to trust him. After his experiences in the past, it was a heady feeling, and the start of what he had come here to find…being recognised and accepted for himself.

  Everything led back to Chloe, the woman who had filled his waking moments and fired his sleeping ones with erotic dreams since the moment he had met her. The idea of any other man claiming her was unthinkable. His mind was made up. He would do all he could to earn Chloe’s trust and learn her secrets. To awaken her sensuality. To show her what it was like to be loved and cherished. A step at a time.

  ‘I’ll be seeing Chloe tonight,’ Lauren told him, drawing him from his thoughts. ‘Kate and I will do our best to encourage her to give you a chance, but the hard work will be up to you.’

  ‘Thanks, Lauren. I’ll do all I can to live up to your faith in me, to not let Chloe down.’ He hoped he was up to the task, that he wouldn’t fail her.

  Smiling, Lauren drained her drink. ‘I believe you. So, what are you doing this weekend?’ she asked, and Oliver assumed the talk of strategies for wooing Chloe was over.

  ‘Luckily I’m off duty. Today it’s surfing if the waves are right, otherwise jet-skiing. Tomorrow I thought I might take the bike out and explore. I don’t know this part of Cornwall very well.’

  Lauren’s gaze sharpened. ‘You have a motorbike?’

  ‘Yeah. My main indulgence…along with my surfboard and jet-ski,’ he admitted with a rueful smile.

  ‘I’ve never ridden myself, but I know a couple of popular places where riders meet up. You might want to check them out early tomorrow morning, get some tips. It would be worth your while.’

  ‘Great. Thank you.’ Surprised at Lauren’s insistence, Oliver jotted down the names of the hangouts she mentioned, marking one in particular that she recommended. ‘I’ll take a run out there.’

  ‘I hope you meet up with a kindred spirit tomorrow.’ For a moment, her eyes gleamed with something Oliver couldn’t interpret, then she was turning away and gathering her things. Rising to her feet, she brought their chat to an end. ‘See you, Oliver. Good luck.’

  ‘Bye, Lauren. Thanks again.’

  Oliver watched Lauren walk away, his mind full of thoughts and fledgling plans to win Chloe round and prove to her that he could be her friend…and more, in time.

  ‘How did things go today? Everything OK with the mother and baby at the hotel?’

  In her kitchen, opening a bottle of red wine, Chloe looked up at Lauren’s question and smiled. ‘Thankfully both are doing fine. They’re staying in St Piran Hospital overnight as a precaution as there was some postpartum bleeding. Nothing major. The baby boy is fit and healthy. Eight pounds two ounces. There is also one very scared, very confused but very proud father.’

  ‘Did the woman really not know she was near term?’ her friend asked, an incredulous expression on her face.

  ‘No. She didn’t keep her antenatal appointments or scans because her mother told her she’d done well enough in her day and she didn’t believe in a lot of interference.’ Chloe grimaced, pouring the wine and handing Lauren a glass.

  ‘Thanks.’ They walked out to the tiny patio at the back of Chloe’s cottage and sat to enjoy the warmth of the evening. ‘All’s well that ends well. I’m sure she’ll be more careful with antenatal care if she has another baby.’

  ‘I hope so. She did have a bit of a shock. So did the staff and residents of the Anchor Hotel!’ Chloe chuckled, then took a sip of her wine. ‘Do you want any nibbles before Vicky gets here with the pizzas?’

  ‘No, I’m fine. Thanks.’

  Chloe enjoyed meeting up with her friends. Often, like tonight, they got together at each other’s houses, or they went out for a meal or to the cinema, or sometimes went dancing at one of the nightclubs in nearby Rock. With Lucy, Melinda and Eloise all wrapped up with their new husbands and, in some cases, babies or pregnancies, it was Lauren, Vicky Clements and herself who most regularly met up now. Vicky, an old school friend of Lauren’s, worked at her mother’s hair and beauty salon in Penhally. Chloe was three years younger than both of them, and although they hadn’t been close during their school days, they had known each other all their lives in the village. Their friendships had grown in adulthood. Vicky was good fun, but she was also a terrible gossip, and Chloe was careful to guard her secrets around her. Apart from Kate at work, Chloe was closest to Lauren. And Lauren and Kate were the only people who had any inkling about her past…and the way that past impacted on her present and her future.

  ‘There must have been something in the Penhally water this last year or so,’ Lauren commented after a short silence, reclaiming Chloe’s attention.

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘So many people falling in love, getting married, having babies…’ Lauren looked at her and laughed. ‘And not necessarily in that order!’

  It had certainly been a busy time for the village and its residents. Among the many happy events to take place had been the marriage of vet Melinda Fortesque to GP Dragan Lovak. Chloe and Lauren had been bridesmaids at the wedding. Former neighbours in Fisherman’s Row, Dragan and Melinda had recently moved into their dream home on the outskirts of the village and were awaiting the arrival of their first baby in October.

  However, it hadn’t all been people getting together and living happily ever after. Lauren herself had broken up with Martin Bennett, her long-term boyfriend. Not that she seemed upset about the split, far from it. Lauren had been more contented and freer these last weeks. Which surely lent weight to Chloe’s view that you should be responsible for your own happiness and you didn’t need a man. She said as much to Lauren now.

  ‘It’s true that things didn’t work out with Martin. We were drifting for a long time and we never would have worked, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want another relationship. I’m certainly not going to be celibate for ever. I’m just taking a breather because I was with Martin so long, on and off, and I want to be sure where I am and where I am going before I meet someone else…hopefully in the months ahead. I enjoy sex, Chloe. Most people do. I know you had a terrible experience and example with your parents, but it isn’t always like that. Far from it.’

  Chloe bit her lip. ‘I know you and Kate think I’m missing out, but how can I miss what I’ve never known? I’m happy with my life. What more do I need?’

  Her thoughts automatically turned to Oliver. She couldn’t believe he had asked her out. Not that it meant anything to him. Kate had to be wrong about that. Rumour had it that he could have his pick of women—beautiful, available, experienced women. Women who were the antithesis of her. Why on earth would Oliver be interested? And why did she find him so unsettling, so challenging? She had never reacted to any other man the way she did to him.

  ‘I saw Oliver today.’ Lauren’s words, echoing her own thoughts, had Chloe’s gaze jerking up in surprise. ‘He really likes you, Chloe. I think you should give him a chance to show you how good a relationship can be.’

  Chloe shook her head. ‘I’m not designed or destined to be with anyone.’

  ‘Nonsense.’

  ‘But Oliver…?’ Confused, Chloe took a hasty gulp of her wine, a swirl of unknown and frightening emotions rampaging ins
ide her. Her voice was mocking when she spoke again. ‘The virgin midwife and the playboy doctor? I don’t think so, Lauren. I’m not the sort of person to hold Oliver’s interest for a second, not if he knew about me. He’d either laugh or be bored in five minutes.’

  ‘You’re underestimating him.’

  ‘I—’

  ‘Why not let Oliver decide for himself?’ Lauren’s smile was understanding, even as her words challenged all Chloe’s preconceived notions. ‘He might surprise you.’

  Chloe remained silent for several moments, wrestling with uncertainty. ‘I’m scared, Lauren,’ she finally admitted, her voice shaky.

  ‘I know.’ Her friend leaned over and gave her a gentle hug. ‘But I agree with Kate. I hate to see you only living half a life. There is so much out there for you…if you would just allow yourself to take a chance. If you don’t, you’re allowing your father to win, to control your life from the grave just as surely as he did before.’

  Chloe sat back, lost in thought, trying to convince herself that Lauren and Kate were wrong. Her life was fine the way it was—she had a career she loved, good friends, hobbies she enjoyed. How could she need more? Need something she had never known and never wanted? She had never felt sexual desire and she had no conception of missing anything. All desire and sex and love meant to her was what she had seen her father do to her mother…along with the way he had also controlled her from a young age. In her experience, giving herself to a man meant pain and domination and humiliation, just as she and her mother had endured for years.

  No one knew the full horror of it. Lauren knew part of her story. She had been there to help her all those years ago when she had needed someone. Chloe would never forget the debt she owed her friend. As for Kate, Chloe had confided the basic details, but she suspected the older woman had read more between the lines. But asking her to step outside her comfort zone, to consider something she had always rejected, to awaken a part of her she didn’t even know she had…? Racked with indecision, she met Lauren’s gentle grey gaze.

  ‘I don’t know what to do, Lauren.’

  ‘Take things slowly. Get to know Oliver better. Spend time with him,’ her friend advised. ‘How do you feel when you are with him at work?’

  ‘He makes me confused, jumpy, on edge. I don’t understand it,’ she admitted.

  Lauren smiled. ‘That’s good.’

  ‘It is?’

  ‘Sure. It means you’re aware of him, connecting.’ Lauren paused a moment, her voice serious when she spoke again. ‘Nothing can change what happened in the past, Chloe, but you can change the hold that past has on your future. Think about it. You have tomorrow to yourself. Get out in the country, like you planned.’ She reached out and took her hand. ‘Knowing what I do about you and your past, do you think I would encourage you to let Oliver close if I didn’t trust him to take care of you? He’s a good man, Chloe. Nothing like your father. Let him prove it.’

  Before Chloe had the chance to reply, the sound of Vicky’s shrill call reached them. ‘Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?’ ‘We’re out here,’ Lauren called back, giving Chloe a moment to compose herself.

  Chloe watched as Lauren moved to place her empty glass on the table, but she misjudged the distance and the glass hit the edge before toppling to the ground.

  ‘Damn!’ Lauren exclaimed as the glass shattered. ‘I’m sorry, Chloe.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll clear it up. Mind you don’t cut yourself.’

  Tutting, irrepressible Vicky Clements, short and thin and sporting a different hair colour every week—today it was bright red—stepped outside. ‘Well done, Lauren, as clumsy as ever, I see!’

  Chloe shared a sympathetic smile with Lauren, infamous for her mishaps, and went to fetch the dustpan and brush. Part of her was relieved Vicky had arrived, curtailing further uncomfortable discussion, but another part of her knew it was not going to be anywhere near so easy to banish the welter of thoughts churning in her mind—all of which featured the disturbing presence of wickedly attractive Oliver Fawkner.

  Early on Sunday morning, Oliver rode out of Penhally Bay, past the headland, where the church and lighthouse sat, and up Mevagissey Road to the cliffs above the beach where he had surfed the day before. He always felt an intense freedom and peace when he was out alone on his bike, and this early there were few people about to intrude on his solitude.

  He had scarcely thought of anything but Chloe in the last hours, turning over all Lauren had said, worrying about what she hadn’t said but had implied about Chloe’s troubled past. Preoccupied by trying to formulate a plan to gain Chloe’s confidence, he followed the directions Lauren had given him as he passed the Smugglers’ Inn, then turned into the country. A short while later he was surprised to find a motorbike hire and repair place called Addison’s Yard in a secluded wooded setting, then it was behind him and he rode on to the hidden beauty spot Lauren had recommended. It was beautiful. A high point on a rocky promontory, it overlooked the surrounding coast and countryside.

  From Lauren’s description, he had expected to find a group of bikers gathering here before heading out for a day’s ride, but as he pulled off the road, he could only see one other bike. The powerful Yamaha engine idled beneath him as he pondered whether to approach the rider, who sat astride an impressivelooking red Ducati, apparently enjoying her privacy.

  There was no doubt that the rider was female, given the way she filled out the lightweight black and red leathers. Oliver slowly approached, wondering why the woman had her helmet on and her visor down. Surely both must hinder her enjoyment of the view and the weather. Cruising up beside her, he switched off his bike and took off his own helmet and gloves.

  ‘It’s fantastic up here,’ he commented, but his opening gambit earned him only a brief nod of the head. Anxious to ensure that the woman didn’t feel uncomfortable alone with him, he decided to focus on their shared interest. ‘That’s a great bike.’

  ‘Mmm.’ A noncommittal grunt sounded from behind the visor.

  OK. Shaking his head, wondering if Lauren was wrong about the helpfulness of fellow enthusiasts, Oliver tried again. ‘I’m new to the district. I was told this was the place to come to learn of some good places to ride.’ His frown deepened as his companion grunted some unintelligible reply. ‘Sorry, I missed that.’

  The woman shrugged. Oliver looked her over, admiring her lush curves. She almost looked like…He snapped off the ridiculous thought. Of course not. His mind was playing tricks on him. But as he studied her more closely, he noted the way a curl of dark hair had escaped from under her helmet. And then he saw the tiny feather of scars on her neck below her ear, visible above the collar of her leathers. He leaned closer and a faint hint of fresh apples teased him on the breeze. No way! He rocked back, unable to believe it. Lauren had to have known! She had sent him here to find his kindred spirit, he remembered. Hot damn!

  ‘Chloe!’ He heard a muffled yelp from inside her helmet and laughed aloud. ‘I know it’s you, babe. Your secret is out.’

  She flipped up her visor, familiar green eyes sparking with indignation and annoyance. ‘How did you know it was me?’

  ‘I’m coming to know you—and several things gave the game away.’ Reaching out, he traced the web of scars on her neck with one fingertip, feeling the tremble of her flesh beneath his touch. Pausing a moment to leisurely peruse her stunning body, his gaze rose and caught the blush that stained her cheeks before teasing, ‘You look fantastic. I never would have pegged you as a biker chick, though.’

  Green eyes clouded before she glanced away. ‘You may believe you know me, Oliver, but I’m not at all what you think.’

  And from the sound of her voice she imagined he wouldn’t want to know her if he learned the truth. She couldn’t be more wrong. Anger at whoever had stripped her of her confidence in herself as a woman rose inside him like an unstoppable tide. He took one of her hands in both of his. Her skin was so soft, her hand strong but gentle, fitting perfectly into his
larger ones. He meant the touch to be reassuring, but even this simple contact fired his blood and sent desire fizzing through his body, reminding him he had to keep a tight rein on his self-control…at least for the time being.

  ‘Chloe?’ He waited until she drew in a ragged breath and allowed her wary gaze to return to his. Then he laid his cards on the table, honestly and sincerely. The only thing he kept back was how badly he wanted to take her to bed, knowing she was nowhere near ready to hear that yet. ‘I want to know you, all of you, and to be your friend. Nothing you can tell me will make me care any less about you, or not want to know you.’

  She gave a shaky laugh, her anxiety obvious. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘I’m not running away, Chloe. This isn’t some passing fad to me. But I’m happy to go slowly, for us to take our time getting to know each other until you feel comfortable.’ Raising her hand, he pressed a brief kiss to her palm and released her, putting some space between them so she wouldn’t feel crowded. ‘So, how about today? Can we take a ride together?’ He cursed himself for the phraseology. The double entendre hung between them but she seemed refreshingly and innocently unaware of the kind of ride he really wanted to share with her. Banishing his erotic thoughts, he kept his voice soft and cajoling. ‘I’d love to see your favourite parts of Cornwall. Will you show me?’

  She debated for an inordinate amount of time, indecision evident in those expressive green eyes. Tense, she finally nodded, her smile nervous. ‘All right.’

  It was such a minor victory, and yet Oliver felt as elated at this one small achievement as he would winning the World Rip Curl Super Series surfing title or the Isle of Man TT bike race. Silently thanking Lauren for pointing him in the right direction, he pulled his gloves and helmet back on, waiting for Chloe to be ready. He was still overwhelmed and delighted to discover her unexpected adventurous spirit and love of bikes. It proved that they had more than work in common—and that the fledgling feelings he’d had for Chloe from the first were worth exploring. There was so much he wanted to share with her but he had to move cautiously, both to gain her trust and to work through his insecurities about his own past. Today he had the chance to begin that process. He couldn’t wait.