She went off on a field trip - down the Keys, didn't she tell you? Down
the Keys? Nicholas voice rose with his anger and frustration. Damn it,
Tom. She was supposed to be here in France.
She promised to come over for the launching of my new vessel. I've been
trying to get in touch with her for a week now. She left Sunday, said
Tom.
What is she playing at? That's a question she might want to ask you
sometime. What does that mean, Tom? Well, before she took off, she
came up here and had a good weep with Antoinette - you know, my wife.
She plays den mother for every hysterical female within fifty miles, she
does. Now it was Nicholas turn to be silent, while the coldness settled
on his chest, the coldness of formless dread.
What was the trouble? Good God, Nick, you don't expect me to follow the
intimate details of the love life. Can I speak to Antoinette? She
isn't here, Nick. She went up to Orlando for a meeting. She won't be
back until the weekend. The silence again.
All that heavy breathing's costing you a fortune, Nicholas.
You're paying for this call. I don't know what got into Sam. But he
did. Nicholas knew - and the guilt was strong upon him.
Listen, Nick. A word to the wise. Get your ass across here, boy. just
as soon as you can. That girl needs talking to, badly.
That is, if you care about it, I care about it, Nicholas said quickly,
But hell, I am launching a tug in two days time. I've got sea trials,
and a meeting in London. Tom's voice had an air of finality. A man's
got to do what he's got to do. Tom, I'll be across there as soon as I
possibly can. I believe it, If you see her, tell her that for me, will
you? I'll tell her. Thanks, Tom.
The governors will want to meet you, Nicholas. Come as soon as you can.
It's a promise. Nicholas cradled the receiver, and stood staring out of
the windows of the site office. The view across the inner harbour was
completely blocked by the towering hull of his tug. She stood tall on
her ways. Her hull already wore its final coat of glistening white and
the wide flaring bows bore the name Sea Witch and below that the port of
registration, Bermuda'.
She was beautiful, magnificent, but now Nicholas did not even see her.
He was overwhelmed by a sense of imminent loss, the cold premonition of
onrushing disaster, Until that moment when he faced the prospect of
losing her, he had not truly known how large a part that lovely golden
girl had come to play in his existence, and in his plans for the future
There was no way that Samantha could have learned of that single night
of weakness, the betrayal that still left Nicholas sickened with guilt -
there must be something else that had come between them. He bunched his
right fist and slammed it against the sill of the window. The skin on
his knuckles smeared, but he did not feel the pain, only the bitter
frustration of being tied down here in St Nazaire, weighed down by his
responsibilities, he should have been free to follow the jack-o'-lantern
of happiness.
The loudspeaker above his head gave a preliminary squawk, and then
crackled out the message, Monsieur Berg. Will Monsieur attend upon the
