That option had not been on the table for her and it was why that big world out there seemed so full of possibilities. Possibilities that would never be explored but which she yearned for anyway.
She chose to interpret his remark at face value because her life was none of his business and he certainly wasn’t to know that he’d struck a nerve.
‘The sea can be very challenging. But it can also be very rewarding.’
A brief and telling silence greeted this remark.
‘I should introduce myself,’ he said.
‘No need.’
‘How’s that?’
‘I know who you are.’
‘You know who I am...’
She noted the way he stiffened, the way his face became shuttered, his fabulous eyes veiled. She had no idea what was going through his head but to dispel the sudden tension, she smiled.
‘Luca. Luca Baresi. I’m sorry but when I brought you back here, and after you were examined by the doctor, I felt I should see if I could find some form of identification so that I could let your loved ones know where you were.’
‘You went through my stuff.’
‘There wasn’t much to go through,’ Cordelia told him quickly. ‘Trust me, it was the last thing I wanted to do but I don’t imagine you would have thanked me if you’d come to and found that no one could be bothered to try and discover who you were! Everything was unreadable because of the sea water but your identification card was plastic-coated and I managed to make out your name. If you’re up to it, I can bring you the telephone and you can call your...family. They must be worried sick about you. Where do you live?’
‘I’m not from around here.’
‘Further inland?’ She nodded thoughtfully. ‘Lots of people descend from London in the summer months and lots of them have second homes in some of the more popular towns. They can’t bear to be too far away from gastropubs and fancy restaurants.’
‘You don’t like that?’
‘I don’t care one way or another,’ she said honestly. ‘Tourism is great when it comes to renting boats, as it happens, but I’m pretty much the only person around here who thinks like that. If you’re close enough, I dare say my dad can drive you back to your wife and kids.’
‘Wife and kids? What makes you think I’m married?’
‘I...’ Her heart fluttered and she could feel the hot burn of colour in her cheeks. ‘I suppose I just assumed...’
‘Are you married?’
‘No.’
‘Strangely enough, I would have assumed that you were.’
‘Why?’ Her skin was tingling all over. Her eyes were drawn to his but once there, she was finding it impossible to look away, and something inside her shied away from the notion that he might sum her up and write her off as a country bumpkin, bowled over by his excessive good looks.
So she glanced right past him to the view outside the window of the bedroom, one of swirling clouds and pale grey skies and a drizzle that hadn’t stopped ever since she’d rescued him from those stormy waters. Summer had gone into temporary retreat and she had no idea when it planned on returning. Just something else about living in this part of the world.
‘You’re young,’ he drawled lightly. ‘You’re attractive. How is it that you haven’t been snapped up by some local eligible bachelor? Maybe you’ve just returned from university? Still finding your feet back in the family home?’
‘Not everyone has had the opportunity to go to university, Mr Baresi.’ Her voice had dropped a few degrees and her violet eyes were cool when they rested on his face.
She’d had plans. She’d had her dreams but life and fate had managed to get in the way of her fulfilling those dreams.
She wondered whether things would have been different if her mother hadn’t died when she’d been a kid. Mown down by a speeding car in London on one of her rare shopping trips. Her father had closed so many doors afterwards. He had become paranoid about her leaving the safety and security of the village. If she ventured into one of the bigger towns, he’d wait by the window for her, even when, at the age of ten, she’d gone in a gang with one of her friends’ parents. School outings had been a nightmare because she’d known that he would be back at the house, trying hard to quell his anxiety. A skiing trip at the age of fourteen had been out of the question. He’d given permission but she’d seen the fear in his eyes and she’d quietly turned down the opportunity. She had learnt to support her father but, in doing so, had continued to carry both their pain on her shoulders. His fear was a constant reminder of their loss.
Even so...even with all that, university had beckoned and she had known that, for both their sakes, it was something she wanted and needed to do.
When she was seventeen, having been accepted at her first choice of university in Exeter, which, she had assured her dad, was only a hop and a skip away, both their lives had been shattered by the death of her twin brother. Alex had been her rock, tuned into her feelings in ways that had been quiet and instinctive. He had understood. He had given her strength as the pattern of their lives, following the loss of their mother, had changed. He had supported her and encouraged her and fortified her because their father’s fears had always seemed to revolve around her. The assumption was that Alex could look after himself.
Alex had had no dreams of going to university. He’d always planned on taking over the family business. Fishing was in his blood. It wasn’t to be and when he died, all her dreams had been snuffed out and she had resigned herself to taking up where her brother had left off. There were times when it felt
