A Perfect Cornish Escape by Phillipa Ashley Page 0,117

close to some rocks. She may have engine trouble or be without a crew.’

The coastguard came back to her and confirmed they’d heard nothing.

‘She’s only a few hundred metres from the reef. She looks like she’s drifting without any engine power. I can’t raise the skipper but I know he’s aboard because he called me earlier to get a weather report.’

A few minutes later, the coastguard told her that Porthmellow lifeboat was on a shout towing a trawler taking on water thirteen miles out so they’d asked for the smaller inshore lifeboat to attend the call.

Relieved that help was on its way, but alarmed at how much the yacht had drifted, Marina kept her eyes glued to the vessel. Try as she might, it was impossible to banish her encounter with Nate from her mind.

Her phone rang and she snatched it up.

‘Marina. It’s Nate. No, don’t ring off! I’m in the cove. I’m cut off by the tide.’

‘What?’

‘I’m in big trouble here. Can you call the lifeboat out to me?’

She took seconds to register what he was asking. ‘Are you really cut off or is this some kind of game?’

‘I’m not lying. I don’t have long before the beach is covered and I can’t climb the cliff. Marina, help me!’

‘I’ll try but the Atlantic class is out at sea rescuing a sinking trawler and the inshore boat is on its way to a yacht. Where exactly are you?’

‘I managed to climb the rocks at the far side of the next cove.’

‘Why the hell are you even over there with the tide coming in?’

‘Does it matter? I just went off after I left you. I didn’t care where I went. I was angry and I wasn’t thinking. Christ!’ She heard a crash.

‘What was that?’

‘A feckin’ huge wave. It’s coming in fast. The cove will be swamped in no time and I can’t get any higher up the cliff.’

‘OK, stay where you are. I’ll get help to you from the coastguard or one of the other lifeboat stations.’

‘Hurry. I won’t last long.’

Marina shivered. Had Nate deliberately put himself in danger to get her attention? No, surely it wasn’t possible … and anyway it didn’t matter. He needed her help like anyone else.

‘Oh my God. I have to go. I can’t hold on and—’

There was another huge crash and then nothing.

‘Nate? Nate, can you hear me? Nate!’ she called.

The line went dead. He must have dropped his phone, or far worse, been swept into the sea.

Chapter Forty-One

Marina had just enough presence of mind to call the coastguard before dashing out of the station and down the steps to the beach. She prayed Trevor and Doreen would arrive soon and pick up on what was happening, but there was no time to lose.

She’d tried to reach Nate again by mobile while she ran across the sand towards the rocks that separated her cove from the one where he was stranded. Her lungs were bursting and her legs burning by the time she reached them. There was still no answer from him and she was forced to put her phone in her pocket in order to make her way between the slippery pools.

She’d done everything wrong, broken every rule by leaving the station but she didn’t care. Nate might have minutes – seconds – and no matter how she felt about him, she couldn’t leave him alone, even though she had no idea of what she’d do when she got there.

She managed to climb up high enough to reach a vantage point over into the next cove. There was no use going any further because even if she scrambled down the other side, she’d have to swim across the cove to get to him, or he’d have to swim to her.

At first there was no sign of him and she feared he’d already gone into the sea, but then she saw a movement on a rocky ledge above the water. Nate was wedged in a small crevice against the rocks. He waved at her and she signalled back at him with her arms. Every few seconds, the waves crashed against the base of the cliffs, throwing up spray that all but obscured him. He had maybe ten minutes before he would be swept into the sea by a big enough breaker.

She reached for her radio to call the coastguard again and her stomach knotted in dread.

She’d left it behind in the station.

Her scream of frustration was swallowed by a large wave thudding into the rocks