A Perfect Cornish Escape by Phillipa Ashley Page 0,121

I’ll not say what I think he is. It’s not right.’

‘You can’t say anything about him I haven’t thought myself. I told him to leave and he marched off. Turns out he ended up in the cove and got cut off. I’m not sure if he did it on purpose to get my attention or sympathy. I hope not; it so nearly lost me both him and you. I’ll never forgive him for that … And you! Don’t you ever do that to me again!’

‘I had no choice, Marina,’ he said simply.

‘You did have a choice. You might have been killed too. You almost were.’ She shuddered at the memory of her sheer terror of watching him vanish in the surf.

‘I was out for a run … No, I was out hoping to see you. I’ve jogged past the station many times lately, hoping to see you and talk to you again. I’ve never found the courage to come in or knock your door because you rightly wanted me to keep away. But today, when I saw Nate from the coast path and you perched on the rocks, I recognised him and I was terrified you’d do something crazy like trying to jump in to save him.’

‘No. I wouldn’t …’ said Marina, trying to process the fact that Lachlan had been trying to see her and make his peace with her. She longed for peace. ‘There’s no way I’d ever dare go into that sea,’ she said. Not for Nate …

‘How could I have known?’ he said. ‘All I saw was a man in trouble and his wife who might risk everything to help him. I’d have done the same for anyone but especially for Nate – you loved him once. He wouldn’t have lasted a minute longer. I didn’t plan it. I could see what was happening in front of my eyes and I reacted instinctively.’

‘What if I’d lost you?’ She took his arms, still unable to believe he’d escaped and was here with her. ‘How could I live with myself if you’d sacrificed yourself for Nate?’

‘I really thought you might have gone in to save him.’

‘I might have jumped in to save you.’

His eyes widened in shock. ‘How can I deserve that? You shared a life with him whereas I turned up a few months ago, invaded your privacy and brought the world down on you. What right do I have to think I can overturn your feelings for Nate? I wouldn’t even try … even though I wanted to. I want to now.’

‘Listen to me,’ she said, burning with a need to let him know how precious he was to her. ‘These past few weeks since we found Nate have been almost as hard as when I lost him because in finding him, I felt I lost you too. I’ve been so embroiled in the fallout and so confused about how I feel about Nate reappearing – the guilt, the relief, the anger – that I pushed you away and made you feel part of it was your fault. I haven’t meant it.

‘And I know you were the one who organised half the town to come and persuade me to rejoin the Wave Watchers. It was exactly what I needed. It made me realise that I had to try to get my life back again. Thank you, and I’m sorry I had no idea.’

‘I wanted to help you in the best way I could, and encourage you to carry on with the thing that’s given you purpose but I didn’t want you to think I was trying to interfere …’ He held her gently in his arms as if she might shatter if he applied any pressure. ‘Just like I didn’t know if you might want to see Nate again. Or what would happen when you did. No matter what he did, he’s still your husband and … you have every right to love him, or even make a go of it.’

‘Why would you think I’d want that?’ she said.

He touched her forehead with his. She held onto him, trembling at how close she’d come to losing him.

‘I didn’t want to be the consolation prize you settled for because the love of your life was dead,’ he whispered. ‘That’s why I was always wary, deep down, even before Nate was found. It’s why I agonised over whether to tell you my suspicions or keep quiet because, God forgive me, I convinced myself you were better off without