His phone was ringing. It had been ringing for a while but he didn’t seem to have heard it. Laura was about to tell him when he finally looked down at the holdall by his feet. He didn’t reach for it though, just squinted as if trying to understand something. For the first time, an actual expression moved over his face, a complex grimace, and his hand went to the collar of his shirt and undid several buttons. He pushed his hand inside his shirt to rub slowly up and down the centre of his chest as if soothing a burn.
He wore a white polo shirt and casual navy jacket over blue jeans. Did no one tell this man never to wear double blue? To Laura’s expert eye, they were good-quality garments but clearly chosen without thought – someone who’d simply grabbed the first thing in his closet. The jacket and shirt were a little too loose, as if he’d lost weight, but the jeans hugged his hips and long legs perfectly. Which might mean he’d boughtthemrecently, but the jacket and shirt had been sitting in his wardrobe for a long time.
The old Laura would have called him striking, even sexy. The old Laura would have paid him attention, but old Laura was gone along with the long, luscious hair. New Laura was not going to waste time watching him. Or thinking about him. Or even noticing him.
Laura had taken the midday ferry out of Portsmouth to La Canette, a tiny island in the middle of the English Channel. Most of the passengers were inside for the captain’s lunch buffet. Not her. In a couple of hours, she would meet her new client, the first job she was doing as an independent self-employed designer. And despite the pep talk from Joanie, despite Gloria telling her she was good enough to start her own business, despite even her own conviction that she really was good at this, nervous butterflies filled her stomach leaving no room for food.
He, of course didn’t notice her, and why would he? In her charcoal jeans, unisex boots and a simple roll neck jumper she looked like a taxi driver. Her Project Spinster wardrobe.
At last the man’s phone stopped ringing, and a minute later it dinged with a notification. Then it started ringing again. Someone must be very anxious to reach him. Eventually, he bent down and fished it out of his bag.
He didn’t answer it, just stared at it as it went on ringing. His thumb hovered over the screen for moment but he didn’t swipe. And all the time that absent-minded rubbing inside his shirt.
He must have sensed he was being watched because he stopped. Without looking at her, he buttoned his shirt up again and turned away to lean back over the railing. She didn’t want to intrude so she started to move away, and that’s when she saw his hand go slack and the phone fall into the sea. Had he gone dizzy?
Without thinking she moved to his side. “Are you alright?”
Reluctantly, he turned his face towards her, His eyes were…fern? An arresting green with dark rims. They were also slightly bloodshot and the dark smudges underneath made him look tired.
“Can I do anything to help?” She placed a tentative hand on his wrist.
“Who are you?” His focus on her was 100 percent as if nothing in the world existed but the two of them. His gaze travelled over her face and down her neck and arm to the hand she’d placed on his warm wrist.
“My name is Laura Ford, I came on board in Southampton with you. I…” She tried for an encouraging smile. “I just wondered if you were feeling okay…” She could feel herself blushing.
“Well, Laura Ford,” he said in a calm, patient tone, as if teaching a child. “Thank you for asking, but I should tell you that, one” – He tipped his head – “I’m not in the mood. And two, even if I were, it wouldn’t work out because I’m not the right man for you. I’m not into commitment or any kind of relationship.”
Well! Of all the arrogant things to say.
“I think you misunderstood… it’s just that… I mean, I’m not interested that way.”
“No?” The question was soft but the green eyes held hers in a way that made her heart thump painfully as if she’d been caught in a lie.
“My mistake. Forgive me.” He slipped his wrist from under her hand, then bent down, grabbed his holdall and walked away from her, disappearing into the crowd of passengers.
Her face was boiling. Something inside her that had been asleep over the last week and not read the memo about being a spinster. This something had just woken up, seen this man and reached out and touched him.
Of course, she’d been interested, more than a little.
And he had known it.
Being a spinster and not caring about men was going to take a lot more practice.
Chapter Four
Half an hour later,they docked into the harbour, although calling it that was a bit ambitious. It barely had room for a small ferry and two fishing boats. The twenty or so passengers disembarked and disappeared quickly, on foot. How odd not to see taxis waiting outside. Despite Joanie’s warning about the no-cars law, Laura hadn’t really visualized it until now. Most people walked while a few unlocked bicycles from a rack by the entrance and pedaled away.
She unfolded the sheet Joanie had given her and checked the instructions.
TURN LEFT OUT OF THE GATES,
WALK DOWN THE STEPS TO THE WATER TAXI
ASK FOR LE COU
Now that she looked, there was indeed a small landing jetty and a waiting motorboat with a dozen seats. A young man jumped off on to the jetty and waved to her. “Are you Miss Ford?”
How did he know? “Yes, I am.”
