Page 28 of Escape to the Sun

So much for focusing on his best approach towards Hannah, Louis thought as he glanced at her. She looked completely gorgeous in that dress, the sharp lines of her haircut and the intensity of her gaze the perfect foil to the soft femininity of the floaty fabric. Louis wanted to be able to down a flute of champagne just so he could loosen up enough to make her laugh like she had him. Wasn’t sure he would manage it on his strict no-alcohol mantra.

It wasn’t as though he could suddenly begin to down the booze – especially not on an evening like this in full view of some of the most influential of the ship’s passengers. The rest of his table consisted of a cousin of the owner of Blue Line Cruising and her husband; a politician whose face Louis recognised, even if he couldn’t name him – accompanied by a much younger woman who it would be inappropriate for Louis to assume was anyone other than his wife. Also on his table was a regular solo cruiser called Margot who Louis had asked to be seated beside his father in the hope that she would keep him occupied, and a husband-husband combo, one of whom – Paton West – was an actor who had been in a medical drama series on Netflix, which Louis had enjoyed.

But with Hannah seated beside him, there was nothing Louis wanted more than to focus on her and see where the evening might take them both.

It was hard to ignore the direct sight-line he had to another of the tables, on which sat one of his assistant officers of the watch. After having been rather short with Tim over their first docking in the Azores, Louis had made sure he was one of the members of the crew to get a turn at a formal dinner. But it seemed as though every time Louis glanced across, he was staring at them. Tim should be playing his part in entertaining the guests on his table, not checking out what was happening at the captain’s table – or rather, checking out who was at that table.

‘This wine is nice, too,’ Hannah said, holding up her glass and staring at it. She swivelled to stare at him, her expression softened by the wine she’d already drunk on top of a couple of glasses of champagne. Her usually intense gaze had taken on a softer edge, a smile quick to her lips. ‘Oh, oops. I forgot you aren’t having any.’

He grinned, lifting his tumbler of sparkling water and chinking it against hers.

‘I’ll survive,’ he said.

‘Must be difficult, though, at times like these with everyone else having a fun time and you’re basically at work.’

She sipped at her wine, and Louis waited as she swallowed, then licked at the bead of wine clinging to the edge of her glass. There was no way she could have known what such a simple act would have him thinking, and any chance of answering her question became impossible. He wasn’t sure he could have formed any actual words, let alone get them out.

‘Seriously though,’ she said, some of the intensity returning as she set down her glass. ‘Do you get time off? Like, when we get to the Caribbean, are you glued to the ship or will you get some time to explore the place?’

‘Why?’ he said, shifting to face her more directly. ‘Would you like some company?’

The frown he’d noticed that very first day, on the bridge, the intensity with which she studied him was back, and his reaction to it was the same. No, it wasn’t the same, it was far stronger this evening as he waited, wondering how she would respond. And even though she’d consumed more than a few glasses of wine, the fuzzy edges she must be feeling hadn’t dampened the way her gaze tore a path straight through all the barriers and boundaries he liked to think he had in place, especially when he was at work.

‘Yes, I would appreciate some company. Why, are you offering?’ she said, then picked up her glass again, downing the remaining contents as though her throat was on fire.

A waiter appeared at her shoulder, bottle of wine extended to refill her glass.

‘Just a drizzle more,’ she said, smiling as she motioned with her hand, a tiny space between her thumb and forefinger. ‘Otherwise, I’ll never find my way back to my cabin.’

As the waiter filled her glass, the actor from the Netflix series on her other side, Paton West, engaged her in conversation and Louis tried to eat some of the food in front of him. Hannah was laughing at something the actor had said, one hand fiddling with the napkin on her lap. Louis set down his cutlery, his appetite for the main course gone. As he adjusted his chair, the back of his hand brushed against hers. When she didn’t move her hand away, Louis stayed put, almost holding his breath as she twisted her wrist far enough to be able to thread her fingers through his. She barely broke stride in her conversation, didn’t even look Louis’ way, but there was no doubting she had taken his hand and wasn’t letting go.

Louis looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. Expected everyone to be staring at him, pointing and whispering. But that was ridiculous. Nobody had seen anything, except perhaps the waiter circling the tables with his bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

He rubbed at the side of her wrist with his thumb, and she squeezed back. Louis’ heart rate spiked. What did it mean? He knew what he hoped it might mean, but it couldn’t be that, surely? They’d only just met, and she was about as far up the rebound scale as it was possible to get.

Perhaps it shouldn’t matter. Maybe he should stop overthinking and simply go with the flow. If she was a bit tipsy and fancied him, who was he to argue? After all, she was a very attractive woman, one he’d be more than happy to get to know a whole lot better.

Far too soon she extracted her hand from his, fiddling with her cutlery as an army of waiting staff appeared to clear the tables.

‘You didn’t answer my question,’ Hannah said as plates were shuffled, and dessert appeared – a dense chocolate mousse slice served with cherry sorbet and some shards of honeycomb. Hannah’s attention was back on him and her smile as intoxicating as the wine he couldn’t drink.

‘Which question?’ he said, his brain flooded with his own questions about her touch, about what it might mean, what he wanted from her and what he should do about it.

‘Would you be able to come with me on some of the excursions in the Caribbean? I don’t want to rely completely on Ruth – she needs to make her own memories with her kids.’

He supposed he should have closed it down when the idea was first mentioned. It was possible for the captain to leave the ship once it was docked, if he ensured the crew left on the bridge were capable and he was always within radio reach, but this was his first time as captain. He’d literally been in position for a matter of a few weeks, if he included all the specific training time he’d had on this vessel prior to the cruise. His focus should be on his role on board.

And yet, there was nothing he wanted more than to take Hannah to one of the beautiful beaches the cruise passengers would get to visit, spend time relaxing with her on the wide expanses of white sand, maybe go swimming together. Sip cocktails at dusk with the breeze rustling through the backdrop of lush tropical foliage.

‘I don’t know why I didn’t think this bit through,’ Hannah said, her gaze fixed on him, her brows squashed together in a worried frown as she leant closer to him. ‘It was all I could do to get some stuff in a suitcase and get to the Ballygowan. But I should have thought about it, shouldn’t I? Should have realised I’d be doing all the excursions solo. Somehow it didn’t occur to me.’ The frown deepened, she looked confused for a second, then she pulled an embarrassed face. ‘Not that that’s why I’m asking if you can come with me – that’s even worse; it sounds like I’m desperate for any company and you’ll do. But that’s not what I mean at all.’

Hannah reached for her wine glass again, wiggling it around when she realised it was empty.

‘Someone needs to bring this young lady more wine, STAT,’ said Paton from the other side of Hannah, imitating the authoritative tones his character used in the Netflix series, and she started to giggle.

‘Actually, I think I need to stop,’ Hannah said to him. ‘I just insulted the captain, and now I’m worried he might make me walk the plank or something.’

‘Surely not,’ Paton said, his amused gaze meeting Louis’ as Hannah reached for her glass of water. ‘I think those kinds of punishment are reserved for much more serious misdemeanours, aren’t they, Captain?’