Page 29 of Escape to the Sun

Louis smiled. ‘Not sure walking the plank is still in the captain’s playbook – I can double-check on that if you like.’

Hannah giggled again as Paton turned to his husband. ‘Did you hear that, John? Captain King is going to check on the possibility of someone being made to walk the plank on his cruise.’

Louis lost the thread of the conversation, the chat moving away round the table as Hannah leant into him and took a deep breath.

‘Did I tell you you’re nothing like I thought you’d be?’ she said.

‘What do you mean? Am I a disappointment?’ he asked.

‘No, Louis. Completely the opposite,’ she said, reaching for her dessert spoon.

16

‘It’s a good job I’m a bit pissed,’ Hannah said as she finished her dessert and slid her spoon onto the dish, her gaze lingering on him again. ‘Otherwise I’d never have plucked up the courage for any of this.’

Louis savoured the final mouthful of his dessert. The sensation of cold cherry sorbet alongside the final bite of chocolate was almost as good as the way Hannah was staring at him.

‘I’m not sure that’s true, but I’m very glad you are here,’ he said. He smiled at the rest of the table, scraping back his chair as he excused himself. ‘I need to circulate for a bit, chat to the other guests. It’s protocol. Don’t go anywhere,’ he said. He aimed the words at everyone on the table, but the last few were meant solely for Hannah.

He had to be satisfied with her grin, the lift in her eyebrows, as she watched him rounding the table and venturing out into the room.

As captain, he needed to speak to everyone at the dinner – as did the other officers present – and even though he was becoming more accustomed to the role, it still sat awkwardly. Especially tonight, when he wanted to spend all the available time with Hannah.

Once he had chatted with every table, he returned. Hannah was finishing a small cup of strong coffee and a conversation with Paton West as he retook his seat.

‘Sorry about that,’ he said.

‘You look like you’ve been doing this for years,’ she said.

‘I suppose I have been doing the glad-handing for a while, but obviously not as captain.’

‘I can’t picture you as anything else – you look so at home here, schmoozing with the important people. I feel like a fish out of water.’ She wrinkled her nose and began to laugh. ‘Get it? Fish… water… we’re on the ocean…’

‘You are hilarious,’ he replied, grinning. He leant closer. ‘The secret is to ask people about themselves – never fails – or quote stats about the ship. It’s not why I wanted to do this for a career, it’s just one part of the job, something I have to do.’

‘Why did you want to do this?’ she said, leaning forwards to meet the incline of his body, her face closer to his than ever before. ‘Be a captain, I mean.’

‘I love the ocean, love being on the open water. Always have. That’s the bottom line.’ He smiled again. ‘And I need to make a living, so it made sense…’

It wasn’t the whole truth; there were a whole load of other feelings and reasons swirled into the mix… The need to prove himself, to push hard and keep pushing until he felt some sense of achievement, the desire to quash the feelings of disappointment he still felt from his competitive failures, the need to make it right for his mum, to make his father proud, somehow… Maybe the desire to run away from it all… The list went on at length and was way too private to discuss with someone he hardly knew.

Their hands brushed together on the table and he drew in a sudden breath, which he hoped he managed to disguise with a grin.

It suddenly felt incredibly important to tell her how beautiful she was, but Paton West took everyone’s attention, accidentally knocking over a half-filled cup of coffee. Hannah leant into Louis to escape the path of the liquid, laughing as she bumped against him, unaware just how much he wanted her to stay put as she straightened and a waiter leapt into action to mop up the mess.

As the meal officially ended and guests began to disperse, Hannah stood, Louis scrambling to match her action, passing so close he could feel her breath and smell the soft floral notes of the fragrance she was wearing, mixed with strong black coffee.

‘I’m just going to go to the… Excuse me for a moment, would you?’

Hannah headed for the ladies’ room and Louis tucked in his own chair, glancing around at the remaining guests. He made small talk with the shipping line owner’s cousin and her husband, accepting their congratulations on his captainship as they made to leave and then did his best to bury the way Hannah was making him feel as he waited for her to reappear.

Hannah was very grateful for the flat gladiator sandals she’d chosen as she picked her way across the Vivaldi and into the ladies’. It felt as though the ship had suddenly entered rough seas, even though she knew it was nothing to do with the ocean. It wasn’t as though she’d never been drunk before, but it had been a while since she’d drunk so much wine. Ian tended to drink the lion’s share of a bottle if they were sharing one, telling her there was nothing more unappealing than a woman slurring her speech and falling around the place. She supposed she’d just accepted his words. And maybe, at this moment in time, she understood what he meant. She tried to walk as normally as possible, but it took all her concentration.

The walk back across the seemingly undulating floor of the restaurant wasn’t much better, but a stumble had Louis offering her his arm as he suggested he walk her to the lifts.

‘I’m not drunk,’ she said as they waited at the lifts, frowning at the incongruity of her statement, having only shortly before admitted to him she was pissed. Glad in that moment there was nobody else around to hear her nonsense.

Louis stifled a laugh, but his expression didn’t change, didn’t become judgemental or condescending as the doors opened and she stepped into the space. ‘It’s not a problem.’