FOR THE LOVE OF THE SEA by Jennifer Bohnet Read Free Book Online Page A

photograph he wanted of Tom and Polly together.
    Tom chatted politely for a few minutes, but it was soon clear that he was still exhausted and needed to rest.
    Once the reporter had left, and Polly had gone back to finish some work on the boat, Anna insisted that Cassie went for a walk with her.
    “Mai’s here for Tom. Some exercise and fresh air will perk you up.”
    They set out companionably along the riverbank path. “Have you made an appointment to see any houses yet?” Cassie asked.
    “I’ve viewed a couple of totally unsuitable ones, but I’ve two more promising places lined up for next week. One’s in Castle Gardens and the other’s the one in town I showed you the details of.” Anna paused before continuing.
    “James has asked me to stay in town and have dinner with him afterwards.” She glanced apprehensively at Cassie as if unsure of her reaction to this news.
    “That’s nice for you. He’s good company and you’ll enjoy The Riverside Café,” Cassie said, assuming that James would take Anna to his favourite local restaurant. “The food’s really good there.”
    “You don’t mind?” Anna asked.
    “No. Why on earth should I?” Cassie said. “James is a free agent. Come on, let’s make for that willow and then turn back. I’m glad you talked me into this walk. I’m really enjoying it.”
    Increasing her pace to keep up with her friend, Anna didn’t have the breath to enlighten her that James had suggested The Seafarers Restaurant at the Country Club for dinner - a far more expensive and exotic location than the Riverside Cafe.
     
    Early that evening, Polly sat in her room, staring at her computer screen She was trying to compose an e-mail to Sebastian and it wasn’t going well.
    “Dear Sebastian,” she typed. That was the easy bit. She knew he was going to be furious about her taking Tom’s place in the race, no matter how she broke the news.
    She glanced across at the red velvet ring box sitting on her dressing table. Sebastian had been upset when she hadn’t immediately accepted his proposal. She’d promised to think about it whilst he was away.
    He’d insisted on giving her his ring.
    “Next time we see each other, I hope you’ll be wearing it,” he’d said, sounding confident that this indeed would be the case.
    It was a beautiful ring - a large ruby surrounded by diamonds - the sort of ring anybody would be proud to wear. As yet though, she hadn’t even tried it on.
    Polly sighed. What on earth was her problem? She loved Sebastian. So why was she so afraid of committing herself to marrying him?
    She took a deep breath and started to type again.
    “I hope the exercise is going well. Tom’s home, but he’s finding it difficult to cope with the thought of being out of action for so long.”
    Sebastian didn’t like receiving long e-mails. He said the whole point of e-mails was that they were short and to the point. Perhaps she should come straight out with it.
    “Also, he’s a bit jealous I’ve got the go ahead to race Clotted Cream in his place. But he has agreed to be my Operations Director. I’m so sorry for Tom but pleased I’ve got the chance to prove myself.
    The bad news is that it means I’ll still be at sea when you get back, so it will be nearly six months before we see each other again. I’ll miss you so much, but at least we can still e-mail while I’m away. Love you, Polly.”
    She hesitated a fraction of a second before hitting the send button and watched as the message disappeared from the screen. It was done.
    At least there wouldn’t be a face-to-face confrontation.
    The e-mail she sent to Dexter was much easier to compose. In fact, it turned out to be quite lengthy, telling him all about Clotted Cream’s progress and how she hoped to be doing her sea trials soon.
    Hopefully he liked receiving long rambling e-mails as opposed to short pithy ones.
    Finally Polly shut down her computer and walked across to the dressing table. Picking up the ring