Free The Boy is Back in Town by Nina Harrington Page B

around. Mari may have changed on the outside, but he could still see the girl he had known, who liked to stay in the background, watching other people. Usually on the other side of a camera lens.
    Perhaps that was why he had been so shocked at the transformation when Rosa hurt herself and the fear and deep emotion that she was capable of peeked out from her slick outer persona?
    That could explain why he had sought out any opportunity to be in physical contactwith her the previous evening. Helping her out of the club, into and out of his car, holding her next to him in the hospital waiting room and then hunting out a bed cover so that he could cuddle it around her on the sofa.
    He was pathetic! But it had meant that he could really look at Mari close up.
    There was a crease in her forehead, which showed her years of work and stress. No doubt the Swanhaven gossip network would update him with each and every achievement and promotion, but to him it was all there, written in that face.
    That so very beautiful face. The pale skin. Untouched by sunshine or make-up. Plain. Natural. Cold. She might be living in California, but this girl wasn’t spending her time in the sun.
    The pain in his chest, which had winded him at the shock of seeing her again out of the blue, meant that it almost hurt to look at her.
    Mari was still a girl living inside her head. Contained. His best friend’s clever sister. The girl who had tried so hard to take over the reins when her brother drowned in a freak sailing accident and their father deserted them. He knew that in her eyes she had failedand her little family had been torn apart in pain and grief.
    The ghosts of the past still ruled the closed interior world where Marigold Chance spent her life. Those dark days were still there, acting as a barrier between them.
    And there was no getting away from that—they could not go back to the people they had been as teenagers. And maybe he didn’t want to.
    His life was in Florida. Not a small coastal town in Dorset. It had been his decision to launch the sailing school in Florida. Now he had to prove that André and the charity could rely on him to stay the course. And that was precisely what he was going to do. The faster he could finish the house and get back to his new life, the better.
    Mari and Ethan lay on the floor of the conservatory, with their bodies stretched out in opposite directions. Both of their heads were resting on the same small lounger cushion so that Mari could just feel Ethan’s head move as he looked around. Dusk had fallen over the shore outside the window and the light fittings were still bare wires hanging loosely from the ceiling.
    Ethan shuffled his jeans-clad bottom onthe thick cream tiles Mari had just spent an hour buffing to a lustrous shine. ‘This truly is the best way to test that the under-floor heating is working properly. Seriously. Temperature sensors are just not the same.’
    ‘I shall have to take your word for that—but it does sort of make sense. Radiators would look totally out of place in here.’ Mari raised her head towards the ceiling. ‘This is a truly excellent viewing position.’
    She dropped her head back so that she could just feel the contact with his short-cropped hair, and looked up to the slanting clear glass roof of the conservatory. Snow had slid from the special glass and most of the clouds had been blown away during the past hour to reveal patches of sky, already twinkling with stars. There was no moon, and the constellations were clear and sharp, as though newly painted.
    ‘Come here often?’ Mari asked, chewing the inside of her mouth to block the smile in her voice. ‘Or do you bring all of your lady friends here to impress them with the view?’
    Ethan chuckled. ‘This is the first chance I’ve had to actually enjoy the place. The wooden floor went down three weeks ago. I only had a weekend to get the job done, thenI had to get across to see André and finalise our sailing