quickly.
“Thanks for the coffee guys,” she said. “I’ll catch you all later.” She leaped on to the quay and hurried to meet the two men.
“Polly, I haven’t issued an official pass for your fiancée because he assures me his visit is purely a short, personal one. For security reasons, please see that he leaves the competitors area by ten o’clock tonight.” Dexter’s tone left Polly in no doubt that he was not happy with her ‘unofficial’ visitor.
He turned and walked away, leaving her to face Sebastian.
Aware that everyone on the boat could overhear them, she kept her voice low.
“What are you doing here Sebastian?” she asked as calmly as she could. “I thought you were on a hush-hush exercise?”
“We had to put back into Gibraltar for some essential repairs and I managed to wangle a two day pass. Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“There’s the marina café,” she said. “I’m told they do a mean hot chocolate. While we walk you can start explaining – beginning with why you told Dexter I was your fiancée.”
“It was the only way I could persuade him to let me through to see you. He seemed to think you wouldn’t have time for visitors.”
“He was right. There’s still loads to do.”
“You didn’t seem very busy just now,” Sebastian pointed out peevishly.
“I only got here a couple of hours ago. The guys were just being friendly. So, what are you doing here?”
“I can’t talk to you on the telephone. And you’re not answering my e-mails,” Sebastian said.
“I couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing you for six months, Polly. I simply wanted to see and talk to you face to face before it’s too late.”
“Too late?”
Sebastian pushed open the café door and together they made their way to an empty table in a far corner.
“Too late?” Polly repeated. “For what?”
A smile fleetingly touched Sebastian’s lips as he took her hand in his.
“Polly I love you. I really don’t want to come over all heavy-handed, but this is no sport for a woman.” He waved his hand in the general direction of the marina.
“I’ve come to ask you to withdraw from the race.”
Polly stared at him in disbelief, pulling her hand away.
“I’m frightened for you.”
Polly took a deep breath. “I’m frightened for me too. But I’ve told you Sebastian, I’m doing this race. And there’s nothing you can say or do that will stop me.”
“You could at least have discussed it with me. I would have thought you’d care about how I felt.”
Polly sighed. “I’m sorry. I should have talked to you before. But everything happened so quickly after Tom’s accident there wasn’t time. Besides, I guess I knew what your reaction would be.”
She ran her hands through her hair distractedly.
“Anyway, we’re having a discussion now. Only it’s not a discussion is it? You want me to do what you want. Not what I want. Can’t you understand how important this race is to me?”
“It’s too dangerous. Why can’t you content yourself with doing smaller races? When we’re married we can go sailing together. I enjoy the sport as much as anyone. It’s not as if I’m asking you to give up sailing altogether – just this race. Please Polly – for my sake.
“For your sake?” Polly repeated incredulously.
“Sebastian this is the 21 st century. Women make their own decisions, live their own lives.”
She took a deep breath.
“Who knows, the whole thing may scare me rigid and when I get back I won’t want to go anywhere near another ocean-going yacht. I’ll be ready to settle down, we’ll get married and have lots of kids.”
Sebastian sighed.
“But what if has the opposite effect? What if you want to do more and more competitive sailing? To tell you the truth, I’m not sure I want a wife who’s prepared to take such risks.”
They both sat silently, each deep in their own thoughts, as the waitress put their hot chocolates on the table.
Polly was the first to