Flora Dain - Capture

I feel myself stiffen. Walking towards us I see my new manager. And that sour look on her face tells me she’s just as thrilled to see me. Freda.

‘Hi there, we meet again. Enjoy your dip? We all did.’

My heart sinks. So she still dislikes me.

‘Hi.’ I smile politely, ignoring the rest.

To my surprise her face softens. ‘Saw a whole new you out there, Ella. I’d no idea you had it in you.’ She gives a short bark of laughter. ‘I mean, I can guess it’s in you pretty much most of the time, but still –’

‘Enough.’ Darnley’s scowl cuts her off.

She grins. ‘Lighten up, cousin. We’re in the fun state now. Let me show you both around.’

She walks on ahead, her boot heels clicking on the new wooden floors. We look into various rooms as we pass. Recruits, some working on equipment, some peering at whiteboards, glance up as she glares in at their instructors and waits just long enough to disrupt the teaching before moving on.

It’s an unpleasant display of power. Weirdly, it seems to be aimed at me. Darnley pays little attention. He’s busy murmuring into his phone.

She’ll be a nightmare to work for, I think . I vow to tackle him about some aspects of my stay here.

I slip away now and then and talk to some of the new recruits, guessing some of them will be my pupils too. While Darnley takes his cousin aside to ask her how things are going I sidle up to one group after another and say hi.

It’s worse than I thought.

‘Wow. You mean you’re …’

‘Hey, you guys, guess who this is?’

‘You mean you’re gonna teach here? Phew … ’

All too aware what this is really about, I steel myself to laugh it off.

Inside I’m seething. How could he do this?

‘Hey. You making friends already? Time to go.’

The recruits take a step back as Darnley touches my arm. They quickly turn back to their task – in this case, something on laptops. They’re working on a new ID system. The best one may be developed at Wolfe Security HQ.

When I mentioned surfing I learned that none of them here actually swims. So who was it under my boat this morning?

Now I turn to my fiancé with a calm smile. ‘Sure. Right away. Bye, you guys.’ I’m rewarded with a few covert glances and a couple of knowing smiles.

Freda eyes me calmly. ‘You off, then? Cool. Have fun in your new boat. We’ll look forward to it.’

Her earthy chuckle follows us out into the sunshine as we head for the car. Out of earshot I shake my arm free of Darnley’s grip.

‘How could you do that? That was the most excruciating half-hour of my life. After a stunt like that you seriously expect me to teach these people?’

‘Calm down.’ His eyes snap. ‘Wait till we’re on the road. They’ll hear you.’

‘They’ve seen me. That’s bad enough.’

His face softens. ‘Hey, chill. They like you. Here, you drive.’

He throws the keys at me. Miraculously I catch them.

With a snort I take the driver’s seat, peer at the controls and then gulp. ‘What? Me drive this ?’

He’s eyeing me from the passenger seat, his arms folded. ‘You heard.’

My heart sinks as I fire the engine and take a swift check on where the controls are. It takes me a while to adjust to new cars, and this is a powerful V8 engine, gleaming new.

His sarcastic grin sparks my temper and soon we’re heading out of the driveway and back on the road to the coast. I try to keep up my protest but it’s hard, with the sight of cactus lining the road, hot sunshine on my back and the glorious Pacific wind blowing back my hair. The feel of the powerful engine at my feet and the light, twitchy steering wheel, responsive as a lover, does the rest.

Soon I relax and let the powerful engine sing to me as I take it up through the gears and lean on the gas.

‘Hey, slow down. You’re speeding. We don’t want to get pulled over.’

I laugh, high now on power and wind and speed. ‘Who’s going to pull us over? There’s nobody for miles.’

I rest my hand on his thigh, thrilling to the hard muscles I feel as I give him a squeeze. Quid pro quo . He was doing it to me, all the time we drove over here …

‘Keep your eyes on the road.’

His angry snap sends a little ripple of desire through me that mingles with the light and the speed and makes me laugh. But as I check in the rear-view mirror my knuckles stiffen on the steering wheel.

Shit. In the distance I can see a motorcycle. It’s bearing down fast, like it wants to catch us up. Someone’s spotted us so soon?

I almost jerk the car as I stand on the brake to slow us down to the state limit. Now the bike is closing in. It’s almost on us …

‘Pull over. He wants to pass.’ Darnley’s shout scares me so much I jump.

The steering jolts us dangerously close to the roaring machine, barely a foot away from my door as it starts to overtake. A furious blast from his horn makes me jump again and we ricochet, the sensitive steering over-reacting as the tires hit the loose stones along the edge of the dusty road.

And now I see something else – this is no state trooper. He’s clad head to foot in black leather and he’s wearing goggles. Worse, he looks mad. He thought I did that on purpose.

I lean over the lowered window to grin an apology and I see he’s peering at me with a broad grin, his teeth firm and white, and he’s leaning out towards me.

At that moment there’s a ghastly scraping noise and an angry yell from Darnley. ‘Pull over, dammit. He’s crunching into you. And for fuck’s sake slow down .’

Panic had jammed my foot on the gas. Now I ease it off, but I’ve lost control of our balance. All at once we’re all over the place and we veer dangerously close to the side of the road.

With a terrifying jolt the tires lose their grip and we career off the road and head into the scrubby landscape lining our route to the highway.

After a few terrifying bumps and jolts we halt in a clump of bushes.

Behind us the motorcycle roars off into the distance, its rider yelling with laughter and hooting his twin klaxon in triumph.

I lean over the steering wheel, panting, my hands still locked on it. I can feel sweat trickle down my back.

‘You OK?’ Darnley’s low voice stirs me to a shudder.

‘Sure,’ I say, hoping I’ll sound less squeaky when I’ve breathed in a few times. ‘Here. You drive.’ I snatch the keys out of the ignition and dangle them.

He takes no notice.

I stay where I am, still panting, as he gets out of the passenger seat and comes round to inspect the damage. He regards it in silence for a moment and then looks back at the road, his nostrils flaring. ‘He made a mess of the door. OK, we better go back. Start the car and reverse out.’

I stare at him in panic as he takes a few steps back. ‘Wait. Aren’t you driving?’

‘Nope. You are.’

‘I can’t.’ I lick my lips.

He leans over the door and puts his hand around the back of my neck, folding his fingers lovingly so that his thumb grazes the tip of my ear. ‘You must, Ella. If you don’t you’ll be too scared for months. Just do it. Take it slow. You’ll be fine.’

His tone and his look are so gentle, and the kiss he drops on my damp, clammy forehead so hot, that I take a deep breath and turn the key.

‘OK. But don’t blame me if we get lost.’

We almost do as I finally edge out of the clump of bushes. Still on autopilot I make for the lane we were on before.

‘Turn left. Back to the complex.’ His sharp command makes me wrench the wheel.

Rattled, I spin the wheel in the other direction. ‘Why?’