Kathleen Pickering - Where It Began

“Daniel, my son.” Elias’s voice dropped to a whisper. “In this terrible accident I have lost a wife and a daughter. Will you not honor me by taking this last chance?”

Daniel’s blood grew hot. “You mean as penance for not stopping the thunder boat from ramming the skiff in the first place?”

Elias glanced toward the balcony, determined that Maria not hear their words. “I mean no such thing.”

“Then why do you insist that I take her?”

The older man’s gaze softened. He reached out a hand, letting it settle, palm down, on the glass table. “You think I do not know how you suffer, as well?”

“It’s in the past.”

“Nonsense. You breathe every moment of that accident, every day. I see it in your face when you think no one is watching.”

Like a falling ax, the truth cleaved his emotions. He had decided to leave because he could not—no, would not—suffer this constant turmoil any longer. Either Maria loved him, or she did not. As of today, she did not. A year was a long time to torture a man.

“Then let the past die, Elias.” Daniel ground out his quiet words. “I will return in six months to check on you both.”

Elias pounded the table with his hand. “You do not run out on family.”

He knew, without looking, that Maria had descended the balcony stairs to the patio. He heard the silent padding of her bare feet, felt her body heat. He crossed his arms, watching Elias’s gaze warm as she approached. He didn’t have to see to know she moved like a siren walking on air.

“So, querida, you join us for breakfast?”

She passed Daniel to kiss her father’s cheek. “I couldn’t work with you two arguing. I want to join this conversation.”

Daniel’s senses swelled with the citrusy scent clinging to her skin. The stains on her sundress reflected bright oil paint from canvases already finished and sold. The thin straps of the dress threatened to slide off her tanned shoulders, and his hand itched to push them farther down that soft skin with a finger.

He swallowed hard when she turned, her dark eyes grazing him with that curious but unfamiliar gaze that tore at his heart. Right now, losing her seemed like a life sentence. She and her stubborn father, more precious to him than anything in the world, were asking him to do something that would destroy everything he’d spent the past year trying to preserve.

He might be planning to move on with his life, but Elias and Maria Santiago were family. Nothing tied Daniel to the land like Reefside, the only home he now knew, and its inhabitants.

Before the disaster, Daniel and Maria had built dreams for their future. She would create canvases of international renown, while he raced closer to world cup status. When he had asked her to marry him, she had said yes, and compounded her acceptance with the sweetness of her body. That memory alone practically drove him to madness.

They had decided to make a home at Reefside, with Elias. Maria’s father had shared their dreams. Blessed them. Then, their world shattered on one gorgeous, sun-filled afternoon, the aftermath of which still lingered today.

Since the accident, Daniel could not bring himself to sail. Meanwhile, Maria’s career flourished, while she remained blissfully unaware that Daniel languished.

Daniel had doggedly followed every rule Elias and the doctors had set for helping Maria regain her memory. They had wanted him to go slowly—not upset her by trying to make her remember they were lovers. If she could not recall her previous life, anxiety might drive her deeper into herself. But their rules had fallen short. In a year, Maria had not remembered him. At all.

Now, with Elias’s demand that he take her back to the Abacos, Daniel was terrified of what might happen if she did remember—out there. In Little Harbour. Not in the safety of her home.

If he were to agree to this mission, it would be out of kindness. He’d already told himself the two of them were finished. He’d welcome time alone with Maria. Taking her away was the right choice, but not to the Abacos. His throat tightened, making it hard to breathe. He shot Maria an impatient look that would have sent a lesser woman fleeing.

If Maria sensed his distress, she ignored it.

“Poppa offers you respect as a family member. Yet, you treat his gesture lightly.” She laid a hand on her father’s shoulder. “I told you, Poppa. He’s playing you for a fool.”

The only fool here is me, Daniel thought, for wasting an entire year trying to reach her. This was one insult he would not ignore. “You have no idea how wrong you are, Princess.”

Her dark eyes snapped to attention. Her full lips compressed into a hard line. “How could I possibly know anything other than what I hear? And do not call me Princess.”

Damn if his jaw didn’t tighten so hard his back teeth hurt. He thumbed in the direction of the yacht docked on the Intracoastal side of the estate and asked her a question he didn’t need answered, if only to reclaim some control over this situation. “Well then, tell me this…Maria. Do you even like to sail?”

He immediately regretted the confusion that clouded her eyes. She visibly struggled with his question until her resolve steeled. “There is only one way to know, Captain. Poppa says you are the best of the best, yet you’ve stayed landside for months. Would you dare take the Honora off shore to find your answer?”

Oh, he wanted the chance to find out, all right. A chance to woo her. Seduce her. Win her back. But on the Honora…where it all began? No way could she be aware of this one dangerous fact.

In his role as captain of the sloop he loved, he would be creating a facade that didn’t exist on the last journey, almost a year ago to the date. As far as Maria knew, Daniel was hired help. Anonymous. Indifferent. Yet how long could he remain that way? Despite its fifty-foot waterline, the Honora would be tight quarters for the chemistry they still seemed to share.

Deep inside, he longed to be alone with her. To calm her, explain things to her. He believed she felt their bond, even though she ignored him. Dare he test her limits at sea? Away from Elias? Away from empty rooms that were once her mother’s and her sister’s? Should he try, one more time, to see if their love was strong enough to overcome the trauma of retrograde amnesia?

The chance to win her back, as a stranger, was cowardly, no matter how appealing. He’d be better off pursuing his new plans, away from Maria, especially with her in such a volatile, emotional state of mind.

She was out of reach now, but if she remembered the accident without the right people around her to help her understand? Then, for sure, she would be lost to him. He’d be better off leaving for Australia and starting a new life. If, in time, her memory returned and she was willing to forgive him, they could at least remain friends.

Sailing away with her tomorrow would simply make a bad situation intolerable. He should move on. After all, had she died in the accident, like the others, he would have had to start over. Her love would have remained an ache deep in his being—one he’d learn to live with. There wouldn’t be much difference between that sad acceptance and the way he felt now at the lack of recognition that pooled in her eyes when she gazed at him.

Damn it all. While his heart tugged at him to take her away and make one last try, his mind demanded he run as fast as he could.

Elias watched him with hawklike calm. Daniel might fool Maria, but the older man knew. He recognized the depth of Daniel’s love for his daughter. Elias had urged Daniel to overcome his fear of his own abilities to command a vessel.

Daniel met his gaze, silently pleading that this interview end. He needed to commit to the races in Australia. Winning was critical to cement himself in the sailing arena. The sponsorship calls and advertising contracts wouldn’t be coming in forever. He only had a small window of time here to get back on track. Daniel had spent too many months wrestling with the guilt that had tied him to Reefside, day in and day out, and the need to ensure Elias and Maria fared well.