AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The fine tension that had spun out during their oddly detached exchange snapped when Dave stood up and held out his hand across the bench. ‘Hi, I’m pleased to meet you. I’m Dave Freeman.’
‘I’m Ryan Flint.’ The ice-blue eyes glinted with wry appreciation as he completed the polite ritual and the two men shook hands.
‘How do you feel about being able to say that?’ Dave asked.
Ryan smiled thinly at him. ‘Relieved that I finally have a peg on which to hang myself.’
‘I hope you don’t mean that literally!’
The smile became one of amused confidence. ‘I don’t think I’m the suicidal type.’
Dave stroked his silver beard thoughtfully. ‘What type of man do you think you are?’
The curve of Ryan’s mouth flattened. ‘Not a quitter. I don’t quit until I get what I want.’
Nina’s fingers tightened on the edges of the billfold.
‘That’s a strong statement,’ Dave mused. ‘It sounds as if it comes from the heart.’
‘What makes you so sure I have one?’ Ryan lifted one cynical brow.
‘I just took your pulse, remember?’ Dave grinned. ‘Your resting heart rate is slightly high, but considering your injuries I’d say you’re an extremely fit young man.’
‘You’re thirty-three,’ Nina said, having done mental calculations from the birth date on the licence.
Ryan ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back off his injured forehead. ‘Not so young, then. Old enough to know that there may be things that I don’t want to remember about myself.’
Nina stiffened, but neither man was looking at her.
‘A pity they don’t include addresses on those things,’ Dave said, nodding towards the licence. ‘But at least now you have a name and some sort of sense of your own character.
‘We could notify the police, but you might want to wait a little before you declare yourself an official missing person. Maybe it’s a good thing that this storm hasn’t passed over yet. A couple more days of unstressed peace and quiet could be all you need to fully recover, or at least get to the point where you can slot back into your normal life without any major hassles,’ he added with the shrewd foresight of a man who was used to juggling the needs of wealthy patients anxious to avoid drawing public notice to their very private problems.
‘You mean cross my fingers and hope for the best!’ Ryan translated cynically.
‘If you like. It’s your call.’
Ryan looked struck by the idea that he was still in control of his destiny. ‘In that case, you’re right,’ he admitted. ‘Wait and see sounds a far preferable strategy to my walking stone blind into the arms of the system.’
‘Okay. So there’s no rush, no performance pressure. You don’t have to try to force your memories to surface. You can relax and let them lap over to you. You never know, someone around here may recognise you, and in the meantime you couldn’t have landed yourself with a more ideal hostess—’
‘Wait a minute!’ Nina dropped the billfold from nerveless fingers. ‘You’re not suggesting that he stays on here!’
‘Why not? You’ve got the room,’ Dave pointed out genially. ‘And it’s not as if you aren’t used to having male boarders.’
‘I thought you lived here alone,’ Ryan said, frowning.
‘I…in the summer, Ray rents out the spare rooms to some of the conservation department workers and volunteers who come to do ecological surveys and study projects at the nature and marine reserves,’ she said reluctantly, knowing that with Dave listening she had no choice but to admit the truth.
‘They only stay for a few weeks at a time and I don’t have to pay Ray any rent while I’m playing landlady.’ Most of the workers were young and idealistic, committed to saving the planet, and while Nina had enjoyed the stimulation of their company, she had been happy to wave them off again and return her undivided attention to her work. ‘But I’m really only a tenant, too, and while Ray is away, I don’t think I should…’ She broke off as Dave’s salt-and-pepper eyebrows rose in surprise at her apparent hesitation.
