THE LIFEBOAT BOUNCED through the heavy seas, every member of the crew on the lookout for the missing yacht.
Given the crashing waves, it was understandable how his antenna had likely been damaged, but it meant locating him was going to be a problem. The search and rescue helicopter was on a shout but had confirmed they would come and help with the search once they were freed up.
Still, Tia thought, peering through the windows, time was going to be a factor, and even though the skipper of the yacht had activated his distress beacon, no one knew what state he was going to be in by now.
‘Think I’ve got him,’ a shout went up and Zeke turned the lifeboat in the appropriate direction.
The past couple of weeks had been amazing. Better than anything Tia could have dreamed of, back in France.
Their last week at the chateau had been glorious. Working in the mornings, then being a family afternoons and evenings. Sometimes going together to Look to the Horizon, other times simply going to a local market, or a show, or even just the beach.
Then this week back at Delburn Bay had been wonderful. It had been tempting to move in with Zeke at his house in Westlake when he’d asked, but she’d managed to resist. It seemed premature until Seth knew that Zeke was his father, although she didn’t know why they were still holding back.
Perhaps it was because she still didn’t know what Zeke had been about to say that night in the chateau, when she’d finally silenced his arguments by making love to him her way.
Or perhaps she was just being over-cautious—Seth was going to have to find out some time—but until she knew exactly how much of a family they were going to be able to be, she didn’t want to give her son false expectations.
Or herself.
They’d reached the yacht by now, and even a loudhailer wasn’t rousing the skipper.
‘I don’t want to go alongside in this weather,’ Zeke decided. ‘Not unless I have to. That yacht is getting thrown around all over the place and the last thing we need is for both boats to be thrown together.’
‘I’ll go over in an inflatable,’ Jonathon, one of the more experienced crewmen, suggested. ‘I’ll take the tow line across and I can check on the skipper. Then I’ll stay below decks with them whilst we start the tow-ride back to Delburn.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Tia moved alongside Jonathon.
‘You stay here for now,’ Zeke decided. ‘Until we know what state they’re in.’
Tia pursed her lips.
‘That doesn’t make sense. They’re likely to be cold and shaken at the very least.’
‘Once that yacht is at the end of the line, there’s no way to control it or choose which wave it can dodge. It will just have to follow us,’ Zeke countered. ‘If it goes broadside, that could be the three of you in the water.’
‘There was enough of an issue to activate their personal distress beacon. Hypothermia and shock would be my initial concerns. It doesn’t make sense to risk the trip across twice.’
She silently willed him to think twice. This was the first shout they’d been on together and if it had been anybody else, she doubted he would have been so reticent. And neither of them wanted their working relationship to be like that.
He scowled briefly, but she could see the exact moment he switched from lover to professional.
‘Fine. Get whatever kit you think you could need and we’ll see you both over. Once you’re there we can shorten the tow if you need anything else, but it’s going to be a long ride back.’
‘I might be able to temporarily rig the radio somehow through the GPS aerial,’ Jonathon suggested.
‘Good.’ Zeke nodded. ‘Okay, get your kit and I’ll manoeuvre you as close as I can for launch.’
* * *
It was twenty minutes later by the time the two of them reached the yacht and climbed on board, with Jonathon securing the tow as she took the exhausted yachtsman—who had been on deck for their landing—back below deck.
His core temperature was low, but he wasn’t yet in hypothermic shock.
‘Okay, let’s start by you getting out of your wet gear and into some dry clothes whilst I make you a warm, sweet tea.’
‘I’d prefer coffee,’ he joked weakly, despite his shivering.
‘Glad to see you’ve still got your sense of humour. Coffee it is, then. We can gradually add layers to avoid sending you into thermal shock by heating you up too quickly. And I’m going to set up a saline drip just to be on the safe side. We’ve got a pretty long tow-ride back.’