Chapter 5 #3
The ride seemed to go on for a very long time and slowly Kate could feel her terror ebbing.
She could feel how relaxed Connor was as he tilted when they cornered and she could sense how responsive and powerful the motorbike was.
A trickle of something like excitement bubbled up inside her.
She – Kate Graham – was doing this. Riding at high speed on a motorbike. Doing something daring. Different.
Getting a life?
It was then that Kate began to take some notice of her surroundings, and she finally realised where they were heading. As the brightness of a late summer’s day began to fade into dusk, they were getting closer and closer to one of New Zealand’s most famous beaches.
Piha.
Famed for its scenic beauty and great surf. That it could be a dangerous beach to swim at didn’t deter many thousands of people from visiting this beach at regular intervals but, despite having been within its reach her whole life, Kate had never set foot on the black iron sands.
The sand glistened in the evening sunlight with the tide well out.
There were really two beaches here, the north and south stretches, divided by an ancient formation known as Lion Rock because it looked like a lion resting on the sand.
Kate recognised the famous rock instantly as Connor took the bike down the access road.
She still had no idea why Connor had brought her here and she definitely didn’t expect to have to climb the rock, but apparently it was important.
‘We’ll have to hurry,’ Connor said apologetically. ‘Or we’ll be too late. Are you up for it?’
Kate took in a good lungful of the wonderful sea air. ‘Bring it on.’
Connor set a brisk pace across the sand but slowed as they began the track leading up the lion’s back. Kate caught the frequent glances that were assessing how fit she was. She must have made the grade because Connor picked up the pace, walking just half a pace ahead of her.
It made her feel good that she could keep up with him.
Being so far from the city in such an astonishingly beautiful part of the country should be making her feel even better, but Kate still felt confused about why she was here and there was a nagging sensation that she had backed herself into a corner.
They were miles from anywhere. Connor could say anything he wanted and she couldn’t even walk away if she didn’t like it.
What on earth had she been thinking to put herself into such a vulnerable position?
Connor stopped so abruptly Kate banged into him.
‘Sorry.’
‘No worries. I shouldn’t have stopped like that but this looks like a good spot.’ He stepped off the track. ‘Be careful. Wouldn’t want you slipping.’
No. They weren’t that far from the dramatic cliffs that must represent part of the lion’s mane when it was viewed from the right direction.
It was a spot that gave a great view of the surf below, where a number of surfers were making the most of the last daylight.
Connor didn’t go far off the track. He chose a smooth rocky area just protruding from the short tussock, dropped his leather jacket that he’d peeled off during the climb up the hill and sat down.
Kate sat down on the uphill side of his spot.
It made her slightly higher. Maybe it made her feel slightly more in control.
Connor said nothing. He shaded his eyes with his hand and watched the surfers. For a long moment Kate found herself watching him, still wondering what the purpose of this expedition was.
He looked tired, she decided. His face was very still and his jaw looked dark with a day’s growth of beard.
He’d been wearing a black T-shirt under the leather jacket and it left his arms bare.
She could see the curve of his muscles just under the sleeves and the skin looked so smooth.
Free of the dark scatter of hair on his forearms.
The hand that wasn’t shielding his eyes from the glare of the lowering sun was resting on the thigh closest to Kate.
A large hand but the fingers were long and beautifully defined.
A powerful but clever hand. Kate couldn’t help remembering what that hand had felt like on her back, guiding her expertly though complicated dance moves.
With a jerk of effort she lifted her gaze and managed to focus on the expanse of the beach and the surrounding hills. After another long moment Kate found herself also watching the activity in the surf far below.
The surfers sat on their boards, riding the swells beyond where the waves were breaking.
Time and again they let waves go by that looked huge to Kate.
She didn’t understand what they were waiting for but then a wave came that was better in some way and there was frantic movement as the riders paddled furiously to position themselves and stand up on their boards.
And then it was a joy to watch as they skimmed sideways along the wall of water, being chased by the curling lip of the breaking wave.
The sky behind them was changing colour and a faint pink tinge began to strengthen and take on streaks of yellow and orange brilliance.
Several surfers headed for the shore but one was still out there and produced the longest ride Kate had seen.
Not only that, they were also treated to a show of talent with the rider doing some spectacular turns and a final flip that had him airborne against the glow of the sunset.
‘Wow,’ Kate breathed. ‘Did you see that?’
‘How good would it feel,’ Connor murmured, ‘to be able to do that?’
‘It must feel a bit like flying,’ Kate suggested.
‘Or dancing,’ Connor said quietly.
His gaze met hers and Kate felt the solid ground she was sitting on simply vanish. She was hanging in space. Falling…
Had she really been afraid of Connor wanting to talk about what had happened at work today?
It paled in comparison to talking about what had happened between them on the dance floor.
Why hadn’t it occurred to Kate that, in order for herself to have felt that way, it had to be coming, at least in part, from Connor feeling the same way?
Oh… Lord…
That connection was there again. She was falling into his eyes.
Falling in love?
No. That couldn’t happen. Kate couldn’t even try going there, and if Connor knew what was good for him, he wouldn’t want to go there either.
But maybe Connor didn’t know what was good for him.
‘Kate…’
He seemed to be asking her permission to continue. Her name hung in the air, a low, sexy rumble.
She couldn’t respond. It was hard enough to take a breath. She had to close her eyes to make the effort.
And when she opened them again, Connor’s brow was creased in a frown. He turned away to stare down at the sunset-gilded surf and Kate could hear him taking a deep, deep breath as though trying to centre himself.
What the hell had happened there?
That feeling…
Kind of the same as he’d felt dancing with Kate that night. He hadn’t expected it to happen again. Wasn’t ready for it because he still had no idea what it meant.
His gaze slid sideways again involuntarily.
The bike ride had considerably messed with Kate’s hair.
The plait was still there but it had come undone and was now hanging over her shoulder.
Wisps and even loops of hair had been tugged free as well and they hung like a soft frame around a face flushed with exertion.
Maybe it was a trick of the setting sun that made her eyes look so incredibly bright.
Bright enough to blind him?
Why was he so drawn to this woman? Kate was so not his type. She was so prim and proper. Closed off.
Boring.
No. That was the wrong word entirely. How could anyone that seemed to have the ability to completely disrupt his life and mess with his head be considered boring? Not that the disruption was welcome or anything, but it was intriguing. Confusing. It needed sorting out.
Connor sighed. That wasn’t the reason he’d brought her here. Not that he’d known what the reason for this impulsive journey had been when he’d instigated it. He hadn’t even known during the ride or the climb up this hill, but he knew now. He turned his gaze back to the waves beneath them.
‘Estelle Montgomery has a passion for surfing,’ he told Kate quietly.
‘She won a junior section of a championship a couple of years ago. She’s quite confident that she can win more.
She wants to represent Northland in national events.
Her dream is to represent New Zealand in an international competition. ’
He glanced at Kate again.
She was staring down at the sea, watching the lone surfer who was finally calling it a day and riding the dregs of a wave back to shore. Was she remembering the thrilling last ride of the day that they’d just watched? Imagining it to be Estelle, like he had?
Realising what it would have meant to the young girl if she had lost her leg?
Kate seemed to feel the intensity of his gaze. She turned her head slowly and the instant her eyes met his, Connor knew that she got it.
All of it.
His smile felt crooked. ‘Life’s full of corners, isn’t it? They appear from nowhere and sometimes you have no control over which ones you have to take.’
Kate was silent. She held his gaze.
‘One wrong turn can be enough to change the whole direction of your life and often, no matter how badly you might want it, you can’t find a way back.’
Connor was silent for a moment.
‘A terrible mistake almost happened today. A corner could have been turned that would have changed a great many lives, but most of all Estelle’s.’
Kate wasn’t looking at him now. Her head was bowed.
‘You saved more than Estelle’s leg today,’ Connor told her softly. ‘You saved her dreams and they’re what make life worth living, aren’t they?’
Kate couldn’t answer.
Connor’s words had slipped into a place they shouldn’t have been allowed to enter. The sentiment they expressed was touching a place so deep and so raw it felt as if it was bleeding despite the touch being so gentle.
He had a wisdom she had not expected.
And a depth of caring for a single patient that blew her away.
Kate knew all about those corners in life. Obviously, Connor did too. What turning points had he been forced to follow in his life? Was he trying to find his way back? She certainly wasn’t but if none of it had ever happened, what would her life be like now?
How would she feel if she’d had an upbringing like Bella’s, for instance, and was now sitting here with Connor Matthews?
She’d feel full of hope. She would know that she was on the verge of falling in love with a very special man.
She would have dreams for her future that were nothing like any dreams she currently held.
There would be a very big corner to turn in her life that she would take with joy and the absolute conviction that it was the best possible direction to take.
But there was no such corner in the road map of Kate’s life. Or, if there was, it was blocked by a barrier she had no idea how to negotiate.
And that was indescribably sad.
Sad enough to give her a tightness in her chest that squeezed and squeezed until it rose up into her throat and passed the back of her nose to reach her eyes. Tight enough to squeeze a single tear from them.
Unbelievable.
Kate hadn’t cried since she was fifteen years old.
‘We’d better go,’ she heard Connor say. ‘Let’s get off this hill before it’s too dark to see anything.’
Kate nodded, surreptitiously wiping those errant drops of moisture away before following Connor’s example and scrambling to her feet. She was glad it was getting dark so quickly now. At least Connor couldn’t possibly see that she’d been crying.
‘Ready?’ Connor held out his hand to help her over some small rocks to get to the smoother surface of the track. Without thinking, Kate accepted the offer.
‘I’m ready,’ she agreed. ‘Let’s go.’
A tiny catch in her voice made Connor stop.
He was still holding her hand and he was standing with his back to the sea.
The last rays of the sun before it dipped below the horizon were doing their best to outshine and out-colour anything that had gone before.
The light was so bright behind him that he was probably no more than a dark blob for Kate, but he could see her face with the utmost clarity.
He could see the tangle of her dark lashes where moisture still clung.
Good grief… she’d been crying?
The woman who was so tightly walled off from the world around her that she’d earned the reputation of being an ice queen had been moved to tears. By what? Estelle’s story?
A reminder of some trauma in her own past?
It didn’t matter. Connor knew he was seeing the real person here. The Kate who could dance like a dream. Who could care enough to cry. He also knew that he was seeing something that very few – if any – other people got to see.
A tight feeling in his chest expanded so suddenly it seemed to explode with a curious mix of warmth and… longing.
For what, Connor didn’t know. What he did know was that he had to pull Kate closer. He heard himself sigh as he did so. A sound of surrender that ended in the whisper of her name.
And then he kissed her.