by Sue Brown
Table of Contents
Blurb
Chapter 1—Gabriel
Chapter 2—Sam
Chapter 3—Gabriel
Chapter 4—Sam
Chapter 5—Gabriel
Chapter 6—Sam
Chapter 7—Gabriel
Chapter 8—Sam
Chapter 9—Gabriel
Chapter 10—Sam
Chapter 11—Gabriel
Chapter 12—Sam
Chapter 13—Gabriel
Chapter 14—Sam
Chapter 15—Gabriel
Chapter 16—Sam
Chapter 17—Gabriel
Chapter 18—Sam
Chapter 19—Gabriel
Chapter 20—Sam
Chapter 21—Gabriel
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Copyright
Gabriel’s Storm
By Sue Brown
A year after he lost his wife and child to a sudden storm, Gabriel Pennant stands vigil on a Cornish clifftop and spots a small boat in distress as another storm rolls in. Gabriel fights strong winds and dangerous waves to rescue an unconscious young man. He carries the man back to his cottage and sits with him until he wakes, only to discover he’s suffering from amnesia.
When Sam wakes up in the cottage of a brooding, handsome stranger with a tragic past who saved him from drowning but obviously doesn’t want him there, he remembers nothing except being captive in his own body.
Then they are trapped together as the village is cut off by a landslip, and Gabriel has no choice but to offer grudging hospitality. Gabriel finds himself unwillingly attracted to his houseguest, and Sam just wants to take away the pain in the eyes of the lonely widower. But first they need to find out who Sam is and why he’s having nightmares about men trying to kill him.
Chapter 1—Gabriel
“DADDY, DADDY, look at me! Look at me! Mummy, Daddy’s here!”
Leaving his mother by the picnic basket, Michael ran across the beach, his face alight with laughter, his pale blond hair whipped by the wind. Gabriel Pennant strode across the damp sand, inhaling the salty air with pleasure after a morning hunched over the keyboard. He deserved time on the beach with his family.
He was a freelance web developer, not a miracle worker. Some clients didn’t understand he couldn’t create Facebook for the price of a cup of coffee. But now it didn’t matter. He could relax with Jenny and Michael and play hooky for the rest of the afternoon. He grinned at his wife and then ran across the wet sand, ready to meet his son in the middle of the beach and swing him on his shoulders.
He frowned. Something was wrong. The closer he got, the farther away Michael seemed to be.
“Come on, Daddy!” Michael held out his thin arms to his father.
Gabriel ran forward to catch him, but their fingers never touched. Michael was just out of reach.
“Daddy! Daddy!”
Now there was fear in Michael’s voice, and his big eyes were wide and scared. He called and called to Gabriel, his voice echoing along the beach, but Gabriel was rooted to the spot, unable to help his young son.
“Daddy, where are you? Why aren’t you here?”
Michael’s panicked voice repeated over and over, but Gabriel was unable to help him.
“Gabriel?”
Still lost in his painful thoughts, Gabriel Pennant shivered in the chill wind that blew across the Cornish clifftops, and shoved his hands into the pockets of his thin jacket. Earlier in the day, the tourists and families had wandered past him, taking advantage of the late autumn sunshine. They vanished as the evening approached and the temperature dropped, but Gabriel barely noticed their disappearance. He was more concerned with what he saw out to sea. The sky overhead was still a deep blue, but storm clouds had gathered on the horizon. The wind had increased too and whipped his shaggy hair around his face. Gabriel pushed a sea-dampened lock behind his ears, but it was a futile gesture, as it was back in his eyes with the next gust.
“Why am I not surprised to find you here?”
Gabriel looked up to see his brother-in-law standing next to him. He’d been so lost in memories of Jenny and Michael that Gabriel hadn’t noticed Toby’s approach. “Hey.”
“How long have you been standing there?”
Gabriel shrugged. “A couple of hours.”
Toby snorted sceptically. “And the rest?”
Gabriel didn’t bother to argue. Toby knew him too well. He’d been standing on the clifftop for at least four hours.
“There’s a storm coming,” Toby said.
“It’s going to be a bad one.” Gabriel had checked the local news before he left his cottage, although he grimaced at the blond weathergirl when she cheerily discussed the oncoming storm as though it weren’t important, as though there were no consequences when the weather wreaked its vengeance on the people who lived by the coastline.
“Gabriel, you can’t stay here all day.”
“I won’t,” Gabriel lied. “I’ve got work to do back at the cottage.”
He hoped Toby would take the hint and leave him alone, but to his surprise, Toby grasped his shoulder and forced Gabriel to look at him. Toby’s worried expression touched Gabriel even as it exasperated him. “Gabriel, go home. They’re not coming back.”
Gabriel stiffened and pulled away. “Leave it.”
“I can’t. You’re my friend, and I’m worried about you.” Toby shook his head. “You’ll stand on this cliff until kingdom come. They’re gone. Jenny and Michael are dead. It’s been over a year, and they’re not coming back.”
“Shut your mouth.” Gabriel clenched his fists in fury, a heartbeat away from punching Toby square in the face. How dare he. How dare he. “Don’t talk about them like that.” He stopped, the lump in his throat preventing him from yelling his anger.
He didn’t need reminding that his family was gone, torn apart by a freak storm. The last time he’d seen them, Jenny had got Michael to help her pack a picnic. They’d left Gabriel to work and gone down to play on the beach for the day. He remembered the moment he ran to the beach to find it empty, no trace of them left bar one of Michael’s shoes.
Despite extensive searching, their bodies were never found. The search was called off, and their funerals were held. Gabriel wanted to scream that they weren’t dead, that those were empty coffins, but he’d stood there, ignoring all attempts to console him as the priest spouted useless platitudes that comforted no one. He had never stopped searching for his family. Even if the rest of the world had given up on Jenny and Michael, he wouldn’t.
Apparently realising he’d gone too far, Toby apologetically put his hand out, but Gabriel stepped back, out of his reach. Toby sighed. “I don’t want to upset you.”
“I’m not upset,” Gabriel snapped, furious at the pity in Toby’s eyes. He’d become only too familiar with that expression over the past year—pity and a touch of exasperation because he wasn’t moving on with his life. As if he could move on. As if he wanted to.
Toby sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Jenny wouldn’t want you to live like this, spending hours staring out at sea. What are you trying to do?”
“You think I don’t know they’re dead?” Gabriel said, hating the catch in his voice on the last word. “You think I don’t live with their deaths every single minute, every day?”
“I know you do. But all you do is stand here?” Toby asked. “Day in, day out? Hours and hours? You don’t do anything except watch the sea.”
“I work.”
Toby snorted again. “Hidden away in the cottage. When was the last time you walked into the
village or came around for dinner? You never talk to anyone except me.”
“I’ve always worked at home,” Gabriel pointed out. “Since we—I—moved to the village, I’ve worked at home. You know that.”
“Yeah, but you used to visit us. Charlie keeps knocking on my door, asking to visit you. He thinks it’s his fault you don’t visit him or us.”
Gabriel flinched at Toby’s reproachful expression. Charlie had been Michael’s best friend. Gabriel didn’t want to say that seeing Charlie was like a punch to the gut, a reminder of what he’d lost. Then he looked up and realised he didn’t have to say anything. Toby understood only too well.
A rumble of thunder in the distance attracted Gabriel’s attention. The dark clouds were much closer now, and the temperature had dropped. Gabriel shivered. “Get home, Toby, before you get wet.”
“What about you?” Toby asked.
Gabriel pushed his hair back from his face. “I won’t stay much longer. I’ll just make sure no boats are in trouble.”
“Is that why you spend so much time here?”
“I couldn’t save Jenny and Michael, but I might be able to save someone else.”
Understanding dawned on Toby’s face. “You’re looking for people in trouble?”
“No one was looking out for them. Not even me.”
“Gabriel, you know no one could’ve saved Jenny and Michael. It was a freak surge. They probably didn’t know what hit them.”
The thought of Jenny and Michael swept off the beach by a wave, Jenny struggling to get back to the beach, Michael ripped out of her arms, their lungs filling with water. The thought of their empty eyes, their dead bodies sinking to the bottom—it was a nightmare that filled Gabriel’s waking and sleeping hours.
Gabriel needed to be alone. “Go home, Toby. You don’t have to comfort me. I’ll go home soon.”
Toby seemed to grasp he was on a losing wicket. He sighed again. “She was my twin. I miss her too.” He walked away, ignoring Gabriel’s harsh indrawn breath.
Toby was Gabriel’s ex-brother-in-law, Jenny’s twin brother. He had mourned the loss of his sister and nephew as much as Gabriel had. Gabriel knew that, but he couldn’t take the weight of Toby’s grief as well as his own. He could just about handle Toby’s mother-hen tendencies. The man had no issue with scolding Gabriel for not taking care of himself.
The first cool raindrops splattered Gabriel’s face, and the air was heavy with the promise of a thunderstorm. His cottage was hidden behind the trees, next to Toby’s. They had been neighbours for over eight years. Their families had spent many hours walking the clifftops together.
He looked over the edge of the cliff—the urge to throw himself over was strong, but he’d resisted that compulsion many times—but the beach was still empty, choppy steel-grey waves trimmed with white foam crashing onto the sand. Gabriel looked out to the horizon. He couldn’t see any sign of life, and he turned away. Toby was right. It was time to go home.
He’d barely taken one step when something in the sea caught his eye. He squinted at the waves, trying to focus on what had attracted his attention, but he couldn’t see anything. It must have been a seagull. Gabriel was about to give up when he spotted it again and took a few seconds to realise it was a small white boat being thrown about by the waves. As he watched, the boat dipped below the water. Gabriel fumbled with his phone and was about to call 9-9-9 when he saw the boat dip once more. He cursed, knowing the Coast Guard wouldn’t arrive in time, no matter how quick they were. He didn’t even know if there was anyone in the boat, but he had to try.
Gabriel ran to the steep steps and hurried down as fast as he could, cursing out loud when he slipped on the damp wood. He flailed but managed to regain his footing and resume his downward descent, albeit at a slower pace. His wet hair got in his eyes, and he impatiently pushed it back, anxious to reach the dinghy moored at the bottom of the steps. Gabriel worked on automatic as he pushed the dinghy into the crashing waves, refusing to think about how slim his chances were as he steered toward the approximate place where he’d seen the boat. He had to find it.
Spray after spray drenched him as he combed the area, leaving his eyes raw and his body shivering from the cold. His sodden hair resisted all of Gabriel’s attempts to stay out of his eyes. As he crisscrossed the bay, the rain only got heavier, and the dinghy was in danger of turning over in the roiling waves. Where the hell is it? If he didn’t go back soon, he’d be the one in danger of drowning.
I’d be with Jenny and Michael.
The thought wasn’t a new one. Gabriel had wrestled with the idea since the day he lost them. Toby would have killed him if he ever admitted it.
“Where are you?” His words were whipped away by the wind.
He was about to give up when he saw a flash of white to his left. Then it vanished once more. He squinted. Nothing. Then another flash of white. He changed course, hoping he’d get there in time.
The white fiberglass boat listed badly as Gabriel came alongside. It was larger than it had looked from the clifftop—one of the expensive models that he’d gazed at with a curled lip as the wealthy fair-weather sailors took to the waves on the weekends. Certainly not designed to be out in bad weather like this. He couldn’t see anyone aboard.
“Ahoy there. Anyone aboard?” he called, but his voice was whipped away in the storm.
With difficulty, Gabriel managed to tie a rope to the listing boat and clambered over. Almost immediately he saw a figure lying by the steering wheel. He staggered over to kneel beside the body of a young man dressed in a shirt and shorts who didn’t stir at his approach. The cause of his unconsciousness became obvious when Gabriel spotted the large lump on his temple and the blood trickling down his cheeks and neck. He placed his fingers against the pulse point of his neck. He was alive. The relief took Gabriel’s breath away as the stranger’s pulse beat steady and strong under his fingertips.
The boat dipped at a sharp angle, and a wave crashed over them both. Gabriel slid along the deck and grabbed a railing for support to avoid being swept overboard. Fuck! He had to get both of them off the boat now or they were going to drown. He shoved the hair out of eyes and looked at the unconscious man. There was no time to check for injuries. Gabriel turned him, noting the lump on his temple, and gathered him into his arms. He staggered to his feet and nearly lost his footing as the boat seemed to fall out from under his feet. Hampered by the deadweight of the man and the wind, the rain, and the lurching boat, Gabriel inched over to the dinghy. The boat dipped again, and Gabriel slammed into the side trying to protect the man from further injury. He took a deep breath, prayed the storm would give him a break, and transferred the man into the dinghy. Gabriel looked over his shoulder to below deck of the listing boat, but there was too much water. If anyone had been down there…. He shook his head, scrambled back into the dinghy, and cast off, leaving the white boat to its watery fate.
He pushed his hair back as the wind whipped it across his eyes again. Between his hair and the rain and salt water, Gabriel’s eyes were red-raw and stinging. Even with the engine, the dinghy had to fight the waves, and it seemed to take twice as long as it should to get back to shore. Gabriel looked at his unconscious passenger. He was still huddled in the bottom of the dinghy and hadn’t shown any signs of returning to consciousness. Hypothermia, shock. Who knew how long he’d been out there?
Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the shoreline, and he jumped out of the dinghy to haul it up the sand away from the crashing waves. He eased one arm under the man’s legs and the other around his shoulders and started to climb. Each step was a fight against the rain and the wind. It was a long way up and he was a dead weight in Gabriel’s arms, not helped by the sodden weight of his clothes. Gabriel was a few inches over six feet tall and broad-shouldered, but despite his slender frame, the man was tall and difficult to carry as he was so lax. Halfway up, he muttered an unheard apology, and Gabriel transferred him over his shoulder. There was no way he
was going to get to the top otherwise. By the time Gabriel reached the clifftop, he was puffing heavily and wishing he’d been to the gym more often. He hadn’t bothered to lock his front door, and he shouldered inside with his burden and slammed the door against the howling storm.
The quiet inside was a blessed relief after the noise. Gabriel placed the man on the large sofa, and water soaked into the fabric from his long dark hair. Concerned for his furniture, Gabriel rushed into the bathroom and returned with a towel, which he tucked under the man’s head.
Gabriel hesitated for a moment, then muttered. “You can’t leave him soaking wet.”
The man had to be undressed, or he’d get pneumonia. The white shirt was transparent, outlining his slender figure, and his shorts clung to his bare and blueish-looking legs. He needed to be warmed up fast. Gabriel struggled with the buttons on the shirt, sat him up to remove the shirt, and then wrestled with the shorts. Then Gabriel grabbed the afghan he kept over the back of the sofa and wrapped it around him. The man hadn’t stirred, not even a whimper, and that worried Gabriel.
He dug out his phone, relieved to see it was still working after being in his sodden jeans, and scrolled down to the right number.
“Dr Maris.” Toby sounded exhausted.
“It’s Gabriel.”
“Gabriel? Are you okay?”
Toby’s concern was immediate, and Gabriel understood. In the months following Jenny and Michael’s deaths, he’d fallen apart every time there was a storm.
“Toby, I need you here,” Gabriel said.
“Of course,” Toby said without hesitation. “I’ll be over to you right away. Just hold on, okay?”
Gabriel held back an impatient sigh. Toby thought he was having a meltdown. “It’s not me. I rescued a man. He’s unconscious, and I need you to look at him.”
“A man? Rescued where?” Gabriel could hear someone speaking in the background. “Gabriel’s got a man. I’ve got to go over there.”
“I haven’t got a man,” Gabriel snapped. “I rescued him from his boat.”