‘You didn’t let me down. What happened was the very natural result of the way we were living. We were both working so hard that we had very little time for ourselves.’
‘But if I hadn’t been so bloody selfish and accepted this job then none of this would have happened.’
‘Oh, I think it could have done. At some point we would have reached a crisis point and it just so happened that it coincided with you accepting the job up here.’ She kissed him gently on the mouth. ‘Don’t beat yourself up, Seb. It happened and we got through it. Our marriage will be stronger than ever now because we both know how close we came to losing each other.’
‘I will never do anything to put our relationship at risk again.’ He kissed her hard, wanting her to believe him, and she sighed.
‘Neither will I, which is why I intend to hand in my notice and move up here just as soon as I can arrange it.’
‘No! It’s not fair that you should have to give up your job.’
‘I’m not doing it because I have to.’ She placed a finger on his lips. ‘I’m doing it because I want to. I want to be with you and I most definitely want to wake up each morning to that view. It’s fabulous!’
‘Oh, I see.’ Seb chuckled. ‘You’ll make me jealous if that’s the only thing you want to wake up for.’
‘Oh, there might be other advantages to living here,’ she conceded. She turned into his arms and batted her eyelashes at him. ‘Want to help me make a list, my darling husband?’
‘Of course.’ He pulled her to him and smiled into her eyes, knowing that he was the luckiest man alive. ‘After all, it’s a husband’s duty to take proper care of his wife.’
Libby didn’t argue about that. She obviously agreed with him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Saturday: 2 p.m.
‘THANKS for letting me know…Yes, Libby’s right here so I’ll tell her.’
Seb hung up the phone and made his way to the kitchen, where Libby was in the process of making them a meal. She looked round when she heard him coming in and smiled.
‘I take it that was work?’
‘How did you guess?’ He went over and kissed her, grinning when she playfully pushed him away.
‘I’m supposed to be making you something to eat like a dutiful little wife!’
Seb snorted. ‘You’re not the dutiful type!’
‘Is that a fact?’ She pulled a face at him as she cracked open an egg and slid it into the hot fat. ‘I hope that wasn’t a complaint?’
‘No way! I like you just the way you are and I don’t ever want you to change.’
‘That’s all right, then.’ She wiped her hands on a teatowel then turned to him. ‘So what’s happened now?’
‘Apparently, the tanker’s owners have admitted that they didn’t have a licence to transport those chemicals. It turns out that there’s a ban on them being imported into the country.’
‘Really? No wonder they were so reluctant to tell the coastguard anything.’
‘It does help to explain it. Anyway, the relevant authorities are going to get in touch with the firm that placed the order and I imagine they will be in a lot of trouble.’
‘What will happen about the chemicals, though? Will they be returned to their point of origin?’
‘That’s the tricky bit.’ He sighed. ‘It turns out that the tanker hadn’t been passed as seaworthy before it set sail so there’s no way they can send it back to its home port.’
‘Why on earth did the captain agree to the trip in that case?’ she exclaimed. ‘I mean, he had his wife and his son on board with him so why would he take such a risk?’
‘Sheer desperation, I expect. He’s told the authorities that he was threatened with the sack if he refused to sail. If that had happened, he’d have had no means to support his family. Apparently, everyone in his home town works for the same chemical manufacturing company. There’s no other work available.’
‘Which is probably why most of those men were on that tanker. They must have known about the risks it involved but there was nothing they could do about it.’ She shook her head. ‘I wonder if the chemicals have leaked before?’
‘Oh, I’d say so, which means that most of the men will have been exposed to the dangers over a prolonged period of time.’
‘No wonder that seaman went missing from the hospital,’ she said sadly. ‘Anything would be better than the kind of life he must have been leading—even being on the run.’
‘It would. Apparently, some of the men—including the captain and his family—have said that they intend to apply for permission to stay in this country.’
‘Do you think they will be allowed to do so?’
‘I don’t know, to be honest. But it certainly sounds as though they would have a good reason to back up their applications.’ He frowned. ‘Maybe we can do something to help them—set up an appeal or something. I’d hate to think of them being sent back to a place like that to live, wouldn’t you?’
‘Yes, I would.’ She scooped the egg out of the pan and popped it on a plate then smiled at him. ‘It makes you realise how lucky we are, doesn’t it?’
‘It does.’ He took the spatula out of her hand and turned off the gas then pulled her to him. ‘And we’re luckier than anyone else because we have each other. I don’t think I would want to carry on without you, Libby. You are my whole world.’
‘And you’re mine.’ She kissed him tenderly. ‘I can think of just one thing that would make our lives even better.’
‘A family.’ He cupped her face in his hands. ‘It would be the icing on the cake, wouldn’t it, sweetheart?’
‘It would.’ She kissed him again then whirled out of his arms and ran to the door.
‘Where are you going? I thought we were having something to eat.’
‘That can wait’ She held out her hand. ‘We have a baby to make, Seb. Are you coming?’
‘Just you try and stop me!’
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5881-8
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
First North American Publication 2006
Copyright © 2006 by Jennifer Taylor
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