The Secret Cove in Croatia

by Julie Caplin

  ‘See, you can paint.’ He planted a big smacking kiss on her cheek and picked her up and twirled her around. ‘Told you! I told you, you are amazing.’

  She laughed down at him. ‘Thank you. It’s all down to you. Pushing me.’

  As he went to put her down, he stumbled slightly on the uneven cobbles and had to adjust his hold on her. He clutched her tighter and her body slid bump by bump down against his, nerve endings jumping to life at the feel of his strong arms encircling her waist to steady her. She came to rest, hip to hip, against him, his warm breath fanning her face. A flare of heat whipped through her. The grin on his face stalled as they stared at each other, wide-eyed for a moment.

  ‘Thanks, Nick,’ she whispered, looking at his mouth. Oh God, was she being too blatant? She saw the dip of his Adam’s apple.

  With his arm still around her waist, he gave her a quick squeeze as he said gruffly, ‘All part of the service.’

  He took a step back. ‘I think we should go and celebrate.’

  She nodded, still trying to find her voice.

  ‘And find someone who speaks Croatian who can look at the contract for you.’ Nick gave a businesslike nod. The brief moment winked out of existence as he dredged up a smile which didn’t meet his eyes. ‘Come on, Picasso, I’ll buy you a drink.’

  Ivan was still sitting at the same table with the beautiful young Croatian woman but as he saw them approaching he hailed them with a cheerful wave and not a trace of embarrassment.

  ‘Maddie, Nick.’ He looked pleased to see them. ‘How are you?’

  ‘We’re fine,’ said Maddie and gave him a broad grin, the enormity of what had just happened hitting her and feeling real as she explained to Ivan. ‘I need some help translating Croatian. Would you be able to help?’

  Ivan immediately beamed, his white teeth gleaming against his dark beard, and said, ‘Yes, of course,’ before saying something in Croatian to the young woman, who gave him an affectionate smile.

  ‘And then perhaps you’d like to join me and my daughter, Gordana.’

  Maddie felt the subtle nudge of Nick’s foot against hers as they avoided looking at each other.

  ‘Gordana, this is Maddie and this is Nick.’

  ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘Papa has been telling me all about you. He says this is one of the best trips he’s made.’ Her dark eyes danced with amusement. ‘Especially since most of the guests have gone away for nearly a week.’

  Maddie laughed. ‘It does make things easier.’ She gave a sidelong look at Nick. ‘Now I just need to get rid of the last one. What do you recommend? Toss him overboard?’

  Gordana laughed.

  Nick nudged her and she was relieved that they were back to their easy teasing. ‘You might want to wait. I might prove useful if you sell a painting.’

  ‘If I do, I’ll consider a reprieve for you.’

  They ordered drinks and Maddie showed Gordana and Ivan her pictures on her phone. She’d taken careful snaps of them before she’d handed them over to the gallery owner, Franjo. He was going to show them to his business partner before making a final decision but if she was interested Maddie needed to sign a contract and go back in a few days’ time.

  ‘They are very good paintings.’ Gordana’s crisp matter-of-fact words, with their indisputable quality, made Maddie pause. She really could paint. Someone was interested in her work. Bill had liked her sketches, but that had felt like work rather than art. She’d been able to use her talent to good effect. And he was desperate. She’d managed to do the job he needed. But this was a real step forward, one that she’d never dared to dream of before.

  ‘Very good,’ said Ivan with a teasing glance at his daughter as if he read Maddie’s mind. ‘Congratulations, Maddie. We need to go and celebrate, although I hope this won’t … how do they say it … make your head big. I still need someone to cook and clean for the rest of the trip.’

  ‘Don’t you worry, Ivan –’ she paused and then looked at Nick, who frowned at the mischief on her face ‘– I’m sure I can find a replacement to step in. Nick tells me he’s a dab hand with a frying pan and bacon.’

  He swatted her hand away. ‘And already she’s too big for her boots.’

  ‘Too big for her boots; I like that,’ said Gordana.

  ‘So what do you think?’ asked Ivan, looking at Nick and her. They were sitting on the rather swish terrace of the Villa Apolon, which had once been the Croatian equivalent of a stately home. It overlooked the water and was only a few hundred metres along from where the Avanturista was currently moored, although it looked as if they were on the move again.

  ‘I don’t have a problem with it,’ said Nick, ‘but it’s down to Maddie.’

  Which was kind of him because, after all, he was the guest and she was still crew. She looked down towards the boat, gently bobbing by the quayside.

  ‘If you want to move the boat, it’s fine with me,’ she said in response to Ivan’s request following a mobile call he’d received five minutes before.

  ‘My friend will be very grateful, thank you.’

  The Avanturista was taking up one of the larger limited mooring spots and Ivan’s friend hadn’t got a mooring secured and wanted to bring a party of people into the harbour for a couple of nights. They could actually see the boat moored not that far away, rather reminiscent of a plane circling an airport waiting for a landing slot.

  ‘I’ve already stocked up on supplies today,’ said Maddie, indicating the bag of shopping. ‘And we have clean towels.’

  ‘That’s good and –’ Ivan paused ‘– as a thank you, I will take you to a very nice place to moor. A secret cove. Tajna bay. And then come back here in a few days.’

  ‘It is very beautiful and so peaceful,’ said Gordana. ‘No one knows it is there. A very special secret place that few people know about. The water is magical, so clear and calm. You can tell how clean the water is by how many sea urchins there are. They like clean water. It is a very good spot for snorkelling and paddle-boarding. And very private, even at the busiest times. No one goes there.’

  ‘How come?’ asked Nick with a degree of scepticism.

  ‘Because the charts are wrong,’ said Ivan with a wicked glint in his eye. ‘The water in some places is deeper than the chart tells you. And it’s a well-kept secret among the local people. You have to know what you’re doing … but I know these waters well. My father was a fisherman here before we moved to Trogir.’

  ‘Sounds idyllic,’ said Maddie, already keen to see it. ‘And perfect timing. We don’t need to be back at the gallery for a couple of days with the contract. Perhaps, being somewhere so beautiful, I can paint and take my mind off what Franjo is going to say.’

  The three of them all looked at her with matching expressions of exasperation. She held up her hands. ‘I’m allowed to be nervous.’

  ‘Nervous, yes. Anything else, no,’ said Nick.

  ‘Are you sure you aren’t the eldest? You’re very bossy all of a sudden.’

  ‘Not bossy, realistic,’ countered Nick, leaning back in his chair and resting his arm along the back of her chair. Tingles crept along her skin where his fingers brushed – by accident, she was sure – her bare shoulder.

  Maddie gulped as his T-shirt rose with the casual movement to reveal that fascinating tanned midriff with that smattering of masculine hair above the waistband of his shorts. Oh, Lord, Nick and her on their own for a couple of days. Talk about being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, but she could hardly say no. Nick was a guest. Ivan was the captain; she’d been outvoted. Besides, Ivan was already on the phone, standing up and going to the terrace edge, where he hailed the nearing boat with a wide-armed wave.

  ‘That’s all sorted,’ said Ivan. ‘As soon as we’ve finished our drinks, I’ll take you out there. If you don’t mind I will spend some time with Gordana.’ He turned to his daughter. ‘You could borrow the Preseckis’ boat and bring me back to the harbour.’

  ‘Da. Da.’ She clapped her
hands together. ‘Hvala, thank you. Mama is coming tomorrow, with Bartul. We can have a family party.’

  ‘Sounds like a win-win for everyone,’ said Nick, as Gordana hurried off to borrow her neighbour’s boat so that she could bring Ivan back to port and allow them to have the launch.

  Within half an hour the Avanturista was sliding out of her mooring, passing Ivan’s friend’s boat, towing a little boat hitched onto the launch, and an hour later Maddie and Nick were standing on the deck, waving goodbye to Gordana and Ivan as the little boat puttered away back to Stari Grad.

  Chapter 24

  ‘Alone at last,’ teased Nick as the little boat, containing a gaily waving Gordana, inched its way out of sight. ‘And they weren’t kidding. This is absolutely idyllic. There’s absolutely no sign of human habitation.’

  They stood side by side, leaning on the gunwale in rapt silence. Apart from the sound of the water nudging the boat’s hull, the faint clink of the lines above and the shrill mewling cry of a hawk wheeling high above their heads in a perfect blue sky, there was a quiet stillness to the bay.

  Maddie had seen plenty of beautiful things: paintings, sculptures, many famous works of art. She’d seen the stunning buildings of Paris – Notre-Dame, the Musée d’Orsay, the Eiffel Tower at night – but, in this rare moment, she didn’t think that anything had come close to the simple beauty of this small, perfect crescent-shaped cove. There’d been a few heart-stopping moments as Ivan had driven the boat through the narrow entrance to the bay, set at an awkward angle, which took some skilled manoeuvring to enter but meant that the little bay was obscured from the view of passing boats out on the open sea.

  The shoreline was fringed with trees and a white-shingled border which opened out at the far end of the bay into a tiny deserted beach, enclosed by a rocky outcrop of the familiar stark white stone. The water lapped across the bay in rippling waves, twinkling in the sunshine, and was so clear she could see the rocks and stones on the bottom of the cove as well as the shadowed shapes of shoals of fish ploughing their way along.

  A hawk hovered above the tree line and Maddie watched as it suddenly plummeted downwards, prey in sight.

  ‘It is gorgeous,’ said Maddie, ignoring the shiver of awareness at his words. Just Nick and her.

  ‘Fancy a swim?’ asked Nick. ‘That water looks so inviting.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Maddie suddenly. ‘Do you know what? I haven’t been in the sea since that first day in Bol, which seems years ago now.’ She paused before adding with a wry grin, ‘Well, not voluntarily.’

  They both raced off to their respective cabins to change. Of course Nick was in the water before her. Remembering the store cupboard down by the galley, she stopped en route to pull out a couple of snorkels and masks. She looked at the flippers and decided they looked too much like hard work before dashing down to the lower deck and the ladder at the stern of the boat.

  ‘What kept you?’ called Nick, flicking the water from his hair, the sunlight turning the drops into sparkling diamonds.

  ‘These,’ she yelled back, dangling the masks from one hand. She tossed one towards him, delighted with her aim when it landed with a gratifying splash right in front of him.

  ‘Good shot,’ he called and she gave him a smug look, to which he responded, ‘Are you coming in or not?’ She threw the second mask towards him and climbed down the ladder, flinching at the cold fingers of water creeping over her skin. Darn it, she didn’t want to do the girly ‘It’s cold’ thing in front of Nick, but it was bloody freezing and she’d only got mid-thigh.

  Before she could make any further decision, a pair of cold hands grasped her waist.

  ‘Arrgh,’ she squealed and then felt herself being pulled backwards.

  She broke the surface to find Nick grinning at her. After the initial shock, she realised the water was rather pleasant.

  ‘You, you …’ With a flick of her wrist she splashed water towards him and he began to swim away backwards as she gave chase. She grabbed one of his feet and dunked him, knowing she was playing with fire because he was the stronger swimmer.

  He ducked under the surface and disappeared from sight. Uh oh. A little thrill of fear filled her as she scanned the clear water and then she spotted him but it was too late; he came up behind her, picked her up and tossed her back into the sea.

  When she came back up, wiping away the hair that had plastered itself over her eyes, she glared at him, which was hard to do when he was still grinning like a loon, looking very pleased with himself.

  ‘You’re going to regret that, Nick Hadley.’

  ‘I am?’ he teased with a wicked glint in his eye.

  ‘Yes,’ she promised him. ‘Just you wait. You’ll be sleeping with one eye open.’

  ‘Promises, promises.’ He swam up to her and grabbed one of the snorkelling masks that was bobbing in the water next to them. ‘Truce?’

  She narrowed her eyes and scrunched up her face, studying him for a second. If ever someone looked up to no good … ‘I’m not sure I trust you.’

  He flashed her another naughty smile. ‘Probably sensible. Fancy a go?’ He held up the mask.

  ‘I’ve never snorkelled before. It’s such a lovely word.’

  ‘Me neither. There’s not a lot of call for it in the North Sea. Too cold to hang about,’ said Nick. ‘Bloody sight warmer here though, thank God.’

  ‘There’s not a lot of call for it on the Grand Union Canal,’ she retorted. ‘I think that’s the closest body of water to me at home. This is heaven.’

  Nick began to pull on his mask and jammed the mouthpiece of the snorkel into his mouth, waiting for a minute as she tugged the strap over the back of her hair, the rubber strap pulling out a few painful hairs.

  ‘Ready?’ asked Nick, treading water in front of her. ‘Let’s swim towards the beach.’

  ‘OK.’

  He watched as she fitted the mask and mouthpiece of the snorkel into place; it felt a little claustrophobic and she wasn’t sure she liked it. As if reading her mind, Nick held out his hand and gave hers a reassuring squeeze as she lowered her face into the water.

  Immediately she forgot the restricting feeling of the mask, entranced by the way the sun dappled the water, green, blue and silver. Below the surface it was crystal-clear. Although there weren’t immediately any signs of fish, the way the light filtered through the surface sent sunbeams scattering across the rock formations and pebbles on the seabed.

  There was something intimate and relaxing about swimming side by side; it felt gentle and timeless. Every now and then one of them would point to something new to see, like the small shoals of tiny silver fish that swam into view and then, with a sudden nervous start, veered away in the blink of an eye or the black spiny sea urchins that in some places spread like patches of carpet covering the rocks below. The colour, the refracted light, it was fascinating and Maddie could have happily stared down under the sea all afternoon, just her and Nick in silent communication.

  They swam for a while, including a slow circuit of the shallows of the small beach, before heading back to the boat.

  When Nick pointed downwards, she followed him catching sight of an octopus, surprisingly graceful, as it danced its way through the water, all of its tentacles undulating as one in a wave before each one wriggled at the very tip. Entranced by the sight, Maddie swam a little deeper. Only when she registered the tilt of the snorkel, she realised what she’d done a fraction too late. Salt water filled her mouth, hitting the back of her throat just as she went to inhale. Panicking, she automatically tried to suck in a breath through her nose, realising with even more panic that her nose was pinched tight into the mask. Up, up. She needed air.

  Even as she broke the surface she began to choke on the water trying to go down the wrong way. Coughing and spluttering, tears streaming, she spat out the mouthpiece and the water. Treading water furiously, trying to keep her head up, her fingers fumbled as she tried to release the suction of the mask on her face. Finally,
she ripped off the mask. All she could taste was salt and the burning at the back of her throat as she wheezed, trying to get the water out and breathe in through her nose.

  ‘Are you OK?’ asked Nick, swimming alongside.

  Unable to speak, she just shook her head, still coughing and gasping, splashing about trying to get a proper breath and sinking as she tried to tread water.

  Nick cupped her under one elbow, which steadied her. ‘Relax. I’ve got you.’ His steady hold, taking some of her weight, enabled her to concentrate on catching her breath without having to worry about sinking.

  ‘It’s OK. You’re OK. You’re fine. I’ve got you.’ Nick’s calming refrain as he stroked her arm gave her something to focus on and eventually she got her breathing back under control.

  ‘Thanks. Sorry. Mouthful of water. Took me by surprise. I panicked. Stupid.’

  ‘Not stupid at all.’ Still holding her, helping her to float, he led her towards the steps of the boat. ‘You’re OK now. I’ve got you.’ When they reached the bottom rung he leaned forward and helped her onto the metal ladder, his arms on either side of her, and dropped a gentle brotherly kiss on her forehead.

  She stared up at him, aware of his arms enclosing her, their eyes meeting for another one of those intense stares, and then she watched, her heart sinking, as his eyes slid away. She’d had enough of this. Him and his bloody idle kisses.

  Irritated beyond measure, she gave him a belligerent stare as he began talking, the great idiot.

  ‘I think when you get water in your snorkel you’re supposed to blow it out, but I’m not sure I’d think to do that. It’s not something that comes naturally, is it?’

  ‘No, it’s not,’ she said shortly and with a sharp shove pushed him backwards into the water, before turning around and hauling herself up the ladder.

  ‘Hey!’ shouted Nick as he surfaced, pushing the water out of his face. ‘What was that for?’