The Angel of the Lighthouse Read Free Page A

was flying up the coast,” she said thoughtfully. “And I think I’d remember meeting someone like you before now.”
    She saw a slight flash in his eyes, as if he appreciated the compliment, before they turned more serious. “You’re right – you were flying up the coast, and a bad storm came up.”
    Skye felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, and sipped at the water to try and soothe herself. The man continued.
    “I was on duty in the lighthouse when your mayday came in. You came down just off the shore here. Thankfully you didn’t look to be badly injured when I pulled you onto the beach, but the same can’t be said for your plane. I might even go so far as to say it’s a miracle you’re as uninjured as you are.”
    Skye swallowed hard at this calm recitation. Memories bloomed in her mind: black clouds and black thoughts. Rain splattering against the windshield of the plane, and pain in her wrists as she fought against the controls. The scream of the wind, and her scream of denial as the last engine had failed.
    “Hey,” the man said softly, touching her hand again. “Come back. You’re safe, and mostly uninjured. It was hard, but you got through it.”
    The touch of his hand sent another surge of warmth through her, and she automatically looked up. His blue eyes were wide open, bluer than the sky, and for a second, Skye felt like she was freefalling into infinity. Then he blinked and once more he was just extraordinarily ordinary, trying to offer comfort.
    “Just focus on what happened, not what could have happened,” he said.
    Skye could see the sense in what he was saying, but still that sense of panic clawed at her. She forced the memories back as far as she could, trying to breathe slowly and deeply.
    She almost felt embarrassed to be losing it like this in front of this stranger, this man who had saved her. She wanted him to like her, perhaps even to be impress by her, and surely her breaking down wouldn’t give him a good impression,
    But his eyes were non-judgemental as he watched her carefully.  His hand was still warm on the back of hers and she used that touch to get control of herself, anchoring her firmly in the here and now.
    “As you said, it could have been much worse,” she admitted. “Do you have a phone I can use? I should probably let my family know what happened before they start to worry.”
    “Certainly do,” he said agreeably. “But first, I’d rather have you eat something so that we can get some medicine into you.”
    “That sounds alright,” Skye said, pushing back the covers and slowly swinging her feet towards the edge of the bed. The man moved out of her way, and thoughtfully turned his back to look out of the window.
    It hurt to move, but Skye gritted her teeth and pulled herself to her feet, digging her nails into her thigh to distract herself. Her clothes were dry, but stiff with salt spray and tattered in places, presumably from the crash. She tugged them away from her skin, and grimaced. Hardly the nicest things to be wearing when faced with such a gorgeous specimen of the male of the species.
    Now that she was up and moving, her mind gave a little pained twinge. Her fiancé, Lewis would not approve of the fact that she was thinking about how handsome another man was. Even if it was their most recent blistering row that had led to her being in the air a day ahead of schedule, she still cared for him. It felt disloyal to be looking at this stranger in any way. She could almost hear the chastising voice of Lewis in her head.
    The man turned away from the window. His brow was furrowed, his glorious blue eyes darkened with what looked like pain. He shook his head as if to clear it, and offered Skye a smile that somehow, wasn’t quite as warm as before.
    “Ready to move?” he asked, and Skye nodded.
    “Lead the way,” she said, and followed as the man led her down the stairs.
    From the looks of things, the bedroom she was in stretched the full length of the