The Trouble with Love Read Free Page B

brain, she would never have come out here on the outcrop at this time in the afternoon. She was hardly living up to the image she had of herself.
    The boat was still some distance away. Polly could make out a single sailor at the helm.
    â€œOver here!” She waved so hard at the little boat that she almost lost her balance. “Help!”
    She had a horrible feeling the sailor hadn’t seen her yet. He was sailing fast, and in another five minutes she would be out of view. Maybe I should tear off my skirt and wave it in the air like a flag , she thought wildly. It was so colourful, they would have to be blind to miss her. But the thought of being rescued in her underwear was worse than the idea of drowning.
    Finally, the sailor suddenly lifted a hand and waved back. Slowly but surely, the boat began to tack in her direction, the sail furling and billowing in the changing wind. The relief almost made Polly lose her balance. She sat down before her wobbly legs tipped her into the sea.
    The boat was close enough now for Polly to make out the name painted on its white hull: Arctic Angel . And she realized with a lurch that it was being steered by the hottest guy she’d ever seen. He was around her own age, tall with short dark hair and strong arms that seemed to effortlessly pull ropes and turn the wheel at the same time, and he was wearing a well-worn jumper in a washed-out cherry colour that brought out his light tan. Even from a distance, his white smile stood out like a flashlight in his brown skin.
    â€œHaving a bit of trouble?”
    His voice was cultured, with long lazy vowels that suggested an expensive education.
    â€œI. . .” Polly could hear her voice squeaking like a bat. He was even better looking close-up, and he was getting closer all the time. “I’m a mermaid, actually,” she managed. “I do this all the time. Sit on rocks and wait for the tide to wash me out to sea.”
    Now isn’t the time for sarcastic jokes , she thought in anguish. She probably sounded like a total idiot. But it was too late. She’d said it now.
    He brought the Arctic Angel round so that it was closer to Polly’s rock. “Then I should probably leave you here,” he said thoughtfully. The boat bobbed under his feet, but he stood on its deck as steadily as if he had been on land. “Or I might fall in love with you and you’ll drag me down to meet your father, King Neptune, and when we’re halfway there I’ll remember that I’m not a fish and drown.”
    They had only exchanged a handful of words and already she was half in love. If this boy had been sailing into the sunset instead of away from it, she would have thought she had fallen into a Hollywood movie. She smoothed her skirt, remembering how awful it looked.She had to get a grip.
    â€œI’m guessing this isn’t a tail time of year?” he added, gazing at her very human feet.
    The rim of the sun was touching the sea behind him. He doesn’t think I’m mad, Polly realized slowly. Just, maybe, kind of funny. Now what?
    Run with it , she answered herself. It feels good.
    â€œWe not allowed to change past sunset,” she improvised. “The water gets too dark to see where we’re going.”
    â€œYou should mention waterproof head-torches to Neptune next time you see him,” the boy advised seriously.
    The thought of mermaids swimming along with torches on their heads was brilliantly stupid. Polly stopped worrying about her skirt and burst out laughing.
    â€œLet me help you ashore, fish girl,” he grinned.
    Polly looked at the brown hand held out towards her. If she pinched herself, would he disappear? He was much too good to be true.
    â€œThank you, sailor boy,” she said.
    She would step purposefully and steadily on to the boat, then maybe stumble very slightly over a coil of rope lying on the deck and tip into his arms. She would apologize and he would tell