Read Online Winter Storms by Lucy Oliver - Free Book Online Page B

walls, but in December just a few strands, blackened by frost, waved over the arched doorway. A smell of hot pies and chips flooded out the door and yellow lights shone from the windows. If Shane hadn’t been there she’d have gone in, but she knew what he would ask her, and it wasn’t something she was ready for yet.

CHAPTER SIX
    Pushing open the door, Daniel headed for the small bar area. Hopefully it would be deserted so early in the day. There was a limit to the number of spectators he wanted; Shane could be very cutting. Thankfully, Carly had elected to stay in the car, although in their years of training together, she had seen him in trouble so many times that she wouldn’t pay much attention.
    “Daniel,” a voice said.
    He looked around. Shane sat on a red shiny chair by the gas fire, paper chains swinging above him in the heat and tea mugs piled on the table in front of him. Daniel cursed, his coach looked settled in for the morning and he wasn’t in the mood for a long lecture on his irresponsible behaviour.
    “I’ve left the dinghy at our boat builders,” he said.
    “You’re damn lucky to be alive,” Shane said. “Have you gone mad? Sailing in that storm?”
    Daniel shrugged wearily, past caring. He just wanted to be back in Haven Bay with Carly; the cost of his success had been too high.
    “What is going on, lad?” Shane said. “Winning gold is supposed to be the height of your career, not the end of it.”
    “I’m all right.”
    “No, you’re not. Now sit down.”
    Daniel lowered himself into a chair as the bartender brought over a mug of hot tea, which he gulped, wincing as it burnt his throat.
    “I don’t enjoy racing anymore,” he said. “I hate being followed by photographers and I’ve lost all desire to compete. Once you’ve won the Olympics, what do you do next? If that doesn’t make you happy, then what will?”
    “Asking the wrong woman to marry you probably won’t help.”
    “So it’s common knowledge now? Has the breakup between me and Imogen reached the papers?”
    “Not yet. I suggest a small press release at Christmas, she’s a very public figure and you need to protect her. I know it didn’t work out between you, but she’s a nice girl who didn’t deserve what you did to her.”
    “What did I do?”
    “You asked her to marry you, knowing you were in love with someone else.”
    Daniel caught his breath. Had it been that obvious?
    “Who else would that be?” he said.
    “Never think I’m a fool, Daniel. Even after you got engaged, you still jumped if someone said Carly’s name. I knew it would never work out with Imogen; you were a glamorous couple, but there were no true feelings there.” Shane stared at him, lips tight. “You changed the day you lost Carly, became harder, colder. There were issues the two of you needed to deal with, but she was furious and you blamed yourself. There was no meeting in the middle and you’re both so stubborn that neither of you were prepared to back down.”
    “She made her feelings clear.”
    “No, she didn’t. I saw her during her time in hospital, she was devastated, not far off suicidal. Sailing was her life, the Olympics her dream, and you expected her to step back and watch you win from the sidelines, when she ought to have been out there too. You could never have done that, so why did you think she could?”
    Daniel swallowed another mouthful of tea. “Maybe I didn’t handle it very well.”
    “No, you didn’t, mostly because you felt guilty and partly because you believed your career was more important.”
    “What?” He slammed the mug down.
    “You did, Daniel.” Shane’s voice was level. “She was better then you, but when it all went horribly wrong, you thought she’d settle down, marry you and have children. Because she’s a girl, who couldn’t possibly have the same drive and ambition that you have, it’d be understandable for you to be angry if you lost your professional career, but not