Forgotten Love (Derrien Island Trilogy) (2 page)

Slam
.

Broken from his
brief reverie into the past by the slamming of the car door, Marcus watched in disappointment as his wife walked briskly up the pavement to the door of their home, all the while fumbling frantically in her purse for her keys. She found them quickly and disappeared inside closing the door behind her.

Moments
ago, he was consumed with anger, but now, watching the retreating form of his wife he could only sense deep sadness and a hollow emptiness that he did not want to think about. This land and their relationship held so much promise when he first brought her up here six years ago when they first met. That was a day he would never forget, a day when everything changed for him concerning love. As he sat there in the car he allowed his mind to wander back to that time. He remembered being drawn in by her enchanting eyes...

April
12
th
, Six Years Earlier

Kirton’s Bay
, Derrien Island

“It’s your turn
to serve Marcus! Show us those skills you were bragging about! All we heard from you last night was how powerful your spike was, and how you and your team will wipe the beach with us today,” taunted Sheldon Archer. “Real boring stuff, in fact I’ll believe it only when I see it!”

Marcus laughed and took his place behind the line in preparation to serve the volleyball. The time had come to put a
swift end to Sheldon’s taunts and empty words and he knew exactly how to do it. After four years on the inter-varsity volleyball circuit at his university, he was named MVP on a double stretch, so he had no doubt that he could make Sheldon eat his words. He did not earn the title ‘
the terminator’
for nothing! His dreaded and powerful jump serve won many matches for his team because he could make the ball whizz over the outstretched arms of the players at the net, to land just within the line marker in the back court, leaving the opposing team diving in futility to save the point.

“I hope you
know what you are asking for now,” Marcus mocked, as he threw the ball over his head and jumped into the air to set up his lethal jump serve. In a few seconds, he would have proved his point and his team would be the first to score. Everything was set in motion and just as his hand was about to connect with the ball, he noticed a flash of red walking across the back court of the opposing team, right in the area where the ball would land shortly. Even in motion, Marcus could see the figure of an incredibly beautiful young woman who was about to get hurt. Unable to stop his momentum, his powerful right hand connected with the ball causing it to rocket over the net heading straight for the unsuspecting woman. Silently, he prayed she would look up or somehow the opposing team would save the point but unfortunately as he planned it, the other teams’ defence was totally useless.

“
Hey, watch out!” shouted Marcus in an attempt to warn her, hoping that she would hear him, but another split second observation confirmed that she was completely oblivious to him and to everyone else when he saw the cord leading from the cell phone in her hands to the earphones over her ears.  The very moment his feet touched the ground he began running toward her, hearing the thud as the ball connected with her hip followed by her surprised yelp of pain as she fell sideways onto the sand.

Marc
us ducked under the net and ran past the surprised members of Sheldon’s team to the aid of the young woman. As he reached her side, she was still lying on the sand and her shoulder length hair covered her face like a black curtain of silken threads. The cell phone and earphones lay a few feet away on the sand obviously flying from her hands and head at the moment of impact.

“Hey, are you alright, I am so sorry!” said Marcus
as he stooped down beside her, offering her his hand to help her up. She turned her head up to look at him and Marcus sucked in a deep lungful of air then because staring right back at him, set in a heart shaped face with skin the colour of creamy cocoa were the most startlingly beautiful pair of olive-green eyes he had ever seen.  It felt as though time had somehow been suspended as he looked into what seemed at the time to be twin emerald jewels, slowly glistening as tears began to well up in them. Her expression of surprise clouded by the obvious pain she was in, caused him to return sharply to reality.

“Here
, take my hand so I can help you to sit up,” Marcus offered as he held out his hand to her. As she placed her much smaller hand in his, he felt an unfamiliar sensation course through every fibre of his body as well as an intense need to protect her somehow. It was as though he had been fooling himself that he was alive all this time, because now holding her hand he’d never felt more awake.

As she sat upright, she winced and pulled away her hand to raise the sheer beach wrap that she was wearing around her waist, to check her leg. Sure enough, a small purplish bruise was already clearly imprinted on the side of her right thigh which received the impact of the volleyball.

“Oh no!” she
groaned as she saw the darkening bruise.

By that time the rest of the players had g
athered around and someone from the group offered to go over to the nearby drinks vendor and get some ice.

“Listen, I am sorry about that, I did not mean to hit you with the ball
,” apologized Marcus again looking at her leg with growing alarm.

Natasha
Mitchell looked into the concerned face of the man who squatted before her and despite the pain she was experiencing, she could not ignore that from the first time she saw him, when he offered her his hand that she felt as though all the air had left her body, for the second time.

“No I’m sorry, it was my fault, I have this bad habit of walking around with my earphones on,” she s
aid trying to allay his concern by taking the blame for the accident.

“Yeah, it was as if you suddenly appeared on the court
out of nowhere. Can I look at it?” asked Marcus gesturing and leaning toward the now darkening area. “Whoa, this does not look good, let me take you to the doctor to get it checked. It’s the least I can do to apologize.”

“No, no that is alright, I am sure that
if I put a little ice on it the swelling will go down. Accidents happen all the time, I’ll be okay,” she protested.

“I am not so sure about that, I have seen these kinds of injuries before and it is best to let a doctor check it
out to make sure that you are not bleeding internally,” Marcus countered with concern.

“Really no, it was my fault, I will be fine, I’m sorry I interrupted your game
, uh what’s your name?”

“Marcus, my name is Marcus Nicholls”.

Marcus watched as she struggled to place her legs beneath her to stand. He almost admired her obvious act of bravado and wondered why she seemed to feel the need to pretend that she was okay when it was clear that she wasn’t.

“Marcus, honestly I’m fine, I have experienced worse before. It comes with the territory with us art
sy types. Our bodies are present but we are always off somewhere else in our minds,” she laughed wincing slightly at the pain as she tried to place additional pressure on her leg to stand.

“
Well, at least allow me help you over to that bench there and I’m not taking no for an answer! Besides sitting on the bench should make it easier for you to apply the ice,” added Marcus with determination.

“Here’s your
ice,” said one of the players as he returned just then, handing her a cup filled with ice cubes.

Natasha thanked
the player for the ice and surveyed the many concerned faces which encircled her, before she finally agreed to allow Marcus to help her over to the nearby bench. All of the attention was getting a little embarrassing now, especially since she’d noticed that the one called Marcus was more than a little attractive where her taste in men was concerned. Just a brief observation already revealed that he was built exactly like the type of man she’d always envisioned would be perfect for her.

“Okay
you guys go on and continue the game without me. I will be back later to continue the slaughter,” he said amid the laughter and taunts of the players as they returned to the court. He ignored them and placed his hand gently under her elbow supporting her as she walked slowly over to the bench with a slight limp.

As she
walked Marcus couldn’t help but notice that despite her injury she stood with an excellent posture and he wondered if she was a dancer, after all she did say that she was an artsy type.

“You got me pretty good with that ball
Marcus. I thought I was hit by a car or something else at first,” she admitted while trying to dissolve the tension with a half-joke. It was a really hard hit she’d received which meant that Marcus carried some amazing strength in his arms. Forcing herself not to check out his muscled frame at that moment she once again raised her sheer wrap to apply the ice to her thigh.

“Yeah, sorry about that again
,” he replied. “That serve was meant strictly for the other team’s demise. I played inter-varsity volleyball in college and serving is one of my strong points,” explained Marcus apologetically.

“I can tell. Listen
like I told you don’t have to stay here with me if you don’t want to. I’ll be fine in a few minutes. You can go back to playing your game.”

“
I know, and you keep saying that. I want to stay right where I am now. What’s your name?”

“It’s Natasha, Natasha Mitchell.”

“Natasha”, repeated Marcus relishing the sound of her name on his lips. For some reason he was having a difficult time staying focused on just her injury. He already knew that he was not taking no for an answer concerning taking her to the doctor, but he decided not to press the issue any more for now.

Right now, he was battling this feeling that he knew her even though to his knowledge he had only met her for the first time t
hat day.

God, she was beautiful! That first glance into her
green eyes generously rimmed with thick dark lashes only invited him to gaze at her even more closely. Her heart shaped face was framed by waves of shoulder-length cascading black hair parted in the centre of her head, which shone against the vibrant beauty of her brown skin. Something about the smoothness and the colour of her skin reminded him of a cup of hot creamy milk chocolate. When she spoke she did so with eloquence revealing a set of pearl white evenly set teeth. She was beautiful enough to qualify as a celebrity and all this without any makeup on her face. Her beauty was all natural and all her. 

Her skin was impossibly smooth and her body was well toned like someone who exercised regularly. She carried an air of confidence about her but yet
, he could see that she was not overbearing or proud. Case in point, he was quite aware that this situation could have turned out very differently. She had every right to be angry with him right now and in fact, if he was at home in the US, he could be looking at a potential lawsuit. But he knew that people tended to see life much differently here on Derrien Island and were much more tolerant of the mistakes of others.

Natasha could sense
the warmth of Marcus’ lingering gaze on her face as he said her name slowly and she had the odd thought that somehow he was savouring it like one would slowly savour the taste of a bite of chocolate until it melted. It was very disconcerting to have such manly eye candy sitting so close beside her stripped to the waist and wearing only a pair of black and gold board shorts, with a leather chain with a sharks’ tooth pendant around his neck.  At first she thought he might have been a local because of his dark brown skin, but when he spoke, his American accent was unmistakable. He was about six foot three and when he stood; her head barely peeked above his strong looking, broad shoulders. He was muscular but not bulky and when he moved his muscles flexed smoothly along his neck and arms. Strangely enough, she did not feel threatened under his gaze but rather a sense of curiosity about who he was in addition to simply admiring him. His deep-set hooded eyes radiated a good nature with a touch of mischief and were widely spaced below a deep forehead and thick, black eyebrows. He had high cheekbones and a large well formed nose. When he smiled his lower lip appeared fuller than the top lip, revealing even white teeth. He was completely shaven but she could see the slight shadow of a full beard and sideburns beneath his skin. His entire body glistened with a thin sheen of sweat obviously produced during his volleyball game.

“
Are you here alone?” he asked breaking into her thoughts. She hoped that she had not been staring at him with the same open-mouthed wonder she was beginning to feel inside.

“No, I came
here with my girlfriend Ashley. I left her down at the other end of the beach while I took a walk by myself. Sometimes I like to just come here during the day to relax and listen to my favourite songs. You know, to swim, walk and sing. I find it to be a great way to escape and just let loose and be me. Here at the beach there is nothing to stop me from just having a good time. But why am I telling you all of this?”she said suddenly thinking that she was taking it for granted that he was interested in listening to her babble about her hobbies. She laughed nervously while lowering her eyes.