Chapter 2

A woman turned her head, her gaze narrowing, a step she took to one side suggesting she felt a sudden and urgent need to put distance between them. The fierce wind should have whipped his words away, but naturally, fate decreed someone would overhear him. Alex caught her gaze, giving her a small smile that he could only hope she would take as benign. Possibly, she took his grin to be manic, for her forehead wrinkled and she squinted at him before giving him a hesitant smile and walking on—though whether from sympathy or to appease the crazy person, he couldn’t tell. Alex drew in a deep breath, hoping it would calm him. He also closed his eyes for a brief respite. When he opened them again, the vision in white remained.

Alex wasn’t the only one staring. Even in London, the young man would have engendered many a “look.” Well, maybe not in every part of London, but certainly in the areas where Alex spent his time. Here, in the little seaside resort of Padstow, on the northern coast of Cornwall, this oddball seemed like an alien, and by that, Alex didn’t mean foreign national. Ever since the break-up of his last relationship, Alex had hesitated to spend much time at his parents’ place during the summer, because he feared bumping into Bray, who would be surfing just a short distance away along the coast at Newquay, but here Alex was facing an entirely different regret. He should have stayed indoors. He probably should never have got out of bed this morning.

His parents spent the bitter months abroad so their cottage was empty, he needed a quiet place to work, and in February, most Londoners steered clear of the coast. With many shops closed owing to the lack of tourist trade, the one thing Padstow offered was peace and quiet. Alex found Cornwall a lovely place to be no matter the season—majestic in bleak weather, landscape grey and misty in a romantic way. However, today the wind bit with savage, unrelenting teeth. Now was a time to huddle behind closed doors and the cosier romance of roaring fires. What possessed Alex to come out on a day like this was the search for coffee. Somehow, he’d run out of the holy substance. In anticipation of a short drive inland and then holing up in the comparative warmth of his parents’ stone cottage, Alex had been trudging his way back to the car when a vision waylaid him.

Alex sighed. Another beach bum. Just great. With that shaggy hair bleached white and falling in a thick, tumbling wave over his face, the man could only be a drifter. No chance he was local. Alex would have said he was a surfer but this was the wrong time of year and the suit, though of a similar design, wasn’t neoprene, and definitely was the wrong colour. The white hair was one thing to arrest the attention, but the tight white outfit was quite another. It…clung. No wonder the stranger attracted odd glances.

The young man turned his head left and right, the wind whipping his hair across his face, leaving only the small, somewhat pointed jut of his chin on view. A couple of local folks giggled as they passed, and Alex could hardly blame them. Fortunately, few people were about. The small square harbour contained a number of boats bobbing on the dreary seawater, but even they looked lonely and abandoned.

The town itself, with its many winding roads, towered in ever-increasing tiers at his back. These buildings sheltered life—those sensible enough to stay indoors on a day such as this. Still, over the last few minutes, the newcomer had attracted enough stares and pointing fingers that Alex thought someone might call the police. Shaking his head, annoyed for getting involved, he sauntered over.

“Excuse me, are you lost?”

The young man kept his head lowered and mumbled something that the wind transported to Oz. His accent sounded foreign, as did his language. For all Alex knew, the man had asked to speak to the wizard. Alex stifled a curse.

“Do you need help?” he asked more slowly, hoping his tone would convey the meaning. Even through that mass of hair, the man’s face tightened in a frown. Alex caught a bright flash of colour through the dishevelled locks, which made him duplicate the stranger’s puzzled expression. The man’s eyes glinted with an odd tint.

A rumble of thunder shattered the awkward moment. The young man jerked, flinched back, one foot meeting empty air, so that he wobbled, in danger of falling off the edge of the quayside. Alex grabbed him before he took a tumble into the freezing water.

To Alex’s alarm, the movement brought them close together—much nearer than he had intended. For several seconds, a warm intimacy existed between them.