Crash Course by Derek Fee (freenovel24 .TXT) 📗

that I could put in.” Morweena covered his great paw with her hand. “Why don’t you let me help you out.”

“You really are the most precious child a man ever had.” David lifted her hand and kissed it. “Your offer is most gracious but I’m afraid we’re talking about real money to keep Penhalion Marine afloat. You keep whatever money you’ve saved for yourself. There’s no point in throwing good money after bad. However misplaced, your confidence in the current faltering management is appreciated.”

“If anyone can turn the situation around you can,” Morweena said, stroking the back of her father’s hand. He was the ultimate contradiction. A gentle creature trapped in the body of a giant. When people met him for the first time, they inevitably felt intimidated by his size. Only when they got to know him did they see that the physical presence had nothing to do with the man inside. Ever since she could remember, she had felt privileged to be his daughter and it hurt her deeply to see him in such pain over the fate of the damn boatyard. Although she had no proof of it, she was sure that Penhalion Marine had been the source of heartache for generations of Penhalion women.

“I’d love to agree.” David signalled for the waiter to remove the detritus. “I’m afraid I’ve let you all down.”

“Where’s that famous Penhalion resilience? Weren’t you always telling me how the family had clung to their little piece of Cornwall no matter what adversity they suffered? It’s not like you to give up without one hell of a fight. We’re on the eve of the first race in the championship and you’ve already thrown the towel in. That’s not the David Penhalion I know.”

He looked at his daughter’s beautiful face. “I sometimes realise how lucky I am to have you as a daughter. It’s like looking at Amanda thirty years ago. The same shaped face, the nose, the ears; all carbon copies of your mother. The only feature I’ve bequeathed are the light blue Penhalion eyes. And how they sparkle. “You’re right of course. We can’t give up.” He made room for the waiter to deposit a huge plate of veal parmigiana and a side helping of fried broccoli. “Time to dispel all this doom and gloom. We’ve been holed but not below the waterline. Perhaps there’ll be a miracle of some sort. A few points in the championship could put us back on the map again.” He smiled at his daughter and squeezed her hand before launching an attack on his main course. “Let’s not dwell on it this evening. Was I mistaken or did I see that there was a bit of a fracas between our new driver and your former boyfriend? You know I was dismayed when you took up with Barrett. It was obvious to a blind man that he was no good but that type of individual always seems to have an attraction that the genuine article lacks. Like most women, you fancy the bad boy.”

“Graham was being his usual obnoxious self. I don’t think that his ego took too kindly to my walking out on him. It all ended peacefully enough.” She stared into her father’s kindly face. “You were right about Graham. I was a bloody fool and it had taken a jolt of realism to get her away from a man who had proved to be the very devil himself. Everything about our relationship was a nightmare.” A picture of a jean-clad Kane flitted through Morweena’s mind. He was not exactly the stuff that miracles were made of. More like a character from a Clint Eastwood movie. A tall attractive stranger whose background was as murky as Falmouth Bay on a cold blustery winter’s day. Were they really depending on a totally untried stranger for the survival of her father’s business? We must be bloody mad, she thought as she watched her father purr as he chewed on a piece of veal. However, she wouldn’t exacerbate her father’s mood and possibly ruin his dinner by casting doubts on their new driver.

For the rest of the meal, David was in excellent spirits. She couldn’t remember seeing her father behaving in such a light-hearted manner in quite some time. The years rolled away and she felt like a child again listening to her father’s stories of yachts and yachting, races won and lost, and old rivalries between the sailors of Cornwall and Devon. She had forgotten how entertaining he could be. The time slipped by as they talked and finished their meal.

“Home to bed for me, my girl.” David’s face was ruddy from the combined effects of Chianti and Grappa. “Got to be up early tomorrow to help the boys run through the final checks.”

She eased back her chair. “I’ll get them to call us a taxi.”

“No need for you to accompany me.” He pushed himself to his feet and his head disappeared into a clutch of rubber plant leaves.

Father and daughter laughed. He stuck his head out from the leaves. “The night is young, why don’t you go out and enjoy yourself?”

“I’d prefer to go back to the hotel if that’s okay with you.”

“Right.” He dropped a couple of high denomination euro notes on the table and left. “Forget the taxi. We’ll go on foot. I need to walk off some of that fantastic pasta.”

The lady seated at the front desk smiled knowingly as the older gentleman with the young lady linking his arm strode through the restaurant and out the front door. Such sights were normal in Sorrento which had been the discreet haunt of rich Neapolitans for centuries.

Even though it was still early summer town was already beginning to throb to the beat of the tourists who annually swamped it. The centre had already taken on the seedy appearance which seemed to be a consequence of the arrival of the package tourist. The Charlie Chaplin pub promised ‘bangers and mash’ like mother used