The Lawyer's Contract Marriage. AMANDA BROWNING
got that right!’ he agreed immediately, returning his attention to the road as yet another tricky corner came along.
Hoping this good feeling would last, she once more gazed out of the side window. Idly her thumb toyed with her wedding and engagement rings. She still wore them. Not because they meant something to her, but because it kept unwanted interest at bay. She was not in the market for emotional complications.
Studying her reflection, Sam barely recognised the twenty-eight-year-old woman who had loved only one man in her life, and who had married another. Her hair was fashionably cut, she wore expensive clothes and jewellery, and could hold her own amongst the glitterati of the world. If Ransom were to see her now, would he recognise her?
The thought came out of nowhere, and had invisible fingers tightening around her heart. She had learned the hard way the answer to the question of what became of the broken-hearted. They picked up the pieces and carried on. But they were never the same. Something was irretrievably lost. In her case it was her heart, the greater part of which had gone with him. Having given it, she would never take it back. There would never be another to fill that empty space inside her. She had known she would always love him—and always hate herself for what she had done.
‘Not too long now,’ Alex said, interrupting her thoughts.
Sam glanced forward. Up ahead of her she could see the turn-off that would take them to the place Alex had grown up in. The house was a rambling affair, with extensions added on in piecemeal fashion as past families had needed room to expand. Consequently the inside was a rabbit warren of stairs and passages, but all adding to its charm. It had countless gables, and several levels of terracing to the rear. Sam adored it.
Beside her Alex flicked the indicator and turned the car onto the road that snaked across the heathland towards the distant coast. There were several more turn-offs before they finally passed through the gates of the small estate. The Hunts were old money. David Hunt had retired to the family home in Norfolk after a long career in banking. Alex was following in his father’s footsteps.
‘Looks like Karl’s down for the weekend,’ Alex observed as he caught sight of his older brother standing on the top of the entrance steps. Karl waved, then turned as if someone unseen had spoken to him. ‘Things generally liven up when Karl’s around.’ Sam had met him on a previous visit, and had found him pleasant company.
Alex brought the car to a halt and they climbed out. The sun was almost blinding, and Sam quickly found her sunglasses and slipped them on.
‘Now this was definitely worth coming home for. Beautiful blondes with curves in all the right places have long been a penchant of mine,’ Karl Hunt teased as he strolled down the steps.
‘Not to mention brunettes and redheads,’ an amused masculine voice drawled from the shadows of the porticoed entrance.
On hearing it, Sam felt shock go through her from head to toe, and looked round quickly. For an aeon she could swear the earth stopped revolving before lurching on again. She would know that voice anywhere. It was imprinted indelibly on heart and mind. Incredibly, what she had just heard was the voice of Ransom Shaw, yet how could it be? How could it possibly be?
Unaware of her shock, Alex was already starting to laugh as he turned towards the man who now sauntered into view, hands tucked negligently into the pockets of his jeans. He stood at the top of the steps looking at them with a broad grin on his face. Sam could scarcely believe her eyes. Dear God, it was Ransom.
The ground moved under her feet for a second, then stilled. She felt her mouth go dry and then her heart started up a frantic beat. Riveted, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. Only then did she truly know just how much she had missed him. Seeing him made a light go on inside her, brightening up her world. He was just as she remembered, only more so. His lean yet powerful body was clad in well-worn jeans that hugged his long legs, and a blue chambray shirt with sleeves rolled up above strong forearms, which seemed to strain across his muscled chest.
Sam remembered only too well what it felt like to be held against that perfect body by those two strong arms, and experienced a long-buried curling sensation deep inside herself. Her heart ached with a sudden fierce longing as memories flooded back. The light of love in his eyes. The husky sound of his voice as he told her he loved her. The…
Karl stepped in front of her smiling warmly, blocking out her view. ‘Nice to meet you again, Mrs Grimaldi,’ he greeted her, offering his hand.
The interruption was like a douche of cold water to Sam. Reality stepped in swift as a sword, cutting off the stream of thoughts. Ransom might still be her one true love, but she had no doubts that it wasn’t the same for him. He would hate her now. How could he not, when she had hurt him so badly? Her choice had been bleak, but she had been compelled to take it, for the alternative had been unthinkable.
Sam hastily gathered the remnants of her composure about herself. At the very least she had to look and act calm, even if she wasn’t. Her defences had been allowed to go unrepaired with the passing years, so that now they had been breached with remarkable ease. It was painful suddenly seeing him like this, but it never would have been easy. She knew full well what she would see in his eyes when he recognised her, and she must brace herself for it.
Drawing on the élan she had learned as the wife of a wealthy man, Sam whipped off her sunglasses and summoned up a smile for the man before her. ‘Call me Sam, please, Karl. How are you?’ she responded whilst a bemused Alex moved, walking forward with hand outstretched.
‘Well, I’ll be damned. Ransom? Great scot, where did you spring from? I haven’t seen you in years.’
From her position just a little behind Alex, Sam watched Ransom jog down the steps and take Alex’s hand. She had had no idea they knew each other. How on earth could it be?
Sensing her surprise, Karl explained. ‘Ransom and I were at university together. Both studying law, and with a love of sailing. He spent a few weeks here one summer, when his parents were abroad. After university, we used to meet occasionally, but then we lost touch. You know how it is. When I bumped into him the other day, I invited him here. Just like old times,’ he added happily.
‘You must have had a lot of catching up to do,’ she responded calmly, knowing it would not be the same for Ransom and herself. She doubted very much if he would want to speak to her.
Karl had more to relate. ‘You can say that again. Turns out he has a boat moored just up the coast. He remembered the good times he’d had here and thought he’d try out this neck of the woods again.’
Sam knew it was one of those situations you could never anticipate in a million years. Had she come another weekend, she would never have run into Ransom and discovered he had had a brief acquaintance with Alex’s family years ago. Events had conspired to bring them both here now, and it felt as if someone up above was playing a particularly cruel joke.
‘I drove up yesterday,’ she heard Ransom answer Alex’s question.
‘Wait a second, didn’t I read somewhere that you were out in the South Atlantic wrestling with that American beauty?’ Alex declared teasingly, unwittingly sending Sam’s stomach plummeting.
She experienced an unexpectedly sharp dart of jealousy at the thought of Ransom with another woman. Silly, really, for the man was not a monk. There would have been others in the last few years. She simply hadn’t expected to be reminded of the fact. To imagine him with other women was not the same as knowing it. That was the price of still loving him. She had all of the feelings, with none of the rights.
‘She was a beauty, all right. Responded to the lightest of touches. We had a month together, then I had to take her home,’ Ransom added with a broad grin, making Alex laugh again.
‘Those are the breaks,’ Alex commiserated.
The reply made her feel like a fool. It was a short jump to realise he was referring to a boat, not a woman. How could she have forgotten? She had known of Ransom’s love of sailing. It appeared his dream of owning his own boat one day had come true. However, she