AMANDA BROWNING - The Lawyer's Contract Marriage

‘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 wasn’t exactly relieved to feel relief, for it would be better not to feel anything. It would only cause unnecessary pain.

Mentally she grimaced. In an ideal world, maybe, but this was something else. She had been catapulted into a situation she wasn’t expecting. Right now she was floundering in a sea of memories, with no life preserver in sight. All she could do was keep herself afloat the best way she could until she was able to make the necessary repairs to her defences.

Not easy with the past so abruptly shunted into the present. Studying the two men as they stood chatting, she could see there was a vibrancy to Ransom that was missing in Alex, for all his youthful buoyancy. Or perhaps it was just that her vision was being coloured by her emotions.

With their greetings over, Ransom had his first opportunity to take a closer look at Alex’s companion, and she braced herself for the blow. What started out as a lazy male inspection soon turned into something altogether different when he recognised her. Blue eyes met grey, and became inextricably locked. Her composure held, but Sam’s nerves jolted violently at the power his gaze had to move her still, and at the same time she saw shock fill those dashing grey depths.

It ought to have been no more than that. Shocked recognition should have been followed by a swift recovery for each of them. After all, they had both moved on. Not so. The passing of time had allowed their guard to drop to dangerously low levels. Sam was stunned to discover it was like their first meeting all over again, when out of a clear blue sky something unexpected and purely elemental had passed between them.

It happened now with equal force, revealing the potent attraction they had shared had in no way diminished in the intervening time. The air about them seemed to be positively charged, and in the blink of an eye each knew they were still vitally aware of the other on a physical level. It was a potentially devastating revelation, given their present circumstances. Sam knew she had paled, and she witnessed Ransom’s smile fade from his eyes, turning them steely. Both knew they had just reconnected in the most basic way.

For Sam’s part it was the very last thing she needed. She had worked so hard to lock her feelings for him away in the recesses of her heart and mind because torturing herself over what might have been was a fruitless exercise. Her feelings for him hadn’t and wouldn’t change. She loved him. Being aware of him brought to the surface things that were better left buried.

From the tension in his jaw, it was the same for Ransom too. He wouldn’t want to feel anything for the woman who had favoured marriage to a wealthy older man over marriage to him.

Oblivious to the undercurrents swirling around them, Alex turned to Sam, saw her shock and mistook the reason for it. ‘Hey, it’s not what it sounds like. We were talking about boats. Ransom sails boats for a hobby. Races them, too,’ he explained.

‘He’s pretty darn good at it. He’ll make the Olympic team one day,’ Karl added proudly.

Ransom slipped his hands back into his pockets, producing a smile, though, attuned as she was to his every nuance, Sam could see it didn’t touch his mesmerising eyes. ‘Knock it off, the pair of you. I’m sure she doesn’t want to hear about that.’

Sam knew she had to say something in response, and was so glad she had learned to hold her own in all circumstances. ‘I’m afraid I know very little about boats. I’ve never been on one in my life,’ she said politely, with a cool smile of her own, relieved to hear that she sounded calm. Ransom had wanted to take her sailing, but by that time it had been too late.

Alex didn’t let her comment pass. ‘We can remedy that. You must let Ransom take you out whilst he’s here. You’ll absolutely love it, I can guarantee that,’ he declared enthusiastically.

Sam very nearly groaned aloud. She didn’t want to go anywhere with Ransom, least of all on a small boat. ‘I’m really not that bothered, Alex. Besides, Karl and his friend might have other plans.’ She tried to head Alex off at the pass. Unfortunately, she was about to learn that he didn’t give up easily.

Something Ransom was clearly aware of too. ‘I’m sure she would rather you went with her,’ he demurred at the same time, and his and Sam’s gazes locked again long enough for her to see the mockery in his eyes before moving away.

‘Don’t be daft. I’m no sailor.’ Alex rejected that instantly. ‘I’m a firm believer in getting the best person for the job, and that’s you, Ransom.’

Sam fully expected Ransom to utter a firm refusal, wanting nothing to do with her. However, for a man who had just come face to face with the woman who had made a fool of him, he looked remarkably relaxed. ‘I’m sure…?’ He glanced at the two men, eyebrows raised, seeking a name, and she knew everybody would be convinced he didn’t know her. Which, though it stung, was fine with her, because what they had had was in the past. There was no point in telling anyone what they didn’t need to know.

Alex suddenly fell in. ‘Sorry, I forgot to introduce you. This is Mrs Samantha Grimaldi, a family friend,’ he obliged, turning to smile at her.

‘And this handsome devil is my old friend from university, Ransom Shaw,’ Karl completed the introduction.

Handsome devil fit the bill all right, for he was handsome, and how well she knew his eyes could hold a devilish gleam. A look like that had set her heart racing and her nerves tingling many a time. That look had led to touching, and recalling her reaction to that made Sam decidedly reluctant to follow up the introduction in the normal way. Good manners, however, left her no choice.

Sam found her heart was thundering like crazy as she reached out to take the hand Ransom offered with a mocking glint in his eye. Don’t react, she said to herself. Whatever happens don’t react. Wise advice, for the result was as she had feared. The second their hands touched, it was as if she had been plugged into the mains.