AMANDA BROWNING - The Lawyer's Contract Marriage

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

SAM LOMBARDI knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that she couldn’t possibly be any happier. It was early morning, the time of day she most enjoyed, and she was lying in the arms of the man she loved. Ransom Shaw. Just thinking his name gave her an enormous sense of well-being. Sighing with satisfaction, she smiled, cuddling closer, taking in the scent of him as his chest rose and fell whilst he slept.

She might be just a little biased, but she thought he was perfect. Simply looking at him turned her heart over. He was ruggedly handsome, with a shock of black hair that just curled over his collar, contrary to current fashion, and dancing grey eyes set in a tanned face. Right now that tanned face bore a night’s growth of stubble, which just made him look sexier so far as she was concerned.

She toyed with the idea of waking him and initiating the lovemaking that would surely follow, but decided he could do with the sleep. He was a struggling junior barrister in a prestigious law firm, and had been working hard on his latest case. He was hoping to progress to being a senior barrister, and to one day take silk. It was going to take hard work, but he had the ability to get what he wanted.

Sam had actually met Ransom when she had been called in to act as interpreter in connection with his current case. There had been instant attraction. She had never experienced anything like it. They had been drawn to each other so powerfully, nobody else existed. Within days they had been lovers, and nothing had ever seemed so right. For her it wasn’t an affair, it was for ever. A for ever kind of love. She had no doubts. This was it. He was the one. She had fallen fathoms deep in love with him, and was sure it was true for Ransom too.

The days had turned into weeks. Now weeks were slipping into months, and their feelings had simply gone from strength to strength. They were soul mates, destined to be together…

Beneath her cheek his chest expanded as he breathed in deeply. Sam glanced up to find his enticing grey eyes looking down at her. Ransom smiled slowly.

‘Hey,’ he greeted softly, running his hand over the silky undulations of her back.

Sam moved so that she was resting on his chest and could look down at him. ‘Hi. Did I disturb you?’ she asked equally gently, and his smile took on a rakish curve.

‘You always disturb me, I’m happy to say,’ Ransom responded teasingly, and she could feel his body hardening beneath her thigh.

Sam laughed softly and pressed a chain of kisses from shoulder to shoulder. ‘You shouldn’t be doing this. You need your sleep.’

Ransom’s answer to that was to fold his arms around her and roll over so their positions were reversed. ‘I need you more,’ he told her huskily, no longer smiling, and the heat in his gaze was enough to set her blood boiling. ‘God, I’m totally crazy about you.’

‘How can I resist you when you say something like that?’ Sam murmured on a sigh, and then his head lowered, blocking out the light, and all sensible thought was forgotten in the heat of passion.

Much later, having taken a leisurely shower before dressing, they sat facing each other across the breakfast bar in Ransom’s flat. Sam buttered a hot piece of toast and hastily plopped it onto his plate before it could burn her. She did another for herself and spread it with marmalade.

‘Are you in court today?’ she queried, wondering if they could manage to snatch a quick lunch together. It wasn’t always easy fitting in with his gruelling schedule.

Ransom nodded as he sipped at a steaming cup of coffee. ‘Closing arguments. It’s probably going to be a long day. How about you?’

Sam worked for a company that supplied translators for every possible occasion or event. She was fluent in half a dozen languages, and could get by in a handful of others. Which kept her busy and was never boring.

‘I’ll call the office from home to find out what’s lined up for me.’ She had to go to her own bedsit to change her clothes and check her mail.

Having finished his breakfast, Ransom carried his dirty crocks to the sink, then shrugged into the jacket of his pinstripe suit. ‘Dinner tonight?’

Regretfully, Sam shook her head. ‘Can’t, I’m afraid. I’m having dinner with my family.’ It had been her custom ever since she had moved into her own place, and she had never felt torn about where she wanted to be until now.

‘When am I going to meet this family of yours?’ Ransom wanted to know. He had asked more than once recently and Sam wasn’t quite sure why she was putting it off.

‘Soon,’ she promised. She supposed she just wanted to keep him to herself for a while longer. If she took him home, the speculation would start. She loved her family dearly, but sometimes she felt she could be smothered under their natural interest in all her doings.

Ransom quirked an eyebrow at her. ‘Are you ashamed of me or something?’

That brought her to her feet in a hurry. ‘No, of course not!’ The fact was she had never taken a man home, and her family would know the significance when she did. ‘I just don’t want to share you yet.’ Ransom would get the third degree, and she needed to prepare him for it first.

He smiled lazily. ‘That’s OK, just so long as you remember I’m going to have to meet them one day.’

Smiling with relief, Sam went and slipped her arms around his neck. ‘One day. We’re OK just the two of us till then, aren’t we?’

His hands settled on her waist and drew her closer. ‘Two is good. Forget I mentioned it. I’m just an old-fashioned kind of guy about some things. It’ll keep,’ he reassured her, just before pressing a scintillating kiss on her lips.

It was over much too soon for Sam, who sighed when he released her to go in search of his briefcase. Still, what he had said gave her a warm feeling. There really was only one reason for an old-fashioned kind of man to want to meet a woman’s parents: to show his intentions were honourable. She smiled to herself. There was nothing she wanted more than to marry Ransom Shaw and spend the rest of their lives together. Maybe she would take him home soon after all.

‘What are you dreaming about?’ Ransom asked laughingly, jerking her out of her reverie, and Sam felt colour wash into her cheeks.

She could hardly tell him that she was thinking wistfully of the idea that he might be going to propose. ‘Oh, just that you’re one heck of a kisser!’ she retorted lightly, gathering up the tiny handbag she had brought with her last night. ‘Did you get a lot of practice?’

Grey eyes glittered. ‘It only feels this good because you’re kissing the right person.’

‘And you know this because…?’ she prompted and he laughed huskily.

‘OK, OK. I know it because I’ve kissed a lot of wrong ones. Happy now?’

She laughed as her inner happiness overflowed. ‘Ecstatically happy. I go around with a permanent grin on my face these days. People will begin to think I’m crazy.’

‘Just tell them you’re crazy about me. That will explain everything.’

As they left the flat Sam silently agreed that it certainly would.

The rest of the day was boringly normal. After Ransom dropped her off, Sam changed into her work clothes, rang the office to check the jobs she had to do, then drove herself to her first appointment. From that moment she barely stopped to breathe, so it was a surprise to glance at her watch and see how late it was. So she abandoned the idea of going home to change, and instead drove directly to her parents’ house.