Chapter Four
THE WHOLE VILLAGE now knew that Harold Morgan-White’s son was engaged to lovely little Sammy Wilson. And wasn’t it just fantastic because hadn’t Harold been complaining for years about his overworked, stressed out son who was never going to settle down?
‘If we don’t escape soon,’ he had told her as the last of the guests was being shown to the door, ‘the next surprise occasion will include the vicar, the organist and a marriage service.’
‘Our parents would never allow that,’ Sammy had been quick to refute. ‘Not when they know that this isn’t for real.’ But you wouldn’t have guessed it from the way his father and her mother had basked in the congratulatory attention.
And she knew that to outside eyes she would have appeared equally thrilled because she had spent the remainder of the evening with that kiss still burning her lips.
He had caught her off guard and had done the one thing which he must have known would have brought hectic colour to her cheeks and left her speechless.
It turned out she had had award-winning skills of deception in spades.
Lest she forget that they were a couple in love, he had made sure to stick close to her side for the duration of the party. His hand had lain possessively around her waist and she marvelled that no one sought to question this sudden, overwhelming love affair that had smothered the pair of them.
Whatever happened to common sense?
And, whilst she could acknowledge that Leo was a good-looking, sophisticated and very sexy man, how was it that she could have cast aside all her doubts and allowed herself to be so affected by a kiss that had been purely for the benefit of the assembled crowd?
Since then, she had not seen him. He had returned to London to work on deals he needed to close before they left for Australia and she had used the time to hand in her notice, much to the disappointment of the head teacher.
And now, as she stared at the suitcases on the floor in her bedroom in her mother’s house, she felt as though she had stepped onto a roller coaster that was picking up speed. It had nudged slowly to the top and she was poised, looking down at the loops stretching ahead of her.
She couldn’t stop gazing at the costly engagement ring on her finger and vaguely wondering how she had ended up where she had, all in the space of a week.
But then she knew, didn’t she...?
Leo had appealed to the very powerful part of her that had wanted to see her mother’s stress alleviated, the part of her that had been frantically worrying about money, about the bank, about how much debt had piled up over the months.
The part of her that had been worrying about her future and where she wanted to go with it.
Into this Leo had charged, with heady solutions and a price to pay...because there was no such thing as a free lunch.
Had she not, reluctantly, felt sympathy for his cause she would have turned her back on his offer, but she was deeply fond of his father and had easily been able to see how the end could justify the means, even though deception was something she found abhorrent.
She had also heard enough about Gail Jamieson and about Sean and his constant leeching of his ex-stepfather’s bank account to know that Adele would not have a glorious, warm and loving environment if she stayed with her grandmother, who was, from all accounts, even more grasping than her daughter and son-in-law had been.
But, in return, she had had a glimpse of how difficult it was going to be to play the part of loving fiancée because being with Leo was just so unsettling.
She wasn’t cool enough to deal with his massive presence.
She had never liked the way he treated women and she disapproved of his casual approach to relationships and while neither of these things should have mattered because she and he were only linked by virtue of the charade they were playing, they somehow did.
She heard her mother calling her, carolling that the driver had arrived, courtesy of Leo, who had firmly decreed that a train to the airport wasn’t going to do.
She lugged the cases down and found her mother waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
‘Are you sure you’re going to be all right while I’m gone?’ Sammy asked worriedly. ‘It will only be for ten days, by which time Leo should have a clear idea of what the outcome of the custody battle is going to be.’
Her mother’s thin face was as bright-eyed as Sammy had seen it in a very long time. Which, frankly, was also worrying. She hoped her mother wasn’t going to start believing that the pretence was for real. However, this was hardly the time to angst over that when the chauffeur was waiting.
‘I’ll be absolutely fine, darling. Amy is going to pop over every morning and I don’t have any hospital appointments until you’re back anyway. You just go out there and, well, enjoy yourself. It’s been such a long time since you’ve had a break.’
‘Mum,’ Sammy whispered sotto voce as the chauffeur entered and, after a brief cheery smile, headed to the car with her cases. ‘This isn’t going to be about having a break. Remember I told you when I... Well, when I told you what this is all about?’
Her mother’s eyes rounded and she smiled reassuringly, ‘Of course and you’re doing the right thing, darling. Harold is so relieved that this whole business is going to be sorted out once and for all.’
‘Well, no one knows what the outcome is going to be,’ Sammy pointed out constrainedly.
‘It’ll be fine with Leo in charge.’
Sammy rolled her eyes, halfway out of the door. ‘He’s not a knight in shining armour—he can’t conquer everything!’
‘Harold has a lot of faith in him and, by the way, Sam, you look lovely.’
‘Mum, I have to go.’ Her face was red. So what if Leo had breezily insinuated that her wardrobe only needed minor tweaks and packages full of beautiful, understated pieces that fitted her perfectly had subsequently arrived at her front door.
If he had complained and tried to force her into wearing anything she hadn’t wanted to wear then she would have dug her heels in and stood her ground, but he hadn’t.
As the car ate up the miles between Salcombe and London, she wondered what he would think when she removed her coat and cardigan to reveal her lightweight cream trousers and her tan tee shirt and when she stashed away her boots, essential against the snow which had been falling when she’d left Devon, and pulled out her cream loafers.
She was all covered up in her thick waterproof coat and scarf and gloves, but underneath was evidence of the effort she was making to fit the part.
Of course there would be no male appreciation in his eyes; as he had made clear from the very start, she was the ideal candidate because there would be no temptation for him to come near her. Unless circumstances dictated and he had to for show.
Or, at any rate, something like that.
She was a paid employee and, if it weren’t for this weird situation, he certainly wouldn’t be seeking her out to spend time in her company.
They made excellent progress and her nerves fluttered as she was helped out of the car with her bags and then, by some prior arrangement only possible, she assumed, with very, very rich and influential people, the chauffeur was permitted to leave his car outside the airport so that she could be delivered to the check-in desk without the hassle of having to manage a trolley herself.
Sammy had never experienced anything like it and although she didn’t want to be impressed, she really was.
The crowd parted. People stared and whispered. Someone took a picture. Sammy felt like royalty. She wished she had had the foresight to dump the untrendy coat and scarf before exiting the car.
Cheeks burning, she was relieved to find Leo waiting for her by the first-class check-in desk.
He watched her slow progress towards him. Her hair was loose and it curled and danced around her heart-shaped face, falling in unrestrained ringlets past her shoulders. It was every shade of blond—vanilla streaked with gold with hints of strawberry—and it was brilliantly eye-catching.
The turquoise clarity of her eyes, fringed with dark, dark lashes which were at odds with her blond, blond hair also made him want to stare, he thought distractedly as she abruptly came to a halt in front of him.
‘You’re here,’ he said, lounging indolently against the counter while his driver dealt with the business of the bags on the belt.
‘Did you think I wouldn’t turn up?’
‘Your attitude when we last parted company wasn’t reassuring.’
Sammy blushed. She could breathe him in and it was like breathing in some kind of dangerous, mind-altering drug. She stepped back a little.
‘I’m glad to see you’re wearing the engagement ring.’ He took her hand in his and inspected her finger, looking at it from several angles while she fought the temptation to snatch it away.
‘I put it on in the car,’ she confessed, once she had her burning hand back to herself.
‘I didn’t want to wear it in front of my mum.
’ They had checked in and were moving with purpose through the airport, away from the crowds and the duty-free shops and directly towards the first-class lounge.
Sammy followed in a daze, eyes darting around her, feeling that sneaky, pleasurable important feeling again because she knew that people were staring sideways at them.
He commanded so much attention without even realising it because he looked neither left nor right and was uninterested in everyone around them.
‘Why not?’
‘She knows that this is just a...a...charade, but...’
‘But what?’
‘I just don’t want her to get it into her head that there’s any part of this that might actually be for real.’
‘No.’ Leo looked sideways at her. ‘I’m sure she won’t.’