Chapter Six
IT WAS A mad rush. Who knew that choosing some clothes and having bits and pieces done could actually take up so much of a person’s time?
She’d whizzed through the shop, enjoying the heady feeling of having the snooty saleswoman bend over backwards to make sure she got exactly what she wanted.
Before they’d left the hotel, with Sammy still in protest mode at being told that her clothes were too cheap to be seen in when she was supposed to be engaged to him, he had urged her to buy whatever she wanted.
He already had details of her bank account and he had told her that if she didn’t want him handing over his credit card to a salesperson because it went against her feminist instincts then she was free to use her own—he would ensure sufficient money was deposited into her account to cover all costs.
He’d named a sum that had stunned her into silence and had shrugged when she had told him that she wouldn’t know how to spend that amount of money because surely a few items of clothing couldn’t cost very much.
Her plan had been to select the least outrageously expensive items of clothing and, likewise, the least flamboyant.
Plans, she discovered, could change in a heartbeat.
At the end of forty-five minutes in the boutique, and another forty-five minutes in two other boutiques farther along in the shady, exclusive arcade, she was weighed down by several bags, and two hours after that the hands holding those bags had been manicured and the feet shod in some rather delightful sandals, which were far more attractive than her canvas shoes and the hair. .. She felt like a million dollars.
But it had been an almighty rush. She hadn’t been able to stop for food and, without breakfast, her stomach was intent on reminding her that sustenance was a lot more important than appearance.
And, for the first time in her life, Sammy didn’t agree. She just had time to dash to the hotel, dump all the bags, change clothes and make sure she looked the part before she was back out to the car, which was on permanent standby just for her.
Now, with barely seconds to spare, she gazed at the graceful Victorian building that housed the law firm Leo was using to represent his interests.
Drawing in a deep breath, she purposefully strode towards the grey brick building, checked in at reception and was shown towards a conference room on the first floor.
Tension knotted her stomach. Nerves at the thought of the meeting that lay ahead and nerves at the new look she was sporting and how that new look would be received.
Did she look silly? she wondered.
She had felt so confident in the shop but then the saleswoman was in the business for a reason; she was adept at flogging very expensive clothes to women and part of her tactics would involve lavish praise and over-the-top compliments.
She told herself that instead of focusing on her silly clothes she should focus instead on what really mattered, which was the fate of a five-year-old girl whose life could be changed forever by what went on in that conference room.
This wasn’t her. This person in shiny, expensive new clothes, seeking other people’s approval and admiration. This wasn’t her and it wasn’t how she had been brought up!
Chin up, priorities firmly back in place, she took a deep breath and confidently entered the room, brushing past the young girl who had stepped back, holding the door open for her.
She only faltered for a second.
The room was absolutely enormous and there was nothing old-fashioned about the decor.
A long, sleek table, so highly polished that it was as reflective as a mirror, dominated the central area, long enough to seat twenty people comfortably.
To the back was a small circle of chairs and one wall was taken up with a white screen for presentations.
There was a laptop in front of every chair.
By the window, a sideboard, of the same highly polished wood as the conference table, housed coffee and tea-making facilities and plates of biscuits and tiny cakes, none of which appeared to have been touched.
Sammy took in all of this in a matter of seconds but, even as she was absorbing the surroundings, she remained entirely focused on the people sitting at that long conference table.
Leo easily dominated the group of eight. He was sprawled back in his chair, which he had pushed away from the table, and his face was thoughtful and shuttered. He looked exactly like what he was—a lean, dangerous predator out to win.
But her eyes lingered on him for only a few moments because almost immediately she noticed the woman sitting directly opposite him and she knew, without having to be told, that this was Gail Jamieson.
She was small. Even sitting, Sammy could tell that she was no taller than five-two, maybe less, and she was the sort of woman who made jaws drop and caused heads to turn.
Her hair was a big bouffant and very blond, and her face tried desperately to belie her age, but the work she’d had done, rather than making her seem younger than her years, had somehow managed to age her.
Her eyes were wide and unblinking, her skin unnaturally line-free and her lips were pillowy and painted a bright fuchsia-pink, perfectly matching the colour of her formal suit which, likewise, matched her high stilettos.
She sought Leo, who had risen to greet her, and when he enfolded her in a brief embrace she wanted to stay there because she knew that the second she was released she would be in the firing line of Gail and her bank of representatives.
She had come out to play hardball and she wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.
The conversation, the discussion of technicalities, voices being raised, Gail stridently talking over her lawyer and Leo responding coldly and with the sort of utter self-composure that should have been seen as a warning of armoury ready and poised for action passed in a blur and before she knew it the meeting was over.
As Sammy followed Leo—who was talking in a low, urgent voice to one of his lawyers—out of the room, Gail strode towards her.
‘Funny,’ Gail said, tugging Sammy to a stop, ‘Sean never mentioned you when he spoke about his stepbrother.’
‘Er...’
‘And he spoke about Leo a lot. But never mentioned you. Not once. Funny that, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Why is it funny?’ Sammy finally found her voice. She darted a look at Leo, who had not noticed that she had been held back. He had his hands in his pockets and she could see from his body language that he was one hundred per cent focused on whatever was being said to him.
‘Because...’
Bright pink nails dug into Sammy’s arm. When Sammy looked down she was skewered by light blue, unblinking eyes.
‘Because he followed everything Leo did, and I mean everything. Knew who Leo was going out with almost before he was going out with them! But he never mentioned you. Not once. So I’m just curious as to how it is that Leo’s suddenly engaged to be married.
To someone he didn’t know from Adam two months ago. ’
‘Love.’
Leo’s voice was deep and dark and held just the tiniest hint of menace.
Sammy felt his arm around her waist and she leant into him, relieved beyond belief that he had interrupted what showed promise of being a difficult exchange.
‘Ever experienced that, Gail? Or has the love of a good deal always won out over the love of a good man?’
Gail’s lips pursed. Her ample bosom heaved. Every strand of heavily dyed blond hair seemed to bristle with rage.
‘Over my dead body,’ she spat, ‘are you going to get the kid. And don’t think that you can fool me into thinking that you’re suddenly Mr Respectable because you happen to show up here with some woman wearing an engagement ring.’
‘I hope this isn’t the sound of you spoiling for a fight,’ Leo drawled. ‘Because I don’t like fighting but if I have to, I always emerge the winner.’
The pack of lawyers had disappeared, shooting off in separate directions.
‘I’ve brought that kid up like she was my own!’
‘Then I shudder to think what sort of upbringing your daughter was subjected to,’ Leo informed her coldly. ‘From what I’ve unearthed about you, a life of alcohol with a revolving door of unsuitable younger men hardly sounds like a woman who should have possession of a child.’
‘Adele relies on me. I’m all she’s known since she was born. Louise and Sean had their problems and I had the kid in my care more regularly than they did.’
‘I have neither the inclination nor the time to get into an argument with you. If you want a fight, then fight through our lawyers. Don’t ever let me find you trying to sideline my fiancée into any sort of conversation or, worse, trying to intimidate her in any way whatsoever. Do you read me loud and clear?’
He hadn’t bothered to look in Gail’s direction when he said this and his voice was calm and perfectly modulated but, even so, Sammy felt a shiver of apprehension on behalf of the other woman should she decide to ignore the warning.
And Gail must have felt the same. Her bravado evaporated as they stepped back outside into the sweltering heat and the pulsing throng of people in shorts and tee shirts.
‘I don’t want to fight either.’ Her voice was plaintive. ‘If it comes to it, I just want what’s fair for me and all the time I’ve put in with the kid. If it weren’t for me...’
‘I’ve already heard that tale of self-sacrifice.’ Leo’s arm was still draped possessively over Sammy’s shoulders and he was looking at Gail now, through narrowed eyes. ‘It failed to impress me the first time and it fails to impress me now.’
Sammy found that she had been holding her breath and she expelled it in one long, shuddering sigh of relief as the older woman merged into the crowds, a dollop of bright pink that was visible as she weaved along the pavements, finally vanishing round a corner.
‘Wow,’ she said weakly. ‘She’s a force of nature.’
‘She’s an idiot for thinking she can win this.’