Euan shrugged. ‘The email they sent me rather indicated that, without actually saying it.’
Sam punched his shoulder. ‘Why didn’t you say?’
‘I just wanted you to hear it from them. I suppose you’ll have to be back in London for Monday now...’
She raised one eyebrow. ‘No. I told them that I wasn’t free until the week after next. Unless you want me to go?’ She looked up at him, and all the things that one weekend could hold washed over him in a never-ending stream of possibilities.
‘No.’ He felt his fingers tighten possessively around her waist. ‘I want you to stay.’
‘Then I’ll stay. You want to get some ice cream? We need to do something to celebrate.’
The vision of Sam, a bowl of ice cream and a bed drifted into his head. Stayed there, refusing to move. Euan turned, grabbed her hand, striding back towards his house.
‘Where are we going? The café’s that way...’ She was laughing and almost running to keep up with him.
‘It’s seven-thirty in the morning. I have ice cream in my freezer. And if we try doing what I’ve got in mind at a pavement café, we’re going to get arrested.’
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ON SATURDAY MORNING Sam was up early again. She knew that Euan would be waiting for her.
Yesterday they’d worked together, eaten together and made love together, not necessarily in that order. He’d seemed to accept her going back to the flat to sleep, just as he had the night before. That slow smile of his, the quirk of his mouth that signalled he regretted her going, and the assertion that there were ‘no rules’ other than the ones they made for themselves. This morning she knew that he’d be waiting for her.
She picked up the key he’d left on the small chest of drawers in the flat and tucked it into her pocket. Almost ran to his house and let herself in. He was still asleep, and she quietly got undressed and slid into the bed beside him.
‘Mmmph. Your hands are cold.’ His sleepy growl greeted her.
‘Want me to take them away?’
‘Don’t you dare.’ He rolled over, his body hard and strong against hers. ‘We agreed last night.’
‘We did.’ Just when she’d begun to think that this might well break them apart, Euan’s honest pragmatism had come to the rescue.
‘You take your space. No need for excuses, no having to pretend you have work to do, or a headache, or an early start in the morning.’
‘Yes.’ She kissed him, feeling the scratch of his morning stubble. ‘And I let you know that I’m coming back.’
That was what he’d asked in return. He’d said he needed that, and it was the least she could give. Even if it did make her wonder whether he’d put his ex-wife’s behaviour behind him quite as much as he’d said he had.
‘And now you’re here...’ He kissed her neck. Brushed his lips against the soft, sensitive skin of her breasts, and Sam whimpered with longing. It was that easy for him. A few short moments and all she could think about was how much she wanted Euan.
‘What have you got in mind?’
‘Want me to spell it out for you?’
‘Yes, I think I do.’
He chuckled, settling himself on top of her, pinning her down. She stretched her arms above her head, and he reached to grasp her wrists. ‘Listen carefully.’
He stripped away yet another layer. Breached one more set of defences, with just his free hand and his imagination. Euan’s words, murmured against her ear, caressed her senses as he caressed her body, held captive under his. By the time he was ready to make love to her, she wanted him so much she could have begged. Probably had done.
She’d never let anyone else in like this before. Never admitted her need, let alone demand that another human soul should understand and give her what she craved. Sam felt as if she was supposed to be here, with Euan. As if she’d finally found a home.
Home. Sam had wanted a home for as long as she could remember. Sally’s parents had given her the closest she’d ever had to somewhere she could call home, but Sam had always felt that it was just lent to her for a while. When she and Sal had built a company together, that had felt like home, but it hadn’t lasted.
‘I’m meeting Ann and Paul this afternoon. Sally’s parents.’
‘Yeah? What time?’ He craned his neck to see the clock by the side of the bed.
‘About two. Just for a couple of hours. They’re driving down to see Sal’s brother Josh and his wife. They want to stop by and see where I’ve been staying.’ Dared she ask him to meet them? Perhaps he’d think it was too early, or that she was being clingy. Or pushy. Pushy and clingy. She shivered. Sounded like something out of a horror movie.
‘Is that a problem?’ He’d felt the tremor of her limbs against his.
‘No, not at all.’
He nodded, accepting her answer the way he always accepted whatever she had to say. ‘If they’d be interested in seeing Kathryn House, I could drive you out there.’ He left the offer hanging in the air. No pressure. ‘Or perhaps another time.’
Ann and Paul would want to see Kathryn House as much as Sam wanted to show it to them, but she wasn’t sure quite what Euan was offering. ‘What’s best for you?’
‘What would be best for me...’ he trapped her against him, face to face ‘...is if you tell me what you want. If you want to see Ann and Paul on your own, that’s fine. I’ll find something else to do this afternoon. If you’d like to take them to Kathryn House then we’ll do that.’
‘Kathryn House. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love it if you would show them around.’
He laid a finger over her lips. ‘I’d be honoured. In the meantime, what takes your fancy for this morning? There’s the Saturday market, or we could take the crossword down to the beach. It’s a nice day.’
‘Both. We’ll do both.’
He chuckled, rolling back to his side of the bed to let her up. ‘All right, then. And since you’re so eager for action, you get first turn in the shower.’
* * *
She was wearing another of a seemingly inexhaustible selection of pretty summer dresses. There was a sense of unexpected pride at having Sam on his arm. Euan never let what anyone else thought of him weigh on his mind too much, least of all passers-by in the street, but the idea that they might be looking at him and thinking he was a lucky man seemed oddly attractive.
He’d reckoned she might like the hat stall in the market, and he was right. They picked out hats for each other to try on, and then she selected one for herself, a straw hat with a purple band, which matched the flowers on her dress. He offered to buy it for her, but she refused, saying she didn’t really need it. Then capitulated when two other women browsing at the stall said she really must have it.
She’d texted the directions to Kathryn House, so that Ann and Paul could meet them there. Euan went to speak to the plumbers, who were sorting out the pipework in the kitchen, leaving Sam to wait in the hall. When he heard the sound of a car scrunching on the gravel outside he wandered to the door, to see Sam flying into the arms of the woman who got out of the passenger seat.
Ann couldn’t have been more different from Sam if she’d tried, blonde and half a head shorter than her adopted daughter. There was no mistake about the warmth with which the two embraced, though. Euan had reckoned on hanging back for a moment, but Sam practically ran towards him, dragging Ann behind her into the house.
‘This is Euan...’
Ann took a moment to catch her breath and then turned the full force of her attention on him, holding out her hand with all the well-mannered ferocity of a suburban mother bear with a cub to protect.
‘Euan. Nice to meet you. I want to hear all the things that Sam hasn’t told me about you.’ Three-quarters joke, but just enough of a threat about the words to make Euan smil
e. Sam had good people. Good people who were on her side, and would stop at nothing to protect her.
Sam was flushing bright red. ‘What’s with the third degree?’
She didn’t need to worry. Euan would gladly submit to whatever vetting procedure Ann cared to put him through, the more exhaustive the better. He was just glad that someone cared enough about her to do it.
For a moment, though, that was forgotten. A slight, fair man appeared in the hallway and Sam flung herself into his arms. ‘I have something for you.’
‘Yes? What is it this time?’ Paul was teasing her, chuckling with pleasure.
Sam retrieved the box she’d brought with her from the hall table, suddenly uncertain. ‘I...hope you like it. It’s just something that I made...’
Paul’s face creased into a smile as he drew the ball of folded paper flowers from the box. ‘Will you look at that, Ann?’ He held it up, twirling it in the light to show off the brightly coloured glass beads threaded at the base, which Euan recognised as Juno’s creations.
Ann was looking at the folded paper, her hands over her mouth. ‘That’s beautiful, Sam. Just like the ones you and Sally used to make when you were children.’ She ran her fingers lightly over the paper flowers, as if to test that they weren’t just a faded memory. ‘Such pretty paper. Where did you get it?’
‘Euan bought it for me.’
Paul’s pale blue eyes focussed on Euan for a moment. The smallest of nods, which said that maybe, just maybe, he was going to turn out to be good enough for Sam. Then back to the paper ball. ‘Where can I hang this, then?’
‘I made it for your home office. Something to brighten it up a bit.’ Sam was all smiles now.
‘That’s the place. By the window, eh?’
The matter was settled. Paul put the paper ball back into its box and took it out to the car. When he returned, he approached Euan. ‘Ann and I are very interested in your work here.’ Ann nodded hesitantly, and Euan saw Sam slip her hand into hers. ‘We appreciate you offering to show us around.’
‘It’s a pleasure. Sam’s one of the people who is making it possible.’ He saw her flush with pleasure and Paul nodded. Euan turned, leading them through to the newly decorated community room.
* * *
‘Do you like him?’ Euan and Paul were inspecting the summer house, staring up at the eaves and kicking at the wooden supports, as if the structure was about to fall down any minute if they didn’t check it thoroughly. Sam and Ann were sitting on the veranda.
‘It’s not a matter of whether I like him. I think you’re the one those rather splendid smiles are intended for.’
Sam squirmed with embarrassment. ‘I didn’t say...’
‘Oh, please.’ Ann rolled her eyes. ‘All right, if you want it that way, he seems like a fine doctor and he’s obviously doing some very good work here. I think he’ll make an excellent first client for you.’
Sam laughed. ‘I didn’t say that either.’
‘No, you didn’t say anything. Which is generally a sign that you’re waiting for my approval before you tell me about something. Of him...?’
‘No.’ Sam dismissed the idea out of hand. No one with any sense could disapprove of Euan.
‘Then maybe you want that stamp of approval for yourself. You’ve found yourself a handsome doctor, and you want me to tell you that it’s okay.’
‘You think he’s handsome?’
Ann snorted with laughter. ‘I may have been married for thirty-five years, but I’m not blind. Don’t you think he’s handsome?’
‘I think he’s gorgeous.’ Why did this feel so hard?
‘And he makes you feel good?’
‘Yes.’ Another tough admission.
‘So what’s the problem? You don’t need my permission to get on with your life.’
Sam could feel tears beginning to swell in her eyes. ‘What did I do to deserve you and Paul?’
Ann heaved a sigh, as if this was simple and she wasn’t sure why Sam hadn’t realised it long ago. ‘When you were little, you were the best-behaved child I’d ever seen. You used to tidy Josh’s and Sally’s toys away, never shouted in the house, never knocked anything over. As soon as you were tall enough to reach the sink, you’d always be the first out of your seat at mealtimes so you could do the washing-up.’
‘I was...trying to be helpful. I reckoned that if I made myself useful around the house then you and Paul would let me stay.’ It had worked, hadn’t it?
‘We cared about you, Sam. And then we came to love you. That’s why we wanted you to stay.’
A tear rolled down her cheek, and Sam took Ann’s hand and squeezed it. ‘You mean I did all that washing-up for nothing?’
‘Well, I wouldn’t say that. I appreciated it.’ Ann patted her hand. ‘Is he special?’
‘Maybe. I don’t know yet.’ But that wasn’t exactly true, was it? Euan was special all right. Perhaps a bit too special for her.
‘Give it time.’ Ann settled into her chair, squinting across the lawn to where Euan and Paul were fiddling with one of the windows of the summer house, which seemed to need a shove to close properly. ‘Men and sheds, eh?’
‘It’s a summer house, not a shed.’
Ann grinned. ‘It’s made of wood, and not joined to the house, isn’t it? It’s all just a matter of scale.’
* * *
Euan had liked Ann and Paul. Paul’s quiet, easygoing sense of humour had thinly disguised what was obviously a keen interest in Euan’s work, and the part that Sam’s software would play in the charity’s operation. Euan had answered his questions as candidly as he could, brushing away Paul’s apology for being direct. The man had lost one daughter and was obviously keen to protect the other. Euan could only offer compassion for the former and agree with him with regard to the latter.
‘So what’s the matter with the window of the summer house?’ Sam was stretched out on the sofa in his house with him, doing nothing now that Ann and Paul had gone home. Doing nothing with Sam was better than doing pretty much anything else with anyone else.
‘It’s swollen a bit. Just needs a rub down and another coat of wood preservative.’
She nodded. Yawned, and shifted in his arms. ‘Thanks for today. I enjoyed it.’
‘Good. Would you like me to walk you back to the flat?’ He’d learned that if he suggested it as if it was a part of the natural state of things Sam was less embarrassed about going.
‘Um... No. Not yet.’ She snuggled in closer and Euan suppressed a grin. Maybe tonight she’d lie down with him to sleep. It would make him feel a lot happier about having sex with her, as if he wasn’t just taking what he wanted and then letting her go.
‘Do you think...?’ She tapped his chest with her finger, just in case she didn’t have his full attention.
‘All the time. What am I thinking in particular?’
‘Do you think I’m too...well behaved?’
‘Much too well behaved. Considering you do bad behaviour so well...’
She giggled and applied an elbow to his ribs. ‘I don’t mean that. Ann was saying this afternoon that I was too well behaved when I was little.’
An astute lady. ‘And...?’
‘I don’t know. I wondered what you thought.’
‘Well, at a rough guess...’ Euan dropped a kiss onto her forehead ‘...we all seek approval from the people around us. Some kids react to rejection by trying too hard. Being too well behaved.’
‘Mmm.’ She snuggled sleepily into his arms. ‘I’ll think about it.’
He chuckled. ‘Do that. And talking about bad behaviour, I personally don’t have any objection to you snoring.’
‘I don’t snore.’
‘Or if you fart in bed, or thrash around in your sleep. Or if you become a creature of the
night and try to bite me. Actually, that might prove interesting...’
She was laughing now. Just the way he wanted her to. ‘Will you stay tonight, Sam?’
* * *
Sam had thought that perhaps tonight, of all nights, she would sleep peacefully. But still she woke up, cold sweat pricking at her back and the tendrils of a dream clutching at her chest.
Euan was asleep, one arm stretched out towards her, as if he was reaching for her. If only she could just curl up in his arms and go back to sleep. The panic was still too real, though. She was afraid that if she even touched him the poison would somehow migrate from her veins to his.
She got out of bed and pulled on his dressing-gown, padding downstairs and pouring a glass of cold water from the refrigerator. The conservatory was in darkness, criss-crossed by moonlight, and Sam walked through, sitting down in one of the deep, squashy chairs.
‘Can’t sleep?’ She wasn’t sure how long she’d stared up through the glass ceiling at the stars before Euan’s voice made her jump.
‘I got up for some water.’
‘Mind if I join you?’
‘Of course not.’
He sat down opposite her. He’d thrown on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and his brow was as creased as the crumpled fabric.
‘Penny for them?’
‘Not worth it.’
‘They’re all worth it.’
Sam smiled at him wearily. ‘No one wants to pay for the same thing over and over.’ Whatever she did, she seemed to spiral back to the same thing. It was like trying to find your way through a maze and coming back to the place where Sal had died every time.
He gave a small nod. ‘Do you want to go back to the flat?’
‘It’s three o’clock in the morning...’ Things like that didn’t bother Euan. She knew he’d get dressed and take her back if that was what she wanted, without any further questions. ‘I want to be here. With you.’
‘Go back to bed, then.’ His voice brooked no argument, and what she could see of his face was unreadable. ‘I’ll be up in a minute.’
She should probably try to get some sleep. ‘Okay. Don’t be too long.’
A Doctor to Heal Her Heart Page 15