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‘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.
