Stranger at the beach house (29 page)

Dawn
was almost breaking by the time we reached home. I changed out of the dress
into my jeans and one of Sam’s T-shirts that were both on the chair in the
bedroom from before we’d left and flopped back on the bed, my mind racing. I
tried to sleep but I couldn’t, and as ten o’clock approached I grabbed myself a
coffee and made my way into the lounge, sitting next to Harry who had
apparently been glued to the TV all morning. “It’s insane, Rose, he’s fucking
everywhere,” he said as I sighed.

 
“I think I preferred low profile, Harry,” I
said sadly as I saw his beautiful face on the screen, blinded by the onslaught
of a million flashbulbs.

Sam
handled the press conference with a smooth ease, looking every inch a man in
control. He had fielded each question confidently and articulately and left the
press pack in no doubt that he had done this for reasons of fairness and
justice and not for any element of self gain. He had put his career in jeopardy
gathering evidence and put himself at significant risk to ‘out’ some hugely
powerful individuals. He was poised, self assured and incredibly sexy. They
were eating out of his hands.

When
the serious questions were done, it was time for the media to learn more about
the man behind the revelations and he handled the onslaught with such
magnetism, charisma and self deprecating humour that it was hard not to love
the whistleblower behind the microphones. Jeez, he was good.

 
They had already decided there were column
inches and plenty of mileage in this gorgeous hero and it was clear which way
it was headed. “They’re overdoing the whole playboy thing aren’t they?” I said
sulkily to Harry.

 
“Look at him, Rose, it’s kind of the image
he’s playing up to,” he replied and I couldn’t have agreed more. In his
tailored three piece suit, day old stubble and ruffled ‘just out of bed’ hair,
he looked every inch the blue eyed, multi millionaire playboy they were
painting him out to be.

Worse
still, he seemed to be lapping up every moment of it. It hurt like hell and all
my insecurities came flooding to the surface as pictures of him with other
women at various events were screened across the channels and the press tried
to get an angle on Sam.

I
began to wonder if there was a model alive that he hadn’t dated at one time or another.
They all outshone me in the beauty stakes, and when he deployed his most
devastating smile in answer to a direct question about a woman in his life, I
recognised the diversionary tactic immediately. God knows I had fallen for it
often enough.

 
There was no mention of me and I looked at
Harry who was staring at the screen and listening intently. Was he ashamed of
me? Had he simply sent me back here to get me out of the way? Had I just been a
distraction while he was hiding out? It certainly hadn’t
felt
that way, but God knows my instincts have been way off in the
past. I felt suddenly sick, the colour draining from my face.

“Hey,
Rose, are you OK?” Harry asked, moving closer. My reaction had not gone
unnoticed and tears pricked at the back of my eyes as I realised that my heart
was about to be trampled again.

 
“No, Harry, I’m not. Why is he doing this? I
feel so stupid. I thought he cared about me, I thought I was important to him.
I can see now the sort of women he’s used to dating and why he’d be too ashamed
to mention me. I can’t believe I’ve been such a fucking idiot. No wonder he
never sold his place in Canary Wharf.
 
Am
I just someone to kill a bit of time with before he resumes his playboy
lifestyle?”

Harry
put a comforting arm around my shoulder, his face serious as he looked at his
friend on the screen and then at me. ”I’ve got a feeling that this image is
exactly what he wants to project, Rose. Think about it. If they don’t think he
has a girlfriend then they won’t come hounding you. I told you in the car what
he thinks about you. Sam is a very shrewd operator. It’s my guess that he’s
going along with this to protect you, to keep you out of this whole circus. You
can just imagine what the vultures would be like if they got wind of you. You’d
be under the spotlight and picked apart and it wouldn’t be pretty, Rose. You
know how it is with these things,” he said as I tried to wipe away the tears.

He
was right about the tabloid press, they could be cruel and relentless but was
he right about Sam? I hoped with all my heart that he was. He hadn’t had a
chance to talk to Sam about all this any more than I had since last night. It
had happened too quickly, but he knew his friend and right now I had to trust
his judgement.

“Look
at these pictures, Rose, they are all really old. There’s nothing recent,” he
said and I felt myself thinking how relieved I was that I hadn’t seen any
pictures of Sam with the girl from the party. “Last week he was cavorting with
you all over London, he took you to meet his parents and his friends. Those are
not the actions of a man who’s ashamed of you, are they?” he raised his
eyebrows, smiling kindly. I shook my head. Maybe he was right. God this whole
thing was such a mess. I wish he’d told me, given me time to get my head around
everything, a chance to prepare.

“Have
you noticed that nobody has come forward with any stories about the two of
you?” he continued, giving me a knowing look. It was true, there was nothing,
no one was talking. “You might think his relationships with some of his friends
are a little fucked up,” he snorted, referring to the dinner party. He was
right, I did and I hadn’t made any secret of that fact. I half giggled, nodding
at him. “He knows he can trust those people, Rose,” he smiled back.

 
“I suspect he’s also put out a very strong
threat to anyone else who might consider going public about the significant
woman in his life. He’s a good guy, Honey, but it’s well known that if he’s
crossed he can be one ruthless bastard. Let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t want
to be Bowman right now,” Harry said as I followed his gaze back to the screen,
watching Sam who looked powerful and sophisticated and was absolutely oozing
sex appeal. To the watching world he was the ultimate playboy bachelor. Was it
possible he was doing this to protect me?

His
image was looming large on the giant plasma, and as he got up to leave the
press conference to a barrage of flashing cameras,
Harry’s
phoned buzzed beside me and I couldn’t help glancing over to read the words on
the screen;

Is she OK?

I
knew what his response would be. I was trying but I wasn’t OK, not really. I
wouldn’t be until he was here at home and I could talk all this through. Harry
was a huge help but he didn’t have all the answers I needed. They could only
come from one person, and I guessed he wouldn’t be able to leave London any
time soon. As I stood up my own phone alerted me to an incoming text.

Please trust me x

I
longed to feel his touch, his warmth and his strong hands all over my body,
melting me inside and out. I wanted to hear him say that the whole playboy
thing was a calculated move for my protection and that he was still
my
Sam. The craving consumed me. The
images from his past were hurtful and I was still plagued with insecurities. He
was asking me to trust him yet again and now, as always, I didn’t really have a
choice.

Sleep
evaded me for a long time until I eventually drifted off, exhausted from the
events of last night and this morning, trying to hit the snooze button on my
phone before I realised it was actually ringing. “Hey, Sweetheart, is Harry
looking after you,” Sam purred down the line and I smiled, pulling myself
slowly from my slumber. He had left for Joy’s after the press conference and
I’d been asleep so I’d hardly seen him.

 
“He’s taking care of business. When will you
be back?” I asked, praying it would be soon.

 
“It’s really hectic, Rose. It could be a
while, a few days at least,” he said as my heart sank and I couldn’t disguise
my disappointment.

“Why
are you acting like the UK’s biggest playboy, Sam? I need to know what we’ve
got here is real. Harry said you’re doing it on purpose to throw the press off
and try to stop them from getting to me. Please tell me the truth,
Sam,
you know how Daniel treated me. From the minute I got
back here, I feel like I’ve just been swept away and I have no control over my
life again. It’s been like that for the last few months with one thing and
another. It’s not what I expected when I came here and I’m struggling to come
to terms with it all,” I said, voicing all the concerns that were currently in
my head and exhaling a huge sigh.

I
heard Sam sigh too. As much as I didn’t want to pile on the pressure, I had to
hear it from him. “Rose, listen to me. Everything we have is the truth.
Harry’s
right, this is bullshit but it’s necessary. I was
planning to break this slowly, piece by piece when we were home and out of the
way. It’s a big story and the plan was always to release it bit by bit, which
would have happened over a longer period of time and been more manageable for
everyone. Daniel’s leaked the big news, the juicy bits if you like. They
weren’t supposed to come out until later when we’d all had a chance to adjust.
I’m sorry it’s happened like this, but all I can do is
try
and manage it the best I can. This is the only way I can see to keep you out of
it,” he explained and my heart went out to him, he already sounded exhausted.

“Our
relationship has developed quickly, Baby, and as far as that goes I feel as
much out of control as you do,” he laughed. “The pictures on the news are all
ancient history, Sweetheart, and I know it’s not nice, I would
fucking
hate it. But as bad as it is, it’s better than the
alternative,” he said and he was right.

 
“I know,” I said quietly.

What
are you doing?” he asked, his silky voice stirring my senses.

 
“Just lying in bed,” I replied, wishing he was
next to me.

 
“
Mmmm
,” he purred in
his low deep voice that dripped with sex. “Tell me what you’re wearing,” he
said as I giggled, amazed that he could even be interested with everything else
that was going on in his life at this moment.

 
I smiled, pulling the white cotton tightly
around me and inhaling his scent. “
Your
T-shirt,” I
said, wishing once again he was right here with me.

 
“And what else, Baby?” he asked suggestively.

 
“Nothing,” I whispered and the line went
silent for a moment.

“Fuck,”
he said in a tone so deliciously sexy that it resonated in my core.

 
“Yes please,” I breathed, giggling as the line
went silent again.

 
“Just outside this door I’ve got the worlds
media vying to take my picture and right now I’ve got a raging fucking hard on,
Lady,” he said as I giggled even harder.

 
“Sorry, Sam,” I laughed down the phone. I
wasn’t.

 
“Oh, you will be, Sweetheart,” he said and the
line went dead, his delicious erotic threat playing over and over in my mind as
I drifted back to sleep.

It
was almost time for dinner when I woke and I couldn’t believe I’d been out that
long. Harry had reappeared and was cooking pasta as I walked into the kitchen
and from the look on his face I knew the answer before I’d even asked the
question. “Have you had a good day?” I smiled, raising my eyebrows at him.

“The
best,” he grinned.

 
“Rural life seems to agree with you, Harry,
can’t think why,” I laughed, giving him a playful slap on the arm as I reached
into the wine cooler for a crisp bottle of white.

“Is
Joy coming over?” I asked as he turned to look at me, a small frown marring his
brow.

 
“If that’s OK with you,
Rose.
I know I haven’t been here much today and Sam made me promise to
look after you,” he said with a rather sheepish grin.

 
“Yes of course, it’s great news. By the way,
Sam did ask me earlier if you were taking good care of me. I thought it only
fair to tell him the truth,” I said, pulling my most serious face as his grin
suddenly faded.

 
“What did you tell him, Rose?” he asked,
sounding surprisingly scared and I wondered if Sam had given him a stern
warning along with his instructions.

 
“I told him you were taking care of business,”
I laughed as he finally relaxed and we were still laughing as Joy came bounding
in, rushing over to hug me before planting a giant kiss on a stunned Harry.

“Oh
my God, Rose, the town is absolutely buzzing at the news that we’ve got a
celebrity in our midst,” she said as I rolled my eyes. I could only imagine.

 
“Naked yoga classes?”
I laughed as
Harry’s
jaw dropped.

 
“Not yet, but the dogs home is doing a roaring
trade. It’s any excuse to get up this end of the beach,” she said chuckling.