Read Online Her One and Only by Penny Jordan - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Penny Jordan
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she hadn’t sensed that James liked her...
They were just outside Chester now and Samantha could feel the excitement starting to bubble up inside her. She was so looking forward to being with Bobbie. She gave an exultant sigh and closed her eyes. What would Liam make of Chester, she wondered. He would be impossibly well informed about its long history, of course, with every fact and figure at his fingertips, and whilst she fantasised about the romanticism of its history, he would no doubt insist on bringing her down to earth by reminding her of the savagery and bloodshed it must have known.
Angrily Samantha opened her eyes. Liam! Why on earth was she thinking about him? Just because he had kissed her? Just because she...
‘Are you okay?’ James was asking her, sensing the tension, his forehead creased in concern.
‘I’m fine,’ Samantha assured him, but somehow it felt as though a small cloud had been cast over the exultation she had felt earlier. It was stupid of her to compare the warm, affectionate, almost brotherly touch of James’s lips to the hard, pulse-dizzying possession of Liam’s, and why was she doing it anyway? Liam’s kiss hadn’t meant anything to her.
Not cerebrally maybe, but her body had certainly responded to it—to him.
An accident; an aberration, a faulty bit of sexual programming, that was all that had been.
‘You’ve gone quiet. Are you tired?’ James asked her solicitously.
‘A mite jet-lagged I guess,’ Samantha agreed, gratefully seizing on the excuse he had given her for her lapse in concentration. James was so wonderfully caring and considerate.
‘We’re here now,’ he told her as he swung his small sporty car in through a pair of high wrought-iron gates which opened automatically for them.
The builders who had renovated and converted the large Victorian house into apartments had taken great care to maintain the original facade and to provide well-secured grounds around it. An immaculate expanse of gravel swept round to the front of the building. No parking bays had been marked out on it but James informed Samantha drolly that there was a definite parking spot for each apartment and woe betide anyone who parked in the wrong place.
‘I think if he could get away with it Dad would impose “on the spot” fines on unwitting miscreants parking in the wrong place,’ he told her ruefully.
‘It’s a magnificent house,’ Samantha enthused, automatically reaching for the passenger door handle of the car, but before she could swing it open James was out of the car, sprinting round to the door to open it for her.
There was always a certain formality and protocol attached to being a member of the Governor’s family but Samantha couldn’t remember the last time a date had proved so solicitous towards her.
From its elevated position on the banks of the Dee the house overlooked the river itself and the countryside beyond it and Samantha could well appreciate why James’s parents had wanted to move here.
‘With none of us left at home Ma was finding the house far too large and with three storeys, each with a flight of stairs, it made sense to move to somewhere more easily manageable.’
As he spoke, James was guiding Samantha towards the main entrance to the building.
A special security card was needed to gain entrance into the inner hallway, coolly elegant in cream marble and illuminated with an enormous crystal chandelier.
‘It’s this way,’ James told her, indicating a pair of handsome carved doors on the left and going up to them to press the bell.
Almost immediately the door was opened by James’s mother. Although Patricia Crighton was a very attractive-looking woman, it was from their father that Luke and James had inherited their striking dark good looks.
‘Samantha, my dear, do come in,’ Patricia Crighton greeted her, kissing Samantha warmly on the cheek.
The drawing room the older woman took Samantha to was filled with the elegant antiques Samantha
They were just outside Chester now and Samantha could feel the excitement starting to bubble up inside her. She was so looking forward to being with Bobbie. She gave an exultant sigh and closed her eyes. What would Liam make of Chester, she wondered. He would be impossibly well informed about its long history, of course, with every fact and figure at his fingertips, and whilst she fantasised about the romanticism of its history, he would no doubt insist on bringing her down to earth by reminding her of the savagery and bloodshed it must have known.
Angrily Samantha opened her eyes. Liam! Why on earth was she thinking about him? Just because he had kissed her? Just because she...
‘Are you okay?’ James was asking her, sensing the tension, his forehead creased in concern.
‘I’m fine,’ Samantha assured him, but somehow it felt as though a small cloud had been cast over the exultation she had felt earlier. It was stupid of her to compare the warm, affectionate, almost brotherly touch of James’s lips to the hard, pulse-dizzying possession of Liam’s, and why was she doing it anyway? Liam’s kiss hadn’t meant anything to her.
Not cerebrally maybe, but her body had certainly responded to it—to him.
An accident; an aberration, a faulty bit of sexual programming, that was all that had been.
‘You’ve gone quiet. Are you tired?’ James asked her solicitously.
‘A mite jet-lagged I guess,’ Samantha agreed, gratefully seizing on the excuse he had given her for her lapse in concentration. James was so wonderfully caring and considerate.
‘We’re here now,’ he told her as he swung his small sporty car in through a pair of high wrought-iron gates which opened automatically for them.
The builders who had renovated and converted the large Victorian house into apartments had taken great care to maintain the original facade and to provide well-secured grounds around it. An immaculate expanse of gravel swept round to the front of the building. No parking bays had been marked out on it but James informed Samantha drolly that there was a definite parking spot for each apartment and woe betide anyone who parked in the wrong place.
‘I think if he could get away with it Dad would impose “on the spot” fines on unwitting miscreants parking in the wrong place,’ he told her ruefully.
‘It’s a magnificent house,’ Samantha enthused, automatically reaching for the passenger door handle of the car, but before she could swing it open James was out of the car, sprinting round to the door to open it for her.
There was always a certain formality and protocol attached to being a member of the Governor’s family but Samantha couldn’t remember the last time a date had proved so solicitous towards her.
From its elevated position on the banks of the Dee the house overlooked the river itself and the countryside beyond it and Samantha could well appreciate why James’s parents had wanted to move here.
‘With none of us left at home Ma was finding the house far too large and with three storeys, each with a flight of stairs, it made sense to move to somewhere more easily manageable.’
As he spoke, James was guiding Samantha towards the main entrance to the building.
A special security card was needed to gain entrance into the inner hallway, coolly elegant in cream marble and illuminated with an enormous crystal chandelier.
‘It’s this way,’ James told her, indicating a pair of handsome carved doors on the left and going up to them to press the bell.
Almost immediately the door was opened by James’s mother. Although Patricia Crighton was a very attractive-looking woman, it was from their father that Luke and James had inherited their striking dark good looks.
‘Samantha, my dear, do come in,’ Patricia Crighton greeted her, kissing Samantha warmly on the cheek.
The drawing room the older woman took Samantha to was filled with the elegant antiques Samantha
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