Read Online Her One and Only by Penny Jordan - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Penny Jordan
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remembered from their previous home. There was, she noticed, a very recent photograph of her twin sister with her husband Luke and their little girl amongst the other family photographs on top of the elegant Queen Anne side table.
‘Is Dad here? I’ve got those papers he asked me for,’ James said to his mother.
‘He’s in his study, darling,’ she responded, adding, ‘Oh, and by the way, we’ve got a visitor.’ She stopped, giving James a rather wary look, and then the drawing room door opened to admit her husband and a young woman who Samantha did not recognise.
‘Rosemary, what the devil are you doing here?’ she heard James demanding sharply, the antagonism so very evident in his voice and his demeanour that Samantha looked at him in surprise. Suddenly he looked and sounded so very much more like his elder brother, so very forcibly a Crighton, and it was obvious from his expression what his feelings were for the girl who had just walked into the room. What on earth had she done to make James, of all people, dislike her so much? Samantha wondered curiously.
Small and red-headed, she had a neat triangular-shaped face with high cheek-bones and huge amber-flecked golden eyes. Although she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt there was no disguising the rounded voluptuousness of her figure. Her waist was tiny, Samantha noticed, so small that she guessed a man could easily span it with his hands.
‘Rosemary, my dear,’ James’s mother was beginning but the girl wasn’t paying any attention to her, instead she was concentrating wholly and completely on James, fixing him with a fulminating look of bitter hostility.
‘Oh, it’s all right, Aunt Pat,’ she announced with an angry toss of her head. ‘Far be it from me to point out that since this isn’t James’s house he doesn’t really have any right to question my presence here. Your mother has invited me to come and stay with her, James,’ she added, baring her teeth in a smile that made Samantha think of an angry and dangerous little cat.
‘Rosemary needed a break,’ James’s mother was saying palliatively. ‘She’s worked so hard for her finals and now that she’s qualified...’
‘Qualified?’ James interrupted sharply. ‘God help anyone who needs...who’s desperate enough to need your medical expertise, Rosemary. Personally I’d sooner...’
‘James,’ his mother commanded warningly.
Two brilliant coins of hot colour were now burning in the girl’s creamy pale skin and her eyes... Samantha grimaced a little as she studied their furious molten heat. Small she might be, but there was no mistaking the ferocity of her emotions.
‘Rosemary has just finished her medical training and qualified as a GP,’ James’s mother informed Samantha gently. ‘And since I’m her godmother I felt that her hard work and dedication deserved rewarding with a small treat, especially since her fiancé Tim is going to be working abroad all summer.’
As James’s mother spoke Rosemary lifted her hand, showing off the diamond ring she was wearing, the look she gave James a mixture of defiance and triumph.
‘You see, James,’ she told him, ‘not all men share your opinion of me.’
‘You’re engaged!’ It was plain to see how shocked James was. ‘What a masochist!’
‘James!’ Pat Crighton expostulated sharply.
Grimly James turned towards his father.
‘A small treat.’ James picked up on what his mother had said. ‘So you’ve invited her to stay here for a few weeks...’ His voice was full of disgust.
‘Here are the papers you asked me for,’ he said to his father, turning his back on his mother and Rosemary.
‘We must go,’ he informed them all. ‘Bobbie is expecting us and Samantha’s beginning to feel a little jet-lagged.’
‘It’s probably something to do with a lack of oxygen,’ Rosemary chipped in in mock sympathy, something about the acid sweetness of her voice causing Samantha to focus on her more closely. When she
‘Is Dad here? I’ve got those papers he asked me for,’ James said to his mother.
‘He’s in his study, darling,’ she responded, adding, ‘Oh, and by the way, we’ve got a visitor.’ She stopped, giving James a rather wary look, and then the drawing room door opened to admit her husband and a young woman who Samantha did not recognise.
‘Rosemary, what the devil are you doing here?’ she heard James demanding sharply, the antagonism so very evident in his voice and his demeanour that Samantha looked at him in surprise. Suddenly he looked and sounded so very much more like his elder brother, so very forcibly a Crighton, and it was obvious from his expression what his feelings were for the girl who had just walked into the room. What on earth had she done to make James, of all people, dislike her so much? Samantha wondered curiously.
Small and red-headed, she had a neat triangular-shaped face with high cheek-bones and huge amber-flecked golden eyes. Although she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt there was no disguising the rounded voluptuousness of her figure. Her waist was tiny, Samantha noticed, so small that she guessed a man could easily span it with his hands.
‘Rosemary, my dear,’ James’s mother was beginning but the girl wasn’t paying any attention to her, instead she was concentrating wholly and completely on James, fixing him with a fulminating look of bitter hostility.
‘Oh, it’s all right, Aunt Pat,’ she announced with an angry toss of her head. ‘Far be it from me to point out that since this isn’t James’s house he doesn’t really have any right to question my presence here. Your mother has invited me to come and stay with her, James,’ she added, baring her teeth in a smile that made Samantha think of an angry and dangerous little cat.
‘Rosemary needed a break,’ James’s mother was saying palliatively. ‘She’s worked so hard for her finals and now that she’s qualified...’
‘Qualified?’ James interrupted sharply. ‘God help anyone who needs...who’s desperate enough to need your medical expertise, Rosemary. Personally I’d sooner...’
‘James,’ his mother commanded warningly.
Two brilliant coins of hot colour were now burning in the girl’s creamy pale skin and her eyes... Samantha grimaced a little as she studied their furious molten heat. Small she might be, but there was no mistaking the ferocity of her emotions.
‘Rosemary has just finished her medical training and qualified as a GP,’ James’s mother informed Samantha gently. ‘And since I’m her godmother I felt that her hard work and dedication deserved rewarding with a small treat, especially since her fiancé Tim is going to be working abroad all summer.’
As James’s mother spoke Rosemary lifted her hand, showing off the diamond ring she was wearing, the look she gave James a mixture of defiance and triumph.
‘You see, James,’ she told him, ‘not all men share your opinion of me.’
‘You’re engaged!’ It was plain to see how shocked James was. ‘What a masochist!’
‘James!’ Pat Crighton expostulated sharply.
Grimly James turned towards his father.
‘A small treat.’ James picked up on what his mother had said. ‘So you’ve invited her to stay here for a few weeks...’ His voice was full of disgust.
‘Here are the papers you asked me for,’ he said to his father, turning his back on his mother and Rosemary.
‘We must go,’ he informed them all. ‘Bobbie is expecting us and Samantha’s beginning to feel a little jet-lagged.’
‘It’s probably something to do with a lack of oxygen,’ Rosemary chipped in in mock sympathy, something about the acid sweetness of her voice causing Samantha to focus on her more closely. When she
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