Read Online Return to Sender by Harmony Raines - Free Book Online Page B

thriller instead. Settling down she managed to
temporarily block out her misery.
    About an hour into the movie there was a knock at the
door. She wasn’t expecting anyone. “I bet it’s Sarah Jane, come
back to apologise,” she thought, pulling herself up off the
sofa.
    Looking down at her clothes she sighed, if Sarah Jane
saw her like this she would be more convinced than ever that she
was right about Christie. Well she could think what she liked; she
was not going to change at this time of night.
    Christie went to the door and opened it, her jaw
almost dropped to the floor. There stood the most handsome,
athletic guy she had ever set eyes on, outside of the movies. He
had dark hair, and dark sexy eyes to match, his shirt gripped his
well toned body in all the right places, convincing Christie that
he had a genuine six pack.
    His eyes met hers and he smiled, she automatically
smiled back. Who wouldn’t if they were confronted by such a sight
on their doorstep? Her eyes wandered over his body, taking in the
way his denim jeans hugged his hips, then they went to his hand,
and her smile faltered.
    In it he held a letter, one of her letters, she had
been right, Marcus must have shared them with everyone and someone
had come to laugh at her. Don’t be stupid, she thought, no one
would come to see a complete stranger, no matter how
entertaining.
    Yet if this wasn’t one of Marcus’s army friends
standing, looking so drop dead gorgeous, in front of her, then it
had to be someone else. The only someone else she could think it
could be was the man himself. Yes, that had to be it; the godlike
man in front of her was Marcus. Butterflies set up home in her
stomach, and she felt quite sick, this was not how she imagined
their first meeting would be.
    “Hello, Ma'am, sorry to bother you at this time of
night, but I’ve come a long way. I was wondering if you could give
me the forwarding address of Miss Christine Barnsley?” he asked.
His voice was deep and commanding, yet set with a tone that made
you trust him and want to help.
    Christie simply stared at him like an imbecile; her
mind couldn’t work out why he was asking for a forwarding address
when she stood there in front of him.
    “Ma'am? Do you have that address?” he asked again,
his voice still calm and even.
    “I’m sorry,” she said dragging her senses back to
reality. “I don’t understand why you need the forwarding
address.”
    “Oh, of course. Well, we wrote to each other while I
was serving abroad, I’m a soldier. However the last letter I sent
her was returned to me, I guess she moved and for whatever reason
didn’t inform me.”
    “Excuse me?” Christie was beginning to think this was
some kind of a joke, and Sarah Jane had put someone up to this to
make a fool of her.
    “I sent the letter, and it got returned to sender, no
longer at this address, see.” He explained carefully, holding the
letter out for her to see, and sure enough it had those exact words
written on it.
    “I didn’t write that,” Christie said, looking hard at
the letter.
    “I see, well perhaps someone else in the building
did.” A little exasperation began to creep into his voice.
    She looked up at him, taking in his strong features;
he was as perfect as she had imagined him to be. Her heart did a
back flip, even though he thought she had moved he had still come
looking for her, all at once she woke from her daze.
    “I’m sorry, Marcus,” she said, watching his
expression change. “I don’t have a forwarding address because I
never moved. I’m Christie Barnsley.”
    “I don’t understand, if you are Christie, then who
sent the letter back to me?” His voice sounded guarded. “Listen
I’ve come a long way, I don’t want to play games, I thought you
were different than that.”
    “Marcus, I assure you, I am not playing games. Why
don’t you come in and we can talk?” She stepped back to allow him
into her apartment, it was at that moment she realised how she