Read Online The Unexpected Consequences of Love by Jill Mansell - Free Book Online

sickening about it, but they’d both known how lucky they were to have found each other and stayed so happy together for so long.
    Forty years…
    Until the day Lawrence Strachan had been taking a misty morning stroll along Mariscombe Beach and had seen two huge, boisterous dogs racing across the sand, so involved in chasing each other that they failed to notice the woman ahead of them and sent her flying in spectacular fashion.
    The woman let out a stifled shriek of dismay and landed awkwardly on one side in the cold, wet sand. The teenage owner of the dogs, in a panic, bellowed at them and legged it, never to be seen on the beach again.
    Which left only Lawrence to hurry over and help the damsel in distress. But who wouldn’t have done the same? The woman was lying facing away from him, gasping with shock and pain, her fine blond hair spread across the sand, her blue sweatshirt and jeans already soaking up water. Then, of course, the lacy edge of a wave slid up the beach, its icy coldness making her gasp again.
    â€œWhat hurts?” said Lawrence, bending over her.
    â€œArm. Elbow. Ow…”
    Carefully he helped her into a sitting position, then to her feet. The woman managed a brief smile and said, “Typical, I only started coming for morning walks to get myself a bit healthier. Serves me right for trying. Anyway, thanks.”
    She was in more pain than she was letting on. Lawrence guided her over to the nearby rocks and sat her down, then gently rolled back the sleeve of her sweatshirt. Her face fell as they both saw the visible kink in her arm.
    â€œBroken,” said Lawrence.
    She shook her head in despair. “Brilliant.”
    â€œCome on, I’ll drive you to the emergency room.”
    â€œI’ve been enough of a nuisance already.” Her gaze took in the fact that the front of his shirt was damp and sandy as well. “You don’t have to.”
    â€œIt’s no problem. Besides, how else would you get there? Catch a bus?”
    Was it fate?
    Was it sheer bad luck?
    Or amazingly good luck?
    Lawrence drove her to the local hospital, discovering en route that her name was Aurora Beauvais. She was forty-eight years old, originally from Edinburgh, recently moved down to St. Carys with her husband Antoine, a composer.
    By the time they reached the emergency room, Lawrence realized he was in the grip of something life-changing, inescapable, a coup de foudre . Nothing had been said, but he could feel it shimmering between them, a palpable, almost audible buzz in the air. Unbelievably, he knew she was experiencing it too. It was at once horrifying and extraordinary.
    He waited with Aurora while she was examined, x-rayed, and had her arm put in plaster. By one o’clock she was free to leave the hospital.
    â€œWhat happens now?” Lawrence asked as he drove her back home.
    â€œI don’t know.” Her eyes were huge, her face pale. “I’m scared.”
    â€œMe too.”
    â€œWe must never see each other again,” said Aurora.
    â€œI can’t do that.” He stared at her, because the prospect was just so utterly unthinkable.
    â€œI know, but we have to. I’m married. I love my husband.” Her voice wavered. “Seriously, I’m just not the kind of person who does that.”
    â€œNor am I. But this is… I don’t know. I love my wife too.”
    â€œI wish we hadn’t met,” said Aurora. “I really do. Those stupid dogs have a lot to answer for.”
    Dot sat up, dragged back to the present, her attention distracted by the sound of Griff, in his basket under the desk, whimpering as he slept, dreaming of chasing rabbits, paws twitching. Life must be great for a dog, mustn’t it? Food, shelter, and affection was all they needed to be happy.
    When you were human, it became that much more complicated…
    The reason Dot knew exactly what had happened on the day Lawrence and Aurora had first become aware