A REASON FOR MARRIAGE

“You know…I don’t think I really care,” Sara answered, surprising herself with her own honesty as she realized she really didn’t care where she was going, so long as Simon was going to be there too. Something had happened to her when that dam of emotion had burst inside her earlier and she had cried in his arms.

Somehow-miraculously-she had been released from all past hurts and disappointments, leaving her emotions as light and free as they had been when she was a university student. She felt that same bubbling sense of anticipation inside her now that she’d had then- what might happen in her life next? What might happen-not what had Sara been planning to happen? Because she no longer felt that determination to decide her life. She had let go of the past. All of it.

So Bruce’s wife was going to have a baby? So what? Bruce probably wouldn’t believe her if she were to say the words to him, but it no longer upset her that Emily was pregnant. She simply wished the two of them every happiness with their future son or daughter, and she had no doubt that Lincoln would be over the moon when his grandchild was born-boy or girl.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

One day Sara might even have that for herself-a family of her own to love-but until and if that day came she would feel a contentedness, a calmness, and just wait and see what happened next. And she really hoped that Simon was going to be part of that more immediate ‘next’. She had already known he was as charming and self-assured as Bruce had ever been, and Simon was certainly more powerfully charismatic- he’d had to have persuaded her to go out with him at all this evening! But after tonight she also knew Simon was kind and considerate, with a quiet strength, caring for her in a way her ex-fiance never had. For a brief moment earlier tonight she had really thought Simon was going to pick Bruce up by his shirtfront and shake him like a rag doll!

But Simon’s strength of character was inborn, not acquired or a veneer-and Sara had never physically wanted a man so badly in her life as she now wanted Simon. Right now, in this moment, she didn’t care about anything else but Simon, and she felt like she was in a fairy tale.

Her arms tightened about his neck as she gazed up at him admiringly. “You really are pretty wonderful, you know.”

He gave a half-smile. “Because I am capable of carrying all these extra pounds you believe you possess into my bedroom?”

“It’s all perfectly proportioned and in the right places!” Sara gave him a playful punch on the arm, realizing as she did so that she still carried her black silk clutch bag.

He gave a disarming grin. “I believe I have already assured you that I am well aware of that.”

Yes, he had-which was another plus in his favor. Simon seemed to be accumulating pluses in spite of Sara’s previous prejudice against him. Too many more of them and she could be in serious danger of falling- Whoa!

Wanting, aching to make love with Simon was one thing-a big thing, considering he was the first man she had wanted to be intimate with since the disintegration of her relationship with Bruce. But allowing her emotions to become involved was something else entirely.

Simon was a Hamilton. From a family that was powerful and rich beyond imagining. More to the point, Simon was a man known for having short and meaningless relationships-not a man that a woman might pin her future hopes and dreams on. With everything else that had happened this evening Sara had forgotten all she’d read and heard about him.

Had she really forgotten? Or was she just in denial? Men like Simon could be wonderful when they were going out with a woman, but turn into a cold and ruthless stranger when he had decided he no longer wanted the relationship. Oh, Sara believed Simon was more than capable of being cold and ruthless-she had seen him being exactly that with Bruce earlier this evening-she could just no longer see Simon behaving that way towards a woman. No doubt that was another no-no his Aunt Ann had instilled in him!

Besides which, the cruel and callous Simon she’d heard about would never have had the patience or the inclination to deal with her tears tonight. He would have run a mile in the other direction.

Which left Sara precisely where? Trusting her own intuition? She had done that in her life once before, with dire results.

No, that wasn’t quite true of the events of years ago. She was twenty-nine now, with a successful career and a life of her own. This attraction she felt towards Simon was based on that maturity and success, not on an imagined youthful idealism.

“What are you thinking about?” Simon had been watching the play of emotions across Sara’s expressive face for the past few minutes after switching on the bedroom light, realizing that she was so lost in thought she hadn’t even noticed they were now in his bedroom and he was standing beside his king-sized bed, still holding her in his arms.

She gave him a startled glance as she took in the intimacy of their surroundings, and then that surprise was replaced by a warm and inviting smile.

“Nothing of any importance,” she assured him huskily.

“Sure?”

“Very sure,” she confirmed determinedly.

It sounded to Simon as if she had made her mind up to something-to do something-and was determined not to allow anything to make her change it.

All of which confirmed to Simon that the decision he had made a few minutes ago in regard to making love with Sara tonight was the right one.

“Could you pull back the bedcovers?” He lowered her slightly so that she could turn back the brocade cover and the duvet, before lowering her completely onto the bed. Her arms fell from about his neck as he straightened slightly to look down at her. Her hair was an ebony tumble against the cream silk sheets.

“Roll over,” he encouraged gruffly as he took the black bag gently out of her hand and placed it on the bedside cabinet.

“Roll…?”