Chained Reaction

Copyright 2013 Lynne King
Smashwords Edition

Five years ago, a prison sentence took away
Jamie and Lucy’s happy ever after.
Today they’ll start getting it back.

Chained Reaction

www.BOROUGHSPUBLISHINGGROUP.com

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events, locales, business establishments or persons,
living or dead, is coincidental. Boroughs Publishing Group does not
have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author
or third-party websites, blogs or critiques or their content.

CHAINED REACTION
Copyright © 2013 Lynne King

All rights reserved. Unless specifically
noted, no part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, known or hereinafter invented, without the express
written permission of Boroughs Publishing Group. The scanning,
uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any
other means without the permission of Boroughs Publishing Group is
illegal and punishable by law. Participation in the piracy of
copyrighted materials violates the author’s rights.

Digital edition created by Maureen
Cutajar
www.gopublished.com

ISBN 978-1-938876-62-2

Title Page

Copyright

Begin Reading

Author Bio

Chained Reaction

Lucy stood by the window watching the rain
trickling down the glass. Michael’s plane should be landing now,
if
he had been truthful about his destination. He hadn’t
told her the name of the hotel in New York, but then she never
asked.

The phone started ringing. Reaching out for
the receiver, her gaze remained on the scene outside, a rainbow now
arching over the horizon.

“Hello,” her despondent tone echoed her
mood.

“Lucy, is that you?”

“Jamie!” Leaning against the cool pane, the
pleasurable shiver took her by surprise. She had tried to envisage
this moment for so long, what she would feel and how she would
react. Hearing his voice again was a fantasy that she’d clung to
through each day.

Reality was that she never thought she would
hear him speak her name again.

Her throat was dry and she wanted him to say
more, but he was waiting for her. She took a deep breath and
allowed the words out slowly. “When did you get out?”

“Yesterday. Early release on account of my
good behaviour. Hard to believe, wouldn’t you say?”

He sounded so distant and Lucy felt at a
loss as to what to say next. There was so much, but nothing she
could put into words, not yet anyway.

“Are you okay?” Stupid question, she knew,
but for the moment accusations and recriminations no longer
mattered. Hearing his voice again with its faint Irish twang was
what she had longed for, prayed for, and she wanted to savour it.
He was in her thoughts day and night and all she longed to hear was
confirmation that nothing had changed between them.

Instead his voice was tinged with a
bitterness she had known would be there. “I managed to survive for
four years and sixty-five days living like a caged animal but
otherwise from that, I’m fine. Is he there with you?”

“If you’re referring to Michael, he’s in New
York for the weekend, on business.” She wanted to add that Michael
combined business with pleasure and made no secret of it, but what
was the point. The mistake had been hers to move in with him in the
first place, especially when she knew it wasn’t done out of
love.

“Didn’t take you long to return to him. He
always said you would and for once he was right.”

She felt the accusation in his voice,
evidence that he still cared. With it came the feeling of hope that
it wasn’t over between them. “It’s not how it looks. Michael’s been
good to me.”

“Are you happy?”

“I knew happiness once and it broke my heart
so now I’m making do.” She squeezed her eyelids shut fighting back
the sorrow.

He released a long sigh. “I’m sorry for what
I said earlier. I just wish it wasn’t him. You deserve so much
better. Far more than I could ever offer.”

She couldn’t stop herself from asking now,
after so many unanswered questions and so much pain and for what?
“Why, Jamie?” Just because he thought she deserved better? She’d
loved him and was willing to wait for him and for that he’d turned
his back on her. “Why did you refuse my visits and return all my
letters?”

“I had nothing to give you.”

She wanted to scream the truth at him but
she was afraid. What if he knew all along and didn’t want the added
responsibility? It couldn’t be said, not like this over the phone.
She had to see him face to face, only then would she know for sure.
“Where are you now?”

The silence told her he was nearby. She
could hear the rain mixed in with the steady sound of his breathing
and something else. Yes, she recognised the background sounds. The
distinctive chime of the Victorian town clock was her confirmation.
He was outside their local railway station.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Don’t forsake
me again, Jamie.”

Finally he spoke. “Is that a good idea,
Lucy? Nothing has changed, I’m still the bastard who let you down
and will do it again.” The warm masculine tone promised her nothing
and yet drew her in like a moth to a flame.

“You rang me, remember. Maybe you’re having
trouble keeping to that promise.” She pressed disconnect on her
phone.

Pulling her long, fair hair free from the
severe bun she wore, her fingers teased the strands and then it was
off with her jeans and T-shirt. She left the items where they had
fallen, such was her hurry, fearful that the longer she took, the
bigger the chance he would leave. That tingling anticipation was
back. Only one man was capable of arousing it. Over her black lace
silk bra and panties she slipped on a red shift dress, kept her
legs bare and discarded her usual pumps for three-inch heels.

Crossing the vast hallway to the door
opposite, she hesitated before opening it. She then stepped into a
room adorned with pink and white elephants on the wall and matching
curtains. Lucy felt a different pull of love rise through her as
her eyes glanced down at the mop of dark curls.

“Mummy,” A beaming four-year-old scrambled
to her feet and rushed up to Lucy, holding up a sheet of paper with
fiery colours etched across it. “Look what I’ve drawn for you. It’s
a rainbow.”

Lucy blinked away the wetness and knelt down
to her daughter. “That’s beautiful, darling. Mummy’s got to go out
and might not be back in time for your bedtime. Susie will put you
to bed and read a story. You will be good for her, won’t you?” She
could hear Susie’s footsteps coming up the creaking oak staircase
and waited for her to join them.

Susie’s Scandinavian features showed
surprise and her voice revealed her curiosity. “You look very nice.
Are you going anywhere special?”

“Thank you, Susie, and yes I’m going into
London to see a show with a friend.” How easy the lie could slip
out but she felt no shame or guilt. She smiled at her daughter and
blew her another kiss.

Leaving the two of them, Lucy guessed the
nanny was probably suspicious. It wasn’t as if Lucy made a habit of
going out all afternoon and evening and always insisted putting her
daughter to bed herself. No doubt Susie would report back to
Michael, seeing as she had been employed by him against Lucy’s
wishes.

Climbing into her silver BMW, Lucy glanced
up in time to see a shadow move away from the window in her
daughter’s bedroom. Yes, Susie would report back to Michael. Lucy
felt maybe it was what she wanted, for Michael to question her
about where and whom had she been with. She wouldn’t lie, couldn’t,
and as for hurting him, it was time to put an end to it. As for how
he might react, there was no telling with Michael.

Five minutes of driving and she was on the
main road into the wealthy hamlet nestling beside the river Thames
and passing the grand Victorian town hall with its clock tower that
chimed regularly on the hour until midnight. The rain was easing
off allowing the July sun to win through and bringing out Saturday
afternoon shoppers. Humidity hung in the air causing a light
mist.

She saw him before he glanced in her
direction. Leaning up against a wall outside the town’s train
station, his face was pointing up toward the sky. He had no
umbrella or jacket, his black T-shirt was plastered to his chest.
Low-slung, dark jeans moulded around hard thigh muscles. Lifting up
a hand, his fingers swept back dark strands of hair that dripped
from his forehead.

Lucy felt her breath leave her body. The
physical attraction had not wavered; not from the moment when she
had first laid eyes upon him. She remembered it so clearly, the
group of them all cheering as an unknown band won the crowd over at
a local rock festival. The music was wild, the words revolutionary
and the lead vocalist, sex on legs. Michael had been so
bad-tempered that day, accusing her of acting like a tramp.

She proved him right in the end.

When someone had remarked wasn’t it
Michael’s Irish cousin, Jamieson O’Sullivan up there on stage, the
reason for Michael’s moodiness became all too clear. This was the
orphaned relative that Michael felt nothing but jealousy and
resentment for. Why had never made sense, seeing Michael was the
one with the privileged background, university paid for by his
wealthy parents and a guaranteed position in his father’s
company.

What Michael saw in her didn’t make sense
either. They were such opposites and her background had more in
common with Jamie’s. So when she ended the relationship with
Michael and started hanging around with the cousin six months after
first setting eyes upon him, the rift between Michael and Jamie
deepened.

She pulled the car up near to him and opened
the passenger door. He stepped forward and bent down to look
through the open door at her. His gaze told her she had chosen the
right dress. He had always liked her in red and had once said in
jest that he wanted her married in a red bridal gown and he would
wear a purple tuxedo. It was the one and only time he had mentioned
marriage between them.

Throwing his haversack into the rear, he
climbed in next to her. Lucy turned her face to his. His mouth rose
at the corners whilst dark eyes locked onto hers. There was
silence. She could feel her heart racing and had to grip the wheel,
tearing her gaze away at the same time.

“I think we know where this is heading,
Lucy. I should get out of this car now, grab a taxi and be gone
from here. We don’t need to do this.”

She took a deep breath and turned toward
him, placing her hand on his thigh, and with the other, cupping the
side of his face. “You once said you live for the day and never
think of the tomorrow because it might never come. Well I’m tired
of waiting for my tomorrow.”

For a moment the intensity in his hazel eyes
felt almost threatening and then she felt his palm come up hard
behind her neck pulling her face forward. Their lips came together
and as if by doing so they were breathing life back into bodies
that had been deprived of all feeling.

With the crushing and powerful kiss, Lucy
felt everything swept away, Michael, her sacrifice, what she had
become, it was all gone. All she could think about was this moment
and for it to never end. She felt his smooth caressing touch
travelling up her bare legs, fingers slipping round to her inner
thigh. Her body was sliding down further into the leather
upholstery as her own fingers drove up and under his wet T-shirt,
her fingertips pressing into the smooth hard shoulder muscle.