Sydney Harbour Hospital: Lexi's Secret (21 page)
Read Sydney Harbour Hospital: Lexi's Secret Online
Authors: Melanie Milburne
Sam rubbed one of his hands over his face. ‘Yeah, well, I’d like to be happy but you won’t believe the mess I’ve made of things …’
His father listened as Sam told him what had happened. ‘Sounds bad, son, especially when she won’t even take your calls. What are going to do?’
‘What are you doing for the next couple of days?’ Sam asked. ‘Do you fancy some time out on the boat?’
‘Sure,’ Jack said with a twinkle in his eyes. ‘Are we going fishing?’
‘Yeah,’ Sam said with a slowly spreading smile. ‘You could say that.’
Lexi was walking along the beach at Noosa on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland when she saw him. At first she thought she had imagined it, conjuring him up out of a bad case of wishful thinking. But the closer he came the faster her heart began to beat until it was even louder than the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.
She wanted to turn and walk back the other way. That’s what her head was telling her to do but for some reason her feet weren’t co-operating. They were stuck in the soft sand as if it had suddenly turned into concrete.
‘Lexi,’ Sam said, coming to stand in front of her.
She gave him a brittle look. ‘I don’t have anything to say to you.’
‘Maybe not, but I have something to say to you.’
She rolled her eyes and started walking away. ‘I can just imagine what it is,’ she said, her bare feet making squeaking noises on the pristine sand. ‘You want me to have a sordid little affair with you until you find someone else who interests you more.’
‘No,’ Sam said. ‘That’s not what I want to say. Anyway, no one interests me more than you do.’
‘Sure, and I believe you,’ Lexi said, throwing him a fulminating look over her shoulder.
Sam looked at her flushed features. Her long blond hair was blowing across her face and she kept flicking it back with angry movements of her hands. She looked like a mermaid. His very own gorgeous sea nymph. How could he have ever imagined his life without her in it? ‘Don’t you want to hear what I’ve come all this way to say?’ he asked.
She frowned at him furiously. ‘You think I would
agree to have a relationship with you after the way you treated me?’
‘You took me by surprise, turning up at the marina like that,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t prepared. I needed more time to think things over.’
‘
I
took you by surprise?’ she flashed back. ‘I thought you were going to welcome me with open arms and instead you sent me away as if I was nothing to you but an annoying little tramp.’
‘I know,’ Sam said. ‘It was unforgiveable.’
‘You’ve got
that
right, country boy,’ she said, stomping away again.
Sam had to trot to keep up. He caught one of her arms and turned her round to face him. ‘Lexi—’
‘If you don’t let me go this instant I’ll scream for the lifeguard,’ she said. ‘I’ll say you’re attacking me. I’ll tell him you’re a stalker. I’ll tell him you’ve been calling me about a hundred times and never saying anything, not a single word. I’ll tell him … I’ll tell him you broke my heart and I’ll probably never ever be happy again …’ She choked back a little sob.
Sam looked at her with melting eyes. ‘Lexi, darling,’ he said, holding her close so she couldn’t run away again. ‘You know how hopeless I am with words. I can only manage one or two when I’m feeling under pressure. I just clam up. But there are three words I wanted to say to your face. I love you.’
‘No, you don’t.’ Her eyes flashed at him. ‘I bet you’re just saying that to get me back into your bed.’
Sam lifted her chin, a soft smile playing about his mouth. ‘I knew you probably wouldn’t believe me so that’s why I have a back-up plan.’
Lexi wrinkled her forehead. ‘A … a what?’
Sam turned her so she was facing the ocean. There
was a yacht out behind the small breakers. Lexi could just make out the name on the side—
Whispering Waves
. ‘You sailed all the way up here?’ she asked, looking back at him.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘What do you say to a few days out there all by ourselves? You, me and the wind.’
Lexi pulled out of his hold. ‘I think I’ll pass,’ she said stiffly, and continued walking.
‘Darling, will you just give me a couple of minutes of your time?’ he said. ‘I have to get back to my yacht before my dad sails it into a reef or something.’
Lexi stopped and looked at him. ‘Your dad’s out there?’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘One of us had to man the boat. I could hardly send him along the beach to ask you to marry me.’
She looked at him with her head at a wary angle. ‘What did you say?’
Sam smiled at her. ‘Will you marry me, Lexi?’
Lexi’s eyes started to tear up. ‘You want to marry me?’ she asked in a choked-up voice
‘Sure do,’ he said. ‘And I want everyone to know.’ He turned her to face the sea. ‘See?’
Lexi looked at the mainsail of Sam’s yacht as the wind filled it, revealing the words in large blue letters:
Will you marry me, Lexi?
‘So what do you say, darling?’ Sam asked. ‘Will you be my wife and the mother of my babies? I don’t care how many we have. I just know I want to have them with you.’
Lexi blinked back tears, her throat so tight with emotion she could barely speak. ‘Yes,’ she said, throwing herself into his arms. ‘Yes!’
Sam swung her around, holding her tightly against
his body. ‘Thank heaven,’ he said. ‘You had me worried there for a moment.’
Lexi slipped down his body to look up at him. ‘What changed your mind? I thought you never wanted to get married? I thought you didn’t believe you could love someone enough to spend your whole life with them.’
He cupped her face in his hands. ‘I watched my father grieve for my mother for twenty years. I swore I would never love someone that much. But what I’ve realised is you can never love someone too much.’ He pressed a gentle kiss to her mouth. ‘You’ve taught me that, Lexi. Life is about loving with your whole being, not just part of yourself. And I want to spend the rest of my life loving you like that—totally, completely, absolutely.’
Lexi smiled as she looked into his soft dark brown eyes. ‘How long do you think your father can handle that boat without you?’ she asked.
‘Not very long,’ Sam said. ‘Why?’
She looped her arms around his neck. ‘Because I have something to see to first, that’s why.’
‘Oh?’ he said. ‘What’s that?’
‘This,’ she said and pressed her mouth to his.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
First published in Great Britain 2012
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Harlequin Books S.A. 2012
Special thanks and acknowledgement are given to Melanie Milburne for her contribution to the
Sydney Harbour Hospital
series.
ISBN: 978-1-408-97334-9
Table of Contents