AMANDA BROWNING – The Lawyer's Contract Marriage (страница 2)

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ she asked with a sick feeling of dread growing inside her.

Her mother stifled a sob behind the mutilated tissue and rose to her feet, walking to the sink and gripping the edge till her knuckles grew white. Sam looked from one to the other, seeking answers. Finally her father swallowed hard and turned to her.

‘Sit down, Sam. We’ve got a problem. A very serious one,’ he admitted in a broken voice, and Sam sat down opposite him, pressing a hand over his as they lay on the tabletop.

‘What kind of problem? Has Tony done something?’ Her brother was the wild one of the family. Trouble was his middle name. Over the years he had given his parents more grief than the rest of them put together.

The question produced a wail of anguish from her mother, who instantly stifled it behind both hands.

Her father took a deep breath before revealing the truth. ‘Your brother Tony has been caught stealing.’

Sam’s heart plummeted. ‘What was he stealing?’ she asked uneasily, though she had a good idea. Tony was a gambler—an unlucky one.

As if he read her mind, her father nodded. ‘Money. A very great deal of money.’

‘Can we pay it back?’ Sam queried immediately. They had done it before. Surely they could do it again.

‘Would that we could, but it’s too much this time. Even if I sold the house and the business, it wouldn’t come close to enough. How can we find this kind of money? Tony will go to prison and the scandal will kill your mother and ruin the business,’ her father declared in despair.

‘Is there nothing we can do?’ she asked, appalled to see her father look so anguished. ‘Who does he owe it to?’

Her mother spun round from the sink. ‘Don’t tell her. You can’t tell her!’

Sam’s gaze flickered from one to the other. ‘Why not?’

‘Because I know what you’ll do, and I won’t let you! Why should you have to pay for what Tony has done?’ her mother declared angrily, and Sam’s blood ran cold.

‘Who did he take the money from, Dad?’ she insisted tensely. ‘You might as well tell me. You will in the end.’

Her parents exchanged a look fraught with helplessness. Finally, though, her mother nodded and her father revealed the final twist in the tale.

‘The Grimaldis.’

Sam caught her breath, for to say the name was to say all. The Grimaldis were seriously rich, with fingers in many pies. They had helped her father set up his business many years ago, and at his request had employed Tony in their wine import/export business—and he had paid them back by stealing money to cover his gambling debts. This time he had screwed up big-time. A bubble of anger surged inside her at the thought that he could do this to his family.

She shot to her feet. ‘Where’s Tony hiding? I’m going to kill him for this!’ she cried furiously.

Her father caught her hand. ‘Sit down, Sam. Tony is at the Grimaldi house. Nothing has been decided yet.’

Sam subsided, frowning her confusion. ‘What is he doing there? Have the police been called in?’

It took a while for her father to summon the right words, and when he spoke his voice was scratchy. ‘Not yet, and perhaps never. You see, Sam, the…problem can be made to vanish without trace, but there is a condition,’ he said, keeping his eyes on his clenched fists. ‘Leno Grimaldi will replace the money from his personal account…providing you agree to marry him.’ With those words her father finally looked at her.

Sam sat back in shock as the words sank in. There was a way out of the terrible mess, but only if she married Leno Grimaldi. She summoned up a mental picture of the man. Leno Grimaldi was some years older than her father. A widower who had had his eye on her ever since she’d turned eighteen. Whilst she knew he had feelings for her, she had never been able to reciprocate. Oh, he was a nice enough man, but way too old for her. She had been careful to keep him at arm’s length, and had refused all his attempts to ask her out. Now, thanks to her brother’s stupidity, he had the means to get what he wanted. He knew how close their family was, and he was banking on her not being able to let her brother go to gaol, no matter how much Tony deserved it.

Which left Sam in the middle of her worst nightmare. She could save her family from scandal, but only by turning her back on the man that really mattered to her. He was her world, her life. How could she bear to give him up? How could she give up all her hopes and dreams for her brother’s indiscretion? Yet how could she do anything else? How could she selfishly put her own needs before those of her family, knowing they were teetering on the brink of ruin and she was the only one who could save them?

Despair sat heavily on her shoulders. There was only one man she wanted to marry, and that was Ransom Shaw. She wanted to cry out that it wasn’t fair! She shouldn’t have to choose like this! But it was what she was going to have to do.

‘Of course we don’t expect you to agree to it, my darling,’ her mother insisted tearfully. ‘We wouldn’t ask it of you.’

Her father rose and drew his wife into his arms, comforting her as best he could. ‘Your mother’s right, Sam. We’ll find another way. We only told you because Leno insisted that we do so. He wants you to give him your answer, then matters will proceed from there.’

Sam had to admire Leno Grimaldi’s tenacity. He had seen what he wanted and had waited for the opportunity to get it. He must be one hell of a poker player, for he knew to a nicety how to play her. It was to be her choice and her answer, because he knew she couldn’t abandon her family to their fate. He probably thought it would be a simple decision, but he didn’t know about Ransom. Nobody did. Only her.

‘What other way is there? The debt has to be paid off. If you give up your house and business, you’ll never be able to raise the money through a loan, or pay off the remainder. Whichever way you look at it, I’m your only hope,’ Sam countered with unnatural calmness. ‘What happens to Tony if I agree to this?’

‘He’ll go to live with my cousin in Australia. The sheep station is far enough away from temptation to keep your brother on the straight and narrow,’ her father said tiredly. ‘Hopefully it will make a man of him.’

‘It will do him more good than going to prison,’ she agreed, and her mother uttered a tiny cry that Sam responded to with a wry smile. ‘It’s OK, I haven’t decided yet. I must have some time to think about it. How long will Leno wait for my answer?’

‘Until this time tomorrow. But there’s nothing to think about. You can’t do it. I forbid you,’ her father commanded gruffly, and Sam silently shook her head.

‘Thanks for saying that, but it’s my decision.’

‘Think of yourself, Sam. Don’t worry about us,’ her father urged, and she hugged them both.

‘I love you. Don’t worry,’ she advised them, though she knew they would. ‘How much do the others know?’

‘Only that Tony’s in trouble again.’

‘Good. Don’t say anything yet,’ Sam advised with an encouraging smile, not wanting them to know how agonised she was feeling. ‘I’d better go. I’ve got a lot to think about. I’ll call you.’

‘Don’t do anything rash, darling!’ her mother called after her, and Sam shook her head.

‘I won’t,’ she said to ease her mother’s mind, then headed back to the sitting room. Once again everyone looked up as she came in and gathered up her belongings. ‘I have to go. Don’t worry about Tony. It’s being sorted out.’

‘How?’ Tom asked tersely as he stood up to confront her. ‘What’s going on, Sam?’

‘He’s been gambling again. But as I said, it’s being sorted out. I’m off to settle the details now,’ she told him, looking round the anxious group of faces and trying to be strong. ‘Look after Mum and Dad. They need your support right now.’

They tried to get her to say more, but Sam shook her head and beat a hasty retreat to the front door, where only Tom followed her.

‘Are you OK, Sam?’ he asked in concern, and it was nearly her undoing. She had to swallow furiously in order to answer.

‘I’m fine. Really. I’m furious with Tony, and upset for Mum and Dad, but we’ll muddle through as we always do. Now I really must go,’ she insisted, and hurried down the path, feeling his eyes on her back all the way.

Feeling as brittle as eggshell, Sam climbed into her car. Knowing that Tom was still watching, she drove off, but, having turned a couple of corners, she pulled the car over and turned off the engine. She sat back, and her head dropped in defeat. What could she do? How could she live with herself if she turned her back on her parents and let them suffer for their wayward son? She wished she could do it, for she didn’t want to have to give Ransom up, but it wasn’t in her. Her parents had sacrificed so much to give their children a better life, and it was about time someone did something for them. The burden had fallen on her shoulders, and she had to be the one to make the sacrifice.

Her eyes burned with the sting of unshed tears as she thought of what she had to do. It was going to break her heart, but when she told Ransom why she was going to marry Leno Grimaldi she was sure he would understand that she had no choice. Her family had to come first. She drew in a shaky breath. Would it be too much to hope they could part as friends? Honesty forced her to admit it probably was. Life simply didn’t work that way.