Chapter Sixteen
Logan listened to the message he’d missed because he was in the shower.
“The cruise ship for a three week cruise leaves at one in the afternoon. If you intend to straighten this out, you had better be at pier 49, Logan. My daughter deserves to be happy and you are the only man who can give that happiness to her. I expect to see you.”
He didn’t fall asleep until after three. It was eleven now. He shoved his legs into the jeans at the same time he worked to pull the tee shirt over his head, eyes scanning the room for his shoes. Hands patted down his pockets for phone, passkey, wallet and car keys before he hit the door at a run. He checked his watch. Noon on a holiday should give him an edge.
Elizabeth casually looked at her wrist, twisting the slender gold watch, eyes narrowed as she scanned the street. Sam was pulling a large suitcase, chatting with her father. Her palm waved in front of her face, her foot tapping on the planking. Morgan and Samantha sauntered along casually. She was about to pull her phone out when she saw the male approaching as if the people around him didn’t exist. He had zeroed in on his target and thank heavens, she thought. She applied a bright smile.
“Come along, Samantha…Morgan…I want to get into our cabin before we set sail,” Elizabeth announced happily.
“Samantha!” Loud and booming, there was pure energy and determination packed into that one word.
Sam felt her blood run cold, her foot stepping on the plank and freezing. That bellow could only come from one place. From one person. One very determined person, she turned slowly in the direction her mother was looking, shoulders back and mouth opening.
“Logan, not now. I told you…”
“You told me you would talk to me this afternoon. Exactly how is that supposed to happen from a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean?” Logan took in the scene in one abbreviated sweep.
“From…?” Sam looked at the suitcase she was wheeling to the man glaring at her. “I am not…”
“You’re damn right you’re not,” Logan took her hand off the handle of the suitcase.
“You think you can just…just show up here and…” Sam put both hands on her hips.
“I can, I did and I am,” Logan shouted back, their noses inches apart.
“Samantha, I told you that running was not the answer to solving a domestic dispute,” Elizabeth told her daughter with a scowl.
“Mother, this is not…”
“Your place is with your husband, Sam,” Morgan tipped his head to the side.
“My…he is…” Sam stopped and glared at Logan. She hadn’t told her parents the truth. “I am not going anywhere with you.”
“The hell you’re not,” Logan moved quickly and efficiently, lowering his shoulder, grabbing her arm and straightening up with his shoulder in her middle. “Elizabeth, Morgan…have a nice trip. We’ll see you when you get home.”
“PUTMEDOWN!” Sam kicked her legs, yelping when his palm came down hard on the backside of her jeans.
“Samantha, go home with your husband,” Elizabeth looked around at the attention they were gathering, her smile small and devious.
“I am…he is…alright! Alright, damn it, Logan put me down!” Sam went still, wobbling slightly when her feet touched the wooden planks.
“You are not getting on that cruise ship, Samantha,” Logan said, his voice low and confident.
“I am not going…” Sam looked around at the curious onlookers they’ve attracted.
“Samantha, go home with your husband.” Morgan repeated the words.
“Mother, he is…” Samantha looked at her hand and the ring that sparkled on it. She pursed her lips and tugged it free, shoving it into Logan’s open palm. “Now it’s not a problem, is it?” Shocked gasps rippled through the crowd.
“Samantha…”
“Mother, get on the cruise ship! I will deal with this…and…” Sam looked at Logan with a growl, her hand out and snatching the ring back, shoving it back on her finger. “No! You know what? I am not taking it off. You are going to have to deal with me until the day I die, you got that? I am going to haunt you and make your waking hours…”
Logan took one large step forward, framed her face and covered her mouth with his, possessive and hungry; desperate and honest, he put everything inside him into that one kiss. Neither of them noticed the applause and romantic ‘awwww’s’ going through the crowd.
“Farewell, children…take care,” Elizabeth waved from the top of the ramp, standing next to her husband.
Logan lifted his head and gazed into the brightly shining green circles.
“Let’s go home, Sam…please…” Logan let his thumbs stroke over her lower lip.
Breathing raggedly, Sam nodded slowly, her fingers twined with his as he guided her from the pier to where he left the SUV parked.
“My car?”
“Tomorrow,” Logan continued to the SUV, chirped the lock and lifted her to the seat. “We are going home. We are going to talk and listen and get this squared away before I lose every friend I have and my business associates fire me.”
“You’re the boss, Logan,” Sam primly put her hands on her lap and stared straight ahead. “They can’t fire you.”
“Sam, I need you. My sanity, my heart…”
“Ohhh…” Sam waved a palm in front of her eyes.
“At home,” Logan said with finality, taking her palm and carrying it to his lips.
Sam stared out the front window. She’d spent most of the night trying to think. She had desperately tried to understand why not knowing the truth had hurt her so deeply. Would it have been any different if he had told her? Would their attraction have been any less if it had occurred naturally? Wouldn’t the outcome have been the same?
A tear rolled down her cheek as the gates opened to the place she had been calling home. Only when the passenger door was opened and Logan’s hands settled on her waist did she wake from her reverie. Her palms rested on his as he lifted her to the ground.
Sam pushed the patio door wide once she was inside, turning and sitting on the edge of the sofa. She stared blankly ahead, watching Logan’s feet as he paced the floor in front of her.
“Why were you running from me, Sam? Why?” He wanted her to know how hurt he was at her actions, but the words only came out like a command.
Green eyes lifted slowly.
She was tired.
But she was also angry. She pushed her palms against the sofa, climbing to her feet and closing the distance to him.
Sam brought her hand up, a lethal looking fingernail poked into his chest forcefully. Logan looked down at the stabbing pain with a deep frown, his body backing up a step. And then another when she repeated the process. She continued it until he felt the hard edge of the counter behind him.
“You…mister intelligent…were set up by my mother,” Sam whispered with a throaty growl. “I bought them a cruise for Christmas. I was escorting them to the ship. Then I was going to call you and come talk to you. I might be furious with you, Logan Sheffield, but I am not a coward. More importantly,” she paused significantly. “I’m not afraid of you, Logan.”
“I can see that,” Logan said softly, drinking in her stance, feet parted, shoulders back and head held high. “You had no intentions of leaving me.”
“Leave…Logan, I love you,” Sam’s palm dropped dismally to her side. She turned her back to him and went to the sofa, sitting patiently. “Alright, Logan. Talk. Tell me why you couldn’t have told me the truth the instant I woke up.”
Logan was taken aback.
His palm up to rub over his neck. He was tired. They were both tired.
He moved forward, swept in and lifted her in his arms.
Caught off balance, Sam flung her arms around his neck and hung on tightly. Pale lashes went wide when she felt the bed beneath her bounce, her palms out to steady her. For no earthly reason whatsoever, Samantha burst out laughing.
“What in heaven’s name…Logan…”
“I’m tired. You’re tired. We’ll both think better after a few hours sleep, Sam,” Logan sat on the edge of the bed, pulled his shoes off and tossed them toward the closet. He turned to her, repeating the process before stretching out on the surface of the bed. He was grateful there was a storm brewing and a cool breeze sweeping over them.
“Yes…I think it would be best,” Sam moved to her side of the bed, a sigh that told her she was home. Her arms wrapped around the pillow even as she felt Logan curl close behind her, his arm around her waist. She listened to his whisper, felt his breath soften and become steady.
There was silence. There was peace and the dark clouds had gathered around them, giving them an early nightfall. Logan stirred first, immediately sitting upright and turning Sam to her back, his hands firmly on her shoulders.
“Sam! It’s just a dream, honey…wake up!” He held her against the dream struggles making her shudder violently. Her head thrashed from side to side for a few long seconds before her eyes flew wide, her breath caught in her chest and held for a long, silent minute. Then her arms flew up and around his neck, clinging tightly to him. His body absorbed the shudder, holding her so close there was not even air between them.
“Oh, god! Logan…it was there…all over again…I couldn’t run fast enough…”
“You’re safe, Sam…I won’t let anything hurt you, I promise,” Logan whispered fervently against her throat.
“Oh, Logan,” Sam whispered softly, lifting her head and allowing her palms to slide from his shoulders to his face. “I know you would protect me. I know you would never hurt me like…it’s not who you are,” she felt a tremor go through him, saw the worry and fear in his dark eyes. That was her fault. But she also knew how to make it go away and pulled his mouth to hers.
The strength in the ravaging shudder that tore through him mixed joyously with the strength in the woman eagerly returning his kiss. He let his body fall back on the bed, taking her with him, their kiss broken only for brief moments when hands frantically tore at clothing. The emerald flare of passion in her eyes was reflected in the darkness of flames in his own eyes. They stared for long seconds, kissed for longer minutes and released all the frustrations and emotions of the past few days into each action surrounding their lovemaking.
“I love you, Sam…god I love you,” Logan’s voice was hoarse against her throat, over her neck to capture her breast with his teeth before sweeping back in to drink the feminine gasp. “I need you…I want you…Christ, I want you so much…”
Sam lay back on the bed, red hair spread against the pillows, one knee raised. Waiting while he sheathed himself before moving between her legs. Their collective gasps mixed with the sudden downpour outside. But neither of them noticed as their passion willingly stormed through them.
There was unleashed power in their passion. A frantic need to recover something lost that neither could put a name to.
Fear.
Sam lay stretched out on the bed, naked and listening to the storm while Logan visited the bathroom. She smiled when his body flopped on the bed beside her, neither of them moving for a long minute. Then she raised her hand and clapped it down hard on his stomach.
“Owww! Damn it, Sam! What the hell was that for?” Logan’s body jolted with the clap, his hand rubbing the spot when he bolted upright to glare down at her.
“That…was for stupidly thinking I would run off to some cruise ship without you,” she answered, not bothering to open her eyes and look at him. This was where she belonged. This was her home. With Logan. But she’d still let him stew a while longer. She knew him. She had revisited each moment since waking without her memory.
“Okay….I might have deserved that one,” he grudgingly admitted, tugging blankets from the bottom and covering them lightly. He leaned on his elbow and stared at her. “I missed you being here with me, Sam. You don’t realize…” He stopped and sighed. “I don’t know what the right direction was to have taken, Sam. I thought…and I honest to god do not know why I didn’t just phone the police and tell them everything. Except when you looked at me…after you woke up that first time…you had such trust and faith in me…common sense just…for the first time in my life, it was just gone.”
Sam listened to his rambling explanation with a soft sigh. She had felt immediately safe and protected when she saw him the first time he was leaving the bathroom, wearing the hotel robe. Others might see a dark haired man with intense eyes and a sexy goatee, but for some reason she had seen someone who would never hurt her, never allow another to hurt her. And that had come at a time when her mind ordered that she find a safe harbor.
“I didn’t call from the beach, because I didn’t have my phone,” Logan recalled slowly, thinking over his actions. “I’d heard your scream and a gun shot and just took off running, wearing my shoes and slacks, that’s all…then I got you back to the hotel and we were both soaked from the rain. Cold and wet. I found the robes and…it just came natural to get you out of the wet clothes and into something warm and dry.”
“Did you stare?” Sam asked, working to keep her voice from betraying both her curiosity and her humor.
“Did…damn it…I…” Logan’s dark lashes narrowed, watching her face. Not a muscle twitched, her pale lashes closed. “You know damn well there isn’t a safe answer for me to that one. One way I come off a liar and the other I’m some kind of…of…”
“Normal American male?”
“Hell yes I was staring. I’ve got a naked redhead in my bed and I’m supposed to not look?”
“Just don’t let it happen with any other naked redhead,” she answered, one eye open and seeing the look on his face.
“There are no other redheads…or blonds or brunettes,” he said confidently. “Hell, I’d be dead within twenty four hours at the rate we…”
Sam burst out laughing, rolled to her side and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Logan Sheffield.”
“Sam, it wasn’t a lie. Alright, I didn’t tell you the truth,” he hurried on when she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “But you know damn well it was with the best of intentions. I didn’t…try and take advantage of you. If you recall, I was back peddling trying to keep you out of my bed! Until you explored and came back to the room with a pocketful of condoms…”
“Yeah…I’ll take credit for that one,” she agreed with a half shrug. “You were just so damned sexy…and it was supposed to be my honeymoon…I believed I would never have married you unless I felt something amazingly strong for you, Logan...a girl didn’t stand a chance,” she teased with a wink. “I think…when it all flooded back to me…” She began in total seriousness. “I needed to think, Logan. I needed to…understand my own feelings…mix them back with all the things in my yesterday and make them into one Samantha. And I couldn’t do that when you charge around like a raging bull, demanding instant answers and fixes.”
Logan let his forehead rest against hers. “Anya told me that, too. And I think I tried…for all of half a day…the arrogance in me was positive we could make it all right, but we couldn’t achieve that without being together.”
“A whole half a day, huh?”
“Yeah, well…I’m not sure where my patience was,” Logan admitted ruefully.
“You do know we have one small problem left to deal with,” Sam watched the concern filter across his face. She shifted on the bed, her palm held up with the ring on it. “Everyone we know believes we’re married. Including the police.”
“I’ve given that some thought,” Logan answered immediately, frowning at the accusations in her eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. Part of making things right had to include that in the plan.”
“You had a plan? So this wasn’t a random seduction?”
“This is going to be one of the most important activities in my life, woman. And to be clear, I always have a plan,” Logan informed her arrogantly. “It sometimes manages to evolve around me…but I have a plan.” His mouth lifted at the corners when she laughed softly, her head shaking and body pressing close to his.
“Okay, let’s hear this grand plan.”
“Easy. We hop into the SUV and head to Idaho. I don’t have anything pressing tomorrow…we’ll make it back by noon…problem solved.”
“Does seem rather simple…except I haven’t been asked,” Sam said simply.
“You honestly think I’m going to risk rejection after the past two days I’ve had?” Logan’s hands moved over her back and onto her behind, pulling her hard against him. “I love you, Samantha…marry me…”
“Such a sweet talker,” she whispered against his mouth, her answer evident in her actions.
Samantha Elliott has now opened the door to the Reclamation. With it she brought a bevy of friends you’ll meet through coming segments. Lots of romance, fun and adventure. Interesting new businesses await as well as conflict through the new few years.
I hope you laughed and maybe cried a little. Like the others, Samantha’s story didn’t end here but will continue through Cassidy Parker, Abigal Murray and Mia Santori. Enjoy the ride!
Thank you.