Colby's Wife by Grace Green

Author:Grace Green
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

Greer thought she would have to spend the next few hours trying to avoid Colby, but not so. If anything, he went out of his way to avoid her, and after a while, she felt her tension ease a little and she began to enjoy herself.

The party was a great success, and Lisa was showered with gifts. Even Colby came up with something—he slipped away to his cottage and brought back a bottle of Duty Free Drambuie he’d bought en route from Australia. Lisa was thrilled with her Walkman and her perfume...and with her Passing Fancy creation...though Brad gave a groan of mock-disappointment when it turned out to be no erotic fantasy in black and scarlet lace but an elegant white silk robe.

Around eight o’clock, after dishes had been done and the adults were sitting around chatting over coffee, Greer noticed that though the Pierson children were playing leapfrog down on the lawn, Jamie wasn’t with them.

Excusing herself, she went in search of him, and found him sitting cross-legged...and alone...on the beach, below the Daken cottage.

‘Fancy a walk?’ Casually she slipped her hands into the pockets of her culottes as she looked down at him.

He didn’t look up. ‘No, thanks.’

‘Too bad. I could sure use the company. I missed out on the walk you all had earlier, because I was helping Mr. Pierson get the party ready.’ She paused, and then said, in a coaxing tone, ‘Sure I can’t make you change your mind?’

He shook his head. Greer hesitated, then she sat down on the sand beside him. He lifted his head then, but not to look at her; he stared out at a speedboat that was skimming across the middle of the lake.

‘Noisy things, those speedboats,’ Greer murmured. ‘I much prefer rowboats, like the Summer Sprite.’ She looped her hands around her bent knees. ‘You know, when I came to the lake the first time, I was the same age as you are now. Seven. And like you—’ Greer lifted a handful of sand and let it dribble through her fingers ‘—I’d just lost my mom. My dad, too, actually.’

Jamie didn’t say anything. He just stared out over the water. His profile was to her, so she couldn’t see the expression in his eyes. She took a deep breath and looked down at her sandals. She had no experience with children, and felt herself floundering.

‘Mom and Dad had a hardware store in Calgary. They ran the business together and rarely managed to get away on holiday, but when they won a skiing trip in British Columbia, they made arrangements to have me stay over at a friend’s house, and paid someone to come in and look after the store. On the last day of their holiday, they got caught in an avalanche and died. Your great-grandmother has looked after me ever since.

‘When she brought me to the cottage that first summer, I was such a sad little girl.’ Greer felt her eyes prick; just talking about that time reminded her of the aching loneliness she’d suffered.

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