GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (36 page)

He didn’t know how
Anne
was going to react when she
discovered
he
was
temporarily hous
ing
her investigators and the rest of the staff
in
side
the SST Shipping
building
.
Sam had gotten to know her employees fairly well over the past few weeks and knew she’d done a hell of a job picking her team
.
Their loyalty was admiral, something he attributed to Anne’s leadership, and they had jumped at the opportunity to keep the business running as smoothly as possible in her absence. The
company
would undoubtedly
suffer
minor
setbacks
with both Anne and Vic being gone, but the damage wouldn’t be devastating
or irreversible
.
 

He’d felt the need to be totally honest with Vic, however, and promised to let him know how his plan to pull Anne from her depression worked out
.
He’d also made Vic’s day when he’d picked him up in the
Aston Martin
and then
tossed him the keys and told him to keep it until they arranged to get him a new car
.
Because
Vic had broken his left leg, he was still able to drive and had been more than happy to give Sam a lift back to the
house
.
Anne
didn’t know
Vic had been there
, but then she hadn’t bothered to ask about him at all
.
She’d drawn so far into herself, nothing seemed to matter.

Maggie, of course, knew everything Sam was up to but he
was confident
his secret was safe with her
.
He’d asked her to coax Anne into getting dressed so he could take her out of the house when he got home
.
If anyone could do it, it would be Maggie
.
As
he hadn’t been to the office that day, he wouldn’t even need time to change clothes
.
He’d stop at the house, pick Anne up and take off
.

When he pulled up to his house and cut the engine,
Sam
sat for a minute
attempting
to get a
firm grip
on his shaky nerves
.
Anne would
either love him for what he’d done
…
or hate him
. It was a flip of the coin
, and Sam
wasn’t altogether sure if he was eager
to find out which way the wind would blow on this one
.
Too much was at stake.

He walked into the house and headed for the stairs but paused when he heard Maggie’s laughter coming from the kitchen
.
Hoping, but not really believing Anne could be
responsible for
making her laugh, Sam made his way hesitantly to the kitchen.
 

“Well, I’ve got things to do at my place,” Maggie said when she spotted him
.
“You two have a good time tonight.”
 

Beth didn’t turn around until Maggie had gone
.
She wasn’t sure what to do or say after pushing Sam away for the past two weeks
.
S
lowly rising
from the chair
, she drew in a deep breath before turning
to face him
.
They stood there for a moment just looking at each other.

“You look beautiful,” Sam finally said
.

That was
all Anne needed to
break the tension between them.

“
Sam
…
”
 

She moved swiftly, all the
pent up anxiety
leaving her body
the instant his
arms were around her
.
And then h
e
was kissing her
, drinking heavily, as if she was the last well of fresh water in an endless sea of sand.
Beth could have cried for how good it felt
, and for a while they simply
held onto each other, making up for
lost
time .
 

“I’m sorry for the way I’ve
behaved
lately,” she said.

“You had a right to feel overwhelmed by it for a while.
”
Sam
’s expression was
hopeful
.
“Does this mean it’s over?”

“I think so
.
I
t
just felt
as if
I’d lost everything
and I couldn’t cope with it
.”

“You still have me, Anne.”

“I know, Sam
.
You’ve been incredibly patient with me.
”
She smiled up at him
.
“Are you taking me to dinner?”

“We have a few stops to make first, but I’ve arranged to have dinner out.”

“Where are we going?”
 

Sam took her hand and led her out to
his
truck
.
“It’s a secret,” he said with a grin as he lifted her to the seat.

When he climbed into the driver’s seat,
Beth
slid over next
to
him
,
delirious with happiness
.
She was
dying to
tell
Sam
she was pregnant but
wanted to wait for just the right
moment
. Lost in thought, they
’d
almost reached their destination before she recognized the route he had taken…and where it led to
.
Beth peered
up at him apprehensively
.
She didn’t want to see the burnt
-
out ruins of her company,
surely he must know that. Oddly,
Sam’s
expression
was calm and
she could see a hint of a
smile tugg
ing
at the corner of his mouth.

“Just what are you up to
?”
she
asked suspiciously.

“You’ll see
.
Now close your eyes before we turn the corner
.
I’ll tell you when you can open them
. A
nd no peeking either.”

Beth did as he asked and closed her eyes
.
She felt the truck move around the corner and knew when they’d pulled into the parking lot
.
When they came to a stop, she tried to brace herself for the devastation she was about to see.

“Okay, honey, open your eyes.”

Beth opened them slowly
and
then let out an excited squeal
.
“Sam
!
Oh, Sam
…
”
 

The plot of land had been totally cleared and construction workers were moving around like busy little ants all over the place
.
In front of the lot was a huge sign announcing that the new building for Sweeney Enterprises would soon be completed.
 

“Anne?”

She looked up at him and couldn’t have loved him more if she tried
.
“It
…
it’s too much
…
”

“Oh, you’ll pay me back when the insurance money rolls in. I’m just fronting you the money to get your business back on its feet.”

Beth couldn’t stop smiling
.
“I love you, Sam Travis
.
Thank you.”

“It was worth it just to see you smile again
.
Are you ready for the second part?”

“There’s more?”

“A little more.”

As
Sam turned the truck around
, her mind started bouncing around possibilities that were almost too much to hope for,
but when they hit the highway heading towards the beach,
Beth
couldn’t sit still
.
Sam was grinning from ear to ear,
looking
every bit
as happy as she was
.
When they got close to her beach property, he told her to close her eyes again.

“And this time cover your eyes,” he teased, “because I know you’re going to try to peek.”

Beth covered her eyes with her hands, but couldn’t quite contain
a bad case of
the giggles
.

“Keep your eyes covered until I give the okay,” Sam said as the truck came to a stop.

He lifted her out of the truck
, keeping
an arm around her waist as they walked around to where
the
deck had once been
.
When he
stopped torturing her and gave
Beth
permission to
look,
she
dropped her hands expecting to see more construction workers.
 

“
Sam
,” she whispered hoarsely, “how
…
?”
Beth looked up at her beach house,
which
had been
fully reconstructed
to
look
exactly as it had
prior to
the fire.

“A friend of a friend managed to get his hands on the blueprints.”

She
gaped
at him in disbelief
.
“But to get it built so fast
…
”

Sam laughed softly
.
“It’s amazing what a
little
money
and a few strong-armed tactics
can do
.
I’ve
had crews out here working around the clock
.
They just finished yesterday.”

“It took more than a
little
money, Sam.
”
For a moment her happiness slipped
.
“I don’t like you spending this much on me
.
It’s just not right.”

He leaned down and kissed her softly
.
“Oh, sweetheart, I expect the insurance check on this one too
.
I knew you wouldn’t accept it if I paid for the whole thing but didn’t want to wait any longer
.
You needed something to pick you up.”

Beth nodded and looked back at her house
.
“Can we go in?”

“Yes, but I have to warn you, I
haven’t had time
to do anything
except
replace a few pieces of furniture so far.”

“I don’t care
.” She
laughed happily
and
grabbed his hand
, tugging him towards the house
.
“Come on
!
I want to go inside.”

Sam allowed her to pull him along, ecstatic at how she’d responded so far
.
But he still had one more surprise and hoped it would work out as well as the first two
.
As soon as they stepped inside the house, Anne was off;
dashing from room to room, and laughing out loud when she got to the bedroom
.
With a broad smile and lightness of heart he hadn’t felt in quite some time,
Sam followed the sound of her laughter.

“I see you replaced the most important pieces of furniture
.”
Beth beamed, wrapping her arms around his neck
.
“So far, all you’ve done is
replace
the lounge chairs on the deck and the bed.”

Sam grinned
.
“Well, I did have to set some priorities.”

“It’s wonderful, Sam
.
I couldn’t have asked for anything more to lift me out of the doldrums
.
When can we shop for furniture
?
Maybe we could change the décor a little
,
now that
we have the opportunity
.
We’ll need to buy things for the kitchen and bathroom
,
too
,
and
…
”