Smiling andreallyhoping that his last sentence was in no way a true reflection on his life, Mallory tilted her head at the stranger in an enquiring manner. ‘You’re not from here,’ she mumbled.Ugh way to state the obvious, idiot.
A wide grin spread across his gorgeous face and he wagged his finger. ‘You know… I knew there must be a reason why people keep on looking at me funny when I speak.’ He paused and held out his hand. ‘I’m Sam, by the way. Samuel Buchanan, in case you wanted to know my full name. You know, for when you report my dashing act of valour to theYorkshire Evening Post.’
His emphasis on ‘shire’ made her smile. ‘Nice to meet you, Sam. I’m Mallory Westerman.’ She shook his hand. ‘And we locals pronounce it Yorksher, as opposed to Yorkshyre.’
‘Well thank you very much for the insider info.’ He laughed. ‘So Miss Mallory Yorksherrr,’ he joked, rolling his ‘R’, ‘Mallory is quite an unusual name, huh?’
‘Hmm, that’s what you get for having quirky parents, I suppose.’ She rolled her eyes once she realised this comment needed further explanation. ‘My dad was an avid mountaineer in his youth and his hero was George Leigh Mallory.’ Sam look nonplussed and so she continued, ‘He was a famous mountaineer who was killed attempting to climb Everest in the 1920s.’
He nodded. ‘Ah, I see. I guess your dad wouldn’t have been so impressed with your attempts to navigate Leeds city centre today, huh?’ He grinned, teasing her for her silly mistake. ‘So, where were you off to before throwing yourself into the arms of a complete Canadian stranger?’ He grinned.
‘Oh,Canadian, eh? I just thought you were from America.’
Sam winced and shook his head in mock disgust. ‘Youch! Hold your tongue there, Miss Yorksher, a proud Canadian could get highly insulted, you know – next you’ll be saying we all sound alike.’
She cringed. ‘Whoops. Sorry.’Well, actually you do all sound alike to me.‘I was on my way for coffee, just up there.’ She pointed up the paved precinct, towards her favourite coffee shop. ‘I’m taking a break whilst things are quiet in my shop.’
‘Oddly enough, I was going to go for coffee too.’ He paused, looking thoughtful, almost hesitant, as if he wondered whether he should say what he was thinking. ‘Soooo, how aboutyoubuymea latte, by way of a thank you for saving your ass?’ He winked.
Her jaw dropped in mock surprise at his forward manner, although secretly she quite liked it.
Smiling and rolling her eyes, she held out her hand as if to gesture ‘after you’ and he began walking in the direction she indicated.
Sam and Mallory sat in the coffee shop for a lot longer than her door sign had denoted. They found lots to talk about in their hour and a half conversation. Mallory discovered that Sam was thirty-one and was over in England following his brother’s request for him to take the reins at the UK arm of his asset management business.
‘I’m renting an apartment in what I believe is some kind of converted warehouse,’ he told her with a bemused, questioning look. ‘Seems to be thein thingin Leeds.’
‘Yes, there are a lot of run-down old industrial buildings around here. I think someone saw a bit of a niche in the property market.’
‘Yeah, I think so… the rooms are very spacious.’ He smiled cheekily. ‘And I have agreatview from my bedroom.’
Mallory blushed and cleared her throat, ‘So, where in Canada are you from?’
‘A town called Kingston, in Ontario. I grew up on the outskirts of the town. My dad was in construction and he built the family home. His father was a builder too, so I think he just fell into the industry. He was good at it.’
‘Wasgood at it? Is he retired now?’ Mallory sipped her coffee.
Sadness clouded his features. ‘Ahhh, no, sadly he passed away two years ago of a heart attack.’
‘Oh… gosh I’m so sorry… I-I didn’t mean to pry.’
‘No, no, please, it’s fine. My mom’s amazing. She won’t allow us to be sad. She says we should always remember the good stuff and so we do.’ He looked pensive, ‘I think she tries to protect us both. Even though we’re adults.’
‘Hmm, I lost my parents when I was a teenager so I totally understand.’
Sam frowned sadly. ‘Wow that must’ve been hard on you. I’m so sorry.’
She shrugged. ‘It was. But my Aunt Sylvia was amazing. I moved in with her and she was wonderful to me. So, is your brother still in Canada?’
‘Yeah, he just got married and his wife wasn’t ready to move all the way out here… so… here I am.’
‘Mmm, here you are…’ Mallory said with a little gravel to her voice, making her blush again. He had a strange effect on her.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at him from under her eyelashes. He smiled, knowingly, as he sipped his coffee.
Mallory surveyed his well-groomed, clean-cut, suited appearance which was in total contrast with his unruly, windswept mop of shaggy, brown hair.A hazard of the Yorkshire winter weather, she mused. She could tell that he was quite toned and muscular, simply by the hang of his suit. She already knew from earlier that he had strong arms and as he talked she imagined those arms encircling her. She fought to hide the shiver that travelled through her as she began to picture him naked.
‘So, tell me about you.’ He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap.
