Returning Passion

By Rebecca Ambrose

Lisa Maitland fell pregnant with her son Bevan when she was a student, but his father,
Dominic, deserted her. Now, seven years later, he turns up wanting to support them
financially in return for access to Bevan. For her son's sake Lisa agrees, but finds it
increasingly difficult to deny that she still has feelings for Dominic.

This successful, mature man is even more attractive to her now, and his love for his son
seems genuine. Yet Lisa feels threatened by the way her life - and Bevan's - is suddenly
changing, and there are rumours of a glamorous American girlfriend in Dominic's life.

Lisa can't help remembering how he walked out on her when she needed him most: can she begin to trust him again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rebecca Ambrose
• Release date: Sep 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465713773

Rebecca Ambrose

Rebecca Ambrose is a prolific British author of hot romance and erotica. She also writes as Vivienne Lafay, Vanessa Davies, Nadine Wilder and Rosanna Challis.

Book preview

RETURNING PASSION

by

Rebecca Ambrose

Copyright © Rebecca Ambrose 2011

Cover image courtesy of Dxfoto.com photoxpress and 123RF

Chapter One

'Good-bye, Bev. See you at three-thirty!'

Lisa Maitland watched her son's progress across the playground to the school door with a heavy heart. He seemed so small and vulnerable compared to the other boys. This was only his second week at junior school and he hadn't settled yet.

Lisa's eyes followed Bevan's slight figure until he turned towards her at the door and gave a half-hearted wave before disappearing inside. She sighed. Although he was a plucky kid she knew that he now faced each school day with foreboding and she wished she could do more to help him. Having a male teacher didn't help. After motherly Mrs White he was obviously finding Mr Collins too much of an authoritarian figure.

It was hardly surprising, Lisa thought as she began the ten-minute walk back home. Bev was unused to men and didn't know how to relate to them. She wondered if she should have a private chat with his teacher, to explain their circumstances, but perhaps that would do more harm than good.

As Lisa walked back along the main road Kate Bowles caught up with her. They'd known each other ever since they first met at the mothers and toddlers group. She was the only one that Lisa still saw regularly, probably because they were both single parents.

'Hi! Fancy coming to Marshalls for coffee?' Kate said, breezily.

'That would be nice.'

Lisa felt cheered by the prospect of a coffee and cream cake. It was one of the few treats she allowed herself. Marshalls had a special offer: coffee and cake for only two pounds.

The two women sat upstairs in the crowded restaurant over the bakery. Kate unbuttoned her jacket and tossed her auburn curls free of her collar, then picked up the menu. 'I shouldn't really. I started a new diet on the weekend but . . . what the heck! I'll have an eclair.' She passed Lisa the menu saying, 'How's Bev settling in? Does he like his teacher any better yet?'

The waitress came bustling up. Lisa decided on a cream doughnut and returned the menu. 'I'm not sure. I'm a bit worried about him, to tell the truth. But sometimes I worry that I'm worrying too much!'

'I know what you mean. I feel the same about Chris. But you have to let go sometime, don't you? And I suppose single mums have that much more of a hold over their children.'

'At least you've got Richard.' Lisa sounded more grudging than she'd intended. Kate had recently found a boyfriend.

'It's not the same as having a husband. I only see him a couple of times a week. Look, I'm sure Bev will be all right. He's a bright, sensible lad, and once he gets used to the new school I'm sure he'll do well. But isn't it time you started thinking about your own life?'

Lisa started to prickle. This was a familiar theme. She got it almost every time she phoned her mother. 'What do you mean?'

The cakes and coffee arrived. As Kate attacked her fragile pastry with a fork she said, 'You should get out more. Meet more people.'

Lisa sighed. 'By people you mean men, don't you?'

Kate licked a splodge of cream off her upper lip. 'Not particularly. I was wondering if you've thought of going back to college and finishing your degree, so you can start a career when Bev goes to secondary school? It must have been awful, giving up all your future plans.'

Lisa flushed with indignation. 'I didn't! Bevan was my future, and he still is! Honestly, Kate, you do talk some rubbish sometimes!'

'Okay, but don't jump down my cake hole – it's full of cake!'

Lisa couldn't help giggling. That was one of the things she liked about Kate, her ability to make light of things. If only she had that same trait herself. With a pang she remembered the old, carefree Lisa who had taken a free-and-easy attitude to life. But then one rash moment, and its consequences, had knocked all that cheerful optimism out of her.

'You're only twenty-six, for goodness' sake!' Kate continued, wiping her lips with a serviette. 'Why don't you let me baby-sit so you can go out in the evenings, get yourself a life? I could bring Chris over and settle him down on your sofa. Once he's off he sleeps like a log.'

Lisa sighed. 'It's kind of you to offer, but I'm sure you'd rather be seeing Richard. And I'm quite happy staying in with X Factor, and checking my lottery numbers.'

'That's you all over, Lisa. What would you do if you did win a million, eh? You'd have no-one to share it with except your Mum and Bev. I'm sure the three of you could have a great holiday in Disneyland, but it's hardly going to change your life, is it?'

'Oh, I don't know!' Lisa gave her friend a teasing grin. 'Maybe I'd acquire a toy boy! You'd be surprised how attractive a woman becomes when she's got a million in the bank.'

'In your dreams, sweetheart!' Kate pushed back her chair and took her purse out of her handbag. 'Look, it's been nice talking to you but I'd better get going. Richard's coming tonight and he's promised to cook if I do the shopping.'

Kate left her share of the bill and departed, leaving Lisa with the rest of her coffee. She sipped it thoughtfully. Although her friend was good company and meant well, she didn't really understand what it was like to be in her shoes. Although Kate was divorced, she still lived in the family home with regular cheques arriving from her 'ex'. She was financially secure and, now she had Richard, not lonely any more. She just didn't know what it was like living from day to day, eking out a tiny income, struggling against depression.

Lisa's dreams of romantic love and financial security had faded along with her career ambitions when her studies had been curtailed by her pregnancy. From the moment he was born and she decided to keep him, Bev had been the be-all and end-all of her existence, and that was how it would remain for years to come. It was a daily struggle to make ends meet, but she wouldn't be without her son for all the world.

At twenty past three Lisa went to pick up Bev from school. As she left the building she noticed a shiny dark green car parked on the opposite side of the road, with someone sitting in the driving seat reading a newspaper. It looked far too expensive a vehicle to be hanging around that part of town. Still, if the driver was still behind the wheel it would probably escape damage from the local vandals.

Lisa thought no more of it and was soon waiting apprehensively at the school gate again. What kind of a day had Bev had? She believed she could tell the minute she saw him dragging his heels across the playground, glancing balefully at the kids who were running, shouting and screaming all around, delivering playful – and not-so playful – punches and kicks.

'Hullo, Bev. How did it go today?'

He scowled up at her and she wished that she'd found something else to say. Quickly she gabbled about anything that came into her head, trying to distract him. He held her hand tightly as they hurried along the pavement where other children were getting into cars, his little feet trotting to keep up.

'What's for tea, Mum?' he asked at last, sounding more cheerful at the prospect of food.

'I thought I'd make a stir-fry.'

'Can I help?'

'Of course! If you promise to be very careful, I'll let you chop the veg.'

Sometimes Lisa worried that she was turning Bev into a 'mummy's boy' but although she let him help her around the house, she never burdened him with her worries. He was her son, not her husband.

As they rounded the corner of their street Lisa noticed that the posh car was still there, the newspaper still concealing the driver's face. A chill seized her: was he from the Department of Social Security, spying on her, checking that she wasn't living with a man? She gave a little snort of derision. If so, he was wasting his time!

While she and Bev walked towards their block she heard the engine purring, but before they reached their path it began to glide away down the road. Now she was even more convinced that she was the target of the man's surveillance. Feeling uneasy, Lisa opened the door of the flat warily. She was only half surprised to see a white envelope lying there on the mat. But to her relief it was not an official one. There was just her name, hand written.

Some instinct made her usher Bev in quickly and cover the letter with her shoe before he noticed it. 'Run along and put the kettle on, there's a good boy!' she told him.

Obediently he went through to the kitchen and she bent to pick up the envelope. Her name was written in a thick, italic hand, nothing more. She stared at the writing, unable to believe what her memory was insisting was true. It couldn't be him, could it? Not after all those years!

She could feel her heart thudding with bruising force against her ribs as she thrust the envelope into her pocket. A part of her wanted to tear it up and throw it in the bin. That was probably what she would have done years ago, if a letter had arrived then. Or would she? Bitter feelings began to gush up like stale water from a sealed well. The pressure built up in her until one word exploded from her lips: 'Dominic!'

Even speaking his name was difficult, like trying to pronounce a foreign word. As she did so that old ache, the one she'd almost forgotten about, hit her below the ribs with punishing force. She remembered the man in the parked car and a shudder of recognition went through her. Even though his face had been obscured by the newspaper there had been something shockingly familiar about those hands, the shade and texture of the hair on the top of his head. Without realising it at the time, her brain had filed the image away for future reference and know she knew, beyond doubt, that it had been him.

With great difficulty, Lisa took control of herself and went through to the kitchen. Her curiosity was overwhelming, but her desire to protect her son was stronger. She felt agitated inside, and her body was shaking, but she was relieved to see that Bevan was busy getting the mugs off the wooden mug tree that he'd bought for her last birthday from a charity shop, and he scarcely looked at her.

Her heart yearned with feeling for him, the aching, regretful kind of mother love that she had come to regard as normal. She'd always felt responsible for his every breath and yet, just lately, he had seemed to be taking on some responsibility for himself. He got himself up in the mornings, washed and dressed without fuss and got his own breakfast. She was really proud of him.

Lisa waited until Bev was sitting in front of the television with tea and biscuits before she went into the bathroom and opened the envelope. Sitting on the loo she drew out a single sheet of paper and stared at the handwriting for several seconds without actually reading it. She didn't have to look at the signature at the bottom to know who had written it, but his name was there all the same, written with the old familiar flourish: Dominic James.

Quickly she read through the note. As she did so she thought of him sitting in the stylish green car, watching her come and go, making sure that she lived at that address before posting this letter though her door. Then Lisa thought of the young man she'd once known – or thought she'd known. How often she'd imagined him turning up on her doorstep with a bunch of freesias, her favourites, begging forgiveness and promising the earth!

He'd held all the power then, the power to change the whole course of her life. But he had done nothing. Instead he had cravenly slunk away from the situation he'd helped to create and she had never heard from him again. Until now. With her mind dazed and her eyesight blurred, she had to read through his letter several times before the words sank in. Even then she scarcely recognised the man she'd once known behind the stiff, formal tone.

'Dear Lisa,' she read. 'I know this will come as a shock to you but I know of no other way to approach you after all these years. Please forgive the intrusion, but I only mean to help. Since I am now living in England again I have decided to make some financial contribution towards the upkeep of my son. I would like to see you tomorrow, if possible, to discuss the details. I shall be waiting in my car near the school gates at nine. Please see me, for the boy's sake. Yours, Dominic James.'

Lisa felt dizzy and put her head down between her knees. A shiver passed through her and she grabbed her dressing-gown from the hook on the door and pulled it round her, recognising the effects of shock. She wished she had brought her tea into the bathroom with her, needing its reassuring warmth. Her fingers trembled and she dropped the paper onto the bath mat. All the time her mind was racing, trying to piece together the fragments of his subsequent history that she'd managed to salvage.

Lisa had found out, through the college grapevine, that Dominic had gone abroad as soon as he'd graduated, getting the high-powered computer job he'd always wanted. After the shock of his rejection she had been almost relieved, resigned to facing the birth alone. But she'd never faced the possibility that he might come back again, let alone that he might want to support his child. It was so weird, after seven years of total silence.

Suspicion flooded her mind. How much did Bev's father know about her situation? He had obviously found her address but how long had he been spying on her, and Bev? What did he want, and why now? The chill deep inside her intensified. Suppose he intended to snatch the boy away, spirit him out of the country – was Bevan in jeopardy?

'Mummy, come and see! They're showing you how they do Wallace and Gromit!'

Bevan's excited rapping on the bathroom door brought her quickly back to her senses. She pulled the lavatory chain and stood up, thrusting the note into the pocket of her jeans and replacing the dressing-gown on the hook. 'Just coming, darling!'

Lisa splashed her face with cold water then went into the living-room and sat with Bev on her knee, pretending to be enthralled by the animation process. But her thoughts were light years away, re-living the time when she'd been