Sway With Me(62)

He shook his head. “No. I’ve found the woman I’m going to marry, but even if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t go down that road again with you.”

She laughed, tossing her golden hair over her shoulder. “Ouch. Here I thought we had something special.”



Ryan wrung his hands together, amazed Samantha was so clueless. All this time he’d blamed her for everything he’d lost. How could he have been so blind? “Special isn’t making promises of forever then leaving the continent without another word.”

She bit her lip, trying to act innocent. “I wrote you a letter.”

“Right, the letter in which you said you loved me, but we wanted different things. The letter in which you reduced my feelings for you to youthful infatuation. The letter in which you accused me of being unable to live without my wealth.”

“Ryan, if I had pulled you away from your family, from the lifestyle you’d grown up in, you would’ve resented me.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Sooner or later you would have left me. I did it to save you from making a mistake.”

He gently removed her hand and took a step back. He’d hate for anyone to get the wrong idea about them. “The day before you left for Africa, I gave it all up for you. Every last cent of my trust fund went to children’s charities. The money, the lifestyle, none of it meant a damn thing until you left. I’ve spent the last two years without a dime to my name. I let everyone believe I’d wasted my money on toys and gifts and parties, and everyone was so quick to believe it.”

She gasped. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” Leaning against the wall, she looked up him with guilt in her eyes. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

When she’d left him with only a letter, he thought he’d never recover. Thinking back on it now, he realized she’d only wounded his pride. It was his pride which kept him from admitting the truth to his family, allowing them to believe the worst of him. Samantha hadn’t broken his heart. She couldn’t break it, because it had never belonged to her.

“You have nothing to feel guilty about, Sam.” He folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall next to her. “You did the right thing. I might not have thought so back then, but everything has led up to finding the woman I love and I wouldn’t change a thing.”



“I’m happy for you,” she said, nudging him in the side with her elbow. “I assume she’s the beautiful brunette you brought tonight?”

Pushing off the wall, he noticed Sean standing at the end of the hall. “Yes, and I ran off without an explanation, so I should get back to her.”

“I hope I get an invitation to your wedding,” Sam said, staring at Sean. She gave Ryan a small smile before walking away, tipping her head in acknowledgement to Sean as she past him and disappeared into the ladies’ room.

Sean’s eyes tracked her movement. The moment the ladies’ room door swung shut, he bolted down the hall to Ryan.

“Still got a thing for Samantha I see,” Ryan teased, never giving up an opportunity to rib his brother.

It was no secret Sean had a huge crush on her for years. Ryan had thought it was all one-sided, but after observing her reaction to Sean’s presence in the hallway, he wasn’t so sure.

“Listen, bro. Did Portia come find you?” Sean asked, noticeably out-of-breath.

An uneasy feeling settled into his gut. “No. I left her with Mom and Dad.”

Sean swore and ran his fingers through his hair. “She saw you kiss Samantha. She ran off. I tried to follow but I lost her. I thought maybe she backtracked to confront you.”

Ryan didn’t waste another moment, the fear of losing Portia slicing through him like a blade. He veered toward the ballroom with Sean nipping at his heels. “I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me. It was a few seconds at most.”

“Seemed longer to me,” Sean quipped, disgust obvious in his tone.



Ryan didn’t know if it was on Portia’s behalf or his own, and frankly, he didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was finding her and explaining that what she’d witnessed meant nothing. Ryan pushed his way into the crowded ballroom scanning the space for her.

Sean pulled on his sleeve to get his attention. “I already checked. She’s not in here. I think she left.”

At this point, he was considering hopping on the stage and grabbing the microphone from the band to call out for her. Too bad that would not only piss Portia off, but his folks as well. He couldn’t ruin their night or risk losing funding for their charity.

He spotted Braden with a bottle of beer in his hand, talking with his sister, Rose, at one of the bars across the room. He pushed his way through the guests as politely as possible until he reached his friend. “Have you seen Portia?”