Strangers Read online

  Strangers

  Barbara Elsborg

  Kate Snow’s had enough of bad boys until a one-way swim in the ocean puts her on a collision course with a man she can’t resist. Charlie Storm has turned being a bad boy into an art form. Already a famous pop star, mega-success in the movie business beckons until his inner demons send him spiraling out of control and right out to sea. The last thing he expects to do before he dies is crash into a suicidal woman. When the worlds of these two strangers collide, their lives take an upward twist. In surviving the waves, they find they can’t stand to be apart, in or out of bed. Kate seizes a chance for happiness, seeing in Charlie a man she can finally trust to love her. Charlie can’t let go of Kate because she’s the only woman able to see the man he wants to be. But the price of fame is high and when the world wants to drive them apart, life only seems safe in Kate’s bed.

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Strangers

  ISBN 9781419922060

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Strangers Copyright © 2009 Barbara Elsborg

  Edited by Sue-Ellen Gower

  Cover art by Syneca

  Electronic book publication December 2009

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  STRANGERS

  Barbara Elsborg

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  BBC: The British Broadcasting Corporation

  Burger King: Burger King Brands, Inc.

  Coke: The Coca-Cola Company

  Cristal: Champagne Louis Roederer (CLR) Société Anonyme Société Anonyme Donna Karan: Gabrielle Studio, Inc.

  The Dorchester: Dorchester Hotel Limited

  eBay: eBay Inc.

  Edward Scissorhands: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation EMI: EMI Group plc

  Grand Marnier: Societe Des Produits Marnier-Lapostolle Company Harrods: Harrods Ltd.

  The Hulk: Magazine Management Co., Inc. doing business as Marvel Comics Group IKEA: Inter IKEA Systems B.V.

  Jack Daniel’s: Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc.

  Jimmy Choos: J. Choo Ltd.

  Lexus: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha TA Toyota Motor Corporation Manolo Blahniks : Blahnik, Manolo Individual

  Marks and Spencer: Marks and Spencer plc

  Marmite: Marmite Food Extract Co Ltd.

  Mars: Mars Incorporated

  Marsala: S.A.V.I. Floria-Ingham Whitaker-Woodhouse & C Corporation Nobu: Matsuhisa, Nobuyuki Individual

  Post-It: 3M Company

  Red Bull: Red Bull GmbH Limited Liability Company

  Selfridges: Selfridges Retail Limited

  Sky TV: BSkyB Ltd.

  Twiglets : United Biscuits UK Limited

  Twister: Hasbro, Inc.

  Woolworths: F. W. Woolworth Co.

  Barbara Elsborg

  Chapter One

  G O O D B Y E

  Kate stared at the letters written in the sand and laughed. If that wasn’t a sign, she didn’t know what was. Three more steps and a cold wave swept over her feet. Kate gritted her teeth and waded forward until the water reached her waist. One shuddering plunge and she began to swim. Moments later her sandals slipped from her feet. Damn, they were her favorites. Kate snorted with laughter, inhaled a lungful of saltwater and tried to stand. When her feet failed to touch bottom, she flailed around until she got her breath back and could swim again.

  It didn’t take long before she was shivering. Kate pictured herself sliding into a deep sleep and drowning. Then pictured herself struggling to breathe as water rushed into her throat. She batted away a hard ball of fear. No going back. Flipping over, she looked up into the pale gray early morning sky. It would have been good to see the sun for the last time. Kate let herself sink and moments later her legs kicked her to the surface. She gave an annoyed grunt. She’d even held her breath. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought. How weird if she swam as far as France. More likely a tanker would mow her down.

  The blow caught her on the end of her nose. Kate gasped as she went under, swallowed water and panicked. Drowning was one thing, being attacked by a shark something else entirely. She kicked her way to the surface, the horror of being eaten turning her into a writhing mass of fear. When her feet connected with something solid, fear turned to terror.

  “Oww!” yelped the shark.

  Kate thrashed harder.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” the shark demanded.

  Having an entertaining hallucination. Kate swiveled round. She’d not slept last night and her tired mind had imagined someone with her. Fortunately not a shark. She’d conjured up a real humdinger—an angry, dark-haired man who needed a shave. Despite the sooty shadows under his eyes, he was gorgeous. A shiver of lust joined Kate’s other shivers. Of course he could have the body of a hippo, since she could only see his head and bare shoulders.

  “Oh God, your nose is bleeding. Sorry,” he said.

  Kate touched her face and saw the blood on her fingers before a splash of water washed them clean.

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  “I wasn’t looking where I was going. I didn’t expect anyone to be out this far,” he said.

  She continued to tread water, wondering if she could keep him with her.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asked.

  Kate opened her mouth, considered the sense in talking to someone who wasn’t there, and closed it.

  “Are you a mermaid?” He dropped under the waves.

  Was he a merman? But then he’d know she wasn’t a mermaid. He surfaced beside her, closer than before, a haunted look in his huge, soft brown eyes.

  “Toes,” he spluttered, spitting on her face. “With red nail polish. I’m so disappointed.”

  Kate’s heart sank. A figment of her imagination would neither complain nor spit at her. He was real.

  “I thought you were a shark,” she said. “Then I thought I’d imagined you.”

  “A shark?” He turned in a jerky circle. “Oh Christ, and you’re bleeding. They can scent tiny amounts of blood in the water from oceans away. A squad of them are probably zooming over to tear us apart, limb by limb. If you feel a sudden tug, that’ll be your leg gone.”

  Kate wiped her nose again. Still bleeding.

  “Sorry. I hope I didn’t break it,” he said.

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “So…do you do this often?” He bobbed up on a wave as she dropped into a trough. Kate was torn between laughter and tears. “What?”

  “Swim out to sea in
your clothes?”

  “Yes, it’s fabulous exercise. I’d better get going.” She didn’t move.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Kate.”

  “I’m Charlie.”

  “Well, hello and goodbye, Charlie.”

  She swam out to sea using strong and decisive strokes.

  “You’re going the wrong way,” he yelled.

  “Not finished yet. Got to burn off the seventeen Mars Bars I ate last night. Squillions of calories to go.”

  He came up next to her, doing the breaststroke like her. They swam side-by-side in silence.

  “Did you ever see that film Open Water?” Charlie asked suddenly. Kate had been trying not to think about it. “Unlike that poor couple, we’re not lost. The beach is behind us.”

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  Barbara Elsborg

  “I don’t want to go back to the beach,” he said.

  Kate glanced across. Bloody hell, what were the chances of them picking the same spot to disappear? All that water and they ended up in the same place?

  “I was here first,” she said.

  “How do you know?”

  He was right. She didn’t.

  Light dawned. “Was the message in the sand yours?” Kate asked.

  “See, I was here first. Anyway, there’s enough water for both of us.”

  True. Kate wondered about diving, then opening her mouth to let the sea flood her lungs. Would it work? Would it be quick?

  “Your nose is still bleeding,” he said.

  “Shit.”

  “I’d have thought you’d welcome a shark.”

  Kate caught the hint of a smile on his face and glared. “I’m choosing the way I die, and I’m not choosing Jaws.”

  “Me neither,” Charlie said. “Why don’t we stop swimming?”

  “I already tried. My legs won’t cooperate. Watch.”

  Kate stopped moving and almost instantly started to tread water. Charlie held himself still, went under, then popped up next to her, water streaming down his face.

  “This is crazy.” His teeth were chattering.

  “Feel free to change your mind. No one’s forcing you.”

  Then Kate screamed and Charlie shot straight out of the water. She noticed he had great pecs, then panic overwhelmed every thought.

  “Jesus, what’s the matter?” he gasped.

  “There’s something behind me. Brushing against my back. Oh God. Jellyfish.”

  Charlie swam around, and then a swag of seaweed plopped onto her head. Kate screamed again and shot into hyper-speed, arms and legs powering her away.

  “It’s not a jellyfish,” he called. “It’s seaweed.”

  “I don’t like seaweed either.”

  Charlie caught up. “Why the hell choose to do things this way, if you’re frightened of jellyfish, sharks and seaweed? Anything else to add?”

  “Crabs, eels and oil tankers.”

  He sniggered. “How about giant squid?”

  She gulped. “I thought if I kept my clothes on, I wouldn’t mind slimy things, but I was wrong. I hadn’t thought about sharks until you mentioned them. Nor squid. Anyway, I’m not the only one who doesn’t like sharks.”

  “They won’t go for me. I’m not bleeding.”

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  “You’re in my vicinity. I don’t think they’re picky. You better swim off and leave me alone.”

  “But it’s my fault you’re bleeding. I’d feel terrible if a shark ate you.” He failed to smother a laugh.

  Kate swam off and he followed.

  “Are you stalking me?” she asked. “Can’t I even kill myself in peace?”

  “You’re more likely to be stalking me.”

  “Right, that’s it. I’ve had enough.”

  She turned and started to swim back to shore. Charlie kept pace with her. Neither spoke, but after several minutes it became clear the beach grew no closer.

  “Do the crawl,” Charlie said. “We might make more progress.”

  They didn’t.

  Her legs leaden, Kate found it difficult to keep her head above the water. Her clothes pulled her down. She was holding Charlie back, and knew without him saying that he’d refuse to leave her. Kate unzipped her jeans and tried to peel them over her hips, an action that sent her deep underwater. Charlie grabbed her arm and hauled her to the surface.

  “What the hell are you playing at?” he shouted.

  “Trying to take off my jeans.”

  He blinked water from his eyes. “Normally I’d be in favor of that, but you’re going to drown yourself.”

  They looked at each other and laughed.

  “We can use them as a buoyancy aid,” Kate said. “Tie the legs and fill them with air.”

  The incredulous look on his face made her determined to prove she could do it. Kate dipped beneath the surface. It was like trying to peel a lemon with a plastic knife. Being killed by her jeans was another way not to end things. When Kate emerged triumphant, pants in hand, rain was falling. She struggled with cold fingers to knot one leg, while Charlie worked on the other. When both legs were tied, Kate held the jeans by the waist and scooped them through the air. The wind wrenched them out of her grasp and deposited them several yards away. Charlie sniggered. “Shall I get them?”

  “Don’t bother. They were only cheap and it probably wouldn’t have worked.”

  And if I’m dead, I won’t need them anyway. The sky darkened and Kate yelped when a rumble of thunder sounded overhead. The water had grown choppier, waves breaking in their faces.

  “I think someone’s pissed off we’ve changed our minds.” Charlie coughed. Kate spat out water after a wave crashed into her face. “Do you think the beach is getting nearer?”

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  Barbara Elsborg

  “No.”

  “We must be caught in a current.”

  “Swim harder,” he said, “but parallel to the beach.”

  Kate wondered what she was doing, struggling to stay afloat when the whole point of today had been to sink. Perhaps she didn’t want this as much as she thought. Maybe she was already dead and being punished for killing herself, doomed to a perpetual struggle in a wild sea with a gorgeous but aggravating man.

  “Are you an angel?” she blurted.

  “No.”

  “Devil?”

  “Hmm. Stop talking, keep swimming.”

  Kate concentrated on taking a breath between the waves. Keeping herself afloat and snatching mouthfuls of air was as much as she could manage. She wasn’t sure how long passed before she realized Charlie wasn’t with her. She spun in a circle.

  “Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!”

  The peaks and troughs had become more extreme, rain reducing the visibility to a few yards. Kate couldn’t tell the difference between the sky and the sea, like she’d been trapped in one of Turner’s paintings with no detail, only color to express mood. Every time she tried to gulp air, she swallowed water. Kate coughed, choked and screamed for Charlie. She’d turned in circles looking for him and now the beach was lost.

  “Charlie!”

  When she caught sight of his white face at the crest of a curling wave, Kate swam frantically in his direction, fighting the water to get to his side. Through her stinging eyes, Kate saw him swimming toward her.

  “I thought I’d lost you.” She reached out to touch him.

  He coughed and spat out water. “I’m hard to get rid of. I’m so fucking cold and tired. This was supposed to be what I wanted, only now I don’t.”

  Beneath the shadow of his unshaven face, his skin appeared almost translucent. The hollows below his cheekbones looked deeper, as though he was turning into a corpse in front of her.

  “Keep swimming,” Kate said.

  “Which way? Where’s the fucking beach?”

  “I don’t know.”

  They looked at each other and Charlie gave a wry smile. “Maybe we weren’t meant to change our minds.”

  He
held his hand above the water and Kate reached for his white fingers.

  “Don’t let me go,” she gasped.

  “Don’t let me go,” Charlie said.

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  Strangers

  And they let the sea choose whether or not it wanted to keep them. 11

  Barbara Elsborg

  Chapter Two

  Kate’s Story

  “Guess what?” said Lucy, occupier of apartment four, Elm Gardens, Greenwich, below Kate in number five.

  “What?” asked Kate.

  Pinball Lucy barged into Kate’s apartment and bulldozed through to the lounge.

  “I’ve got us press tickets to a new venue in Knightsbridge.”

  “No thanks,” Kate said.

  “It’s called ‘The Wedding Party’.”

  “Not interested.”

  The two words bounced off Lucy.

  “It’s going to be great,” Lucy said. “Of course you want to go.”

  Kate finished washing the dishes. “No, I don’t.”

  “Obviously I haven’t made this sound enticing enough. Listen to the publicity handout. ‘ The evening is a cross between a mock wedding reception and a dating event. Whilst enjoying a wedding-themed comedy dinner’, which is going to be a load of laughs, ‘ you also get the chance to meet new people.’ Isn’t that a great idea?”

  “No.” Kate began to clean the handles on the kitchen cupboards. Lucy’s shoulders dropped. “Why not?”

  “Don’t you think it’s a bit odd, trying to pair up singles at a dysfunctional wedding?”

  Lucy thought about it and then shrugged. “The tickets are free.”

  “No.” Kate moved on to the skirting boards.

  “There’s a seven-course banquet and unlimited booze.”

  That was tempting but—“No.”

  “It’s going to be a fun, drunken night out,” Lucy said in exasperation.

  “Not a desperate search by desperate single men and desperate single women?”

  “Well, I’m not single,” Lucy said.

  “And I’m desperate and single?” Kate pulled the vacuum cleaner out of the cupboard.

  “Course not. Rachel and Dan are going. Please?”

  Kate gave in.

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