of opponents, blocking his path, lining up to double-team him. She saw him look around quickly, assessing his options. He had a teammate coming up on his outside. He didn’t slow his pace but ran in a slightly diagonal line towards the centre of the pitch, straight towards the oncoming defenders. Juliet held her breath, willing this glorious stranger safely past them. She couldn’t see how he could possibly manage to evade them—as solid as he was, the others were bigger again and there were two of them. They had the typical build of rugby players?massive limbs, thick necks and take-no-prisoners looks on their faces. They looked like two enormous tree trunks in the middle of the field.
Juliet waited, expecting to see the blond demigod attempt to dodge around the opposition?she was convinced he’d be fast enough to get around them but he kept running straight at them. She watched him drop his left shoulder and spin to his right as the full backs crunched into him, slamming him into the ground. Even on the soft grass the thud of bodies colliding was loud and painful. Her hands flew to her mouth?somewhere under that man mountain lay the most divine male she’d seen in a long time—how many pieces was he going to be in when the dust settled?
She felt someone bump against her, the crowd around her was screaming and yelling, people were jumping up and down. She saw the ball come sailing backwards, arcing through the air. Had he managed to release the ball before he’d been crunched?
The diagonal path he’d chosen, the path that had led him straight into danger, had given his teammate a chance to gain some ground and Juliet watched as the ball landed securely in the teammate’s hands. He was ten metres from the opposing try line with no one to beat.
Juliet celebrated the try with the crowd, caught up in the moment, caught up in one man. She nudged Stella as the celebrations continued. ‘Do you know who number fourteen is for the defence force?’
Stella shook her head. Juliet wasn’t surprised; Stella was there to cheer for the university side—she had no allegiance to the defence academy. But that didn’t mean Juliet couldn’t adopt the defence force team as hers.
‘Can I have a look at the programme?’ she asked.
Stella handed over the paper she’d been holding and Juliet scrolled down the page. Number fourteen?Sam Taylor. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.
Juliet spent the rest of the half with one eye on Sam and the other on the crowd, trying to determine if anyone seemed to be following Sam particularly. There were plenty of supporters yelling for him whenever he got the ball, which seemed to be a frequent occurrence, but it was hard to tell if any of them were as focussed on Sam as she was. In the end she gave up and spent the rest of the time enjoying the spectacle and vowing to introduce herself to him after the match.
The spectators gathered in the university rugby club bar at the end of the game and wasted no time before ordering drinks. Juliet was careful to stay in control. The rugby players had all gone to shower and change and she wanted to be prepared for Sam’s return. She was going to make sure she made a good first impression, for reasons she didn’t fully understand but which seemed vitally important.
She and Stella positioned themselves between the band and the bar and kept an eye on the doors. The players were beginning to drift in now. They were easy to pick out of the crowd as most still had damp hair from their showers. The university boys were in civvies but the defence force boys were in their dress uniforms. In Juliet’s opinion the defence force boys had an unfair advantage over the university boys. Dress uniforms trumped casual clothes any day.
Sam came through the doors, his white uniform immaculate. She’d always been a sucker for a man in uniform. He was six feet of muscle impeccably dressed. His hair was damp from the shower so it was a darker blond now, thick and wavy. Juliet wondered if there was a regulation about hair length in the navy. Sam’s hair looked longer than most, although it stopped short of his collar. His shoulders were broad and straight and he looked like a perfect gentleman, strong and protective, chivalrous. Juliet knew he might be none of those things but he could certainly sell the illusion.
She scanned the room, waiting to see if anyone went to claim him. A couple of his companions broke away to meet their girlfriends but Sam continued walking. From her spot on the far side of the room she could see him sweep his gaze across the crowd. Was he looking for anyone in particular? He hadn’t stopped scanning the room and she was concentrating so intently on his movements that she was unprepared when his gaze swept her side of the room. Before she had a chance to look away their eyes locked. She tried to relax. After all, he couldn’t know she’d been watching him ever since he’d stepped inside, and she thought she’d pulled it off until he winked at her. She felt herself blush and was tempted to dive behind Stella, but at least he’d noticed her. That was a good thing, so she smiled at him before looking away. She still had time to play it cool and work out her plan of attack.
She waited until he was at the bar then offered to fetch Stella another drink.
‘Excuse me, would you mind if I squeezed in here?’ People were packed tightly together along the bar, giving her the perfect excuse to cram herself in beside Sam.
‘Not at all,’ he said, moving over to make space for her. He smiled at her and Juliet felt her heart skip a beat. She’d always thought that was just a saying but there was no other way to describe the effect of his smile on her. If he was gorgeous when he was running around a rugby field, he was absolutely superb when he smiled. His smile was wide and white and started at the right-hand corner of his mouth before spreading to the left and finally reaching his eyes. Crinkles appeared in the corners of his eyes, but they didn’t detract from his looks. He looked like a man who smiled often and easily. The moment his smile lit up his face Juliet knew she was in big trouble. Sam had to be hers?there were no two ways about it.
Her eyes were still locked on his as she thanked him for making room. ‘I enjoyed the game. Congratulations on winning.’ She paused for a fraction before deciding nothing ventured, nothing gained. ‘It’s Sam, isn’t it? I’m Juliet,’ she said, holding out her hand.
He shook her hand and Juliet had the strangest sense of déjà vu. His touch was familiar but she knew that was impossible, yet she could sense a memory, almost as though her skin had felt his touch before. It was slightly unnerving but Juliet couldn’t force herself to remove her hand.
‘Have we met before?’ Sam asked. He was frowning and a crease appeared between his eyes.
‘No.’ Had he felt the same strange familiarity or was he only asking because she’d used his name? She could explain one reason but not the other. ‘I looked you up in the match programme after that first try. I wanted to know who everyone was cheering for.’ Juliet let go of his hand.
He smiled again, his right-to-left smile, and said, ‘What about you? Who were you cheering for?’
‘No one really…not for the first fifteen minutes anyway. I came with a girlfriend to cheer for the uni team but I might have swapped allegiances.’ She gave him a sideways glance, hoping he’d pick up on her invitation.
‘So you don’t have a boyfriend on the uni team who’s going to get upset if I buy you a drink?’
‘No boyfriend.’
And that had been it. Somewhere along the way Juliet had remembered to give Stella her drink and had been relieved to find her in a group that included the boy she was keen on, but after that Sam had been the only one who had held any interest for Juliet.
They’d had such passion and she still found it hard to believe that it hadn’t been enough to sustain them. Hard to believe they hadn’t made it.
She’d
