The Engagement

THE ENGAGEMENT AN ABSOLUTELY UNPUTDOWNABLE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER WITH A HEART-POUNDING TWIST SAMANTHA HAYES BOOKS BY SAMANTHA HAYES The Engagement The Ex-Husband The Trapped Wife Single Mother The Happy Couple Date Night The Liar’s Wife Tell Me A Secret The Reunion Available in Audio The Ex-Husband (Available in the UK and the US) The Trapped Wife (Available in the UK and the US) Single Mother (Available in the UK and the US) The Happy Couple (Available in the UK and the US) Date Night (Available in the UK and the US) The Liar’s Wife (Available in the UK and the US) Tell Me A Secret (Available in the UK and the US) The Reunion (Available in the UK and the US) CONTENTS Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Chapter Forty-Eight Chapter Forty-Nine Chapter Fifty Epilogue Date Night Prologue Hear More from Samantha Books by Samantha Hayes A Letter From Samantha The Ex-Husband The Trapped Wife Single Mother The Happy Couple The Liar’s Wife Tell Me A Secret The Reunion Acknowledgements * For my dearest Dad, with tons of love. Goodness! xxx PROLOGUE The evening was perfect. Gentle waves lapped at the edge of Lac de Paladru and the fat orange sun was slowly sinking over the western bank, casting fiery shimmers over the water. She sat on a rug on the shingle beach, her pretty summer dress pulled up to her thighs, her toes dipping into the cool water. ‘God, I love this place,’ she said, tipping back her head. The sky had been clear all day – all week, in fact. Ten days ago, they’d taken a train to the coast for a couple of nights, staying in Nice, exploring Cannes and parading along the beachfront promenade, pretending to be rich and famous. They’d laughed, they’d eaten delicious food, they’d made love, drunk wine and smoked cigarettes. Then they’d travelled back up to Lyon. Home seemed about as far away as the moon right now, and she never wanted to go back. ‘Why don’t we live here forever?’ she said, taking another sip of the champagne he’d added to the picnic. How romantic, she’d thought, when he told her he’d hired a car, had bought a hamper, that they were going for a day at the lake. ‘Did you see that little wooden lodge on the way here? Something like that would be perfect. I’d swim all day, have a flower garden, have CHAPTER ONE HANNAH – NOW ‘What do you think?’ I swirl around, holding the dress in front of me. Rob’s always so kind, so considerate of my feelings, but the slight hesitation, the flicker of doubt in his eyes, doesn’t go unnoticed. I laugh. ‘You’re right, it’s awful.’ I put the dress back on the rail, trailing my fingers along the fabric of the others on display in the department store. ‘I didn’t say that,’ he says, grinning and slipping a hand onto the small of my back. ‘You’d look beautiful in anything.’ I make a pah sound, briefly resting my head on his shoulder. ‘How about this one?’ He takes it, holding it against me. ‘Better,’ he says. ‘The colour brings out your eyes.’ ‘I’ll try it on,’ I say, though I’m not sure about the sequins. ‘Too fancy?’ ‘It’s a fancy do,’ Rob reminds me. ‘Belle’s eighteenth birthday party and a homecoming.’ He takes a little black dress off the rail and adds it to the collection I’m holding. It’s one of the reasons I love Rob with all my heart and beyond – the way he treats Belle, his stepdaughter, as his own. In all the years we’ve been together, not once has he ever acted as though she’s not his flesh and blood – even when we had Amber