An American Submissive in Britain (2 page)

“What about you, dear? Is this your first trip to the UK?”

“Yes. It’s actually my first trip out of the States. It all came as a bit of a surprise—I mean going to Britain and the reasons why and everything…” Gina’s voice trailed off, and she sighed, gazing past Mary and out of the aircraft window. To say it was a surprise really was a definite understatement.

“It seems to me that you’re a young woman with a lot on her mind.”

Gina turned back to face Mary, noting her obvious concern.

“I’m a very good listener,” Mary continued, “and seeing as you’ve been such an angel, helping me to keep my mind off this bloody plane plunging into the sea, if you want to talk about it, feel free to fire away.”

Gina saw the sincerity in this elderly lady’s eyes and suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to spill her guts about the letter in her carry-on and the circumstances that ended with her getting on this plane. The likelihood of the two of them meeting again was very slim, and the woman had been so sweet, telling her all about her family and grandchildren. It would be good to get another female perspective.

“Well, the thing is…” Gina laughed self-consciously.

“Go on, love,” Mary encouraged.

Gina took a deep breath. “I got a letter a few weeks ago. It was from this lawyer, I mean solicitor. That’s the correct term, right?”

“That’s right.” Mary smiled.

“Well, it seems that my biological father died three months ago. I knew about him, but I’d never met him or anything. He and my mom didn’t stay together. He was English, and she had met him while she was on an exchange program in college, back in the eighties. Things didn’t work out, and she moved back to the States. He knew about me and paid my mother regularly, but that’s as far as it went.

“My mom married Greg, my stepdad, and he’s been dad to me ever since I can remember.” Gina paused. It was strange telling a relative stranger about her private life, but Mary seemed such a sweet lady, and now she’d started, she found she didn’t want to stop. “Long story short—this letter arrives, and my natural father has left me a house, in a village near a town called Newmarket in the south east of England. I mean, out of the blue, no warning at all. How weird is that?”

Not giving Mary a chance to comment, Gina went on with her story. “I mean, I’d never wanted to get to know him. He’d all but abandoned my mom, apart from the regular money he sent. Greg has been my dad in every way for as long as I can remember. But now, I find out that not only do I have a house in England, I also have a half-sister and half-brother, just a few years younger than me…” Gina stopped talking, a blush forming on her cheeks. She absently pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Gosh, I’m so sorry, rambling on like that. You must think I never shut up.”

Mary patted Gina’s hand in a motherly fashion. “I think you needed to get that all out, dear. It must have been such a big shock for you. What do your mom and Greg think about all this?”

“They’ve been great. They always are. I know they’ll support me whatever I want to do. I’m so lucky, you know? But after that letter, for the first time, I want to find out about this side of my family. I’m going to stay for two weeks, decide what I want to do about the house, and then I’ll probably just go back home. I guess you could call it closure, as far as my dad is concerned, anyway. I’ve no idea about my new siblings. I’ll have to play that one by ear.”

Gina didn’t think the sweet older woman next to her was ready to hear the other reason why she had decided that she would take the bull by the horns and find out about her relatives in Britain.

Just before the letter had arrived, her now ex-boyfriend had decided that he couldn’t deal with Gina’s
needs,
as he had referred to them, and had moved out. He left her high and dry with rent to find for their apartment and all the bills on top of that.

Gina could have dealt with the breakup better if John hadn’t made her feel like such a freak. At first, her submissiveness had fascinated him, and he’d told her how sexy she was, re-assuring her all the while that he wanted to be her Dominant and that the lifestyle had intrigued him. However, after only four weeks, he had managed to make her feel like an unpaid maid-service, catering to his every need while she was left completely uncared for. Most of the time, she had felt useless and ignored, and any attention he had paid to her sexually was aggressive and unpleasant.

Gina had wanted so much to make it work, but he just hadn’t understood what a real Dom/sub relationship entailed and had shown no inclination to educate himself.

When her friend Maggie had caught sight of the bruises on Gina’s back, courtesy of John using a paddle without any thought to her safety, she had flipped, threatening to call the police, but Gina had pleaded with her best friend not to involve them. Too many questions would have been asked, and Gina wasn’t ready for anyone else, especially her mom or Greg, to know about her choice of lifestyle.

So Maggie had been at her side when the relationship with John ended, and he had called her every derogatory name under the sun while he gathered his things together and then slammed out of the apartment.

Gina sighed as Mary took a sip of her juice and carefully put the cup back on her tray table. “I think you’re very brave, going to a strange country not knowing anyone. I don’t know if I’d have been brave enough at your age. Young people these days are so much more self-sufficient than when I was in my twenties. Can I give you some advice, Gina?”

Gina smiled at the older lady. “Yes, please, anything you can think of would be great.”

Mary laughed. “Well, in my experience, first impressions mean a great deal. When you meet your brother and sister, trust your instincts. Don’t let anything you’ve been told, or what they say to you, cloud your judgment about them, about your father, and about the things that happened between him and your mother. Go with your gut feeling. It seems to me that you are an intelligent, educated woman, so don’t let others get in the way of common sense.” She paused and gave a chuckle. “Right, end of lecture. I spy the drinks trolley heading this way. What about a tipple then, love?”

Gina frowned. “A tipple?”

“It’s English for a glass of something good, preferably alcohol!”

“Oh well, in that case, a tipple sounds great,” Gina replied, laughing. After a couple of seconds, she added, “Thank you for the advice. I really do appreciate it. One minute, I feel like I must have lost my mind, doing this, and the next, I can’t wait to meet my other family and experience Britain. But hey, at least I know one British person before I land.”

Mary’s face took on a serious expression. “You know what? I realize that we only just met and everything, but I’m going to give you my number. You remind me so much of my daughter, and I would hate to think of her being in an unfamiliar country with all that ahead of her. If anything goes wrong or you just need to hear a friendly voice, you call me, okay?”

Mary took out a pad of paper from her bag and wrote down her details, then ripped the sheet out and handed it to Gina. “Now, you make sure you call me if you need to. I live in Nottingham, by the way. You know, Robin Hood country, so it’s a few hours north of where you’ll be. But we have a good public transport system, and if things don’t turn out the way you hope, I’m only a train ride away.”

“I will call, I promise. Thank you so much. I feel quite reassured now. How strange life can be, you know? I was so worried this was all going to be a nightmare from start to finish, and now I’ve met you, I’m all hyped up and ready to take whatever is coming my way.”

Mary smiled and patted her hand in a motherly fashion. The drinks trolley arrived, and they both chose their poison.

Gina held up her glass. “Here’s to your new grandson!”

“And here’s to your new adventure!” Mary replied.

The plastic cups bumped together, and the two women toasted each other.

Gina leaned back in her seat. Well, she had made her first friend, and what a sweetheart she was. Some of the churning in her stomach, which seemed to have become the norm of late, finally began to ease. As the alcohol warmed her insides, the tension she had been feeling began to slowly melt away.

The thought of meeting a new sister and brother without any of her friends or family around her had been a constant source of worry ever since the letter had arrived. She hadn’t known what she was going to do if it all went wrong and they hated her on sight. Now she had a point of contact and a new friend she could turn to.

Mary broke into her thoughts. “Do you want to try the movie that’s about to start?” It’s a comedy apparently. It’ll help pass the next couple of hours, at least.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me. Then we’ll only have about three more hours to go before Heathrow.”

The two women settled back into their seats to watch the movie. Gina tried hard to focus on the screen in front of her, but after a while, she tuned out, her mind wandering back to the task ahead of her.

The letter had been signed Guy Anderson, one of the partners in the law firm of Anderson and Webster, who, as far as she could tell, were local to the area. They had corresponded by e-mail for the next two weeks, and Mr. Anderson had offered to pick her up from the airport himself. Gina had politely declined, thinking it would be better to act independently from the start.

The thought of being stuck in a car with a stranger, for God knows how long, in a new country, did not appeal to her. After all, he could be a sleaze, a total geek, or a pushy, arrogant prick. No, it was best to be in charge and make her own decisions from the start.

Mr. Anderson had e-mailed her a picture of the house she had inherited, and Gina had been enchanted. It was just how she had imagined an English country cottage would be, although he had written that the building did need some electrical work and decoration.

Mary broke into laughter beside Gina, and her thoughts were dragged back from Guy Anderson and her house to the movie.

As the plane finally started its descent, Gina could feel her heart thumping with nerves and anticipation. This was it; for the first time in her twenty-four years, she was taking the bit between her teeth and having a real
adventure
, as Mary had called it.

They descended through the clouds, and she finally saw London spread out before her. The plane shifted slightly, getting prepared for landing, and Mary grabbed her hand again. Gina grinned and held on tightly until the plane touched down and slowed to a sensible speed.

The two women stuck together until they reached customs and immigration and then said their goodbyes with a hug. Mary wished her luck and reminded her to call, even if it was just to let her know how things were going.

Gina suddenly felt very alone again as she lined up with the other travelers to go through immigration. After about forty minutes or so, she had dealt with the humorless, miserable woman who was so obviously uninterested in why she was here and grabbed her one large suitcase, which, thankfully, didn’t take too long to appear on the huge conveyor belt in baggage claim.

Walking into the arrivals area, she smiled to herself, realizing that even though she was almost four thousand miles away, on a different continent, the airport was basically the same as any in the US. She’d half expected to see old-fashioned Englishmen in round black bowler hats, carrying umbrellas. In fact, she could feel the warmth of the late afternoon sun, shining through the glass exit doors. Excitement began to pulse through her veins—she was really here, in the United Kingdom, land of kings and queens, great castles and thousands of years of history.

After spotting a sign that showed the way to the London underground, Gina began to make her way through the busy area. Suddenly, a bright blue placard with large letters caught her attention, and her eyes widened in astonishment when she realized the name on the card was hers.

What the hell? It had to be a coincidence. She had definitely said that she would find her own way to Newmarket and then contact Mr. Anderson from there.

The face behind the placard was partially hidden, but Gina caught sight of a pair of dark boots, long muscular legs encased in blue jeans, and a crisp white shirt. Wow, the words sleaze, geek and prick certainly didn’t seem appropriate here. Those words, of course, were courtesy of her best friend, Maggie, who had told her that British men tended to be overly shy, geeky nerds, or beer-swilling couch potatoes. With the obvious exceptions, of course, being Daniel Craig and David Beckham.

Gina took a deep breath and walked resolutely up to the stranger with the sign. Just as she reached him, the placard moved down, and Gina found herself staring up into a pair of deep brown eyes that, after a second, traveled down her body and then up again as his lips stretched into a broad, friendly smile.

She was at a total loss for words for perhaps the second time in her entire life. The man in front of her was tall, extremely muscular, and altogether far too sexy. Whatever she had been expecting, this wasn’t it. Maybe there was another Gina Ramsey at the airport today.

Shit, pull yourself together and say something,
she thought, but he beat her to it.

“Miss Ramsey?” he said in a deep, strong voice. When she nodded, he carried on, “I’m Guy Anderson. I know you said that you could find your own way to Newmarket, but I’ve been here in London for a conference for the last two days, so I decided to stick around and meet you off your flight.”

Gina managed a smile as Guy reached over and took her suitcase from her. “That’s really kind of you. I didn’t want to be any trouble, but to be honest, the thought of trying to get a train or coach right now isn’t exactly appealing. So I’m very grateful.”

God, that’s really pathetic.
Not five minutes ago, she had been all excited about being in a new country and doing some exploration by herself, and now a pair of gorgeous eyes and a great body had overridden her need to be independent completely. Her earlier thoughts of not wanting to be stuck with a stranger seemed to have disappeared into thin air as the two of them made their way out of the terminal.