Page 15 of Bride Under Contract

Carter was not one for tourist photos—or any photos. Usually someone reaching for their phone would have him reaching for his wine, or the exit—and yet as she held up a grainy image on an utterly basic phone Carter found out something.

It wasn’t just elephants that didn’t forget.

There was a twist inside him, a whisper of long-ago carefree days spent tracking them with Arif. How everything would halt when they chose to appear by the river—even seasoned locals could not but stop and smile at their majesty.

His father had been in constant awe of them too.

‘Carter, look!’

It had been more than half a century since he’d recalled his father’s voice with such clarity.

Not that Grace could know that, of course.

‘It really was the most incredible thing I’ve ever...’ she started but then halted, perhaps changed her mind, because she went to place her phone back down on the table. ‘You must have seen them a thousand times.’

He was about to nod, even if only to halt the memories raining in, yet he didn’t want to crush her fervour nor shut it down. Also, for the first time, there was no pain in recall.

‘Not for a long while,’ Carter admitted, standing to move his seat around to be by her side. The men he’d intended to watch—the very reason he was here—were forgotten.

‘This was earlier...’ Grace told him, and he tried to look down at the phone rather than notice the dash of coral polish on her toenails. ‘We first saw them by the river.’

His gaze left her pretty feet to look at the images, and there was something about the photos lack of polish that made there really rather special.

‘That’s quite a herd,’ he commented.

‘Eleven...maybe twelve.’ She nodded, and he caught the scent of fragrant hair and warm skin. ‘And there was a calf,’ she added. ‘Well, two. But one was just so tiny. This was taken at the start.’

She showed him a very shaky video, and he looked at the elephants at the riverside, their silvery ears flapping as if waving, carrying on eating and bathing, oblivious to their audience.

God, but he remembered this.

Carter was certainly not one for poring over holiday images, and such, yet he patiently watched her slender finger as she swiped through more photos, the sky darkening with each image.

‘We were heading back to the resort when they appeared again. I don’t think Felicity was expecting it at all! We had to stop to let them cross.’

He could hear the tremor of excitement in her voice.

‘It was getting dark, so you can’t see much...’

‘May I?’

He took the phone and watched the footage, heard her laughter in the short video. It moved him. Her slight gasp as another elephant appeared, followed by her cry of delight as a small calf disappeared beneath the water.

The dulcet notes of her pure pleasure were captivating.

‘I didn’t even know they could swim,’ she admitted, her head moving closer to his, a curl just dusting his cheek. ‘And then...’

Together they watched as one of the mothers pushed her little one up onto the muddy bank and the elders stood patiently, waiting for all to gather.

‘They really take care of each other.’

‘They do.’ Carter said. ‘Once, I thought...’

He halted—not just his voice, but his thoughts—as he always did when his mind drifted back. Yet as he stared at the images on the phone her silence was patient enough to allow him a small recollection of happier times.

‘Once, I thought I’d found an abandoned calf.’

‘Oh, my goodness. What did you do?’

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