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Her Festive Flirtation
Therese Beharrie
A Christmas wedding they’ll never forget!A year after being jilted, Ava Keller finds herself forced back up the aisle – as bridesmaid at a beautiful Cape Town wedding. Best man – and Ava’s first crush – Noah Giles is the perfect distraction from her painful memories. Will Ava give their chemistry a second chance?
The bridesmaid, the best man...
A Christmas wedding they’ll never forget!
A year after being jilted, Ava Keller finds herself forced back up the aisle—as bridesmaid at a beautiful Cape Town wedding. Best man—and Ava’s first crush—Noah Giles is the perfect distraction from her painful memories. But their flirtation turns serious when Ava’s feelings for him resurface! Hurt when Noah left after their kiss years before, will Ava give their chemistry a second chance?
Being an author has always been THERESE BEHARRIE’s dream. But it was only when the corporate world loomed during her final year at university that she realised how soon she wanted that dream to become a reality. So she got serious about her writing, and now writes the kind of books she wants to see in the world, featuring people who look like her, for a living. When she’s not writing she’s spending time with her husband and dogs in Cape Town, South Africa. She admits that this is a perfect life, and is grateful for it.
Also by Therese Beharrie (#ua8f8e344-18ed-5c2a-a25b-0e4eae655593)
The Tycoon’s Reluctant Cinderella
A Marriage Worth Saving
The Millionaire’s Redemption
Tempted by the Billionaire Next Door
Surprise Baby, Second Chance
Conveniently Wed, Royally Bound miniseries
United by Their Royal Baby
Falling for His Convenient Queen
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
Her Festive Flirtation
Therese Beharrie
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07836-8
HER FESTIVE FLIRTATION
© 2018 Therese Beharrie
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Grant,
who makes every Christmas the best day of the year.
And for my family. I love you.
Contents
Cover (#u3ae5a63c-3dbd-5a4d-a92f-44c1d5710d59)
Back Cover Text (#u2e1ba9b3-a01c-584e-bc3e-18f2163dd6b0)
About the Author (#u4e635bd8-fec5-530e-a786-7c46827fb4ee)
Booklist (#u3fd27ad5-749a-5adb-b25a-b6d302e8ec0b)
Title Page (#u818c8998-d3bb-5403-bf6b-1ad0b5cf21ac)
Copyright (#u44d0b824-61fc-582c-a8fa-fce05b77dcd6)
Dedication (#u5651da52-3ae5-5314-964a-4d7785e4d763)
CHAPTER ONE (#ubebe4097-c153-5930-ba5c-bd568489eb73)
CHAPTER TWO (#u6460690f-d212-500c-87fa-f8dfc83d158b)
CHAPTER THREE (#u59f3be12-afc3-541f-9597-ac8b15fefc24)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u961b8ebe-6e2d-5192-a8e1-1b36a9af2664)
CHAPTER FIVE (#uc989abba-28d5-52d3-813c-c78c04a79ddd)
CHAPTER SIX (#u2a5b287a-187c-5f60-b5b6-389f5658060c)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ua8f8e344-18ed-5c2a-a25b-0e4eae655593)
‘MA’AM, I CAN’T let you go in there.’
‘But—’
‘No “buts”.’ The man turned back to where smoke obscured the eco-estate where Ava Keller’s home was. ‘There’s no way you’re going into that.’
Ava gritted her teeth. She hated him. Though she’d never met the man before, she hated him.
The rational voice in her head told her she was projecting. That coming home from work to find her home covered in smoke had upset her. That being upset had manifested itself in her short tone and strong emotions. Like hatred.
Yes, the rational voice said. She was definitely projecting. But then, she’d never prized rationality in stressful situations. That was why, when she’d been left at the altar a year before, she’d attended the wedding reception. She’d eaten the cake. She’d gone on her honeymoon.
Rationality wouldn’t make her feel less stressed. Nor would it make her less emotional. And rationality wasn’t going to save one of the only things in her life that was still important to her.
So when an idea occurred to her and the rational voice warned against it, she knew she was going to do it. And though it was a bad idea—a terrible one—she would do it anyway.
Heaven help her.
She turned, walked a few steps away from the wall of men blocking the path to her house, and let out a bloodcurdling scream.
They hurried towards her, and later she would think that they must have made quite a picture. Those huge, muscular men in their official uniforms—some firefighters, some police—hurrying over to her as if they were lions and she were fresh meat.
She would also later think that at least ten men hurrying over to her had been overkill. But right now she was pretending to be a damsel in distress, and she was certain that merely the idea of that caused men to flock.
Really, her duping them was their own fault.
And that of her excellent acting skills.
Unfortunately, being a copywriter for a cybersecurity company didn’t often allow her to illustrate how dramatic she could be.
‘I think... I think I just saw a person.’ She gripped the shirt of the man closest to her. ‘Right there—down the path at that bush.’ Now she injected a layer of panic into her voice. ‘It’s so close to the fire, Sergeant. And it looked like my neighbour. An old man with no teeth.’
There was a beat when she wondered whether she’d gone too far. She had laid it on a little thick. Mr Kinney was barely fifty. He had all his teeth and he wasn’tin danger.
To make it more believable, she let out another tiny little screech. And when the man who’d blocked her from getting near her house moved forward to comfort her she cried, ‘No, no, not me. Help him. Help him!’
If the fire didn’t do the job first, Ava knew she was going to burn in hell.
But it worked, and three of the men ran down the pathway while the others moved forward, bodies tensed, ready to help if necessary.
It was all she needed. Without a second thought for how irrational she was acting, Ava bolted up the incline of the road she’d been blocked from earlier, and didn’t stop until she was so far from the men she’d left behind she could barely see them.
Nor could she see in front of her.
When panic crept up her throat, she ignored it. Told herself to remember all those nights she’d spent unable to sleep and Zorro had comforted her. To remember that it was only when she was looking after him that she felt capable. Able. And not as if some of her personality traits—her honesty, her bluntness—meant she somehow couldn’t be a partner. A wife.
But all thought fled from her mind as her body adjusted to its new environment. The smoke seemed to be stuck in her mouth. Clogging her lungs. Burning her eyes. She pulled off her shirt and tied it around her nose and mouth, trying to keep her eyes open.
It didn’t make much difference. The smoke was so thick she could barely see her hands in front of her. And the more she tried, the more her eyes burned.
So she wasn’t entirely surprised when she walked right into a wall.
The force of it stunned her. But after a moment she realised it wasn’t a wall. Not unless this wall had suddenly grown hands and gripped her arms to keep her from falling.
She was pretty sure she’d walked into a human. A human man.
As opposed to an alien man?
Clearly the smoke was doing more damage than she’d thought.
She heard a muffled sound coming from the man. He was obviously trying to tell her something, but he was wearing a firefighter’s mask and she couldn’t make out a single word. She shook her head and then, deciding that this interaction was taking precious time from her rescue mission, she pushed past him.
But she’d forgotten he had his hands on her arms, and they tightened on her before she could move.
‘What are you doing?’ the man asked now, wrenching off his mask.
She still couldn’t see him. Which, she thought, was probably a good thing, since his voice didn’t indicate that he felt any positive emotion towards her.
‘I have to get to my house.’
