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Difficult in more ways than one. How often did one man dump you and another bewitch you within the space of a few hours?
‘Training,’ she said brusquely, which led to her telling him about her work history and how she’d learned not to wear her heart on her sleeve.
‘Except when I’ve just been jilted,’ she added as the light turned green and they walked on. ‘I always lose it on occasions like that. Especially when I find out the man who’s supposedly in love with me has made some other girl pregnant. Would you believe this isn’t the first time this has happened?’
‘That’s incredibly bad luck.’
‘I agree,’ she said drily, and launched into her sad tale about Dwayne.
Daniel nodded sympathetically at all the right moments.
‘Men can be right bastards at times,’ he pronounced when she finished.
She stared at him, then smiled. ‘You’d know, I guess.’
By this time they’d reached the quay area and weren’t far from the open-air café Charlotte was taking him to.
‘On the plus side,’ she said as they strolled along together, ‘you are a wonderful listener.’
‘Aah, now, that’s my training. I’m not just any old lawyer, you see. I’m a divorce lawyer. With female-only clients. A good proportion of my job is just listening to women rave on. I have to confess I’m used to hearing the sexual shortcomings of the male sex. Frankly, some of the horror stories I’ve heard make me ashamed of being a man at times.’
‘But why do you have only female clients? Surely men want you to represent them sometimes.’
‘Aah, now, that’s a long story.’
Charlotte refused to let him fob her off with that old chestnut. ‘You must tell me all about it over coffee,’ she said firmly.
Daniel had no intention of doing any such thing, but oddly enough, within ten minutes of their sitting down together at one of the very pleasant alfresco tables, he found himself telling her in minute detail all about his father’s desertion and subsequent marriages.
‘Mom never recovered from his betrayal,’ he said as he stirred his coffee. ‘And I guess neither did I. Beth was too young to hate him. She never even knew him. But I despise the man for what he did, and what he’s done since. When I first started practising law and handling divorces, I did have male clients. But I couldn’t put my heart into representing them. It felt like I was representing my father. When I became a partner in the practice a few years back, I decided enough was enough. I’ve only had women clients from then on.’
‘I fully understand,’ Charlotte sympathised. ‘And your mother? How is she coping these days?’
Daniel’s chest tightened. ‘Mom passed away last year.’
‘Oh, how dreadful for you!’ Charlotte exclaimed with genuine sympathy in her gorgeous blue eyes. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if my mother died. I’d be devastated. And of course so were you. I can see it in your face.’
Daniel blinked his amazement. He’d always prided himself on never showing his emotions to the outside world. Maybe he wasn’t as self-contained as he thought. Or maybe Charlotte was extra-observant when it came to people’s body language. He’d read somewhere that hairdressers had to be good counsellors and therapists as well. They spent as much time talking to their clients as he did.
‘So is this why you’ve come out here to visit your sister?’ she went on. ‘Because she’s the only one who understands how you’ve been feeling?’
Daniel was once again taken aback at the accuracy of Charlotte’s observation. He wasn’t used to being read so well.
‘Partially,’ he replied. ‘But I also had the urge to come home for a while. I’ve lived in LA for many years, but I always think of Sydney as home. There’s no place like it,’ he said as he glanced around.
Their table was less than ten metres from the harbour, which he was facing. To his left loomed the magnificent coat-hanger-shaped harbour bridge. To his right, the truly splendid opera house with its white sail roof and absolutely perfect setting. Right on a point that jutted out into the harbour.
‘I fully agree,’ she said. ‘I know exactly what you mean about that urge to come home. I lived overseas for years, but in the end all I wanted to do was come home to Australia.’
When she picked up her coffee he did likewise, sipping and soaking in some of the sunshine whilst he admired the beautiful city he had been born in.
‘Daniel…’
‘Yes?’ He put down his cup and looked over at her.
‘I want to thank you. For everything. Regardless of your motives. You were wonderful with my parents at lunch-time. And very agreeable about the food. I know it was pretty simple fare.’
‘I enjoyed it immensely.’
‘Oh, come, now. A big-shot divorce lawyer from the Hollywood hills would be used to the best of wine and food, and the most sophisticated of company.’
Used to them. And bored silly with them. ‘I much prefer the company I had today. And the company I’ll have tomorrow.’
‘What about after that, Daniel? I mean…you’re going back to the States in a fortnight, aren’t you?’
‘That’s my plan,’ Daniel said. ‘Meanwhile, I thought you might like some company on that honeymoon you’ve already paid for. The one up at the Hunter Valley.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Did I tell you about that?’
‘You certainly did.’
‘Good old blabbermouth me.’
‘So how about it?’
She stared at him, her expressive eyes betraying her. She wanted him to come with her. He could feel it.
‘I don’t think so, Daniel,’ she replied, stunning him. ‘As much as I find you a very attractive man, I don’t want to risk becoming emotionally involved with you. You’ve made your position on marriage quite clear so to spend more time with you would be foolish. The reason I was marrying Gary was because he said he wanted what I wanted. Marriage. And children. I’m thirty-three years old. I haven’t got enough time to waste on another man who won’t give me what I want. I’ll spend tomorrow night with you. But come the following morning, that will be it for us.’
Her stance both impressed and sobered Daniel. All his adult life, it had been him laying down the law about what he wanted and didn’t want in a relationship. He’d finally come across a woman who was capable of telling him what she wanted, right from the start. Usually, in the beginning, his girlfriends were more than willing to go along with his sex-only demands, perhaps because they hoped to trap him into more.
Charlotte was willing to give him one night. But only that one night. After that, she was sending him off with a flea in his ear.
Wow. What a woman. The kind of woman a man would be crazy not to want for much more than one night. The urge to pull her into his arms and tell her he was already emotionally involved was incredibly strong.
But he stopped himself. Such an action would be counter-productive at this stage.
Past hurts had made Charlotte very determined. And extremely wary. If he told her he just might have changed his mind about lots of things since meeting her, she would think he was lying; conning her so that he could have his wicked way with her for more than a night.
He had to pretend to go along with her wishes.
But as much as she was determined to resist him, he was determined to have her.
For a lot longer than their ‘wedding’ night. Not marriage, of course. Daniel would never embrace that unrealistic and unreliable institution.
But marriage was not the only alternative for a future relationship.
‘Fair enough,’ he said, pleased to see she looked disappointed by his easy agreement. ‘So what are you going to tell your family about us?’
‘That’s my problem. I’ll drive you back to your sister’s place the morning after the wedding, then go up to the Hunter Valley on my own. That should give me time enough to decide when and how to tell my parents that our marriage didn’t work out.’
‘Speaking of our marriage,’ Daniel said, ‘perhaps you’d better fill me in on all the details about tomorrow. Times, places, et cetera. And then, if you don’t mind, could you give me a lift back to Beth’s house? It might be easier if we explained what we’re going to do tomorrow together.’
‘Oh, no, do I have to?’
Daniel wasn’t worried. He knew Beth was going to like Charlotte. A lot.
‘Yes, Charlotte,’ he said firmly. ‘You have to.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘ARE you absolutely sure about this, Charlotte?’ Louise asked. ‘It’ll be too late afterwards.’
Charlotte, who was sitting on one of their wooden kitchen chairs with a plastic cape around her shoulders, took a moment to snap out of her daydreaming. For a split-second, she thought Louise was talking about her decision to go through with the fake wedding later that day. But then she realised Louise was giving her one last chance to back out of her decision to get rid of her blonde hair.
‘Absolutely,’ she said.
Changing her hair was one thing she was sure about. Her going through with the fake wedding—whilst impossible to back out of now—was still causing her concern.
She should have told her parents the truth straight away. She could see that now. Pretending to marry Daniel, then spending the night in the bridal suite as his bride, was asking for trouble.
The man was dynamite. And she…she was a silly fool.
Already she could feel herself being drawn into his web, into wanting more than one night with him. Who knew how she’d feel tomorrow morning if he was as good in bed as she suspected he was going to be?
And maybe he was bargaining on that. He’d been all too ready to agree to her saying he couldn’t come on the honeymoon with her. She wouldn’t mind betting he still hoped to persuade her otherwise. She could only hope that when the time came, she would have the courage—and the character—to say no to him.
‘Be it on your head, then,’ Louise said blithely, and began applying the deep-walnut-brown colour.
‘Well, it will be, won’t it? On my head, that is.’
‘Very funny.’
‘Come, now, Louise, you always said my being blonde was not my best look. Underneath, I agreed with you. Now that I don’t have to please Gary any more, I can’t wait to go back to being a brunette.’
‘So who are you trying to please this time? Not this Daniel, I hope. You haven’t fallen for him, have you?’
Charlotte should not have hesitated in answering.
‘Oh, you have!’
‘No, no, I haven’t,’ she denied. ‘But he’s the sort of man a girl could easily fall for. You haven’t met him, Louise. Wait till you do. Then you’ll understand. He had Mum and Dad eating out of his hand in no time flat. It was almost embarrassing. But impressive.’
‘Sounds like another empty charmer to me. Like Gary. And Dwayne. They both had the gift of the gab. You always go for the guys with the silver tongues.’
‘He’s nothing like Gary or Dwayne,’ Charlotte said. He was far more dangerous than either of them. Charlotte could see now that neither Gary nor Dwayne had meant to betray her. They’d just been weak.
There was nothing remotely weak about Daniel.
‘You’ll see when you meet him,’ she repeated.
‘I can’t wait. Neither can Brad.’
‘I wish you hadn’t told Brad the truth.’
‘You didn’t really expect me not to tell him, did you? He has to get dressed with this guy at the hotel today and hold his hand till you show up and pretend to marry him. Brad can smell a rat a mile away. He’d have known something was up.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Don’t worry. He really liked the sound of Daniel. Brad admires the go-getters in this world.’
Charlotte shivered inside. The last thing she needed to hear today was how much of a go-getter Daniel was. She was trying not to think too much about him at all. She had a wedding to prepare for and get through.
Which rather made a mockery of her decision to revert to being a brunette. If she was strictly honest with herself, Charlotte had to confess she wanted to blow Daniel away today with how she looked.
Her so-called pride had given way to sheer vanity. She would pay the price, she knew, if he fancied her even more as a brunette. But she simply couldn’t resist the temptation to eliminate the one thing about her he probably liked the least.
Her fake blonde hair.
‘You are going to look fab with this colour hair,’ Louise said. ‘Blonde hair was so not you. Daniel is going to flip when he sees you, especially wearing that sexy wedding dress. Who knows? Maybe he’ll fall in love with you and the next thing you know, you’ll be having a real wedding.’
‘Dream on, Louise. He’s a divorce lawyer with a dad who’s been married five times. Daniel’s dead against marriage, except when it gets him into the pants of the bride.’
‘Charlotte! You’re sounding as cynical as I do.’
‘You get that way eventually.’
‘True. But I hate to see you like that. I always liked your sweet, country-girl optimism.’
‘Huh. That’s just a nice way of saying I was naive and stupid. Well, I don’t intend being naive and stupid any longer. I’m going to spend one night with Daniel, just to see if he’s as hot in bed as he looks, and the next day I’m off.’
‘You’re not taking him on the honeymoon with you?’
‘Absolutely not.’
‘But why not? I bet he’d go.’
‘I’m sure he would. But I can’t use men like you do, Louise. I’m not cut out for it. I’d fall in love and have my heart broken all over again.’
‘You’re right. You would.’
Both girls fell silent for a while.
‘You really think I use men?’ Louise asked finally.
Charlotte sighed. She loved Louise. The girl had been a good friend to her. But she was awfully hard on the opposite sex. She believed none of them were capable of true love, only true lust, which Louise estimated had about a six-month shelf-life. She and Brad had been together for just on six months.
‘Brad really loves you, Louise.’
