скачать книгу бесплатно
Louise snorted. ‘I know what Brad loves. That’s why I’m dating him. Man, but that guy is good in bed. And he can go all night.’
‘Really? All night?’
‘He’s awesome,’ Louise said with feeling in her voice.
‘If Daniel doesn’t work out, maybe you could lend me Brad for a night,’ Charlotte quipped.
‘Over my dead body, girl.’
‘See? You love him,’ Charlotte said, and glanced up at her friend. ‘It’s not just sex.’
Louise stopped painting on the colour for a second. ‘Yeah. I probably do. But I don’t intend telling him that. Not yet, anyway. I want to see what he does after the gloss wears off. Which should be any day now. But back to you, lovey dovey. Why don’t I fix you up with one of Brad’s mates in a week or two? He’s got plenty.’
Charlotte didn’t doubt it. Brad was a very outgoing guy with loads of energy and a great sense of humour.
‘I don’t think so, Louise. I think I’ll just forget about dating for a while.’
‘Don’t leave it too long. You know what they say. When you fall off a horse, you should get right back on again.’
Charlotte didn’t respond to this advice. She suspected that Daniel would be the straw that broke her back where men were concerned. She sat there in silence, fiddling with the diamond and sapphire engagement ring Gary had given her, and which she was forced to keep wearing, at least till after the wedding.
The wedding…
A wave of depression suddenly swamped her as she realised the utter futility of today. And tonight. Any silly hope that she was going to suddenly blossom seemed ludicrous. Blonde or brunette, she was the same girl who’d been consistently dumped and cheated on by her boyfriends in the past. The same clueless Charlotte.
By tomorrow morning, Daniel would be relieved that he wasn’t coming on the honeymoon with her. He’d probably be bolting for the bridal-suite door before breakfast, only too happy to leave her to her misery.
Charlotte’s sucked-in sobs had Louise dropping the brush back into the basin and running round to kneel in front of her friend.
The sight of her best friend’s flooded eyes brought a huge lump to her throat. Truly, she could be such a fool at times. She should have anticipated how fragile Charlotte would be this morning.
‘There there,’ she said softly. ‘I’d give you a hug, except I’d end up with a walnut-coloured face. You don’t want your chief bridesmaid looking like she bought a cheap tanning product, do you?’
A watery smile broke through Charlotte’s tears. ‘I guess not.’
‘Look, I know today is going to be hard for you, Charlotte, but just keep remembering why you’re doing it,’ she said encouragingly. ‘You said you couldn’t bear to hurt your folks. Nothing else matters today, does it? Not really.’
‘You’re right,’ Charlotte returned, dashing her tears away with her hands. ‘I’m being pathetic. And so typically female. Don’t worry, Louise. I’ll be fine. Get back to my hair. I want to be the most beautiful bride I can be today. I want my mum and dad to feel nothing but pride.’
‘Atta girl!’ Louise said, thinking privately that that wouldn’t be too hard.
Dear Daniel was in for one big surprise when he saw Charlotte. He might have lusted after her yesterday. But today, the bride was going to lift the groom’s desire to another level entirely!
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘SO, GARY, is this the first time you’ve been married?’
Daniel stopped tying his bow-tie to give his supposed best man a thoughtful glance.
Brad was in his mid-twenties, a tall, lean guy with sandy hair and a cheeky grin. A real-estate assessor, he’d been dating Charlotte’s best friend for about six months, despite being a decade younger. He seemed intelligent, and highly amused by something. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what.
‘OK, Brad,’ Daniel returned, ‘let’s cut the crap. You obviously know the real deal here, so you can forget calling me Gary. In private, that is. My name is Daniel,’ he said, extending his hand for the second time. ‘Daniel Bannister.’
Brad grinned as he shook it. ‘Great to know you, Dan. Sorry about the charade. I can never resist a laugh. But for what it’s worth, I think what you’re doing for Charlotte is real neat. She’s a great girl. You sure you don’t want to marry her for real?’
Daniel smiled. ‘Apart from the legalities which could not be overcome at such short notice, I don’t think that would be a very sensible thing to do. I only met Charlotte yesterday,’ he finished, and went back to tying his tie.
‘So what? I knew within minutes of meeting Lou that she was the girl for me. What a hot babe! Trouble is she’s a tough cookie. Been burnt a few times. But I’m going to marry her one day, no question about it.’
‘Have you asked her?’
‘Sure. The very first week. Lou laughed so hard and for so long that I decided not to ask again for a while. She says younger guys are good for only one thing and it’s not marriage.’ He grinned again. ‘But I’m making headway. We sometimes spend time together out of bed now.’
Daniel had to laugh. But the word ‘bed’ propelled his mind to tonight. A lot rested on tonight. Frankly, he’d never felt such sexual pressure. Today was proving to be much more stressful than he had anticipated.
‘To answer your first question,’ he said, undoing his slightly lopsided tie and starting again, ‘no, I’ve never been married before.’
‘So you’re on the market, eh, Dan?’
‘I’m a bachelor, yes.’
‘How old are you, exactly?’
‘Thirty-six.’
‘Girlfriend back home?’
‘Not at the moment.’
‘Lou says you’re a lawyer. A well-heeled one by the look of you.’
‘I’m comfortably off.’
Rather an understatement of his financial status.
‘Comfortably off’ would have been an accurate description of Daniel’s wealth prior to his investing in a movie four years earlier. At the time, one of his female clients—a middle-aged actress—had just been dumped by her producer husband. When she showed him this script she’d bought and which she claimed would revitalise her career, Daniel had read it more out of sympathy than anything, but found himself totally engrossed. He’d invested as much as he could find in it, and talked all his partners into putting up the rest.
The independently made thriller had gone on to be a huge hit and the money had been rolling in ever since.
‘I’ve made a few wise investments over the years,’ he added.
Brad chuckled. ‘You’re a cool dude, aren’t you? What a pity you don’t want to marry our Charlotte for real. You’d make her a good husband, I reckon. Not that Lou agrees. She thinks you’re only interested in getting into Charlotte’s pants.’
‘What?’ Daniel whirled round, his abrupt action reefing his tie back undone.
Brad shrugged. ‘That’s Lou for you. If she can believe the worst of a bloke, she will. Personally, I can’t see anything wrong with your wanting to get Charlotte into bed. That girl’s a looker all right. And she could do with being laid by a guy who knows how.’
Daniel tried not to look too shocked. But shocked he was. ‘I don’t think we should be discussing Charlotte’s private life, do you?’ he said somewhat stiffly.
Brad was taken aback by the reproof. ‘Oh. Er—yeah. Right. If you say so. It’s just that Lou said you were going to spend the night with her in some fancy honeymoon suite here in the hotel so I thought I’d better warn you up front.’
‘Right. Thanks.’
‘No sweat.’
Daniel went back to tying his bow-tie, Brad’s astonishing news revolving in his mind. Who would have imagined that the girl who’d kissed him so passionately was so sexually inexperienced. Perhaps she just hadn’t had the right partner yet.
He tried tying his bow-tie for the third time but it ended up crooked again.
‘You’re not too good at that, are you?’ Brad said.
Daniel’s sigh carried frustration. ‘Normally I am.’
‘Maybe you’re more nervous than you look.’
‘What’s there to be nervous about?’ he retorted, his clumsiness having irritated him. ‘This is just pretend.’
‘The speeches aren’t pretend, mate.’
‘Speeches? You mean, I have to give a speech?’
‘Yep. You’re the groom. Haven’t you been to any weddings?’
‘I avoid them.’ Difficult to share in the joy of a wedding when you were a divorce lawyer, and when your father had been married five times. He would have happily gone to Beth’s wedding, but Beth and her husband had eloped.
‘You must have seen movies with weddings in them,’ Brad said with a touch of exasperation in his voice. ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding. Four Weddings and a Funeral. There was a cracker of a speech in that flick. But I don’t think it was the groom’s speech,’ Brad said, stroking his chin. ‘It was the best man’s. That’s me. I have to give a speech about you. You have to give a speech about the bride. Nothing funny. Mushy stuff. Like how you felt when you first met her. What you think of her family. How much you love her. Stuff like that.’
Daniel grimaced. This was going to be more difficult than he’d imagined. Speeches were his stock in trade, but this was totally different from addressing a jury.
‘Take some advice from an old hand at this kind of speech,’ Brad said, stepping forward and doing Daniel’s bow-tie for him. ‘Kiss is the answer.’
Daniel blinked. ‘Huh?’
‘Don’t you know that saying in America? Kiss? K I S S. Keep it simple, stupid. Just say how gorgeous she is, how much you love her, and how you would go to the ends of the earth for her. Which you have,’ Brad added with a guffaw. ‘Can’t go much farther than Australia, mate. Unless you want to live with the penguins down in Antarctica. Right! Your tie’s done. You’re all set.’
‘Thanks,’ Daniel said before scooping in a steadying breath and telling himself he could handle this.
A glance at his watch revealed that it was thirteen minutes to four. The wedding was scheduled for four. Time to get out there. But first of all, he checked the breast pocket of his jacket for something. Yes. It was there.
‘Have you got the rings?’ he asked the best man.
Brad patted his jacket pocket. ‘Yep. Both there, safe as houses. I’ve done this before, mate. Trust me.’
Daniel nodded. ‘I can see that. You’ve been a great help. To be honest, I don’t know what I’d have done without you.’ His tie would have been crooked for one.
Brad looked chuffed at the compliment. ‘You know, for an American lawyer, you’re OK. I thought you were all supposed to be bastards.’
Daniel laughed. ‘Don’t believe everything you see on television.’
‘I was thinking of Gary.’
‘Yes, well, the Garys of this world are everywhere,’ he pointed out. ‘Not just in America. And not just in the legal profession. But for your information, I’m not American, despite the accent. I was born here in Sydney. Went to school here, too.’
‘Well, stone the crows! Now I know why I like you so much.’
Daniel smiled. ‘The feelings are mutual. Shall we go?’
Both men turned as one and headed for the door.
Daniel had checked out the setting for the wedding ceremony with Vince earlier in the day, Vince having agreed last night to act as celebrant. It was to be held on the ground floor of the hotel, in a conservatory that was in keeping with the old-fashioned and very romantic decor of the Regency Royale.
There was a huge domed glass ceiling, reminiscent of bygone eras, plus a circular flagstone floor fringed by lots of exotic flowering plants and palms. All the walls of the hexagonal structure were made of glass, except for one section opposite the entrance. It looked as if it was made of rock, and a constant stream of water ran down the façade to an ornamental pool at the base.
The wedding ceremony was to take place in front of this pool and waterfall.
When Daniel had been shown the conservatory this morning, the flagstone floor had been dotted with black wrought-iron furniture. The conservatory was usually used as a beer garden. He’d been assured the furniture would all be cleared away and replaced by clean white chairs, neatly arranged in two curved rows on each side of the circular floor to give all the guests a perfect view. A strip of rich red carpet would bisect these rows, ending in a T shape in front of the waterfall. An elegantly carved wooden podium would be provided for the celebrant to stand behind, as well as a white linen-covered table for the signing of the marriage documents.
‘Wow!’ Brad exclaimed as they walked through the entrance to the conservatory.
Daniel was equally surprised. The transformation in the conservatory was much more than had been described to him that morning. They had said nothing of the masses of added flowers. Or the wonderful music. Or the two splendidly uniformed men standing to attention on each side of the entrance, like footmen of old.
But it was the atmosphere that struck Daniel the most, the excited energy that was coming from the well-dressed guests, most of whom were already seated. At Daniel’s appearance on the red carpet, all heads had jerked up and around, everyone either smiling or staring at him.
Of course, Daniel didn’t know a single face amongst them, except Charlotte’s mother. Betty—dressed in pink—was beaming over at him. Beaming and waving a gloved hand.
A banging sound behind him made Daniel whirl round. The two uniformed attendants had shut the doors, which, Daniel noticed for the first time, were not clear glass but heavily stained. Impossible to see through them.
‘That’s so you don’t see the bride till the time is right,’ Brad explained. ‘Brides like to make an entrance.’
‘I see,’ Daniel bit out, wishing now that he’d thought to have a couple of glasses of something intoxicating and soothing. He hadn’t appreciated till this moment just how much of an ordeal this would be.
‘This way, mate,’ Brad said with a wry smile, and gave Daniel a nudge.
They proceeded along the red carpet towards the spot where Vince was waiting for them, looking suitably dignified and older than his thirty-seven years in a dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and muted grey tie. His dark wavy hair, which was usually on the long side and decidedly wayward, had been cut this morning to make him look less like a Bohemian and more like a marriage celebrant. They’d already planned not to act as if they knew each other, Daniel shaking Vince’s hand as though they’d just met. Brad did likewise after winking slyly at both of them.
As they turned together to face the stained-glass doors, the music suddenly changed from the softly romantic number currently being piped into the room to the more robust and stirring Wedding March.
Charlotte, it seemed, was not going to be late.
The stained-glass doors were flung open and a hush came over the guests as necks craned to get a view of the bride.
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
But it was the bridesmaid who appeared first, walking slowly along the red carpet. Louise, he presumed.
Tall and slender, she was elegantly gowned in a strapless blue dress that draped around her bust then fell in soft Grecian folds to the floor. Her hair, which was almost as red as her bouquet, was straight and sleek, and swung around her face as she walked. Her face was equally angular, but her mouth was full and sultry. Her eyes, which were possibly set too close for real beauty, were, nevertheless, striking in their blueness. Or was it their boldness?
Daniel concluded rightly that Louise would be a handful for any man. Brad had his work cut out for him if he was to succeed in his goal to marry her.
