Last-Minute Bridesmaid (7 page)

He had never seen a dimple up close and personal before, but on Kate? Somehow it fitted her perfectly. How odd.

So she had picked up on the rumour angle.

He was going to have to watch what he said from now on.

A flash of light caught his eye and he turned back to the window but at that exact same moment he saw the reflection of Kate in the glass.

She was holding her spectacles in one hand while in one smooth movement her head dropped back, her eyes closed and her fingers combed through a head of boy-short conker-brown glossy layers with a gentle toss of her head.

It was the most sensual thing he had seen in a long time, and the fact that it was natural and completely relaxed made it even more remarkable.

The dark brown hair contrasted with Kate’s smooth clear skin and, in the July sunlight streaming through the car window onto her slim frame, she looked about twelve. She had been at school with Amber, so she had to be late twenties. Maybe it was because she was so petite. Or should that be concentrated?

And it was definitely time to change to subject.

‘What are you drawing?’ he asked, and pointed to her sketch pad.

‘Oh, nothing,’ she said, ‘just doodling,’ and tried to flip over the cover, but in an instant he had snatched the pad from her lap. She went for it but his long left arm held it high and firmly out of reach.

‘Fine,’ she sniffed and sat back in her seat with her arms crossed. ‘Look at it if you want. I have nothing to hide. And no, I have not been taking notes about your so very important company information. Your trade secrets are safe with me.’ And she gave him a quick salute.

Heath opened her pad and sat peering at the sketch for a few seconds before pointing to the page. ‘What is it meant to be?’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked indignantly. ‘What is it meant to be? They are gloves, of course. Gauntlets, to be precise. The local Christmas pantomime this year is Peter Pan and Saskia needs some swashbuckling specials for the auditions next month.’

‘Pirates. Okay. And what about these?’

‘Satin elbow-length prom-night specials. Very popular line. And not just white. Oh, no. The modern debutante likes violet and musk. I sell loads of those online.’

‘Sell? Oh yes, of course. I hadn’t realised that you made gloves as well. That must be a delightful hobby.’

* * *

A hobby?

Oh, Heath. Trust you to say precisely the wrong thing.

She could almost hear her father’s dismissive voice.
‘Oh, you’ll soon get tired of that frivolous little hobby and start to do something serious with your life. But don’t think we’ll support you if you decide to throw your life away on worthless dreams.’

A hobby.
That was what they thought about her work. And now it looked as though Heath felt the same. Just when she was hoping that he was going to help her prove that her parents were wrong—by putting her business back on track.

Kate looked up into Heath’s face as he flicked through the sketches she had slaved on for hours, evening after evening, day after day.

And part of her died.

He had no clue that his words had the power to cut her like a knife and leave her bleeding. How could he? He didn’t know anything about her. All he saw was Amber’s friend who sewed pieces of cloth into dresses and gloves. He probably didn’t even remember coming to that high school party.

It would be so easy to pretend that the pages he was looking through so dismissively meant nothing and were only ‘doodles’. That way he could go on believing that she was just another lowly dressmaker who was pretending to be a designer.

But that was only a tiny part of who she was. And what she was capable of achieving—with or without his help.

Kate dragged her gaze from Heath’s long slender fingers as he stroked the pages and focused on the green fields and trees in the countryside at the side of the road. She pressed her lips together hard and swallowed down the burning sensation in her throat. She could use that cool drink she had just given away, but that would mean turning around and she wasn’t ready to talk to Heath yet.

What was she doing here? In this limo with this gorgeous man who didn’t know anything about her world and her life?

Kate pressed her right hand flat against her chest. Her heart was racing and she could feel the back of her neck burning scarlet as her mind raced.

Could she risk it?

Could she give him an insight into who she was and what she wanted in life? Show this man that she was her own woman with her own dreams and aspirations?

It would certainly make introductions to his family a little more interesting. And challenging.

Heath shuffled along the slippery leather seat next to her and she turned around inside her seat belt as he passed the sketchbook back to her with a nod. ‘I’m afraid I am very traditional when it comes to gloves. Nothing like these.’

Kate stowed her precious sketches inside her tote. ‘I will take that as a personal challenge. Leave it with me.’

Heath slid away but, before Kate could change her mind, she smiled across at him and added in a light voice, ‘For once, Amber didn’t give you an up-to-date resumé. I actually own a glove-making company in London. You have just been looking at some of my designs for next season’s collection.’

He blinked. Twice. And she saw something new flash across his eyes.

Surprise. Astonishment. And intelligent awareness.

Almost as if he could hardly believe what he had just heard her say.

‘You run two companies?’ he asked and she heard just enough incredulity in his voice to make her hackles rise and she lifted her chin as she fought back the reply she would like to give.

Yes. Mr Smarty Pants publisher. I do run two companies. The small fact that I don’t make enough money from both of them put together to pay the rent is neither here nor there.

‘Absolutely. I do have a day job in tailoring. But gloves are my passion. A girl can’t have enough gloves.’

Heath’s gaze scanned her face, his brown eyes slightly narrowed and blazing with intensity. The kind of intensity that warmed the already hot air between them on this sunny July day.

Fool!
she told herself.
Now look what you have done.

You have just given Heath a peek inside your world and he doesn’t know how to handle it. See. This is why you should have kept quiet. This is why telling other people your dream opens you up to feeling exposed and vulnerable.

Even if this person, this man, is the boy who you have lusted after for years. It still hurts when they cannot take you seriously.

She mentally braced herself for the cutting remark or put-down.

It had happened so many times before. Like at the high school ten-year reunion that May where she had met up with Amber and Saskia for the first time in years. Those old classmates of hers had been scathing in their total contempt for her.
You? Running a fashion design business single-handed? Purrleese.

Kate sat upright on the fine leather seat, waiting for the put-down that would make it a lot easier for her to walk away in a few days.

‘So, if I understand this correctly, you are running two different companies? Single-handed? Yes? That must make life complicated,’ he said in a low voice.

Okay. So he was still reappraising her. She could deal with that in her usual fashion and laugh it off.

‘Yes, I suppose it does. My choice. And they do say that variety is the spice of life. Don’t you agree?’

Her heart rate increased to match the speed of her breathing.

Say the right thing, Heath. Please don’t make me hate you. Please.

Heath replied with a smile that came from the heart and completely knocked her bravado out of the window.

‘Not at all. I am singularly incapable of moving outside my area of expertise. Which makes your achievement even more impressive.’

He lifted his tumbler of melted ice and raised it in a toast. ‘Congratulations, Kate. Running your own business takes a huge amount of work. Running two is extraordinary. All credit to you for taking that kind of risk. It seems that you have the better of me—I shall have to work extra-hard to keep my part of our deal.’

Then he shook his head before Kate could reply and chuckled. ‘And now you have made me feel guilty about stealing you away from your work for a whole weekend.’

The tumbler slid back into its holder and Heath narrowed his eyes and tapped his finger against his full lips. ‘This creates somewhat of a problem. How on earth am I going to make it up to you and give you a weekend to remember? Any suggestions?’

SIX

Kate gently pushed
at the heavy oak door and poked her head around to see if this room was the library.

It was the fourth door that she had tried since leaving her palatial bedroom and en suite bathroom, which was bigger than her entire apartment and workshop combined. It had to be here somewhere and it certainly wasn’t on the ground floor—they were huge public rooms intended for people who liked to live in style!

Thank heavens for the lovely housekeeper who had apologised many times that Alice and Charles could not be there in person to welcome her but they were delayed at the airport waiting for a flight. But she had strict instructions to show Miss Olivia Scott and Mr Heath Sheridan to their rooms the moment they arrived.

Kate had blustered out an explanation that she was here instead of Olivia but it had caused such confusion that after a few minutes she had given up and decided to go with the flow.

She stood on the wide wood-panelled gallery with the oil paintings of the Jardine family through the ages and glanced from side to side in the echoing silence of this ancient space.

The wide double doors at the end of the corridor with the ornate carving over the archway had to be the library.

She strode down the red handmade carpet and stretched out her hand to push open the door a little further. Then pulled it back again.

The knot which had formed in the pit of her stomach since those last few minutes in the car before they’d arrived ballooned into a football of tangled nerves and feelings and expectations.

That peculiar anxious feeling had taken root the moment Amber had asked her to make the bridesmaids’ dresses for Heath in the first place.

And now she was actually here. At Jardine Manor! This was so surreal that she didn’t know whether to laugh with happiness that she had pulled it off or cry because she knew that this could be the one single event that proved to her parents that she was not some pathetic joke and butt of all their jokes.

She had Heath to thank for all of that. So maybe, just maybe, she could lighten his load in some way and bring back his smile again while she was here? It was supposed to be a happy family occasion after all and who knew? With a bit of luck she might see a glimpse or two of the real Heath underneath his smart black suits?

Swallowing down her apprehension, Kate took a deep breath, pushed her shoulders back, her chest out and her chin high.

Time to get the Heath and Kate show on the road.

The heavy door swung open with barely a creak and she strode inside.

Heath was sitting at a desk in front of a wide square window which flooded light into the dark wood-panelled library with its long floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Huge tomes, which had probably never been opened for years, filled the middle and upper shelves and, on the lower shelves, magazines and atlases and popular fiction.

All the books were behind glass to keep out the dust and she had to resist the urge to throw open every single one of those glass doors and let the air into the pages.

Didn’t he know that paper and leather needed to breathe like humans?

But then, this wasn’t his house. It was Alice Jardine’s home and Heath would never do anything so impertinent as to try and rearrange her library.

‘Ah. There you are,’ she said with a smile. ‘A girl can get lost in a place this big. Hello, handsome,’ she said, trying to lighten his mood. He dragged his gaze from his laptop and turned towards her and his brown eyes locked onto hers and instantly the smile from his mouth reached those eyes and her heart leapt.

So what if she had to play the joker when he was around?

Every time she saw him, her reaction was exactly the same and the passage of time didn’t seem to make a spot of difference.

He was still the best-looking man she had ever met. And the only one who could make her toes curl up inside her shoes.

And when he looked at her like he was now? As though he was actually pleased to see her? She was right back into crush mode. Heath Sheridan truly was the complete package.

She blinked a couple of times and covered up her embarrassment by peering at the books on the nearest shelf. She stepped back, waved her arms around and gave a half twirl. ‘Have you seen this place? It’s amazing.’

* * *

Heath crossed his arms and watched Kate skip up the circular staircase to peer at the leather-bound volumes which filled the lower levels of the heavy floor-to-ceiling bookcases.

‘Cool.’ Kate turned and looked at him over her shoulder. ‘Would you mind if I brought a sleeping bag and moved in? I could have such fun here and you probably wouldn’t notice in a house this big. Look at this library. I am drooling just at the sight of all of these books.’

She half twisted around towards him at the waist and pointed at her lower lip. ‘See. Drool.’

He tutted. ‘You look very fetching and there is no drool at all. Now please come down before you fall. Amber would never forgive me if you had an accident in those shoes.’

‘This is true,’ she replied, scrambling down from the step. She sat gracefully on the top rung, knees together, and tilted her head to one side before saying with a smile in her voice, ‘You might have warned me that the Manor was actually a real, live Elizabethan manor house. I felt as though I should be paying an entrance fee for the guided tour. Does Alice actually live here? I didn’t think people owned houses like this any more.’

‘The Jardines bought the Manor several generations ago and yes, Alice definitely lives here.’

Heath paused then stood up and walked around the table so that he could look out at the garden and the gravel driveway beneath the library window. ‘Speaking of which, I thought I heard a car pull up.’ His voice dropped even lower and softer. ‘And there is the lady herself.’

Kate strolled forward and stood shoulder to almost shoulder and followed his gaze. A tall man and a slim middle-aged woman were walking across the path from the flower beds towards the house. Her arm was around his waist and they were laughing and chatting away contentedly.

‘Oh. Is that them?’ Kate asked, peering over the stone window ledge. ‘How sweet. They look like a lovely couple.’

The air between herself and Heath instantly dropped a few degrees in temperature and she could actually see his body bristle, his breathing fast and heavy.

‘Yes, indeed they do,’ he whispered in a low voice that was so laden with sadness and regret that she thumped his arm with the flat of her hand.

‘Hey. Cheer up. They are family. This reminds me. Amber says hello. And when are you going to come out to India to spend time with her and Sam?’

‘India?’ he replied and turned back to his desk, her distraction technique a complete success. ‘I might be able to get away early next year when I complete this current assignment.’

She nodded. ‘Amber and I both know what that means. Next year, as in never.’ Then she sniffed. ‘She would love you to go out and ride elephants and eat coconuts and try out some of those academic skills on the girls. It would be great! Unless, of course...’ she ducked down below his chin level ‘...you are sulking and feeling a teensy bit redundant. A girl still needs her big older ex-stepbrother now and then, you know. That never gets old.’

His eyebrows lifted and his shoulders moved into a small shrug. ‘Is it that obvious?’ he replied. And the honesty and openness of those few words tugged at her heart strings and pulled her in even closer.

Kate stood back to full height. ‘Only to people who know you and who notice these sorts of things.’

‘Well, that cuts down the options. She is happy. And nothing could please me more. It’s just that I suppose I got used to sorting things out for her. And now she has Sam Richards to do that.’

‘Well, that’s nonsense. You’ll still be her favourite stepbrother. But if you have any spare time, perhaps you could hire yourself out. Stepbrother for hire. One careful owner. Reasonable condition. Could last for years if fed and watered.’

‘Think I would get many takers?’ He smiled and her little heart lifted at the same time as the corners of his mouth.

‘Absolutely. In fact, you’ll be able to meet her real dad’s new family at Amber’s wedding. All girls and all gorgeous. Won’t that be fun?’

He snorted and started flicking through the papers on the table. ‘I don’t think that my idea of fun is quite the same as yours.’

‘Fun? Now there’s a thought. This house is gorgeous and perfect for a wedding, but so far I haven’t heard any plans to have fun this weekend. Well, I am here and I am listening, so fire away. What does Heath Sheridan in his best man suit plan to do to kick off the proceedings with a bang?’ Kate pressed the fingers of her right hand to the left side of her top, where she imagined her heart should be. ‘And don’t worry. Any naughty family secrets will be safe with me.’

Heath slumped back in his pedestal chair and whirled around to face her, open-mouthed.

‘Naughty family secrets? Where did that come from?’

‘Well,’ Kate leant forward and fluttered her eyelashes at him, ‘Amber did tell me about some off-the-wall expressionist paintings that you insisted on taking her to see at one time.’

‘It was a passing phase. Like strawberries dipped in white chocolate. I moved on. Anything else?’

‘Strawberries dipped in chocolate. Now you are talking my sort of language. That sounds delicious—and is now officially added to my must-try list. But you’re avoiding the question. Out with it, Sheridan. What do you do for fun these days?’

‘Sorry to disappoint you, Kate, but I spend most of my time chained to the computer. If I have a free weekend I might take in a gallery or the occasional theatre or a local restaurant. That is my idea of fun. So can we move on now so I can get back to organising this wedding? The remaining guests will be here in a few hours.’

‘Not a chance, Sheridan,’ Kate hissed and slipped into the gap between Heath and the desk so that she was blocking his view of the screen.

‘You still owe me a dance from a high school party. Remember that?’

His fingers stilled on the paperwork and he glanced sideways at her, his gaze burning into her face as though looking for something, but when he spoke his voice was gentle and there was a spark in his eyes which illuminated his whole face with an inner glow.

Kate inhaled sharply through her nose.

There he was.

There was the real Heath. Saskia had been right. There was the man who she had fallen in crush with. He was still there. And still capable of making her melt with one look.

Heartbreaker Heath was back in town!

She would have collapsed with relief if she wasn’t already sitting down.

‘High school? I’m surprised that you still remember that.’

Remember? Forgetting was the problem.

He was watching her now, waiting for an answer. But to tell him the truth would reveal how important that dance had been to her and that would be bad news for both of them.

‘Of course. In fact, Saskia, Amber and I would be prepared to give you excellent references. This could come in handy if you should ever choose to change direction and go into the male escort business. Now, don’t look at me like that. You never know.’

‘I think I shall keep that one for a last resort.’ He coughed, his neck a lovely shade of red.

With that, she slipped down from the desk and rearranged her top and jacket.

‘Righty. Time to go and meet my hosts. I suppose I had better get my story straight before I march in to say hello. What, exactly, did you tell Alice about me when you broke the bad news about Olivia?’

Heath started fiddling with the power cable on his laptop. ‘Sorry, what was that?’

‘Heath,’
she whispered with a questioning lilt at the end of the word, and stood directly in front of him and peered into his face.

‘Oh, no. I don’t believe it,’ she gasped and slapped the table. ‘I can see it in your face. You haven’t told them, have you?’ She flung her arm out towards the door. ‘They are still expecting your Olivia to turn up. Aren’t they? No wonder the housekeeper kept calling me the wrong name.’

She half closed her eyes, planted a fist on each hip and stuck her chin out at him.

‘Heath Sheridan, I could strangle you. You have had three days to call, text, email, fax and maybe even send a carrier pigeon. But, no. And don’t you dare say that it slipped your mind—because I saw those spreadsheets just now and every tiny detail of this wedding is right there in black and white. And sometimes highlighted in red.’

She was shouting now, totally in his space and almost touching and did not care.

Her finger prodded Heath twice in the chest. ‘Talk to me, Sheridan. Because you had better have a very, very good reason why I shouldn’t pack my bags and head back to London this very minute. Because I will. I mean it.’

‘Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that, Olivia,’ a sweet musical voice said from behind her shoulder and Kate whipped around to see the same smiling middle-aged woman she had spied outside, strolling across the library floor to meet them. ‘I was so looking forward to finally getting to meet you. Heath, darling, won’t you introduce us?’

Heath darling seemed to stretch his back several inches taller, his jaw made of ice and stone. ‘Good morning, Alice. How nice to see you again. Of course. I am sorry to say that Olivia couldn’t make it so my friend Katherine Lovat has agreed to take her place. I believe that you two have already spoken. Kate was responsible for those superb bridesmaid dresses.’

He glanced down at Kate with a look of pure steel. ‘So, if you will excuse me, I will go and catch up with my father. We have a few last-minute business matters to clear up before the fun starts. I’m sure that you ladies have a lot to talk about.’

* * *

‘Of course it was Charles’s idea to have the wedding at the Manor. I’m afraid that I embarrassed myself by crying for at least an hour after he proposed. We have waited so long for this moment, but I didn’t dare hope that we could make it happen. I had already refused him twice, but somehow I just knew. This was the right moment.’