He gave another slow nod. ‘Good. Glad we got that sorted.’
‘You’re not having second thoughts, are you?’
‘Good God, no.’ His laugh was like a punch to her heart. ‘I’m surprised I’ve lasted this long.’
‘Not bored out of your brain yet?’
There was something about his smile that wasn’t quite right. It looked tight. Fixed. ‘Surprisingly, no. You?’
She rocked her hand back and forth. ‘So-so.’
His frown deepened and then it suddenly relaxed as he laughed again. ‘Little minx.’ He came back over and scooped her up in his arms and carried her towards the bed.
‘What about the terribly important staff issue at the hotel?’ Lottie asked.
He dropped her on the mattress and came down over her, pinning her with his weight, his eyes glinting at her darkly. ‘There’s something far more urgent I have to see to here first.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE MORNING OF the wedding dawned bright and sunny after almost two weeks of inclement weather. Lottie had listened patiently each day as Madeleine fussed and fretted about how her hair would be a disaster and her make-up would run and how the guests wouldn’t be able to see her for all the umbrellas, blah, blah, blah.
Privately she thought her sister was turning into a Bridezilla but of course she didn’t say anything. It was a big event in Madeleine’s life and as a royal princess and heir to the throne it was an even bigger pressure to have everything run according to plan.
Lottie had kept her relationship with Lucca out of the spotlight out of respect for Madeleine and Edward’s wedding. But rather than diminish the intensity of their relationship it had fuelled it. Meeting in secret, stealing moments or half-hours without anyone noticing, had given their relationship an even more exciting edge.
They had worked as a team to fine-tune the last details of the ceremony and reception. Lucca might not have been to a wedding before but he was fabulous at getting people to do what he wanted. He issued orders with such charm he had every palace and hotel staff member working overtime to please him.
Everyone was still talking about the spectacular success of the hens’ night. Even Lottie had enjoyed herself dressing up and dancing till the wee hours, especially as Lucca had sneaked in disguised as one of the waiters and stolen a steamy kiss behind one of the DJ’s subwoofers.
But even if they had not mentioned it again, Lottie was all too well aware that three days after the wedding their relationship would draw to a close. By staying the month Lucca would have fulfilled the terms of the arrangement made by his father’s CEO. His trust fund would be secure and he would go back to London to his life of living in the fast lane at supersonic speed.
Lottie had cleverly compartmentalised her brain. When she was with Lucca she was totally in the moment, pretending they were a proper couple with the potential for a future together. It was only when she was alone that the other side of her brain took over, leaving her unusually teary and agitated until she could barely sleep.
She hadn’t meant to fall in love with him. She hadn’t meant to even like him. But somehow over the past couple of weeks she had grown to know him as a person. Not the laugh-a-minute layabout lad-about-town image he projected, but the sensitive and artistic man who had greater depth to his character than he let on.
Knowing him on that level made her heart open like an orchid does to tropical sunshine. How had she ever thought love was something she could control? It had sneaked up on her, catching her unawares, dismantling her defences in a sensual ambush that made her body ache to be with him every minute she could. Every moment she spent with him made her love for him grow stronger. She felt her heart squeeze every time he smiled at her. When his eyes gave her that wickedly dark glint she melted. Would she be able to carry the pretence to that final goodbye, waving him off as if she felt nothing more for him than a mild affection?
However, if Lucca was suffering any apprehension about their imminent break-up he showed no sign of it. He was his usual affable playful self, making her laugh and teasing her with his usual good humour and filling their private moments with spine-tingling passion that made her body shudder and quake with pleasure.
* * *
Once the hair and make-up team had finished with the bridal party, Lottie took a moment to speak to Madeleine as she helped her with her veil. ‘You look amazing. Edward is going to be absolutely speechless when he sees you.’
Madeleine placed a hand on her stomach, her expression tight with panic. ‘I feel sick with nerves. I keep thinking something is going to go wrong. I’m going to trip in these heels or the back of my dress is going to split while the whole world is watching. Do you think I look fat? Oh, God, what if everyone thinks I’m fat?’
Lottie squeezed her sister’s trembling hands. ‘You look stunning. Just as a princess should look.’
Madeleine bit her lip. ‘Oops, can’t do that. I’ll ruin my lipstick. Have I got it on my teeth?’ She bared her teeth for Lottie to inspect.
‘No. You’re fine.’
‘I can’t believe this is my wedding day.’ Madeleine’s eyes shimmered with tears. ‘I’m so happy, Lottie. I wish you could find someone as nice as Edward. I know you think he’s boring but he’s such a sweetheart. So kind and thoughtful and loving.’
‘I didn’t say he was boring.’ Lottie carefully avoided her sister’s gaze as she straightened out a kink in the metres-long veil.
‘I know he’s nothing like Lucca Chatsfield.’ Madeleine smoothed her hands over her hips as she inspected her image in the floor-to-ceiling mirror. ‘But at least he’s in for the long haul. You do realise Lucca’s going to scoot back to London as soon as he’s pocketed his trust fund, don’t you?’
Lottie tried to ignore the stab of pain her sister’s comment evoked. ‘I’ve always known where I stood with him.’
Madeleine toyed with the heirloom diamonds and pearl necklace around her neck, catching Lottie’s gaze in the mirror. ‘Look, I’m sorry I was a bit of a cow when you got back from Monte Carlo....’
‘It’s fine.’ Lottie pretended to have an interest in the way the neckline of her bridesmaid dress was draping. ‘The press have pretty much lost interest. Your wedding is what everyone wants to hear about now and that’s as it should be.’
Madeleine’s hand fell away from her jewellery as she gave Lottie a probing look. ‘You haven’t fallen in love with him, have you?’
Lottie kept her expression masked. ‘What on earth gives you that idea?’
‘He’s very attractive.’
‘So?’
‘So be careful, that’s all I’m saying.’ Madeleine went back to inspecting her image. ‘Men like Lucca Chatsfield don’t fall in love with girls like you.’
Resentment weighted Lottie’s stomach like an anchor. ‘What’s wrong with me?’
‘You’re not his type.’
‘How do you know his type?’ Lottie said. ‘You don’t know him. You only know what you’ve read in the press about him. You haven’t spent hours in his company when no one else was around. You don’t know how intelligent he is. How kind he is. How incredibly talented he is. You don’t know him at all.’
Madeleine raised her brows sceptically. ‘Talented at what? Sex? Creating shocking scandals that cause enormous embarrassment to his family? Come on, Lottie. You’re letting your fling with him distort your judgement. He’s not good at anything other than showing a girl a good time.’
Lottie pressed her lips together. His art was the one thing Lucca said he wanted to keep private. She would honour that. ‘We should get moving. The photographer wants some more shots before we leave for the cathedral.’
* * *
Lucca had considered giving the wedding a miss but changed his mind at the last minute. He knew Lottie would be feeling ner
vous that everything would run according to plan. Her role as maid of honour would be adding another layer of pressure on her so he figured he would keep an eye on things in the background so she could concentrate on her duties. It didn’t have anything to do with making the most of his last moments with her. He was all set to head back to London once the month was officially over. That was the deal and he was sticking to it. Once his money was secured he’d be gone.
Just three more days and he would have what he wanted.
A huge crowd of people and paparazzi had gathered outside the cathedral but he’d been expecting that. He already had his jokes and one-liners ready for any speculation about his attendance at an event he so far had managed to avoid.
‘Lucca Chatsfield.’ A journalist pressed through the crowd to thrust a microphone at him. ‘Social media is going wild with a nude portrait of Princess Charlotte. There’s some speculation going around that you’re the artist. Do you have a comment to make?’
Lucca felt his guts turned to gravy. How on earth had that leaked out? And today of all days. Lottie would be devastated. Humiliated by him. Betrayed by him. Tainted by him.
Another journalist surged towards him and another and another until he was backed against the cold stone of the cathedral.
‘An art critic in London has said the portrait is the work of a master. What do you say to that, Lucca?’
The questions kept firing at him like poisoned darts.
‘How long have you been painting?’
‘Have you got an exhibition planned?’
‘What’s the asking price on the princess’s portrait?’
‘Someone’s offering to pay three million pounds for it. Will you take it?’
Lucca shoved the microphones away with a savage thrust of his hand. ‘Get out of my way.’
‘Does the princess know you’ve shared her portrait with the world?’
‘Here’s the bridal party coming now,’ one of the photographers said.
Lucca’s stomach plummeted when the paparazzi turned as a whole towards the royal cavalcade. Four black-and-gold carriages drawn by snow-white horses came clip-clopping towards the cathedral as a volley of trumpets sounded. Lottie was in the first carriage with three other bridesmaids looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Her world was about to be shattered and there was no way of protecting her, of even warning her before the press surged on her like hyenas on an unsuspecting fawn.
He had never felt more disgusted with himself. He had brought this on her. Not only had he ruined everything for her, he had ruined her sister’s wedding day. The event Lottie had worked so hard at making as perfect as she possibly could.
He had destroyed it.
He had destroyed her reputation. Smeared it. Soiled it.
He had destroyed any iota of respect she had gained for him over the past three and half weeks. From now on she would look at him with disgust and loathing. She would hate him when he had hoped...what had he hoped?
He couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow himself to think of what he had hoped. Hope wasn’t a currency he used. He was a playboy—a hardened cynical playboy who didn’t believe in hope and love and commitment.
Lucca saw the moment she found out. He watched in powerless misery as her world came crashing down. He thought he was going to be physically ill. He felt the sour bile come up in his throat as her face paled as a journalist held up a smartphone screen to the window of the carriage as it passed by.
She would immediately blame him for leaking it even though he had shown no one. Not a living soul. He hadn’t even taken a picture of it. It had been his gift to her. He had given her a part of himself. A part he had given no one else.
Lucca turned away rather than have her seek his face out in the crowd and look at him with searing hatred and disgust. He wouldn’t stay to do any more damage to her or to her family. The only option was to distance himself as soon as he could and hope the scandal would leave the island with him.
* * *
‘How could you do this to me?’ Madeleine said sotto voce to Lottie as they assembled out the front of the cathedral. ‘First my twenty-first and now my wedding. What were you thinking?’
Lottie was still reeling from seeing her portrait flashing up on what seemed like a thousand phone screens. How could she stop the scandal from snowballing? It was like a runaway train storming right through the centre of her sister’s wedding day, smashing everything in its way.
But through all the hysteria and mayhem there was a quiet calm place inside her that was certain of one thing—Lucca hadn’t leaked that portrait to the press.
‘There’s nothing to make a fuss about. Keep calm. Keep smiling. Show them nothing is going to spoil your special day.’
Madeleine was close to tears. ‘Did you do it deliberately? You’ve always been jealous of me. Is that why you did it on the most important day of my life?’
‘I didn’t do it,’ Lottie said. ‘And neither did Lucca.’
Madeleine gave a choked sound that skirted on the edge of hysteria. ‘Oh, you stupid girl, of course he did. Why else did he have a fling with you? He wanted a scandal and now he’s got one and it’s ruined my wedding day.’
‘It hasn’t ruined anything.’ Lottie was surprised at how calm and in control she felt now the first shock had passed. What did it matter if her naked body was all over the press? She was proud of how Lucca had painted her. It was a beautiful portrait, an intimate one but not an exploitative one. He had captured her at full maturity, with full consent, not furtively behind her back to laugh about with his friends. It had been his gift to her. He had given her a piece of himself she would always treasure.
But before she could talk to Lucca she had to get her sister up that aisle as planned. She took Madeleine’s arm and led her back to their father, who was waiting patiently to escort his eldest daughter to the altar. ‘We’re going to walk tall into the cathedral and you’re going to concentrate on focusing your attention on Edward.’
‘Your naked body is going to be all over the press instead of my wedding photos!’
‘You look so stunning that even if every bridesmaid and groomsman and the entire congregation stripped naked right here and now no one would notice,’ Lottie said. ‘If you react the way the press want you to it will blow out of all proportion. This is your day. Nothing or no one can spoil it unless you let them. Now, let’s get a move on. We’re already forty minutes behind schedule. Poor Edward will think you’ve jilted him.’
Madeleine took a deep shuddering breath. ‘I suppose you’re right. It’s just...why now? Why not a few days ago when we could’ve done something to hush it up?’
Lottie gave her sister’s white-gloved hand a squeeze. ‘That’s not how the world works. Smile, chérie. This is your moment. Own it.’
The wedding ceremony went ahead but the whole time Lottie kept wondering where Lucca was. She couldn’t see him in the crowd, but then she wasn’t wearing her glasses because she hadn’t wanted to wreck the wedding photographs, so if he was more than a few feet away she wouldn’t know one way or the other. She wanted him to be here to see the result of their combined effort. He had helped her in so many little ways, suggesting touches she hadn’t thought of, giving the event a thoroughly modern feel that perfectly complemented the traditional aspects of a royal wedding.
During the signing of the register Lottie turned to one of the groomsmen she had seen Lucca talking to at the rehearsal the day before. Apparently they had met at Cambridge a few months before Lucca had been expelled. ‘Adam, have you seen Lucca about? I can’t see him anywhere in the congregation.’
‘I sent him a text before the ceremony when you guys were so late getting here,’ Adam said. ‘He sent a text back to say he was leaving.’
Lottie’s heart lurched. ‘Leaving? What, you mean leaving the island?�
�
‘Apparently.’
She swallowed a golf ball of dismay. How could he leave? He would forfeit his trust fund if he left before the month was up. He couldn’t leave. Surely he wouldn’t leave?
She glanced at her bracelet watch. The signing of the register would take another fifteen minutes at least given the size of the bridal party. Then there were the official photographs back at the palace, which would take an hour and a half, two if Madeleine had one of her fuss fests about her make-up or hair. Lucca would be long gone if Lottie didn’t intercept him. Was he leaving because of the portrait? But why? Surely he’d just laugh it off....
Lottie handed Adam her bridesmaid bouquet as well as the bridal one she’d been in charge of while Madeleine signed the wedding certificate. ‘Can you hold these for me for a couple of minutes? I have to check on something.’
Adam took the bouquets with a worried grimace. ‘This doesn’t mean I’m next in line to get married, does it?’
* * *
Lucca closed the lid of his leather case and zipped the catch. His heart felt so heavy it dragged at his insides as if a blacksmith’s anvil was tied to it. He had never meant to hurt Lottie. He never meant to hurt anyone but somehow it was what he did best. He was the High Priest of Hurting People. If he stayed in someone’s life long enough they got hurt.
Lottie was his latest victim. Her reputation would be beyond redemption after this. Her fling with him would go down in history as the scandal that ruined her sister’s wedding day. The wedding day Lottie had planned with such meticulous detail. There was no way he could make it up to her. Apologising was a waste of time. She would never believe he hadn’t leaked that portrait to the press. He didn’t even know whom to blame...other than himself. He had unwittingly exposed her to ridicule. To a scandal that trumped everything he had done in the past.
The knock at the door reminded him he had a car waiting to take him to the ferry port. He had decided against a helicopter. It would make too much noise while the wedding festivities were going on and draw even more attention. He opened the door and blinked in shock. ‘Lottie?’
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