Appointment at the Altar

by Jessica Hart

  ‘That’s such rubbish,’ she said, not quite as firmly as she would have liked. ‘It makes it sound as if you…as if we…’

  ‘Are in love?’ Guy suggested as she trailed off, a little uncertain.

  ‘Well, yes…which we’re not, obviously,’ said Lucy, hoping that she sounded more convincing to him than she did to herself. ‘They’ve just made it all up.’

  ‘I know, but someone must have told them about us leaving together,’ he pointed out. ‘One tiny snippet of truth makes it harder to deny the whole story.’ He leant against Sheila’s desk and rubbed his jaw as he thought. ‘I think it’s probably best to ignore it,’ he decided after a while.

  Lucy looked dubious. ‘What if anyone asks about it?’

  ‘Just say no comment,’ he said. ‘They’ll soon lose interest. There’ll be something or someone else to talk about tomorrow.’

  ‘That’s all very well if a journalist rings up, but what about everyone else?’ she asked. ‘I can’t say no comment if Imogen rings up and asks why I didn’t tell her that we were having a relationship.’

  ‘Why would she do that?’

  ‘I would in her position,’ said Lucy. ‘No wonder she gave me that funny look this morning! She was great to me and we got to be good friends, and now all she’ll think is that I lied to her. And what about Sheila?’ It was getting worse the more she thought about it. ‘How’s she going to feel when she reads that I’m apparently your new PA? It’ll seem like I’ve walked off with her boss and her job!’

  Guy sighed. ‘I’ll call Sheila and explain, and I suppose I’d better ring my mother, too, or there’ll be all hell to pay, but we can’t tell everyone the truth. That would just turn it into a bigger story. They’ll go back to whoever contacted them at first and start poking around and, before you know where you are, they’ll be asking why we would have lied to Frank Pollard in the first place.’

  ‘So we do nothing?’

  ‘I think it might be easier in the long run,’ he decided. ‘Let everyone think that we are having a relationship, but don’t confirm the engagement. You told the Pollards that we didn’t want to go public until Meredith gets back, so we’ll stick with that as an excuse for no announcement.’

  ‘That explains why we haven’t told anyone we’re engaged,’ said Lucy, ‘but it doesn’t explain why we haven’t told anyone we’re having a relationship in the first place.’

  ‘No one’s going to expect details, are they?’

  ‘Of course they are!’ Lucy stared at him in disbelief. ‘No woman would smile politely when she heard about a secret engagement and then not ask any more. Oh, so you’re not announcing your engagement yet? OK. Nice weather, isn’t it? No, she’s going to want to know how we met, when the relationship started, and why I didn’t tell anyone about it-and that’s just for starters. She’ll be asking how our relationship works, whose idea it was to get married, when the wedding is, what dress I’m wearing and how many bridesmaids I’d like.’

  Guy was looking appalled. ‘Can’t you just tell them to mind their own business?’

  She just shook her head. ‘That’s not how women work.’

  ‘Well, I’m not going into any of that stuff,’ he said firmly. ‘I’ll admit that we’re having a relationship and that we’re going to get married, and I’ll say that we’re not making our engagement public for now, but that’s it. I’m not saying any more than that.’

  Lucy looked sceptical. ‘If you can get away with it…but I don’t see how you can, unless you only talk to men for the next few days. Which, come to think of it, probably isn’t that hard when you’re an investment banker.’ She dropped into the chair as the implications of the article began to hit her properly. ‘What about your merger?’ she asked, and Guy sighed again.

  ‘I’ll just have to hope that Bill Sheldon doesn’t read the gossip columns.’

  The words were barely out of his mouth before the phone on Sheila’s desk rang. Taking a calming breath, Lucy answered it, listened and then put the call on hold. She looked at Guy. ‘Would you believe me if I told you it was Bill Sheldon for you?’

  ‘You’re joking?’

  Lucy shook her head. ‘Uh-uh.’

  ‘Oh, God.’ Guy’s eyes rolled up towards the ceiling, but he had little choice than to take the phone from her.

  ‘Bill, how are you?’ he asked, his cheerfulness sounding forced for once. ‘…Oh, you did? Yes, yes it is a bit unexpected…No, we haven’t known each other long…it’s all happened rather suddenly…’

  A muscle was twitching in his jaw by the time he cut the connection and handed the phone back to Lucy.

  ‘That was Bill,’ he said unnecessarily. ‘Calling to offer me his congratulations,’ he added, tight-lipped, ‘and obviously to find out why I hadn’t thought about mentioning you before.’

  ‘Couldn’t you just tell him to mind his own business?’ asked Lucy sweetly, quoting his own suggestion back at him, and had the satisfaction of provoking Guy into a glare.

  ‘He suggested that I take you along to some party he’s hosting with his daughter next Friday,’ he said thinly, ‘and when Bill Sheldon makes a suggestion like that in the middle of merger negotiations, it’s as well to agree that it sounds like a fine idea. So if you had any other plans for that Friday night, you can remake them!’

  Lucy bridled. ‘Why does he want to meet me?’

  ‘He wants to know if I’m the man he thought I was,’ said Guy. ‘He’s got reason now to think I’m keeping something back. If I’m secretive about you, he’s thinking, what else am I hiding? So we’ll go, and convince Bill and everyone else who needs to know that what we have here is a whirlwind love affair and nothing else.’

  Shaking his head, he turned towards his office. ‘My life was simple until I met you, Lucy!’

  ‘Sorry,’ she said in a small voice.

  ‘Well, we’re committed now,’ he said, resigned, ‘so we’ll just have to go with it, and in the meantime let’s try and do some work here.’

  ‘Right,’ said Lucy, swinging her chair round to face the computer. ‘Right.’

  But it was hard to get much done when the phone rang off the hook. Friends, business colleagues, reporters…Was she the only person in London who hadn’t read the piece in the paper that morning? And, of course, they all wanted to know if she was Guy’s fiancée and PA, Lucy. It was easiest just to deny it and pretend that Lucy was unavailable, although obviously this didn’t work when Meg called.

  ‘I know you’re a body snatcher and are holding Lucy against her will,’ she said. ‘All that going to work early was a dead giveaway, but now I’m sure that you’re an alien, because my friend Lucy would never even think of getting engaged without telling me!’

  It took Lucy some time to coax Meg out of her crossness. ‘It’s a long story,’ she said, deciding that she owed Meg the truth. She didn’t care what Guy said about not telling anyone else. ‘I’ll tell you all about it tonight, I promise you.’

  The more the phone rang, the more Lucy realised quite what an awkward position she had put Guy in. She had had no idea that one tiny snippet of gossip could cause such a furore, and it was hard not to feel guilty about the way her careless comment to Frank had snowballed out of hand.

  Still, things could have been worse, she tried to reassure herself. The story about their engagement might not be true, but it wasn’t as if it would hurt anyone. Neither of them was involved with anyone else, after all, and the interest wouldn’t last for ever. Sheila would come back, she would organise the fund-raising party and when that was over…

  Yes, what then, Lucy? a little voice inside her enquired.

  Well, then she would leave. Appalled by the way her heart sank at the very thought of leaving, Lucy pulled herself together. Leaving had always been part of the plan. She had obligations in Australia, a promise to Hal which she needed to fulfil. After that, she could decide what she wanted to do. She could get herself another job, a proper job, even.

  And no
doubt Guy would be relieved to have her out of his hair. He would marry eventually-someone glamorous and responsible, to make Bridget happy-and Lucy would become nothing more than a funny story he would tell at dinner parties.

  She could just see him, leaning back in his chair, ready to entertain everyone. The blue eyes would be dancing. ‘I once had a PA with a rich fantasy life,’ he would begin, and he would have that undercurrent of laughter in his voice, the one that made her want to laugh even if he were only talking about a tax return. ‘Talk about a dizzy blonde! At one point she actually pretended that I had asked her to marry me.’

  Guy would tell the story well, of course. He would tell it against himself, with that self-deprecating irony that was so typical of him. How all the other guests would laugh to hear how Lucy had embroiled him in her problems!

  The image was so vivid that Lucy pushed her chair abruptly away from the desk and stood up. That was quite enough thinking. She didn’t want to think about leaving, Guy, chemistry, this stupid engagement or anything else.

  She would think about the party instead, Lucy decided. Now Sheila’s office was under control, she could go and get the files and make a start. She might even stay late tonight. It sounded as if there was a lot of work to be done in sorting everything out, and besides, she thought, it would be a good excuse to avoid everyone else going home at the same time. She could sneak out when the building was quiet. She didn’t care if it was cowardly.

  Unfortunately, her careful plan to keep a low profile was foiled by George Duncan, Director of Human Resources, who came along, all smiles, a little while later and asked if he could have a quick word with Guy-and with her.

  ‘It’s about your engagement,’ he explained when they were all settled on the sofas in Guy’s office. ‘Of course, we know that you don’t want to make an official announcement yet, but the staff are all so pleased for you and everyone has been asking if we could mark the occasion in some way.’

  He beamed from one to the other and Lucy just hoped that her sinking heart didn’t show in her expression as she forced a smile in return. Guy, she noticed with a touch of resentment, was looking cucumber cool.

  ‘We’d very much like to offer you our congratulations,’ George was saying, ‘and we wondered if you would both join us all for a glass of champagne at six o’clock. Just a small in-house celebration on the mezzanine,’ he added a little anxiously, perhaps picking up on the tension in the atmosphere after all.

  Lucy was sitting next to Guy and he put his hand over hers on the sofa. ‘That’s very kind, George,’ he said smoothly. ‘Lucy and I would love to come, wouldn’t we, darling?’

  Burningly conscious of his hand over hers, Lucy made her smile widen. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘It’s a lovely idea.’

  ‘Splendid!’ Reassured, George hauled himself to his feet. ‘We’ll see you at six, then.’

  ‘What have we done?’ Lucy muttered to Guy as they waited for the lift to take them down to the mezzanine.

  ‘We? What have we done?’ Guy raised his brows incredulously. ‘Shouldn’t that be what have I done?’

  ‘Listen, it wasn’t me barely leaving my side at the reception last night,’ she snapped. ‘And what happened to your theory about people losing interest in the situation if we just ignored it?’

  ‘I didn’t say it would happen today,’ Guy pointed out.

  ‘What if it never happens? This is awful,’ said Lucy fretfully. ‘It feels as if everything is snowballing out of control. Now there’s this party, and everyone’s going to be so pleased for us when we’re lying to them. It’s all wrong.’

  ‘Perhaps you’ll think about that next time you start inventing fiancés’ said Guy with a meaningful look. He pointed a finger at her. ‘No more stories,’ he told her. ‘Let’s just stick with the one we’ve got.

  ‘Look, I don’t feel comfortable lying to my staff either,’ he went on when Lucy looked dubious. ‘I’ve never done it before, and I hope never to have to do it again, but they’ll feel foolish if we tell them the engagement isn’t real after they’ve gone to so much trouble. So we’re going to have to put on a happy face, smile and say thank you, and do our best to ensure that not one of the people on the mezzanine tonight even suspects that they’ve taken part in a farce.’

  Guy had already pushed the button to call the lift, but Lucy reached out impatiently and pushed it again, twice for good measure. ‘They’re going to know sooner or later when it becomes clear that we are not, in fact, getting married.’

  ‘Not necessarily. Nobody needs to know that our engagement wasn’t real,’ he pointed out. ‘Lots of people get engaged and never get round to getting married. When all the interest has died down, we can just let it be known that we’ve changed our minds.’

  ‘Or we could have a big argument,’ Lucy suggested.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Guy, nodding agreement. His eyes glinted down at her. ‘I’ll realise eventually that you’re totally unreasonable and call the whole thing off.’

  ‘Why can’t I be the one to call it off?’ she demanded, getting into the spirit of the thing.

  He feigned shock. ‘What possible reason could you have for not wanting to marry me?’

  ‘Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something,’ said Lucy airily. ‘I’ll hint darkly about the kind of things you like to get up to when we’re on our own.’

  Guy grinned. ‘That’ll make me sound exciting!’

  ‘Well, then, perhaps I’ll just imply that the magic has gone,’ she improvised. ‘Or I’ll say that I’ve fallen in love with someone else.’

  Even as she said it, she realised how unconvincing it was going to sound. How likely was it that she would fall in love with someone else if she had Guy? She would never be able to carry it off.

  ‘Or,’ said Guy, ‘you could tell the truth.’

  ‘The truth?’ She looked at him blankly and the corner of his mouth twitched.

  ‘I realise it would be a novel experience for you, Cinders! Just say that you’re going back to Australia to be with Kevin.’

  Kevin. She had almost forgotten what he looked like. Lucy’s eyes slid away from Guy’s as the lift arrived with a ping and the doors slid open.

  ‘Yes, I could say that, I suppose.’

  ‘But not too soon,’ he warned, standing back to let her into the lift before him. ‘Wait until after the party next month. That would be a good time for you to leave anyway,’ he added. ‘If we break off our engagement before then, people are going to feel awkward and wonder what they should be saying. Once you’re not around any more, it’ll be easier for them to feel sorry for me.’

  As if anyone was ever going to feel sorry for Guy.

  It made sense, Lucy had to admit. She didn’t want to be trapped in this embarrassing pretence any longer than she had to be and, once the party was over, she would have no reason to stay any longer.

  So why was the thought of leaving settling inside her like a cold stone settling inside her?

  ‘Smile,’ said Guy under his breath as the lift stopped. ‘Remember how much in love we are!’

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE mezzanine was almost as crowded as it had been for the reception the night before. Lucy couldn’t believe how many people were waiting for them, each of them choosing to stay after work and wish them well rather than go home.

  Her throat felt tight, but she found a smile, although she nearly lost it again when a great cheer went up as they spotted Guy. He was looking as lazily good-humoured as ever, and he grinned down at her as he took hold of her hand. His fingers were warm and reassuring, and she found herself blushing exactly as if she were going to be a real bride.

  They were barely out of the lift before they were engulfed by well-wishers. Lucy had never been kissed so much before. She was soon separated from Guy, and she missed his hand around hers. Whenever she looked for him, he was there, smiling, laughing, effortlessly the warm, vibrant centre of the room.

  He made it look so easy, she thought. Sh
e knew that everyone who spoke to him had the sense that Guy had really noticed them, that he was pleased to see them and appreciated that they had taken the trouble to come. Once their eyes met through the crowd and he mouthed ‘all right?’ and Lucy felt instantly steadied. Smiling, she nodded and turned away to find herself face to face with Imogen.

  ‘Well?’ demanded Imogen, putting her hands on her hips.

  Lucy couldn’t help laughing at her mock-threatening stance. ‘I know, I know! I would have told you, Imogen, but I didn’t know how I felt about Guy myself for ages.’

  ‘I did.’

  ‘You did what?’ Lucy asked, puzzled.

  ‘I knew there was something between you and Guy straight away.’

  ‘You did?’

  Imogen rolled her eyes. ‘It was obvious, Lucy! I could tell by the way you looked at each other, and by the way you didn’t look at each other. Either way, there was always a kind of sizzle in the air between you. I used to get quite hot just watching you,’ she told Lucy, who belatedly tried to smooth her expression. It probably wasn’t a good idea to boggle at Imogen as if she were astounded at the news that she and Guy had seemed attracted to each other. A real fiancée would have picked up the vibes herself. ‘I wasn’t at all surprised when I saw that piece in the paper,’ Imogen finished, ‘although I do think you might have told me!’

  It seemed that Imogen was not the only one who claimed to have known all along that she and Guy were in love. Lucy began to feel quite uneasy. How could it have been so obvious to everyone when it wasn’t true?

  Unless it was true.

  Lucy’s blue gaze found Guy on the other side of the room. He was being hugged by a group of cleaners, who were all shrieking with laughter as he teased them. He wasn’t looking at her, but she could still feel the warmth of his smile lighting up the room.

  The world seemed to judder to an abrupt halt, leaving Lucy jarred and breathless.

  Oh, God, it was true. Of course it was true. Of course she was in love with him. What a fool she had been! Lucy berated herself. Imogen was right. It had been obvious. The only one who hadn’t seen it until now was her.