The Bridesmaid's Secret

by Sophie Weston

  She choked, ‘How on earth do you know that?’

  ‘Annis told me,’ he said coolly.

  Bella could not think of anything to say.

  ‘You’ve been spying on me,’ she managed, just a little too late. Also the tone of outrage sounded false, even to her own ears.

  ‘Just acquiring basic information,’ he corrected. ‘Frankly, I don’t have the time for a decent surveillance job at the moment.’

  Bella gasped. ‘Don’t have the time! Are you apologising for not spying on me?’

  ‘Well, you clearly want me to apologise for something. It might as well be true.’

  ‘I don’t,’ she said between her teeth, ‘want you to apologise for one damned thing.’

  Which, of course, made him a present of exactly the opportunity he was looking for.

  ‘Great,’ he said briskly. ‘That’s got that out of the way. Now, let’s talk about where we go from here.’

  Bella drew herself to her full height. It would have been easier if she had not been barefoot but she was beyond caring.

  ‘I,’ she said with emphasis, ‘am going to bed. You—’

  He interrupted again. She should have known he would.

  ‘Not yet. Great idea but it’s too soon.’

  She stared at him, too stunned even to be angry for a moment.

  He gave her an odiously kind smile. ‘We will. I promise. Just not tonight.’

  There was a moment when Bella very nearly threw a Meissen porcelain shepherdess at him. Only the fact that he took her by the arm and steered her away from the potential missile prevented her.

  ‘You will agree with me when you think about it,’ he added helpfully.

  Bella spluttered. ‘I won’t—’

  ‘Flattering,’ he said, amused. ‘But we don’t want to rush things.’

  ‘That isn’t what I meant and you know it,’ Bella shouted.

  ‘Now, show me where the kitchen is. You are definitely cold. We must get you a hot drink.’

  She wrenched her arm out of his hold.

  ‘I am not cold and I don’t want a hot drink. How old do you think I am?’

  He took that seriously. It gave him the opportunity to let his eyes wander all the way down her. Then all the way up again. Bella found she was pulling the dressing gown together hard and scraping one foot up the back of her leg in her un-ease.

  He said coolly, ‘Oh, somewhere between four-and-a-half and several centuries.’

  Bella was so confused, she forgot how angry she was. She stared at him blankly.

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘Your eyes,’ he said with perfect sang-froid. ‘Old as Cleopatra and twice as dangerous.’

  Bella’s mouth fell open. Men didn’t say things like that. Nobody said things like that.

  Gil was quite unembarrassed. ‘But nobody stands on one leg after they leave kindergarten,’ he added kindly.

  Bella hurriedly returned her foot to the floor.

  His mouth stayed steady but his eyes were laughing. ‘That explain the age range to your satisfaction?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said dazedly. ‘I suppose so. I mean—you’re not crazy, are you?’

  It was his turn to look blank.

  ‘Excuse me?’

  Bella realised that she had the chance to get some of the initiative back. She grabbed it with both hands.

  ‘Dad says some of Annis’s clients are real lulus,’ she said artlessly. ‘Brilliant but barking. Are you very clever, Mr de la Court?’

  Their eyes met. Bella widened hers into a look of sweet enquiry. There was a sizzling pause.

  Then he gave a reluctant laugh. ‘Call me Gil. It’s easier to insult someone when you’re on first-name terms.’

  Bella managed to look shocked. ‘But I don’t want to insult you.’

  ‘Yes, you do. But you’ll get over it.’

  Bella choked on a laugh. She fought it down. ‘Really?’

  ‘Everyone does. Believe me.’

  It was like being out in the sun when he smiled at her like that. She could have thrown her arms wide and basked in it. Even though he was as unpredictable as quicksilver and tricky with it. There was a caressing note in the teasing voice. It teased but at the same time it beckoned, luring her to go down some path she had never sensed before. It might even lead to paradise.

  Bella found herself leaning towards him slowly, slowly…Their eyes locked…

  She caught herself just in time.

  ‘Wow.’ She breathed.

  Was he startled too? Just for a moment she thought Gil de la Court looked a lot less amused. Bella drew a shaken breath.

  ‘What do you want?’ she whispered.

  ‘You.’

  His eyes had an odd, stunned look. Bella did not think he was lying. She did not think he was capable of lying at this moment.

  She swallowed hard. ‘This is not a great idea.’

  But she could not tear her eyes away.

  And then he really shocked her.

  He put his hand out and brushed the tangled hair away from her face. It was an odd gesture, clumsy and uncontrolled. She did not think it was what he had meant to do. It had just happened, somehow.

  It was not the clumsiness that was shocking. It was the tenderness. Bella went as still as if she had been turned to stone.

  ‘Bella,’ he said, as if he was tasting her name.

  ‘Gil, you don’t know me,’ she said loudly.

  She had to break the mood. She had to.

  ‘What?’

  He was looking at her mouth as if he was going to draw it.

  ‘You danced with me once. You kissed me once. You sent me some flowers. You don’t know me.’ She was almost frantic.

  His eyes flickered. He did not step back but he did not kiss her. Bella found she was desperate for him not to kiss her. She could not understand it, she had kissed hundreds of men. It was as easy as breathing. But Gil was different. He made her melt just to look at him but she was not ready for another of those hair-raising kisses. Well, not yet.

  Not ready? Not yet? This was serious.

  ‘You don’t know a thing about me,’ said Bella, gabbling. She did not add that, just at the moment, she did not know much about herself either. She shook her head helplessly.

  ‘Then, tell me.’

  ‘I—’

  ‘You’re scared, aren’t you?’ He sounded fascinated.

  That brought her to her senses. She was the most popular babe on the block. She knew all there was to know about sex. She could handle men. She could handle this.

  ‘Of course I’m not scared.’

  ‘Then, tell me all this stuff I don’t know about you.’

  Bella pulled herself together. ‘Darling, I’d love to. But I’m only in London until Sunday night. My sister’s getting married, you know.’

  He ignored the irony. ‘Fine. Let me drive you down to the wedding.’

  Her composure fell apart. ‘I can’t. I mean, I’m going down to the country early. Tomorrow. My mother needs me—’

  He said softly, ‘Scared.’

  Bella stiffened. ‘I am not,’ she said, ‘scared of you or anyone.’

  ‘Not of me. Yourself.’

  ‘Scared I won’t keep my hands off you, you mean?’ she said scornfully. ‘What a dreamer!’

  His eyes glinted. ‘Then, prove me wrong.’

  She knew she was being manipulated. Of course she did. But Bella had never run away from a challenge in her life. She was not starting now.

  Her chin tilted. ‘OK. Be here tomorrow at three. If you’re not, I’ll go on my own.’

  She had a feeling from what Annis had said about him being so busy, he had no time for anything. So surely he would not be able to walk away from all that high-powered negotiation for a whole Friday afternoon?

  Gil did not hesitate for a second.

  ‘I’ll be here.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THE car backed neatly into the space in front of the house at three o’clo
ck on the dot.

  ‘Here he is,’ said her mother, evidently relieved. She had been piling cases and bags and dress boxes in the entrance hall since lunch-time.

  ‘He made it, then,’ said Bella in an odd voice.

  Her mother looked at her in surprise. ‘Did you think he would stand you up?’

  ‘He shouldn’t be here at all. I spoke to Annis this morning. She said he had to stick around for press queries. He’s launching his company on the stock market today.’

  ‘That’s nice.’

  ‘But it means he isn’t free to drive me anywhere,’ pointed out Bella. ‘Or he shouldn’t be. He’s playing truant.’

  ‘Perhaps he wants to,’ said Lynda, amused.

  Bella did not answer that directly. She watched the tall man get out of the limousine. ‘I’ve never known anyone like him,’ she said almost to herself.

  Lynda restacked a couple of shoe boxes.

  ‘Well, actually, your father and I were really glad that he offered to take you down to the country.’

  ‘I can imagine,’ Bella agreed drily.

  Her mother had never once mentioned Bella’s feelings for her imminent brother-in-law, had never even admitted the possibility, but her anxiety was palpable. Perhaps she knows, thought Bella, shocked. Perhaps maternal instinct has struck again. She writhed inwardly at the thought.

  But Lynda was thinking of something else entirely. ‘We haven’t said anything, of course, and I’m sure Annis doesn’t know, but we thought at one time he might not go to the wedding at all.’

  That brought Bella out of her self-absorption. She turned startled eyes on her mother.

  ‘What?’

  ‘He hasn’t said anything. And I could be wrong, of course.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  Gil was coming up the garden path.

  Lynda said hurriedly, ‘We just thought he was a bit cut up about Annis getting married. He didn’t come to the engagement party.’

  Bella nearly said, I know he didn’t. If he had I would have known him when he came to New York.

  She didn’t. She said in a stupefied voice, ‘Gil de la Court is in love with Annis?’

  The doorbell rang.

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,’ said Lynda, flustered. ‘They just say that he always keeps women at arm’s length. Only he didn’t do it to Annis. Some people said—well, it doesn’t matter now. Will you get the door, darling? I’ll just get the veil from upstairs.’

  She darted out into the hallway.

  ‘Who, Mother?’ said Bella following her. ‘Who said?’

  But Lynda was halfway up the stairs and the doorbell rang again. Bella gave up and opened the door.

  She looked at him blankly.

  Gil smiled. He looked very handsome in his restrained city suit. His dark hair was just a little too long, a little too untidy. And his eyes were not restrained at all.

  But all he said was, ‘Ready?’

  He did not offer to kiss her, Bella noticed.

  She said composedly, ‘Yes, I’m all packed. My mother would like us to take quite a load with us. If you don’t have room, of course, we can leave it.’

  ‘There’s room.’

  He gestured to the car. Bella looked. Saw that the dark limousine was enormous. Probably the last word in luxurious comfort, she thought.

  ‘So I see. You like to travel in style.’

  He gave a soft laugh. ‘Why does that sound like an insult?’ he said in wonder. ‘No, I don’t normally drive a souped-up pantechnicon. I thought you’d probably bring a mountain of bags and we wouldn’t get them in my own car. This one’s rented.’

  Bella bit her lip.

  ‘Forward thinking.’ There was a slight edge to her voice.

  ‘Focus,’ he corrected.

  ‘I’m impressed.’ She held the door open. ‘Do you want to come in or shall we go at once?’

  ‘The sooner the better.’

  Did that mean he did not want to spend time talking to Lynda? Had he detected that she had found out his secret?

  But then Lynda came downstairs balancing the huge box that held the wedding veil and he greeted her with no sign of embarrassment.

  She surrendered the box to him. ‘Gil, it’s so good of you to drive Bella.’ She gave him a warm hug. ‘I wish we could offer to put you up. But the house is full.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it. I’m with the bachelor party in Priory Court.’

  Lynda laughed and let him go. ‘Don’t let them play any horrible tricks on Kosta tonight.’

  ‘I’ll do my best.’

  He took the box out to the car and unlocked the boot. Bella followed with more boxes and her overnight case. She stood on the pavement, and watched him load. He put everything into the car with geometric precision. Focus, she thought. His fingers were long and deft. She gave a little shiver and stepped back.

  ‘I’ll just say goodbye to Mother and we can get going.’

  On the doorstep Lynda hugged her, her eyes suspiciously bright. ‘Don’t get lost, darling. I’ll see you at dinner. Our last dinner with just the family.’

  Bella gulped but said bravely, ‘And about time too. How long did you want your daughters on your hands?’

  She kissed Lynda’s cheek and ran.

  Gil held the door for her before swinging into the driver’s seat.

  ‘“Don’t get lost”?’ he echoed.

  Bella blinked rapidly. Why on earth had Lynda suddenly gone soggy like that? Damn it, Annis was not even walking down the aisle and here Bella was, choking up.

  ‘Family joke,’ she said curtly, turning her head away.

  Gil did not ask directions. He slid the big car through the narrow one-way system as if he was a professional chauffeur and knew every inch of the winding streets.

  ‘Pretend I’m one of the family, then,’ he said drily.

  Bella hunted in her handbag and brought out a tissue. She blew her nose rather loudly.

  ‘Oh, I was always known for missing my way. Dad bought me a car for my twenty-first but he couldn’t buy me a sense of direction. I used to set out all right. And then there would be something on the radio—or I’d be listening to a new CD—or there would be a wonderful sunset—and I’d end up somewhere I didn’t mean to go.’

  ‘Sounds interesting.’

  She gave a little choke of laughter. ‘Yes, for me. Tough on the others, though. They’d all be sitting round waiting for me to arrive so they could start dinner. Mother would have me at the bottom of a motorway pile-up until I called in and gave them my grid reference.’

  ‘Sounds like you were a handful.’

  She sighed. ‘I suppose I was.’

  ‘Is that was why your mother is so glad I’m doing the driving today?’

  She almost jumped. ‘You picked that up?’

  ‘It didn’t take a lot of picking it up.’

  ‘I suppose not,’ Bella admitted, reluctantly.

  ‘And that’s why?’

  ‘Probably,’ she hedged.

  She did not want to talk about Lynda’s sympathy or his possible feelings for Annis. She was surprised by how fiercely she did not want to talk about them.

  ‘Not like Annis, then.’

  It was as if he was reading her mind. She slewed round in her seat to look at him. ‘What?’

  She could see that he was biting back a smile. ‘If you were a rebel. Annis always tells me that she was a terminally good girl.’

  He sounded amused, affectionate.

  But—in love?

  Bella could not decide. She said, ‘Well, not exactly a rebel. Just not as together as Annis.’

  Gil laughed. ‘Nobody is as together as Annis.’

  That affection again! But was it the sort of thing you said about the woman you were in love with? More important, was it the sort of thing Gil said about the woman he was in love with?

  Bella said carefully, ‘How did you meet?’

  ‘I was an academic with a good idea and no busin
ess knowhow. Annis came up with the goods.’ He smiled reminiscently. ‘Actually she came up with a lot more advice than I thought I wanted at the time. Shook me to my foundations. It’s really thanks to her that Watifdotcom is going public today.’

  Bella digested this. ‘So you’ve known each other for ages?’

  ‘Not at all. It’s been short but intense.’

  Intense?

  ‘Oh.’

  They hit a roundabout and he fell silent as he negotiated the fast, heavy traffic. He did not speak again until they were on the motorway.

  ‘So how long have you been in New York and what do you do there?’ He slid her a sideways looks, inviting her to share his amusement. ‘We’ve got a lot of blank spaces to fill in for people who have come so far.’

  Oh, no, we haven’t, thought Bella. We haven’t come any distance at all. I didn’t know that you ever had any interest in my sister Annis. As for me—what you don’t know about me would fill a book. Just as well if that’s the way it stays, too.

  But, unlike Annis, she was the sociable one. She knew how to chatter obligingly without giving away one single thing of importance. She did just that for the rest of the journey.

  By the time they got to the Gothic mansion that was the Carew country house, her mouth was dry and she was running out of small talk. Gil had been silent for the last twenty miles, except to ask directions. She had the impression that he was as relieved as she was when they drove up the sweep of the gravelled drive.

  He parked under an overhanging rhododendron and turned off the engine. For a moment he seemed lost in thought. Then he turned to her.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he said quietly.

  ‘Wrong? Nothing.’ Even to Bella the bright tone sounded forced. ‘I’m really grateful for the lift.’

  ‘Will I see you tonight?’

  She spread her hands. ‘You heard Lynda. Last meal as a family. I can’t walk out on that.’

  He looked impatient. ‘Of course not. I mean afterwards.’

  ‘After dinner?’

  ‘No need to sound so shocked. I assume you won’t go on eating to midnight.’

  ‘No but—’ She was floundering.

  He took both her hands. ‘Which is your room?’

  Oh no, she thought. Here we go again: ‘Let me come up.’

  ‘Thinking of climbing up to my chamber?’ she said with heavy irony. It almost disguised her breathlessness at the very thought.