Leonardo was expected that day, and until she saw him, Aurora knew she would not be able to think of anything else.
“I know.” Beatrice smiled with total self-possession, her pretty face crinkling into a broad smile. “It’s all completely organised. I simply cannot wait!”
Aurora laughed. “You might be the happiest bride that’s ever been.”
“I think so,” she agreed. “How can I not be?” She looked down at her ring and sighed. “Isn’t Pete amazing?”
“He is,” Aurora agreed good-naturedly.
“How are things with Alec?”
Aurora lifted a sandwich and bit into it to save herself from answering.
“Rors? You guys have been seeing each other for a while. Is it getting serious?”
“Not really,” she said with total honesty. “We just like spending time together.”
In fact, Alec had been incredibly patient with her. In the almost six months they’d been not-dating, he hadn’t once tried to push their relationship to the next level. He’d been true to his word, as a friend and confidant, and now she wasn’t sure she could imagine her life without him.
“But you like him?”
She shook her head. “Yeah, of course. He’s a really sweet man, Bea. Just completely nice. Funny. Thoughtful.”
“And gorgeous,” Beatrice said with a pointed lift of her brows.
“Yes. Nice to look at.”
“And you have a lot in common.”
‘Yes, I guess so.”
Beatrice compressed her lips in silent exasperation. “I don’t get it? What’s the problem? Is he bad in bed?”
Aurora’s cheeks flushed. “Bea! Come on. We’re not… it’s not like that.”
“Not like what?” Her eyes narrowed. “You guys have been seeing each other, what? Most weekends for the better part of six months?”
“As friends.” She pretended fascination with a stubborn piece of ribbon on one of the flower girls’ baskets. “Just friends.”
Beatrice reached out and put a hand on Aurora’s arm. “Aurora Jones, look at me.”
Aurora bit down on her lip as she lifted her ice-blue eyes to her friend’s enquiring gaze.
“What the hell is going on?”
Aurora blinked back the sheen in her eyes, feigning miscomprehension. “Nothing is going on. That’s the point.”
“I don’t get it. I’m sorry. You know I love you, but Alec’s my friend, too. I can’t help but feel that you’re leading him on. I don’t want him to get his heart broken.”
Aurora nodded, her throat thick. “I don’t want him to get hurt either. I’ve been honest with him from the beginning. I don’t see him as someone I’m going to get romantically involved with. So we hang out, and have fun.”
“And don’t have sex.”
“Right.”
Beatrice sighed, her confusion obvious. “Are you seeing someone else then?”
“No.”
“Is he?”
“Not that I know of.” Aurora shrugged. “It wouldn’t worry me if he were. Because we’re just friends.”
“And you really think he’s happy with that? There’s not a part of you that wonders if he’s maybe falling in love with you while you’re just ‘hanging out’?”
Aurora felt a tingle of shame cross her spine. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
Beatrice pushed a smile across her face. “I don’t want to think about it this week. It’s my wedding week, and you’re my best friend. But promise me you won’t let this go on forever.”
“I won’t. I swear.” She nodded, feeling like a woman on death row who’d just received a last minute reprieve.
“Because at some point, you have to either make it work, or recognise that you’re leading a great guy on just to kill time.”
“I know.” Aurora ran a hand through her silky blonde hair. “Come on. Like you said, this is your week. Surely there’s some floral arrangements we can discuss, instead of my uneventful love life.”
Beatrice was quiet for a moment, and finally shrugged. “You’re right. Let’s go try some more of the canapés.”
Aurora laughed indulgently as she fell in step beside Beatrice. “Not for me. I think I’ve had about as many tiny little quiche as I can. That is, unless you don’t mind me splitting out of my dress.”
“As if.” Beatrice rolled her eyes dramatically. “You could eat a truck full of crap and still be teeny.”
Her nerves wouldn’t take anymore food. The knowledge that Leonardo would be there sometime before nightfall was tying her in knots. “I’m good. But I’ll live vicariously through you.”
Beatrice grinned. “I’m pretty sure I can eat what I want to now, and it won’t make a bit of difference before the wedding.”
Aurora watched while Beatrice assembled a few snacks on a platter and carried it out to the large paved courtyard just behind the north wing of the house.
It had only been a matter of time. She’d known that since waking that morning.
And yet, when Leonardo appeared in the dappled shadows cast by the wisteria, Aurora felt as though her whole body had been slammed by a freight train.
All she could do was stare. He was sexily dishevelled in hip-hugging faded black jeans and a check shirt that had been rolled up at the sleeves to expose his tanned forearms. It was unbuttoned at the top too, displaying the thick column of his neck and coarse dark hair; Aurora felt her stomach clench in pained memory. His dark hair was long enough to brush against the collar, and his eyes seemed to throb with the connection they shared. A spark seemed to pass silently between them, arcing with electricity and awareness.
“Hey! You’re finally here!” Beatrice jumped up, oblivious to the energy that the two former lovers were generating. “Welcome to wedding week.”
Leonardo flicked his gaze from Aurora to Beatrice, a small smile on his lips. “It’s a wedding day, Bea. Not a week. A day.”
“That, my brother, is where you’re wrong. You get to be the celebrity of the family every other week, but not this time. This time it’s all about me!”
“And a little bit about Peter, right?” Aurora threw in with quiet amusement, earning a smile from Leonardo.
“Yeah, yeah. I suppose the groom gets a look in. But mostly, it’s my day.”
“I thought it was your week?” Leonardo teased, wrapping an arm around his sister and guiding her back to the table.
“Are you mocking me?” Beatrice asked with gravity.
He shook his head. “Never.”
“It feels like you are.”
“Then I probably am.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss against Aurora’s cheek. It was a completely conventional greeting for people who knew each other as they were supposed to. Yet it sent her pulse into a wild race against her veins, angry and frantic. Torrents of over-heated blood were firing through her, causing her heart to flutter. “Aurora,” he said, his voice thick.
“Leonardo,” she responded in kind, her eyes clinging to his before she realised how suspiciously they were behaving. Her smile required effort. She turned back to Beatrice as quickly as possible.
And so they sat, like two polite strangers, as the sun dipped lower over the English dales, and Beatrice explained the wedding day point by point. Beneath the table, their legs did not touch. Not a hair on their bodies so much as flickered to the other, and yet every second served only to increase Aurora’s awareness of Leonardo. By the time Beatrice suggested they get changed for dinner in the village, Aurora wasn’t sure she’d be able to walk.
Somehow, she made it to the room she’d been allocated, though her legs were not quite steady. A knock on her bedroom door a few minutes later had her heart racing. Surely it would be Leonardo. She pulled it open, an expectant smile on her face, until she realised that it was not the one person on earth she loved, with all her heart.
It was Alec, lopsided smile in place, and a bunch of roses in one hand.
She stared at him, her surprise obvious, until a mov
ement behind him caught her eye. Leonardo, his hands in his pockets, his head bent. He was staying on the other side of the house. The only reason he could have had for being in that corridor was surely to see her.
In that moment, she realised the extent to which her life was in a complete mess. The man she loved was out of her reach, and a man who loved her was someone she didn’t want. And yet, she cared about him too much to hurt him in any way.
“Alec,” she exclaimed, instinctively putting her hands on his arms and pressing a kiss against his cheek. “I didn’t think you and Peter were getting here until tomorrow?”
“We were eager to join the fun,” he drawled with an inflection of cynicism that had her laughing. “These are for you.” He held the roses out. “A gift for the Maid of Honor from the Best Man.”
“Oh.” She bit down on her lip and dragged it between her teeth. “That’s really thoughtful. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” He took advantage of her surprise to step inside her room and push the door shut behind himself. The last image she caught, before the door latched shut, was the mingled fury and angst on Leonardo’s face.
He didn’t join them for dinner in the local pub. The four of them took Beatrice’s new Mercedes – a wedding present from her parents – to the local, for a relatively relaxed night. Only Aurora was not relaxed. She was wound tighter than a spring. The way Leonardo had stared at her, with such blatant accusation, had made her despair. How could two people who were so right together be so wrong?
The following morning, Peter, Beatrice and Alec slept late. Far too much ale had been consumed by all except Aurora, who offered to drive them back to Farnley. As a result, she was up before the sun, wired and alert. She slipped on a pair of Hunters and grabbed her phone, and headed out in the early morning dew to tour the property.
Some kind of homing beacon called her towards the duck pond she’d fallen into as a teenager. With each step she took, she treaded back in time. It had been a blissful afternoon. She and Beatrice had sat in the tree house reading magazines that were far too old for them, learning all sorts of tricks for applying makeup and meeting boys, and then decided to go out on the water. Only their aquatic skills were far less developed than their cosmetic ones.
As she rounded the corner and it came into sight, she let out a sigh. It was beautiful. Long reeds punctuated the edges, and the water was a murky green. A solitary pier tickled the water, with old wooden planks that were sturdier than they looked. Two boats were moored against its timber end, and she walked towards one. “The Rita”; it had emblazoned on one side in dark blue writing. Her lips were a half-smile as she took great care to lower her legs into the boat, then the rest of her body.
It wobbled dangerously and she reached down to steady herself, waiting until the boat had stopped rocking before sitting on her bottom and staring out across the water, towards the Gardener’s Cottage, on the far side of the banks. She stretched her long legs before her, and tapped her toes together. Despite being Summer, there was a chill in the air at that early hour, and she shivered, wrapping her arms around her chest.
“It’s incredibly dangerous to be on the water wearing wellington boots.”
She startled, whipping her head around to see Leonardo standing just above her. He was wearing running gear; a pair of long black pants and a shirt. A sheen of perspiration covered his handsome face. “What are you doing here? You scared me half to death.” She lifted a hand and pressed it against her neck.
He held his hands up in apology. “I was running. I saw you come this way.”
She tried to slow her breathing but it was impossible. “So you followed me?”
He crossed his arms across his chest and stared out at the water. “I guess I did.”
“Why?”
“That’s a really great question.” His voice was loaded with bitterness. He leaned down, keeping his eyes on her as he moved his hands to the rope that tethered the small boat to the structure. “Take your boots off.”
“What are you doing?” She demanded unnecessarily, as he eased himself into the craft as though he’d done it a thousand times. Which, she thought distractedly, he probably had. He looped the rope around the front of the boat and grabbed the oars.
“Another great question,” he said with a lift of his handsome lips. “Take your boots off.”
A bird flew overhead, sending its early morning music across the property like dew drops in the breeze.
Aurora was amazed by how calm she seemed. “I don’t have a great history with this lake, you know.”
He grinned. “I promise not to tip you in unless you really deserve it. Take your boots off, just in case. You’d sink right to the bottom wearing those.”
She lifted her shoulders, and stared at him with an icy resolve. “You seem annoyed at me.”
“Annoyed at you? Because I don’t want you to drown?” His eyes flashed with an unknown emotion, but he relented a little as he saw her lift her feet out of her boots and set them aside. He looked away. “Annoyed doesn’t even come close to describing what I am with you.”
She sucked in a deep breath. “But why?”
“Why am I annoyed at you? I’ll give you one guess.”
Aurora narrowed her eyes. “I really have no idea.”
“How do you think it makes me feel to see you with him?”
She lowered her face, examining the pattern of the timber deck. The water made a constant splishing splashing noise as he continued to row, cutting the boat’s path with ease.
“You told me to go out with him,” she pointed out quietly.
“Damned right.”
“So why are you being like this?”
“Six months? You’ve been with him since that night?”
“No.” She bit down on her lip. The small shred of pride she had remaining kept her from disclosing the true nature of her relationship with Alec.
“No?”
She glared at him mutinously. “It was about a week after that night.”
He swore, his dark eyes filled with resentment. He rowed the boat once more, and it bumped against something. He stood up. “Come with me.” He held a hand down, and though she knew she should be asking more questions, she put hers in it.
She watched as he looped the rope around a tree trunk on the shoreline, and then allowed herself to be guided by him to the cottage. Her bare feet made a shuffling noise against the dew-coated grass. “This is the Gardener’s Cottage?” She said, as he pushed open the door and waited for her to follow him.
“A fancy name for Guest House,” he responded with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It’s empty.”
Now, she did pause. “Why do you want to go in there?”
He stepped back onto the front porch and looped his arms around her waist. “Because I want to find out how serious you are about Mr Stockbroker.”
“He’s not a stockbroker,” she denied automatically. “He works in finance. It’s different.”
He compressed his lips. “Go inside.”
“No.” She stared up at him. “You have no right to be like this.”
“Yes, I damn well do. And do you want to know why?”
“Yes! Why do you think you have any business in my life? Why do you think after six months you get to come back and act like this?”
“Because I fucking love you, and you love me.”
“What did you just say?” Her eyes scanned his face, searching for truth in his features. His expression was sombre, his eyes unreadable.
“I have spent the last six months telling myself we could make this work. That a bit of time apart would lead you to be reasonable. And then I get here and you’re in a serious relationship with that guy?”
“Wait a minute. Hold up.” She lifted her fingers and pressed them against her temples. “You claim to love me, but say that I have to be reasonable? What’s that even supposed to mean?”
“The only reason we’re not together is because you don’t like my ca
reer. Can’t you just get over that already? Accept me for who I am and what I do, like I did you?”
“Like you did me? What did you have to accept?”
He narrowed his eyes, his face like a thundercloud. “I’m a possessive man, Aurora. Do you think I liked sharing you with millions of men the world over? You were on the cover of a bloody bikini magazine. Every time I raced, that photo of you would be flashed up in my bio. You are the object of every red-blooded man’s sickest fantasies, and I never said a damned word because I recognised it was my problem to get over.”
The air seemed to screech with pain. Aurora blinked. “You should have told me you felt that way.”
“And what would you have done? Quit?”
She bit down on her lip. “I did quit.”
“Not for me,” he responded thickly, with an insistent shake of his head. “Not because I wanted you to. You quit when you were ready to. Like I will retire when I am ready to.”
“That might be in five years time,” she ground out with a thin veneer of patience.
“Yes. I know.”
“I’m sorry, Leo. I can’t wait around for you to retire or die trying.” She pushed at his chest and paced the length of the deck. Her wet, bare feet left little footprints in her wake. “Loving someone isn’t always enough. The way we love each other, and who we are, only serves to make us miserable. I’m better off with Alec, and you’re better off forgetting you ever knew me.”
“I wish I could,” he said darkly. “But you are imprinted on the fibres of my soul. And I don’t want to forget you. I don’t want to acknowledge that with all we have, we cannot make this work.” He watched her slender frame as she moved back and forth across the stone floor.
“I thought you would always hate me because of how I left you?” She demanded, throwing the words he’d said to her back in his face.
“So did I. It turns out, I got over that. I’ll tell you something else, Aurora Jones. I don’t intend to leave this wedding without you by my side, so you’d better get used to the idea.”
She stopped pacing and stared at him. “You can’t be serious?”
“I have never been more serious about anything in my life.”
Clare Connelly Pairs: Warming the Sheikh’s Bed & Love in the Fast Lane Page 22
