“Really? Why?” Helen said uncertainly. “Are you all right, Jess?”
“Fine,” I assured her. “I just need some time alone.”
“Alone,” Helen said looking like I was mad, then she shrugged. “Well, okay, if that’s what you want. I think I’ll go and tell Fenella what happened.” A wicked glint appeared in her eye. She tugged at Ivana’s arm. “I think you guys better come with me—I might need some help when she finds out the wedding’s off.”
Ivana nodded. “I can restrain if required,” she said, her voice low. Then she turned to me. “So, you heff the money? Without merrege?”
I nodded. “Looks that way.”
“Clever,” she said, a look of something approaching respect crossing her face. “Money with no boom boom. I like idea of this.”
“Money with boom boom’s even better, though,” Sean said, winking. “If it’s the right boom boom.”
Ivana shrugged. “Maybe.” Then she grabbed Sean and kissed him. “For you, I would have boom boom and no money,” she said. “But only you.”
“Thanks,” I said, as they turned to leave. “Thanks for everything…”
“No problem.” Sean grinned. “It’s been…unreal.”
I followed them out of the church, but instead of walking back to the hotel, I hung around outside. There was a small patch of grass to the right of the door, and I made my way toward it. Then, taking a deep breath, I took out my cream clutch bag that Helen had given me as a last-minute present that morning, dug out my mobile phone, and dialed a number.
“Hello?”
“It’s me, Jess,” I said.
“Jess.”
“Yes.” I took a deep breath. “Just…look, I want to say something to you, and I want you to listen, okay?”
“You’re giving me orders?”
I cleared my throat. “Look, I’ve behaved terribly, unforgivably. So badly, I expect you really dislike me right now. But I have to say something to you so, yes, I’m giving you orders, if you don’t mind.”
“Yes, you have behaved terribly. And I do mind. I mind a great deal. But I will listen. Go ahead.”
I took another deep breath. My palms were sweating so much, I was worried I was going to drop the phone.
“Thank you,” I said uncertainly, “okay, here’s the thing. I…” I hesitated, then closed my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was really going to do this. But then again, I had nothing else to lose. “I like you, Max. I like you very much. Always have. Since I met you. And I know that romance and love are unreal and dangerous and that you get your heart broken. I mean me. I’ll be the one to get my…Oh, it doesn’t matter. What matters is…Well, I just wanted to say it. Because I used to think it was strong to not. Say it, I mean, or even feel it. But now, now I think that maybe it’s stronger to do the opposite. To take a risk. Even though things might go wrong. Like now. I mean, they could go awfully.”
“Awfully? You mean like the wedding? Or nonwedding, I suppose I should say.”
I gulped. “That would, I suppose, count as awful, yes,” I said.
“You told Grace you were married to Anthony.”
Max’s voice was level, unreadable. “It was stupid,” I agreed. “But I never thought…I mean, I didn’t know she’d leave me her estate. I just wanted her to be happy, that’s all…”
“Yeah, that’s not what I’m concerned about.”
“It’s not?” I asked worriedly. “Well, I’m sorry about everything else, too…”
“Hmmm. You see, I just have one question.”
“You do?” I asked.
“You were really going to marry Anthony? I mean, you were actually planning to go through with it?” he asked, his voice soft now. I was pressing the phone to my ear as tightly as I could.
I shook my head. “No. I mean, yes, but…I thought I had to. For Grace. And then I thought he really wanted to…”
“But you couldn’t actually go through with it?”
“No. No, I couldn’t. I thought I didn’t believe in marriage, but I do. When it’s real. When it means something.”
“I see,” Max said.
“And it was all a setup.” I sighed. “Grace had it all planned…”
“I know.”
“You do?” I frowned. “How?”
“I was listening to you, in the church.”
“You were there?”
“I still am.” I felt someone next to me; slowly, tentatively, I turned around to see Max looking at me. “It was two setups, actually, if you think about it,” he said, one eyebrow raised. “First Grace, then Anthony. They both set you up.”
I nodded dismally. “Two setups.” I felt my face getting hot, my hands getting clammy; I dropped my phone.
“You know, to fall for something like that once, well, that’s almost understandable. But twice?”
He was so close I could almost feel him breathing. But did he hate me? Did I think I was an idiot? I had no idea.
“So, the question?” I asked, my voice catching as I spoke. “You said you had a question.”
“Ah, the question,” Max nodded. “Yes, I do have a question.”
“Which is?”
He pulled back slightly. “Why Anthony? Why did you tell Grace you were in love with Anthony?”
I swallowed with difficulty. “Because it wasn’t true,” I said. “Because it made the whole story ridiculous in my mind. It made the whole story easier to tell because it was so obviously fiction.”
“So you weren’t in love with him? Even a little bit?”
“Not even a little bit,” I said, my voice catching slightly.
“I see,” Max said thoughtfully. “Even when you thought he was in love with you?”
“No,” I said firmly. “I knew he was never in love with me. I thought he was in love with Jessica Wiiild, who had shiny hair and high-heeled shoes and who had an ex-boyfriend called Sean. God, I can’t believe I was so gullible.”
“I don’t think you were gullible. He might have fallen in love with you.”
“No, not with me,” I said, shaking my head awkwardly. “I’m not his type. And he’s not mine.”
“And I am?”
“No,” I said, then bit my lip. “I don’t have a type. I just like you.”
“I’m not made up.”
I met Max’s eyes; I felt like a furnace. “No, you’re not.”
“And you really like me?”
I nodded. “But it’s okay if you don’t…I mean, last night you said you couldn’t…Which is fine…”
“Last night you didn’t let me finish my sentence. You were too busy telling me that you couldn’t, either, that you were getting married the next day.”
“I…I didn’t?” I asked, catching my breath.
“No, you didn’t,” Max said. “I was going to say I couldn’t believe you were marrying that idiot,” he said. “I was going to say I couldn’t bear to watch you walk down that aisle tomorrow.”
“You were?” My eyes opened wide. “Really?”
Max put his arms around me. “Really.”
“So you actually like me?”
Max nodded. “You did a good impression of being in love with Anthony, though,” he said archly.
“I told you, that was just…you know, a project,” I said, embarrassed.
“Not the project. Before that. I thought you were in love with Anthony when you first joined.”
“You did?” I asked incredulously.
He shrugged. “Everyone did. You walked into a glass door after your interview.”
“The wall…” I gasped. “That was you, not Anthony.”
“Me?”
“You grinned at me.”
“I did?”
I nodded sheepishly.
“Like this?” He grinned at me, his eyes twinkling, his arms pulling me closer.
“Just like that.” I felt short of breath suddenly, like the world was going into slow motion.
“So let me get this straight. You like
me, you’re single, and you’re rich?”
My own mouth started to inch upward. “Sounds about right.”
Max nodded thoughtfully. “Well, in that case, perhaps you might agree to have dinner with me? Your treat?”
“Dinner?”
“You might want to get changed first, of course. But yes, dinner. If you’re free?”
My eyes lit up. Actually, my whole body lit up. “I…I may have to check my calendar,” I said carefully.
“I already have,” Max said, his voice suddenly husky. “There was something about a wedding in your diary, but I figured it wasn’t important, right?”
His arms were wrapping around me and I nodded, my eyes shining.
“The wedding?” I managed to say, as his lips moved toward mine. “Absolutely not. You see, Max, there are more important things than getting married. As I’ve been trying to tell you, in the great scheme of things, getting married really isn’t that important at all.”
GEMMA TOWNLEY is the author of When in Rome…, Little White Lies, Learning Curves, and The Hopeless Romantic’s Handbook. She lives in London with her husband, Mark, and son, Atticus.
ALSO BY GEMMA TOWNLEY
The Hopeless Romantic’s Handbook
Learning Curves
Little White Lies
When in Rome…
PRAISE FOR GEMMA TOWNLEY
Praise for The Hopeless Romantic’s Handbook
“A witty, sweet tale of finding true love.”
—Romantic Times
“A hilarious spin on finding Mr. Right…From the delightful characters to the tantalizing inside peek of the drama found in the world of television and celebrity gossipmongers, Gemma Townley’s fourth novel is an absolute treat.”
—FreshFiction.com
“A wonderful and entertaining tale of true love and the obstacles to finding it. [Townley’s] characters are interesting, fun and richly drawn. The plot is unique and fast-paced…This is a romantic comedy with sizzle.”
—Armchair Interviews
Praise for Learning Curves
“Townley shines at creating characters who are engaging and realistic.”
—Booklist
“Charming.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[The] family dynamic is fascinating…Jen is an appealing character who is sure to please readers.”
—Romantic Times
The Importance of Being Married is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Original
Copyright © 2008 by Gemma Townley
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Townley, Gemma.
The importance of being married: a novel/Gemma Townley.
p. cm.
“A Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Original.”
eISBN: 978-0-345-50719-8
1. Marriage—Fiction 2. Inheritance and succession—Fiction. 3. Chick lit. I. Title.
PR6120.O96I47 2008
823'.92—dc22 2007043771
www.ballantinebooks.com
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