Читать книгу One Passionate Night - Miranda Lee, Robyn Donald - Страница 10

CHAPTER SIX

‘EXCUSE me, everyone,’ Daniel said as he fished his slimline cellphone out of his back pocket, flipped it open and put it to his ear.

Charlotte gave him a slight dig in the ribs, reminding him he’d have to be careful what he said.

‘Hi there,’ seemed safe enough.

‘Beth here. I’m finally finished with the doc. Everything’s fine, though I’ve put on another damned kilo. So where are you and how did things go? Did you find out her name?’

‘I’m having lunch with Charlotte and her folks right now,’ he replied, hoping that would floor his sister into silence.

He was right. It did.

‘Don’t worry about me,’ he went on hurriedly. ‘I’ll take a taxi back to your place after we’re finished, though that might not be for a while. Arrangements to make, et cetera. Thanks for calling. See you later. Ciao.’

Turning his mobile right off to stop any further awkward calls from Beth, he slipped it in his pocket, vowing to give her a call back as soon as he had the chance.

‘Sorry about that,’ he said brightly. ‘It was the lady whose place I’m staying at tonight. She and her husband are friends of friends of mine. I didn’t think it would be right to stay at Charlotte’s place. Not the night before the wedding, anyway.’

‘Are these people coming to the wedding tomorrow, Charlotte?’ Betty Gale asked her daughter.

‘Er—’

‘No, they’re not,’ Daniel jumped in. ‘I didn’t ask them. I didn’t realise it was going to be such a big wedding, remember?’

‘But that’s not right,’ Mr Gale said. ‘They should come. Charlotte, surely something could be arranged.’

Charlotte groaned inside. ‘I don’t think so, Dad. The numbers for the reception were finalised a couple of days ago.’ The last thing she wanted was to cost her dad more money.

‘Please don’t concern yourselves,’ Daniel said swiftly. ‘They really wouldn’t expect to come.’

‘If you say so, Gary.’

Charlotte winced. How she hated hearing them call him Gary! Daniel was a much nicer name.

Their meals arrived. Charlotte only picked at hers, her mind drifting back to names.

Daniel. Daniel Bannister. Mrs Daniel Bannister.

‘You’re not dieting, are you, darling?’ Daniel suddenly asked her.

Her sharp intake of breath reflected the shock produced by her own foolish thoughts, not by his calling her darling. She knew he was only acting. No way was she really his darling, or anything close. Yet there she was, fantasising about being married to him.

God, she was hopeless. Hadn’t this fiasco with Gary taught her anything? Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire. If she started imagining she was falling for Daniel, she needed her head read. OK, so he was utterly gorgeous-looking and incredibly sexy, with the kind of powerful and dynamic personality you usually only read about.

Charlotte had no doubt he would be very good in bed.

But he wasn’t good at love. Or commitment. He couldn’t have made his intentions clearer. He said he was allergic to marriage, and his own sister had called him the love ’em and leave ’em type.

Common sense demanded she not weave any romantic fantasies around him. He was not some knight in shining armour. His aim hadn’t been rescuing her damsel in distress, but seducing her.

She had to keep that fact in the forefront of her mind during the next couple of days or she’d end up crying a whole lot more than she had about Gary.

‘Charlotte never eats much when she’s nervous,’ her mother answered for her, which brought a grateful smile from Charlotte. She put down her knife and fork, picked up a chip with her fingers and nibbled on it.

‘I’m just the opposite,’ Daniel said. ‘I eat like a horse when I’m nervous.’ And he forked a large piece of steak into his mouth.

‘I can’t imagine you ever being nervous,’ Charlotte said with a dry laugh.

‘You’d be surprised,’ he returned.

Charlotte wouldn’t mind betting he’d never suffered a crisis of confidence in his entire life, whereas she’d spent most of hers not even knowing what she wanted out of life. Even when she thought she did, her life had still lurched from one disaster to the next.

‘Everyone gets nervous occasionally,’ her father joined in. ‘Caring makes any man nervous. I was nervous when I married your mother. And each time she was expecting. I dare say I’ll be nervous again when you and Gary have a little one.’

The threat of tears came out of nowhere. Charlotte knew she would not be able to explain them, so she had to get out of there. At least for a minute or two.

She dropped the rest of the chip and stood up abruptly. ‘Sorry. Have to go the ladies’. The wine.’

Bolting for the powder room did the trick. Not only did it stop the tears, but it also gave her the opportunity to call Louise.

‘Goodness knows what she’s going to say,’ Charlotte muttered as she raced into a cubicle and punched in Louise’s work number.

The owner of the hairdressing place Louise worked at didn’t like her taking personal calls, especially on a Friday, but this was an emergency. It took a while before she came on the line, during which Charlotte’s already over-active stomach did the tango.

‘Yes?’ Louise asked agitatedly.

‘Louise, it’s Charlotte. You haven’t told anyone about what happened with Gary this morning, have you?’

‘No. Why?’

‘Not even Brad?’ Brad was Louise’s boyfriend and the best man.

‘Haven’t had the opportunity. I was going to tell him tonight. We’re meeting for drinks after work.’

‘Thank heaven, because the wedding’s back on.’

‘What? How? Did Gary ditch the PA and take a later plane or something?’

Charlotte told her what had transpired in broad strokes.

‘Now, don’t say a single word,’ Charlotte warned before her friend could launch into a torrent of protest. ‘This is a done deed and nothing you say will stop me, so don’t waste your breath.’

‘Fine by me. It’s your life. Besides, this Daniel sounds a darn sight more interesting than Gary. He really came gunning for you, huh? Must be seriously smitten. I suppose he has to be reasonably good-looking, if he looks like Gary. Not that I thought Gary was all that hot in his photos.’

‘Makes Gary look lukewarm.’

‘Oho, he’s not the only one who’s smitten. I always said you didn’t love Gary. And vice versa.’

‘Yes, I know. But this isn’t love, Louise.’

‘Don’t tell you’ve finally fallen in lust with a man?’

Louise had a way of cutting to the chase about things, especially on the subject of sex. Lust was not a word Charlotte liked but lustful certainly described most of the thoughts Daniel engendered in her.

‘Possibly.’

‘About time too. Look, we’ll talk more tonight. Alvira is looking daggers at me, so I’d better go. You will be coming home some time tonight, won’t you?’

‘Yes, of course,’ Charlotte said, and meant it.

Daniel was going to have to wait till tomorrow night to have his wicked way with her. No way was she going to jump into bed with him tonight, no matter how much she might want to. A girl had to have some pride!

Her return to the table was greeted by a questioning glance from Daniel. But she could hardly tell him anything till the lunch was over and her parents had checked into their room in the hotel.

Fortunately, after lunch her mum and dad were happy enough to look after themselves for the rest of the day.

Charlotte sighed a rather weary sigh as soon as the lift doors shut on her parents.

‘You sound tired,’ Daniel said.

‘I am tired.’

‘In that case I’ll let you off dinner tonight. Far better you go home and have a good night’s rest.’

‘I never said I’d have dinner with you tonight,’ she reminded him tartly.

‘The girl who kissed me in the lobby would have come to dinner with me if I’d asked again.’

‘You kissed me!’

‘Don’t be pedantic. You liked me kissing you. A lot.’

‘Good grief, you’re impossible!’

‘And you’re irresistible.’

She laughed. ‘Not according to my last two boyfriends.’

‘They were fools. I’m not.’

‘I only have your word for that. So why are you doing this for me tomorrow, Daniel?’ she asked him, determined to have him put his cards on the table. ‘Or perhaps more to the point, why did you chase after me the way you did? The truth, please. I’ve had enough of men telling me lies.’

He shrugged. ‘Impossible to analyse some things. When I first saw you this morning, it was like being struck by a bolt of lightning. I’ve never felt that way about a woman before, especially a blonde.’

Charlotte was both flattered and taken aback. ‘You don’t like blondes?’

‘Let’s just say they usually set off bad memories for me. After my father left my mother, his subsequent wives have all been blondes.’

‘His wives! How many has he had?’

‘Five, including my mother, at last count. But what the heck? He’s only sixty-five. Plenty of time yet for a few more.’

The bitterness in Daniel’s voice brought some understanding as to why he might be allergic to marriage, whereas Charlotte had had nothing but good examples of people being married. Her parents. Her aunts and uncles. Her sisters. All happy with their partners. Divorce was unheard-of in her family.

Suddenly she wanted to know more about the man who was going to pretend to marry her tomorrow. A whole lot more.

‘How about we go for a cup of coffee somewhere?’ she suggested. ‘We really need to talk.’

He smiled that sexy smile of his. ‘We really need to do a whole lot of things. But you’re right. Talking would be a good idea for now. But somewhere very public, please. So that I can keep my hands off you. Kissing you before did dreadful things to me. If I hadn’t been able to distract myself with food I don’t know what I would have done.’

Charlotte found herself laughing again. ‘You’re a wicked man, do you know that?’

Daniel didn’t know that. He had his shortcomings but he’d never thought of himself as wicked. Still, her comment made him try to do what he’d just said couldn’t be done. Analyse his feelings for Charlotte.

Was it just sexual desire for her which had propelled and compelled his actions today? Was he going through with this pretend wedding, just to get her into bed?

Absolutely not. He could have got her into bed anyway. The way she’d responded to his kiss had told him that. He was doing what he was doing because he genuinely liked her. And genuinely liked her folks. They were the warmest, nicest family he’d ever met and he hated to think of them in distress.

But perhaps it was for the best if he didn’t tell her that. Best she think he was wicked. The thought seemed to amuse her. And turn her on. Turning her on was good. Having her fall in love with him on the rebound was not.

Daniel didn’t want to take up where Gary had left off.

That would be cruel.

Charlotte had to be extra-vulnerable right now. Still, she wasn’t some young naive girl. She was a woman, a beautiful sexy woman with needs. It had been eight months since she’d been with a man. Daniel had been without a woman in his bed too.

High time they both had some comfort.

The prospect of spending their ‘wedding night’ together tomorrow was going to keep him awake tonight, that was for sure. Thinking of their wedding night, however, brought another idea, one which he would attend to before leaving the hotel.

‘Where do you want to go for coffee?’ he asked.

‘We could walk down to one of the cafés on the quay. Then I could take you to the clothes-hire place on the way. It’s not far from here. We need to rent a tux for you.’

‘No need. I have a tux. Never go anywhere without one.’ He’d been caught short once when he’d gone to Boston to visit friends.

Charlotte frowned. ‘What kind?’

‘Black. Single-breasted. Satin lapels. A white dress shirt and a black bow-tie. Will that do?’

‘Perfect,’ she said. ‘That’s one less expense. And one less job to do. Now all I have to do is let the florist know the wedding’s back on, plus the celebrant.’

‘You can call the florist but forget the celebrant. We can’t have a real one, Charlotte. Too risky, legally. I’ll get someone to stand in and play the part. My brother-in-law will do it. The bridal suite can be real, though.’

‘The bridal suite?’ she choked out.

Their eyes locked, hers wide, his narrowed.

Daniel was momentarily thrown by the sudden panic he glimpsed there. Surely she must have realised that was where tomorrow would end.

‘You said you’d cancelled it,’ he reminded her.

‘I… I didn’t actually book one of the bridal suites,’ she said, clearly flustered. ‘They have several here in the hotel, each one decorated with a different theme. They’re all terribly expensive. I couldn’t afford any of them so I booked one of the ordinary suites.’

‘I see. Well, you don’t have to worry about the expense any more. My treat. You ring the florist whilst I go organise one of those suites. Then we’ll have that coffee. I think a walk in the fresh air would do us both good.’

Ten minutes later they were walking together down George Street towards the quay. The day had become a little hotter, but not unpleasantly so. Charlotte had had no trouble re-booking the florist, with Daniel looking similarly pleased.

She didn’t dare ask him what suite he’d booked. She didn’t want to think about tomorrow night. She would think about that tomorrow.

‘You handled the situation with your parents very well,’ Daniel complimented when they stopped at a corner for a red light. ‘No one would have known you were upset. Which you must be. I’m not that insensitive that I don’t realise today has been very difficult for you.’

Difficult in more ways than one. How often did one man dump you and another bewitch you within the space of a few hours?

‘Training,’ she said brusquely, which led to her telling him about her work history and how she’d learned not to wear her heart on her sleeve.

‘Except when I’ve just been jilted,’ she added as the light turned green and they walked on. ‘I always lose it on occasions like that. Especially when I find out the man who’s supposedly in love with me has made some other girl pregnant. Would you believe this isn’t the first time this has happened?’

‘That’s incredibly bad luck.’

‘I agree,’ she said drily, and launched into her sad tale about Dwayne.

Daniel nodded sympathetically at all the right moments.

‘Men can be right bastards at times,’ he pronounced when she finished.

She stared at him, then smiled. ‘You’d know, I guess.’

By this time they’d reached the quay area and weren’t far from the open-air café Charlotte was taking him to.

‘On the plus side,’ she said as they strolled along together, ‘you are a wonderful listener.’

‘Aah, now, that’s my training. I’m not just any old lawyer, you see. I’m a divorce lawyer. With female-only clients. A good proportion of my job is just listening to women rave on. I have to confess I’m used to hearing the sexual shortcomings of the male sex. Frankly, some of the horror stories I’ve heard make me ashamed of being a man at times.’

‘But why do you have only female clients? Surely men want you to represent them sometimes.’

‘Aah, now, that’s a long story.’

Charlotte refused to let him fob her off with that old chestnut. ‘You must tell me all about it over coffee,’ she said firmly.

Daniel had no intention of doing any such thing, but oddly enough, within ten minutes of their sitting down together at one of the very pleasant alfresco tables, he found himself telling her in minute detail all about his father’s desertion and subsequent marriages.

‘Mom never recovered from his betrayal,’ he said as he stirred his coffee. ‘And I guess neither did I. Beth was too young to hate him. She never even knew him. But I despise the man for what he did, and what he’s done since. When I first started practising law and handling divorces, I did have male clients. But I couldn’t put my heart into representing them. It felt like I was representing my father. When I became a partner in the practice a few years back, I decided enough was enough. I’ve only had women clients from then on.’

‘I fully understand,’ Charlotte sympathised. ‘And your mother? How is she coping these days?’

Daniel’s chest tightened. ‘Mom passed away last year.’

‘Oh, how dreadful for you!’ Charlotte exclaimed with genuine sympathy in her gorgeous blue eyes. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if my mother died. I’d be devastated. And of course so were you. I can see it in your face.’

Daniel blinked his amazement. He’d always prided himself on never showing his emotions to the outside world. Maybe he wasn’t as self-contained as he thought. Or maybe Charlotte was extra-observant when it came to people’s body language. He’d read somewhere that hairdressers had to be good counsellors and therapists as well. They spent as much time talking to their clients as he did.

‘So is this why you’ve come out here to visit your sister?’ she went on. ‘Because she’s the only one who understands how you’ve been feeling?’

Daniel was once again taken aback at the accuracy of Charlotte’s observation. He wasn’t used to being read so well.

‘Partially,’ he replied. ‘But I also had the urge to come home for a while. I’ve lived in LA for many years, but I always think of Sydney as home. There’s no place like it,’ he said as he glanced around.

Their table was less than ten metres from the harbour, which he was facing. To his left loomed the magnificent coat-hanger-shaped harbour bridge. To his right, the truly splendid opera house with its white sail roof and absolutely perfect setting. Right on a point that jutted out into the harbour.

‘I fully agree,’ she said. ‘I know exactly what you mean about that urge to come home. I lived overseas for years, but in the end all I wanted to do was come home to Australia.’

When she picked up her coffee he did likewise, sipping and soaking in some of the sunshine whilst he admired the beautiful city he had been born in.

‘Daniel…’

‘Yes?’ He put down his cup and looked over at her.

‘I want to thank you. For everything. Regardless of your motives. You were wonderful with my parents at lunch-time. And very agreeable about the food. I know it was pretty simple fare.’

‘I enjoyed it immensely.’

‘Oh, come, now. A big-shot divorce lawyer from the Hollywood hills would be used to the best of wine and food, and the most sophisticated of company.’

Used to them. And bored silly with them. ‘I much prefer the company I had today. And the company I’ll have tomorrow.’

‘What about after that, Daniel? I mean…you’re going back to the States in a fortnight, aren’t you?’

‘That’s my plan,’ Daniel said. ‘Meanwhile, I thought you might like some company on that honeymoon you’ve already paid for. The one up at the Hunter Valley.’

Her eyes widened. ‘Did I tell you about that?’

‘You certainly did.’

‘Good old blabbermouth me.’

‘So how about it?’

She stared at him, her expressive eyes betraying her. She wanted him to come with her. He could feel it.

‘I don’t think so, Daniel,’ she replied, stunning him. ‘As much as I find you a very attractive man, I don’t want to risk becoming emotionally involved with you. You’ve made your position on marriage quite clear so to spend more time with you would be foolish. The reason I was marrying Gary was because he said he wanted what I wanted. Marriage. And children. I’m thirty-three years old. I haven’t got enough time to waste on another man who won’t give me what I want. I’ll spend tomorrow night with you. But come the following morning, that will be it for us.’

Her stance both impressed and sobered Daniel. All his adult life, it had been him laying down the law about what he wanted and didn’t want in a relationship. He’d finally come across a woman who was capable of telling him what she wanted, right from the start. Usually, in the beginning, his girlfriends were more than willing to go along with his sex-only demands, perhaps because they hoped to trap him into more.

Charlotte was willing to give him one night. But only that one night. After that, she was sending him off with a flea in his ear.

Wow. What a woman. The kind of woman a man would be crazy not to want for much more than one night. The urge to pull her into his arms and tell her he was already emotionally involved was incredibly strong.

But he stopped himself. Such an action would be counter-productive at this stage.

Past hurts had made Charlotte very determined. And extremely wary. If he told her he just might have changed his mind about lots of things since meeting her, she would think he was lying; conning her so that he could have his wicked way with her for more than a night.

He had to pretend to go along with her wishes.

But as much as she was determined to resist him, he was determined to have her.

For a lot longer than their ‘wedding’ night. Not marriage, of course. Daniel would never embrace that unrealistic and unreliable institution.

But marriage was not the only alternative for a future relationship.

‘Fair enough,’ he said, pleased to see she looked disappointed by his easy agreement. ‘So what are you going to tell your family about us?’

‘That’s my problem. I’ll drive you back to your sister’s place the morning after the wedding, then go up to the Hunter Valley on my own. That should give me time enough to decide when and how to tell my parents that our marriage didn’t work out.’

‘Speaking of our marriage,’ Daniel said, ‘perhaps you’d better fill me in on all the details about tomorrow. Times, places, et cetera. And then, if you don’t mind, could you give me a lift back to Beth’s house? It might be easier if we explained what we’re going to do tomorrow together.’

‘Oh, no, do I have to?’

Daniel wasn’t worried. He knew Beth was going to like Charlotte. A lot.

‘Yes, Charlotte,’ he said firmly. ‘You have to.’