Читать книгу One Passionate Night - Miranda Lee, Robyn Donald - Страница 13

CHAPTER NINE

A WAVE of emotional confusion swamped Charlotte as she started to walk down that red carpet on her father’s arm, her eyes dropping agitatedly to the bouquet she was holding.

Was she happy or sad? Regretful or resentful? Nervous or excited?

All of those things, she realised.

Happy that her hair had turned out brilliantly. But sad that she’d spent so long as a blonde, trying to please Gary. Regretful that she was wasting so much of her dad’s money today, and resentful that Gary didn’t give a damn. Nervous over pretending to marry Daniel, but also appallingly excited.

All day, one overriding thought had dominated Charlotte’s mind.

Tonight.

Difficult to think of anything else.

Was Daniel as excited as she was?

Her eyes lifted at last to look at him.

Her step faltered. Her heart as well.

Had there ever been a more handsome groom?

People said brides always looked beautiful in their wedding dresses, even the plain ones. But the same could be said for grooms, in Charlotte’s opinion. There was something about a tuxedo which made the most of any man. It gave him stature, and styling, and sophistication.

Daniel had been handsome in a business suit and impossibly sexy in jeans. In the elegant black tuxedo he was wearing today, he was so handsome and sexy, it was criminal.

Just looking at him was a turn-on. Being with him was going to be incredible. She could feel it in every fibre of her being.

Her resolve not to take him with her to the Hunter Valley tomorrow immediately went a bit wobbly. If the earth moved in Daniel’s arms tonight, how could she possibly give him up after just one night?

But if she prolonged their affair, wouldn’t that make losing him later on all the more terrible? And wasn’t she just making the same mistake again, going from one relationship disaster to another, this time in a shockingly short space of time? After Dwayne it had at least been a few weeks before she met Gary. It had been less than two days since Gary had jilted her.

‘Are you all right, love?’

Charlotte’s head turned slowly to find her father frowning at her.

It was a defining moment for Charlotte, a moment when she realised she was sick and tired of fighting her feelings for Daniel.

She wanted to be with him. OK, so they might only have a few days together. But those few days would probably be better than a lifetime with another man.

‘Yes, Dad,’ she said, resigning herself to the fact she was setting herself up for some serious heartbreak this time. But what she felt was too powerful to ignore.

‘I’m fine,’ she added. And forced a smile to her mouth.

Her smile reassured Daniel. Till he saw her eyes.

There was sadness in her eyes.

Was she wishing it were Gary standing here, waiting to marry her?

Surely not. She didn’t love Gary any more than Gary had loved her.

Daniel supposed that might be what was making her sad, her having been so mistaken, not only about Gary’s feelings but also her own. No one liked to feel a fool.

Did Charlotte feel a fool?

He hoped not. Because she was far from foolish. She was sweet and brave and loving, and that stupid bloody Gary didn’t deserve her. As for that Dwayne guy… Daniel would have liked to punch his lights out, the miserable jerk.

Still, Charlotte was better off without either of those two. Hell, they couldn’t even make her happy in bed! The least a man could do was make his woman happy in bed.

He smiled back at her as she approached, determined that he wouldn’t let her down. Tonight could not come quickly enough.

‘You look so beautiful,’ he whispered when her father handed her over to him.

Her blue eyes sparkled this time. ‘Thank you. So do you.’

Vince cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to the moment at hand.

‘We are gathered here today,’ he started, his having decided on a very traditional ceremony, chiefly because that was the only one he’d been able to find a copy of last night, ‘to celebrate the marriage of…’

Daniel’s mind drifted away from the words to concentrate on Charlotte. She was wearing more makeup today. But her glorious dark hair and the glamorous white wedding dress demanded it. With blue eye-shadow and black eye-liner, her eyes looked so big and blue. And that red gloss on her mouth made Daniel long to kiss her.

When his eyes dropped to her cleavage, he had some difficulty keeping his thoughts from straying to her beautiful breasts and the many ways in which he wanted to make love to her tonight.

Daniel determined to make it impossible for her to send him on his way tomorrow. He might not be good marriage material but he was a good lover.

He was working out his sexual strategy when he heard Vince ask who gave this woman in marriage.

Her father answered, ‘I do,’ proudly and then the ceremony began in earnest.

Daniel winced over being called Gary Cantrell, but swallowed his pride and said ‘I do’ at the right moment. Charlotte made them all suffer with a heart-stopping hesitation before she said ‘I do’. At least she didn’t have to promise to obey.

The exchange of rings carried more tension, mainly because his was a tight fit. How was he ever going to get the darned thing off afterwards?

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief when they got to the ‘I now pronounce you man and wife’ part. The worst was over. Now he got to kiss the bride.

They were already facing each other, with Charlotte gazing up into his eyes with an expression Daniel found extremely flattering. No, she certainly hadn’t loved Gary.

A sudden panic zoomed into her face. She didn’t want him to kiss her, that much was evident.

Daniel felt put out, till he realised she might be worried he was going to kiss her as he had kissed her yesterday in the hotel lobby. That had been some kiss!

He decided he could wait till he had her behind closed doors before he unleashed his still smouldering passion. Though damn it all, controlling himself once his lips were on hers was not going to be easy.

Steeling himself, he took her face gently between his hands and gave her the softest, sweetest kiss on the mouth. No pressure. No pushing open her lips. Daniel suspected embarrassing things might happen if he did that.

But he wanted to. Hell, he wanted to desperately.

The reception loomed ahead as a far bigger trial than this wedding, because it was longer. Hours, maybe. But there was no getting out of it.

Meanwhile, he would have had to be careful not to let his frustration show. And not to drink. He had to be stone-cold sober to perform as he wanted to perform tonight.

‘Love the hair,’ he complimented after his mouth lifted. ‘And the dress.’

He could have added love what’s in it, but he didn’t, of course. That would have been crass. And Daniel was not crass.

Aroused, but not crass.

She stared up into his eyes with the oddest expression. Kind of dazed.

‘Better than blonde?’ she asked with a charming tilt of her head.

‘Much,’ he said. ‘You made a beautiful blonde, but you’re a ravishing brunette.’ He certainly wanted to ravish her. Right now.

She smiled. A happy smile. No, a dazzling smile.

Daniel stifled a groan and managed to smile back. ‘I’ve always been partial to brunettes,’ he said truthfully.

Vince stopped any further conversation with a touch to Daniel’s elbow. He led them over to the table to sign the pretend papers, which they did, along with Brad and Louise. Cameras continued to flash. The video rolled on. Daniel murmured a discreet ‘thank you’ to Vince, who said he would be going straight home to tell Beth all about it.

Beth, it had been obvious last night, thought this whole pretend wedding thing was so romantic. There again, Beth had always been an incurable romantic.

‘Smile, please,’ the photographer ordered. ‘The groom! Smile, please.’

Daniel smiled.