Читать книгу Wedding Promises - Sophie Pembroke - Страница 21

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ELOISE WOKE EARLY, after nowhere near enough sleep to deal with the day ahead. Beside her, Noah slumbered on, one arm wrapped loosely around her waist. She twisted onto her side to look at him, his face peaceful in repose.

In the early morning light, still grey and cold as the sun just started to peep over the horizon, it was hard to imagine all the secrets and wounds they’d shared the night before. After his confession, Noah had made love to her like a man possessed. A man driving out his demons, she supposed.

Did he blame himself for Sally’s death? She suspected so, even if he knew intellectually it wasn’t his fault. Guilt and grief had a funny way of twisting things in a person’s mind.

She felt a tug, somewhere in her middle. A compulsion to try and fix him, to help him feel again. Not just to get some movie role, but because he needed it. She’d thought Noah was just another self-centred, narcissistic actor—like her mother. But that wasn’t it. He honestly didn’t believe that letting people in and feeling something for them could end well. Which, given his experiences, she could sort of understand. She even agreed with him a lot of the time.

But to always feel that way... That was a very lonely way to live. Far lonelier even than hers.

She shook her head and prepared to inch out of his arms without waking him.

‘Where are you going?’ he asked, tightening his hold on her without opening his eyes.

‘I thought you were asleep.’

‘I was acting.’ His eyes opened and he blinked lazily. ‘You okay?’

‘Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Last night was...intense.’

That was one word for it. Eloise had never experienced anything like it—not the exchange of confidences, or the sex. Everything seemed to be on a higher level with Noah, seemed to strip another layer of her defences away.

‘It was,’ she admitted. ‘I feel...naked, I guess.’

Noah smirked. ‘You kind of are.’ Hauling her closer, he angled himself above her again, but there was something different in his passion in the morning light. A desperation she hadn’t seen in his eyes before.

‘I’m not going to tell anyone, you know,’ she said before he could kiss her.

‘I know.’ His mouth tightened a little and she stretched up to kiss it lightly.

‘I want to keep this a secret too, remember.’ The last thing she needed was Melissa finding out her latest scandalous story.

Noah frowned. ‘Why is that again? Usually I have to stop women shouting from the rooftops after they’ve slept with me.’

‘Really?’ Eloise raised her eyebrows and he smiled, the emotions of the night before clearly fading again as he returned to his usual laughing self.

‘Well, stop them going to the papers and telling all, anyway. So, why don’t you want anyone to know? Is it Melissa?’

‘Partly,’ Eloise said. How could she put it in a way that wouldn’t offend him? ‘But it’s more than that. I don’t want to be another one of your women, with everyone talking about me—and pitying me once you walk away. We both know you’re leaving at the end of the week. We have a built-in time limit.’

‘I suppose,’ Noah said slowly. ‘I’m not sure I like being your dirty little secret, though.’

She laughed. ‘Who said anything about dirty?’

‘I was here last night, remember?’ He waggled his eyebrows at her.

‘Besides, you’re the one who said you wanted a private fling,’ Eloise reminded him. ‘No strings, no catches—and no gossip.’

‘So I’m getting exactly what I want from the situation,’ Noah said. ‘But what about you?’

‘I’m doing okay,’ she said, but it was already too late. Noah slid down her body, covering her with kisses and, just for a moment, Eloise let herself imagine having this, having him for longer than a week.

But that way madness lay.

‘So, other than magnificent sex,’ Noah said between kisses, ‘what’s in it for you?’

Eloise considered, but it was hard to think with his mouth against her skin. ‘I like how I feel when I’m with you. Who I am when I’m with you.’

‘Yeah?’ Noah stilled, resting his head against her hip.

‘Yeah.’ How could she explain it without adding to his ego? ‘I couldn’t have done anything like performing on the stage at the Frost Fair without you there, telling me it would be fun. Maybe a few more days with you will give me the confidence I need to move on in my life. Get out of my rut.’ Maybe chase the dreams she’d long given up on—her own business, getting away from this place, finding her own success. Maybe even finding a man she could love, who would stay, and want her for who she was. She didn’t mention that part, though. Not as Noah began kissing her stomach again.

She wasn’t thinking about any man but him for the time being.

* * *

By the time Eloise emerged from the pleasurable haze Noah had put her in, the sun was fully up and she was in danger of running late.

‘Maybe tonight we can do this in my room,’ Noah said as he kissed her goodbye at the door. ‘Try out the four-poster.’

Eloise grinned. ‘Maybe. Now go! We need to be downstairs for the wedding party photo shoot and interviews in half an hour.’ She pushed him out of the door and he headed off down the corridor, whistling. ‘And remember...’

‘Nobody knows,’ he said, turning and walking backwards. Then he blew her a kiss and she shook her head.

Maybe trusting Noah with a secret relationship was expecting too much from him. As much as he said he wanted it kept between them too, to help convince that director, she wasn’t sure he was actually capable of being discreet. But the thought of being in his bed tonight...that was too good to give up. She’d just have to hope he could act discreet, just for a few days.

Then he’d be gone. But Eloise wasn’t thinking about that.

Instead, as she headed towards her bathroom, she thought that if only she’d known this was going to happen from the start, the bedroom crisis she’d faced on arrival day could have been solved an awful lot more easily.

Thirty minutes later, Eloise hurried from the lift into the lobby. Most of the wedding guests were already milling around, ready to go out on the local tours Laurel had arranged for them while the wedding party were busy with the photographer and the journalist from the celebrity magazine covering the wedding.

‘You look nice,’ Laurel said as she approached, clipboard in hand, from the reception desk. ‘Kind of...glowy.’

‘Thanks.’ Eloise tried not to blush.

She might have spent just a little more time than normal on her hair and make-up that morning, and put a bit more effort into her choice of suit—a deep charcoal skirt and jacket with a silky cream blouse and high heels. Even though the magazine people would be providing outfits for the photo shoot, and doing her hair and make-up, Eloise had felt like making the effort.

After all, trying to match up to the kind of good looks parading around Morwen Hall at the moment was a full-time job. Nothing to do with the gorgeous guy who’d just spent the night in her bed. Probably.

Oh, who was she trying to kid? She wanted to look nice for her boyfriend. That was what Melissa and the other girls would have chanted, back when they were pre-teens at school. But Noah wasn’t her boyfriend. And he wasn’t sticking around. Two more days and it would all be over, so there was to be absolutely no falling for the guy.

He’d just stay her own delicious little secret.

Well, not so little, actually.

‘Are you okay?’ Laurel asked, her eyebrows drawn together in concern. ‘You’re turning red.’

‘Fine. Just fine.’ Eloise willed her skin colour to return to normal.

‘Well, good. Because Dan and I are off to supervise the coach tours, so you’re on your own with Bridezilla today.’ Across the lobby, Eloise saw Dan watching, waiting for Laurel, as if he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Obviously a man besotted. Good. Whatever concerns she’d had when she’d first seen them together must just have been nerves—coming out as a couple could do that, she supposed.

Something else she and Noah wouldn’t have to worry about. Nobody would ever know about them.

‘You’re not staying for the photo shoot?’ Eloise asked.

Laurel shook her head. ‘One of the advantages of not actually being part of the wedding party. We are surplus to requirements this morning. Plus we’ll probably have a lot more fun on the tours.’

‘I bet.’ The lift pinged behind her and Eloise turned to watch it open, even as she spoke. ‘Wish I was coming with you.’

The lift doors opened and Noah stepped out, his dark hair perfectly messy above those dark chocolate-brown eyes, his stubble just the right length for scraping over her skin and his shirt collar open under his jacket, showing hints of the collarbone she’d kissed her way along the night before...

‘Are you sure?’ Laurel asked, watching her. ‘Seems to me you might have your own fun right here.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Eloise said, and went to go and see her not-boyfriend.

* * *

‘Ready for your close-up?’ Noah asked as Eloise approached across the lobby.

She certainly looked ready. She’d left her hair down and it tumbled in waves over her shoulders, blazing red against the dark grey of her jacket and the creamy shirt that matched her skin. He wanted to touch it, to touch her. To reach out and kiss her, to show every other person in the hotel that she was his, even if only for a few days.

But he couldn’t. Because he’d promised her they’d be a secret, and because one more fling might ruin his chances at getting the film role of the decade.

He knew the reasons. But it still felt like a stupid idea. Anyone who looked at them would know they’d been together, he was sure. At the very least, anyone who’d been paying any attention to Eloise would know she’d been up to something last night. Her whole body screamed relaxed satisfaction, and the smile she gave him told him everything he wanted to know—that they’d be doing it again. And soon.

Thank God. The self-imposed time limit was already weighing heavily on him. In only a few days he’d be gone. That was not a lot of time to make the most of his connection with Eloise Miller.

He didn’t let himself consider the possibility of it carrying on beyond New Year’s Day. Eloise’s life was here, and his was everywhere else. She wanted for ever love, the deep and lasting kind, the sort she could rely on. He wanted anything but that. And, to be fair, she’d not given him any signs that she wanted anything more from their fling. Yes, their connection had been immediate and their chemistry explosive. But just because they’d shared secrets and feelings didn’t mean they had to share a life.

Maybe he was destined to only ever have meaningful relationships that lasted a day or two. And maybe that wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

At least this time, when it was over, it would be his choice and everyone involved would still be breathing. He’d take that as a win.

‘I can’t believe they actually want to take photos of me,’ Eloise said, standing just an inch or so too close. She wanted to keep this a secret but she didn’t even know what she had to hide, Noah realised. Understandably. Eloise wasn’t the sort of woman who would have done this before.

‘You’re the maid of honour,’ he pointed out, shifting his weight from one foot to the other to create the illusion of distance between them. ‘Kind of important to the wedding party.’

Eloise rolled her eyes. ‘I’m the understudy. And I’m only doing it because Melissa’s PR person thought it would look good.’

‘And you do look very, very good this morning,’ Noah murmured, too softly for anyone else to hear.

Eloise’s cheeks flushed the same pink as her skin did after making love. Just the sight of it made Noah want to drag her back off to bed for the rest of the day, photo shoot be damned.

He wasn’t quite egotistical enough to believe that the way Eloise was coming out of her shell—performing at the Frost Fair, dressing like she didn’t hate everything about her body—was entirely down to sleeping with him. But her words from earlier that morning had stayed with him all through his shower and getting dressed. She liked who she was when she was with him. Not what other people thought of her because she was on his arm, not what being seen with him could do for her career because, if anything, it might damage it, if Melissa really kicked up a fuss.

Just who she was with him.

Noah wasn’t sure he’d ever had that sort of an effect on someone before. It was intoxicating.

As the coaches finally left, Eloise led him down the corridor towards the rooms they were using for the photo shoot and interviews, but as they passed a small, empty office, Noah’s willpower ran out. Again.

Tugging her into the office after him, he shut the door and placed his back against it, effectively stopping anyone from interrupting. And her from leaving.

‘Noah...’ she said as he pulled her into his arms, but any real complaint in her voice was drowned out by the smile spreading over her face.

‘What is it about keeping things secret that somehow makes it even sexier?’ He kissed his way up her neck and was rewarded with a low moan.

‘We’ve got to go,’ Eloise said.

But Noah countered with, ‘Just two minutes,’ and she gave in rapidly.

Ten minutes later, they finally made it to the photo shoot.

‘You’re both late,’ Melissa said, eyeing them suspiciously.

‘My fault,’ Noah said cheerfully as he headed towards a clothing rail hung with suits and shirts. ‘I overslept after the stag do, so poor Eloise had to come and wake me up.’

Melissa didn’t look convinced but, since Eloise had already slunk away to the other side of the room where Caitlin and Iona were both choosing cocktail dresses from a second rail, she at least didn’t push the matter.

Noah tried to pay attention to the questions he was being asked by the stylist, and the clothes options in front of him, but it was almost impossible to keep his gaze from Eloise. He found it fascinating, watching her go through the rigmarole of a styling session and photo shoot for the first time. She looked constantly wide-eyed and bewildered and he wanted to be over there, talking her through it, reminding her that being the centre of attention wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

But then the real centre of attention—the bride—would glare at him and he’d hear Eloise’s voice in his head again, saying, Nobody knows, and make a concerted effort to look away.

Even if he didn’t last long.

‘We’re taking shots of all the members of the wedding party in formal dress, to go alongside the photos from the actual wedding tomorrow,’ the photographer explained as she positioned Noah where she wanted him, against the backdrop of the main fireplace in the reception area. ‘Melissa didn’t want there to be any chance of the actual wedding outfits getting out before the big day—understandable, given the amount of money she’s being paid for the exclusive—so we just went with some traditional formalwear in complementary colours.’

‘Sounds great,’ Noah said absently, wondering what Eloise was wearing right now. And how quickly he could get her alone to take it off her.

‘If you could just look at me...?’ the photographer asked, and Noah brought himself back to the present with considerable effort.

This was part of the job; he knew that. And he needed to give it his full attention.

Once the photos were taken he was whisked off for his interview, where he was asked questions about his friendship with the bride and groom, how he liked Morwen Hall, his latest film, the usual. He smiled, said the right things and kept his guard up just in case the interviewer—a journalist called Sara that he’d worked with a few times before—slipped in anything controversial. She didn’t and, overall, Noah decided it might have been the most straightforward interview he’d ever had. Apparently not being the main attraction had its advantages, sometimes.

As he stood to leave, he saw Eloise standing nervously beside the door to the smaller coffee bar area they were using for the interviews.

‘Want me to stay?’ he asked softly. Eloise shook her head, but Noah was sure that had more to do with her determination to keep things between them a secret than because she wanted to do the interview alone.

Maybe he’d just hang around nearby. Just in case.

Pouring himself another cup of coffee from the machine set up on the bar, Noah waved goodbye to Sara and took his cup just around the corner, to a high-backed wing chair looking out over the riverfront. Far enough away that no one was likely to notice he was there, but close enough that he’d be able to hear if Eloise got into trouble. Sure, the questions lobbed at him had been soft balls, but Eloise wasn’t used to this sort of thing.

For a while, things seemed to go well. He couldn’t always make out all the words but Eloise’s voice stayed low and even, with a hint of laughter from time to time. She was good, Noah decided, listening intently. Calm and composed, but with enough pauses to show that she was thinking about her answers.

But then, just when Noah had decided they must be wrapping up, Sara threw in one more question.

‘I’ve heard stories that you and Melissa weren’t really all that close growing up. That her asking you to step in as maid of honour had more to do with PR than friendship. Do you have anything you’d like to say on that?’

Silence. Placing his coffee cup on the table, Noah peered around the back of his chair, enough to see the alarm on Eloise’s face. His body tensed at the sight, desire to save her rising up in him. Without thinking, he got to his feet and crossed to where they were sitting.

‘Almost done?’ he asked. ‘Only I promised Melissa I’d run her maid of honour through her paces again before tomorrow. We have to dance, you see.’ He took Eloise’s hand and pulled her to her feet. She stumbled and he caught her against his chest, holding her for just a moment too long.

Sara looked between them as Eloise stepped back, not looking at him.

‘So, you two must have grown very close, preparing for the wedding together,’ she said. ‘Anything to all those old sayings about the best man and the maid of honour...?’

Eloise’s cheeks flamed red and Noah cursed silently. He should have known better than to get involved, but he just couldn’t sit there and watch Eloise struggle.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, stepping backwards and almost tripping over the chair. ‘I need to go...check the arrangements for the rehearsal dinner.’

And then she was gone, racing out of the bar before either of them could object.

‘But I thought you were supposed to be dancing?’ Sara asked knowingly.

‘So did I,’ replied Noah.