One Passionate Night

Meanwhile, she refused to put up with her brother’s sulking any longer.

‘For pity’s sake, Daniel, what did you expect, anyway?’ she went on when he didn’t respond to her apology. ‘That the girl would fall from her fiancé’s arms into yours in a few minutes flat? You’re not that irresistible.’

But as Beth lowered herself gingerly into one of the deck chairs she recalled that even when Daniel had been at school, the opposite sex had found him decidedly irresistible.

Yet he was a much more impressive individual now. His shoulders had filled out and his chest had broadened. His hair, still thick and lustrous, was better groomed these days. His features had sharpened and strengthened. There were a few lines at the corners of his eyes, but they didn’t detract from his looks. His face now had a stronger, more lived-in look, and his dark, deeply set eyes carried a wealth of intelligence and worldliness in their depths which women would find mysterious and sexy.

‘The trouble with you, Daniel Bannister,’ she pronounced irritably, ‘is you’re too used to getting your own way with the women that take your eye.’

Daniel knew Beth was right. But it didn’t make this morning’s fiasco any easier to bear. And it didn’t really explain why he was so upset.

‘I just can’t get her out of my mind,’ he said, surprising himself when he realised he’d made this admission out loud.

Beth looked startled, too. ‘But you only spoke to her for a few minutes.’

‘I know.’

‘On top of that, she was a blonde.’

Daniel smiled a wry smile. ‘Yes, I know. But I really liked this one. She was sweet.’

Beth laughed. ‘She was sexy.’

‘Not in an obvious way.’

‘Oh, come on. With that figure?’

Daniel frowned. Yes, he supposed she was sexy, and yes, he’d like nothing better than to have the chance to make love to her. But in the time since she’d walked out of his life this morning, it wasn’t sex that was on his mind so much as just wanting to be with her again.

‘I have to find her,’ he pronounced.

‘How? You don’t even know her name.’

‘I know she booked a wedding reception at the Regency Royale hotel tomorrow. I could get her name and number from them.’

‘They won’t give it to you.’

Daniel nodded determinedly. ‘Oh, yes, they will.’

Beth sighed. He was right. They probably would. Daniel had the gift of the gab. He could talk anybody into anything.

‘You said you had to go into the city to see your doctor at twelve, didn’t you?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Anywhere near the Regency Royale?’

‘A good ten to fifteen minute walk.’ Her doctor’s rooms were up in Macquarie Street. The Regency was down near the Rocks.

‘I’ll pop down there whilst you’re in the surgery. How long do you think you’ll take?’

‘Could be anything up to an hour or two if the doctor’s called away to deliver a baby. That seems to happen quite a bit.’

‘We can keep in touch by phone.’

‘Are you sure this is such a good idea, Daniel? I mean, that poor girl would have to be extra-vulnerable right now.’

‘I have no intention of hurting her, sis. I just want to take her out to dinner. Get to know her a bit better.’

Beth rolled her eyes. There was no point in arguing with Daniel. There never was. Once he decided he wanted something, nothing stood in his way.

‘I’ll book a taxi for eleven-thirty, then. No point in driving into town. Parking is a pain.’

Charlotte pulled up at the entrance to the Regency Royale just after noon. Although twelve-thirty was the time she’d arranged to meet her mum and dad for lunch, she knew that her ultra-punctual, always-leave-plenty-of-time-to-spare parents were sure to have arrived in Sydney early, and would already be sitting there in the lobby, waiting for her. She had contemplated being late but then decided it was far better to get her bad news over and done with as soon as possible.

The hours since returning home from the airport had been difficult, with recriminations and regrets. But mostly filled with tears.

Maybe if Louise had been there, she’d have been able to maintain her equilibrium by having a bitching session about Gary’s betrayal. But Louise had had to go to work. Whereas she was on a week’s holiday from today, courtesy of her supposed wedding tomorrow. They virtually passed each other in the foyer of their old apartment building, with Louise giving her a quick hug before making Charlotte promise not to ring that bastard, Gary. An easy promise to give, and to keep. She couldn’t have borne to even talk to him, let alone listen to his pathetic excuses and apologies.

The effect of their empty flat was undermining in the extreme, a huge wave of depression descending within seconds of Charlotte letting herself in through the front door. The silence was awful—plus the sight of the snaps of herself and Gary taken at the airport which she kept on the bookcase in the hallway. She threw them all in the bin, then threw herself on her bed and wept in a wild mixture of bitterness, anger and despair.

After an hour or so, she pulled herself together to have some breakfast and to send an email back to Gary telling him what she thought of him and that he was to never, ever contact her again!

The moment she sent it, however, she burst into tears again.

This time, she pulled herself together reasonably quickly and made a few necessary cancellation calls. The formal-clothes hire place. The celebrant. The florist. And finally, the suite she’d booked for their wedding night.

By this point, she was too upset to cancel the whole reception as well. She decided to do that later in the day, in person, after she’d talked to her parents. Maybe she could talk the hotel into giving her father some kind of refund.

The physical damage of her three crying jags had not been easy to repair. An ice pack had helped, plus some carefully applied make-up. She’d changed her clothes as well, her outfit this morning having been chosen with Gary in mind. Now she was wearing tailored cream trousers and a red shirt with three-quarter-length sleeves. Fawn pumps. Straw bag. Red lipstick.

‘Will you be booking into the hotel, ma’am?’ the parking valet asked when she climbed out of her car.

Charlotte suppressed a groan over the ‘ma’am’. Since when had she become a ma’am and not a miss? Still, the valet attendant looked all of nineteen, if that, so she supposed, at thirty-three, she was a ma’am to him.

Depressing, though, and not what she needed today.

‘No,’ she said, forcing a smile as she handed the fellow the keys to her silver Kia Rio. ‘Just meeting someone here for lunch,’ she added.

‘You’ll need a parking ticket, then, ma’am.’

Taking the ticket from him, she whirled and pushed through the revolving glass doors into the huge, airy arcade which led to the hotel proper.

A right trap for tourists and guests, this arcade, Charlotte thought as she strode past the exclusive boutiques which sold designer clothes, fabulous jewellery and the sexiest of lingerie. A trap for brides-to-be as well, she recalled with a sigh, thinking of the money she’d spent in the lingerie shop the last time she’d been in here.

Charlotte promptly veered to the other side of the arcade, where there was nothing to provoke depressing memories, just a couple of doorways. The first led into the Rendezvous bar, a trendy bar she’d visited once or twice with Louise. The second led into the bistro-style bar and grill called the Tavern, which she’d checked out the last time she’d been here and where she intended taking her parents for lunch. They served good old-fashioned pub and club meals, just the thing for a country couple who weren’t partial to à la carte cuisine.

‘Can’t stand fancy food,’ her father always said.

Charlotte’s stomach churned as she thought of her father. More so when she reached the end of the arcade and stepped from the marble floor onto the plush carpet of the hotel lobby. Just the sight of the decor in there reminded her how expensive a wedding reception here was, even one which was only having fifty guests. The cake alone had cost a bomb!

Charlotte’s only comfort was that she’d decided on only the one bridesmaid. If one of her sisters hadn’t been pregnant there would have been two more!

But oh…how she wished she’d taken notice of Gary when he’d requested a really small wedding. That would have made what she was about to do a little easier. Bad enough that she had to tell her parents she wasn’t getting married. Worse that her dad had wasted all that money which he could have put to far better use.

The ongoing drought over the last decade had not hit the family as hard as some, but things were still tough. The money her wedding had cost would have replaced the breeding stock her dad had been forced to sell this past year. Or put in an extra dam. Or taken her parents on that cruise they were always talking about going on but which they never got round to having.

She’d thought how tired and old they were looking at Christmas.

Charlotte glanced around the lobby with an ever-tightening stomach. But her parents weren’t there. She turned full circle, her gaze checking every corner of the reception area. The place wasn’t remotely crowded at this time of day. Too late to be booking out. Too early to be booking in.

No. They definitely weren’t there.

She might have rung them if they’d had a mobile phone, check if they’d become lost once they hit the city. But of course her parents hadn’t come into the twenty-first century yet. Probably never would.

Charlotte settled herself down on one of the deep, velvet-covered armchairs to wait, her body facing the entrance from the arcade. That was the way her folks would come.

She almost didn’t recognise him at first. He wasn’t wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing this morning. His expensive grey suit had been replaced by dark blue jeans and a navy polo shirt trimmed with white. A pair of sunglasses was perched on top of his head. Navy and white trainers covered his feet.

It had taken an effort of will for Charlotte to put Mr Daniel Bannister out of her mind after she’d left the airport this morning, though once she arrived home more immediate and pressing events had overtaken her. Now, suddenly, there he was again, as disturbingly sexy as ever.

Charlotte’s jolt of shock had her sucking in air, and immediately his head turned in her direction. He seemed just as startled to see her. But pleased.

Oh, yes, definitely pleased.

Charlotte’s back stiffened against the armchair as he started walking towards her. At the last moment, she rose to her feet, rather than stay seated. Too awkward having to look up so far into those incredible eyes.

He whipped the sunglasses off his head during his approach, folding and popping them into his chest pocket, his mouth broadening into a dazzling smile at the same time, showing perfectly straight white teeth and a dimple in one cheek.

As if he wasn’t attractive enough already.

‘I don’t believe it!’ he exclaimed. ‘I came here hoping to pry your name and number out of the hotel staff, and here you are in the flesh.’

All the breath rushed out of Charlotte’s lungs at his admission. This wasn’t an amazing coincidence. He was actively pursuing her.

Fury warred with flattery till she was simply flustered.

‘I told you I was meeting my parents here for lunch,’ she said, her face going hot once more. What was it about this man that made her act and feel like some silly teenager in front of her favourite pop star?

‘Really? Can’t say I recall you mentioning it. If you had, I would have remembered. But no matter. You’re here. Now I have the opportunity to redress the bad impression my sister must have given you of me this morning.’

‘You just don’t know how to take no for an answer, do you?’ she threw at him.

He grinned. ‘Beth said as much when I told her I had to find you. She’s here in town, seeing her doctor, so I set out on my mission to uncover the identity of the lovely lady I met this morning, and whom I haven’t stopped thinking about since.’

‘You are the most annoying man,’ Charlotte declared, even as she coloured some more. Couldn’t he understand that the last thing she wanted and needed today was more evidence of how stupid she’d been, thinking she was in love with Gary?

It was mortifying, the way her eyes kept gobbling him up. Dear heaven, but he was gorgeous.

She couldn’t help wishing that it had been this LA lawyer she’d run into on the Gold Coast last year. Because he wouldn’t have taken any notice of her romantically. He’d have seduced her on the spot, then happily dumped her the next day. He wouldn’t have lied to her and betrayed her and jilted her.

Men like Daniel didn’t have to con women to get them into bed. The silly fools would be only too ready to do whatever he wanted without a single promise, herself included.

This was the most flustering part of her feelings right now. That she, Charlotte Gale, a just-jilted woman, could be wanting any man the way she was suddenly wanting the man standing right in front of her.

‘I’m still not going out to dinner with you tonight,’ she pronounced tartly.

‘That’s OK,’ he replied without missing a beat. ‘Tomorrow night will do just as well. Or the next night. I’m here in Sydney for a fortnight.’

‘You’re not listening again. I said no. Now I’m saying it again. I don’t want to go out to dinner with you. Ever.’

‘You don’t mean that.’

She did. But he wasn’t getting the message.

‘Some things are meant to be, beautiful. Otherwise why would fate have put you here, just waiting for me?’

Charlotte groaned. ‘I wasn’t waiting for you. Iwas waiting for my parents. I told you. They… Oh—’ She broke off, her head still spinning with the effort of trying to gain some control over herself and the situation. ‘They’re here.’

CHAPTER FIVE

DANIEL turned to see a couple who had country written all over them coming across the lobby in their direction. Both looked in their mid to late sixties, the woman plump with short grey hair, the man also grey-haired, but rake-thin with a weather-beaten face and kind blue eyes. Both had probably once been quite handsome. They had good features. Both were wearing suits and looked uncomfortable in them.

‘Charlotte!’ the woman exclaimed as she hurried forward to give her daughter a peck on the cheek.

Daniel smiled. At least now he knew her name. Charlotte. Great name for a great girl. She was going to take some talking around, he could see. But he was not going to take no for an answer.

Daniel was well versed in body language. And in the contrariness of women. Charlotte was as attracted to him as he was to her. Her relationship with that pathetic Gary guy had been one big romantic illusion. And she knew it. He’d seen the realisation in her eyes this morning.

Of course, he understood she was still upset. No woman liked to be dumped, especially the day before her wedding. She also clearly loved her parents and didn’t want to disappoint them. Or tell them that they’d wasted a whole heap of cash on a wedding which wasn’t going to take place. Once she broke the bad news to them, she was going to need some comforting.

‘And dear Gary!’ Charlotte’s mother suddenly whirled to give him a big bear hug before putting him from her at arm’s length and looking him over from top to toe. ‘My, but you’re even better looking than in your photos. Of course, you had sunglasses on in those so I couldn’t see your eyes. You didn’t tell me Gary had such beautiful eyes, Charlotte.’

Charlotte, Daniel could see, was dumbstruck. He was pretty flabbergasted himself.

But of course, it was a logical mistake for her mother to make. Charlotte had made it herself this morning. Which was another reason he knew Charlotte was attracted to him. She must have a certain physical type she liked.

‘The thing is, Mum,’ Charlotte finally blurted out, ‘he’s n—’

‘He’s a damn fine-looking man all round,’ her father broke in, taking Daniel’s hand and pumping it enthusiastically in both of his. ‘Tomorrow is going to be the happiest day of my life, seeing my baby girl finally married to a man worthy of her. I have to tell you, Gary, that her last boyfriend was a right drongo. But she’s finally come up trumps!’

‘Dad, for pity’s sake!’ Charlotte wailed.

‘You told me there were no secrets between you and Gary here. You said you’d told him all about Dwayne. Do you know he even wore an earring?’ he directed at Daniel with a truly pained expression. ‘Real men don’t wear earrings!’

‘I certainly don’t.’ Daniel had tried one once but he thought he looked a right prat.

‘I noticed that. You’re my kind of man, Gary. Welcome to the family.’ And he pumped his hand some more.

Daniel wished at that moment that he were Gary. He hated having to disappoint them almost as much as Charlotte did.

When a wild but brilliant idea popped into his mind, Daniel embraced it immediately. It would kill two birds with one stone.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, sir,’ he said. ‘And you too, Mrs—er…’ Damn it all, he didn’t know their surname. ‘Would you mind if I called you Mum and Dad?’ he improvised.

‘Not at all, my boy!’ Charlotte’s father beamed. So did her mother.

Charlotte just stared at him, her mouth still dangling open a little. But she didn’t make a move to tell them the truth, he noticed.

‘Always wanted a son-in-law to call me Dad,’ her father raved on, having at last returned Daniel’s hand. ‘John—that’s Lizzie’s husband—he at least calls us Peter and Betty. But Keith—that’s Alice’s husband—he still calls us Mr and Mrs Gale.’

Daniel absorbed all this information for future reference.

‘Ga-ry.’

Daniel was startled when Charlotte spoke up, the sweet smile on her face belying the dark irony in her eyes, and in her voice. ‘Could I have a moment? Mum. Dad. There’s something I need to discuss privately with Gary. Would you mind?’

‘That’s all right, love,’ her father said. ‘We’ll be back shortly. Give you two lovebirds time enough to sort out whatever it is you have to sort out.’

‘What in hell do you think you’re doing?’ Charlotte hissed under her breath as soon as her parents were far enough away.

‘I guess I’m going to marry you tomorrow,’ Daniel returned evenly, unable to stop a smile from pulling at his mouth.

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’

‘Look, it won’t be legal,’ he reassured her calmly. ‘But it’ll stop your parents from having a really rotten day today. And tomorrow. You might feel a whole lot better, too. You look seriously stressed out, Charlotte.’

She was shaking her head in continued disbelief.

‘You’re insane!’

‘Absolutely not. I’m a lot of things but insane is not one of them.’

‘But we can’t possibly get away with it!’

‘Yes, we can. Your parents already believe I’m Gary. Everyone else will, too.’

‘Louise won’t. She knows Gary didn’t show up.’

Louise. Daniel searched his excellent memory bank and retrieved Louise from their conversation this morning. ‘Isn’t she supposed to be your best friend?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then tell her the truth and ask her to go along with it.’

‘But…but I’ve already cancelled things!’ she protested.

‘What things?’

‘The celebrant for starters, and the flowers, and the tux rental, and…and…’

‘Nothing that can’t be sorted out.’ Though the celebrant could stay cancelled, Daniel decided. He’d find someone else to act as a celebrant. As a lawyer, he couldn’t risk being guilty of any kind of fraud.

Vince would probably do it. For a doctor, he was somewhat of a thrill-seeker. Went skydiving for fun.

‘You haven’t cancelled the reception yet, have you?’ he rapped out.

‘No.’

‘Where’s the ceremony itself taking place? Not a church obviously, if you were having a celebrant.’

‘Here, in the hotel.’

‘No problems there, then.’

‘You are crazy,’ she muttered under her breath.

‘Crazy about you, beautiful.’

She stared up at him, stunned by the speed with which he’d arranged things, and taken advantage of his similarity to Gary.

Not that he was really like Gary.

‘I’ve never met a man like you,’ she said dazedly. ‘I’ll bet you wouldn’t romance a girl over the internet, ask her to marry you and then not show up.’

‘No, Charlotte, I definitely wouldn’t. Aside from being allergic to real marriages as opposed to pretend ones, I can’t stand the internet. Waste of time except for business reasons, and very bad for the eyes.’

She laughed. She couldn’t help it. This whole situation was bizarre. And it was whilst she was laughing that he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, right there, in the hotel lobby. In front of everyone.

At thirty-three, Charlotte had been kissed many times before. But this man kissed the same way he’d looked at her at the airport this morning. With a passion and intensity that was mind-blowing. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, his mouth white-hot on hers. She could feel herself dissolving under the sizzling brand of his lips. Not just her body, but also her mind. When his tongue joined in, every ounce of will-power she owned melted right away, replaced by the desire to surrender herself totally to what he wanted.

He wanted to pretend to marry her tomorrow?

Fine.

He wanted her to go to dinner with him tonight?

OK.

He wanted to take her to bed afterwards?

Yes, please.

Her father noisily clearing his throat had Charlotte finally surfacing from her liquid state to the real world. Once she stepped back out of Daniel’s arms, some semblance of common sense returned. But the smouldering inner heat he’d generated remained, teasing her with the thought that maybe this man could do for her what no man ever had before…

Charlotte tried not to blush at this thought, whilst Daniel looked highly satisfied with the situation. His mission had been accomplished.

Charlotte knew he wasn’t doing this for her parents’ happiness. Or for hers. He was doing it to put her in his debt, and in his bed.

Not that he had to go to such amazing lengths. She would have gone to bed with him, anyway.

Twenty-four hours ago, Charlotte would have scorned anyone who said she would ever be a pushover. The fact she was prepared to say yes to Daniel Bannister within hours of meeting him was as shocking to her as it was intriguing.

Why him?

Was it his movie-star looks? His charm? His intelligence? Or was it the power of his desire that was seducing and compelling her? Men had desired her before but never quite like this. This was something else.

Her cheeks continued to burn as her eyes met his, her heart-rate having not yet calmed. If she felt like this after a kiss, then how would she feel once she was in bed with him, their bodies totally naked, his flesh inside hers?

A quiver rippled down her spine at the thought, her heart flipping right over when he slid an intimate arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.

Daniel resumed the conversation. ‘Charlotte was confessing to me that you’d all organised a bigger wedding for us than we’d originally planned.’

‘Yes, well, I couldn’t give my youngest daughter a lesser wedding than my other daughters, could I?’ her father pronounced proudly, reminding Charlotte why she’d been sick with worry over disappointing her darling dad. She would be forever grateful to Daniel that she didn’t have to now, regardless of his ulterior motives.

Of course, it was still going to be awkward at a later date, explaining why her loving husband had to go back to the States, then extremely disappointing for her to confess that their marriage hadn’t worked out.

But she would cross that bridge when she came to it.