One Passionate Night
‘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.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘ARE you absolutely sure about this, Charlotte?’ Louise asked. ‘It’ll be too late afterwards.’
Charlotte, who was sitting on one of their wooden kitchen chairs with a plastic cape around her shoulders, took a moment to snap out of her daydreaming. For a split-second, she thought Louise was talking about her decision to go through with the fake wedding later that day. But then she realised Louise was giving her one last chance to back out of her decision to get rid of her blonde hair.
‘Absolutely,’ she said.
Changing her hair was one thing she was sure about. Her going through with the fake wedding—whilst impossible to back out of now—was still causing her concern.
She should have told her parents the truth straight away. She could see that now. Pretending to marry Daniel, then spending the night in the bridal suite as his bride, was asking for trouble.
The man was dynamite. And she…she was a silly fool.
Already she could feel herself being drawn into his web, into wanting more than one night with him. Who knew how she’d feel tomorrow morning if he was as good in bed as she suspected he was going to be?
And maybe he was bargaining on that. He’d been all too ready to agree to her saying he couldn’t come on the honeymoon with her. She wouldn’t mind betting he still hoped to persuade her otherwise. She could only hope that when the time came, she would have the courage—and the character—to say no to him.
‘Be it on your head, then,’ Louise said blithely, and began applying the deep-walnut-brown colour.
‘Well, it will be, won’t it? On my head, that is.’
‘Very funny.’
‘Come, now, Louise, you always said my being blonde was not my best look. Underneath, I agreed with you. Now that I don’t have to please Gary any more, I can’t wait to go back to being a brunette.’
‘So who are you trying to please this time? Not this Daniel, I hope. You haven’t fallen for him, have you?’
Charlotte should not have hesitated in answering.
‘Oh, you have!’
‘No, no, I haven’t,’ she denied. ‘But he’s the sort of man a girl could easily fall for. You haven’t met him, Louise. Wait till you do. Then you’ll understand. He had Mum and Dad eating out of his hand in no time flat. It was almost embarrassing. But impressive.’
‘Sounds like another empty charmer to me. Like Gary. And Dwayne. They both had the gift of the gab. You always go for the guys with the silver tongues.’
‘He’s nothing like Gary or Dwayne,’ Charlotte said. He was far more dangerous than either of them. Charlotte could see now that neither Gary nor Dwayne had meant to betray her. They’d just been weak.
There was nothing remotely weak about Daniel.
‘You’ll see when you meet him,’ she repeated.
‘I can’t wait. Neither can Brad.’
‘I wish you hadn’t told Brad the truth.’
‘You didn’t really expect me not to tell him, did you? He has to get dressed with this guy at the hotel today and hold his hand till you show up and pretend to marry him. Brad can smell a rat a mile away. He’d have known something was up.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Don’t worry. He really liked the sound of Daniel. Brad admires the go-getters in this world.’
Charlotte shivered inside. The last thing she needed to hear today was how much of a go-getter Daniel was. She was trying not to think too much about him at all. She had a wedding to prepare for and get through.
Which rather made a mockery of her decision to revert to being a brunette. If she was strictly honest with herself, Charlotte had to confess she wanted to blow Daniel away today with how she looked.
Her so-called pride had given way to sheer vanity. She would pay the price, she knew, if he fancied her even more as a brunette. But she simply couldn’t resist the temptation to eliminate the one thing about her he probably liked the least.
Her fake blonde hair.
‘You are going to look fab with this colour hair,’ Louise said. ‘Blonde hair was so not you. Daniel is going to flip when he sees you, especially wearing that sexy wedding dress. Who knows? Maybe he’ll fall in love with you and the next thing you know, you’ll be having a real wedding.’
‘Dream on, Louise. He’s a divorce lawyer with a dad who’s been married five times. Daniel’s dead against marriage, except when it gets him into the pants of the bride.’
‘Charlotte! You’re sounding as cynical as I do.’
‘You get that way eventually.’
‘True. But I hate to see you like that. I always liked your sweet, country-girl optimism.’
‘Huh. That’s just a nice way of saying I was naive and stupid. Well, I don’t intend being naive and stupid any longer. I’m going to spend one night with Daniel, just to see if he’s as hot in bed as he looks, and the next day I’m off.’
‘You’re not taking him on the honeymoon with you?’
‘Absolutely not.’
‘But why not? I bet he’d go.’
‘I’m sure he would. But I can’t use men like you do, Louise. I’m not cut out for it. I’d fall in love and have my heart broken all over again.’
‘You’re right. You would.’
Both girls fell silent for a while.
‘You really think I use men?’ Louise asked finally.
Charlotte sighed. She loved Louise. The girl had been a good friend to her. But she was awfully hard on the opposite sex. She believed none of them were capable of true love, only true lust, which Louise estimated had about a six-month shelf-life. She and Brad had been together for just on six months.
‘Brad really loves you, Louise.’
Louise snorted. ‘I know what Brad loves. That’s why I’m dating him. Man, but that guy is good in bed. And he can go all night.’
‘Really? All night?’
‘He’s awesome,’ Louise said with feeling in her voice.
‘If Daniel doesn’t work out, maybe you could lend me Brad for a night,’ Charlotte quipped.
‘Over my dead body, girl.’
‘See? You love him,’ Charlotte said, and glanced up at her friend. ‘It’s not just sex.’
Louise stopped painting on the colour for a second. ‘Yeah. I probably do. But I don’t intend telling him that. Not yet, anyway. I want to see what he does after the gloss wears off. Which should be any day now. But back to you, lovey dovey. Why don’t I fix you up with one of Brad’s mates in a week or two? He’s got plenty.’
Charlotte didn’t doubt it. Brad was a very outgoing guy with loads of energy and a great sense of humour.
‘I don’t think so, Louise. I think I’ll just forget about dating for a while.’
‘Don’t leave it too long. You know what they say. When you fall off a horse, you should get right back on again.’
Charlotte didn’t respond to this advice. She suspected that Daniel would be the straw that broke her back where men were concerned. She sat there in silence, fiddling with the diamond and sapphire engagement ring Gary had given her, and which she was forced to keep wearing, at least till after the wedding.
The wedding…
A wave of depression suddenly swamped her as she realised the utter futility of today. And tonight. Any silly hope that she was going to suddenly blossom seemed ludicrous. Blonde or brunette, she was the same girl who’d been consistently dumped and cheated on by her boyfriends in the past. The same clueless Charlotte.
By tomorrow morning, Daniel would be relieved that he wasn’t coming on the honeymoon with her. He’d probably be bolting for the bridal-suite door before breakfast, only too happy to leave her to her misery.
Charlotte’s sucked-in sobs had Louise dropping the brush back into the basin and running round to kneel in front of her friend.
The sight of her best friend’s flooded eyes brought a huge lump to her throat. Truly, she could be such a fool at times. She should have anticipated how fragile Charlotte would be this morning.
‘There there,’ she said softly. ‘I’d give you a hug, except I’d end up with a walnut-coloured face. You don’t want your chief bridesmaid looking like she bought a cheap tanning product, do you?’
A watery smile broke through Charlotte’s tears. ‘I guess not.’
‘Look, I know today is going to be hard for you, Charlotte, but just keep remembering why you’re doing it,’ she said encouragingly. ‘You said you couldn’t bear to hurt your folks. Nothing else matters today, does it? Not really.’
‘You’re right,’ Charlotte returned, dashing her tears away with her hands. ‘I’m being pathetic. And so typically female. Don’t worry, Louise. I’ll be fine. Get back to my hair. I want to be the most beautiful bride I can be today. I want my mum and dad to feel nothing but pride.’
‘Atta girl!’ Louise said, thinking privately that that wouldn’t be too hard.
Dear Daniel was in for one big surprise when he saw Charlotte. He might have lusted after her yesterday. But today, the bride was going to lift the groom’s desire to another level entirely!
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘SO, GARY, is this the first time you’ve been married?’
Daniel stopped tying his bow-tie to give his supposed best man a thoughtful glance.
Brad was in his mid-twenties, a tall, lean guy with sandy hair and a cheeky grin. A real-estate assessor, he’d been dating Charlotte’s best friend for about six months, despite being a decade younger. He seemed intelligent, and highly amused by something. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what.
‘OK, Brad,’ Daniel returned, ‘let’s cut the crap. You obviously know the real deal here, so you can forget calling me Gary. In private, that is. My name is Daniel,’ he said, extending his hand for the second time. ‘Daniel Bannister.’
Brad grinned as he shook it. ‘Great to know you, Dan. Sorry about the charade. I can never resist a laugh. But for what it’s worth, I think what you’re doing for Charlotte is real neat. She’s a great girl. You sure you don’t want to marry her for real?’
Daniel smiled. ‘Apart from the legalities which could not be overcome at such short notice, I don’t think that would be a very sensible thing to do. I only met Charlotte yesterday,’ he finished, and went back to tying his tie.
‘So what? I knew within minutes of meeting Lou that she was the girl for me. What a hot babe! Trouble is she’s a tough cookie. Been burnt a few times. But I’m going to marry her one day, no question about it.’
‘Have you asked her?’
‘Sure. The very first week. Lou laughed so hard and for so long that I decided not to ask again for a while. She says younger guys are good for only one thing and it’s not marriage.’ He grinned again. ‘But I’m making headway. We sometimes spend time together out of bed now.’
Daniel had to laugh. But the word ‘bed’ propelled his mind to tonight. A lot rested on tonight. Frankly, he’d never felt such sexual pressure. Today was proving to be much more stressful than he had anticipated.
‘To answer your first question,’ he said, undoing his slightly lopsided tie and starting again, ‘no, I’ve never been married before.’
‘So you’re on the market, eh, Dan?’
‘I’m a bachelor, yes.’
‘How old are you, exactly?’
‘Thirty-six.’
‘Girlfriend back home?’
‘Not at the moment.’
‘Lou says you’re a lawyer. A well-heeled one by the look of you.’
‘I’m comfortably off.’
Rather an understatement of his financial status.
‘Comfortably off’ would have been an accurate description of Daniel’s wealth prior to his investing in a movie four years earlier. At the time, one of his female clients—a middle-aged actress—had just been dumped by her producer husband. When she showed him this script she’d bought and which she claimed would revitalise her career, Daniel had read it more out of sympathy than anything, but found himself totally engrossed. He’d invested as much as he could find in it, and talked all his partners into putting up the rest.
The independently made thriller had gone on to be a huge hit and the money had been rolling in ever since.
‘I’ve made a few wise investments over the years,’ he added.
Brad chuckled. ‘You’re a cool dude, aren’t you? What a pity you don’t want to marry our Charlotte for real. You’d make her a good husband, I reckon. Not that Lou agrees. She thinks you’re only interested in getting into Charlotte’s pants.’
‘What?’ Daniel whirled round, his abrupt action reefing his tie back undone.
Brad shrugged. ‘That’s Lou for you. If she can believe the worst of a bloke, she will. Personally, I can’t see anything wrong with your wanting to get Charlotte into bed. That girl’s a looker all right. And she could do with being laid by a guy who knows how.’
Daniel tried not to look too shocked. But shocked he was. ‘I don’t think we should be discussing Charlotte’s private life, do you?’ he said somewhat stiffly.
Brad was taken aback by the reproof. ‘Oh. Er—yeah. Right. If you say so. It’s just that Lou said you were going to spend the night with her in some fancy honeymoon suite here in the hotel so I thought I’d better warn you up front.’
‘Right. Thanks.’
‘No sweat.’
Daniel went back to tying his bow-tie, Brad’s astonishing news revolving in his mind. Who would have imagined that the girl who’d kissed him so passionately was so sexually inexperienced. Perhaps she just hadn’t had the right partner yet.
He tried tying his bow-tie for the third time but it ended up crooked again.
‘You’re not too good at that, are you?’ Brad said.
Daniel’s sigh carried frustration. ‘Normally I am.’
‘Maybe you’re more nervous than you look.’
‘What’s there to be nervous about?’ he retorted, his clumsiness having irritated him. ‘This is just pretend.’
‘The speeches aren’t pretend, mate.’
‘Speeches? You mean, I have to give a speech?’
‘Yep. You’re the groom. Haven’t you been to any weddings?’
‘I avoid them.’ Difficult to share in the joy of a wedding when you were a divorce lawyer, and when your father had been married five times. He would have happily gone to Beth’s wedding, but Beth and her husband had eloped.
‘You must have seen movies with weddings in them,’ Brad said with a touch of exasperation in his voice. ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding. Four Weddings and a Funeral. There was a cracker of a speech in that flick. But I don’t think it was the groom’s speech,’ Brad said, stroking his chin. ‘It was the best man’s. That’s me. I have to give a speech about you. You have to give a speech about the bride. Nothing funny. Mushy stuff. Like how you felt when you first met her. What you think of her family. How much you love her. Stuff like that.’
Daniel grimaced. This was going to be more difficult than he’d imagined. Speeches were his stock in trade, but this was totally different from addressing a jury.
‘Take some advice from an old hand at this kind of speech,’ Brad said, stepping forward and doing Daniel’s bow-tie for him. ‘Kiss is the answer.’
Daniel blinked. ‘Huh?’
‘Don’t you know that saying in America? Kiss? K I S S. Keep it simple, stupid. Just say how gorgeous she is, how much you love her, and how you would go to the ends of the earth for her. Which you have,’ Brad added with a guffaw. ‘Can’t go much farther than Australia, mate. Unless you want to live with the penguins down in Antarctica. Right! Your tie’s done. You’re all set.’
‘Thanks,’ Daniel said before scooping in a steadying breath and telling himself he could handle this.
A glance at his watch revealed that it was thirteen minutes to four. The wedding was scheduled for four. Time to get out there. But first of all, he checked the breast pocket of his jacket for something. Yes. It was there.
‘Have you got the rings?’ he asked the best man.
Brad patted his jacket pocket. ‘Yep. Both there, safe as houses. I’ve done this before, mate. Trust me.’
Daniel nodded. ‘I can see that. You’ve been a great help. To be honest, I don’t know what I’d have done without you.’ His tie would have been crooked for one.
Brad looked chuffed at the compliment. ‘You know, for an American lawyer, you’re OK. I thought you were all supposed to be bastards.’
Daniel laughed. ‘Don’t believe everything you see on television.’
‘I was thinking of Gary.’
‘Yes, well, the Garys of this world are everywhere,’ he pointed out. ‘Not just in America. And not just in the legal profession. But for your information, I’m not American, despite the accent. I was born here in Sydney. Went to school here, too.’
‘Well, stone the crows! Now I know why I like you so much.’
Daniel smiled. ‘The feelings are mutual. Shall we go?’
Both men turned as one and headed for the door.
Daniel had checked out the setting for the wedding ceremony with Vince earlier in the day, Vince having agreed last night to act as celebrant. It was to be held on the ground floor of the hotel, in a conservatory that was in keeping with the old-fashioned and very romantic decor of the Regency Royale.
There was a huge domed glass ceiling, reminiscent of bygone eras, plus a circular flagstone floor fringed by lots of exotic flowering plants and palms. All the walls of the hexagonal structure were made of glass, except for one section opposite the entrance. It looked as if it was made of rock, and a constant stream of water ran down the façade to an ornamental pool at the base.
The wedding ceremony was to take place in front of this pool and waterfall.
When Daniel had been shown the conservatory this morning, the flagstone floor had been dotted with black wrought-iron furniture. The conservatory was usually used as a beer garden. He’d been assured the furniture would all be cleared away and replaced by clean white chairs, neatly arranged in two curved rows on each side of the circular floor to give all the guests a perfect view. A strip of rich red carpet would bisect these rows, ending in a T shape in front of the waterfall. An elegantly carved wooden podium would be provided for the celebrant to stand behind, as well as a white linen-covered table for the signing of the marriage documents.
‘Wow!’ Brad exclaimed as they walked through the entrance to the conservatory.
Daniel was equally surprised. The transformation in the conservatory was much more than had been described to him that morning. They had said nothing of the masses of added flowers. Or the wonderful music. Or the two splendidly uniformed men standing to attention on each side of the entrance, like footmen of old.