Lucy rolled her eyes and finished her champagne. ‘What is Jack saying to him over there?’
‘No idea. They’re just chatting, I think.’
‘Mmm. Well, I’m going to go and rescue him. See you in a bit.’ She pecked me on the cheek and walked over to Jack and Toby. Jack said something to her that made her giggle and then he shook Toby’s hand and came back to our table.
‘Everything all right?’ I said.
‘I don’t like him,’ said Jack, matter-of-factly.
‘Who?’
‘Toby.’ He picked up his glass and took a sip. I laughed.
‘Why? You’ve only just met him.’
‘He has a handshake like a limp bit of cod and an earring through his eyebrow.’
‘So?’
‘He’s not good enough for her. Simple as that.’
‘You’re being ridiculous, but it’s very sweet nonetheless.’
‘I’m not being sweet, Abigail. You have to be careful. Lucy is too good for him.’
‘I know, you mentioned that.’ His sudden paternal feelings made me smile.
‘Don’t laugh at me. This is important. Who is this guy anyway?’
‘She said they take a few classes together. History of art, I think.’
Jack raised his eyebrows. This was too funny; I couldn’t resist winding him up a bit more.
‘Maybe you should have one of your security guys check him out? Just to be on the safe side,’ I said.
‘Do you think? Yeah, maybe…’ He reached into his jacket for his phone, but I stopped him.
‘Don’t you bloody dare! I was joking.’
‘Well, I’m not. We need to know, he could be—’
I stopped him mid-sentence by planting a kiss on his lips. ‘I love that you want to protect her. It’s very sweet. And quite sexy, actually. But she’s fine. She’s a clever girl – she knows how to look after herself. We just have to trust in her judgement. All right?’
‘Okay, fine,’ he said. ‘Can we go back to the part where you called me sexy?’ He gave me a wolfish grin that made me clamp my thighs together.
‘Gladly,’ I said. I leaned towards him and kissed him hard on the mouth. I felt his growl of pleasure as I ran my hand along his thigh.
‘That’s disgusting. Behave yourselves.’
Jack pulled back in surprise at the sound of my brother’s voice. Matt was grinning like an idiot and Sarah was trying to stifle her giggles behind her hand.
‘You two enjoying yourselves? Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t think I wanna know.’
Sarah slapped my brother’s arm. ‘Oh, stop it. They’re in love. Anyone can see that.’
Matt looked at me and pulled a disgusted face. ‘Yuk. That’s my little sister.’
‘Shut up, you idiot,’ I said.
‘Abby, thank you so much for organising the catering and everything. It was perfect.’ Sarah came over and kissed me on the cheek.
‘You’re welcome. It was an honour.’
‘She’s right, Abs. Everything was perfect.’ My brother pulled me in for a hug.
‘Jack, are you going to come and drag me around the dance floor for a bit?’ Sarah held out her hand and Jack duly stood and took it.
‘It would be my pleasure.’ He kissed Sarah’s hand and gave her a little bow, before pulling her in the direction of the dance floor. She turned back to me and mouthed, ‘He’s so cute.’
‘I reckon it went well. Don’t you?’ asked Matt.
‘It was perfect. Mum and Dad would have been very proud of you.’
‘And of you. No way Mum could have criticised your cooking skills today. Your food went down a storm.’
I smiled. ‘Nah, she still would have found a way to be critical about something, but that’s all right. It was just her way, I guess.’
‘Look at you, all grown up and philosophical about everything.’
‘Life goes on, Big Brother.’
‘It certainly does.’ We clinked our glasses together and watched Jack and Sarah doing a very passable Macarena. One by one everyone on the dance floor joined in. My brother finished his drink and then stood up. ‘You coming?’
I shook my head. ‘Not my thing. You go, show ʼem how it’s done.’ I winked at him.
He loosened his tie and headed for the dance floor, positioning himself at the very front and singing along at the top of his voice. I watched for a bit, amazed to see Flo and Liz dancing arm in arm and giggling like a pair of schoolgirls. Who would have thought it? Lucy and Toby were standing by the edge of the floor, looking on in amazement at all the adults acting like teenagers at a school disco. Matt and Jack might, or might not, have been having some kind of dance-off; it was hard to tell exactly.
I left them all to it and stepped outside, into the cool evening. I walked a bit further away from the marquee that housed the revellers. I made my way down some stone steps in the hotel grounds, and towards a wooden bench that faced a long avenue of apple trees that led to the rose garden. I sat down and admired the fairy lights that twinkled in all the branches, echoing the array of stars on display in the night sky above. I could hear music and laughter – such an amazing sound – and then I heard footsteps on the gravel path behind me. I didn’t need to turn round to know who it was; whenever he was near me now I could feel it.
‘Was my dancing too painful to watch?’
I turned to see Jack holding two glasses of champagne. He’d taken off his tie, I could see it hanging out of his jacket pocket, and he’d undone the first few buttons on his shirt. He looked practically edible.
‘I just fancied a bit of fresh air. It’s such a beautiful night.’
Jack came round and sat beside me on the bench. He put the champagne down on the ground and took both my hands in his. His thumb caressed the engagement ring on my left hand.
‘Is it our turn next?’ he said, softly.
I reached up and touched his cheek; he turned his face towards my palm and kissed it gently.
‘I still can’t believe my luck,’ he said, ‘to have you back in my life after so long. Sometimes I think it’s all been a dream and one day I’m going to wake up and you’ll be gone again.’
‘Me too. But I think there was a kind of inevitability about it all. You were always there, Jack, in my head and in my heart. I’d imagined us together so many times and for so long, I think maybe the universe just decided it owed us one after all the heartache. Does that sound really dumb?’
Jack shook his head. ‘No. I know what you mean. I think that’s why I could never make a relationship work. I knew you were out there somewhere and I needed to make it back to you. No one else would do; it had to be you.’ He leaned closer and kissed me softly on the lips.
‘Do you remember you asked me once about where I wanted to go? You said just say the word and you’d take me there.’
‘I remember.’
‘Take me to a beach, Jack. With white sands and tropical breezes and a clear blue ocean.’
‘Right now?’ he asked, his eyes glittering in the moonlight.
‘Right now. I want to wear a white bikini and have flowers in my hair. And I want to stand on the water’s edge and become your wife. That’s what I want. Right now.’
He stood, pulling me with him and holding me close. We kissed until we were both breathless.
‘I love you so much,’ he said.
‘I love you too.’ I looked back towards the marquee. ‘Now let’s get going before they drag us into that conga line.’ I gestured to the long line of our nearest and dearest that was snaking its way down the path towards us.
‘Good idea,’ said Jack, as he took my hand and we ran through the trees and into the rose garden.
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Acknowledgements
My first thank you must go to anyone who has bought this book – your support means the world to me, it’s what makes all this possible. Thank you to everyone at Aria Fiction for all the love and kindness you have shown me since I joined your publishing family. A special thanks to my lovely editor, Lucy Gilmour, whose unwavering faith and passion in this story gave me the opportunity to fulfil a lifelong dream. Our random conversations about anything and everything, usually not to do with the book, continue to make me smile!
I will be forever grateful to the Romantic Novelist’s Association; not just for their amazing New Writer’s Scheme, without which I have no doubt I would never have achieved my dream of becoming a published author, but also for the love and support of the Association and its members. The RNA has given me the opportunity to meet some of the most amazing people and their continued support has meant more to me than I say. In particular, Rachel Dove, Julie Stock, Kate Field – you three ladies rock my world! Thank you for everything.
I also need to thank my lovely chums at Red Wine Writer’s. Guys, you’ve spent years listening to me read stuff out loud and your feedback and positive criticism has kept me going throughout this whole journey. A big thank you to Terry Martin, you read the whole thing! An even bigger thank you must surely go then to your poor wife, Liz, who read it twice!! Thanks also to Lisa Hall – you kickstarted this journey for me and I will be forever in your debt.
I didn’t need to do masses of research for this book, I’m way too lazy for that, but I was helped tremendously by a few people. Firstly, to Julie Pearce, who shared her many years of nursing experience with me to make sure I got those scenes in hospital just right; to Barry Leban for his insight into prison procedures and to Joanne Clow for her help with my questions about criminal court procedures.
My last lot of thanks go to those people I love most in the world, my family. And I must include two very special women in that group; Lucy and Sonia, you are my ‘sisters from other misters’ and I love you both so much. Thank you for believing in me and for always being prepared to drink alcohol with me. My love and thanks to my Mum and Dad; I know I’ve always been the perfect daughter, but this makes me even better doesn’t it? To Joanne – that online writing course you bought for me paid off eventually! Love you lots Little Sis!
And last, but by no means least, to my husband and my two amazing children; you are everything. This is all for you.
About Jane Lacey-Crane
A married mother of two, JANE LACEY-CRANE’s writing career in a nutshell consisted of quite a few years spent working for a cable TV station, now defunct, writing true crime documentaries. After that she wrote scripts for an independent TV production company, shows that were based around archive newsreel footage from British Movietone News. The resulting series never saw the light of day here but she is reliably informed that it’s very popular with insomniacs staying in hotels in the Far East. More recently, Jane has contributed to an anthology of short stories and written two weekly crime serials for a local publication. She is also working on my next romance novel.
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Addictive Fiction
First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Jane Lacey-Crane, 2018
The moral right of Jane Lacey-Crane to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781788546010
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