Her Fake Island Wedding

by Caitlyn Lynch

  Chapter Seven

  “Are you okay?” Rosie asked in an undertone as Bryce helped Justine aboard the boat to Sunfish Island. “That was pretty extreme.”

  And publicly messy, Lucy thought but didn’t say. Fortunately Jill had spirited the other incoming guests off to the bus, leaving Bryce, Rosie and Lucy to bring a stunned Justine along behind. By the time they arrived at the bus, Justine had progressed from “This has to be a prank” to “How dare you not tell me about this!”

  At that point, Jill took charge, welcoming her to the resort as a VIP guest, which rather took the wind out of Justine’s sails. The twenty-minute bus ride from the airport to the marina had been difficult, with Justine fairly shoving Lucy into a seat and hissing questions into her ear.

  “It’ll be okay,” Lucy answered Rosie’s question in an equally quiet voice. “To be honest, I’m quite enjoying seeing Mum this flustered.”

  Rosie’s lips twitched with laughter. “It’s pretty funny watching her with Bryce. She looks like she doesn’t know whether she wants to ogle him or push him overboard.”

  “Don’t give her ideas.” Lucy couldn’t help a giggle at the mental image, though.

  Bryce returned to her side just then. “Come on, you two. You’re the last ones to board; everyone’s eager to get to Sunfish. Let’s go.” He slipped his arm around Lucy’s waist, which startled her slightly. While she’d gotten used to holding his hand, this was slightly more intimate. She turned her face up to him in surprise.

  “Your mother’s watching,” Bryce said softly, just before he pressed a light kiss on her lips and smiled broadly at her.

  “Let’s go, lovebirds,” Rosie said loudly, striding up the ramp, and Lucy was grateful for Bryce’s supportive arm around her waist as they followed, because that light brush of lips had rocked her to the core.

  ***

  What the hell had possessed him, kissing Lucy like that? Bryce’s lips were still tingling as he released her and moved to the front of the boat to help cast off the lines. Justine’s denigration of Lucy had outraged him, though, and he was now determined to rub her nose in the fact that Lucy had proved her mother’s predictions wrong. Kissing her had seemed like the most obvious thing to do, and he’d done his best to make it look natural.

  The problem was that as soon as their lips met, he’d wanted more. It had taken everything he had not to drag her hard against him and kiss her senseless. His lips were still tingling, every sense on high alert, hyper-aware of Lucy’s movements at all times. He was always aware of her, but right now he was pretty sure he could have closed his eyes and still known if she made the slightest move.

  “Bryce,” Jill’s voice said behind him, and he jumped about a foot in the air, making her shriek with surprise.

  “Sorry,” he apologised. “I was miles away.”

  Hand to her heart, Jill stared at him wide-eyed. “I was just going to ask if you’d demonstrate putting on a life-vest while I do the safety briefing,” she said.

  “Of course.” Embarrassed, Bryce followed her into the boat’s main cabin, plastering on a broad smile for the benefit of the incoming guests. Justine was staring at him, even as a male guest probably fifteen years her junior shifted seats to sit beside her and make a hopeful pass. Holy hell, she really was stunning, he thought very privately. He hadn’t actually asked Lucy how old her mother was, but Justine couldn’t have been much out of her teens when Lucy was born, and she could easily pass for the same age as Lucy now.

  That said, he’d always thought Lucy looked a lot younger than she actually was. Obviously, she’d inherited Justine’s eternal-youth gene.

  “Go away,” Justine said coldly to the poor sap trying to hit on her, and the guy immediately moved away, crushed.

  At least Lucy didn’t inherit the bitch gene, Bryce thought, muscles along his jaw clenching. He’d been absolutely livid in the airport when Justine had put Lucy down by asking why on earth Bryce would be interested in her. What a dreadful thing to say about your own daughter!

  More determined than ever to convince Justine that he was madly in love with Lucy and could hardly wait to marry her, Bryce smiled warmly in her direction several times during the safety demo, before going straight back out to the front of the boat where Lucy and Rosie were sitting.

  “Hey.” Taking a seat beside Lucy, he put his arm around her shoulders, deliberately leaned in close and planted a kiss on the side of her brow. “Your mother just shot down some poor fool who tried to hit on her.”

  Lucy smiled tightly. “No doubt there’ll be plenty of that.”

  “She wouldn’t be interested in anyone?” Rosie asked curiously, keeping her voice low.

  “She hates men, and frankly she doesn’t have a lot of time for women either.” Lucy cast a glance at the open doorway, keeping her own voice low. “My father was married, promised he’d leave his wife for her. The usual. Didn’t follow through. She had to fight him to get child support paid. I think she might actually have loved him until she realised he was lying his ass off.”

  Rosie winced; Bryce tightened his arm around Lucy instinctively, wanting to comfort her. She looked up at him with a small smile. “My mother is a bundle of neurotic contradictions, I’m afraid. Wants grandkids, but wants me to be married first, but is also convinced that no man is worth marrying.”

  “Frankly, you did well to turn out so normal,” Rosie said, and Lucy chuckled.

  “Who says I’m normal?”

  “Beautifully, perfectly normal,” Bryce said loudly, alerting the two girls to Justine’s approach. He’d spotted her from the corner of his eye, approaching the door.

  “Bit windy out here, isn’t it?” Justine said, smoothing her hair as the wind whipped at it.

  Silently, Lucy offered a spare hair tie from the several snapped around her wrist. Justine ignored the gesture, leaning in the doorway and looking at the three of them. Rosie promptly hopped up and offered her seat, and Justine accepted with a queenly grace, as though it was no more than her due. Bryce and Lucy both caught Rosie’s eye-roll behind Justine’s back and had to stifle chuckles.

  “So how long will it take to get to the resort?” Justine asked.

  “About another twenty minutes,” Bryce answered her. “This is a fast hydrofoil boat; we’re travelling at over thirty knots. You’ll be able to see Sunfish Island shortly, once we pass through the channel between those two islands there.”

  “And you work there too, hm?” Justine queried.

  “Yes, I’m the resort’s diving instructor.” Here comes the interrogation, he thought, and wasn’t disappointed as Justine began to pepper him with questions.

  “Justine,” Lucy interrupted after a few minutes. “Mum. Leave it out.”

  “I’m just curious, darling! You haven’t so much as whispered Bryce’s name, one might almost think you were ashamed of him.” Justine was wearing large designer sunglasses which completely covered her eyes and did a fair job of obscuring her facial expression, but Bryce was pretty sure her eyes were boring into him like lasers.

  “Absolutely not,” Lucy denied, and then she ducked her head. “To be honest… I’ve been having trouble believing that it’s real. That I’m not just living in some fantastic dream.”

  Bryce saw Justine’s mouth soften, and knew she was falling for it. It really was a spectacular bit of acting on Lucy’s part, and completely believable considering Lucy’s lack of self-confidence — largely caused by Justine putting her down, he thought.

  “I’m the one who’s living my dream, angel,” he murmured, leaning in to press a kiss against her brow again.

  “Well,” Justine said after a moment of silence. “I can see the two of you are quite sickeningly in love.”

  She’s genuinely falling for it, Bryce thought. He saw the corner of Lucy’s mouth turn up, wondered if she was smiling on the other side too. She didn’t say anything, though, so he stepped into the breach.

  “Your daughter’s an incredible woman, Justine. I know
how lucky I am, believe me.”

  “Huh.” Juliet shook her head slightly, and Bryce realized the only reason she was doubtful was her poor opinion of Lucy’s charms.

  “One look at her and I was slavering like a dingo in a drought,” he said humorously, deliberately playing up his Australian twang, “but it was when I got to know her and realized how smart she was, I knew I was sunk.”

  Lucy pinched the outside of his leg lightly, a prearranged signal which meant ‘you’re overdoing things’. Bryce disagreed.

  “Girl of my dreams,” he said, deliberately making his voice low and husky as he stroked Lucy’s cheek lightly, pretending to forget Justine’s presence entirely.

  Lucy’s eyes were very green and bright as she looked up at him. Perhaps she was trying to give him a stern glare, tell him to tone things down, but she’d pursed her lips to do it and suddenly all he could think about was kissing her again, more deeply than the brief peck he’d given her earlier. He forgot Justine’s presence for real as Lucy’s lips parted just slightly.

  ***

  The way Bryce was looking at her made Lucy catch her breath. She was trying to glare him into silence, tell him he was overdoing things and Justine would smell a rat, but the husky tone in his voice and the heat in his eyes made it impossible to even think of being annoyed with him.

  In fact, all she could think of was the way his lips had felt on hers. And of how much she wanted him to kiss her again.

  Bryce’s gaze dropped to her lips, and his own parted, the tip of his tongue darting out to moisten his upper lip. His head lowered towards hers, slowly, giving her time to back away if she wanted to. Lucy’s eyelids drooped as she felt his warm breath against her mouth, already anticipating the heat of his kiss…

  “Jeez, get a room, you two!” Justine said, laughing.

  Lucy flinched back instinctively, her eyes flying wide and her face flushing red. “I, ah…”

  “I see exactly how it is,” Justine said dryly. “The two of you are so wrapped up in each other, you forgot I was even here.”

  “Yes,” Bryce said, and he sounded a little puzzled. “Yes, that’s exactly it.”

  Lucy sneaked a quick sideways glance at him, but he was rising to his feet and she missed seeing the expression on his face.

  “We’re coming around the point of the island now. The jetty’s just ahead,” Bryce told Justine as he headed to the prow of the boat and picked up one of the mooring lines, preparing to help dock the boat.

  “I know there’s a lovely suite reserved for you,” Lucy told Justine brightly. “Jill pulled some strings to get you an upgrade.”

  “I assumed I’d be staying with you… but I suppose you and Bryce are living together anyway.”

  “The staff accommodations are pretty sparse,” Lucy said, suddenly realising they hadn’t thought of that. Of course her mother would want to see where she lived, and there wasn’t a single thing in there to indicate it was occupied by two people.

  Rosie had come back out of the boat’s main cabin and caught the exchange; she locked eyes with Lucy now and gave her a reassuring smile. “I got it,” she mouthed, and Lucy knew by the time she’d settled Justine in her suite, at least half of Bryce’s belongings would have been relocated to her room and arranged to make it look as though he’d been living there for weeks.

  “Welcome to Sunfish Island Resort!” Jill announced as Bryce leaped across to the dock to tie off the mooring lines. “If you’ll follow me, we’ll head up to Reception to get you all checked in so you can start enjoying your holiday straight away.”

  “Not you,” Lucy said to Justine, “I already checked you in.” She held up a key card with a smile. “No need to queue with the hoi polloi.”

  “Oh, that was thoughtful, darling. Thank you. Goodness me, it’s hot!”

  Now that the boat had stopped moving, the oppressive tropical heat descended on them. Lucy was slowly getting used to it, but particularly humid days still got to her, her skin feeling constantly damp and her hair frizzing heavily. She’d taken to braiding it and coiling it atop her head to keep the weight of it off her neck; a lot of the women on the staff kept their hair short but Lucy was a little vain about her hair and didn’t want to cut it.

  “There’ll be a storm later this afternoon,” she predicted. “We get them most days in the summer, but it doesn’t really cool things down anyway. I did warn you that you were coming during the hot season. Apparently midwinter here is much nicer - like the really good bits of an English summer.”

  “Yes, but midwinter here is the same time as the English summer,” Justine pointed out.

  “Which is quite likely to be rainy and wet anyway,” Lucy riposted. “Anyway, the heat takes some getting used to. You need to drink a lot of water — I had a permanent headache for the first couple of weeks until I figured out I was constantly a bit dehydrated. Now I carry a water bottle with me everywhere and refill it whenever I get the chance.”

  “Hm.” Justine claimed her suitcase from the pile the deckhand was unloading onto the dock. “I was rather thinking I’d be drinking a lot of piña coladas and strawberry daiquiris, actually.”

  Lucy snickered. “Yeah, well, I set you up a bar tab for your room. You’ll get staff rates on all food and drinks at the resort restaurants and bars.”

  “Such a considerate daughter!” Justine smiled warmly at her.

  “Do let me get that for you, Justine,” Bryce said cheerfully, gesturing at her suitcase as they came up alongside him on the dock.

  “And such a nice considerate man you’ve found. Thank you, Bryce.” Justine gave him the handle and she and Lucy followed him as he strode off towards the main resort.

  “Well,” Justine murmured, lowering her sunglasses to take a good look over them at Bryce’s retreating back. “Now that’s what I call an ass worth chasing.”

  Lucy choked.

  Justine glanced sideways at her. “Oh come on, darling. I was beginning to wonder if you were interested in sex at all. Frankly, I’m relieved to discover your libido is alive and well, and that you not only have good taste, but the initiative to act on it once you see something you want. I’m not sure you need to marry him to get what you want, though.”

  “Is this some sort of strange reverse ‘why buy the cow if you’re getting the milk for free’ speech?” Lucy asked after a moment of stunned silence. “Because my relationship with Bryce isn’t just about sex.” She’d almost said she wasn’t even having sex with Bryce, but managed to stop herself in time.

  Justine laughed. “An amusing role reversal, isn’t it?” She said no more as they approached the main resort building, leaving Lucy silently fuming. Even when Justine gave a compliment, there would be a sting in the tail. She was like a jellyfish; beautiful but agonisingly painful if you got caught in its tendrils.

  Chapter Eight

  “Wow,” Bryce said at last as he and Lucy stood facing each other outside the closed door to Justine’s suite.

  Lucy arched a cynical eyebrow at him. “Most men have that sort of reaction to Justine, strangely enough.”

  “That wasn’t a good ‘wow’.” He reached for her hand and they walked back to the elevator together. “That was a ‘wow, your mother is a real piece of work’ wow.”

  “You think?” Lucy darted a sideways look at him, wondering what he meant. Men young and old tended to be so blinded by Justine’s beauty they didn’t notice her bitchiness.

  “I don’t mean to disrespect your mother, but she was an absolute bitch to you.” Bryce looked furious on her behalf, and Lucy melted.

  “Same shit, different day,” she said with a shrug. “I was always a disappointment, from the day my father decided to deny paternity before I was even born. Maybe she could have overlooked that if I’d been the perfect little mini-me she wanted, but I wasn’t… I was a sickly baby, demanding and difficult, and then I grew up far more interested in shells and starfish than clothes and makeup.”

  “I know about being a disappoi
ntment.” Bryce’s hand tightened on hers as the elevator doors opened and they stepped into the empty car. “Even so. Denigrating you right to your face, in front of your friends, that’s pretty low.”

  “Suddenly my reasoning for wanting to present her with a fiancé seems quite sensible, huh?”

  “Damn right it does.” Turning to her, he took her other hand so that he held them both and looked earnestly into her eyes. “I’ve no doubt she’s been putting you down your whole life, but please believe me, Lucy. You’re brilliant and funny and just as beautiful as your mother; more so because you have a beautiful soul. I’ve never heard you say a truly unkind word about anyone, not even your mother, who certainly deserves it.”

  Her smile was a little bit wobbly as she gazed back up at him. “Believe me, sometimes Justine pushes me too far. I have no doubt I’ll be venting in your ear at some point and tarnishing that image you have of my ‘beautiful soul’.”

  “Never,” Bryce said softly, and Lucy had the strangest impression that he was leaning down towards her, just a little bit. His gaze lowered slightly.

  Is he looking at my lips? Instinctively she licked them, and Bryce leaned closer still.

  “Lucy.” It was a soft breath against her lips, and she angled her face up, eyes drifting closed.

  He’s going to kiss me…

  Warm lips slanted down over hers, and she parted instinctively for him, breath coming quickly as the tip of his tongue traced lightly over her upper lip.

  A loud ping shattered the moment, as the elevator doors slid open on the hotel lobby… and Jill’s speculative expression.

  Face burning, Lucy sprang back, yanking her hands from Bryce’s grasp. “Thanks for helping Mum with her case,” she gabbled quickly. “I’m just gonna get her a couple of water bottles to put in her fridge, make sure she drinks plenty. I’ll see how she’s doing with the jet lag, she might just want a room service dinner and an early night, but if she wants to eat out I’ll text you and maybe you can join us?” Her words were falling all over each other, but Bryce just nodded, giving her a warm smile before stepping back and making his escape.