A Whirlwind Engagement

by Jessica Hart

  But no! He was going to be the perfect gentleman and make everything nice and easy for her.

  'Why don't you let Bryn take your place in the Seychelles while you're at it?' she said crossly. 'Pack their cases for them and take them to the airport!'

  'I don't need to give up my place,' said Josh. 'Bryn's going anyway. He's one of C.B.C.'s most successful sales managers, and he's taking Aisling with him instead of his wife. He's changed the ticket into her name and has told whoever's doing all the organisation that Aisling will be taking his wife's place.'

  Bella's jaw dropped. 'But…what about you?' she demanded.

  'I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to it,' he said with a sigh. 'Frankly, the last thing I feel like doing at the moment is spending a week stuck on an island having to suck up to potential clients. I'm no good at that kind of thing at the best of times. That's why it was important that Aisling came with me. She can do all the chit-chat.'

  'If she's still working for you, she can manage that, can't she?' said Bella tightly.

  Josh sighed and drank his whisky. 'I expect she will, but it won't be the same if she's not associated with me. If I'd been able to introduce my fiancée and keep everything on a very light social level, it would have made everything much easier. As it is, I'll stick out like a sore thumb being there on my own, and it's going to be very obvious that I'm there for work-the very impression C.B.C. didn't want me to give!'

  'In that case, do you really need to go at all?'

  'I think I'm going to have to,' said Josh, running a hand over his head in a gesture of weariness. 'C.B.C. have been insistent that they want me to be there to make personal contact with the executives I'd be working with, and the contract is too important to the company not to make that effort. It's not just about me. There are other people who work for me and who are depending on that contract for some security over the next three or four years. I'd be letting them down if I didn't go.'

  He drained his glass and put it down on the table. 'I'll just have to do what I can. I'd better contact C.B.C. first thing tomorrow and let the know I won't be taking my fiancée with me after all. It'll be very short notice, but they might be able to cancel the flight and change my room.'

  'Unless you just change the name of your fiancée,' said Bella.

  Josh looked puzzled. 'What do you mean?'

  'Well, Bryn seems to have been able to put his poor wife's ticket into Aisling's name. Why can't you do the same?'

  'What would be the point of that? Aisling's got a ticket already.'

  'I wasn't thinking of Aisling,' said Bella a little tartly. 'I was thinking of me.'

  CHAPTER FIVE

  He stared at her. 'You?' he said carefully.

  'It sounds to me as if there's a spare ticket to the Seychelles going begging,' said Bella. 'You might not like the idea of a week on a tropical beach, but I haven't had a holiday for ages.'

  She was groping her way cautiously, not wanting to spook Josh, but desperate to convince him to let her go with him. She couldn't bear the thought of him facing that week on his own. He would be fine, of course-Josh could cope with anything-but it would still be very hard for him to be there, having to face Aisling and Bryn every day. He might be tough, but even the tough needed some support occasionally.

  'I could come with you,' she went on casually. 'I've been so miserable recently but I can't afford to go away by myself. I just thought that if there's a chance of spending a week on a beach at someone else's expense…' she trailed off suggestively, and Josh's mouth quirked.

  'You could bear it?'

  'I'd be helping you out at the same time,' Bella reassured him in a mock virtuous tone so that he wouldn't guess that was what she really wanted to do. 'You said yourself that it would be easier if you had a partner with you-who's to know that I'm not actually the fiancée you said you were taking with you?'

  'Aisling and Bryn, for a start,' said Josh.

  'I think after the way they've treated you, the least they could do is keep quiet,' said Bella stringently. 'None of the people you have to impress are going to know, are they? I might not have Aisling's contacts, but I can do chit-chat, as you call it, just as well as she can. Probably better,' she added, thinking about it.

  'Oh, I know you can chit-chat for England!' said Josh.

  'Well, then.'

  He looked at her with a puzzled expression. 'I'm trying to think why it's not a good idea,' he said slowly. 'It feels like it shouldn't be, but I can't actually think of a reason why it wouldn't work.'

  'It feels wrong because you'd be going with me instead of Aisling,' said Bella evenly. 'I know it's not what you wanted, Josh, but it would be a way to save face. It's not as if you'd have to be careful the way you would with a total stranger. We're so comfortable with each other I think we'd be quite convincing as a couple. You know how often we've been out and people have thought that we were together because of our body language.'

  'I can see body language wouldn't be a problem,' Josh agreed, 'but other things might be. How comfortable would you be about sharing a room, which is what we'd have to do?'

  'I could cope with that,' said Bella. 'It's not as if we've never done it before.'

  'A long time ago,' he pointed out. 'That was when we were students. It's not the same any more, and it's no use pretending that it is.'

  No, it wasn't the same, thought Bella, looking at him and remembering those carefree days when Josh had just been a mate, before he had started to seem as necessary to her as breathing.

  'You're right,' she said slowly, 'it's not the same, but I just think it's going to be really hard for you to see Aisling with Bryn-which by the way is a totally stupid name. I bet you anything he's called Bryan and he's just dropped the "a"!'

  She stopped, realising that she'd gone off at a tangent. 'Where was I?'

  Josh grinned. 'You were trying to be deeply sympathetic about how hard it was going to be in the Seychelles and then you spoiled everything by making me laugh. I'm never going to be able to look at Bryn in the same way again!'

  'Oh, yes,' said Bella, delighted to see the glint back in Josh's eyes but refusing to let herself be sidetracked onto the issue of Bryn's name again. 'Well, I do think it will be incredibly difficult and I can't help feeling that it would be easier if you had a friend with you. Don't you think so?' she asked anxiously, suddenly afraid that she was pushing him into something that he didn't want to do.

  'I suppose that depends on the friend,' said Josh, straight-faced, and then relented. 'But yes, if you mean you, it would be nice-very nice!-to have some support.'

  'That's what I'd be there for,' Bella told him. 'And if supporting you means pretending to be your fiancée to keep up appearances, fine, and if that means sharing a room, I'm not exactly going to make a fuss. We know each other too well for that.'

  'What if it means sharing a bed?'

  Bella hesitated, picking her words with care. 'We both know how things are, Josh,' she said. 'I know you're in love with Aisling, you know about Will. There's not much room for misunderstanding in our case, is there?'

  She reached for his empty glass. 'Have a think about it while I get you another drink.'

  Josh had already had two stiff whiskies. Perhaps that was why Bella's idea was seeming to make perfect sense, he thought hazily. But she was right, wasn't she? How could it be awkward for two such old friends to share a bed? Especially when it was absolutely clear that she was still in love with Will? There would be no room for any misunderstanding there, just as she had said.

  And as for him, thought Josh, he was naturally devastated about Aisling. No man with any sense of decency would be sitting there, barely hours after his engagement had been broken off, wondering what it would be like to share a bed with another woman.

  He wouldn't be thinking about her softness as she hugged him-purely sympathetically, of course-or the fragrance of her hair. About the indignation in her blue eyes or the curve of her mouth as she smiled.

  H
e certainly wouldn't be thinking that sleeping with her might not be that easy after all.

  Discovering that you weren't the decent man you thought you were was all he needed after the day he had had, thought Josh with an inward sigh.

  Really, he didn't deserve Bella's sympathy, Josh thought guiltily. He knew she was offering to go out to the Seychelles because she felt sorry for him, but she probably could do with a break. She had had a hard time over Will, and if her finances were as chaotic as usual, he could well believe that she couldn't afford a holiday by herself.

  Giving Bella a week in the sun would at least be one good thing to come out of this whole sorry mess with Aisling. Josh didn't mind letting her believe that he needed her support more than in fact he did. And it would be good to have her there, he had to admit. She would charm everyone, with the possible exception of Aisling and Bryn, and her presence would make things less awkward all round.

  Oh, yes, there were lots of reasons why it would be good to take Bella up on her offer, but when it came down to it, the only one that mattered was that he wanted her with him. Josh had had enough intensity and conversations about weddings over the last few weeks. It would be fun with Bella.

  Here she was, putting another enormous whisky into his hand. 'Well?' she asked, 'Have you had a think?'

  'I have.'

  'And?'

  'And I think we should go for it,' he said, and smiled at Bella's whoop of delight before reminding himself that he would need to be careful. If he slipped too quickly out of the role of rejected fiancé, she might start to wonder why he needed her there at all. 'I think it would make things easier for Aisling too,' he said.

  The blue eyes narrowed. 'That was naturally my main concern!'

  'Sarcasm, Bella?'

  'Just another service we offer!' she retorted even more sarcastically. 'Honestly, Josh, the woman only dumped you a couple of hours ago! I know how important she is to you, but I think it's a bit early for you to be bending over backwards to make things easier for her! What about a bit of anger or bitterness? I'm sure it would be much more healthy!'

  'The thing is, I can't feel that way about Aisling,' said Josh, knowing that it was a lack in himself. If he had really loved Aisling, he would have been just as bitter and angry as Bella wanted him to be. As it was, he had been much angrier with Will for hurting Bella. 'You weren't angry or bitter about Will,' he pointed out, 'but I can tell that you're heartbroken all the same.'

  Bella opened her mouth, only to change her mind about what she was going to say and close it again. 'I hope you aren't expecting me to be nice to Aisling too?' she said after a moment, and Josh wondered what she had meant to say instead. 'I'm not as tolerant as you.'

  'I'd rather you were,' he told her. 'It's not going to be an easy time for any of us, but we need to focus on getting the C.B.C. contract. Given that we're supposed to be teaching these guys how to communicate effectively and work as a team, it's not going to impress them if we're all squabbling amongst ourselves.'

  'Oh, all right,' sighed Bella with a martyred air. 'I'll be good.'

  Josh smiled and sipped at his whisky as he settled back into the sofa, stretching his legs out in front of him. For a man who was supposed to have had his heart broken earlier that evening he was feeling surprisingly mellow. It was good to be back on his own with Bella again. It hadn't been same when Aisling had been around.

  'So that's settled then.' Bella took up her familiar position on the sofa beside him, with crossed legs and a straight back. 'When do we leave?'

  'Check-in is noon on Monday,' he told her. 'I'll come and pick you up in the morning and we can go out to Heathrow together.'

  Bella flashed him a look underneath her lashes. 'You mean you don't trust me not to be late!'

  'I know that if it was up to you you'd stroll up five minutes before the plane's due to leave,' said Josh, 'but I don't think my nerves will stand it! Since we're pretending to be engaged, why don't you go the whole hog and pretend to be a normal person who turns up on time for a change?'

  Bella poked her tongue at him. She had never actually missed a plane, had she? True, there had been a couple of close calls, and she had given up booking train tickets in advance, but really, it wasn't as if planes ever left on time anyway.

  'I suppose you'll be wanting to leave at the crack of dawn on Monday and get there four hours early just to be on the safe side,' she grumbled. 'It doesn't leave long to get ready. Still, I suppose I don't need much.'

  Mentally, Bella ran an eye over her wardrobe. It had been so long since she had had a decent holiday all her hot-weather clothes were hopelessly out of date. She might just have to have a little shop tomorrow. Josh wouldn't understand, but facing Aisling required a major style offensive. Nothing too obvious, of course, but certainly enough to make Aisling feel that she was never quite wearing the right thing…

  Josh was evidently thinking along more practical lines.

  'What about your job, Bella? Will they let you take time off at such short notice?'

  Why was Josh worrying about her job? There were far more essential things to think about. Reluctantly, Bella dragged her attention away from the important question of a wardrobe designed with the daily discomfiture of Aisling in mind.

  'I might try ringing my boss at home later,' she said. 'She won't like it, but we're not that busy at the moment and I've done lots of overtime recently so I'm entitled to time off in lieu. Luckily, Louise is a real romantic,' she confided. 'If she gets too sticky about the whole thing I'll just tell her we've decided to get married on the spur of the moment and that you're whisking me off to the Seychelles to celebrate.'

  Josh looked unconvinced. 'Don't tell her that we've known each other for fourteen years,' he said. 'It would take more than a confirmed romantic to interpret that as a whirlwind affair!'

  'Oh, I don't know,' said Bella, considering the matter. 'Louise knows we've been friends a long time, but I'll just tell her that everything has suddenly changed and that realising that we were meant to be more than friends has caught us both unawares.'

  There was a tiny pause. 'Do you think she's likely to fall for that?' said Josh in a dry voice.

  'It happens,' she said without looking at him. 'Sometimes you fall in love when you least expect it.'

  'It sounds quite convincing when you put it like that,' he said.

  Another silence. For some reason Bella's heart was slamming against her ribs. Don't look at him, she told herself frantically. You'll only make a fool of yourself.

  Her eyes skittered around the room but it was as if an invisible, irresistible force was dragging them back to Josh's face, where their gazes locked for a long moment before Bella managed to wrench hers away.

  'As long as it convinces Louise,' she said shakily. 'That's the main thing.'

  'Of course,' echoed Josh. 'That's the main thing.'

  In spite of her best efforts, Bella found her eyes flickering back to his once more before they both looked away.

  The pause was even longer this time, and it reverberated unnervingly up and down Bella's spine. She longed to be able to say something to break the silence but her mind had gone blank and all she could think of was how close Josh was and how easy it would be to lean over and touch him.

  She swirled her glass, staring down into it as if fascinated, but she was so acutely aware of Josh by that stage that she might as well have been staring straight at him. It was as if those fleeting eye contacts had imprinted an unnervingly vivid image of him on her brain, not of the old familiar Josh, but of a stranger, a man, with a cool mouth and a firm jaw and intriguing creases around his eyes.

  In the end it was Josh who spoke first. He cleared his throat. 'Are you sure you're happy to do this, Bella?' he asked awkwardly, as if he too was unsettled by the strange tightening of the atmosphere.

  Flippancy was the only response Bella was capable of right then. 'Well, a free week in the Seychelles will be a bit of bore, of course, but for you… any thing!'

>   'It's just that you didn't sound too keen on the idea when Aisling was talking about it.'

  'That's because she kept going on about all the activities you would be doing together. I presume all the hearty stuff isn't compulsory.' Belatedly a wary look crept into the blue eyes. 'I don't have to go diving, do I?'

  Josh shook his head. 'You would if you loved me,' he said solemnly. 'If you want to convince people that you're my fiancée, you probably should make an effort to get involved in some the activities.'

  His face was completely straight, but she caught the gleam of humour in his eyes. He was teasing…phew!

  'I'll just tell everybody that our relationship is based on the attraction of opposites,' she said firmly. 'Bet you anything I won't be the only person heading straight for the beach, so if it's all the same to you, I'll concentrate my charm offensive there. After a few days on a lounger, with nothing to do but listen to the coconuts drop or cool off with a paddle in the Indian Ocean I should be able to be nice to anybody-even Aisling!'

  'You're going where?' said Kate when Bella rang her the next morning. 'With who?'

  Impatiently, Bella explained the situation all over again. She had already been through all this with Phoebe. Now that she was used to the idea herself, it seemed such an obvious solution that she couldn't understand why the others didn't seem to grasp it at once.

  'So let me get this right,' said Kate at last. 'You and Josh have got engaged without even consulting me or Phoebe?'

  'It's just for a week,' said Bella. 'And it's just pretending. I don't know why you're making such a big deal of it,' she huffed. 'You and Finn did exactly the same thing.'

  'Yes, and look what happened!' said Kate. 'I'm all for it, but you want to be careful, Bella. Pretending isn't nearly as easy as you think in that situation.'

  'I know,' said Bella, whose main problem wasn't going to be pretending that she was in love with Josh but pretending that she wasn't.