by Lucy King
In the flesh she was also absolutely stunning, thought Zoe, watching as the woman who famously didn’t get out of bed for less than half a million dollars threw her head back and laughed at something while her thick blonde hair rippled down her back.
The knowledge that Dan had once been out with a stunning leggy supermodel, though, was kind of confidence crushing because how on earth would she ever be able to compete with such perfection? While there was nothing really wrong with her body she didn’t have the pneumatic curves and killer legs that were Natalie’s trademark, nor did she have any of her grace.
On the other hand, she thought, her self-confidence perking up a bit, neither did she have Natalie’s ice-cold heart. As she’d told Dan she’d never ruthlessly get rid of a baby without discussing it with the father.
So she could be mature about this, couldn’t she? After all, an ex was just that. An ex. And she had to take some sort of strength from that.
Since Dan seemed frozen to the spot Zoe inched closer and asked, ‘Do you want to say hello?’
‘Not particularly.’
‘Well, I think you might have to,’ she said, watching the sleek blonde spy them, smile broadly and make her way towards them. ‘Unless you want to go and take a turn round the gardens or something,’ she added, putting herself in Dan’s shoes and thinking that if it were she who’d come face to face with any of her exes, she’d want to run a mile.
‘No, it’s fine,’ he said tightly.
‘Would you like me to leave you to it?’
‘Don’t you bloody dare,’ he muttered, slinging an arm around her shoulder and giving her a swift hard kiss right there in the middle of the marquee that rooted her so firmly to the spot that she couldn’t have gone anywhere even if she’d wanted to.
By the time Zoe had collected herself, Natalie was in front of them, blinding her with such a dazzling smile and practically drowning her in such charisma that she could see why the woman was signed for multimillion-dollar contracts.
Resisting the weird urge to step between them and fling her arms out to shield him or something, Zoe reminded herself to stay cool because this wasn’t about her.
‘Dan,’ said Natalie, with a throaty kind of purr that completed the whole seductive package and made Zoe’s spirits nosedive.
‘Natalie,’ said Dan with such little emotion and looking so unmoved that she shivered in a way that had nothing to do with winter.
‘It’s been a long time.’
‘It has,’ he said. ‘This is Zoe Montgomery.’ He dropped his arm from her shoulders to her waist and pulled her in close and it gave her confidence a much-needed boost.
‘Oh, the ex-fiancée?’ Natalie smiled.
‘Long story. Pleased to meet you,’ said Zoe, holding out her hand.
‘Natalie Blake, and likewise,’ said Natalie, shaking it before turning back to Dan with that brilliant smile. ‘So how have you been?’
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘You?’
‘Great.’
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.
‘I’m a friend of Helena’s.’
‘I didn’t know that.’
‘No, well, we worked together on a film recently and got on.’
‘Oh, really,’ asked Zoe. ‘Which one?’
She named a film that had been a box office number one hit and Zoe wished she hadn’t asked.
‘You’ve done well,’ said Dan with a smile that didn’t wholly reach his eyes.
‘I’ve been lucky. I hear you’ve done well too.’
‘I’ve worked hard.’
And then they lapsed into a tense little silence that even with all her years of people watching and body language learning Zoe didn’t have a clue how to fill. Nor, it seemed did anyone else.
‘Well, this is awkward,’ said Natalie, her laugh now a bit shaky. ‘Look, I’m sorry, I should never have come over. I just wanted to see how you were, Dan. You know, after everything.’
Dan arched an eyebrow. ‘Nat, it’s been eight years.’
‘I know, but I have thought about you. About...well, you know...what happened...’
He shrugged. ‘Forget it.’
‘I’m sorry I...ah...went about things the way I did...’
‘Don’t worry about it. It’s all water under the bridge.’
‘Really?’
‘Really.’
‘Good.’ Natalie let out a sigh of what sounded like relief and smiled. ‘Well, it’s lovely to have met you,’ she said to Zoe. ‘I guess I’d better get back to my friends.’
And then she swept off.
* * *
Well, that blast from the past hadn’t actually been as unpleasant as he’d envisaged, thought Dan, watching Natalie rejoin the group she’d left to come and say hello and feeling faintly bemused by his surprisingly indifferent reaction to her.
Seeing her after all this time had initially been something of a shock, but actually once she’d come over and they’d started talking all he’d really been able to focus on was Zoe. Standing beside him. Pressing against him. Bristling on his behalf.
And it was kind of reassuring, heart-warming, nice. More than nice actually...
‘So that was the woman who broke your heart,’ Zoe murmured, pressing closer and bristling marginally less than she had been five minutes ago.
‘I wouldn’t go so far as to say that,’ he said evenly, suddenly realising it was true. ‘With hindsight I don’t think my heart was ever actually involved.’
‘She’s beautiful, and you know, even though it pains me to admit it, she actually seemed quite nice.’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘Hmm.’
‘And it looks like she regrets what she did to you.’
‘Perhaps.’ He might not have loved her as much as he’d always thought but he still wasn’t sure he could totally forget the effect what she’d done had had on him.
‘Is it really water under the bridge?’ she asked, a flicker of doubt and uncertainty leaping in her eyes.
‘She certainly is,’ he said, thinking that he’d never meant anything more.
Zoe smiled. ‘I’m glad.’
So was he. As the Master of Ceremonies called for silence from somewhere on the other side of the marquee he looked down at her, something warm, weird and unidentifiable swimming around inside him. ‘Thank you,’ he murmured.
‘What for?’
‘I don’t know exactly...Just, thank you.’
‘You’re welcome,’ she said softly, pulling herself out of his arms and giving him a little push. ‘You’d better go and get ready to make your speech.’
* * *
Zoe heard the groom tap the microphone and begin to speak, but her eyes were on Dan, who was leaning down and saying something to the mother of the bride that made her smile. He was so gorgeous, so confident and so thoughtful. And yes, possibly a bit complicated, sometimes a little rash and occasionally as stubborn as a mule but that only made him all the more fascinating.
He made her happy, she realised with a warm glow. Very happy. He made her wake up every morning they were together with a smile on her face, and she liked it. No wonder she was in love with him, she thought dreamily as her heart melted. No wonder she absolutely adored him.
She watched him for a second longer, smiling and straightening and turning his attention to the groom and then it hit her, properly, and she went still in shock.
Bloody hell. She loved him? How on earth had that happened? And when?
She wasn’t even sure she believed in love. To someone generally logical and rational like her, love had always seemed intangible and unquantifiable, and as for the thought of entrusting her well-being and happiness to someone else, well, that had always seemed way too risky to try. She’d told herself that s
hould she ever commit to someone she’d happily settle for sex, friendship and a meeting of minds. She’d never really counted love as a requirement.
But it felt pretty tangible and quantifiable right now, she thought, her pulse suddenly racing and her head filling with a kind of rushing noise. She could feel great buckets of the stuff vibrating through her. It was swelling her heart with amazement and happiness, making it thump crazily against her ribs as if the confines of her chest were too tight.
Dimly aware of the sound of clapping breaking out around her Zoe did the same and raised her glass but hardly noticed that the bride’s father had now taken over the microphone.
She was too busy reeling, because the realisation that she was potty about Dan, and probably had been for ages, suddenly made sense of all the feelings that had continually surprised her with their intensity. Such as the hurt she’d felt when they’d had that row about the test he’d subjected her to and the pain when she’d thought that as a result they were over. Or their inconceivability, like the weird way the pregnancy that never was kept creeping into her head, only with the variation that the test had been positive, Dan had been delighted and they’d all lived happily ever after.
And then today, all that lovely warmth that had seeped through her in the church when he’d seen her and they’d had that silent conversation, the jealousy she’d experienced over the prospect of the chief bridesmaid getting her talons into him, the bile that had surged up inside her when Dan’s mother had said she hoped to have better luck next time and the despondency she’d felt at the lack of intentions Dan had demonstrated towards her.
And then there’d been that odd protectiveness that had streaked through her when she’d felt Dan tense and seen him pale when he spied Natalie. She’d wanted to plant herself in front of him like a shield or something. Which she’d thought odd at the time, but now seemed perfectly logical because no one messed with the people she cared about.
So had she beaten the odds and found her One? she wondered, her heart pounding and her hands trembling a little with the idea of it. God, she hoped so. She really did.
But was she his One? It was impossible to tell. Yes, he’d invited her here when he’d never planned to take anyone and yes, she got the feeling recently that he might be wanting more, but how much more? Would she ever be able to pluck up the courage and ask? Should she tell him how she felt? Leave it until he did? Agh, these feelings, this situation, the uncertainty and the unpredictability of everything that happened from now on were all so new to her she had no idea what to do.
‘Great speeches,’ said a voice to her left, yanking her out of the maelstrom of thoughts and emotions that were churning around inside.
In something of a daze Zoe looked round to see a woman beaming at her. Heavens, speeches in the plural? Had she missed all of them? Even Dan’s? She really had been lost in thought. At least she’d had the benefit of hearing his when he’d practised it on her last week and had had her in stitches. ‘Oh. Er. Yes,’ she said, managing a weak smile. ‘Hilarious.’
‘I’m Lizzie,’ said the woman, her eyes sparkling and her smile turning even warmer.
‘Zoe,’ said Zoe, feeling woolly-headed and battered by everything she’d discovered in the last quarter of an hour.
‘Nice to meet you,’ she said, holding out her hand.
‘You too,’ said Zoe, shaking it distractedly.
‘So, Zoe, you and Dan were looking pretty cosy back there behind the table plan.’
‘Were we?’ she said dreamily, watching him posing for photographs with the wedding party.
‘And Natalie Blake? What’s the story there?’
‘There isn’t one really.’ Not any more, she thought, her heart turning over with relief that that obstacle was no longer in the way.
Lizzie grinned and tucked her arm through hers. ‘Well, why don’t we get a drink and you can tell me anyway? Dan looks as if he’s going to be tied up for a bit and I do so love a juicy romance.’
* * *
Dan finally managed to pry Zoe away from his sister at around midnight.
‘For someone who claims not to like social occasions you certainly seemed to enjoy yourself this evening,’ he said, smiling at her as he wrapped an arm round her shoulder and felt her lean on him a little as he led her upstairs.
She laughed softly and clung on all the way down the corridor to their room. ‘Yes, well, in all honesty I can’t quite see what I’ve been making such a fuss about all these years, because that was best fun I’ve had in ages.’
‘It was, wasn’t it?’ He stopped at the door and Zoe bumped into him.
‘Sorry,’ she said, with an adorably silly smile, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks flushed. ‘I think I might have had a bit too much champagne. I’m better with gin.’
‘The hard stuff,’ he said, unlocking the door and opening it.
She moved past him into the room, her hand brushing against the front of his trousers and she threw him a saucy smile. ‘Not yet, but I’ll have to see what I can do.’
‘Minx.’ Dan followed her in, hung the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the handle and closed the door.
‘I know,’ she said. ‘Who’d have thought?’
She dropped her handbag on the armchair that sat in the corner of the room and then started fumbling awkwardly for the pins that were keeping her hat in place. ‘You know, one of the reasons I came to find you the night of your award ceremony was because I had the feeling you’d unleash the real me, and I was right.’
Dan tossed the key onto the console table and glanced up at her. ‘If saucy minx is the real you then I’m all in favour.’
Pausing what she was doing, she shot him a smile. ‘Oh, you are so good for me.’
And she was good for him, he thought as he walked over to her, brushed her hands aside and took over the pin pulling with the dexterity and efficiency of someone who was stone cold sober and could actually see what they were doing. Very good. ‘I’m delighted to have been of assistance.’
‘Thank you for inviting me.’
‘Thank you for coming.’
‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Especially the swans escaping their pen and invading the dance floor. That was quite the highlight of the night, I think.’
‘That was the highlight for you?’ he murmured. His highlights, of which there’d been a few, were far more mind-blowing, although he had to admit the swans had been amusing.
‘Apart from all the lovely romance of it all, of course,’ she said, sighing and leaning back against his chest. ‘And meeting your sister. She’s great. She invited me to her New Year’s Eve party, which I thought was nice of her.’
‘She liked you. So did my mother, as she kept telling me.’
She shivered. ‘Oh dear. Will you ever hear the end of it?’
‘I doubt it.’ And actually he couldn’t care less.
‘What was the highlight for you?’
Where could he even begin to start? Was it the heady feeling of being free from Natalie after all these years? The pride and admiration he felt every time he looked at Zoe this evening? The warmth that filled him whenever he was near her? The dawning realisation that perhaps he more than just liked her?
Not sure he was quite ready to share any of that, he eventually lifted the hat off her head, dropped it and the pins onto an armchair and then put his hands on her shoulders and slowly turned her round. ‘I suspect the highlight of my evening is yet to come,’ he said softly as he drew her into his arms.
Her eyes darkened and her breathing hitched in her throat. ‘Really?’
‘Oh, yes,’ he said, his heart thundering and his body hardening. ‘Assuming you play your part, that is.’
‘And what part would that be?’
‘Well, now, let’s see...’ he began, undoing the butto
ns of her coat and sliding it off her shoulders. ‘How about hot wedding guest about to get the ravishing that was interrupted earlier?’
He draped her coat over the chair and set to work on the zip of her dress.
‘I think I could make that work,’ she said huskily.
‘Why don’t you just let me do all the work?’ he said, lowering his head and putting his mouth to the spot where her jaw met her ear.
She shivered, just as he’d known she would. ‘Oh, all right, then,’ she said with a long-suffering-sounding sigh, ‘if you insist.’
Dan let her dress fall to the floor and sank to his knees in front of her, and murmured, ‘Oh, I absolutely do.’
And as conversation faded and the only sounds in the room became moans and groans and harsh ragged panting and desperate little cries he thought he could feel her touching him a little more possessively and holding him a little more tightly.
By the time she was clutching at his shoulders and convulsing around him and he was buried deep inside her, his heart thundering with everything he felt for her, the only thing he could think was that he wanted to stay there for ever.
Because while the night before he’d left for the States he’d thought he might be falling for her, Dan knew that there was no longer any ‘might’ about it. Zoe was brave and strong, protective and loyal, faced her problems head on and feared nothing, and he was head over heels in love with her.
* * *
He was still reeling from the discovery of it the following morning when he stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel round his waist and at the knock at the bedroom door headed over to open it. Still a bit stunned by the strength of his feelings for her and the mad combination of happiness and panic that they aroused in him. And still recovering from the blistering hot shower he and Zoe had just shared.
So when he opened the door to collect the breakfast and variety of newspapers he’d ordered and caught sight of the headline, when he turned the pages and saw what she’d done, the devastating sense of betrayal hit him like a punch strong enough to throw him against a wall. It winded him, ripped his heart from his chest and filled him with such awful bone-crushing pain that in defence his body went numb and his brain shut down.