Bridesmaid Says, I Do!

by Barbara Hannay

  Hi Zoe,

  I hope you had a safe trip back and that everything was fine when you got home. Just wanted to thank you once again. I don’t think you truly realise how big a help you’ve been.

  Also, I’ve had a text from Bella, and she and Damon are still on the trail of the grandparents. They’re heading north—staying in Rockhampton tonight, I think.

  Are you determined to go back to the office tomorrow?

  Seems a shame you can’t have a decent break.

  Cheers,

  Kent

  To: Kent Rigby From: Zoe Weston

  Subject: The Runaways

  Hi Kent,

  Thanks for your email and for asking if everything was OK, but I’m afraid I came home to a minor disaster. I asked my neighbour to take care of my goldfish while I was away and she overfed them, so my poor goldfish, Orange Juice, was floating on the top of a very murky tank. By the looks of it, Anita dumped half a tin of fish food in there.

  I didn’t think to warn her that you can’t do that with goldfish. Thank heavens I wasn’t away all week or I would have lost Brian and Ezekiel as well. As it is, they look a bit peaky.

  I know you must be thinking I’m a screw loose to be so upset about a goldfish, but they’re the only pets I can have in this flat, so they’re important. Now, I’ve spent most of the evening cleaning the tank.

  But, yes, to answer your question, I’ll be back at the office in the morning.

  Bella sent me that text, too. It’s a weird situation they’ve found themselves in, isn’t it? We can only hope it all works out happily.

  Best wishes and thanks again for your hospitality, Zoe.

  To: Kent Rigby From: Zoe Weston

  Subject: Thank You

  Kent, you shouldn’t have. Honestly. It was so sweet of you to have a goldfish delivered to the office.

  The delivery boy caused quite a stir when he appeared in the doorway with a huge grin on his face and a plastic bag with a goldfish in his hand.

  As if the office gossip wasn’t already flying thick and fast this morning. Quite a few of the girls were at the hen party, so of course the whole staff wanted details.

  Luckily, when the delivery came I got to the door first, so no one else saw the docket and realised it came from you. That would certainly have put the cat among the goldfish, and everyone would have been jumping to the wrong conclusions.

  But I’m very grateful, Kent. According to a magazine article on feng shui, three goldfish in a tank are always better than two, so your gift has restored my chances of inner peace and prosperity.

  And I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that the new fish is very pretty, with lovely white markings and delicate fins. I’ve decided she’s a girl and I’ve called her Ariel.

  Brian and Ezekiel are very impressed. Thank you again, and warmest wishes, Zoe

  P.S. I’m off to book my overseas trip tomorrow—with Christmas in Prague as a must.

  To: Zoe Weston From: Kent Rigby

  Subject: Re: Thank You

  I’m so pleased the delivery arrived safely. Sorry that it caused a stir in the office, but at least feng shui has been restored in your household. I hope you enjoy your new fish.

  No news from the northern adventurers, but I’m assuming they’re still hot on the trail.

  Hope the travel bookings go smoothly. I’m jealous. Cheers Kent The confession of jealousy was no lie. As Kent pressed send he could think of nothing he’d like more than to take off for Europe again. With Zoe.

  He imagined showing her all the places he’d discovered—taking a ride on the London Eye and drinking a pint in a quaint old English pub. Dining out in Paris, or walking through the Latin Quarter. In Spain they would visit art galleries and sample tapas bars. They’d walk Italy’s magical Cinque Terre. Experience Christmas in Prague.

  Together.

  He’d decided that Zoe would be a perfect travel companion. She was organised and yet easy-going, adaptable and fun. Sexy.

  Yeah, if he was honest, he was utterly absorbed with the idea of kissing Zoe in every location. Their farewell kiss replayed in his head on an almost continuous reel.

  He tried to tell himself that he was overreacting, riding on a tidal wave of relief now that he was no longer marrying someone out of a sense of friendship and duty.

  So, OK, there’d been plenty of sparks. With Zoe he’d experienced the very fireworks that had eluded him and Bella. Serious sparkage that left him hungry for more than mere kisses. But Zoe was back in Brisbane now, and soon she’d be heading overseas. A man with a grain of common sense would look elsewhere.

  Problem was, this man had experienced his fill of common sense. Now he wanted nothing more than to indulge in fantasies. And he kept remembering Zoe surrounded by dozens of smart little candles, kept picturing her on the bank of Willara Creek, her face soft with emotion and empathy, wanting to understand. He saw her on the road side struggling with a flat tyre. In the pub on the hens’ night, in a sexy dress, bright as a flame. He remembered drying her tears just before he kissed her. Goodbye.

  Zoe knew it was silly to keep checking her private emails at work and then to rush to her laptop as soon as she got home. Silly to be disappointed when there was no new message from Kent.

  She wanted to move on and to put the entire Willara experience behind her, so Kent’s silence was a step in the right direction.

  Now that she was home, and had a little distance, she could see how dangerous her penchant for Kent had been. After her painful, harrowing heartbreak over Rodney, she was mad to hanker for another man who’d just called off his engagement.

  Even though Kent and Bella’s relationship had been very different from Rodney and Naomi’s, the patterns were too close for comfort.

  Besides, she suspected that Kent wasn’t looking to settle down. She’d heard talk at the hens’ night that he used to play the field, and, of course, he’d recently pulled out of commitment to Bella. It was true; he’d been gallant to the end. Just the same, he certainly wouldn’t be ready to leap into a new, serious relationship.

  Once and for all she had to move on. Kent’s kiss had been nothing more than a spontaneous outburst of feelings at the end of an extremely emotional weekend. And his thoughtfulness in sending the goldfish was just another example of his general niceness.

  His email silence, on the other hand, simply meant there was no news from Bella—and it was a perfect opportunity for Zoe to move forward.

  His silence was a desirable result. Honestly.

  Very slowly, over the next twenty-four hours, the straightforward sense of this started to sink in. Zoe focused on planning her holiday.

  It was going to be quite different travelling solo instead of travelling with Bella as she’d once hoped. Quite an adventure, really.

  On Friday evening when Zoe arrived home from work, she was deliberately not thinking about Kent Rigby. She most especially concentrated on not thinking about him when she heard a knock on her front door.

  Having just kicked off her shoes, she answered the door in stockinged feet—a distinct disadvantage when her caller was six feet two. No doubt that was why she blurted out inhospitably, ‘What are you doing here?’

  Kent had the grace to look a little embarrassed. ‘I had business in the city and I was passing by.’

  It might have been the lamest of excuses, but Kent Rigby in the flesh could obliterate Zoe’s protests and doubts with a single warm smile.

  One glance into the twinkling dark depths of his eyes and all her resolutions to forget him flew out of the window.

  ‘So,’ she suggested, trying to subdue her happy grin. ‘I suppose you’ve dropped by to see how Ariel’s settling in.’

  ‘Ariel?’

  ‘Your thoughtful gift. My new goldfish.’

  Kent laughed—a lovely, sexy masculine rumble. ‘Of course. I’ve had
sleepless nights wondering. How is she?’

  Zoe stepped back to let him through her doorway, conscious of his height and size and her lack of shoes and the supreme smallness of her living room. The fish tank sat rather conspicuously at one end of the low set of shelves that also held her television set.

  With a wave towards it, she said, ‘Ariel’s the pretty one with the dainty white fins.’

  Kent sent a polite nod towards the tank. ‘She’s a very fine specimen.’

  ‘As you can see, she’s quite at home now.’

  ‘She is. That’s great.’ But he immediately switched his attention from the fish and back to Zoe. ‘I know this is a bit last minute. I would have called at the office earlier today, but you were worried about wagging tongues.’

  ‘You could have telephoned.’

  ‘Yes.’ His smile tilted. ‘But I wanted an excuse to see you.’

  Not fair. Zoe’s resistance was melting faster than ice cream on a summer’s day. Desperate to hang on to her diminishing shreds of common sense, she said, ‘I haven’t heard from Bella, have you?’

  ‘Yes, she rang this morning.’

  ‘So they’re still heading north?’

  ‘Yes, and there’s an awful lot of coastline, so heaven knows how long it will take.’

  Standing in the middle of her living room, Kent was watching her, unabashedly letting his eyes rove over her work clothes, her legs …

  Self-consciously, she fiddled with the bridesmaid bracelet at her wrist. Unwisely, she’d taken to wearing it constantly. She rubbed one stockinged foot against the other.

  He smiled again. ‘So … how are you now, Zoe?’

  ‘I’m—I’m fine.’ What else could she say? She could hardly admit to feeling up and down and all over the place after one goodbye kiss. ‘More importantly, how are you?’

  ‘I’m OK. Surprisingly OK, actually.’

  Memories of their kiss hovered in the air. Recklessly, Zoe thought how easy it would be to drift towards him again, to find herself in his arms, tasting that lovely, seductive mouth.

  She struggled to remember all the reasons it was wrong. He’s free to play the field now. Don’t get hurt. Remember Rodney! She found refuge in her duties as a hostess. ‘Would you like to sit down, Kent? Can I get you a drink?’

  Instead of answering, he asked, ‘Am I interrupting your plans for Friday night?’

  ‘I—I was planning to have a quiet night in.’ She’d been looking forward to a stress-free weekend for a change.

  ‘So I can’t tempt you to a quiet dinner out?’

  Oh.

  Zoe’s mouth worked like her goldfish’s. She’d spent the past week listing all the reasons why she must stop swooning over this man. Rodney the Rat had featured high on that list. Kent’s own reputation as Willara’s most dedicated bachelor was another point worth remembering. But now—shame on her—now that he’d asked, she couldn’t think of anything she’d like more than to go out with him.

  Besides, she’d promised Bella she’d keep an eye on Kent—and going out with him tonight was simply doing Bella a favour, wasn’t it?

  ‘Dinner would be lovely,’ she said, trying to strike the right note between polite and casual. ‘Why don’t you make yourself at home while I change into something more—?’ Zoe bit off the word comfortable … It was such a cheesy cliché and she didn’t want to give Kent a whiff of the wrong idea.

  ‘Let me get you a drink,’ she said instead. Her kitchen led off the living area and she went to the fridge and opened it. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been in the mood for shopping this week, so there was half a bottle of rather old white wine, the heel of an ancient block of cheese and a handful of dried apricots.

  Thinking of the bounty at Willara Downs, she felt extremely inadequate in the hostess department.

  ‘I don’t need anything now. I’m happy to wait till dinner,’ Kent said, watching her from the doorway. ‘And you don’t need to change. If you don’t mind coming as you are, I think you look great in that outfit.’

  ‘In this?’ Zoe repeated, amazed. She was still in her work clothes—a dark green skirt and a cream blouse with pintucking and neat little pearl buttons.

  Kent’s eyes twinkled. ‘Yes, in that. You have no idea how good city clothes look after a steady diet of jeans and Akubras.’

  Given her own love of all things rural, Zoe had quite a fair understanding of how the trappings of a very different world might appeal.

  So, five minutes later, having once again donned her high heels and given her hair and make-up a retouch, she was in Kent’s ute and heading for her favourite suburban Thai restaurant. Fleetingly, she wondered if she should be wary or on guard, but such caution seemed impossible. She was ridiculously happy.

  Apart from the huge fact that she was being escorted by a gorgeous guy who caught every woman’s eye, she’d always loved this particular eating place. She loved coming through the swing glass doors to be enveloped by the fragrant and exotic aromas wafting from the kitchen. And she loved the sumptuous yet relaxing ambience—rich pink walls adorned with mirrors in dark, intricately carved wooden frames, and tables covered in cloths of peacock and gold.

  She enjoyed the little rituals, too, like the basket of pale pink prawn crisps that came along with their menus. This evening, sharing one of her favourite places with Kent, she was filled with bubbling excitement.

  They decided to choose exotic steamed fish, and chilli and ginger paste chicken. Then their drinks arrived—a glass of chilled white wine for Zoe and an icy beer for Kent—and they nibbled the prawn crisps and sipped their drinks. And they talked.

  Wow, how they talked.

  To Zoe’s surprise, Kent did not bring Bella or the wedding into their conversation. He started by asking her more about her travel plans, and he told her about the places he’d enjoyed most when he’d been overseas. They moved on to movies and discovered they both loved thrillers. They talked about books, but Kent preferred non-fiction, so there wasn’t quite so much common ground there.

  They might have moved on to music, but their meals arrived in traditional Thai blue-and-white bowls and they soon became busy with helping themselves to spoonfuls of fluffy jasmine rice. The delicious fish had been baked in coconut milk with slices of ginger, and the chicken had been stir-fried with masses of vegetables.

  Everything was wonderfully hot and spicy and at first they were too busy enjoying themselves to talk about anything except the food, but then Kent asked, out of the blue, ‘Are you very ambitious, Zoe?’

  Ambitious? Thrown by the question, she stared at him. Her most recent goal had been to be a perfect bridesmaid. Apart from that, she wanted to travel, but her biggest ambition was to find the right man, to settle down and start a family, which was the last thing she’d admit to this man.

  Fleetingly, she remembered her childish dream to live in a farmhouse that sat safely and squarely in the middle of green-and-gold fields. She hastily dismissed it.

  ‘Actually, I don’t think I can be very ambitious,’ she said. ‘I like my job and I want to be good at it, but I have no desire to smash through glass ceilings.’ She pulled a face. ‘Don’t tell your feminist little sister.’

  Kent grinned. ‘Your secret’s safe with me. Perhaps you’re content.’

  No. Content she was not, especially since she’d met Kent. Lately, restless yearning had been her constant companion.

  She doubted that Kent would want to hear her true ambition—to settle down with the right man, to put down roots, raise a family.

  ‘My parents have never been go-getters,’ she told him instead. ‘Lead the Way might have been a huge success, if they’d had a bit more tooth and claw.’

  ‘And you might have been the child of celebrity rock stars.’

  ‘Imagine.’ Zoe rolled her eyes. ‘Actually, I think my parents would have hated all the celebrity fuss that goes with being famous. I can’t imagine my mother being a diva, stamping her foot because the limo wasn’t pink.’

&
nbsp; She laughed at the impossibility of the picture. ‘What about you, Kent? Are you ambitious?’

  ‘I have big visions for the farm—projects like land management and tackling environmental issues. It’s easier to try new methods now I’m managing Willara on my own. My dad wasn’t keen to change and Tom’s just as bad. They want to keep doing things the way they always have. Pair of dinosaurs, both of them.’

  There was passion in his voice, which surprised Zoe. ‘I must admit every time I was at Willara I was always so caught up with the wedding I didn’t give much thought to the business and management of your farm. But it must be quite an enterprise. You’re like a CEO of your own private company.’

  ‘Yes, and it keeps me busy.’

  ‘But you love it.’

  ‘I do.’

  Kent smiled that special way of his that launched Zoe into outer space. Yikes, she had to calm down. Tonight was all about friendship.

  Sure, there were sizzles and sparks that zapped her whenever she looked across the table. And yes, there were dark flashes of appreciation in Kent’s eyes. And, most certainly, she was aware of a deepening sense of connection when they talked.

  But this wasn’t a date. Kent hadn’t once tried to flirt with her, or to touch her, or to offer her the over-the-top compliments that Rodney had trotted out on their first date. This evening was humming along at a nice, safe, just-friends level.

  Reassured by this success, Zoe found herself asking recklessly, ‘Are there any other ambitions? Do you still plan to marry and have a family one day?’

  Kent stiffened with obvious surprise.

  Oh, good grief. What an idiot she was.

  He concentrated on helping himself to a final spoonful of fish. ‘Right now I can’t imagine ever lining up for another wedding.’

  ‘And who could blame you?’ Zoe said fervently.

  To her relief, her awkward question didn’t ruin the night. As they left the restaurant and walked into the sensuous magic of the warm spring night the scent of frangipani and honeysuckle hung in the humid air. From a pub down the road a band was sending out a deep pulsing beat.

  Kent reached for Zoe’s hand, threaded his fingers through hers. ‘Thanks for bringing me here. It was a fabulous meal.’