His Girl Monday to Friday
Page 18
‘Right,’ said Charles. His eyes scanned the room, and lighted on Barbara’s briefcase. They had been arguing the afternoon before over strategy, laughing and sticking coloured pins in a map. The blue pins represented Mallory.
He opened the briefcase and pulled out two boxes of blue pins. These are mine,’ he said. ‘This is a new box.’ He held up one box. ‘This is an old box.’ He held up the other. ‘I hereby lend them both to Barbara.’
He dropped to the floor beside Ruth and began turning up the hem and sticking pins through the cloth, one pin every six inches, with impatient fingers.
‘But, Charles,’ said Ruth. There was genuine distress in her voice. ‘I want it to be perfect for Barbara. How can she walk down the aisle with pins in her dress?’
Charles looked up, the dark, hawk-like face suddenly rueful. ‘Ruth,’ he said, ‘have a heart. When she didn’t show up I thought she’d changed her mind. I thought she’d stood me up just to pay me back for all the times I’ve stood women up without even thinking, because I’d thought of something better to do.’
‘But, Charles,’ Ruth protested, ‘Barbara wouldn’t do something like that.’
‘Sure she would,’ said Charles, flashing Barbara a mocking glance. ‘It’s what I love about her. But I’d still like to make sure she’s mine before she thinks better of it.’
‘Well…’ said Ruth unhappily.
Barbara sank among billows of ivory silk. She put a hand on Charles’s shoulder and looked into his eyes, smiling. ‘I’ll never think better of it,’ she assured him. ‘But we’re so lucky. We’ve got something no one can take away. I’m sorry I kept you waiting, but now that you’re here…’ She left the sentence unfinished, but he saw the plea in her eyes.
He put the boxes of pins to one side. He laughed. ‘Now that I’m here I don’t care how long it takes,’ he admitted. ‘Well, how’s this? Reception first, wedding afterwards. I’ll call Mike and get him to make the arrangements. I’ll stay here and keep you company.’
Barbara pointed out that none of them would then be at the reception.
‘Good point,’ said Charles. ‘Well, we won’t call it a reception, then, we’ll just call it pre-wedding refreshments. Mike can set up another reception for after the ceremony. What’s a best man for, after all? It will keep him on his toes.’
He pulled out his mobile phone and called Mike.
‘Right, that’s all set,’ said Charles, once he’d ended the call.
Barbara stared at him. ‘You’re so arrogant,’ she said. ‘This is all because you couldn’t wait. If you had your mobile phone with you why didn’t you just call the house?’
Charles laughed. ‘I wanted to see you,’ he protested. ‘I was afraid you might have come to your senses. If you had I’d have had to kiss you out of them again. I’d better kiss you again just to be on the safe side.’
He kissed her until she had to hold on to him for support.
Ruth pointed out severely that there would be plenty of time for that sort of thing later on, then resumed sewing the hem with tiny, invisible stitches.
They were married five hours later. No one commented on the bride’s hem, but everyone agreed she looked radiant. The groom could hardly take his eyes off her.
ISBN: 9781472067845
HIS GIRL MONDAY TO FRIDAY
© Linda Miles 2013
First Published in Great Britain in 2013
Harlequin (UK) Limited
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