by Loretta Hill
She needed to get him off this dance floor and out of earshot of the other guests. Then she could get to the bottom of this. No doubt Lisa was behind it all. But how she got someone to agree to the plan she had no idea. A horrible thought occurred to her.
Maybe she paid him.
Her body involuntarily shuddered and she wished to die. How humiliating! The thought was cut short as Henry pulled her closer, melding her body to his. He lifted a hand and stroked her hair. ‘Hey,’ he whispered, ‘you have nothing to worry about. You’re safe with me.’
To Kate’s horror she felt tears smarting her eyes. How could the only words she’d ever wanted to hear sound so wrong? The only thing worse than having a fake boyfriend was wishing he was your real one. She blinked rapidly, holding resolutely on to her emotions. This song was going to end soon. And she’d have to be ready to confront him.
The music faded.
As they fell apart, the DJ called the attention of everyone on the balcony.
‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Lisa and Andrew’s engagement party. Before we get too far into the evening, the father of the bride just wants to say a few words.’
Great! Speeches.
She’d be stuck standing there for at least another half hour. Sure enough everyone around her started closing in. If she walked off the dance floor with Henry now it would be rude – especially considering she was the head bridesmaid.
There was no getting round it, she was trapped.
Henry’s arm went about her shoulders again. It was a gesture of protection. But it’s not real, she told herself. It’s as fake as he is.
Lisa’s father took the microphone and addressed the crowd. He was a portly man with a warm, all-encompassing smile.
‘Thank you for being here and for celebrating this new chapter in Lisa and Andrew’s lives.’
As he spoke about how the happy couple had met and how much they were looking forward to the future, Kate felt a poignant sadness stir her heart. Who was she kidding? She yearned for all that too. She wanted to find love and happiness with someone who meant the world to her. And she wanted to mean the world to them. She couldn’t hide behind her false bravado forever. Maybe Lisa was right … Maybe it was time to get back in the game. Not all men were liars. Mark had kept her in the dark about a lot of things – who he really was, where he really was! – But not everyone was like that.
This man is pretending to be your boyfriend! Do you really think you can trust him to be an honest, stand-up guy?
The notion was as much fantasy as he was.
As the speeches finally ended, Kate turned to face Henry. ‘OK, I think we need to talk now … somewhere private.’
He sighed but didn’t disagree. ‘OK.’
He led her to a secluded corner of the balcony. She rested a hand on the railing as she turned to face him. He stopped about a foot away from her, his hands dug deep into the pockets of his jeans and studied her with some concern. Maxine was right. He did look bloody sincere. A quality that certainly must be invaluable to a man who enjoyed acting as a hobby.
Her mouth pulled into a straight line. ‘So, I guess the joke’s on me.’
The wind ruffled his hair but he met her eyes squarely. She reined in her immediate attraction to him as he grimaced.
‘Please don’t feel that way. This isn’t a practical joke.’
‘Then what is it?’ she demanded. ‘We both know you’re not my boyfriend. I’ve never seen you before in my life.’
‘True.’
‘Who put you up to this?’
He hesitated. ‘Your friend Lisa.’
‘My ex-friend Lisa,’ she muttered, looking away. Dreading his next response, she kept her gaze trained on the gorgeous harbour views. ‘What do you get out of it?’
‘I get to meet you.’
Her eyes flew back to his, checking for signs of pretence. But his gaze did not waver. An electric current seemed to pass between them as he stood there challenging her.
‘Meet me?’ she faltered.
‘Yeah.’ His features relaxed into a boyish smile. ‘Lisa said it was the only way I could. She said you, er … wouldn’t agree to a blind date.’
‘So she ambushed me instead.’ Rubbing her fingers to her temple she closed her eyes. ‘Why, oh why, does she keep doing this to me? Do you know how pathetic I feel right now? Apart from the fact that you scared me half to death when you first appeared on the scene.’
He came closer. ‘Kate, I …’ He lifted his hands as though he were about to lay them on her shoulders. ‘Don’t touch me.’
He stopped, his hands dropping to his sides. ‘You’re offended.’
‘Of course I’m bloody offended!’ She put her hands on her hips. ‘You and Lisa basically took advantage of me. Who are you anyway?’
He hesitated. ‘I’m a man who cares about you.’
‘Don’t insult my intelligence.’
‘That wasn’t my intention.’
‘Is your name even Henry?’
‘Of course it is.’
‘Where did she find you?’
‘At that club, the Wet Elephant. I saw you there with her and I wanted to meet you.’
He looked so earnest but she shook her head, her voice coming out a little breathy. ‘Why?’
‘Because I had a feeling I couldn’t shake. Has that ever happened to you?’
It was happening to her right now. But since Mark she didn’t listen to her ‘feelings’ anymore. They always led her astray.
It would be so easy to open herself up to this man. And just as easy for the result to be fatal.
‘Look I’m sorry,’ she began, trying to keep her tone neutral. ‘I’m sorry you got dragged into the mess that happens to be my life. But I’m not dating right now.’
‘Why not?’
She turned away.
‘Did someone hurt you?’
She didn’t respond. It wasn’t his business. And it wasn’t Lisa’s business to try to repair her life either. She wished everyone would just leave her alone.
‘OK,’ he seemed to catch her unspoken message. ‘Maybe we are strangers and maybe it’s a little forward of me to ask you such a personal question. But, Kate, tonight when I looked into your eyes, I saw a little piece of myself.’
‘Wow,’ this time she did turn around, ‘that’s a great line. How often do you use it?’ She regretted the words as soon as she spoke them. That wasn’t fair. Not all men were like Mark.
But he didn’t rise to her jibe, instead holding up his hands in surrender. ‘I get it. You’ve got walls and you don’t want anybody breaching them. I’ve been there. Hell, I am there. But there comes a point when you just need more out of life.’
‘More what?’ she whispered.
He shrugged, his eyes were shiny with intensity. ‘I don’t know. Just less empty.’
Her ribcage constricted so that she could hardly breathe.
Less empty.
Oh God, he was right.
This time, when the tears welled, she was powerless to stop them. Dashing a hand across her eyes, she hastily threw some words at him. ‘Listen, I need to go. Can you tell Lisa and Andrew I left. Tell ‘em … tell ‘em … I didn’t feel well.’
Her legs were moving as she spoke.
‘Kate!’ She heard him call her name, hailing her back, but the room was suffocating her. She had to get out of there.
Henry slumped back against the railing as he watched his blonde angel retreat.
Good one, mate! You really played that well.
What happened to not coming on too strong?
What happened to playing it cool?
His mouth twisted. Maybe the truth was, without the mantel of H. L. Carter, famous novelist and all-round millionaire, he really wasn’t that attractive.
Talk about back to earth.
‘I wouldn’t sweat it, she’s no great loss.’
Henry started as he realised for the first time that he was being watched.
‘Excuse me?’ He glanced down the railing and saw the faint glow of a cigarette butt. As his eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting he recognised the man he’d spoken to earlier and couldn’t remember liking.
‘Don’t know if she mentioned it but we were engaged once.’
Engaged!
A spike of jealousy and surprise shot through Henry’s body. Of all the people he would have chosen for Kate, this guy did not make the list.
‘No, she didn’t tell me,’ Henry muttered, a sadistic desire to know more keeping him standing there when he knew he should leave.
‘Not surprised.’ Mark put out his cigarette. ‘Our breakup wasn’t exactly peachy. She giving you a hard time too?’
A muscle jumped in Henry’s jaw. He instinctively knew this guy had been the cause of the pain he’d seen in Kate’s face only moments earlier. This man was the one who had hurt her, the one who made her think twice before taking a chance on him.
Damn him!
‘No,’ he responded. ‘Not that it’s any of your business.’
Mark laughed. ‘Not trying to get you down, mate. In fact, I’m trying to help you. Help you understand what Kate’s all about.’
Henry turned to face Mark fully. ‘What is Kate all about?’
‘Commitment.’
Henry blinked. ‘And that’s a bad thing?’
Mark snorted. ‘You wouldn’t understand because you’re not a doctor. Women want to marry doctors. It’s the way of things. There’re a lot of gold-diggers out there if you happen to have the right occupation. You can’t blame me for being cynical. She was putting on an act.’
Henry’s gaze wandered back to the revellers by the bar as Mark’s words caused him to consider his own position with shame. Here he was pretending to be someone else, lying through his teeth to remain incognito. Pot calling kettle black, really. When had honesty become such a last resort?
‘I’m sure Kate’s not like that.’ His voice came out constricted. If that were true, why hadn’t he trusted her with his full name?
Mark smirked. ‘She used me to put herself through university.’
Henry didn’t want to hear this rubbish. He set his mouth, wondering how to get rid of the man.
‘Are you claiming to know her better than I do?’ Mark asked snidely at his telling silence. ‘We went out for three years. And after everything I did for her, that good-for-nothing bitch couldn’t accept me for who I was. She used me and abandoned me. She’ll do the same to you.’
A riot of emotions passed through Henry’s head. Anger at Mark’s derogatory words, jealousy at the longevity of his relationship with Kate and frustration with the information he just didn’t want to know. Didn’t want to believe.
Of its own volition his fist swung out and caught Mark on the side of the jaw. The blow took the man so much by surprise that he staggered back, tripping over his own feet and landing on his arse.
‘You just assaulted me!’ Mark cried in shock.
‘You don’t say,’ Henry flexed the fingers in his hand both in shock and satisfaction of his own actions.
‘You can’t hit me.’ Mark rubbed his jaw. ‘I’ll sue you – empty that tiny bank account of yours.’
Henry felt his lip curl. ‘You’re welcome to try. Here’s my lawyer’s card.’ He pulled his wallet out and flicked one of Tom’s white business cards at Mark before striding off.
Tosser.
CHAPTER 5
Kate knew it was rude to have left the party without telling her best friend. But after what Lisa had pulled, common courtesy didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore. By the time she arrived back at her apartment, a dingy two bedroom on the wrong side of town, there were three unanswered calls on her phone.
They were from Lisa but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to answer them.
She wasn’t really up for a de-brief, least of all to the person she was most angry at. Instead she tried to find solace in sleep. But it was a long time coming. Her mind was too full of …
Henry.
In just one night he had almost shattered the walls she’d built around herself since Mark’s betrayal – almost made her believe she could trust again.
She thought back over their conversation countless times, kicking herself for not having the guts to stay and see it through to a less abrupt ending. Now she would never see him again. She’d always be left to wonder what sort of man he really was. A man she could have known.
It’s for the best you didn’t.
How many normal, well-adjusted people agreed to pretend to be someone’s boyfriend? It didn’t matter how charming he was. He must have a few screws loose. And Lisa’s track record of finding good men wasn’t exactly glowing.
Trusting him wasn’t worth the risk.
She awoke early the next morning, not feeling very refreshed but unable to get back to sleep. Foolishly, she decided to get up and make use of her insomnia by doing some work on her thesis. After all, she had to finish that thing sometime. Seeing Mark again had put her in mind of the goals she set herself for the year. Better to focus on those than Henry.
Nonetheless, after two hours she was forced to give up. She’d written the same three sentences about six times and still wasn’t sure whether she was happy with it. Her concentration was absolutely shot.
She stood up, deciding to break for morning tea. Setting her laptop on the coffee table, she left her tiny living room to enter the kitchen.
As the kettle was boiling she heard a knock at the door.
Who could that be?
A quick look through her spy hole told her it was Lisa. She paused. Should she pretend she wasn’t home? Yesterday’s rage at what Lisa had done to her was still simmering beneath her skin. The last thing she was in the mood for was her best friend’s excuses.
Lisa rapped on the door again. ‘Kate, I know you’re in there.’
After another second of hesitation she unlocked it. Leaning against the door frame she eyed Lisa sharply. ‘I’m so mad at you right now I don’t even know where to start.’
To give her some credit, Lisa did look suitably remorseful. ‘Look, I’m sorry for what I did but can I at least come in and explain?’
‘Explain?’ Kate repeated dubiously. ‘Is it possible to do that?’ All the same, she stepped back and allowed her friend to pass over the threshold.
Lisa turned around as she shut the door with a snap. ‘You don’t understand. When he showed up at the club, it was like … meant to be. You saw him. He was almost exactly as you described. Can you blame me for setting you up?’
Kate pulled her lips into a thin line. ‘I don’t know, Lisa, can I blame you for tricking me, humiliating me and introducing me to yet another potential stalker after I specifically asked you for no more blind dates?’
‘Well, when you put it like that.’
Kate’s jaw dropped at her flippancy. ‘Have you no shame at all? You told personal information about me to a complete stranger and then allowed him to take advantage of me.’
Lisa hunched a shoulder. ‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad, surely. He seemed like a nice guy and, as far as I could see, behaved like a perfect gentleman.’
Yes, Henry had, but Kate would be damned if she’d let Lisa off the hook so easy.
‘That may be so,’ she responded, ‘but you’re supposed to be my best friend. Best friends don’t betray each other’s trust like that.’
‘Oh really?’ Lisa’s eyes took on a militant sparkle. ‘That’s a little hypocritical, isn’t it?’
‘What are talking about?’
Lisa shook her pointer finger. ‘You lied to me first! To my face no less, about this fake guy you met. How could you think that I wouldn’t see right through that? I’ve known you since we were kids.’
Kate blushed.
Damn, she’s got a point. ‘OK, so I shouldn’t have lied to you. But you drove me to it.’
‘I was just trying to help you. That’s all I’ve ever been trying to do.’
&n
bsp; She was surprised to hear the hurt in her friend’s voice and reflected with shame that without Lisa she didn’t know how she would have got through that awful breakup with Mark.
Lisa had taken her in when she had moved out of Mark’s apartment. Lisa had dragged her through that awful time when she thought his cheating ways were her fault.
She had invested three years in Mark. Three years in which she hadn’t seen a future without him in it. All her plans had turned to dust the day she’d answered his phone.
It was Lisa who had helped her make new plans. Lisa who had drilled it into her that Mark was merely a life detour and there was a fresh new road ahead.
Lisa’s only problem was that she didn’t know when to stop helping.
Kate’s anger morphed into guilt. ‘Oh crap. I’m an ungrateful bitch, aren’t I?’
‘No.’ The fight seemed to go out of Lisa too and her shoulders slumped. ‘No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have given your personal information to a stranger.’
They were both silent for a moment, eyes downcast, until an incorrigible smile tickled the corner of Lisa’s mouth. She peeped at Kate through her lashes.
‘So do we forgive each other?’
Kate sighed and opened her arms. ‘Come here.’
Lisa tripped forward and they squeezed each other tight before pulling apart.
‘Anyway,’ Lisa drawled, immediately indicating to Kate that she had learnt nothing from the incident they had just fought about. ‘What did you think of Henry? Isn’t he just the cutest? You like him, right?’
Kate snorted.
‘Thought so.’ Lisa gasped with delight. ‘So are you going to see him again?’
‘No. Of course not.’
‘Cause I’ve got his number. I can call him for you …’ Lisa whipped out her phone from her jeans back pocket.
‘Definitely not.’
‘It’ll only take a second.’ Lisa’s eyes widened with a sudden idea. ‘I could tell him you’ll meet him at –’
‘Lisa!’ Kate snatched the phone out of her hands. ‘You are not calling him.’