Confetti & Confusion

by Confetti

  After offering her own congratulations, Millie decided to take a shortcut through the gardens back to the front driveway so she could get a head start on the guests heading for the wedding reception at the villa. Forgetting she was wearing unfamiliar heels, she lost her footing and stumbled into a huge camellia bush. Before she had chance to realise what was happening a pair of strong hands reached forwards and dragged her upright.

  ‘Need a bit of assistance?’ asked a familiar voice.

  ‘I… what are you doing here?’

  ‘Always the tone of surprise! Should I have left you in the bush?’

  ‘No…’

  The corners of Millie’s mouth twitched, and when she met those dark brown eyes that had frequented her dreams more often than she cared to admit, her heart gave a sharp nip of desire and a giggle spluttered from her lips. She did make a habit of being rescued from arboreal catastrophes.

  ‘Just so we’re straight. I’m not a gatecrasher. Imogen and Alex invited me to the ceremony last night, but when I called round to collect you this morning, you had already left.’

  Zach was standing inches away from her, his proximity causing those sparkles of electricity Lottie had referred to earlier. The heady fragrance of his lemony aftershave, mingled with the aroma from the flowers, caused her to close her eyes for a second to appreciate the olfactory sensation. When she opened them again, Zach’s gaze scorched right through her.

  ‘Millie, I’m not moving from here until you listen to what I have to say.’

  ‘Ah, I really don’t…’

  ‘Chloe’s gone. She’s booked a room at a hotel in Rodney Bay and her sister is flying over for the remainder of her two-week stay. I wanted to tell you this yesterday, but I know you’ve been avoiding me and I didn’t want to embarrass you when there were so many people buzzing around the place. I want you to know that her arrival was a complete shock. As far as I was concerned our relationship had been over for months, she was engaged to another guy, and we had both moved on. I told you that.’

  ‘You did,’ murmured Millie, clenching her palms into fists to control the rampaging emotions that had started to gallop around her body unchecked.

  ‘However, Chloe has admitted that she lied. There was no new man in her life, no romantic proposal at the top of the Eiffel Tower. She spun me that story in an effort to make me “come to my senses” and ask her to come back. When her ruse didn’t have the desired effect, she panicked, but by then I had left Oxford to come out to St Lucia.’

  ‘So she decided to follow you here?’

  ‘She thought that it would be like being on holiday together, forgetting that I’m actually here to work, and conveniently overlooking the fact that I had given her no reason to believe I wanted to see her, or resume our relationship. Of course, I did want us to remain friends, and she had travelled a long way under the mistaken belief that I still had feelings for her. I needed to explain things to her in straightforward language, but I knew I couldn’t have that sort of conversation over the phone so I went to the airport to collect her. Obviously, she hadn’t arranged anywhere to stay so I had to bring her back to the lodge.’

  ‘Zach, I…’

  ‘I know I should have handled her unexpected arrival better, but I admit that I was in total shock. I’m so sorry for my lack of communication on the ride back to the villa on Thursday morning, but I was rehearsing what I was going to say to Chloe that would let her down as gently as possible but make it absolutely clear that there could be no future for us as a couple.’

  Millie wasn’t aware she had been holding her breath and she tried to inhale a lungful of oxygen or she would end up collapsed into a heap at Zach’s feet. His lips were inches from hers, so close in fact that she could feel his breath on her cheeks and eyelashes when he spoke. Shivers of desire rippled through her veins and out to her fingertips.

  Zach heaved a sigh and ran his hand over his chin, his eyes raking Millie’s face as he tried to gauge her reaction to what he was saying. She decided to let him continue his explanation without interruption to give herself the chance to formulate her own words before she spoke.

  ‘I spent all of Thursday night consoling Chloe. She put up a good argument, I have to concede. So, in the end, I just told her that I didn’t love her and there was nothing she could do to change that. The next morning when I woke up she had left the lodge and I hoped that meant that she had accepted what I’d said, but it turned out she had only taken Binks for a walk around the grounds.’

  ‘Erm, yes. I know. Their early morning stroll took them via the villa.’

  ‘Via the villa? You met Chloe?’

  ‘Come on, we need to get back to the villa. I’ll tell you about it in the car.’

  Much to Millie’s delight, Zach hooked his arm through hers and together they dashed towards where he’d left Tim’s scarlet BMW Roadster, clambering in and shooting away from the hotel at speed. The breeze whipped through Millie’s hair and her spirits edged up another notch as a feeling of freedom suffused her, followed by a cascade of possibilities now she knew Zach and Chloe weren’t an item.

  ‘Chloe came to warn me off.’

  ‘Warn you off?’

  ‘Yes, the “hands off my man” type of speech.’

  ‘Oh my God, I’m sorry you had to hear that, Millie. I had no idea she’d been to see you. Why didn’t you tell me? Ah, wait a minute, I get it now. You thought we were back together, didn’t you?’

  ‘I suppose I did. You didn’t call me to tell me what was going on so I assumed… well… especially when I saw you kissing amongst the palm trees when Ella and I went down to the Purple Parrot on Friday morning.’

  They had arrived at the entrance to the villa and instead of driving up the incline, Zach pulled off the road, cut the engine and turned to face Millie. His mouth twitched into that familiar smirk she had grown to love and her stomach performed a pirouette of pleasure.

  ‘I did not kiss Chloe “amongst the palm trees” as you so eloquently put it. When you saw us, I was actually pleading with her to see sense. I thought you knew how I felt about you?’

  ‘About me?’

  Zach’s eyes told her all she needed to know and suddenly she was floating on a cloud of happiness. She leaned forward and when their lips met she felt as if fireworks were exploding in the sky overhead. She had no idea how long they sat in the car, exchanging kisses and promises, but when the first of the hire cars started to overtake them, honking their horns at their romantic interlude amongst the cocoa trees, she reluctantly broke from Zach’s arms and urged him to drive them to the reception before Ella and Lottie sent out a search party.

  ‘Can we file this away under “To Be Continued”?’ asked Zach, raising his eyes in mischief.

  ‘Just you try and stop me!’

  As the plantation house came into view, with its white-painted veranda and pale blue jalousie shutters, Millie let out a sigh of contentment. She glanced at the view towards the Pitons and out to the Caribbean Sea, sparkling under the sun like a sheet of dancing diamonds and dotted with flecks of white from the sails of the fishing boats. There was no other place in the world she would rather be, and no one she would rather share it with than the man sat next to her.

  Before all the craziness of the wedding reception started, she sent up a missive of gratitude to her guardian angel for leading her to the Caribbean, for introducing her to such amazing and talented people, and for helping her to believe that she could love again. It was turning out to be the most perfect day in a tropical island paradise of St Lucia.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ‘Come on! Come on! Imogen’s getting ready to throw her bouquet!’ cried Carla, dragging Millie out of the kitchen and across the veranda towards the steps at the front of the villa, followed by Ella and Denise and all the other women in the wedding party.

  The meteorological gods had pulled out all the stops and had decided not to provide an interlude of liquid sunshine that afternoon. The whole of the cocoa
plantation was bathed in a golden halo of light for the celebrations of Imogen and Alex’s marriage. The courtyard, where the happy couple and their guests had just enjoyed the most spectacular wedding breakfast, was an inspired venue. Every available tree, wall, table and chair had been decorated with an abundance of fresh tropical flowers, garlands of twinkling fairy lights and Karen and Gracie’s home-made butterfly bunting.

  However, most important of all, everything had gone off without a hitch. The food had been delicious and the comments relayed back to the kitchen had been very complimentary. The guests were now milling around the grounds as they waited for the steel band to set up their drums and for the evening’s entertainment to start.

  It had been an emotional day for everyone after what they had been through, especially when, in the absence of Imogen’s father, Julia had stood up to deliver a Mother-of-the-Bride speech. She’d assured the gathering that Jeff had definitely walked amongst them throughout the day, bursting with pride as his daughter made her wedding vows and how delighted he would have been to have Alex as a son-in-law.

  Millie had to gulp down on the lump in her throat when she realised that, if she were ever fortunate enough to be standing in Imogen’s stilettos one day, her own mother would have to perform a very similar role. Her heart gave a nip of sadness that her father would not be at her side when she walked down the aisle, but then a smile spread across her face as she realised how pleased he would be that she was able to even envisage that such an event could happen in the future, irrespective of the trauma of the past.

  ‘Okay! Ready everyone?’ called Imogen, standing on the top step, every pore of her body oozing happiness and her eyes sparkling with adoration as she glanced at her new husband standing proudly next to her. She held up the bouquet Julia had lavished such love and attention on and waved it at the section of the crowd containing all the single ladies.

  ‘Yes!’ came the cheerful chorus.

  Millie glanced around the assembled crowd. There was Julia, her face alight with joy, her hand resting on Brad’s arm as they watched the younger members of the wedding party jockey for the best position. Then there was Harriet, but Millie knew she wasn’t interested in elbowing anyone aside to be first in line to catch the bridal bouquet because she had confided only half an hour ago that she and Owen were expecting their first child in May next year. Owen had smiled shyly at Millie, his arm slung around his wife’s neck, almost too attractive for words in his crumpled linen suit and lopsided tie.

  Finally, her eyes landed on Carla, bobbing and bouncing up and down in the middle of the throng, trying to position herself in the perfect spot. For the first time that day she had ditched her camera – could it be because its bulky presence would hinder her chances of catching the bouquet? She had spent the day so far snapping everyone and everything, but it was Greg who now clung onto the camera as if his life depended on it.

  ‘Assessing the competition?’ whispered Zach as he came to stand next to Millie, heart-stoppingly gorgeous in his Master of Ceremonies suit.

  ‘No!’ she giggled.

  ‘Need any help? At times like this you might like to know that I played rugby at university. So, let’s talk tactics.’

  ‘Zach, it’s just a bit of fun. A tradition, not a competitive sport.’

  ‘Who are you kidding? I haven’t seen this much gritty determination since England played New Zealand in the World Cup!’

  Millie laughed as she saw Karen hoist Gracie onto her shoulders. ‘I think you might be right!’

  ‘Okay! Good luck everyone! One, two, threeee…’

  Imogen spun round and threw her bouquet high over her shoulder. A very undignified scramble ensued as the female guests leapt into the air en masse, their hands outstretched as they reached for the posy of flowers. Someone shoved an elbow sharply into Millie’s ribs, causing her to stumble into Zach and he snaked his arm around her waist to hold her upright.

  ‘Can’t blame your clumsy gene for that one!’ Zach laughed, making no attempt to let her go.

  Together Zach and Millie turned to watch the scrum taking place in the middle of the courtyard. Suddenly, there was a loud squeal of delight, as Carla emerged from the fracas victorious, hugging the now-bedraggled bouquet protectively to her chest for fear it would be wrenched from her arms.

  ‘I wish I wasn’t leaving tomorrow,’ sighed Millie.

  ‘Me too, but let’s make the most of the time that’s left, shall we? Enjoy every moment! Come on or we’ll miss the first dance.’

  Zach guided Millie back to the courtyard where Imogen and Alex were about to showcase the waltz they had been rehearsing for the last six weeks. When they’d finished, cheers and applause erupted and the dance floor filled with couples. Zach held out his hand, his eyebrows raised in question. Millie didn’t have to be asked twice and, with a nod and a smile towards Lottie, who gave her a beam of approval, she moved into Zach’s arms, not in the least bit surprised that her body fit perfectly into his muscular contours.

  ‘Have you had fun today?’

  ‘Not just today but every day since I arrived in the Caribbean. I’ve had an amazing adventure, Zach, and learned a lot about myself along the way. I’m going to miss everyone.’

  ‘Well, perhaps we could stay in touch and meet up when I get back to the UK? I should be back by the beginning of December if you want to make a date to come over to the Cotswolds for one of my legendary spag bols?’

  ‘Sound like a plan.’

  She looked up and connected with Zach’s chocolate-brown eyes, fantasising about what she hoped would happen when they had the villa to themselves later that night, and enjoying the slow helix of pleasure begin its journey from her chest into her lower abdomen as their bodies moved as one to the romantic Caribbean ballad the band was playing. A waft of his citrusy cologne made Millie laugh. She had spent the whole day seeking out that reassuring aroma, knowing that it meant he would not be far away.

  ‘What are you laughing at?’ Zach asked, his mouth inches away from hers.

  ‘Nothing,’ she muttered, not wanting to break the magical spell.

  As the thrum of the music changed from a waltz to the Whitney Houston classic Imogen loved, Zach’s lips met hers and Millie surrendered herself to his embrace. It was a fitting end to the best day of her life.

  Book One – Sunshine & Secrets

  Book Three – Mistletoe & Mysteries (out Sep 2018!)

  First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Canelo

  Canelo Digital Publishing Limited

  57 Shepherds Lane

  Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU

  United Kingdom

  Copyright © Daisy James, 2018

  The moral right of Daisy James to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 9781788630191

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Look for more great books at www.canelo.co

 

 

 
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