Runner-Up Bride

by Lisa Bingham

  Riley had expected some sort of weak reply but to her surprise, Dannette laughed. “Of course. This will be fun.”

  Dannette selected one of the pillows in the middle, settling into her place like Miss Muffet on her tuffet.

  Riley’s brow creased. She’d been so sure that Dannette would complain…

  But that didn’t really matter. Dannette might have passed one portion of this challenge, but the meal hadn’t been served yet. One bite of fiery curry, and she wouldn’t be nearly so composed.

  “Riley,” Alex growled under his breath, his fingers tightening around her arm.

  “Relax, Alex. Dannette has already said she’s up to the challenge.”

  “Behave,” he warned.

  “I am behaving,” she whispered, wriggling loose and taking her own place. Luckily, Mr. Pok arrived to bring them their wine. She beamed at Dannette. “You’ll love the wine, Dannette. Mr. Pok carries a particular Indian variety I adore. It’s made from an assortment of fruits.”

  “It’s fairly potent,” Alex warned.

  “It sounds delicious.”

  Mr. Pok filled each of the brass chalices that had been placed in front of them. A waitress arrived with a plate of pickled vegetables and flat bread.

  After they’d been left alone, Riley waited expectantly. “Well?” she prompted when Dannette hesitated. “Why don’t you try something?”

  Dannette looked first at Alex, then at Riley, and shrugged. Taking her wineglass, she sniffed, her nose wrinkling at the unfamiliar smell. At long last, she sipped, holding the liquor in her mouth as if she were some sort of connoisseur. Finally, she smiled.

  “I like it,” she proclaimed. “How very different!”

  Riley fought to keep her own disappointment from showing. She’d been so sure that Dannette would make a fuss about the choice of libation.

  Oh, well. Riley was sure that the woman would balk once she’d tried the food. Mr. Pok knew that Riley had a fondness for spicy fare, so he tended to be liberal with the curry.

  But Riley was to be disappointed, she realized later, as the three of them leaned indolently against the low table, their appetites pleasantly sated and their bodies slightly weary.

  Throughout the meal, Dannette had greeted each new dish as if it were a long-lost friend. She’d eaten an inordinate amount of food—and had even asked for a side dish of condiments. By the time they’d finished their meal with a platter of fresh fruit, Dannette and Mr. Pok were fast friends, and Riley had the feeling that her position as “favorite customer” had just been supplanted.

  “She’s really quite amazing, you know.”

  Alex’s low comment caused Riley to look his way. A lock of dark hair fell over his brow, and she itched to push it back. Normally, she wouldn’t have hesitated. But now, she couldn’t help thinking that such a gesture should be reserved for his fiancée.

  His lips slid into an all-knowing grin, and she made a face.

  “You thought she’d pick at her food and then run at the first strong flavor, didn’t you?”

  Riley placed a hand over her heart in infinite amazement. “Me?”

  “Yes. You.”

  When his eyes continued to hold hers far too long, she finally shrugged. “I admit, I thought she would be a bit more…”

  “Squeamish?”

  She couldn’t help grinning in response. “Nevertheless, she’s a very beautiful woman.”

  “Why do I have the feeling your words aren’t necessarily a compliment?”

  “I think you’re growing paranoid, Alex.”

  “Am I?”

  “Yes. You seem to think I don’t like your fiancee.”

  “I don’t think you do.”

  She couldn’t help retorting as cheekily as she could, “That’s true.”

  “But you will like her,” Alex promised. “As soon as the two of you get to know each other, you’ll become fast friends.”

  Riley doubted that assertion. Dannette was an interloper. She would always be an interloper.

  “You’ll see,” Alex said with a note of enjoyment. “Dannette has this amazing ability to make friends with anyone…even the most difficult personalities.”

  He reached for the check, and her own hand shot out to stop him. But the moment they touched, a strange jolt of electricity shot through her fingers.

  “I-it’s my treat, remember?”

  “I’ll pick up the tab this time.”

  “No, Alex, I—”

  But he didn’t allow her to argue. Keeping the bill out of her reach, he slipped a credit card from his pocket and held it in Mr. Pok’s direction.

  Unfortunately, now that the wizened man was gone, Dannette turned her attention to Riley.

  “I really must thank you for bringing me here, Riley.”

  “Don’t mention it,” Riley muttered.

  “I don’t know when I’ve had a more enjoyable time.”

  Then your activities must be rather Limited, Riley silently retorted, outwardly forcing a benign smile onto her lips.

  “If you like Mr. Pok’s so much, I’ll have to take you to a few more of my haunts.”

  Alex shot her a dark look, but Riley ignored him and offered Dannette a dazzling smile. “Do you think you could spare the time?”

  It was clear from Dannette’s expression that she had enjoyed the restaurant, but she still wasn’t so sure she wanted to spend her day with Riley.

  “Well, I—”

  Riley waved away whatever excuse she’d been about to make.

  “Never mind. I know how busy you are with the wedding. We’ll save such adventures until after the nuptials. After all, since Alex and I are such good friends, I’ll undoubtedly be visiting you quite often.”

  Dannette directed a quick confirming look at Alex. “Oh, really?”

  “Yes, of course. Unless you don’t want me to visit?”

  Dannette shook her head. “You and Alex have known each other since childhood. I wouldn’t dream of doing anything to alter that friendship. You must consider yourself welcome in our home anytime.”

  There was a certain amount of stress applied to the word “our” but Riley ignored it. “How wonderful. Most women wouldn’t be nearly so understanding. Especially since my visits tend to be rather lengthy.”

  “Is that right?”

  Riley nearly laughed out loud at the woman’s weak tone.

  “Sometimes they can last for months on end.”

  Dannette sought Alex’s corroboration. “Is that true?”

  Alex shrugged. “She’s usually out of the country for most of the year. Because of that, she has no home in the United States other than my own. It’s an arrangement we agreed to long ago. If she’s in the area, she stays with me.”

  Dannette licked her lips, then did her best to summon a brilliant smile. “Then I suppose there’s no need to change things, is there?”But as they rose and made their way into the sunshine, it was clear that Dannette wasn’t thrilled by the idea—and for the first time since winning her point with the tuxedo, Riley felt the rush of accomplishment. Dannette might have displayed a hint of an “adventurous spirit”…

  But she still had a long way to go before she passed all of Riley’s tests.

  THE VIEW from his living-room window was one of Alex’s favorites. Especially at night. When the streets were cloaked in an inky darkness, he often found himself staring into the shadows, absorbing the blinking colors of the traffic as if they were strings of Christmas-tree lights. For some reason, the view always helped him to clear his head and think properly.

  Lifting the earthenware mug to his lips, he drank of the dark, strong coffee, feeling a sense of déjà vu. Was it only this morning when he’d been in this same spot, pondering the same questions?

  “Are ye sure ye want me t’ brew you another pot, Alex?” James inquired from the doorway of the kitchen. “Ye know very well that m’ coffee has a tendency t’ keep the divil himself awake.”

  Alex nodded. “I’ve got work to
do tonight, James, so I’d appreciate the help.”

  James shrugged as if to say it was none of his business if Alex wanted to spend the wee hours poring over figures, but Alex knew his apparent unconcern was feigned.

  “Shall I make you some sandwiches to go with the coffee?”

  “No, thanks.”

  James scowled. “You should eat something.”

  “We had dinner at Mr. Pok’s.”

  “That was lunch,” a lighter, more feminine voice clarified, and Riley bounded into the room. “Make him some sandwiches, James. Something hearty and unhealthy.”

  James’s lips twitched in open amusement—a fact that was in itself something of a miracle. James was a dour man who rarely showed his emotions, but whenever Riley was near, it was obvious he doted on her.

  “And what will ye be havin’, lassie?”

  “Whatever you fix.” After planting a quick kiss on James’s cheek, she flopped onto the couch and grabbed the remote control. “Now…let’s see what sort of mindless drivel the networks have come up with since I last watched television.”

  Alex returned to studying his living-room window, but this time instead of focusing on the world beyond the glass, he studied the reflection of the room. As if looking in a mirror, he saw the television in the corner flicker to life, then the play of emotions as Riley switched from channel to channel, surveying her choices.

  “When did you get cable?” she asked absently.

  “A while ago.”

  She took his answer at face value, and he was glad that James had disappeared into the kitchen and would not be informing her that Alex had ordered the service just before he’d expected her to arrive. He didn’t have the patience or the time to watch much more than sports, but Riley loved to surf the channels, rarely staying on any program more than a few minutes.

  “Ooo, Charade,” she said, pausing on a close-up of Audrey Hepburn.

  “I thought you were going to check out all the new shows?”

  She shrugged. “The old stuff is so much better.” She patted the cushion beside her. “Come watch.”

  “I have work to do.”

  “Anything that can’t be delayed for an hour or so?”

  “No.”

  “Then come sit down.”

  Again, he hesitated, then wondered why. He and Riley had shared many such evenings together. He shouldn’t have thought twice.

  But he was thinking twice, and that fact alone alarmed him. He couldn’t help remembering what a shock it had been to his senses when she’d emerged from the dressing room in that dusky, rose-colored sheath. The color had been so close to her own skin that at first glance he’d thought she was naked—and the fact had sent a very unwanted jolt of awareness through his body.

  In the past, he hadn’t been completely unaware of Riley’s sexuality. The way she paraded around his house in T-shirts for nightwear, how could he ignore the fact that his lifelong chum had grown into a very beautiful woman? Nevertheless, he’d maintained a brotherly attitude toward her, so it had been easy to tamp down his wayward thoughts.

  But tonight…

  He shouldn’t have seen her in that dress.

  “Hel-lo?” Riley inquired mischievously. “Anyone home?”

  Roused from his musings, he crossed to sit beside her, telling himself that he had best put their relationship on the usual footing.

  “What has you so pensive tonight?” Riley asked as he sank into the cushions.

  “Work.”

  She peered at him intently, then shook her head. “I don’t think work has anything to do with your mood.”

  “You don’t, huh?”

  “Nope. I think you’re uneasy.”

  His eyes narrowed and he measured her scrutiny, wondering just how much of his thoughts she’d been able to read. Did she know that he was finding it difficult to think of her as a sister when she twisted in her seat and drew one bent leg onto the couch? Her shin rested quite securely against his thigh, making him more than aware that she’d been shopping sometime that day and had managed to purchase some flirty little romper that exposed her toned legs from toe to thigh.

  “Why would I be uneasy?” he asked carefully.

  “I think you’re having second thoughts.”

  About sitting on the couch? About allowing Riley to run about his apartment in that getup?

  “I think you have serious doubts about the marriage you’re about to make.”

  Ahh. So that was it. She was back to needling him about Dannette.

  “Actually, I have no doubts on that score at all.”

  His answer didn’t seem to please her in the least.

  “Well, I think you’re making a mistake.”

  “Why?”

  “Because…Dannette isn’t your type.”

  “What is my type?”

  She inadvertently crossed her hands under her breasts, causing them to plump beneath the light cloth of her jumpsuit.

  Where the hell is James with those sandwiches? Alex thought as he wrenched his gaze away. At least if the food were here, he would have something to do with his hands. Something that didn’t entail touching Riley Page.

  “Dannette is much too weak willed for you.”

  That retort caused Alex to utter a bark of laughter. “Weak willed? The woman is nearly as stubborn as you!”

  “But she gives in far too easily. All you have to do is get grumpy and grumbly and she caves in like a sandcastle.”

  “Not really. Dannette has merely learned to pick her fights. She doesn’t waste her energy on things that aren’t important.”

  “She surrendered on the issue of the tuxedo easily enough.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. I think she’ll be trying to get you to change your mind over the next few days.”

  Riley harrumphed in disbelief.

  “I know the two of you could really be friends if you’d give her a chance, Riley.”

  “You keep saying that, but I don’t believe such a thing could ever happen.”

  “At least make an effort to establish some sort of rapport.”

  “I tried that today and she talked more with Mr. Pok than with me.”

  “Only because she was nervous.”

  “I don’t think Dannette could ever get nervous.”

  “You’d be surprised.” Alex unconsciously took Riley’s hand. The moment he did so, he regretted the gesture since her skin was warm and oh, so soft.

  “Spend some more time with her,” he coaxed.

  Riley’s lips pursed, and she remained mulishly silent.

  “For me.”

  “That’s dirty pool,” she mumbled, because he knew she wouldn’t be able to reject such an offer.

  “Come on. I’ll reserve a table for tea at the Regency tomorrow.”

  “Now you really are being unfair. You know that’s one of my favorite haunts.”

  “I’ll call ahead to see they fix those little watercress sandwiches you enjoy.”

  “Enough!” she said, jumping to her feet. “I’ll do it. I’ll do it!” Striding into the kitchen, she called, “James? How’s the food coming?”

  Settling more comfortably into the couch, Alex grinned to himself, automatically reaching for the abandoned remote control. But even as he started to change the channel, he hesitated as Audrey Hepburn rushed into Cary Grant’s arms. As the distant murmur of voices came from the kitchen, Alex couldn’t help thinking how right the evening felt. As if something missing had fallen into place.

  4

  DANNETTE LEANED FORWARD from her position in the back seat of Alex’s sleek automobile and tapped Riley on the shoulder.

  “So what’s the surprise Alex has concocted?” she asked, obviously doing her best to seem polite.

  Riley nearly chortled aloud. The woman had been blatantly dumbfounded when Riley had commandeered the front passenger seat. She’d looked to Alex for some sort of reinforcement, but he’d merely shrugged and said, “Riley gets carsick.”

&
nbsp; Dannette clearly hadn’t believed him, despite Riley’s insistence that he was right. But she’d taken her place in the back with as much grace as she could muster, then had planted a plastic smile on her lips.

  Deciding the woman needed some morsel of kindness, Riley said, “Alex is taking us to tea.”

  Dannette’s brows rose, and her gaze bounced from Alex to Riley, then back again. “Really?”

  It was clear from the tone of her voice that Riley could have announced that they were all going to ride pink ponies through the streets of Manhattan. “I didn’t think you liked tea, Alex?”

  “I don’t. But Riley does.”

  When a hint of irritation settled over Dannette’s features, Riley hurried to explain, “What he means to say is that he won’t be joining us the entire time. Alex has suggested that the two of us get to know each other better, and I thought a quiet tea and some shopping would give us an opportunity to chat.”

  Several moments passed as Dannette assessed the situation. Obviously, she thought that the whole arrangement was somehow suspicious, but she finally smiled and relaxed against her seat. “How lovely. I have a few more things to pick up for my trousseau, and I would love to have another woman’s opinion.”

  This time, it was Riley who forced a smile. The last thing she wanted was to spend the afternoon helping Dannette choose lingerie. But since there was no backing out of the situation now, she said, “Wonderful. I would be honored.”

  “Where will we be having tea?” Dannette asked.

  “At the Regency.”

  Dannette’s brow creased and she leaned forward again, whispering confidentially, “Don’t you think you’re a trifle underdressed for the Regency?”

  Riley glanced down at her bush jacket, T-shirt and khaki shorts. “I do believe I’ve covered everything that matters.”

  “Yes, but…tea is generally considered a somewhat…formal event, especially at the Regency.”

  Riley didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, she offered cheekily, “I don’t think the Regency will mind this once. They have such nice manners there.”

  Dannette opened her mouth as if to comment, then wisely reconsidered, shrugging as if to say it was no concern of hers if Riley was thrown out on her ear for violating the dress code.