Page 87 of Lie For Me

Chris reached out and took her hand.

She nodded, eyes watering as she swallowed down a cough.

‘Sure, yes,’ she said, wiping her eyes. ‘Sorry, got something in my throat.’

Chris was still holding her hand. His thumb swept gently across her palm.

The DJ had segued into For Once in My Life by Stevie Wonder. Couples swayed together on the dance floor.

‘Shall we?’ Chris said, blue eyes full of invitation and promise.

‘Yes, please,’ Lucy said.

28

Jack, feeling much more comfortable in chinos and a linen shirt, headed back into the tent. It had cooled down outside, and the stroll back from the hotel to the marquee across the gardens had been a welcome relief. As he entered, he was hit with a blast of heat from sweaty, writhing bodies. The crowd had thinned out slightly, some people sloping off to bed, others taking a break from the music and the crowd in the gardens.

Valerie, who seemed determined to see the event through to the very end, was shaking her head at James as he tried to coax her to leave. Dave and Georgia were wrapped in each other’s arms in a dimly lit corner of the marquee.

Jack scanned the bar, looking for Lucy. She was nowhere to be seen. He wandered further into the marquee, peering around the dancers, scanning the tables for a glimpse of honey hair and a bottle green dress. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of green. There she was. On the dance floor, wrapped in the arms of a tall, blonde man, her arms looped about his neck.

Jack stopped in his tracks as he watched them swaying. The man was saying something, his lips pressed against her ear, and Lucy laughed, her head tipping back. Jack could hear the sound of her laughter playing in his head, even as the music drowned it out from where he stood. He knew that sound, that tip of the head, how it felt to be the one to make her laugh like that. He felt like his heart had dropped to his stomach. His mouth went dry.

Dancers were shuffling all around him, where he stood at the edge of the dance floor. Willing his feet to move, he made his way over to the bar. He ordered a drink on autopilot and watched through the shifting crowd as Lucy and the blonde man sashayed around the floor.

He clutched his glass tightly. He didn’t appreciate the way the man brushed Lucy’s hair off her shoulder or how low his hand was on her back, his fingers on bare skin.

As he sipped his drink he realised, to his surprise, he was jealous. He was boiling at the sight of another man’s hands on her. He had no right, he told himself. She was single, she could dance with whomever she liked.

And then, a moment after he could name the feeling, he remembered—as far as anyone else knew, they were a couple. Lucy shouldn’t be getting up close and personal with another man. She was here with him. Her boyfriend. If he had to keep up appearances for the sake of the lie, then so did she.

He set his glass down on the bar a little too heavily, and whisky splashed over the rim. She had come here with him and, as far as he was concerned, she would be leaving here with him. He strode over to Lucy and the blonde man, carving a path through the dancers as he went.

Without missing a beat, he reached for Lucy’s hand and said smoothly, ‘Excuse me, you don’t mind if I cut in to dance with my girlfriend, do you?’

With one firm movement, he pulled her into his arms. The blonde man looked stunned but had little choice other than to step back.

‘Jack,’ Lucy protested, as he swung her away and across the dance floor. ‘That was rude!’

‘Really? Not as rude as making everyone here think you’re about to cheat on me,’ he said, through gritted teeth.

‘Cheat on...? How can I cheat on you?’ Lucy’s eyes were flashing, but he saw a flash of uncertainty in there. ‘We’re not even together.’

Jack spun her around. ‘As far as everyone here knows, we are.’

He pulled her in close, his hand on the small of her back, where the blonde man’s hand had been moments before, his fingers grazing the green satin at the top of her bottom.

‘You know,’ Jack said into her ear, as he spun her around, ‘someone,’ he pulled away to face her, ‘not me, but someone, might accuse you of double standards.’

Lucy gasped as Jack whirled her about the floor and managed, ‘Why?’

‘Because,’ he spun her away from him, then brought her forcefully back to him so she was pressed into his chest, his hand on her back, fingers splayed against her bare skin. He trailed his fingers gently up her spine, watching as her lips parted slightly. ‘I am apparently not supposed to talk to other women because we wouldn’t want anyone to think we weren’t a happy couple. But I go to get changed, and I come back to find you’ve moved on already.’ He dipped her. ‘Left me for some guy that looks like he should be starring in a campaign to advertise paddle boards.’

Lucy’s hands were digging into his shoulders, holding on.

‘So now,’ he twirled them both, ‘we need to make sure everyone still thinks that we’re a happy couple. Because I am sure,’ he turned her away from him and slipped his arms around her waist from behind, feeling the curve of her bottom against him as he guided them in the same rhythm, ‘you didn’t talk me into coming all this way, to a wedding—which I hate—to then ditch me because you think a better prospect came along.’ He nuzzled his face into the fragrant softness of her hair. ‘That wouldn’t be a friendly thing to do, would it?’

‘You went off with Suzy.’

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