Page 19 of His Wedding Day Revenge

She was confused. Had other people cancelled, or was this Draco showing her what she had missed by not marrying him?

There was no doubt it was a comfortable way to travel, especially with a baby, who lapped up all the attention from the cabin crew who pronounced him beautiful, but, and she knew it was probably irrational, she felt resentful.

She felt as though she were a puppet who no one had bothered to consult, so no change there. Don’t ask, just lavish luxury and she will stay in her box!

But Jane was no longer happy in her box! And she couldn’t wait for an opportunity to prove it.

The transfer at the other end was equally smooth. There was no juggling baggage, no issues at all until she was shown the waiting limo.

This was an opportunity with neon sign directions.

The entourage that had followed her exchanged glances and looked nonplussed and alarmed when she shook her head and told them, channelling polite but firm, ‘I’ve got a hire car. I’m driving myself.’

This was a cue for a lot of ultra-alarmed looks and some waving of hands, which, when she stuck to her guns, eventually became helpless Latin shrugs tinged by worry.

It struck Jane as a big fuss about nothing.

‘Right, Mattie, let’s do this!’ she said with false jollity when she got behind the wheel of what the online details had described as a compact hatchback.

Compact was generous and the way the person handing over the car had sternly told her that any damage would incur severe penalties seemed a bit over the top, considering the number of dents and dings in the paintwork.

She also found and disposed of several crisp packets and a crushed soft drink can under her seat, which maybe explained the incredibly low price of the hire. Still, so long as it got her there and it wasn’t far. She took comfort from the logistics.

Though not far in miles, the road was scary—there, she’d admitted it—and had to have doubled the distance.

There were several times during the journey when she regretted her decision to refuse the taxi service offered, especially when she had to pull over on a really lonely road to change Mattie’s nappy and feed him, glancing over her shoulder at every shadow and sound. When Mattie had subsided, replete, her supply of food exhausted, Jane found herself hoping that the stock of baby food offered by the organisers was more realistic than the description of the hire car.

If not, she was in serious trouble!

The satnav, while accurate and indispensable, had chosen the shortest route, but maybe, she began to realise, not the easiest one.

Of course, the views were incredible, or they seemed that way on the rare occasions she took her eyes off the road for a split second. Those occasions were few and far between because she really didn’t fancy driving off the edge of a mountain or ending up in a ditch.

Talk about white-knuckle ride!

When Jane saw the first sign bearing the name of her destination she gave a sigh of relief and felt some of the tension edge out of her rigid, aching shoulders. By the time she reached the massive wrought-iron gates that took her off the public highway she had passed three more signs and the tension was back.

At least when she’d been focused on not driving off a cliff she hadn’t been thinking about what would happen when she did arrive, and now she was.

She drove towards the huge, elaborate gates wondering what you did to get inside—ring a bell?

There were no bells that she could see and it all seemed rather grand. Was there a trade entrance?

‘Oh!’ She actually leapt in her seat then laughed at herself as the gates silently opened. Of course, there were cameras, she thought, trying not to imagine the anonymous eyes watching her as she drove through and began the last leg of her journey.

If this was a driveway, it was not what she thought of as one. She had driven a good half-mile along a mercifully bump-free road through dense forest when the sunken lights alongside the verge burst into life, illuminating the road ahead and revealing an area of manicured parkland with the blue shadowed mountain to one side and the sparkle of sea to the other.

‘Oh, wow!’ she breathed and she cranked down the window a crack to inhale the salt and pine scent of the air.

It became less a breath and more a gasp when the palazzo came into view. Obviously she had looked it up but the generic photos online did not come close to the full open-mouth impact of this first glimpse, even though she hadn’t been expecting a small cottage. But this... The sheer scale of the building standing before her made a statement—presumably something along the lines of ‘We are rich and powerful! Do not mess with us!’

If so, it communicated the message well!

Set against the backdrop of dark sea and the first streaks of crimson from the setting sun, it made that statement even more dramatic.

She took in the symmetrical rows of deep identical windows on three levels, the huge baroque porticoed entrance and the impressive sweep of steps that shone white in the fading light.

Would she get a chance to see inside?

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