Page 43 of His Wedding Day Revenge

Jane felt her heart clench. ‘No, nothing like that. We are...not a couple.’

Never would be a couple, the depressing thought flashed into her head.

Never really had been a couple. When she had said yes to his proposal, she had not known him... Had she loved him? She had certainly been infatuated by him, but her feelings then, strong though they had been, were a shadow of what she felt now. What she felt now was deeper, stronger, and when she saw him with Mattie she knew what an incredible father he would be one day.

Had his feelings changed too?

She pushed away the question, aware that once she allowed herself to indulge in wishful thinking it would be all the harder to face the reality of the situation when it came time to say goodbye. She had to live in the moment and accept that the moment meant something very different to her than it did to Draco.

Her shaking hand slopped a bit of her wine, and just when she needed it, she thought, draining what was left in the glass.

‘You all right?’ Jamie asked, taking the glass from her fingers and putting it down on a side table.

‘Fine. So Draco didn’t mention I was here?’

‘We’ve hardly had a chance to speak. You were the last person I expected to see after—’

CHAPTER TEN

JAMIE’SEYESWIDENEDand he winced. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound like that.’

‘It’s all right. I know what you mean.’

‘You haven’t changed at all,’ he marvelled.

‘You have,’ Jane said, taking a step back to look at him.

‘I’m flattered you didn’t recognise me,’ he joked. ‘And—’

‘Jamie, my darling boy!’

Jane could almost feel the energy being sucked out of the young man. She could see the gawky boy he had once been as he froze, turning slowly towards the voice.

The connections were being made in her head as she watched the blonde from earlier kiss the air a foot or so either side of Jamie’s face.

This was his mother, Draco’s stepmother. Jane’s heart went out to him.

‘Oh, my darling, you still have the glasses, I see.’ She shook her blonde head. ‘They make you look so geeky. Tell him,’ she said, appealing to Jane. ‘Contact lenses or, better still, laser surgery and...’ She brushed an invisible crumb off her son’s immaculate lapel, her lips twisting into a grimace of distaste. ‘You always were a messy little—’ The eyes swivelled slyly towards Jane. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend? I’m Jamie’s mother. I know, before you say it, I look too young.’

Jane, who hadn’t been about to say anything of the sort, took a deep breath. ‘How lovely to meet you—again,’ she said calmly, not even bothering to disguise her insincerity. ‘So sorry, but Jamie promised me this dance.’

Jamie blinked at her as she inclined her head to the empty space in the centre of the floor, her eyes flashing a message.

‘Nobody is dancing,’ the woman pointed out petulantly.

Jane took Jamie’s hand and laid it on her waist, and after the slightest pause he placed his other in the small of her back.

‘They are now!’ she cried as they twirled away.

‘Thank you,’ Jamie said quietly as he held her eyes, gratitude shining in his.

Jane could see the beads of sweat along his upper lip and her heart went out to him as she reflected how terrible it was that a mother-son relationship could be so toxic.

‘Oh, hell, thank God you can dance!’ she said a few moments later and was pleased to feel some of the young man’s rigid tension relax as they moved to the music.

‘A lot better than you,’ Jamie retorted. ‘You have trod on my feet three times.’ He laughed and leaned in, his expression serious as he emphasised, ‘Really, thank you for that.’

‘Any time,’ she said, meaning it. ‘I suppose I’ve broken some rule by dancing,’ she said, half gloomy, half laughing.

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