Page 5 of His Wedding Day Revenge

‘He’s welcome to mine...that was terrifying... God, did I make a total fool of myself? How did he know my name?’

‘You’re famous—you kick-started this... As for making a fool of yourself, you were actually rather brilliant. Oh, are you still on for book club or have you got another media gig...?’

Jane laughed and sought a firmer grip on her banner.

‘Oh, I haven’t read—’

‘Oh, don’t worry, neither has anyone else. Bring a bottle... No,’ she mused, then glanced at Mattie, lowering her voice. ‘Sorry, you’ll be the responsible adult in the room, and don’t worry, I’m not cooking,’ she added, laughing to herself as she walked off.

Jane had never belonged to a community before. It was nice and at the same time desperately sad that the reason she did was because of a terrible tragedy.

Carrie should be here. Jane didn’t want to be living a life that should be her friend’s, even though it was a very nice life.

She still couldn’t think about Carrie without the almost permanent lump in her throat swelling painfully. Carrie had come into Jane’s life during her last year in the care system.

It had been the attraction of opposites. Carrie outspoken, and Jane, who had over the years in care perfected the art of fading into the background, but they had instantly bonded.

Then later, while she had been at art college, Carrie had found her lovely Robert and they’d married and had their baby, though not in that order. The weekend break had been their belated honeymoon and Jane had been trusted with their precious eight-week-old new baby while they were away.

‘I wouldn’t leave him with anyone but you,’ Carrie had told her. ‘Just three nights.’

Three nights had turned out to be for ever when the train the new parents had been travelling up to Scotland on had been derailed. Five months ago the tragedy had made the headlines every day, now it got the occasional footnote or personal interest story.

For Jane and Mattie it was never going to be a footnote. It had changed their lives for ever. Jane, who had never thought she would be a parent, was, or very nearly was. The official adoption was in the final stages, and she, a townie, was living in the tiny rural cottage that Robert and Carrie had inherited from his great-aunt.

Jane had been determined to adapt to rural living for Mattie’s sake but, in the end, it hadn’t been as difficult as she had anticipated. She had felt an immediate connection with the countryside, and had immersed herself in all it could offer, joining a rambling club, learning about foraging the hedgerows and woodland for ingredients for the weekly cookery classes given by a local chef in their village hall. She had been roped into picking litter from the village green with the local schoolchildren and spent an evening joining a guided bat-watch walk.

For the first time she understood the urge people felt to protect the countryside for future generations, for Mattie’s generation. This was Mattie’s home, his heritage, and the wanton destruction had made her react on a visceral, very personal level.

The sadness that hit her at intervals like a great black crushing wave settled on her shoulders and her placard lowered. Jane edged away. She needed a break and no one would miss her.

Then it happened!

During the interview she had been distantly aware in the periphery of her vision that a big sleek car was drawing attention, but not hers. She had never been into shiny cars. So her glance was incurious as it swivelled that way, no longer incurious when she identified the figure behind the wheel. Everything froze inside her, her breath hitched.

Dark eyes met and held her own... She was fighting for breath.

Her heart rate climbed.

She could hear the blood drum in her ears, so loud it drowned out the little cry of shock that left her parted lips.

It was him—Draco Andreas!

The memories flooded back, not a smooth flow, but a series of staccato images, from a time when she was infatuated by the idea of being in love. She had been blissfully oblivious to his fame and wealth or, for that matter, even the fact, initially, that London was not his home, but that he was there temporarily, for two months.

Back then, he was just Draco—the man who made her laugh, the one who seemed to genuinely care about her, not the CEO of Andreas Company, the man who was now renowned for changing his lovers the same way a normal person changed their socks.

Even his feet had been perfect!

Now that was a weird thing to remember, but it was a lot better than dwelling on perfect other bits!

The baby on her back woke, cried out, perhaps alerted by her tension, and began to fidget. She tightened her grip on the placard, sensed rather than heard the ripple of conversation trickle through the crowd as the tall, exclusive figure got out of the car.

Total mind-freezing panic bubbled up. This wasn’t the moment for a confrontation.

That moment didn’t exist!

With a quick furtive glance around, Jane seized the opportunity and was relieved when her legs obeyed the order and slipped away into the shadows of the trees.

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