Page 64 of From Best Friend to Bride
“Smart.”
“That’ll help,” Will agreed. “What about her duties as the countess?”
“Mum will still do most of them. Deli already knows how things work around here. She did all the etiquette classes with Amelia when we were kids, and she knows the basics of theestate. She’s even helped Mum before. She’ll do just enough to keep up appearances.”
They shared a look.
I knew what they were thinking. They weren’t sure we could pull it off.
“Two hundred quid says they get found out within three months,” Will said, holding his hand out to Max.
He narrowed his eyes, tilting his head to one side as he considered the bet. “Four hundred says they’ll be in love within six months.”
Will looked at Max’s now outstretched hand and paused, then clapped their palms together, and they shook. “You’re on,” Will said.
I stared at them both tiredly. “Five hundred says we’ll get the divorce as planned.”
They both looked at me. “Each?” Max asked.
“Sure. If I win, you both owe me five hundred quid. If you win, I owe you both five hundred each. How’s that?”
They both instantly held out their hands, and I shook them both.
“Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen,” Will said, standing up and smoothing out his jacket.
Max eyed him. “You’re awfully chipper.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m going to win either way. There’s no way I lose all three of those, and my bet is the smallest stakes.” He grinned and opened the door. “Come on, Lord Coventry. Your bride awaits.”
“How long have we been waiting?” I hissed at Max behind me, fidgeting with my watch.
“Three minutes and eighteen seconds,” he replied dryly. “Twenty…nine… seconds longer than the last time you asked.”
Bullshit.
It’d been at least an hour.
“Max—”
“Relax,” he said, laying his hand on my shoulder. “She feels the same way you do right now. She still has a couple of minutes.”
I wriggled my toes inside my shoes. I’d worn these a hundred times, but today they were too stiff, too tight, too restricting. I wanted to throw them off. Same with the suit—it was new and tailored for me, but the collar of the shirt was too hard and tight, and the jacket felt like it was squeezing my shoulders down.
Sick.
I felt fucking sick.
Did Deli really feel this way, too? Was she this tense? Was her dress as claustrophobic as my suit felt right now?
Did she also have the urge to run away?
Because that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to yank off this tie, tell the world it wasn’t real, and fucking run away.
Max squeezed my shoulder, and I drew in a deep breath, casting my gaze around the guests. We’d kept things as small as we could. The guest list consisted of our closest family and friends, and there were no more than sixty people here. Max was holding the fort as my best man while my other closest friends waited in the wings with the bridesmaids. Their respective partners were sitting together in one of the closest rows, and I briefly caught the eye of Eva.
Of course, she had a shit-eating grin on her face.
She’d once done the same thing I was doing, after all. Marrying for a reason other than love. And hers and Matt’s wedding had been just as impulsive as this one was.
