Page 2 of Shy Innocent In The Spotlight

‘Yay!’ Elodie flung her arms around her and almost lifted her off the floor in a bone-crushing hug. ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for doing this.’ She planted a smacking kiss to Elspeth’s cheek. ‘Mwhah.’

Elspeth grimaced and peeled her twin’s octopus-like arms from around her body. ‘You’d better save your thanks until the gig is over. I don’t want you to jinx me.’

‘You’ll be brilliant. Remember that time we switched on one of our access visits to Dad when we were ten? He never guessed the whole weekend.’

‘Yes, well, that says more about Dad than it does our acting ability, even if you did do rather a fantastic job of pretending to be a bookworm.’ It was an amazing feat on her twin’s part, given Elodie had dyslexia and avoided reading whenever she could. Elspeth, on the other hand, had been reading since she was four and, as she’d been home-schooled by her mother due to her allergy, her life had always revolved around books and reading. And now, her work as a library archivist was a dream career, one where she was paid to do what she loved.

Elodie laughed. ‘I was bored out of my brain and I nearly went cross-eyed trying to make sense of the words. Give me a juicy gossip mag any day.’

‘Even when you’re in one?’

Elodie’s eyes sparkled like fairy lights. ‘Especially when I’m in one.’

Now it was Elspeth’s turn to roll her eyes and she suppressed a shudder. ‘Eek. I can think of nothing worse.’

Mack MacDiarmid surveyed the wedding preparations taking place on his country estate, Crannochbrae, with a critical eye. Weddings weren’t his thing but his younger brother, Fraser, wanted to be married at home, so no expense was being spared to make it a wedding to remember. The fact his troubled brother was finally settling down was definitely something to celebrate. Mack had spent way too many years worrying about Fraser’s tendency to act impulsively and irresponsibly, but Fraser’s fiancée, Sabine, had come along at the right time and Mack hoped her stable influence over time would be the making of his brother. It had certainly worked miracles so far, but Mack’s inner cynic was holding its breath.

The garden where the service was to take place had never looked better. The wisteria walk was in full bloom, the sweet fragrance filling the air. The castle had been cleaned from top to bottom—everything sparkled, everything shone, everything glowed. The guests’ rooms had been aired and made up and the kitchen was full of catering staff busily preparing the food for the weekend. Even the notoriously capricious summer weather had decided to cooperate. It was cloudy today, but tomorrow’s forecast looked promising—bright and sunny. There was a storm predicted for later in the evening, but the wedding ceremony would be well and truly over by then.

Sabine was darting here and there, double-checking everything was going according to plan, which was supposed to be the highly paid wedding planner’s job, but Sabine wasn’t the sort of person to relinquish control to someone else. Not that Mack could talk—he had triple-checked everything too. He wanted his brother’s wedding to go smoothly, which meant he was issued with the job of keeping an eye on Elodie Campbell, one of the bridesmaids, in case she caused trouble. Exactly what trouble she might cause was anyone’s guess. Fraser had been a little cagey about his connection with Elodie but Mack had checked her out online and drawn his own conclusions. She was a stunning lingerie model with more followers on social media than had some Hollywood celebrities. She had jilted her fiancé at the altar seven years ago and had developed a reputation as a party girl ever since. He knew from experience party girls were notoriously unpredictable but he was well prepared.

Mack had made it his life’s work to be well prepared. Losing his father to suicide at the age of sixteen had forced him to never leave things to chance, to always be vigilant, to tick all the boxes, to do what needed to be done, to say what needed to be said, when it needed to be said.

To always be in control.

Mack turned to look back at the house and caught sight of a red-gold cloud of hair and a pale oval face looking down at him from one of the guest rooms upstairs. He had never met her in person but he had seen enough photos of her in the press to recognise Elodie Campbell. An understated version, that was. She was wearing a cream silk wrap and, with her wildly curly hair pulled up in a makeshift knot on her head, she had an old-world air that was utterly captivating. She could easily have been one of his ancestors travelling through time to pay a ghostly visit. He lifted a hand in a wave but she darted away from the window so quickly he blinked a couple of times, wondering if he had indeed imagined her standing there. He shrugged and continued on his way. Perhaps the stunningly beautiful Elodie Campbell didn’t like being seen without her make-up on.

Elspeth leaned back against the wall of her bedroom and clutched a hand to her chest where her heart was bouncing up and down like a yo-yo on an elastic string. She was in no doubt the man she had seen just now was Mack MacDiarmid. Elodie had shown her a photo on her phone of Fraser and Sabine, and had briefed her about a number of other guests, but told her zilch about Mack MacDiarmid other than he was wealthy and had a reputation as a love-them-and-leave-them playboy.

She had done her own research and found a couple of articles about Mack online. Named after his father Robert but going by the nickname of Mack, he was a successful businessman and entrepreneur who had made millions in various property developments both in the UK and abroad. Crannochbrae was his ancestral home and he had restored it, managed and developed it since his father’s death when he was a teenager. But the photos of him in the articles hadn’t prepared her for seeing him in the flesh, even if it was from three storeys above. Tall and lean with a rangy build, Mack MacDiarmid had an aura of command and authority that was unmistakable...and a little unnerving to say the least. Would he see through her act? Why had she thought she could pull this off? She wasn’t used to being around men like Mack MacDiarmid. Powerful, dynamic men who had made their fortune from being whip smart and intuitive.

As Fraser MacDiarmid’s older brother, Mack was part of the wedding party, which meant there would be no way of avoiding coming into contact with him. Although, since she would only be in her sister’s shoes for the rehearsal, the contact would hopefully be limited. But had Mack ever met her twin before?

Elspeth grabbed her phone off the bed where she’d left it earlier, and, pointedly ignoring the ten text messages and five missed calls from her mother, quickly fired off a text to her twin.

Have you ever met Mack MacDiarmid in person?

The three little dots appeared to signal Elodie was texting back. And then the message came through.

No.

What about Fraser, the groom?

The phone indicated her message had been read but there was no answer, which either meant Elodie was called away to her important meeting or didn’t want to answer. Elspeth had a feeling it was the latter. She smoothed a hand down over her churning stomach. Why had she agreed to do this? She took a calming breath and pushed away from the wall. She agreed to do this because she wanted her sister to succeed in her new venture. Elodie was tired of modelling and wanted to express her creativity. It was up to Elspeth to pull this off for the next twenty-four hours. She knew her twin almost as well as she knew herself. She stared at her twin’s face every day in the mirror. It was simply a matter of putting on her twin’s make-up and clothes and adopting her twin’s friendly and chatty, outgoing and super-confident personality and no one would be the wiser.

How hard could it be?

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