Last-Minute Bridesmaid (12 page)

His breath was hot on her face as he patiently waited for the answer which would decide where they went from here. And not just for the evening. He was asking her to trust him with nothing less than her heart. Was he also asking her to trust him with her future and her dreams?

‘I...don’t know,’ she whispered, her heart thumping so hard that she was sure that he must be able to hear it, but not daring to open her eyes. It would be too much.

‘Then perhaps I can persuade you?’

Gentle pressure lifted her chin and, although her eyes were still clamped tight shut, she felt every tiny movement of his body as his nose pressed against her cheek, his breath hot and fast in time with the heart beating against her dress.

A soft mouth nuzzled against her upper lip and she sighed in pleasure as one of his hands slid back to caress the base of her skull, holding her firm against him. The fine hairs on his chin and neck rasped against her skin as he pressed gentle kisses down her temple to the hollow below her ear. Each kiss drove her wild with the delicious languorous sensation of skin on skin.

He was totally intoxicating.

The tenderness and exquisite delicacy of each kiss was more than she could have imagined possible from Heath. More caring. More loving... Loving. Yes. They were the kisses of a lover.
Her
lover. And it felt so very right.

Which was why she did something she had believed until a few short days ago would never happen again. She brought her arms even tighter around Heath’s neck and notched her head up towards him. And with eyes still closed.

Kate kissed him on the mouth.

Only this was not the kiss of a teenage girl on her doorstep. This was the kiss of a woman who recognised a kindred spirit and wanted, just this once, to let him know how she felt before she lost him for ever.

His hands stilled for a moment and she paused to suck in a terrified breath, trembling that she had made the most almighty mistake.

This would change everything. What if she’d totally misunderstood what he had told her? And he only wanted to lead? Not share.

She felt him shift beneath her and, daring to open her eyes, she stared into a smile as wide as it was welcome, but then his mouth pressed hotter and deeper onto hers, blowing away any hint of doubt that he wanted her just as much as she needed him with the depth of his passion and delight.

A shuddering sigh of relief ran through her and she grinned back in return and buried her face deep into the corner of his neck. His hands ran up and down her back, thrilling her with the heat of their touch as his lips kissed her brow and her hair.

Kisses so natural and tender it felt as though she had been waiting for them all of her life.

Every sensation seemed heightened. The warmth of the fading sun on her arms, the touch of his fingertips on her skin, the softness of his shirt under her cheek and the fast beat of the heart below the fine fabric.

It was Heath who broke the silence. ‘Now will you trust me?’ He was trying to keep his voice light and playful but she knew him too well now, and revelled in the fact that she was the source of his hoarse, low whisper, intense with something more fundamental and earthy.

The fingers of one of his hands were playing with her hair, but she could feel his heartbeat slow just a little when she chuckled into his shirt. ‘Well, I just might. We are talking about dancing. Aren’t we?’

His warm laughter filled her heart to bursting. ‘Absolutely.’ He brushed his lips against the tip of her nose. ‘Time to join the others, I think, before we’re missed.’

‘Missed?’ Kate repeated and looked over Heath’s shoulder just in time to see Crystal’s shocked face staring out from the other side of the patio, open-mouthed. ‘Somehow I don’t think that they have missed a thing.’

* * *

Two hours later, Kate had come to the conclusion that this was one of the best parties that she had been to.
Ever.

The delicious meal, wine and fantastic birthday cake were followed by more champagne, excellent speeches and thanks from Charles and Alice. Kate and Heath were required to stand up and give short bows for all their work on the decoration. In general, everybody had a fantastic time. Even the snooty cousins behaved themselves. Crystal Jardine actually grinned and meant it and no one started a food fight.

Just as Charles announced that coffee and chocolates would be served on the terrace, Alice tugged at his sleeve and pointed to the presents, which had been stacked on the table behind a chair.

Kate smiled warmly at Heath and nudged his arm as she nodded towards Alice.

But then her smile faded. Because when the gifts were moved, her gift bag was now on the top of the pile and the first present which Alice was going to open.

Kate sat back in her chair and took very tight hold of the napkin on her lap. She scarcely dared to watch as Alice stood up, presented the bag to the whole party and then carefully, slowly, drew out the box, smiling as she went, and then opened the lid and lifted out the book which Kate had first seen only a few hours earlier.

Kate’s heart leapt into her throat.

This was it. Triumph or disaster.

Alice looked at the book cover with total delight and astonishment and clearly didn’t know what to expect, but then she opened the cover; her right hand went to her throat as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Charles looked up in alarm, then Alice smiled and laughed away his concern and, smiling directly at Heath with a quivering voice, she read the inscription at the front of the book to the whole party.
‘“To the future Mrs Sheridan. Your love is a beacon in our darkness. Welcome to the family. Heath.”’

‘Oh, Heath,’ Alice cried out and, to Kate’s astonishment, she put down the book and ran around the table and, to Heath’s horror, she threw her arms around him and hugged him and kissed his cheek in a display of open love and affection.

In front of all of the Sheridan and Jardine relatives and friends, who gave a rousing cheer.

Heath was mortified. Kate could see that, and she instantly rushed around and hugged Alice to take the attention away from Heath.

Charles strolled up behind her and man-slapped Heath hard on the back before gesturing for the rest of the party to join them on the terrace for coffee.

It took a moment for Kate to disengage herself from Alice and her relatives, who were gathered around Heath’s gift, turning each page in obvious delight.

With total relief, Kate skipped back up to her bedroom to collect her wrap before venturing out into the cool evening air. She couldn’t be happier.

She was standing outside her room and was just reaching out to turn the door handle, when Heath stepped out behind her, grabbed her arm and pulled her into his bedroom.

TEN

‘Why?’ he asked
in a voice that was burning with fire to match the fierce intensity in his eyes.

He turned away from her and started pacing, two steps back and forward, then three on the fine carpet. His right hand was pressed hard against the back of his neck as though he was holding it in place and fighting to gain control.

‘Tell me why you thought that you had the right to change my gift and make me look like a pathetic fool. Tell me, Kate. Because I really want to know why you decided to humiliate me and I want to know right now.’

Kate lifted her chin and tried to control her breathing. She had never seen anyone with so much suppressed anguish in his face as the man she was looking at right now. She wasn’t frightened for herself. But she was for him.

She waited for a second until she could speak clearly, but her words still emerged shaking and trembling in the intensity of his stare. He was glaring at her, his hands clutching onto the back of the solid chair in front of him.

‘You knew that Alice would treasure those paintings for ever,’ she replied. ‘But you forgot something important. Tomorrow is Alice’s
wedding day—
the one day in her life when she wants to be beautiful and loved and treasured and admired. But those paintings aren’t about Alice, they are all about her lovely friend, Lee Sheridan, your mum. The woman her fiancé loved. And I couldn’t let you ruin her happiness by bringing the past crashing into her future. That’s not fair, Heath.’

Heath’s face twisted as her words hit home.

‘Fair? Did she tell you? Did Alice actually tell you how she betrayed her friend with my father when the woman she was supposed to care about was dying in a hospice bed?’

He took a step closer until his nose was only inches from hers, and she could feel the heat of his breath on her cheeks. He was trembling with emotion, so that when he spoke his words exploded into her face. ‘Did she tell you that she was sleeping with my father while my mother was dying, Kate? Did she?’

She couldn’t speak. It was impossible. Any sort of answer would only make him more angry and upset.

‘Oh. For once you don’t have anything to say.’ He nodded. ‘Apparently my future stepmother thinks it is acceptable to share my family’s personal secrets and sordid past with strangers.’

Stranger? That wasn’t right.

‘I’m not a stranger any longer, Heath. I’m—’ she interjected, but was cut off instantly with a single finger pressed against her lips.

‘No. You
are
a stranger. You don’t know how hard this is for me. I trusted you. I told you how important it was that my mother’s memory was not forgotten. Alice knew her. Can you understand that? She went to art college with my mother and was as close to her as you are to Amber and Saskia. Would you cheat on either of those girls with her husband? No, I didn’t think so. And tomorrow afternoon I have to stand next to my father while he marries the woman who is taking over from my mother in his life. That is hard. I’m used to hard; I’ll do it. I will survive, but if I have any chance to rebuild a relationship with Alice I have to do it at my own pace.’

His hands thumped again and again onto the back of the chair until she was sure that they must be bruised. She dared to reach out and try to take one of them and calm him and comfort him, but he instantly swiped it away dismissively.

‘Did you really think that I would give them to Alice out of bitterness or as a stunt to ruin her wedding day with some constant reminder of what happened when my mother was dying? I hope that I am better than that. No. That album is very rare and special and Alice is one of the few people who would truly appreciate my mother’s work. I wanted her to have them. I want my father to have a chance of happiness, but not by playing games where each of us is scoring points from the other.’

‘I only wanted to help,’ Kate whispered, her voice trembling.

‘There is a fine line between helping a friend and interfering in other people’s lives, and you crossed it tonight,’ he hissed through clenched teeth. ‘You think that you know all my family after meeting them for a few hours? You haven’t the faintest idea.’

‘Then tell me. Tell me why you feel so strongly about one inscription on a book?’

‘I don’t like surprises and I particularly don’t like being ambushed. I never have. And it isn’t the first time.’

He collapsed down on the bed with his back against the headboard and dropped his head back and blinked up at the ceiling. ‘You want to know about the Sheridan family?’ he said in a low voice as though he was trying to control his emotions and failing. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you about the high-and-mighty Sheridans.’

He looked across at her, his chest lifting and falling with every word. ‘Do you remember Amber’s mother? Julia Swan?’

Kate sighed out loud and sat down on the bottom corner of the bed. ‘Remember? I was summoned to take tea at Saskia’s place last month. She still hasn’t forgiven Amber for getting engaged to Sam Richards instead of the Crown Prince of some large European country, hell, any country.’

Heath nodded. ‘Well, then you will understand how I felt when my dad informed me out of the blue that he was marrying Julia not twelve months after my mother died from cancer. I came home from university to find the staff taking down my mother’s photographs and clearing the house of every sign that she had ever lived there so that Julia and Amber could move in.’

Heath inhaled deeply and rolled his shoulders back. ‘I was very angry and extremely disappointed with him for doing that.’ He meshed his hands around the back of his head, his gaze locked onto the ornate plaster work ceiling rose. ‘As far as I was concerned he had betrayed my mother and I told him that very clearly before walking out and going to stay with my grandparents. I didn’t go to the wedding. He couldn’t make me and I had absolutely no intention of giving Julia Swan the time of day. And the marriage was even more of a disaster than I could have predicted which, believe me, was quite an achievement.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Kate replied in a small low voice. ‘Amber told me that you were a terrific stepbrother.’

He snorted and replied with a small shoulder shrug, ‘Amber was a victim just as much as I was. We got to know each other when Julia and my father went on a very long European honeymoon, leaving Amber in a strange house with only a nanny and the staff to keep her company. I went back to pick up some things and found her crying in the music room. I never blamed Amber for her mother’s faults. When Julia got bored with Boston and took off for a new lover in London I kept in touch. I think my dad had even less of a clue what to do with a daughter than he had with a son.’

‘But your dad has just asked you to be his best man. What has changed?’

Heath hesitated and his gaze locked onto a silk dressing gown that had been left on the bed cover, which he casually picked up and set down again.

‘To the rest of the world, my father is a brilliantly successful businessman who inherited one of the oldest and most respected publishing houses on the East Coast of America. Quiet. Intellectual. The kind of man who doesn’t make a fuss and likes to keep a low profile, despite all of that power and wealth that Sheridan Press provided.’

She nodded. ‘Business profile. Done. Now answer my question.’

‘Are you always this bossy?’

‘No. Only with you.’ She narrowed her eyes and made a point of glancing at a very old wristwatch. ‘What changed?’

‘I remember the father I used to know as a boy.’ Heath took a breath and this time he slid forward on the silk cover, reached out and picked up Kate’s hand and turned it over. She tried to snatch it back but he examined each finger as he talked, as though it was the most wonderful thing that he had ever seen.

‘My summer holidays were filled with laughter, fun, football games, tennis and swimming. We had the most fantastic Christmas parties where my mother would decorate the entire dining room of our Boston house with fabrics and paint and dad would light a huge fire, make hot chocolate and read stories by candlelight. My birthday parties came with real ponies and trips to the circus.’

‘Has Disney bought the film rights for this?’

‘Just be patient. I haven’t finished yet. But yes, it was a magical childhood that I thought would never end. And, like a fool, I took it all for granted.’

Heath slowly, slowly curled Kate’s fingers back around his and held them firm. ‘And then my mother was taken ill and it only took six weeks for that world to implode. Six weeks to make the first sixteen years of my life seem like a happy dream where I had two parents who loved me and a happy home I could always come back to.’

He shook his head and blinked. ‘I don’t know about your parents, but to me they were the one solid rock in my world that made me believe that I could be and do whatever I wanted, safe in the knowledge that they would always be there for me and for one another.’

A small ironic laugh escaped his lips. ‘Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.’

He sucked in a breath and his gaze shifted to Kate’s eyes.

Those wonderful brown eyes were so full of emotion and pain that she instantly felt guilty.

He was right. She had no right to barge in and try and take control—not when Heath was still suffering so badly. She didn’t know the first thing about his family.

Only hers.

What a fool she had been.

As though trying to rebuild Heath’s relationship with his father would bring her family back together again somehow. Stupid!

‘How did you get past that?’ Kate asked.

‘We didn’t,’ Heath replied in a sad but matter-of-fact voice. ‘It took me months—no, years, to rebuild my life after my mother’s death. But my father was not part of that life. Not any more. Not after his betrayal. Oh, he tried. Many times. But, as far as I was concerned, I had to mourn the loss of two parents, even though only one had actually died.’

A shiver ran across his back and Heath shuddered. ‘But he did teach me a lesson. Relying on people for your happiness is doomed to failure. People let you down. People leave and your world collapses. People take away any hope of control you ever had over your life. And I would be a fool to open up my heart and let that happen again. My relationship with my dad has never been the same since.’

‘Until now,’ she interrupted.

With a gentle smile he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. ‘Three months ago he flew down to New York out of the blue and asked me to come back to Boston to inject some new life into Sheridan Press. I was totally surprised, but he had made the first move. It hasn’t been easy to work in the same office but over the weeks we made some progress until he found the right moment to tell me that he was getting married to Alice and to ask me to be his best man.’

‘He wants your forgiveness,’ Kate murmured as her gaze flicked across his face.

Heath opened his mouth to answer, closed it again and then gave a long sigh. ‘He wants me to drag Sheridan Press into profitability, but yes, it did give me one final chance to rebuild some sort of relationship with the only real family I still had left, my father, before it is too late for either of us. And now I don’t know where we are.’

He closed his eyes and curved his hands into fists. ‘You’re impulsive and irresponsible. Exasperating. Never thinking about the effects of your actions. In your world it is okay to ambush other people and expose their feelings.’

‘Wrong,’ she whispered. ‘I know exactly what I’ve done. I saved you from making the biggest mistake of your life, Heath Sheridan.’

He looked at her for a second in silence, his gaze darting across her face, but, just as she thought she had his acceptance, Heath got to his feet and started to walk away from her.

She snatched at the sleeve of his jacket and held it firm.

‘Alice loves your father and he loves her. But did you know that she was the one who suggested that you be the best man and then agreed to let you help organise the wedding? She did that because you are more important to both of them than you could possibly imagine. Do you understand what I’m saying? She was determined to find some way of bringing you closer to your father instead of driving you further away. And she couldn’t bear that.’

‘Why didn’t you talk to me first?’ he asked in a low voice, his gaze locked onto the surface of the table. ‘It took me a long time to decide on that wedding gift and I’m fighting to stay positive—and so far all that you’ve done is take over and snatch any chance of control out of my hands and throw it to the winds.’

Those last few words echoed around the room, penetrated her heart and pierced her soul. He meant them.

‘Probably. But you know us creative types, as you call them,’ she choked, trying not to cry. ‘Total romantic. For some reason I want people who love each other to be together. Call me crazy, but there you are. And, by the way, I know that you love your father. And don’t turn away from me like that. You love him and you wanted him to be with you when your mother died. I understand. Truly, I do. But that was then. They have been apart long enough. It’s time for you all to go home.’

She reached out towards him and tried to touch his face and comfort him, but the cold shutters had come down and the happy man she’d spent a wonderful afternoon with went back behind the barriers.

‘This wasn’t a good idea, Heath. I’m going back to London tonight. But know this. I am going to come back here tomorrow to help Alice and Charles celebrate their love, whether you want me to be here or not.’

‘What?’ He laughed. ‘You’re leaving?’

‘I need to get back to my work and my life without having to worry about upsetting any more of your carefully controlled plans.’

‘Your life? And what kind of life are you going back to, Kate? Tell me that—what do you have waiting for you back in London? You’re going back to that museum you call a home. Is that it?’

She whirled around and gasped, ‘What did you just say?’

‘Your house is not a home. It is a museum to a lost world and the people you loved and lost. Maybe it’s time to step out of the museum and start living in the real world.’