Persuading Spring: A Sexy New Zealand Romance (The Four Seasons Book 4) (2 page)

“Oh my God, Birdie…” Callie moved forward, Neve
and Rowan immediately behind her.

Bridget backed away though, holding up a
hand as if to ward them off. “Don’t.” She shook her head. “Just don’t.”

Their faces held such horror and pity that
it made her want to curl up like a spider poked with a stick. They were all
angry for her, all hurting on her behalf, and it was lovely that they were on
her side, but she couldn’t bear it. She felt so humiliated. How could she have
been so stupid to think he’d turn up?

Poor Bridget. Poor, poor Bridget.

She backed into the wall and then sidled
along it toward the door.

“Bridget.” Mal’s mother called out. She was
a weak woman whom Bridget had never really liked, wearing a stupid pink hat
that didn’t go with her outfit. “I’m sorry.”

It was the last thing she wanted to hear.
Beside her, the girlfriend of one of Mal’s mates was watching her with a kind
of horrified fascination, the way people stared at a train wreck.

She could almost hear the gossip now.
Did
you hear that Mal stood Bridget Hitchcock up at the altar? It was so awful. I
didn’t know what to say to her.

They all knew. He’d rung them to tell them
he wasn’t coming, but he hadn’t had the decency to warn her.

“Birdie, wait.” Callie was the one to step
forward, lovely, gentle Callie, only a week after giving birth, her face full
of concern.

But Bridget didn’t want their pity, their
comfort. She wanted to crawl into a corner and die.

Without another word, she turned and headed
for the door.

“Stop her,” someone yelled.

“No, let her go.” Her brother, who knew her
better than anyone else. They’d been through so much together. No wonder he was
so angry.

She went out into the rain and, without
thinking where she was going, ran down the road.

“Dad,” Mateo complained. “It’s raining.”

Aaron rolled his eyes. “It’s a shower. The
sun will be out soon. Stop moaning.”

“Dad, it’s not a shower. It’s raining cats
and dogs!”

That made Aaron laugh. The boy wasn’t wrong—rain
hammered down from the iron-gray sky. Raindrops peppered the water of
Wellington harbor, which churned uneasily in the brisk spring breeze.

“Where did you learn that?” he asked.

“At school. It’s stupid though because cats
and dogs don’t live in the sky, do they?”

“Good point.”

“Dad… Please, can we catch a taxi?”

“Man up,” Aaron scolded. “It’s just around
the corner, and a little bit of rain never hurt anyone.”

“It’s not a little bit of rain. I’m
soaked!” Mateo illustrated it with a sneeze.

Aaron took the boy’s little hand in his and
rubbed it as they walked. Sure enough, the seven-year-old’s skin was wet and
chilly, his hooded jacket sodden. “I’m sorry, mate. Maybe we should have waited
for the ice cream, eh?”

Mateo had begged him for some chocolate
fudge brownie, and, even though Aaron wasn’t a big fan of ice cream, he’d been
in the mood for some cheering up, so he’d let himself be talked into going out.
Now he wished he’d been firmer and waited.

“We’ll put the ice cream in the freezer and
then go down to the café for a fluffy, shall we?”

Mateo loved the small cup of warm, frothy
milk topped with a sprinkling of chocolate and a marshmallow, a Kiwi-designed
hot drink especially for children.

“Yes!” Mateo jumped up and down, then
sneezed again.

“Come on then.” Aaron walked faster,
clutching the boy’s hand. Hopefully his son wouldn’t have caught a chill. No
way would Nita pass up the chance to tell her lawyer he’d given the boy
pneumonia.

“Dad?”

“Yes, mate?”

“What’s that lady doing?”

“What lady?”

“That one over there in the white dress.”
Mateo pointed toward the edge of the quay.

Aaron glanced over, expecting to see a
tourist taking photos or a member of the nearby Te Papa museum checking the
latest artistic displays, although why they’d be doing it in the rain he wasn’t
sure. Instead, his gaze fell on a woman in what looked like a wedding dress
standing on the edge of the quay, staring down at the water. She was completely
soaked through, her veil covering what must once have been a coiffured
hairstyle, her dress clinging to her slender limbs. His pace slowed, in spite
of the continuing rain.

“What’s she doing?” Mateo asked again.

“I don’t know.”

She was shivering, and as he watched she
swayed a little. Her feet were clad only in stockings, he noticed, her shoes
missing. She must have been freezing.

Behind her, a couple scurried past, nudging
each other as they saw her, although they didn’t stop. Aaron was tempted to do
the same—he had to get Mateo out of the rain, and almost certainly if he
approached her she’d tell him to mind his own business.

He looked down at the boy, who was watching
her thoughtfully. What was it teaching his son if he just turned around and
walked off in the opposite direction when someone was obviously in trouble?

“Shall we ask her if she’s okay?”

Mateo nodded. “She looks cold.”

“Yes, she does.” He began to walk toward
her, still holding his son’s hand.

“Why is she standing in the rain?” the boy
wanted to know.

“I don’t know.” She definitely wore a
wedding dress, though. Clearly, something had gone wrong with her big day. Had
something happened to the groom—an accident maybe? Or had the man not shown up?

They approached her from the side, and
Aaron slowed. “Excuse me.” He tipped his head to try to catch her eye. “I’m
sorry to intrude, but I just wondered if you’re all right? Can I help at all?”

She turned her head to look at him, and
Aaron caught his breath. Wow. Even though her mascara had run and she looked
more miserable than any human being he’d seen in real life, she was the most
beautiful woman he’d laid eyes on for a long, long time.

She’d wrapped her arms tightly around her
waist and hunched her shoulders. Up close, he saw that the wet wedding dress
had turned transparent, and her underwear was clearly visible. He frowned—if
she stayed here she was going to get into trouble.

“Go away,” she whispered, and turned her
gaze back to the water.

He glanced at Mateo, who looked as worried
as he felt, then back at her. “I don’t think the rain’s going to ease up any
time soon. You’ll catch your death out here.”

“I hope I do.”

“Aw.” Pity filtered through him. “Whatever
happened, love, it’s not the end of the world.” Even as he said the words,
though, he knew that for her it must seem like it.

“Leave me alone,” she said. She swayed a
little toward the water. Was she thinking of jumping?

“Don’t do it,” Aaron said. He took a chance
that her misery was down to being jilted. If her husband-to-be had been in an
accident, she’d be with family now, he was sure. “He’s not worth it.”

She blinked a few times then looked back at
him. Properly this time, her eyes focusing on him. They were a deep navy blue,
the color of the stormy spring sky and the tempestuous sea beneath it. A
prickle ran down his spine. Some guy had proposed to her and then presumably
not turned up at the church. It made him want to knock the bastard’s teeth down
his throat.

“I loved him,” she said.

“I know.” He noted her use of the past
tense. She obviously had, or she wouldn’t be standing there in her wedding
dress. “But any guy who would ditch you at all, let alone on your wedding day,
must have something wrong in the head.”

She stared at him as if she couldn’t
believe her ears. “What?”

He looked down at his son. “She’s pretty,
isn’t she, Mat?”

The boy nodded solemnly.

Aaron looked back up at her and shrugged.
“He agrees with me.”

She seemed completely bemused now, too
upset to smile, confused that a man was semi-flirting with her at possibly the
lowest point of her life.

“Can I call someone for you?” He spoke
softly, feeling as if she were a wild animal, like a deer, about to flee if he
raised his voice. “A sister? A friend?”

She shook her head and turned back to the
sea. “I don’t want to see anyone.”

He hesitated. What should he do? He
couldn’t just leave her. He couldn’t take her into a café or a bar for a drink
because everyone would stare at her, and he could only imagine how embarrassing
that would be. She didn’t want to see anyone she knew because she must feel
humiliated at being jilted. There was no point in calling the police because,
as terrible as her situation was, a crime hadn’t been committed.

“Listen,” he said, “Mat and I are staying
in a hotel around the corner. Why don’t you come back with us? You can have a
hot shower, and I’ll lend you a sweater and a pair of track pants. You can have
a cup of coffee, or something stronger, if you like, and we can talk if you
want, or not, if you’d rather. But you’ll be out of the rain, and you can have
a think about what you want to do.”

She frowned. “I couldn’t do that.”

Two young guys were striding through the
rain along the quay, heading for the bar at the end no doubt, and as they saw
her they nudged each other and grinned, presumably because of the transparency
of her dress.

Aaron moved to block their view of her.
“Honey, you can’t stay here.” He spoke more firmly this time, in the voice he used
when Mateo refused to have a bath. “You’re freezing, and your dress is
practically see-through.”

She looked down at herself and gasped,
bringing up her arms to cover her breasts. “Oh God.”

He took off his backpack, then unzipped his
padded jacket, slid it off, and placed it around her shoulders, trying not to
shiver as the rain immediately soaked his clothes. She clutched it to her,
bewildered, turning her doe eyes up to him. He felt a strong urge to comfort
and protect her, which didn’t surprise him considering she reminded him of a
wounded animal, and he was a vet.

“Come on.” Replacing his backpack, he held
out his hand and tried not to shiver.

“We’ve got chocolate fudge brownie ice
cream,” Mateo added, peering out from beneath his hood. “You can have some if
you like.”

She looked down at him. Her expression
softened, and a small smile appeared on her lips for the first time. “That’s very
generous of you. Thank you.”

“This way,” Aaron said. Breathing a sigh of
relief as she moved back from the edge of the quay, he led her across the paved
area in front of Te Papa Museum and across to the busy road. He took Mateo’s
hand as they waited at the crossing. Luckily, the hotel was only a short walk
along the next road.

She walked with her head down, shoulders
hunched in the jacket, clutching it in front of her with one hand. As he slowed
at the front of the hotel, she finally looked up, hesitating as he went to walk
in.

“Put this up,” he instructed as he lifted
the hood over her veil, realizing she was worried about people staring at her.
“The elevators are very close, don’t worry.”

She kept her face down as they entered the
foyer and crossed to the elevators, and he was relieved that it was too late
for checking out time, too early for checking in, and the foyer was relatively
empty. When the carriage arrived, they were the only ones in it, and he heard
her sigh of relief as the doors closed.

“Go on then,” he said to Mateo, who
promptly pressed the button, and the carriage rose.

She tipped back her hood, only to catch
sight of herself in the mirrored walls. To his surprise, she didn’t groan at
her reflection. She studied it with a kind of distracted interest as if she
didn’t recognize herself. Her hand came up to wipe beneath her eyes, but other
than that she didn’t react.

“By the way, I’m Aaron Reed,” he said. “And
this is Mateo—Mat for short.”

“I’m seven,” Mateo said, as if his age was
of vital importance.

She gave him a little smile. “I’m Bridget.”
She opened her mouth as if to add something, then closed it again.

“The goddess of spring,” Aaron said. “Seems
appropriate.”

Her smile turned wry. “I don’t look much
like a goddess at the moment.”

“I beg to differ. I’m certain one exists
beneath the panda eyes.”

She gave a soft laugh and looked down, her
eyes widening as she examined her stockinged feet. “I have no idea where my
shoes are. I couldn’t run in them, so I took them off and threw them… somewhere.”

“How far away was the church?”

“The registry office,” she corrected, and
named the street.

He calculated that it would have taken her
about ten minutes to get to the quay. She must have run blindly through the
rain, unless she’d planned to jump into the harbor.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened.
Aaron led the way with Mateo, glad to see her following. When they reached his
room, he swiped the card and went in, holding the door open for her.

She walked in slowly and stopped in the
middle of the modest room, still clutching the jacket around her neck, her gaze
sweeping over the two queen beds, the table and chairs, the tiny kitchenette.
Aaron glanced around, seeing it with her eyes. Was she looking for signs of
Mateo’s mother? It should be clear that only guys inhabited the room. He
scooped up the clothing that had been discarded on the floor and threw it in
the suitcase.

“It’s just me and Mat staying here,” he
explained in case it wasn’t clear.

He fished out a clean T-shirt and a pair of
track pants. They would be too big for her, but hopefully she’d be able to
cinch in the waist enough to make them comfortable. Chewing his lip, he debated
his underwear for a moment, then shrugged. There was no point in being coy. He
had to pretend she was an animal someone had brought into his surgery. She was
cold and miserable—she needed clothing and something warm to eat and drink.

He added some boxer-briefs and a pair of
socks to the pile and held it out to her. “The bathroom’s over there. Why don’t
you have a shower and put these on? I can always run out and get you some
proper clothing later. Then come out and have something to eat and drink, and
we’ll have a chat. If you want. I’m not going to force you to do anything. I
just want to make sure you’re all right.”

With one hand, she reached out and took the
clothes. “You’re very kind.”

“It’s only what any normal human being
would do.”

“It’s not. You were the only person to
speak to me.”

He frowned. “Well I don’t understand that,
but then maybe it’s because I’m a vet. I’m used to dealing with waifs and
strays.” He smiled.

She returned it shyly. “I won’t be long.”