TEN
Ten
Bel was walking past the kitchen when the door to a cupboard under the back stairs opened and she was grabbed, one hand around her waist, the other across her mouth. She didn’t have time to scream, and when she did, it only came out as a muffled noise as she struggled against being dragged into the small, dark storage area. It took only a fraction of a second to realise who her abductor was—even in the dark, there was no mistaking that scent—and the fight left her, replaced by a far more powerful emotion: lust.
‘I couldn’t resist. I saw you coming and I found this little hidey-hole the other day. Ever since, I’ve been thinking about you and me in here.’
‘But the kitchen is just there,’ she protested weakly as he began kissing the side of her neck.
‘So we’ll have to be quiet,’ he said in a low voice that did dangerous things to her pulse.
His fingers were already deftly unbuttoning her shirt and moving to her jeans. Within moments, he was skilfully caressing her and driving her to the brink of insanity. Never in her wildest imagination—and she had a pretty wild imagination—had she ever thought she would be having mind-blowing sex in her aunt’s storage room with someone like Tate McBride. This didn’t happen in real life … only it was happening. She couldn’t believe her world had taken such a huge turn.
As she collapsed against his chest, both of them breathing heavily, she heard voices closing in and instantly jerked upright in his embrace.
‘Honestly, Stanley, do you have to wear those dirty pants inside? You’re supposed to be hosting your daughter’s wedding and you come in here dressed like some … hobo!’
‘I’ve been out moving sheep. What do you want me to wear, a tuxedo?’
‘You have employees for that.’
‘Well, not enough, when I discover most of them have been roped into unloading supplies for this bloody wedding instead of the job they’re actually paid to do,’ Bel’s uncle grumbled.
Bel clutched Tate’s forearms tightly. What if one of them opened the door? Oh, dear God, she would die of absolute humiliation.
She felt Tate chuckle silently and would have hit him if she could risk moving. Finally, the voices began to fade as her uncle, clearly having had enough of his wife’s chastising, decided to take himself off. But Aunt Lois was apparently not done and was close on his heels.
‘You can let go now,’ Tate murmured. Bel released her grip on his arm, blindly searching for her clothes and quickly pulling them on. ‘Bel, calm down. It’s fine.’
‘We could have been caught.’ Now that he wasn’t kissing her and she was able to think straight, the implications of what could have happened began to sink in.
‘But we weren’t,’ he threw back calmly. ‘Come on, admit it. Risky sex is hot.’
‘It’s nerve-racking,’ she said. But, to her astonishment, she realised he was right. She’d been completely into it. This man was bringing out all kinds of strange revelations in her, and she liked it. ‘Larkin will come looking for me if I don’t get back.’
‘Okay. I’ll see you later,’ he said, kissing her once more.
Bel slipped into the downstairs washroom and reviewed herself in the mirror. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were pink, and she looked exactly like someone who’d just done something naughty—guilty and a little bit smug. She quickly splashed her face with water and smoothed down her hair before shaking her head. This was … well, she wasn’t sure what this was, but whatever it was, she’d never been happier.
Bel tried to search for something to distract herself in order to endure another hour of pre-wedding beauty. The assembled bridesmaids were in the home gym, which had been converted into a day spa for the occasion, reclining in chairs and currently sporting god-awful black charcoal facial masks. It looked like they were wearing a weird diving suit hood, with holes cut out for their eyes and nostrils. Bel would much rather be spending the time with Tate. She brought up an image of him standing by the window, naked, to take her mind off the boredom.
‘You’re very quiet, Bel,’ Gigi said, startling her. Being spoken directly to by any of the other bridesmaids was unusual enough, but having them notice something like that instantly put her on guard.
‘I’m just enjoying the spa … thingy,’ she said, hoping she sounded relaxed and appreciative.
‘I guess you’re probably in need of a rest.’
‘What do you mean?’ Bel tried to act casual, hoping the mask would help.
‘I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve been disappearing at odd times, sneaking in and out of your room at night. You seem … happy ,’ she said.
‘I’m usually happy,’ Bel replied weakly. Sweat prickled along her hairline and she was starting to feel claustrophobic. How long do these stupid masks have to stay on for?
‘Not happy , happy. This is …’ the woman sent her a sly grin, ‘… like good sex happy. Bel, have you met someone?’
Oh Lord. Here we go. It wasn’t like it was a big deal. She knew for a fact Niki and Oliver had a thing. She’d been telling them all about it for the last two days.
Larkin tilted her head slightly and looked mildly annoyed.
‘Oh, spill the beans already,’ Kelly moaned. Bel glanced over in surprise at the woman lying on her back with her eyes closed. Kelly gave a long-suffering sigh. ‘Larkin, your innocent little cousin has been getting jiggy with Tate.’
Getting jiggy? Is that seriously still a thing?
‘Oh, that?’ Larkin said, waving a hand like she was shooing away a bothersome fly. ‘Isn’t it great?’
Bel’s gaze snapped across to her cousin’s. She’d known? Not that they’d been keeping it a secret, but they’d tried not to interrupt the wedding-related program or risk stressing the bride.
Niki swapped grins with the other women. ‘You think small towns are bad for gossip? You’ve clearly underestimated the ability of this group to sniff out a juicy scandal. Besides, we knew something was up when Gigi’s charms failed to bag Tate. That was a dead giveaway.’
‘Like I was really trying,’ Gigi sniffed, taking a sudden interest in inspecting her nails.
‘Meow,’ Niki said.
‘At least I’m not taking someone else’s sloppy seconds.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Niki shot upright in her chair.
Bel’s gaze switched from one side of the room to the other like she was a spectator at a tennis match. She had no idea what was going on but she had a sneaky suspicion this was about to get more than a little interesting.
Lisa discreetly leaned over and turned up the volume on the stereo, and the sounds of pan flutes and windchimes grew louder. ‘How about I lead a meditation session?’ she suggested cheerfully.
‘I want to know what you’re implying, Gigi,’ Niki said, ignoring Lisa’s attempt to defuse the situation.
‘Oh, come on. Like you don’t suspect already,’ Gigi said, rolling her eyes.
‘Suspect what?’ Niki demanded, sounding on the verge of hysteria.
‘I’ve saved a heap of motivational quotes that I wanted to share,’ Lisa tried again, frantically scrolling through her phone’s images.
‘Oliver is a manwhore.’
Niki’s mouth dropped open and the room went silent.
‘Everyone, let’s take a deep breath in—’
‘Shut up, Lisa!’ Niki, Gigi and Kelly yelled in unison.
‘Okay, that’s enough. You’re all ruining my vibe,’ Larkin said, standing up. But even the queen bee couldn’t douse this scrub fire.
‘He’s playing you,’ Gigi said, leaning forward, ‘and you’re so desperate to keep his attention that you’re ignoring what you know.’
‘I am not desperate.’
‘No, you aren’t. You’re above that crap, but for some reason, when it comes to Oliver, you’ve forgotten who you are .’
‘We have something special. He said so.’
‘Isn’t that the same thing he told you, Kelly?’ Gigi asked the woman who was now turning pale under her expensive salon tan.
A confused look replaced Niki’s earlier indignation. ‘What?’ She swapped her glance from Gigi to Kelly. ‘What’s she talking about?’
Kelly simply shook her head, gaping like a fish out of water.
‘God, the drama ,’ Gigi groaned. ‘Oliver slept with Kelly two days before we got here. And the day before that, he slept with some Greek tycoon’s daughter at the yacht club. He tried to get me into bed on the first day here and he even boasted to the other guys that he was going to bag Little Miss Wessex here, only now it’s pretty obvious that Tate decided to stake a claim. Well played, by the way, Bel. That wide-eyed innocent look gets ’em every time.’
Bel was too shocked by the barrage of revelations to immediately register the backhanded compliment Gigi had thrown at her. And clearly Niki had stopped listening at some earlier point, focusing only on what had affected her.
‘You’re lying. You’re just jealous that he chose me. Kelly’s not even his type.’
Kelly snapped out of her stupor. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It’s not your fault, Kelly. He only goes for old family wealth. Your father’s too new money.’
‘Are you serious right now?’ Kelly blustered.
‘Are you saying Gigi’s telling the truth?’ Niki asked, kinking an eyebrow.
‘As a matter of fact, yes. It’s true. So there. He doesn’t care about old money.’
Bel felt like she’d been sucked into some reality show nightmare. How the hell do you stop this ride?
‘I can’t believe you would try and steal my boyfriend!’ Niki yelled.
‘He was my boyfriend before he was yours!’
‘Just stop!’ Lisa yelled over the top of the ruckus. ‘This is hurting my chakra.’
Bel glanced towards her cousin, who was standing with her eyes shut and seemingly trying to remain calm. ‘Enough!’
This time, everyone stopped. ‘I am not having my wedding day ruined by backstabbing and name-calling. Gigi, stop being a bitch. I know that’s going to be difficult, but try , okay? Niki, I’m sorry you found out about Oliver and Kelly this way, but Gigi was right, you are lowering your worth by being with that creep. The only reason he’s in the wedding party is because he’s Tristan’s cousin. You can both do better than him, so just stop it. As for Bel and Tate, I was the one who set them up, so if anyone has anything snarky to say, you’d better be okay saying it in front of me. Am I clear?’
A murmured sea of ‘Yes, Larkin’s followed.
‘Right. Now, I want you all to make up. No one and nothing is going to ruin my wedding day.’
‘I’m sorry, Niki,’ Gigi said. ‘I just want you to be the powerhouse boss-woman you were destined to be, babe. You can do some much better than Oliver. You both can,’ she added, turning to include Kelly.
The women stared silently at one another, then all three embraced in a group hug, so artfully mindful of their wet nail polish and face masks that it was more like an almost-hug.
With all parties somewhat mollified and order restored, Lisa got to lead them in a guided meditation. Bel was grateful for this, if only to be able to close her eyes and wish herself far, far away from all this insanity.
‘So we don’t have to sneak around anymore?’ Tate asked as they lay in her bed later that night.
‘Nope. Apparently, we were the worst kept secret this side of the Blue Mountains.’
For a moment he was silent and Bel turned her head to look up at him. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ he dismissed, but the continued silence warned her it was definitely something.
‘Is it a problem that people now know?’
‘Not a problem as such,’ he said. ‘I just prefer my privacy.’
Well, she hadn’t exactly wanted to take out an announcement in the local paper either, but they were all grown-ups and clearly the others had no qualms about sleeping around, so there was hardly going to be any scandal.
Bel was distracted when he ran his fingers along her arm, sending a shiver of delight across her skin, and decided to let his unusual response go.
‘There was something else I found kind of interesting. I heard that Oliver told you he was interested in me. Is that true?’ She felt awkward for asking, but Gigi’s announcement had stirred her curiosity.
His touch paused. ‘Oliver has a tendency to shoot off his mouth.’
‘So he did?’
‘Until he didn’t,’ Tate said.
‘What does that mean?’
‘I took him aside and I told him you were off limits.’
‘This was before the movie night?’
‘Yep.’
‘But we weren’t even together at that point.’
‘But I knew we were going to be,’ he said, then looked down at her. ‘Are you saying you wanted Oliver to hit on you?’
‘Of course not.’ She frowned. ‘I was surprised, that’s all. I’ve never had anyone be … territorial over me.’
‘Is that what I was being?’ he chuckled.
‘That’s how it seems.’
‘I know what I want, and I don’t let anyone else take what’s mine.’
Bel wasn’t sure what to say to that. A small part of her questioned if this could possibly be something she should protest against. She wasn’t property, and she didn’t belong to anyone. Yet, lying here with him, feeling the warm heat of his skin against her own, the part of her that had conjured up this protective, confident man to slay dragons and take care of her was purring in delight.