Engaged at the Chatsfield by Melanie Milburne Read Free Book Online

wistfulness about it. ‘You’re lucky.... To be so certain, I mean.’
    Juliet looked at her with a frown. ‘And you’re not? About Hugh?’
    Kendra let out a sigh and directed her gaze back to her feet. ‘I don’t know.... It felt so right when he proposed. But now with the wedding just a week away I’m not so sure.’
    ‘Maybe it’s just wedding jitters.’
    ‘Maybe.’
    A silence slipped past...not that it was really a silence given the loud music thumping in the background.
    Juliet wondered what had brought on Kendra’s uncertainty. She was normally such a confident, outgoing type. Juliet had always envied Kendra’s self-possession and poise. Kendra had been Head Girl at school. She was Head Girl wherever she went. She was rich and beautiful and popular. She had a fiancé who loved her. A real fiancé. Hugh Pritchard was gorgeous and successful and had dated Kendra for three and a half years. He wasn’t a phantom fiancé who would disappear on Monday morning.
    ‘I wish I hadn’t asked Harriet to be my maid of honour,’ Kendra said.
    Juliet wondered if it was the alcohol talking. Kendra had been knocking back the cocktails with gay abandon and Juliet hadn’t seen her eat a thing all evening. ‘What makes you say that?’
    She lifted one of her thin, spray-tanned shoulders in a little shrug. ‘I don’t know...I guess I thought she’d do a good job.’
    ‘She is doing a good job.’
    ‘I know but it’s not like I’m close to her. I mean really close.’
    ‘I thought you were best friends?’
    Kendra turned the engagement ring on her finger a couple of times. ‘She’s so...out there, you know? It gets a little wearing after a while.’ She stopped twirling and looked at Juliet with a wry smile. ‘Maybe I’ve finally grown up.’
    Juliet smiled back. ‘Maybe we all have.’
    * * *
    Marcus was sitting in the bar area taking a long time to drink a brandy and dry when he saw Juliet come out of the nightclub. He convinced himself he’d only come down to check she didn’t leave with some totally unsuitable guy. But the truth was he was here because he wanted to be with her himself. How could he not want her? How had he resisted her for so long? Where were his reason and logic now? His impulses were in the driver’s seat and they had their foot to the floor. He didn’t want her hooking up with some stranger. If she wanted to hook up with someone, she could hook up with him.
    Her evening purse was swinging from its chain where it was curled around one of her fingers. Her hair was more down than up, her lip gloss had worn off, and it looked like she was limping, but he had never seen her look more beautiful.
    He left his drink on the bar to intercept her. ‘Hey.’
    She blinked and then smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘I’m only talking to you because we’re supposed to be engaged.’
    ‘I guess there’s logic in that statement somewhere.’
    She flashed him a narrowed look. ‘Are you checking up on me?’
    ‘Do I need to?’
    She let out a sigh that made her shoulders drop. ‘No, of course not. I was coming up to bed—’ Her cheeks went bright red. ‘I mean up to the room.’
    ‘Fancy a drink first?’
    Her brow puckered. ‘A...a drink?’
    He kept his expression poker-faced. ‘It doesn’t have to be alcohol. We can have a hot chocolate if you prefer.’
    She scowled at him from beneath her lashes. ‘I’m not twelve.’
    He stroked her pink cheek with his fingertip. ‘Don’t be mad at me.’
    He felt her quiver under his touch, her brown eyes softening, and her pursed lips relaxing. ‘One drink, okay?’
    ‘And a dance?’
    Her eyes rounded. ‘You want to...to dance?’
    Marcus took her by the hand. ‘Are your feet up to it?’
    ‘I’ll take my shoes off.’
    ‘Just your shoes?’
    She angled her head at him, a tiny glint sparkling in her eyes. ‘Are you flirting with me, Marcus?’
    He brought her up close and then lowered his mouth to hers. ‘I haven’t