The Accidental Bride by Portia Da Costa Read Free Book Online Page B

best friend she could to Brent and Shelley, who’d been her house-mates up until a few weeks ago.
    She frowned. That was the hard thing. The three of them had been so close, their lives practically interwoven, but now, no matter how assiduously she tried to maintain the integrity of the bond between them, she could feel it faltering.
    Perhaps I’m just being arrogant? Perhaps they don’t need me as much as I thought they did? Perhaps I’m just too different now … now that I live with a multi-millionaire?
    She’d made a point of dropping in at St Patrick’s Road a couple of times before she and John had set off for this holiday, but each time, she’d barely had chance for the briefest of chats with her friends. She’d extended a dinner invitation, regaling Brent and Shelley with the glories of Mrs Thursgood’s cookery, but in the days prior to her trip to the south of France with John, there had never seemed to be an evening when everybody was free.
    Well, I’ve got a new man, so why shouldn’t you two be all swept up in your new men too?
    Especially Shelley, who seemed to have found a kinky hunk all of her own, even though Lizzie still wasn’t sure whether or not her friend was paying for the privilege. Sholto Kraft was an escort, just had Brent had once been, and as Lizzie had pretended to be, the first night she’d met John. Shelley claimed she was just having fun with a guy she liked, but even though she was seeing her friend less than before, Lizzie could sense there was more to the Shelley/Sholto relationship than just a bit of BDSM experimenting.
    And as for Brent … Happy as she was for him, Lizzie couldn’t for the life of her work out quite why her friendwas so cagey about the hot new man in his life. Brent hadn’t had a boyfriend for a long, long time, not since his serious lover Steve had been killed; but before then, he’d always loved to dish every last fruity detail about his dates and their prowess. This time, though, he was as close-mouthed as a very close-mouthed thing. Lizzie would have been frantic with concern, but for the fact that she’d never seen Brent so happy before. Which was a bit insulting in a way, because he seemed in far better spirits now than he’d ever been when he’d briefly dated her.
    I’m going to prise some intel out of both of you when I get home, if it’s the last thing I do. You two were both nosy enough when it came to me telling you about John and his peccadilloes.
    But today, there wasn’t a single email from either of them amongst the downloaded stuff. It was all newsletters from Amazon and suchlike. Lizzie frowned, about to close the program, but then noticed something that she’d missed amongst all the tempting offers for books and clothes and tech toys.
    It was an email from Marie, her boss at New Again. It’d probably be some nice chatty updates on the shop and the expansion they’d been discussing. The two women had rapidly become fast friends since Lizzie had started working at the dress agency. She’d sensed that Marie had been marking time with New Again, and that her own arrival had energised the other woman’s interest in the business, suggesting new horizons. With someone on hand who could not only do expert alterations quickly, but also make garments from scratch, the shop could be so much more; a prime example was their unexpected plunge into making bridal gowns. Admittedly, it was just one finished dress so far, with two more on the books and several strongenquiries, but it was all very exciting and could end up being a very big thing indeed!
    The title of Marie’s email –
You won’t believe this!
– was a bit ominous, though. Lizzie opened the message.
    After the usual salutation, the other woman was ecstatic.
    The little shop on the Kissley Magna village green … I think we’ve got it! I thought it’d been sold, but suddenly it was back on the market again with another agency, to lease. I thought, what the hell, I’d apply for