Wedding-Night Baby by Kim Lawrence Read Free Book Online Page B

events only made her own humiliation worse. It was ironic that when, after resisting Alex’s attempts to make their relationship more intimate, she had finally felt she was ready he had already been unfaithful to her with Harriet. I gave my all and it obviously compared unfavourably with what he already had on offer, she thought with bitter self-mockery.
    â€˜You look pale. Are you all right?’ Callum asked, returning with a cup of coffee.
    â€˜Sorry, did you say something?’ she responded vaguely. It was hard to put the bitter recollections aside and concentrate on the present.
    â€˜The girlie chat with the blushing bride has left you looking like a basket case,’ he observed bluntly.
    â€˜Well, I’m not about to share all the grisly contents with you,’ she said, straightening her shoulders. ‘So you’ll have to settle for a coffee while I go and apply some blusher.’

    Callum found himself admiring the determined set of her jaw and the ramrod line of her slender back as she wound her way through the throng. Whatever else she was, Georgina Campion had guts.
    Â 
    Georgina had had two cups of coffee, the bride was ready to leave and Georgina’s head was splitting. They were all crammed in the foyer for the ritual send-off when Harriet deliberately caught her cousin’s eye; the look of triumph was malicious. Recalling her encounter with Alex earlier, Georgina could almost feel sorry for her, with the emphasis on almost She could certainly meet the stare with perfect equanimity—a fact that made Harriet’s pretty features harden.
    Georgina wondered what she had ever done to make the girl dislike her so much. She watched as Harriet’s arm moved in an arc and the bouquet hit her full-force in the face, knocking her hat off in the process. The action brought a flurry of giggles and high-spirited comments. Georgina felt her eyes water with pain but smiled through the tears.
    By the time Callum retrieved her hat it had been trampled on. She was clutching the rather limp flowers unenthusiastically as he dusted it down and handed it back to her. He watched the narrow-eyed, dispassionate intensity as she brushed a stray tear from her watering eyes.
    â€˜There goes a week’s pay,’ she observed, dropping it in the nearest waste-paper bin. She didn’t need any reminders of this day.
    â€˜Georgie, can we offer you two a lift anywhere? Your mother’s?’ Uncle George included Callum in the good-natured offer.
    â€˜We have a room actually, but thanks anyway,’ Callum said, speaking for them. She felt the weight of his hands
once more on her slumped shoulders, wielding the strength of tensile steel as they rested deceptively lightly upon her.
    â€˜I think you can drop the role now,’ she snapped as her uncle moved away with an affectionate admonition not to be a stranger. ‘You’ve more than fulfilled your obligations. On second thoughts your last official duty can be to get rid of these.’ Her nose wrinkled in distaste as she pushed the bouquet into his hands.
    â€˜Aren’t they supposed to predict your imminent nuptials? ’ he said, flicking a white rose with his finger.
    â€˜Not if I’m conscious,’ she said feelingly.
    â€˜I think that’s called tempting fate, Georgie.’ He drawled the hated appellation with deliberate relish. ‘Or should I revert to Miss Campion now my role as official escort is over?’
    â€˜You could revert to silence,’ she suggested, eyeing her tall, elegant companion with grim dislike.
    â€˜Feeling hung-over, are we?’
    â€˜I don’t suppose you drank anything?’ she snapped sarcastically.
    â€˜Nothing alcoholic,’ he agreed. ‘After long-haul flying that would have been a mistake. You’re one of my first...’ he raised his eyes and she saw he looked peculiarly amused ‘...assignments since I arrived.’
    â€˜I thought