The priest was giving Michael permission to kiss the bride. Connor blanked out the sighs from the congregation and his awareness of the woman standing beside him, and found himself hoping Suzy would be more trustworthy than Dana had been.
Then, thankfully, the service was over. As they filed out of the church Connor pulled out his BlackBerry and made a note to himself about a meeting with a Realtor to look at new offices that he’d remembered he was supposed to attend on Monday.
The maid of honor—he really should remember her name—was glaring at him. Guiltily he stuck the BlackBerry back in his pocket.
“Wait,” she ordered as he headed for the stairs. “Michael and Suzy will want a photo at the church door.”
Violet? Was that her name? “There’s a wedding photographer to do that.” He gestured to where the man stood. “I didn’t bring a camera.”
“They might want us to be in the photo with them. We should smile. Look happy.”
“Sure.”
She shot him a narrow look; clearly she hadn’t missed his sarcasm. Not Violet, but it had been something equally old-fashioned. Edith? No, that wasn’t right, either.
He was saved from the need to reply by Michael and Suzy’s emergence from the church, their faces alight with what even he could recognize was joy. Envy speared him. Then he suppressed it. He was done with love and romance … from now on his relationships would be based purely on sex. No emotion. No tenderness.
That way there would be no betrayal.
The bridal couple paused under the arched church door beneath a flurry of pink-and-white rose petals, and the photographer leapt into action.
The damn woman had been right.
Unbidden, his eyes landed on her. She was smiling, and Connor had to admit it transformed her face. At least she wasn’t gloating. His gaze lingered on her curved lips and he couldn’t help noticing that her mouth was very pretty when it wasn’t screwed up in disapproval.
“Connor, Victoria, over here!” called Suzy.
Victoria. Of course! “We’re being summoned.” He placed a hand under her elbow. Her skin was silky beneath his fingertips. Out of nowhere a totally unexpected surge of lust hit him. Perhaps the wedding reception wouldn’t be such an ordeal after all …
Suzy was beckoning impatiently. “Come on, we need a photo with the two of you.”
“I told you so,” muttered Victoria.
Connor shot her a look of dislike. Okay, so he’d been wrong on two counts. Firstly, the reception was going to be every bit as bad as he’d imagined and, secondly, she had been gloating. She’d simply concealed it under that sweetly deceptive smile.
All desire waned. It didn’t need Michael’s grin—nor the pointed look to Connor’s hand where it rested—for his hand to drop away from her arm.
The further he stayed away from Queen we-are-not-amused Victoria, the better.
On entering the ballroom, Connor discovered—much to his horror—that rather than the two of them flanking the bridal pair, he and Victoria had been seated beside each other.
“Give the two of you a chance to talk, seeing that all my attention will be on my bride,” Michael murmured sotto voce, holding a chair out for Suzy, who glanced up and gave Connor a little wave, her eyes glittering with mischief.
Irritation swarmed through Connor and he glared at the smug groom.
Connor survived the first round of speeches by ignoring Victoria completely, although if he’d been honest he’d have had to admit that the subtly seductive scent she wore didn’t make that easy. By the time he had to propose a toast to the bride and groom he’d downed three glasses of too-sweet wedding wine. When the first notes of the wedding waltz struck up he looked vainly around for a waiter to order a double whiskey.
“Come on,” an unwelcome voice beside him prompted. “We should join them.”
“I’m not dancing,” he said flatly, settling for another glass of sweet champagne with a grimace.
Her gaze landed on the glass and her straight eyebrows drew together in a frown. “Surely you’re not going to use Suzy and Michael’s wedding as an excuse to get drunk?”
Deliberately provocative, he raised the tulip-glass in a mocking toast. “I’m celebrating the love that you believe in.”
“Don’t be so flippant.” Her disapproval deepened. “This is the happiest day of Suzy and Michael’s life and you’re going to ruin it for them if you carry on. And all because you’re too busy feeling sorry for yourself.”
Connor blinked in disbelief. “What did you say?” He couldn’t have heard right. Everyone had been pussyfooting around the subject of Dana and Paul’s affair. Surely she wouldn’t dare …
Their eyes locked. Hers were more green than brown, flashing little flecks of gold. It wasn’t pity he read there but disdain.
He’d heard perfectly. And grew convinced this woman would dare anything.
Anger knotted in his chest.
“Snap out of it. Think of someone except yourself for a change. It’s only a couple more hours.” Her gaze dropped to the glass in front of him. “And I suggest you slow down on the alcohol.”
“I don’t know who you think you are—” he lowered his voice to a lethal rasp “—but you are way out of line.”
“I’m Victoria.” A grim smile accompanied the words. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the bride’s best friend—” she emphasized best “—but I don’t understand how Michael can call you a friend at all. I certainly haven’t seen you do anything to deserve it.”
Her words stung. He was on his feet before he could think. “I don’t have to listen to this!”
Startled dismay flitted across her face. She cast a quick glance to where the bride was nestled in the groom’s arms. Michael chose that moment to glance at them over the top of Suzy’s curls. Victoria muttered something that sounded suspiciously like an expletive, pushed her chair back and grabbed his hand.
“Great.” The beaming smile she turned on him transformed her face. “Let’s get dancing.”
Connor stared at her, poleaxed by the wattage of her smile. It made her look almost beautiful.
He blurted out, “You should smile more often,” and in a daze followed her onto the dance floor.
Michael slowed to a shuffle and mouthed, “Everything okay?”
Crap, she was right. Again. He was being selfish. Forcing a smile, Connor gave Michael the thumbs-up.
Everything was great.
Right.
Somehow the maid of honor was in his arms, swaying into the wedding waltz, her dress soft and silky under the hands he hadn’t even realized he’d placed on her waist.
“How did you meet Michael?” she asked, still smiling up at him.
He again noticed how lovely her mouth was and forgot the sheer fury she aroused in him. It was, after all, a very distracting mouth. One taste … it would surely rid his tongue of the aftertaste of that awful champagne.
“We’re members of the same squash club. When our original partners stopped playing—” Paul had preferred the gym “—we were both at a loose end, so we teamed up.” That had been six years ago. Despite seeing his business partner every day of his life, Connor realized Michael had proved to be the better friend. He switched off that train of thought before the bleakness that had hovered over him for the past three days descended again.
No Paul or Dana today.
Not even dreaming up grisly plans for revenge.
“Do you work with Suzy?” he asked, determined to get his mind out of the rut it kept drifting back to. Maybe Michael was right and a date with Victoria would be a good distraction.
The smile faded and her eyes turned cool. “I’m an accountant—Michael told you that, remember?”
“That’s right.” No, a date with Victoria would be a very bad idea. “But should you have reminded me? Isn’t that rude?” He gave her a sharklike smile that held no humor.
“Not as impolite as your evident disinterest—you can’t even remember my name.”
Touché. He took in the flare of rosy color on her cheeks, the sparkle of spirit in her eyes. How had he ever thought she was dreary? “Your name is Victoria. And I can’t think why I thought you were a teacher.”
“Perhaps because I know Suzy?”
No, it was that silent reserve, and the way she didn’t hesitate to correct him. He wasn’t accustomed to that—except from his assistant Iris. And that was different; Iris was a friend of his mother’s and had known him for three decades.
“It’s the way you told me off.”
She slanted him an upward glance. “Yesterday or just now? Either way, you deserved it.”
Connor tried to convince himself that yesterday’s scene had been her fault, but he couldn’t shrug off the discomfort that lingered at the memory of the expression in Suzy’s eyes. Telling himself that Victoria had provoked him didn’t wash. He was accountable for his own actions, and the fact that his life was in chaos was irrelevant.
Instead of responding, he simply shrugged.
“I think you need people to stand up to you more often.”
She pursed that luscious mouth again and Connor had a wild desire to shake her out of her righteous complacency.