November Harlequin Presents 2(222)

‘I thought you weren’t going.’

‘I am now.’ Emma gave a tight shrug. ‘Hunter’s never done a thing for charity and suddenly he’s organising a ball in aid of spinal injury research—’

‘Research?’ Lily checked, voicing the word Hunter had omitted.

‘He thinks he can somehow fix this.’ Emma gave a wan smile. ‘He thinks somehow he can make up for what happened. He can deny it all he likes but I know it’s eating him up.’

‘But it wasn’t his fault!’ Lily croaked, trying to find out more without revealing just how little she knew. ‘I mean, it’s not as if he was driving—it was an accident.’

‘Thank God you’re here to keep telling him that.’ Emma smiled her engaging smile. ‘Till you came along, he was on a collision course for disaster. He simply won’t talk about it with me, just buries himself in his ridiculous schedules and even more ridiculous social life. I know he’s still working at a frenetic pace, but at least he’s got you to come home to, you to confide in now.’

Only he didn’t confide.

Every time she’d broached this sensitive topic, Hunter had either turned up the music or turned on the charm, thus avoiding the issue.

And it was an issue.

She knew that now.

It was Lily looking at the clock now, wishing she could see him, talk to him, wishing he would let her be there for him—wishing she knew what the hell had happened that night.

‘I still can’t believe it, actually!’

‘Believe what?’ Lily asked, forcing her mind away from Hunter and back to Emma.

‘That not only is my eternally single brother married, but I actually like who he’s with!’

‘I bet you say that to all the girls.’ Lily gave a wry smile, could hear the jealousy in her words no matter how she tried to keep her voice light.

‘Oh, Hunter’s had plenty of girlfriends, that’s for sure.’ Emma laughed, but, sensing perhaps she’d touched a nerve, her laughter faded. ‘He married you though, Lily, and don’t ever forget it. You just have to look at the two of you together to see how much you adore each other.’

And Emma must have been as lousy a judge of character as her own mother was, Lily thought, because her attempt at comfort was genuine—Emma truly believed that Hunter had married her for nothing other than love. ‘Can I tell you something, Lily, between us?’

‘Just between us?’ Lily checked nervously.

‘I’d rather you didn’t say anything to Hunter.’ Emma gave a tight shrug. ‘Look, I know that’s perhaps a bit unfair, to ask you to keep something from him, but I hope we’re more than just relatives. I hope that we’re friends, too.’

Oh, God, she’d never envisaged this. Not for a second, when she’d agreed to the marriage, had she considered that she might actually like Hunter’s family. She adored Emma, and if it had been a real marriage, if Emma was actually her real sister-in-law about to spill her secrets, about to invite her right into her world, Lily would have embraced it. Instead, she recoiled. Instead of leaning forward, she muttered something about getting a drink and stood up, headed to the kitchen and opened some freshly prepared dips from the restaurant below, poured perfectly chilled wine into a slender glass for her guest, praying that Emma would have regrouped, that the moment of closeness, of friendship and trust would have passed.

It hadn’t.

‘You know how I’ve been seeing Jim an awful lot, and, Lily…’ Her voice was brimming with excitement. ‘I think that this is it.’

‘It?’

‘That he’s the one.’ Emma gave a tiny shocked giggle. ‘I can’t believe I’m even thinking it, let alone admitting to anyone. He’s amazing. For the first time in my life I feel as if someone loves me just for me, and I’m not just talking about since the accident. I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never met someone I could so completely open up to, love so unashamedly…’ She looked over at Lily, clearly expecting some sort of affirmation and bemused when none was forthcoming.

‘You don’t seem very pleased.’

‘Of course I’m pleased, it’s just…’ Lily raked her fingers through her hair as she worked out what to say. ‘Emma, you’ve only known him a month.’

‘You’d only known Hunter two weeks before you were married.’ Emma laughed. ‘If anyone should understand a whirlwind relationship, Lily, it should be you!’

Lily was saved from a response by Hunter’s incredibly delayed arrival—and her eyes narrowed in concern as he walked in, his complexion grey, his stance utterly exhausted but still with enough dash about him to fill the room.