The Billionaire Boss's Bride(48)

She woke up at a little before nine, feeling as though she hadn’t slept at all. The same snatches of conversation that she had gone to bed contemplating resumed their relentless torture and not even the laborious process of having a bath and thinking about what to wear could push them to one side.

She emerged from the bathroom to find Lucy waiting for her, along with an immaculately prepared breakfast tray, complete with a flower in a vase.

‘You should have blown the whistle,’ Lucy said, frowning. ‘That’s why I gave it to you. You blow and I come. Still. Never mind. Look, I’ve made you breakfast. Am I or am I not the perfect sister? Toast, scrambled eggs, juice, coffee…’ She hovered like a sergeant major, watching as Tessa made her way over to the chair by the window, then she deposited the nicely arranged tray on her lap.

‘Course, you’ll have to gulp it down.’ She folded her arms and waited in expectation that her sister would obey orders. ‘I told Curtis that we’d be over by eleven, in time for some pre-lunch drinks, which leaves…’ she looked at her watch and did some mental arithmetic ‘…a little over an hour and you know how long it takes me to get going.’

‘My headache…’ Tessa made a wincing gesture and tucked into the breakfast, head downturned just in case Lucy spotted the little white lie. ‘I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it. My head…and my foot…I’d be better off resting up… But you go!’ The false brightness in her voice threatened to overspill into tears. She would have to watch that.

‘I can’t go on my own!’ Lucy’s voice was horrified. ‘You have to come, Tess!’

‘Have to? I don’t think so.’ When she glanced up at her sister, she saw that Lucy was stricken. Stricken! One hour in the man’s company and she was already distraught at the thought of not seeing him! ‘You’ll be fine without me,’ she said coolly. ‘Face it, Luce, you’ve never needed me around to hold your hand when it came to dealing with the opposite sex.’

‘You don’t understand. Anyway, staying here will be horrible and grim and depressing. What will you do? Hang around watching television in your Tigger nightie?’

Sounded fine to Tess.

‘He might think that you’re annoyed with him for some reason,’ Lucy continued with a shrewdness that Tessa would never have expected.

It did make her think, though.

Lucy had a point. If she chickened out, Curtis would immediately come to the conclusion that he had offended her, and, since she was determined to emerge from her ill-conceived race into bed with him with dignity, showing any sign of offence was number one on the forbidden list.

Also, Curtis was unpredictable. He didn’t obey conventions. She wouldn’t put it past him to come to the house and confront her. If there was one thing Tessa knew she couldn’t handle, it was that. She shuddered over the remainder of her toast and egg and hurriedly gulped down a mouthful of coffee.

‘He probably wouldn’t even notice my absence,’ she said lamely, and Lucy made a stern tut-tutting noise under her breath.

‘False modesty and you know it!’ She removed the tray from her sister’s lap. ‘You just have to come. Now, what are you going to wear?’

‘Why is it so important for us to go, Luce?’ The question was innocent enough but Tessa’s eyes narrowed speculatively on her sister’s face, which reddened. The most conclusive sign of guilt Tessa could imagine. Her heart hardened. It was a good job Curtis Diaz wasn’t around, she thought bitterly. Her famed composure might have undergone some serious fracturing. Along with his head.

‘I thought I might take along some of my work,’ Lucy said, her colour deepening. ‘Curtis seemed very interested in the sort of stuff I’m doing at the moment.’

‘Oh, did Curtis?’

The inveterate charmer, she thought, her heart clenching. Always showed interest in other people and not just mild curiosity, but real interest. Or so it seemed. Poor Lucy. If she could have warned her, she would have, but she could hardly admit to speaking from experience and, besides, when it came to men, Lucy was a law unto herself.

But there were other ways of warning…

She stood up. Her foot, after that initial day of pain, was already strong enough to take some of her weight, though not comfortably. She still allowed herself to be helped to the bathroom and while she was doing her usual morning routine, even allowed Lucy to rifle through her wardrobe and choose some clothes for her to wear.

The choice was a pair of sand-coloured cord trousers, a similarly coloured roll-necked jumper and Lucy had completed the ensemble with a Burberry scarf of her own and a tan jacket, also hers, which fashionably came to mid-thigh. In terms of combating winter cold, it wasn’t very practical but it did look very fetching. Besides, Tessa didn’t have the energy to complain. Her energy was all being used up by the tide of emotions running amok inside her. There was just none left to distribute anywhere else.