To Love Honour and Disobey(17)

'Are you going to join us for dinner?' Phil asked. 'We're just waiting on a table at the Thai place across the road.'

Seb couldn't stop staring after Ana. 'I'm not sure it's such a good idea.'

'Thought you said you were friends. I'm sure Ana won't mind.'

Yeah. That was what he was afraid of. That she didn't care enough to mind. But he couldn't resist staying, could he? 'OK.'

Fairy Godfather Phil-that was what he wanted to be. Ana glared at her  friend. It was better than having to spend any more time looking across  the table at Seb. Because seeing him made something twist inside her.  For once it wasn't his gorgeousness heating her belly. If anything he  looked less than his usual immaculate male-model self. He looked tired  around the eyes, maybe even thinner. And it was that causing the  discomfort inside her.                       
       
           



       

She abandoned her dinner. Noticed he'd stopped eating too. She couldn't  resist prying just a little. 'You're not with your dad tonight?'

'He's not having a stag do if that's what you mean.'

'What time is the wedding?'

He shrugged, his brow wrinkling. She wanted to smooth it. His eyes, in  just that second, looked so unhappy. Sure he was laughing with Phil and  Jack, sure he was making the effort. But that was what she sensed-the  effort it was taking him. Clearly the whole wedding thing was cutting  him up. The ridiculous urge to comfort him flooded her-she wanted to  hold him and make him laugh. Make him carefree again.

Careless.

Where had the fun-loving Seb gone?

As the evening progressed the urge to reach out to him only grew. She'd  thought she could handle it. She really had. At last they headed back to  Phil and Jack's-running the few streets in the drizzle. Phil and Jack  took the mickey about her shoes and Seb's smile flashed in the dark as  she ran faster than all of them just to prove herself.

The guys insisted Seb stop for another drink before going on to his  apartment. Phil opened his whisky and the three parked in the lounge.  Ana tried to join in-fixed herself a hot chocolate and acted as if none  of it were a problem. But in the end all she could do was run away.

She lay in bed and listened to the deep voices. The laughter resonated  up the wooden stairs. But in her mind's eye she saw him with that pain  in his expression. It had been a mere flash but she knew it went deep.  She sighed. What was she doing caring?

She finally slept-waking to hear Jack remonstrating with Phil, telling  him to hurry up. She glanced at her watch-after ten already. The boys  were off to Manchester for a couple of days to see Jack's family and  they had a long drive ahead of them.

She pulled on jeans and a tee. Wandered down and grinned at Phil's greenish tinge and dark glasses. 'Late night?'

'Early morning,' he grumbled.

She walked him to the door. Jack was wrestling with an oversize  suitcase, trying to jam it, and the other twenty bags, into the boot of  his car, muttering about the amount of stuff Phil insisted on taking  with him.

Phil sighed. 'He loves my high-maintenance tendencies, really.'

'Of course he does.' Phil was exceptionally high maintenance but he was also such fun. 'Have a great time.'

Phil turned back and took her wrist. Usually his face was lit with laughter but now he was serious. 'Don't run away again.'

She hadn't contacted him during the time she'd hidden away down south.  He hadn't told her off, had never pried-not about that. Just opened his  door, taken one look and let her in. So she owed him now and gave a  promise she was determined to keep. 'I won't.'

The sparkle in his eye rekindled-sly this time. 'Are you going to go wake Sleeping Beauty?'

'I suppose,' she said darkly.

'Don't do anything I wouldn't.'

Well, that gave her a hell of a lot of leeway, didn't it? He winked and  she waved. She walked back into the apartment and glanced at the  immobile log still sound asleep on the sofa, then at the empty bottles  on the table. Clearly a very early morning for them all.

In the kitchen she got the espresso machine working. Made it so strong  it was like thick brown goo dripping into the cup. She lifted the cup  and wandered back through to the lounge. Held the steaming brew under  his nose.

'Wake up, Seb.'

One eye opened and quickly shut again. 'I'm dreaming.'

'No, you're not.'

He peered at her again. 'Ugh. You're right. If I was, you'd be naked.'

'Sebastian, you have to get up. Aren't you due at your father's wedding?'

'Not going.' His growl took her aback.

'What?'

He sighed. 'Look, I have no interest in seeing my dad get married again.  Certainly not to a woman only a few years older than me.'

'Seb.' She shook her head. 'Aren't you the best man?'

'Been there, done that. Twice already. Not gonna again.'

'Seb, this is your father.' He couldn't skip this. He'd regret it. She knew he would.

'So? I don't know her family. There's not a lot of mine. It's not going  to be fun, Ana, and it'll all be over in a year or two at best. What's  the point?'

'It's not about having fun. It's about being there for your family.' She paused.

'Not going.' He lifted his head from the sofa and raised his voice too. 'They're too annoying.'                       
       
           



       

'You should be grateful you have parents to be annoyed by.'

His head thudded back on the cushion. 'Oh, you had to go low, didn't you?'

'Yeah. You can't argue with me.' She handed him the mug. 'Drink up. I'll take you back to yours and drive you to the wedding.'

'I'm perfectly capable of driving.'

Like hell he was. 'With the amount you obviously drank last night? So  much you couldn't walk the three blocks back to your place? It's still  got to be in your system.'

'I didn't have that much. Not enough anyway.'

'Well, you smell like you're over the limit.'

Seb grunted. Unable to deny his amusement. Yeah, he reeked. But that was  because in the carousing with Phil he'd spilt a giant glass of  Scotland's finest over his clothes. Terrible waste. But it had got late  and Phil had been keen to stay up later-sly dog. He'd known, hadn't he,  that the last thing Seb had wanted to do was leave? He'd tossed him a  blanket, telling him it was too cold/wet/late to walk home-making it  easy for him. And Seb had practically leapt at the offer. Hell, he'd  slept better on this too small sofa than he had in his own right-sized  bed. Just knowing she was near. That he was going to see her again  soon-in only a few hours rather than the uncertain number of days he'd  had to wait this week.

Hell. There was something seriously wrong with him.

'I'll walk home.' He needed to get his head together.

'I'm coming with you.'

His mood inexplicably lifted. 'Why?'

'Because I have the feeling you're not going to show up at the wedding. And I think that would be a mistake.'

He eyed her lazily. He didn't give a damn about the wedding. 'What are you going to do about it?'

'I'm going to take you there myself.'

'You're inviting yourself to my father's wedding?' His heart stopped beating.

'Yeah.' She tossed her head. 'Why not?'

Why not? Hell, she had no idea how close he was to giving in to base  urges and hauling her into his arms. His heart thumped again-a couple of  uneven beats before picking up speed as his brain processed the idea of  having the whole day with her. 'You want to see what the craziness is  like?'

'Is it that crazy, Seb?'

'It's hell.' He closed his eyes again as he thought of something far more wickedly exciting. 'What are you going to wear?'

There was a bit of a pause. Then he heard her soft voice-heard the catch of shy laughter.

'Actually I have the most amazing dress. A few, in fact. Want to help me choose?'

'OK.' Of course he did.

'I'll go get them.'

'No to anything black,' he called after her.

In a minute she was back, holding a hanger with a dress floating from it. 'No black limits options. What about this?'

He stared, his whole body reacting, and was damn glad of the blanket he still had over him. 'Have you ever worn it in public?'

'No.'

He almost managed a laugh.

'What do you think?'

Her eyes were wide, her teeth caught on her lower lip. He thought he was about to burst out of his skin with lust.

He forced his eyes back to the dress. It was green or maybe blue, a  shimmering slip of a thing with spaghetti straps. And short. Far, far  too short.

'You can't wear that.' That was what he thought.

'Why not?'

'Because it looks like it belongs in a bedroom.'

'You think?' She grinned. 'The woman in the boutique assured me it was for evening wear.'

He bet she had.

'It has a wrap that goes with it. So I won't freeze.' She was looking at  the dress again thoughtfully. 'But I can't wear a bra under it-the  straps will show.'

'Wear strapless.' He choked.

'I don't have strapless.' She frowned and then smiled. 'But I can get  one. We can call in at Harvey Nicks on the way.' She shook the dress on  the hanger so it shimmered more. 'And I can't wear knickers-the lines  will show.'

Oh, she just had to be doing it deliberately. 'Umm.'