To Love Honour and Disobey(20)

       
           



       

And Seb, damn him, was smiling right back, his lazy charming smile, and he wasn't stepping away from her full-frontal contact.

'Not tonight, Cass. This wedding is enough excitement for one day.'

Ana watched the pout of disappointment and then the resurgence of that  brilliant smile as Cassie tried to secure his company for another night.  Was she an octopus? She had hands everywhere.

'I'm sorry.' Seb shook his head. 'Will you excuse me? I have to go  grimace for some photos.' Seb finally put his hands on Cassie's and  removed them from where they seemed to be smoothing over his entire  torso.

Photo call, huh? Ana was jealous-of that and a lot of other things right  now. He'd better not be planning on leaving her with this predator.

'You two have a lot in common.' Seb actually managed to tear his gaze  from the lovely blonde one and look at Ana. 'Cassie loves accessories.'

Yeah, of the tall, dark and handsome variety. And he really was leaving  her-walking off with a look of total, possibly evil, amusement. Ana  stared after him, tossing an imaginary dagger or two into his back. Then  she turned to face the ultimate in competition. She might as well roll  over and surrender now.

'Have you known Sebastian a while?' The petite piranha was quick to skewer her with the smile and the questions.

'Yes,' Ana said carefully. 'A little while.'

'We go way back. We're very close.'

Ana just bet they were. 'How lovely.'

There was a moment when they smiled insincerely at each other.

'You've a fabulous tan for this time of year,' Cassie then commented.  'Gosh, I just couldn't go in the sun like that. I wouldn't want to  damage my skin.'

'No? Shame.' Ana smiled sweetly. 'We've just got back from Africa.' And  it had been so worth the skin damage, darling, she added under her  breath.

'Africa?' Cassie's sharp eyes narrowed. 'With Sebastian?'

'Yes.' Desperate to put this woman in her place, she couldn't resist recklessly adding, 'It was our honeymoon.'

'Your honeymoon?'

For one second, absolute triumph zapped through Ana. Unfortunately it  was instantly zapped by a regret so awful she felt sick. She wanted to  retract. Immediately she drained her glass and escaped to the bathroom.  But when she walked out five minutes later she saw blondie in earnest  conversation with Sebastian's mother.

Oh, no.

She met the ice-cool gaze of his mother with a flush, helplessly watched  as the older woman turned and went to Seb, interrupting the photo call  as she asked the question.

By rights the glass windows should all have shattered. The decibel of the shriek certainly had all heads turning.

'You're married.' His mother's voice carried clearer than a bell.

Seb, standing to the right of his father, turned and looked across at  Ana. She lifted her head, meeting his eyes full on and determined to  hold onto her justification. She had some somewhere-didn't she?

And all of a sudden she was trapped between him and his mother, who was firing questions machine-gun style.

'When?'

Seb looked at her. Forcing her to answer.

'A while ago.'

'Where?'

'A registry office.'

'A registry office? Oh, Sebastian.' His mother looked appalled. 'Let me  guess, no witnesses, no guests, no party. You've never had the  celebration.' She tutted. 'Never had the first dance.'

'It wasn't something that interested either of us,' Ana muttered.

'Sebastian, how could you?'

'Quite easily.' He finally spoke. Cooler than Arctic waters. 'I figured  you and Dad have had enough weddings between you. You didn't need me to  add another to the calendar.'

Ana looked at the expression in his mother's eyes and for the first time  realised that their mess of a marriage might actually hurt someone  other than herself. This was the woman's son-her only child-and she was  finding out about his wife for the first time at her ex-husband's latest  wedding. It must be a bit of a shock.

'Will you excuse me a moment?' Another bathroom trip was definitely in  order. To give them a moment. To escape from the energy she could feel  in Seb-the angry energy.

Mistake. Big, big mistake.

He was waiting for her when she emerged and she didn't have the courage to look at him.

'I thought we were going to keep the details under wraps,' he said a little too quietly.

Ana knew the colour in her cheeks was deliriumfever red-and only  deepening. 'Well, Cassie was digging her elbows into me as she tried to  plaster her breasts all over you.'                       
       
           



       

His lips were firmly pressed together. Too firmly. After a silence that  stretched Ana's nerves to utter defence mode he finally spoke again.  Still soft, still dangerous. 'You're not jealous, are you, Ana?'

The woman was blonde and petite and beautiful. Of course she was  jealous. Not just jealous but threatened, insecure and apparently  capable of a lioness-like display of alpha-girl territorial behaviour.  Since when did she do that? And yet her claws itched to be unsheathed  again just at the thought of the woman. Not that Ana wanted to admit to  any of it. 'I … er … '

'I've never been interested in Cassie,' Seb said evenly. 'She's the  daughter of my father's friend. I've known her most of my life and I've  never even kissed her.'

'Although I'm sure you've had the opportunity.' Ana just had to dig.

'Sure. But I didn't take them.'

Them? As in more than one opportunity? So the vixen had been hunting him  for a while, had she? Ana's claws sharpened enough to cut more  efficiently than a diamond-tipped blade.

Seb stepped closer. Took hold of her chin in firm fingers and made her  look at him. To her surprise it was amusement glowing in the depths of  his eyes, not anger. And while his voice was still low, it was threaded  with a half-laugh that made her spine go scarily soft.

'If I wanted to I would have a long time ago. I didn't want to then, don't want to now, won't ever want to. Satisfied?'

The guilt was sloshing around inside with an unusually large dose of  embarrassment. But there was a warm twist of pleasure too-and, yes,  satisfaction. Then the embarrassment gained supremacy. 'I'm sorry,' she  mumbled. 'I'll leave. I can just sneak away.'

'No, you can't,' he said calmly. 'You have to smile your way through  this as I do. It's your fault for announcing our marriage so smoothly.  You were the one who insisted we come. I'd have skipped it altogether.'

'I didn't want to come. I just wanted you to.'

He shook his head and pulled her wrap from her shoulders, baring her arm, and her body in the silk dress.

'What are you doing?' She reached for it but he tossed it onto the  nearest chair-grabbed her by the arm to stop her following it.

'I think the least you can do is give me something good to look at.'

'Seb.'

His smile was wicked. 'Ana, what you and I need to do is make the best of a bad situation.'

Somehow she got through the dinner. The jokes. The speeches. Smiling  hard, she watched the cake being cut. Finally it was the first dance. A  few songs after that she was sure they'd then be able to leave. Ana  watched the couple walk to the middle of the floor. Heard Seb groan as  the musicians struck a few chords.

'It's a snowball,' he muttered.

'Snowball?'

Seb shot her a pained look. 'Not up with wedding traditions, are you?'

Ana watched, mystified, as the couple began to waltz. She couldn't see  the problem; they looked sweet. And then the musicians seemed to  pause-holding the note. The bride left her husband's arms and went and  got Seb. While his father went and got her brides-maid-then another  chorus of the waltz was played and the two new couples danced. Another  pause. Seb went to his mother and the others found new partners. They  waltzed round the room for another chorus. Then came the pause again.  And Seb walked to her.

She got what he meant now-the dance was repeated over and over, with  each pause those dancing would go and get a new partner.  Snowballing-slowly expanding the participants until all the guests would  be on the floor.

She stared at his outstretched hand. 'I don't want to dance, Seb.'

He pulled her into his arms as if he hadn't heard. The music began and  they moved around the room. Finally, thankfully, the pause came. But Seb  didn't move. Didn't let her go.

'Aren't you supposed to get another partner?'

He shrugged. 'I like the one I've got.'

'Even though I keep standing on your feet?'

'Just stand and sway.'

And so she did. Turned her face into his neck and breathed in his scent,  unable to meet his eyes for long. The expression in them was too  overwhelming.

She was like a sea goddess. The pencil-slim shimmering dress deepened  her blue eyes, her long glossy hair hung loose, and with her skin gently  golden from the sun and the deeper brown henna tattoo across it she  looked stunning. She was so lovely he nearly swallowed his tongue. It  felt as if it had grown to three times its usual size-but it wasn't only  his tongue getting thick.