‘Fine, thanks, Max. This is Lucy. She came over to apologise for her unfriendliness at the last place I worked.’
‘Is that so?’
Cara couldn’t see the expression on his face from that angle but, from the sound of his voice and the way Lucy seemed to shrink back in her chair, she guessed it wasn’t a very friendly one.
Lucy cleared her throat awkwardly. ‘Yes, I feel dreadful about the whole thing. It was horrible working there. In fact, I left the week after you did. I couldn’t stand the smug look on Michelle’s face any more. Although—’ she leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner ‘—I heard from one of the other girls that she only lasted a month before he got rid of her. She couldn’t hack it, apparently.’ She snorted. ‘That’s karma in action, right there.’ Clearly feeling she’d said her piece, Lucy stood up so that Max could have his chair back and took a small step away from them. ‘Anyway, I’d better get back to my table; apparently there’s coffee on the way and I’m desperate for some. Those cocktails were evil, weren’t they?’
‘Why are you here today?’ Cara asked before she could turn and leave, intrigued by the coincidence.
‘I’m Jack’s—the groom’s—new PA.’
Cara couldn’t help but laugh at life’s weird little twist. ‘Really?’
‘Yeah, he’s a great boss, really lovely to work for.’ She leant forward again and said in a quiet voice, ‘I don’t think Amber likes me very much, though; she didn’t seem very pleased to see me here.’
‘I wouldn’t take that too personally,’ Cara said, giving her a reassuring smile. ‘She’s an intensely protective person.’ She put a hand on Lucy’s arm. ‘Thanks for being brave enough to come over and apologise, Lucy; I really appreciate the gesture.’
Lucy gave her one last smile, and Max a slightly terrified grimace, before retreating to her table.
Max sat back down in his chair, giving her an impressed nod. ‘Nicely handled.’
Warm pleasure coursed through her as she took in the look of approval in his eyes. Feeling a little flustered by it, she picked up her glass of wine to take a big gulp, but judged the tilt badly and some escaped from the side of the rim and dribbled down her chin. Before she had time to react, Max whipped his napkin under her jaw and caught the rogue droplets with it, stopping them from splashing onto her dress.
‘Smooth!’ she said, laughing in surprise.
‘I have moves,’ he replied, his eyes twinkling and his mouth twitching into a warm smile.
A wave of heat engulfed her and her stomach did a full-on somersault.
Oh, no, what was happening to her?
Heart racing, she finally allowed the truth to filter through to her consciousness.
It was, of course, the very last thing she needed to happen.
She was falling in love with him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
AFTER THE MEAL and speeches, all the guests were encouraged to go through to the house, where a bar had been set up under the sweeping staircase in the hall and a DJ in the ballroom was playing ambient tunes in the hope of drawing the guests in there to sit around the tables that surrounded the dance floor.
Waiting at the bar to grab them both a caffeinated soft drink to give them some energy for the rest of the evening’s events, Max allowed his thoughts to jump back over the day.
He’d had fun at the lake with Cara, which had taken him by surprise, because the last thing he’d expected when he’d got up that morning was that he would enjoy himself today.
But Cara had a way of finding the joy in things.
In fact, he’d been so caught up in the pleasure of showing her how to skim stones, he hadn’t thought about what he was doing until his hand was on the soft curve of her hip and his body was pressed up close to hers, the familiar floral scent of her perfume in his nose and the heat of her warming his skin. He’d hidden his instinctive response to it well enough, he thought, using the excessive rush of adrenaline to hurl more stones across the water.
And then she’d been so delighted when she’d managed to skim that stone by herself he’d felt a mad urge to wrap his arms around her again in celebration and experience the moment with her.
But that time he’d managed to rein himself in, randomly talking about his own wedding to break the tension, only to feel a different kind of self-reproach when Cara assumed his indiscriminate jump to the subject was down to him feeling gloomy about his situation.
Which it really hadn’t been.
Returning with the drinks to where he’d left Cara standing just inside the ballroom, he handed one to her and smiled when she received it with a grimace of relieved thanks. The main lights in the room were set low and a large glitter ball revolved slowly from the ceiling, scattering the floor and walls with shards of silver light. Max watched them dance over Cara’s face in fascination, thinking that she looked like some kind of ethereal seraph, with her bright eyes and pale creamy skin against the glowing silver of her dress.