‘Harriet She’s marrying a solicitor, Alex Taylor, who, as you’ll no doubt hear, dumped me about eighteen months ago.’ Chin high, she crunched her gears noisily at a junction. ‘Hence the need for an attentive escort. You, Mr Smith, are a face-saving device,’ she told him, making a clean breast of the matter. In one way it was a relief to have someone she didn’t have to keep up appearances with; it didn’t matter what Callum Smith thought of her.
‘You couldn’t take all the sympathetic glances and whispers? ’ He was silently congratulating himself on his decision to follow his instincts where this woman was concerned. She didn’t feel obliged to employ any artifice with him; he was only the hired help. If she knew who he was he would be seeing quite a different picture; of that he was sure.
‘Precisely,’ she replied, relieved he was quick on the uptake. ‘I suppose you’ve been in similar situations before.’
‘Not precisely like this,’ he observed truthfully. ’But I’m quite resourceful,’ he added with almost languid confidence as she cast him a look of alarm.
‘I hope so,’ she said fervently.
‘Couldn’t you have got a friend to help you out today?’
‘Meaning I don’t have any friends or I wouldn’t have resorted to hiring you?’
’Now there’s an interesting thought.’
Georgina flicked him a brief, fulminating glare before gritting her teeth. ‘I come from a small village where the fact that my cousin is marrying provides hours of entertainment. I don’t want to expose a friend to that sort of curiosity. I need someone who can disappear without trace. Someone presentable, but—’
‘Forgettable?’
She grudgingly nodded her agreement. ‘You’ll stick out like a sore thumb,’ she complained, her mobile mouth pursing as she considered her ill luck.
‘Why’s that?’ he enquired, evincing interest.
‘We’ve had about two days’ insipid sun so far this summer; you look too tanned,’ she said critically. The fact was that he was far too arresting to fade into the background, but she wasn’t about to feed his ego; she felt sure he knew perfectly well what she meant. Under normal circumstances a man like him wouldn’t be seen with a girl as ordinary as her. ‘Don’t you know sunbeds are bad for the skin? Skin cancer!’ she elaborated darkly.
‘I’m touched by your concern but I’ve been working overseas, outdoors.’
‘Manual work?’ That would explain the splendid physique.
‘Don’t worry, it’s not catching.’
The disdain in his voice made her flush angrily. ‘I don’t give a damn if you’re an itinerant labourer or a brain surgeon so long as you don’t blow this for me. There’s nothing wrong with manual work.’
‘I feel better already.’
‘I’m glad one of us does,’ she said grimly. She’d had enough of the objectionable Callum Smith and the day had hardly begun!
CHAPTER TWO
THE VILLAGE CHURCH was the same one in which she had imagined herself walking down the aisle with Alex, and now she’d have to smilingly watch her cousin make that journey she’d so longed for. I don’t care any more, she told herself firmly as the constricting waves of emotion rose to suffocate her. She had no intention of wallowing in self-pity even though the temptation was strong.
She started as Callum held the door open for her; she hadn’t noticed him get out of the car.
‘Thank you, Mr Smith,’ she said, ignoring his outstretched hand.
‘I think you’d better make that Callum, in the interests of authenticity,’ he observed drily. ‘Don’t forget the hat.’ Slightly narrowed eyes had taken in at a glance all the tiny details of stress in the face of the girl beside him. She was hiding it well, but the tautness about her mouth and the rigidity of her usually mobile features gave away the inner turmoil. He found his eyes strangely reluctant to leave her slightly parted pink lips.
Flustered and mildly resentful because he appeared to be taking charge, Georgina grabbed the silky mushroom and crammed it on her head, tucking strands of her hair into the crown. ‘How’s that?’
‘You missed a bit.’ He took hold of a strand that had slithered down her neck and slid it under the fabric rim, recalling as he did so that he’d heard her referred to as ‘Miss Efficiency’ in scornful tones very recently. At the moment she looked very young and quite appalling vulnerable. Was that how she’d got to the old fox? he wondered cynically.
His fingers were very long, Georgina noticed as she gave a small, delicate shiver. The slight touch of faintly calloused fingertips against her throat was distracting, though not exactly unpleasant, she conceded. In fact, it was quite nice to be distracted from the ordeal ahead. ‘Charming. I’m sure the groom will be consumed with regret,’ he said, his lips twisting cynically.
‘I really couldn’t give a damn,’ she said haughtily. The implied criticism made her bristle defensively.
‘What a little trouper.’ The mockery was even more apparent this time, but before she had time to put him firmly in his place she found that one of his arms had snaked around her waist, his dark, tanned face was close to her own, and he was laughing huskily as though she’d just said something wildly witty.
‘What the...?’
‘Wedding guests at ten o’clock, closing fast,’ he hissed close to her ear. For good measure he nibbled said orifice. For some reason her eyes closed and a shiver went right down to her toes.
Blinking, she stared into the intense blue eyes. Deep tramlines radiated from the corners, and his lashes, whilst dark and thick, were straight. They weren’t just arresting eyes; they gave the impression of intelligence and humour, and a certain implacability shone clearly in the azure depths. He wasn’t just a physically overpowering person; intellectually, even on the briefest of acquaintances, he gave the impression of being a force to be reckoned with.
Escort could not have been the first choice of career for him. What personal circumstances had reduced him...? It’s none of my business, she told herself, closing this line of speculation as a familiar voice broke her trance.
‘Georgie, is that you, darling? I didn’t recognise you. Did you, George? We were just talking about you...so brave. Still, better to find out these things early on.’
Georgina bit her lip as she nodded placidly at this trite observation. ‘Aunt Helen, Uncle George,’ she said quietly. The arm around her waist was suddenly very welcome. ‘This is Callum,’ she said triumphantly, much with the manner of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But there the similarity ended. If Callum was to be likened to anything in the animal kingdom he was much more like a large, sleek, predatory cat.
Callum took the scrutiny of her relations in his stride. In fact, he seemed to have adopted a certain air of authority that made them look away first.
‘I meet some of Georgina’s relations at last,’ he said, enveloping her uncle’s hand in a grip that made the older man wince slightly. The kiss he planted on her aunt’s cheek made her blush and look as flustered as any teenager. ‘Charming church,’ he observed, glancing at the square stone building. ‘Norman, isn’t it?’ He took Georgina’s hand and intertwined his fingers with her own. ‘Am I speaking to the parents of the blushing bride?’
‘Indeed you are,’ Georgina agreed, bringing forth her very best not-a-care-in-the-world smile.
Blushing bride! Her dear cousin was far too hard-baked ever to blush. Harriet had awaited her opportunity and stalked Alex with all the cunning and guile of a jungle animal. Georgina had always known her cousin coveted her boyfriend. It was the fact that her unassailable belief that Alex