Alanna scooped in a deep breath before letting it out slowly, relieved to find that the churning in her stomach had finally subsided. ‘My mother said I should forgive you, that there were excuses for your behaviour. But I can’t do that. What you did was unforgivable. I am going now, Darko, and this time, I am never coming back. You are now firmly consigned to the past. And I will do my best not to think of you any more.’
CHAPTER ONE
THE organ player breaking into the wedding march signalled the bride was ready at last. She was only fifteen minutes late, Reece realised as he glanced at his gold Rolex. Long enough, however, for the groom next to him to get fidgety.
‘It’s showtime!’ Reece said, smiling over at Richard who’d gone ramrod straight at the change of music, his hands clasped tightly in front of him.
‘Have you got the rings?’ Richard whispered out of the side of his mouth.
Reece patted the right pocket of his black dinner jacket. ‘Of course. Relax, Rich,’ he said, and reached out to touch him reassuringly on the arm. ‘I’ve done this before.’
‘So has he,’ Mike muttered under his breath from the other side of Reece.
Reece’s head whipped round to throw him a reproachful glare. Mike was a good bloke at heart, but his eternal cynicism over romance and relationships could be exasperating. It was also out of place today. Blind Freddie could see that Richard and Holly were deeply in love. This would be a much better marriage than the one Richard had had with Joanna, who, quite frankly, had not been Mrs Perfect.
Reece would never forget the night she’d made a play for him, something he’d never told Richard, but which had bothered him greatly at the time.
He’d avoided Joanna after that.
When she’d been killed in a car accident a couple of years back, he’d felt very sorry for Richard. But Reece sometimes wondered if it was a case of fate being cruel to be kind.
Whatever, Richard’s first marriage was past history. Today was a new day and Reece finally felt optimistic for his best friend’s choice for his second wife.
Despite an initial concern that Holly, at twenty-six, was too young and naive for a man of Richard’s age and status—Richard was thirty-eight and the CEO of a merchant bank—Reece could now see that Holly was exactly what Richard needed after Joanna. She was a genuinely sweet, caring, loving girl. Very pretty, too.
She was going to make a lovely bride.
Reece’s eyes narrowed as he peered down to the back of the church, curious to see what the girls were wearing. But the church doors were open and the late-afternoon light was streaming in. All he could see were silhouettes.
The first bridesmaid eventually came into view, looking elegant in a long, straight red dress and carrying a bouquet of white roses. She was tall, with auburn hair, a nice enough figure and an attractive face.
Reece didn’t know her. She was a florist friend of Holly’s. In her thirties. And married, Alanna had told him last night.
Reece hoped happily so, given she was being partnered by Mike today.
Reece glanced to his left at Mike, who was looking surprisingly debonair, a far cry from his usual dishevelled self. Amazing what a haircut, a shave and a tuxedo could achieve. Most days, Mike looked as if he’d walked out of a spaghetti western. Acted like that, too. Very tough and gruff.
Strangely, some women seemed to fancy him like that. Lord knew why. Reece thought Mike’s clean-cut image today was infinitely more attractive. But what was one woman’s trash was another woman’s treasure, he supposed.
On Mike’s part, he went for any good-looking female who made the chase easy for him and who agreed with his rules, his rules being he would take her out for one reason and one reason only. Sex. There would be no real relationship. No romance. The only promise he gave was not to be a two-timer.
But when it was over—meaning when he got bored—it was over.
Mike was an obsessively compulsive computer genius with a very low boredom threshold. His last girl friend…an exotic dancer…had lasted all of a month.
It still never failed to astonish Reece just how many takers Mike got. And how many of his ex-girlfriends remained friendly with him, afterwards. Damned if it made sense to him.
‘Behave yourself with your partner today,’ he whispered in Mike’s direction. ‘She’s married.’
‘That never seems to stop them,’ Mike returned drily. ‘But don’t worry. I avoid married women like the plague. They’re nothing but trouble.’
‘Sounds like you’ve had some experience.’
‘Only once. It was a close call, but I managed to escape.’
‘Anyone I know?’
‘I don’t think this is the time to discuss it,’ he bit out.
Reece stared at Mike, who gave a slight nod in Richard’s direction. Fortunately, Richard wasn’t taking any notice of them, his eyes fixed straight ahead.
‘Joanna?’ Reece whispered.
‘Yep.’
‘She hit on me, too,’ Reece admitted.
‘No kidding. What a bitch.’
‘Stunningly beautiful, though.’
‘It’s always the stunningly beautiful ones you have to worry about,’ Mike muttered.
Just then, the chief bridesmaid came into view, dressed exactly the same as the girl walking a few metres in front of her.
Every male hormone in Reece moved from stationary into overdrive. Now that was one stunningly beautiful woman.
But, of course, he already knew that. He’d been married to her for nine months.
Reece struggled with a perverse jab of jealousy as he watched the eyes of all the male wedding guests slavishly following Alanna’s graceful progress down the aisle.
Perverse, because he’d never felt jealous before, not even when she was showing off her model-slim figure in one of the revealing evening gowns he liked her to wear.
By comparison, Alanna was very modestly dressed today. Yet for some reason, the effect was sexier. Maybe it was true that what was hidden and hinted at was more provocative than what was on open display.
Or maybe it was the colour.
Alanna had never worn red before. She preferred softer, paler shades. But Holly had chosen red for the bridesmaids for some sentimental reason. Something to do with a bunch of red roses having brought her and Richard together.
The colour actually looked magnificent against Alanna’s porcelain skin and creamy blonde hair.
The style was quite simple. A full-length sheath, it skimmed rather than hugged Alanna’s figure. The neckline was wide. Almost off the shoulder, but not low-cut. The sleeves were straight and long, no doubt in deference to the weather. It was, after all, June. And June in Sydney was wintertime.
The day outside was pleasant enough, but inside this rather old church the air was crisp and cold.
The first bridesmaid reached the end of the aisle and turned away to the side, giving Reece an even better view of his wife, especially her face.
And what an exquisite face it was. Classically sculptured, with a delicately pointed chin, high cheekbones and a fine, fair complexion. Her eyes were a smoky green, almond-shaped and lushly lashed. Her nose was small and straight with an elegant tip. Her mouth was full, her lips looking even fuller painted scarlet.
Reece’s gaze moved down further, his mind stripping her of that dress and seeing her as he liked