She was an idiot. All she’d needed to do was keep the lid on her libido until the wedding was over. How hard would that have been?
Eloise sighed. Impossible, apparently.
Eventually, she’d given up on sleep and logged onto the Internet on her tablet, refreshing Sara’s magazine pages until the exclusive she’d known was coming flashed up on the screen at last.
There she was. Eyes wide from the camera flash, her hand wrapped over her chest covering her nudity. Noah lay underneath her on the floor, then in later photos stood in front of her, looking mussed but gorgeous. Charmingly contrite having been caught, his shirt open a little too far, his hair ruffled beyond the usual fashionable mess. He could have stepped out of an advert for aftershave, not been caught falling out of a cupboard moments before having sex.
Whereas she... There was no doubt what she’d been doing. She looked exactly the type of girl Melissa had always told people she was.
Why could men get away with that sort of behaviour and women couldn’t?
Bracing herself, Eloise scanned down through all the photos to the text underneath.
Since half of Hollywood has decamped to England for the wedding of Melissa Sommers and Riley Black, we can report exclusively from Morwen Hall on all the wedding high jinks! Starting with this gem from the rehearsal dinner—best man Noah Cross has found some entertainment to make the week even more fun than Melissa and Riley planned: seducing the maid of honour!
It went on to detail who she was, how she knew Melissa and why she’d stepped in at the last minute.
Then it got to what really mattered.
So could this be true love for eternal bachelor Noah? Apparently not.
He said, ‘She’s nothing to me, and I’m nothing to her. You know how it is at weddings... A fling always makes it a little more entertaining.’
Looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer to see Noah walk down the aisle himself!
Eloise threw her tablet down onto the covers and wished she’d never looked.
Of course he’d said that. He’d never suggested anything else—in fact he’d said practically the same thing to her at the welcome drinks. She’d known what she was getting into. Like he’d told her the night before—he never gave his women false expectations, never fell for them, and never ever told them he loved them.
He played fair. It was only her heart that had cheated.
She’d been so sure that she could play the same game he did, that it wasn’t the same as her mother’s games if no one mentioned love. But, in the end, she’d ended up exactly where all her mother’s men had: alone, heartbroken, her reputation in tatters and everyone talking about her. It was exactly the way she’d felt after she’d found her mother sleeping with her boyfriend, or the day she’d realised that her university boyfriend had been using her all along—stupid, naive, gullible and humiliated.
She was just where she’d always promised herself she’d never be again. And all thanks to Noah Cross.
Because she’d let herself believe, just for a moment, that what they had could be something more than either of them had promised each other. That it could be for real—not a secret, not a fling, not anything to hide or be ashamed of.
And that moment was all that it took for her to fall head over heels in love with Noah.
Closing her eyes, Eloise fell back against the bed and swore softly. Turned out she really was every bit as stupid and naive as Melissa had always told her she was.
* * *
Noah awoke feeling worse than any hangover had ever left him and he hadn’t drunk more than a glass of wine the night before. He’d stuck the rehearsal dinner out until the bitter end, flinching when Melissa told the guests that Eloise had gone to bed with a headache. By midday they’d all know exactly why she’d gone to bed, he knew, but at least the lie had preserved her peace and dignity for a few more hours.
He’d tried to speak with her after the dinner but there’d been no answer at her door. He hoped she’d been sleeping, but knew it was far more likely she’d been avoiding him. Well, she couldn’t do that for ever.
Forcing himself out of bed, Noah dressed quickly and headed straight for Eloise’s room. He needed to speak to her before anyone else did. Hopefully before she saw the photos on the Internet, for that matter—although, since he’d already had a furious voicemail from Tessa, ranting about him throwing away his chances that morning, that was probably a long shot.
‘Eloise?’ He didn’t want to shout—he knew that attracting more attention to them could only make everything worse—but when she didn’t answer his third knock he had to raise his voice. ‘Let me in, Eloise.’
There was a shuffling noise inside, then she yanked the door open, looking furious under her rumpled red hair. She was wearing what had to be the most unflattering pair of pyjamas in history and Noah realised that it didn’t even matter. She had bags under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept, and mascara on her cheeks, and her pyjamas had pictures of grumpy cats on them, and he still wanted her.
Eloise, however, did not look like she was having the same problem.
‘What are you doing?’ she whisper-shouted at him. ‘Do you want even more people showing up to take photos of me half dressed?’
Noah decided not to point out that the cat pyjamas covered considerably more of her body than last night’s dress. ‘Can I come in?’
Eloise scanned the hallway and, finding it empty, stood aside, still glaring at him.
‘Look, we both have a wedding to get ready for in four hours,’ she said, shutting the door behind him. ‘So, whatever you have to say, make it quick.’
She folded her arms over her chest and stared at him, and all of Noah’s intended words fled. He’d planned to talk about how they could minimise the fallout from last night, how to deal with Melissa today...but instead he found himself saying, ‘I’m sorry. About last night. I know that was the last thing you wanted.’
‘I’m not sure many people want to be caught half naked in a cupboard, Noah.’
‘You’d be surprised.’ If it meant getting their photo taken with him, Noah had found that some women were willing to do anything. But Eloise wasn’t one of them.
She shot him a disgusted look. ‘Of course. I’m sure your many admirers would be grateful for the chance.’
‘That’s not what I meant.’
‘I don’t care.’ She rubbed one eye with her fist and he realised again how exhausted she looked. Had she slept at all? ‘Look, I’ve already seen the photos online, read all the quotes. So kind of you to point out that I was equally indifferent to you, by the way, since, after all, I mean nothing to you.’
Noah winced. ‘I’m sorry, okay? I was trying to downplay it all for your sake! You’re the one who didn’t want to be another woman cast aside and presumably heartbroken when I left them. You wanted to keep it a secret. And, since that was off the table...I figured that this was the next best thing.’ He’d given up his chance at the movie role of a lifetime to try and protect her, and this was the way she thanked him?
Eloise stared at him so long he started to worry he’d grown an extra head while he’d slept. ‘Did you honestly believe that telling them I was just