Last-Minute Bridesmaid Page 14

  She couldn’t speak. It was impossible. Any sort of answer would only make him more angry and upset.

  ‘Oh. For once you don’t have anything to say.’ He nodded. ‘Apparently my future stepmother thinks it is acceptable to share my family’s personal secrets and sordid past with strangers.’

  Stranger? That wasn’t right.

  ‘I’m not a stranger any longer, Heath. I’m—’ she interjected, but was cut off instantly with a single finger pressed against her lips.

  ‘No. You are a stranger. You don’t know how hard this is for me. I trusted you. I told you how important it was that my mother’s memory was not forgotten. Alice knew her. Can you understand that? She went to art college with my mother and was as close to her as you are to Amber and Saskia. Would you cheat on either of those girls with her husband? No, I didn’t think so. And tomorrow afternoon I have to stand next to my father while he marries the woman who is taking over from my mother in his life. That is hard. I’m used to hard; I’ll do it. I will survive, but if I have any chance to rebuild a relationship with Alice I have to do it at my own pace.’

  His hands thumped again and again onto the back of the chair until she was sure that they must be bruised. She dared to reach out and try to take one of them and calm him and comfort him, but he instantly swiped it away dismissively.

  ‘Did you really think that I would give them to Alice out of bitterness or as a stunt to ruin her wedding day with some constant reminder of what happened when my mother was dying? I hope that I am better than that. No. That album is very rare and special and Alice is one of the few people who would truly appreciate my mother’s work. I wanted her to have them. I want my father to have a chance of happiness, but not by playing games where each of us is scoring points from the other.’

  ‘I only wanted to help,’ Kate whispered, her voice trembling.

  ‘There is a fine line between helping a friend and interfering in other people’s lives, and you crossed it tonight,’ he hissed through clenched teeth. ‘You think that you know all my family after meeting them for a few hours? You haven’t the faintest idea.’

  ‘Then tell me. Tell me why you feel so strongly about one inscription on a book?’

  ‘I don’t like surprises and I particularly don’t like being ambushed. I never have. And it isn’t the first time.’

  He collapsed down on the bed with his back against the headboard and dropped his head back and blinked up at the ceiling. ‘You want to know about the Sheridan family?’ he said in a low voice as though he was trying to control his emotions and failing. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you about the high-and-mighty Sheridans.’

  He looked across at her, his chest lifting and falling with every word. ‘Do you remember Amber’s mother? Julia Swan?’

  Kate sighed out loud and sat down on the bottom corner of the bed. ‘Remember? I was summoned to take tea at Saskia’s place last month. She still hasn’t forgiven Amber for getting engaged to Sam Richards instead of the Crown Prince of some large European country, hell, any country.’

  Heath nodded. ‘Well, then you will understand how I felt when my dad informed me out of the blue that he was marrying Julia not twelve months after my mother died from cancer. I came home from university to find the staff taking down my mother’s photographs and clearing the house of every sign that she had ever lived there so that Julia and Amber could move in.’

  Heath inhaled deeply and rolled his shoulders back. ‘I was very angry and extremely disappointed with him for doing that.’ He meshed his hands around the back of his head, his gaze locked onto the ornate plaster work ceiling rose. ‘As far as I was concerned he had betrayed my mother and I told him that very clearly before walking out and going to stay with my grandparents. I didn’t go to the wedding. He couldn’t make me and I had absolutely no intention of giving Julia Swan the time of day. And the marriage was even more of a disaster than I could have predicted which, believe me, was quite an achievement.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Kate replied in a small low voice. ‘Amber told me that you were a terrific stepbrother.’

  He snorted and replied with a small shoulder shrug, ‘Amber was a victim just as much as I was. We got to know each other when Julia and my father went on a very long European honeymoon, leaving Amber in a strange house with only a nanny and the staff to keep her company. I went back to pick up some things and found her crying in the music room. I never blamed Amber for her mother’s faults. When Julia got bored with Boston and took off for a new lover in London I kept in touch. I think my dad had even less of a clue what to do with a daughter than he had with a son.’

  ‘But your dad has just asked you to be his best man. What has changed?’

  Heath hesitated and his gaze locked onto a silk dressing gown that had been left on the bed cover, which he casually picked up and set down again.

  ‘To the rest of the world, my father is a brilliantly successful businessman who inherited one of the oldest and most respected publishing houses on the East Coast of America. Quiet. Intellectual. The kind of man who doesn’t make a fuss and likes to keep a low profile, despite all of that power and wealth that Sheridan Press provided.’

  She nodded. ‘Business profile. Done. Now answer my question.’

  ‘Are you always this bossy?’

  ‘No. Only with you.’ She narrowed her eyes and made a point of glancing at a very old wristwatch. ‘What changed?’

  ‘I remember the father I used to know as a boy.’ Heath took a breath and this time he slid forward on the silk cover, reached out and picked up Kate’s hand and turned it over. She tried to snatch it back but he examined each finger as he talked, as though it was the most wonderful thing that he had ever seen.

  ‘My summer holidays were filled with laughter, fun, football games, tennis and swimming. We had the most fantastic Christmas parties where my mother would decorate the entire dining room of our Boston house with fabrics and paint and dad would light a huge fire, make hot chocolate and read stories by candlelight. My birthday parties came with real ponies and trips to the circus.’

  ‘Has Disney bought the film rights for this?’

  ‘Just be patient. I haven’t finished yet. But yes, it was a magical childhood that I thought would never end. And, like a fool, I took it all for granted.’

  Heath slowly, slowly curled Kate’s fingers back around his and held them firm. ‘And then my mother was taken ill and it only took six weeks for that world to implode. Six weeks to make the first sixteen years of my life seem like a happy dream where I had two parents who loved me and a happy home I could always come back to.’

  He shook his head and blinked. ‘I don’t know about your parents, but to me they were the one solid rock in my world that made me believe that I could be and do whatever I wanted, safe in the knowledge that they would always be there for me and for one another.’

  A small ironic laugh escaped his lips. ‘Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.’

  He sucked in a breath and his gaze shifted to Kate’s eyes.

  Those wonderful brown eyes were so full of emotion and pain that she instantly felt guilty.

  He was right. She had no right to barge in and try and take control—not when Heath was still suffering so badly. She didn’t know the first thing about his family.

  Only hers.

  What a fool she had been.

  As though trying to rebuild Heath’s relationship with his father would bring her family back together again somehow. Stupid!

  ‘How did you get past that?’ Kate asked.

  ‘We didn’t,’ Heath replied in a sad but matter-of-fact voice. ‘It took me months—no, years, to rebuild my life after my mother’s death. But my father was not part of that life. Not any more. Not after his betrayal. Oh, he tried. Many times. But, as far as I was concerned, I had to mourn the loss of two parents, even though only on
e had actually died.’

  A shiver ran across his back and Heath shuddered. ‘But he did teach me a lesson. Relying on people for your happiness is doomed to failure. People let you down. People leave and your world collapses. People take away any hope of control you ever had over your life. And I would be a fool to open up my heart and let that happen again. My relationship with my dad has never been the same since.’

  ‘Until now,’ she interrupted.

  With a gentle smile he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. ‘Three months ago he flew down to New York out of the blue and asked me to come back to Boston to inject some new life into Sheridan Press. I was totally surprised, but he had made the first move. It hasn’t been easy to work in the same office but over the weeks we made some progress until he found the right moment to tell me that he was getting married to Alice and to ask me to be his best man.’

  ‘He wants your forgiveness,’ Kate murmured as her gaze flicked across his face.

  Heath opened his mouth to answer, closed it again and then gave a long sigh. ‘He wants me to drag Sheridan Press into profitability, but yes, it did give me one final chance to rebuild some sort of relationship with the only real family I still had left, my father, before it is too late for either of us. And now I don’t know where we are.’

  He closed his eyes and curved his hands into fists. ‘You’re impulsive and irresponsible. Exasperating. Never thinking about the effects of your actions. In your world it is okay to ambush other people and expose their feelings.’

  ‘Wrong,’ she whispered. ‘I know exactly what I’ve done. I saved you from making the biggest mistake of your life, Heath Sheridan.’

  He looked at her for a second in silence, his gaze darting across her face, but, just as she thought she had his acceptance, Heath got to his feet and started to walk away from her.

  She snatched at the sleeve of his jacket and held it firm.

  ‘Alice loves your father and he loves her. But did you know that she was the one who suggested that you be the best man and then agreed to let you help organise the wedding? She did that because you are more important to both of them than you could possibly imagine. Do you understand what I’m saying? She was determined to find some way of bringing you closer to your father instead of driving you further away. And she couldn’t bear that.’

  ‘Why didn’t you talk to me first?’ he asked in a low voice, his gaze locked onto the surface of the table. ‘It took me a long time to decide on that wedding gift and I’m fighting to stay positive—and so far all that you’ve done is take over and snatch any chance of control out of my hands and throw it to the winds.’

  Those last few words echoed around the room, penetrated her heart and pierced her soul. He meant them.

  ‘Probably. But you know us creative types, as you call them,’ she choked, trying not to cry. ‘Total romantic. For some reason I want people who love each other to be together. Call me crazy, but there you are. And, by the way, I know that you love your father. And don’t turn away from me like that. You love him and you wanted him to be with you when your mother died. I understand. Truly, I do. But that was then. They have been apart long enough. It’s time for you all to go home.’

  She reached out towards him and tried to touch his face and comfort him, but the cold shutters had come down and the happy man she’d spent a wonderful afternoon with went back behind the barriers.

  ‘This wasn’t a good idea, Heath. I’m going back to London tonight. But know this. I am going to come back here tomorrow to help Alice and Charles celebrate their love, whether you want me to be here or not.’

  ‘What?’ He laughed. ‘You’re leaving?’

  ‘I need to get back to my work and my life without having to worry about upsetting any more of your carefully controlled plans.’

  ‘Your life? And what kind of life are you going back to, Kate? Tell me that—what do you have waiting for you back in London? You’re going back to that museum you call a home. Is that it?’

  She whirled around and gasped, ‘What did you just say?’

  ‘Your house is not a home. It is a museum to a lost world and the people you loved and lost. Maybe it’s time to step out of the museum and start living in the real world.’

  ‘Look who’s talking.’ She swung her arms around. ‘This is one of the most beautiful houses that I have stayed in, with a stunning library. But every book is locked away out of touch behind a glass case. Well, I have news for you—books need to breathe, just like humans. In fact, why don’t you start here and now? It will keep you occupied until the wedding.’

  He tugged both of her hands close to his chest, so tightly that it would be impossible for her to escape.

  ‘I do have a life. A life of my own,’ she gasped. ‘A life where I decide what to do.’

  ‘Do you? Do you really?’ He shook his head slowly from side to side. ‘Not from what I saw.’

  Kate stopped struggling and tried to calm her breathing. ‘Then you don’t know me at all, do you?’

  She took a breath. ‘Charles and Alice love one another and have finally found the courage to declare their love out loud and to hell with the rest of the world, and that includes you. And, unless you want to lose them for ever, I suggest you change your attitude. And fast. Because you need them a lot more than they need you. Talk to them, Heath. Even if you are the one who has to make the first move—you have to talk to them and become the man I fell in love with.’

  The words were out of her mouth before she could snatch them back.

  Stupid!

  She was too upset to control her emotions. And now she had told him the one thing she knew that would drive him away. She’d told him that she loved him.

  But, instead of pushing her away, Heath whirled around and in one smooth movement he pressed the palm of his left hand flat against the door frame so that the cuff of his fine dinner jacket was flush against her upper arm. Kate was aware that his right arm was high above her head, bracing his whole body on the two hands. Trapping her inside the circle of his arms and his body.

  In her heels and his flat shiny black dress shoes, her eyes were on the same level at his nose.

  It would be easy to slip under the wide arch of his arm and escape into the sanctuary of her bedroom, but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

  His gaze locked onto her eyes, shocking in their intensity. Mesmerising and totally, totally captivating so that it was impossible for her to look away.

  And what she saw in those eyes took her breath away.

  This was the man she had fallen in love with. This was the man who she had glimpsed that one time before. A man burning with passion and love and power.

  This was not the workaholic, cool and introspective man the rest of the world saw.

  This was the real man. The real Heath. And she revelled in it. Her heart soared as she looked into those dark brown eyes. Words would not be able to describe how she felt.

  She thought that the pressures and struggles of the world had crushed that spark out of Heath and that he had lost that inner spark of true passion.

  That long, hard body that was leaning closer and closer until she could feel the heat of his hot, hard, fast breath on her cheeks. He was not touching her. Anywhere. And yet it felt as though every inch of skin on her entire body was burning up in the fire of the intensity of that gaze.

  Her skin screamed at her to move forward just one more inch so that her leg could slide alongside his trouser.

  He was the golden apple hanging on the tree of pleasure and heady delight. She knew that just one small bite would destroy her—no, destroy them both for ever.

  Temptation had never looked so good.

  She had never been the kind of girl who could resist the last doughnut on the plate, or the last inch of double-chocolate ice cream calling out to her from the b
ottom of the carton.

  But they were nothing compared to the temptation that was Heath Sheridan at that moment.

  He was wounded, hurt, exposed and raw, and in that moment he was truly himself.

  She had never wanted anything so badly in her life—not the business, not even her parents’ acceptance—came close to the fire that was scorching her whole body and setting it alight.

  The hot July sunshine might burn her pale skin and freckled nose, but this fire came from deep inside her, in that locked room where she kept her secrets and her desire and passion.

  And then cold reality hit home.

  The only reason she was here was to act as a stand-in for the girl who had dumped him.

  A temporary replacement. That was all she could ever be to Heath.

  Instinctively she stepped backwards to increase the space between them, until her bottom pressed against the hard wooden door. But if anything that extra space made it worse, because now she could see the veins in his neck pulse faster as his breathing speeded.

  Kate pressed her head back and bent her knee so that the heel of her sandal was braced against the door. Without shifting his gaze, Heath slid his right leg closer so that the fine fabric of his suit trouser pressed against her thigh.

  The sensation of texture on texture was so heavenly that a small half sigh escaped her lips and her eyelids fluttered in a ridiculously girlie act she would never admit to. A tender smile reached his eyes and his gaze released just long enough to shamelessly scan her face and neck and give a lightning-fast glance down her cleavage.

  If he was waiting for her to slap him with her clutch bag he was going to be disappointed.

  She wanted to hold that face in her hands and tell him how much she had missed him over all of these long years that they had been apart, and how he had filled the emptiness of her long lonely nights.

  Who was she kidding? She wanted to drag this sexy, hot, rich, heavy-breathing man she loved by his lapels into her bedroom and find out what his skin tasted like. Her imagination filled in the gaps. His stubble on the sensitive skin on the inside of her thigh. Her throat. What it would feel like to wake up with him in the morning, his body next to hers.