Miranda Lee – One Passionate Night: His Bride for One Night / One Night at Parenga / His One-Night Mistress (страница 9)

‘Her head is always in the clouds,’ she had heard her mother say to Aunt Gladys one day when she was about thirteen. ‘I don’t know what’s going to become of her.’

What became of her was she bolted for the city when she was a couple of months shy of her sixteenth birthday, having secretly applied for and secured a hairdressing apprenticeship advertised in the Sydney Morning Herald. Her distraught parents weren’t able to force her to return home, or to finish her school certificate, because she was able to support herself. In the end, they stopped trying to convince Charlotte she was too young to live away from home in the big city.

Actually, hairdressing was just a means to an end. Her heart’s desire was to see what the world had to offer outside of farm life and country boys. Sydney was an eye-opener but soon it too was limiting. So when Charlotte finished her apprenticeship, she began a series of jobs on ships that cruised all over the world.

By the time she was twenty-five, she’d been everywhere an ocean liner could take her. By then, she’d grown a bit bored with ship life and decided to try working in some of the world’s luxury resorts.

Over the next few years, Charlotte worked mostly in Asia, but also in the South Pacific, on various tropical islands. She then did a brief stint in a top hotel in London, but had found the climate not to her liking. She also found herself suffering, surprisingly, from homesickness, something which astounded her.

So, shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Charlotte returned to Australia, where she spent a few wonderfully restful weeks with her folks on the farm before realising, rather reluctantly this time, that country life was still not for her. What she was craving, she discovered, was a more settled existence. She wanted to put down roots. Wanted a boyfriend who lasted longer than a few months. She wanted marriage, and children. Possibly even a house with a garden.

Charlotte was blown away by this last bit. Miss Wanderlust herself wanting what most Australian girls wanted. Amazing!

Not one to ever shirk from a goal, Charlotte set about achieving what she wanted with a passion. She returned to Sydney, got herself a job and a flat, then set about doing what girls of her age did when they were on the lookout for Mr Right. She made friends with all the single girls she worked with—networking was crucial. She went to all the right bars with them on a Friday night. She smiled at every available-looking guy. And—most important of all—she joined a gym.

Which was where she met Dwayne, one of their personal trainers. Dwayne made it obvious right from the start that he fancied her. Within two weeks they were dating. Within four he coerced her into bed with words of undying love. Within six they were living together.

But that was where their relationship stagnated for the next two years. Dwayne was not ready, he said, for marriage and kiddies just yet. He was only twenty-eight. But he hinted a proposal was definitely on the cards once he reached thirty. So Charlotte clung on, despite becoming aware that they rarely talked any more, their sex life had dwindled to once a week, and Dwayne was working late more nights than ever.

She should not have been shocked by his dumping her for another girl. What shocked her was the speed with which he married his new, already pregnant girlfriend.

Charlotte was left to wonder what the gym bunny had that she didn’t have. She couldn’t help thinking that the answer wasn’t the other girl’s blonde hair, but her sexual know-how.

‘Charlotte. Is this the place you were talking about?’

Her mother’s voice cut through Charlotte’s reverie, shocking her back to the present. Blinking a bit blankly for a second or two, she discovered they were standing outside the entrance to the bistro. She must have walked there on automatic pilot whilst she daydreamed.

‘Yes, yes, it is. Sorry. Just wool-gathering as usual.’

Her mother smiled indulgently. ‘That’s all right. A girl’s allowed some wool-gathering the day before her wedding. Most brides are a bit nervous.’

Her father laughed. ‘Nervous? Our Charlie? That’ll be the day. She’s just excited.’

Excited…

Charlotte glanced up into Daniel’s dark eyes, which glittered back down at her.

‘Just a tad,’ she confessed with considerable understatement. ‘Come on, let’s get you in here to eat.’

Taking her mother’s elbow, she ushered her into the bistro. Daniel and her dad trailed after them, chatting away as if they’d been best mates for years.

‘Have you decided what you might like to eat yet?’ she asked her mother after the woman had spent several minutes perusing all the options. Daniel and her dad had already ordered steaks, medium rare. Men, Charlotte had always found, were more decisive with food than women. She herself didn’t feel like eating at all. Stress always doused her appetite. Excitement, too.

She’d had more than enough of both for one day.

Her mother continued to dither whilst Daniel proceeded to the bar to order the drinks. Beer for the men. Cream sherry for her mother and a dry white wine for herself.

Meanwhile, her dad claimed a booth-style table for them next to one of the wide windows that overlooked the city street outside.

In the end, both her mother and Charlotte ordered the same as the men, though they chose smaller steaks and ordered them well done. Their drinks had arrived by the time they sat down. Charlotte immediately swooped up her glass and was having some soothing sips of the crisply chilled wine when a mobile phone started ringing.

Charlotte knew it wasn’t hers. Wrong tune.

It was Daniel’s.

CHAPTER SIX

‘EXCUSE me, everyone,’ Daniel said as he fished his slimline cellphone out of his back pocket, flipped it open and put it to his ear.

Charlotte gave him a slight dig in the ribs, reminding him he’d have to be careful what he said.

‘Hi there,’ seemed safe enough.

‘Beth here. I’m finally finished with the doc. Everything’s fine, though I’ve put on another damned kilo. So where are you and how did things go? Did you find out her name?’

‘I’m having lunch with Charlotte and her folks right now,’ he replied, hoping that would floor his sister into silence.

He was right. It did.

‘Don’t worry about me,’ he went on hurriedly. ‘I’ll take a taxi back to your place after we’re finished, though that might not be for a while. Arrangements to make, et cetera. Thanks for calling. See you later. Ciao.’

Turning his mobile right off to stop any further awkward calls from Beth, he slipped it in his pocket, vowing to give her a call back as soon as he had the chance.

‘Sorry about that,’ he said brightly. ‘It was the lady whose place I’m staying at tonight. She and her husband are friends of friends of mine. I didn’t think it would be right to stay at Charlotte’s place. Not the night before the wedding, anyway.’

‘Are these people coming to the wedding tomorrow, Charlotte?’ Betty Gale asked her daughter.

‘Er—’

‘No, they’re not,’ Daniel jumped in. ‘I didn’t ask them. I didn’t realise it was going to be such a big wedding, remember?’

‘But that’s not right,’ Mr Gale said. ‘They should come. Charlotte, surely something could be arranged.’

Charlotte groaned inside. ‘I don’t think so, Dad. The numbers for the reception were finalised a couple of days ago.’ The last thing she wanted was to cost her dad more money.

‘Please don’t concern yourselves,’ Daniel said swiftly. ‘They really wouldn’t expect to come.’

‘If you say so, Gary.’

Charlotte winced. How she hated hearing them call him Gary! Daniel was a much nicer name.

Their meals arrived. Charlotte only picked at hers, her mind drifting back to names.

Daniel. Daniel Bannister. Mrs Daniel Bannister.

‘You’re not dieting, are you, darling?’ Daniel suddenly asked her.

Her sharp intake of breath reflected the shock produced by her own foolish thoughts, not by his calling her darling. She knew he was only acting. No way was she really his darling, or anything close. Yet there she was, fantasising about being married to him.

God, she was hopeless. Hadn’t this fiasco with Gary taught her anything? Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire. If she started imagining she was falling for Daniel, she needed her head read. OK, so he was utterly gorgeous-looking and incredibly sexy, with the kind of powerful and dynamic personality you usually only read about.

Charlotte had no doubt he would be very good in bed.

But he wasn’t good at love. Or commitment. He couldn’t have made his intentions clearer. He said he was allergic to marriage, and his own sister had called him the love ’em and leave ’em type.

Common sense demanded she not weave any romantic fantasies around him. He was not some knight in shining armour. His aim hadn’t been rescuing her damsel in distress, but seducing her.

She had to keep that fact in the forefront of her mind during the next couple of days or she’d end up crying a whole lot more than she had about Gary.

‘Charlotte never eats much when she’s nervous,’ her mother answered for her, which brought a grateful smile from Charlotte. She put down her knife and fork, picked up a chip with her fingers and nibbled on it.