Appointment At The Altar. Jessica Hart

took a morose sip of champagne. ‘She hasn’t said anything, but I know she blames me for leaving.’

      ‘Ah,’ said Guy. ‘So you and Richard were more than just friends?’

      Lucy nodded. ‘But not much more,’ she said quickly. ‘We went out for a while, but that’s all. It wasn’t a big deal. He was a friend of Meredith’s and I didn’t realise until too late that she was in love with him, but hadn’t let on to anyone how she felt. So Richard didn’t have a clue, and I didn’t either. I would never have gone out with him if I’d known.

      ‘It’s not that Richard isn’t lovely—he is. He’s very intelligent and charming and nice-looking and…steady, I suppose. I’d just broken up with a boyfriend who was the opposite of that. Tom was great fun, but he was wild and unreliable and Richard seemed like a grown-up next to him, so when he asked me out, I couldn’t see any reason to say no.’

      Guy had turned slightly in his seat to listen to her. ‘When did you realise how Meredith felt about him?’

      ‘Not until about a month later.’ Lucy turned the champagne flute in her hands, remembering how aghast she had been. ‘If only she’d told me! But that’s typical of Meredith.’ She sighed. ‘She keeps everything to herself. I only found out by accident. I just happened to see her face in the mirror when I was talking about Richard, and suddenly it was so obvious, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t guessed before.’

      ‘It must have been an awkward situation,’ commented Guy.

      ‘I felt awful.’ It was a relief being able to talk to Guy about it, Lucy realised. ‘Meredith’s my big sister and she’s done everything for me. The last thing I wanted was to hurt her. I would never have encouraged Richard if I’d known how she felt.’

      ‘So what happened?’

      ‘The honest truth is that Richard and I weren’t going anywhere. He’s lovely, but a bit serious for me, and we didn’t really have much in common, not like him and Meredith. I thought that Richard felt the same way and that the best thing would be for me to leave. If I was out of the way, I was sure they’d get together and everything would be all right.’

      Guy glanced at her and his eyes gleamed. ‘That was very selfless of you, Lucy.’

      Lucy had the grace to blush a little. ‘I’m not saying that it didn’t suit me. The fact is that I was bored with my job and feeling restless anyway. I’d always loved the idea of the outback and it seemed the perfect opportunity to get a working visa and go.

      ‘That’s how I ended up at Wirrindago, and I’ve been so happy there,’ she said with a wistful smile. ‘Meredith was furious with me for going, though. She said I’d hurt Richard and that I was being selfish, and things were rather strained between us when I left. I didn’t honestly think that Richard was that upset, but she told me yesterday that he was devastated. Apparently he’s been confiding in her. She says he still loves me and that’s why they all want me to go back now but, to be honest, I felt worse about hurting Meredith.’

      Lucy grimaced at the very thought of how unhappy her sister must have been when she’d walked off with Richard under her nose. ‘Meredith was known as the sensible one and I was the party girl who never settled down to anything. We lost our mother when we were both small and it was always Meredith who looked after me.’

      ‘It seems to me that she’s still doing that,’ said Guy. ‘And you let her.’

      Lucy paused with the champagne glass halfway to her lips. ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘Who was it who arranged everything with Hal so that you could go back?’ he asked, unfolding his paper once more. ‘You didn’t even think about booking a flight. You just assumed Meredith would do it for you. And if Meredith isn’t around, I’ll bet there’s always someone else—like me on this occasion—who’ll sort things out for you.’

      ‘That’s not fair,’ she said, but her voice didn’t hold quite enough conviction, and Guy glanced at her face before he returned to the Financial Times.

      ‘Isn’t it?’ he said.

      CHAPTER THREE

      WAS that how Guy thought of her? As a lazy brat who let others organise her life for her? Lucy shifted uneasily in her seat. The trouble was that Meredith was so competent that it was often easier to let her do things her own way. But that didn’t mean she was spoilt, she thought defensively.

      Did it?

      A little sulkily, Lucy pulled out the in-flight magazine and began to flick through it mindlessly. The truth was that she didn’t like the idea that Guy thought that she was, especially when she had dismissed him as a spoilt trust-fund baby at first. There was irony for you.

      But it was hard to stay grumpy when you were continually being plied with delicious food and wine and exhorted to lie back and make yourself comfortable, and Lucy’s spirits, naturally buoyant, soon rose.

      She had never travelled in such style before. She wasn’t even bored. The complimentary bag of toiletries was fun to unpack. There were films to watch, magazines to read, a drink on hand whenever she felt like one, and the ultimate luxury of a seat that folded completely flat into a bed. The long flight was an odd kind of limbo time when all she could do was sit there, so Lucy determined that she might as well enjoy doing nothing while she could.

      It was only as they began their descent into Heathrow, down through the clouds into a murky London dawn, that her mood began to sink with the plane. It would soon be time to face reality again. She would have to go and see Richard in the hospital, but what if he didn’t come out of his coma? She couldn’t hang around indefinitely. She didn’t have any money and even though Meredith had said that she could live in—

      ‘Oh!’ Lucy’s hand went to her mouth in an involuntary gesture as she remembered.

      ‘What is it?’ Guy stopped in the middle of a long stretch and looked at her dismayed expression in concern.

      ‘It was all such a rush before we left that Meredith forgot to give me the keys to her house!’

      ‘Or perhaps you forgot to ask for them,’ he suggested gently.

      Lucy opened her mouth to make a sharp retort, but stopped herself just in time. Closing it again, she made herself count to ten. ‘Yes,’ she agreed through her teeth after a moment, ‘you’re right, of course. I forgot to remind her about them.’

      She sighed. ‘I’ll have to call round some friends to see if anyone can put me up.’ Her shoulders slumped. ‘I was dying for a shower, too!’

      ‘It’s a bit early to ring round in search of a bed isn’t it?’ said Guy, glancing at his watch. ‘It’s not six yet. I can’t see you getting many warm invitations to pop straight round at this hour of the morning.’

      Lucy made a face. ‘I’ll try Meg first. She’s an old friend.’ An old friend who was notoriously grumpy in the mornings. ‘She’ll forgive me…I hope!’

      ‘Why don’t you come back with me?’ suggested Guy. ‘I’ve got a car meeting me, and the flat has a couple of spare rooms. You could have a shower and call the hospital and your friends from there.’

      ‘That’s kind of you, but I think you’ve done more than enough,’ said Lucy firmly. She hadn’t forgotten his suggestion that she was incapable of looking after herself. She would show Guy that she could manage perfectly well on her own. ‘I’ll be fine.’

      But when they got to the baggage hall she discovered that she had no charge on her phone. Lucy sighed. Why did this kind of thing keep happening to her? She could spend all morning at Heathrow, trying to contact Meg on a public phone.

      Or she could swallow her pride and ask Guy if she could take him up on his offer after all.

      Lucky she had never been that proud.

      

      Her