The Scandal Behind the Wedding. Bella Frances

Babs encouraged me to aim a bit higher and I looked into teaching in a nursery. And eight years later—here I am!’

      ‘Here you are. But you’ve not been here long, right? You’ve got absolutely no trace of sun on your skin.’ She had beautiful skin. As if she bathed in cream.

      ‘I’m really careful in the sun. It’s a … There’s a family issue with sun damage.’

      Back to fiddling with her glass.

      She looked up at the door as if she’d heard a noise but it was still quiet. He checked his phone. Sarwar had promised to call back when the raid was over and the coast was clear. Nothing.

      ‘So what brought you out here if it wasn’t the promise of third-degree burns?’

      She didn’t move but he sensed her tension return.

      ‘The short version,’ she began after a few moments, ‘is that I came out here to be with somebody and it didn’t work out.’

      He thought about that for a moment. It would have needed to be someone special to uproot her if she got homesick even in her own home town. Should he probe?

      ‘I’m happy to listen to the long version—if you want. No worries if you don’t.’

      She crossed her legs. He could have sworn it was absently, unknowingly, but it gave him the best image of womanhood he’d had in a long time. The way the split in her dress sliced him a view of her toned thigh … She was hotter than the desert in July. He pulled at his collar. Was the air-con even working?

      ‘It’s not such a great story,’ she said finally, and with such a sigh that he jerked his attention back to her face. ‘The long version is … predictable. I fell for a guy and it turned out to be a bad decision. He … We were engaged. Then we weren’t. Because he wanted to be engaged to someone else. And probably by now he’s been engaged another three times over.’

      Danny could not wrap his head around that! Getting engaged once would be one too many times for him. Where was the appeal? Why tie yourself down in marriage when the world had an endless stream of beautiful women? And why commit when you knew said women were only going to let you down?

      Sure, there were people who did want commitment—his parents, and in all likelihood his brother Mark. That would be one wedding he wouldn’t attend. But not him. He hated the idea of being stuck in the same place, doing the same thing, with the same people. Even with a beauty. It was bound to end badly.

      He’d made up his mind years ago that he was not his parents. He’d wanted out—needed out—and he couldn’t ever see himself going back. He’d moved on. Didn’t want to look back. Or do a U-turn. Going back on a decision—any decision—was a sign of weakness. As spectacularly demonstrated by Georgia’s serial fiancé.

      ‘Maybe he has shares in a diamond mine?’

      ‘Or maybe I believe in fairytales.’

      ‘Ah, now, don’t give yourself a hard time. We all fall for the wrong people sometimes.’

      He reached across to squeeze the long, elegant fingers that were rubbing the sides of her wine glass. He liked touching her. The thrum of her energy tuned him right in to her.

      ‘I did—once. It caused a lot of damage at the time, but it was the rocket I needed to get myself out into the world. It’s sore when it happens, but I bet you’re already heaving a sigh of relief.’

      She looked at him. Searching. He wrapped his fingers round her wrist, then smoothed little trails across her skin. She held his eyes. He looked at her lips where she’d just licked them—again. Let his gaze settle there, slow and steady. Absorbed the sensual image. Beautiful. He looked at her breasts. He was sure her nipples were beginning to tighten. And he began to harden. The sexual energy between them was dynamite and he hadn’t even kissed her. But he would.

      She looked away, took a sip of wine.

      ‘You’re right. It’s much more important that I get home and get on with life.’

      ‘So what’s keeping you here?’

      ‘Money.’ She lanced him with a hard stare. ‘Purely money. That probably makes me sound terrible. But it’s not money for the sake of money. It’s—it’s Babs. I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but she owes a ton of money.’ She sighed. ‘After years of self-sacrifice for me she met a guy. A sleazy, slimy guy. She married him and gave him a share in The Tavern. She also invested in his building firm. And when she should have been looking forward to financial security, winding down, that worthless piece of garbage conned her and robbed her and covered his tracks so well that when she tried to get back her share of the business they’d built up he had already liquidated it and started re-trading. With Babs the Younger.’

      She paused and looked down at her lap. Ah, hell, if that wasn’t her chin wobbling … She was trying to hide it but there was no denying the hitch in her voice and the flush over her cheeks. He moved forward, lifted her glass and put it down on the table.

      She swiped a hand under each eye. ‘I’m fine. Sorry—I’m fine.’ She looked away and then back at him, her eyes glassy and with a fixed bright smile. ‘I just miss her. I want to go home and I can’t. I’m stuck here until I’ve earned enough to clear her debts. All sixty thousand pounds of it.’

      He could no more stop himself from gathering her into his arms than stop breathing. Selfless. On top of every physical attribute she had she was out here to earn money for someone else. Far too nice for the likes of him.

      But he understood that aching loneliness. He’d felt it when he’d got here. More than that—he’d relished it. It had proved that he’d got away, taken the first step. He knew how real it was for others, though. He loved Dubai now. Loved its pace and its vibe and its outrageous ambition. Sure sometimes, occasionally, the yearn for grey rain and green moss had him hopping on a flight home, just to inhale the sweet smell of damp Irish earth and sit for long, uncomplicated hours in the company of quiet, uncomplicated people. But as soon as his family knew he was back and started bearing down on him he hopped right back on the plane.

      But Georgia Anne Blue … She was a family girl. And she was now in the middle of a nasty piece of action that, all joking aside, could result in jail time. Of course she was emotional!

      ‘Georgia.’ He folded his arms round her but she held herself tense.

      ‘I’m honestly fine—it’s fine.’

      ‘Sure it is. But everyone needs a little comfort sometimes. I miss my sister too. We’re a long way from home. We all get lonely, Georgia.’

      That seemed to undo her. She literally wilted in his arms—a flower without water. He stood her up. Her cheek landed on his chest. He scooped her closer, let his hand cradle her head and pressed his arm across her back. Steadied her and held her while she let soft sobs rack her body. She held her arms bent, tight against him, hands still in fists. Long moments of silent sadness.

      ‘I’m sorry—I don’t know where that came from.’

      She pulled back a little and he felt his shirt wet with tears. That undid him. He hated to see a girl upset. In his iron-clad armour it was the one thing that could really pierce a hole. He blamed his sister Frankie for that—she always knew how to get to him.

      ‘I know where it came from. And it’s fine to let it go.’

      She looked up at him, her dark green eyes glassy as a forest pool. Her lip wobbled again and she buried her head. This time she wrapped her arms around him.

      ‘Thank you. I’m sorry.’

      ‘Shh.’ The last thing she needed to do was thank him. There was nothing he would rather do than hold her and soothe her. And his body was all the evidence she needed that he was getting payback. Holding her close was playing with fire. And he was calculating the risks attached to that right now.

      He hardened—fast