Room 732: Bridesmaid with Benefits. Amy Andrews

her head at the devilish gleam in his eyes. Good old Ed – couldn’t be serious about anything. ‘Well, there are two hundred people at this wedding, a good proportion of them single females, I’m sure you’ll find someone to charm into your bed.’

      He looked down into her face, a frown creasing his brow, and even crinkled and serious he looked better than any man had a right to.

      ‘You make me sound very shallow, Jo-Jo.’

      Johanna dragged her gaze from the accusation in his, planting it firmly over his shoulder once again. ‘If the cap fits…’ she murmured.

      She felt him stiffen a little in her arms and Johanna hated that he’d reduced her to some sharp-tongued shrew. She knew there were depths to Ed that he didn’t show the world. That beneath the super-cool, man-about-town, sex-god façade was a deep thinker, a compassionate humanitarian.

      His charity donations alone were staggering.

      Could he help it if that package came wrapped in very distracting man-bling? Bling that attracted women faster than a display window at Tiffany’s?

      Hell, Ed might as well be packed into a little blue box and be done with it.

      Thankfully the song drew to an end, sparing them both any further strained conversation. Johanna pulled out of his arms at the first opportunity. ‘Your duty has been discharged,’ she said, her smile feeling stiff and achy on her face. ‘You are free to ruin at will.’

      He reached for her. ‘Jo-Jo, I –’

      But Johanna pulled away before his fingers could make contact with her arm. Her body literally ached for wanting him – she wasn’t sure how much physical contact she could take before she succumbed to it.

      ‘The name is Johanna,’ she snapped.

      And she turned on her heel and whirled away, her ruffles flaring.

      Carmen Miranda would have been proud.

       Chapter Two

      Ed was dog tired by the time he hit the shower in his sumptuous hotel room around midnight. He’d flown in only this morning from a whistle-stop business tour of China and the jet lag was catching up with him. The heat from the shower and the luxury of the surroundings helped. The tiles were marble, the taps were gilt and the shower head was enormous.