The Consultant's Accidental Bride. Carol Marinelli

going to be spending the pre-wedding night glamming themselves up in the honeymoon suite. A two-night deal had been part of the package for booking the reception at the grand hotel, but apart from collecting his cases around eleven p.m. on the night of the wedding Dale wasn’t even going to get his toe though the door. Once the happy couple had been safely waved off, Leah had generously been given the run of the honeymoon suite as well as breakfast in bed. The prospect of such a grand ending to her trip after a year sharing dormitories and rooms in youth hostels was a treat indeed. Any attempt at underplaying it soon ended as she started to laugh. ‘Actually, I don’t feel guilty a bit, just wonderfully spoilt and terribly lucky. Is this your and Kathy’s house?’

      ‘I wish,’ Dale sighed. ‘Ours still only has half a roof. Hopefully a three-month honeymoon in Europe will give the builders time to finish the renovations. Cole offered me his sofa for my last night of freedom.’ His eyes strayed back to the car, lingering on Kathy for a second too long. Simultaneously Cole and Leah snapped into action, determined that the goodbyes had already been said.

      ‘Isn’t he gorgeous?’ Kathy said dreamily, staring into the rear-view mirror as the car pulled off. And from the tone of her voice Leah knew that this time the conversation had switched to Dale.

      ‘Hey, if you want to make it up the aisle in one piece tomorrow, I’d suggest you keep your eyes on the road!’ Leah said quickly, ‘But, yes,’ she added, forcing herself not to turn around for one final glimpse. ‘He is gorgeous.’

      Only she wasn’t referring to the groom!

      As wonderful as backpacking had been for Leah, as emotionally cleansing and spiritually uplifting as it had been, her time drifting through the red centre and up the east coast of Australia had had its downside.

      The mortgage on her tiny yet phenomenally expensive London flat had been taken care of, along with the rates and bills. She’d even paid her little sister to come in and do the occasional dust—preferably after the wild parties she was undoubtedly holding there—but something had had to go and her meticulous budgeting had been to the detriment of her beauty routine.

      She wasn’t vain or anything, but waxing, manicuring and a six-weekly trim at the hairdresser’s didn’t really get a look in with the rather frugal budget Leah had set herself.

      If ever a major repair job was called for, it was now, but thankfully Kathy had the next twenty-four hours planned down to the last detail in the massive bridal folder she had acquired, which she constantly referred to.

      ‘Bliss,’ Leah sighed.

      Trimmed, plucked, waxed and massaged to within an inch of their lives, they sat wrapped in huge fluffy white robes, their toenails separated by wads of cotton wool, sipping on champagne as the room-service waiter cleared away the remains of a sumptuous dinner.

      ‘I feel like a muddy old car that’s been through a car wash and come out all vacuumed and sparkling. I just hope that I do that gorgeous dress you’ve chosen for me justice tomorrow!’

      ‘You honestly like it?’ Kathy checked for the hundredth time.

      ‘Like it? I love it!’ Leah said firmly, and for the first time in bridesmaid history she wasn’t lying. Even though she’d mentally prepared herself to smile and coo at the undoubtedly horrendous creation, thankfully on this occasion it hadn’t been needed. Leah had long since passed the three-times-a-bridesmaid stage and if she’d learnt anything at all from the experiences it was that no amount of grimacing or subtle suggestions was going to change the outcome. She’d been squeezed into more puffballs than she cared to remember but thankfully at last she was going to walk down the aisle in style. ‘Finally a bride with taste!’ Leah added, as Kathy waddled like a penguin with her damp toenails to the wardrobe and pulled the simple lilac velvet dress down from the wardrobe door again.

      ‘You’re not just saying that so I won’t get upset.’

      ‘I promise,’ Leah insisted. ‘How could I not like it? There’s not a sequin or a glimmer of diamanté in sight.’

      ‘And not a single bow,’ Kath added proudly. ‘Did you manage to find a backless bra?’

      ‘I did,’ Leah sighed. ‘Though it should come with a user manual. It reminds me of one of those awful sanitary belts from the Dark Ages.’

      ‘At least you need a bra,’ Kathy moaned, looking down at her rather flat chest.

      ‘You’re going to look divine.’ Leah grinned. ‘What does your bridal folder say we should be doing now?’

      ‘Sleeping, though I don’t fancy our chances. I’m so excited I don’t think I’ll get a wink all night.’

      ‘Come on.’ Pulling back the counterpane, Leah climbed into the massive four-poster. ‘We don’t want to have bags under our eyes tomorrow.’

      ‘I guess.’ Reluctantly Kathy climbed in. ‘I wonder what Dale’s doing now? You don’t think Cole would have taken him on one last wild night out?’

      ‘I doubt it,’ Leah muttered. ‘I don’t think Cole would know what a wild night was if it came up and poked him in the eye.’

      ‘He’s really got to you, hasn’t he?’

      ‘I just can’t stand those know-it-all types who go around spoiling other people’s fun.’

      ‘But Cole’s nothing like that,’ Kathy insisted.

      ‘You didn’t sit next to him on the plane,’ Leah pointed out. ‘You should have heard the lecture he delivered when he found out I’d been bungy-jumping. Talk about kill a conversation dead in two seconds flat.’

      ‘He’s just a bit straight-laced,’ Kathy relented. ‘Mind you, I can’t say I blame him.’

      ‘Because he works in Emergency?’ Leah argued. ‘We work in Emergency and we don’t walk around policing everyone, warning them off every tiny risk, every possible side effect.’

      ‘I didn’t mean that.’ Kathy shook her head. ‘Dale says he’s changed since his wife died. She was killed in some boating accident or something, that’s all I know. Cole never really talks about it. I think it’s just been since then.’

      Oh, she’d have loved to have probed, would have loved a bit more insight, but Kathy was yawning now, the day catching up with her, her mind drifting towards her wedding day tomorrow, and Leah knew it was neither the time nor the place.

      ‘If I don’t get a chance to say it tomorrow, thanks for asking me to be your bridesmaid, for organising the dress and shoes and this wonderful room for me. I feel awful. I’m supposed to be helping you…’

      ‘You’ll do the same for me when it’s your turn,’ Kathy murmured sleepily, and Leah rolled her eyes into the darkness.

      ‘You might have to wait a while for me to return the favour.’

      ‘Are you looking forward to going back? To nursing, I mean.’

      There was a long pause, and when Leah finally answered her voice was barely a whisper. ‘No.’ The sharp sting of tears caught Leah unawares and, aghast, she blinked them back. Tonight was about Kathy, not the absolute mess her life was in right now.

      ‘You’ll be all right,’ Kathy said gently, her voice sleepy. ‘As awful as what happened to you was, it’s not going to happen again. Lightning never strikes twice.’

      ‘Oh, yes, it does,’ Leah sighed. ‘Remember that guy who came into the department…’ Her voice trailed off, the soft snores coming from Kathy telling Leah she’d lost her audience. Rolling on her side, she stared into the darkness, not even bothering to wipe the salty tears that slid into her hair.

      ‘Oh, yes, it does,’ she whispered softly.

       CHAPTER TWO