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With every excited word her mother spoke, Julia’s insides churned a little bit more tensely.
‘Ma…’ She tried to protest when she could eventually interrupt her excited happiness, but it was no use. Her mother, as high as a kite on maternal delight, was too busy listing all the many sections of the family who would want to supply a potential bridesmaid.
Silas was on his own in the small courtyard. Julia didn’t waste any time announcing in despair, ‘Ma’s just been on the phone. She thinks we’re getting married.’
When Silas refused to react with the shock she had expected, she added, ‘She’s told your mother, and Gramps was so pleased he instructed Bowers to open a bottle of the wine he put down when I was born.’
‘The Château d’Yquem, eh?’ Silas looked impressed. ‘He’s obviously pleased, then.’
‘What? Of course he’s pleased. According to Ma it’s what he’s always wanted. But that isn’t the point. We aren’t engaged—we aren’t even in a relationship. Can you imagine what it’s going to do to him when he finds out the truth?’
‘You’re right,’ Silas agreed firmly. ‘We can’t let that happen.’
Julia had the unnerving feeling that she was a passenger in a car that had suddenly taken a dangerous curve at high speed and left the road completely.
‘Silas…’
‘For his sake we’re just going to have to go along with the situation for now.’
‘Go along with it? Ma’s already planning the wedding—right down to the number of bridesmaids!’
‘Mothers are like that,’ Silas agreed gravely.
Julia glared at him.
‘You aren’t taking this seriously,’ she accused him.
‘Because it isn’t serious,’ Silas told her. ‘Okay, it’s unfortunate, but it’s hardly the end of the world. People get engaged to one another every day.’
‘Yes, but they have a reason for being engaged,’ Julia told him through gritted teeth. ‘We don’t.’
‘No, but we do have a reason to maintain the fiction that we are engaged.’
‘Gramps?’ she guessed helplessly.
‘Exactly,’ Silas agreed. ‘No matter what our personal feelings—or lack of them—I am sure we are both agreed that not upsetting your grandfather is of more importance than they are.’
‘Yes, of course,’ Julia agreed immediately.
‘So, then, we are both agreed that for his sake there is nothing we can do other than to accept that we are now “engaged”.’
Julia swallowed—hard. ‘But ultimately…’
‘Ultimately a solution will have to be found,’ Silas agreed calmly. ‘Either by us or perhaps by life itself.’
Julia looked at him. ‘You mean that Gramps might…that he may not…I know his heart isn’t very strong, but—’
Before she could continue, the door to the courtyard opened and Dorland hurried in.
‘I suppose you’ve heard about those wretched diamonds? How on earth can they be lost? Martina swears she remembers taking them off and putting them back in their case, and asking someone to give them to the bloody security guard—who I paid a small fortune to do nothing other than watch over them. He says he never got them, Martina can’t remember who she gave them to, and she screams every time I try to get her to remember. And George—would you believe it?—was shagging one of the waitresses when Martina took them off. I’ve got Tiffany on the phone every five minutes, demanding that I pay them a million dollars for their necklace. Thank goodness I managed to persuade the Beast to pay for an exclusive account of how George was discovered in flagrante, the very night he had reaffirmed his marriage vows. You should see the photograph they’ve done—George and this girl, naked apart from a diamond necklace.’
‘The Beast?’ Silas questioned.
‘Dorland’s pet name for a certain red-top daily,’ Julia explained.
‘My little joke, Silas.’ Dorland beamed. ‘The editor, the dearest boy, has a fondness for dressing up as King Kong, as part of his mating ritual.’
‘Dorland, I’ve got a bone to pick with you,’ Julia informed him grimly. ‘Oh?’
‘My mother’s daily showed her an article in A-List Life with photographs of me and Silas and the information that—’
‘I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I just couldn’t resist.’ Dorland stopped her, looking more smug than repentant. ‘It was such a tempting tidbit. Fortunately the photographs I told the guys to take of the two of you turned out well, and I told Murray to make room for them. I thought up the headline myself. “Keeping it in the Family.” Then it said, “My spies tell me that one of A-List’s favourite party girls is soon to be planning a wedding. And guess who to? Her grandfather, the Earl of Amberley, is bound to be pleased, since her husband-to-be is also his heir, the American billionaire Silas Cabot Carter.” You’ll be getting married at Amberley of course?’ he continued, unconsciously echoing Julia’s mother.
‘Of course,’ Silas agreed smoothly. ‘But not yet. I haven’t forgotten my promise to Lucy.’ Really, Silas reflected inwardly, things couldn’t have begun to work out better if he had planned them this way himself.
‘Jules, I’ve been thinking—the fireworks. Do you really think it’s a good idea to colour-co-ordinate them?’ Dorland demanded, having obviously lost interest in their ‘engagement’.
‘I think it’s an excellent idea,’ Julia assured him, well aware how much it would cost if she were to instruct the firework suppliers to change the order she had already given them.
‘Lucy, I know you’re about to leave, but have you got a minute?’
‘Of course. Nick’s gone down with our stuff to wait for the taxi.’
She hated doing this, Julia thought. No way did she want to lie to her best friend, but with her grandfather having sent off a notice of her supposed engagement to The Times, Lucy was bound to wonder why on earth she hadn’t said something.
‘Silas and I are getting engaged.’
‘Jules!’ Immediately Lucy threw her arms around her and hugged her fiercely, her face alight with happiness. ‘Oh, I am so pleased for you. You’re perfect for one another. Oh, Jules, how exciting—and you never said a word…’
‘It’s all been very sudden,’ Julia told her uncomfortably. Well, that much at least was true.
Despite the fact that her friend was obviously happy with the news, Lucy looked weary.
‘You’re happy, aren’t you, Lucy?’ Julia demanded abruptly. ‘I mean, with Nick?’
‘Of course I am,’ Lucy told her immediately. ‘Why shouldn’t I be?’
‘A word with you, if you please, Blayne,’ Silas demanded quietly.
This was the first time he had managed to catch Nick on his own following Julia’s revelations.
Nick shrugged. ‘Sure. How can I help?’
Silas studied him assessingly. Was it only another man who could see that the too-handsome face hinted at weakness?
‘You’re walking a very precarious line right now, and whilst your marriage is not my concern, Julia’s well-being is.’
‘You’re warning me off?’ Nick asked lightly, smiling. He gave another small shrug. ‘Jules has a very passionate nature. She’s never made any secret of the fact that she has a bit of a thing for me—’
‘Really? And what do you have a thing for, Blayne? Apart from assaulting women, of course.’
An angry red tide of colour had begun to seep up under Nick’s tan.
‘I don’t know what she told you, but she was—’
‘Trying to tell you that she wasn’t interested in having sex with you. Let me give you a friendly warning. You’ve been lucky. You married Lucy. Don’t push that luck too far, otherwise you could very easily find yourself unmarried to her. Right now she’s all that’s stopping me from turning your life inside out. You’re scum—you know that, and I know that. So, in case you want what we both know to become public knowledge, I suggest that in future you remember what a very lucky man you are.’
