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She studied him openly through the crowd of the bar. Dressed in a slate grey suit that barely concealed his raw, muscular strength, with his dark hair brushed back from his face, he was the picture of Italian virility. His eyes were wide-set and calculating, rimmed in thick dark lashes and splattered with flecks of grey and green. His nose was aquiline; she had joked, in the past, that he was the ultimate patrician. His lips, oh his lips. Her stomach turned as she remembered the power his lips had to reduce her to a quivering mess.
“Aurora? Are you listening?” Beatrice leaned towards her best friend, waving a perfectly manicured hand in her face. Aurora blinked and forced her gaze away from her former lover.
She smiled apologetically, encompassing her three companions. “Let me guess. We were talking about the wedding.”
Beatrice, Aurora’s closest friend since the first day of high school, was nestled into the crook of her fiancé Peter’s arm. They were a strikingly handsome pair. Beatrice had her mother’s complexion – fair skin, auburn hair, and green eyes; while Peter was fair and swarthy, like a true Viking. Every minute or so, Beatrice’s gaze was drawn to the sparkling emerald and diamond ring she wore on her ring finger.
Beside the beamingly, loved-up couple was the man Aurora knew they were hoping might finally tempt her into the blissful world of coupledom. And he was nice. Alec Shaw was a mid-level financier like Peter; wealthy and successful, though not boring or staid. He was handsome, in a conservative, Ralph Lauren wearing way, with his blue eyes and neatly cut walnut brown hair. His shoes were handmade, his watch expensive, and his manners practiced yet perfect. He was destined to be Peter’s best man at the upcoming wedding, and Aurora to be Beatrice’s Maid of Honor. Therefore, by some kind of unwritten yet all-known wedding law, being both single, they were also destined to get together.
“We can have the wedding at Farnley,” Beatrice referred, with a shrug, to her family’s ancient country estate. A grand hall with expansive gardens and a duck pond that Aurora had once fallen into, Aurora could perfectly picture the splendid event. “But then, there’s the fact that most of Peter’s family and friends are based here, in the City. The travel would be an inconvenience.”
Aurora lifted her champagne to her lips and sipped it thoughtfully. “Farnley is not exactly the end of the earth. It’s only two hours out of London.” The first time she’d seen the grand mansion, she’d thought it the most beautiful palace on earth. Of course, she’d grown up on the eighth floor of an unspectacular council flat in East London. A full scholarship to a prestigious public school had thrown her into an entirely different orbit; her friends came from families that had private jets, royal godparents and claims to ancient thrones. Beatrice had been no different. A mother descended from the Hanovers; a father who was a different kind of royalty – the son of a famous Hollywood director – and a half-brother who had become a legend in the world of Formula One racing. A man who had broken Aurora’s heart into a dustbowl of pieces and feelings. She tried to concentrate on the question at hand.
“But when you think about the oldies and the babies, that seems like a lot to ask of people.”
Aurora slid a side-long glance of amusement in Alec’s direction. Behind him, in the distance of the crowded bar, she was aware of Leo, but she forced herself not to look again. Staring at him as she had done was a sign of weakness that she didn’t intend to repeat. “People travel further than that for weddings all the time. Have the thing where you want it to be. What do you think, Pete?”
He lifted his eyes heavenward in his very diffident way and squeezed his fiance’s shoulders. “I think we should elope in Ibiza.”
Beatrice laughed. “Peter Donald Andre Beaumont, there is no way we’re going to elope.”
“Worth a try, eh?” He winked at Aurora.
“I think the idea of an island wedding has merit.” His voice, deep and gravelly, was intoned with the hint of an accent that came from having spent the first five years of his life in Italy. Aurora didn’t have to look up to know that Leonardo had joined them. She gripped the champagne flute tightly, to hide the way her fingers were shaking, and lifted it to her lips.
“You came!” Beatrice jumped up from the table, her tall, slender length unfurling elegantly to wrap around her older brother. “You really came!”
“It is not every day that your little sister becomes engaged,” he responded with a casual flicker of his brows.
“But still! You’re always so busy travelling around being a Formula One hot shot. I wasn’t even sure I could count on you for the wedding.”
Still, Aurora couldn’t look at him. Her eyes were glued somewhere past them, the lump in her throat making speech impossible.
“It turned out I was in London.”
Beatrice pulled away with a laugh. “I see. So you’re here because it just happened to fit in with your frenetic lifestyle.”
“Does it matter? I’m here.” His grin was lopsided and sexy as sin. “Congratulations, baby sister. I’m pleased for you.” He extended a hand to Peter. “You do know you’re getting more than you bargained for, right?”
“I’m counting on it,” Peter responded with a confident nod of his head.
To Aurora’s absolute chagrin, Leo pulled a chair out and sat wedged between Peter and Alec. “Leo, this is my best man and occasional thorn in my side, Alec Shaw.”
“Leo Fontana? In the flesh?” Alec asked, his eyes as wide as wheels.
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“Guilty as charged,” he said with a small nod.
“Alec’s a racing enthusiast,” Peter explained unnecessarily. “And of course you must know Aurora?”
Aurora couldn’t have been sure she was still breathing.
Her lungs were burning as though flame had torn through them. Her mouth was dry and claggy, her tongue thick in her throat, and perspiration was beading at the very top of her forehead. Three years and now, in a glamorous bar in the East End, the moment of truth had finally arrived.
Be brave. She forced herself to lift her pale blue eyes to his face, carefully keeping her expression neutral.
“I have had the pleasure,” he responded drily, leaving Aurora in very little doubt that he considered their acquaintance to have been anything but pleasurable.
