AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Eight Years Ago
It was her eighteenth birthday and Lizzie had just signed with an illustrious modelling agency. Really, did life get any better than that? Following a gleeful pirouette she peered curiously at her reflection in the mirror. Silky blonde hair framing an oval face and a small straight nose. Definite plus points. She was also tall, a modelling prerequisite, and slender, another given. But then there was the pointy chin, the cheekbones that were too sharp and the blue eyes that were far too large for her face. Not beautiful then. If she was generous, she might say her looks were striking. She certainly wasn’t most people’s idea of a model, but then Lizzie had never cared much for what most people thought. If she had, she’d have let the taunts of the boys at school, Here comes Daddy Long Legs, crush her ambition a long time ago. Instead she’d laughed in their faces and continued to send her portfolio of photographs off to modelling agents. One day, she’d told herself, what her school friends thought of as ungainly and odd, a modelling agency would see as eye-catching and unusual.
And they had. Here she was, two years on, signed with a modelling giant because of those very same quirky features. Now, as far as Lizzie was concerned, anything was possible. And she was going to try her hand at it all.
With a final grin to the image in the mirror, she slipped on her favourite silver sandals. She’d practised walking in high heels since the age of five, so the journey down the stairs and into the garden in these five-inch sweeties was a doddle. She pushed open the back door and stared in delight at the large marquee in the garden, decorated with twinkling fairy lights and silver balloons, erected in her honour. Tonight was her night. Two celebrations in one. The first, reaching the landmark age of eighteen, her friends all knew about. The second, being signed by the modelling agency, was a secret to all but her family.
‘Hey, come and dance with us, Lizzie.’
Her eyes followed the direction of the voice, resting on a group of giggling girls shimmying on the dance floor. Her best friends. Lizzie waved and went to join them.
* * *
Nick hovered in the corner of the marquee, watching the girls on the dance floor. Or make that girl, because there was only one who caught his eye. Lizzie. She had done so ever since she’d hurtled into the world eighteen years ago. He knew her by virtue of her brother, Robert. Being best friends with Robert had meant spending a huge chunk of his childhood hanging round the Donavue family home. In the early days, Lizzie had been in the background: the cute baby he and Robert had laughed over as inquisitive five-year-olds; the long-limbed girl with pigtails and big blue eyes. But then she’d grown up. For the life of him he couldn’t work out how it had happened, but while he’d been working and touring round Europe with Robert in his gap year, she’d turned from gawky to pretty. Then, during his visits home from university, she’d gone from being his friend’s kid sister to the girl he most wanted to kiss. At sixteen she’d been too young for him to act on his feelings so he’d kept quiet, finished university, sowed some wild oats and unknowingly broken a few hearts. As he watched her on the dance floor, he was forced to acknowledge his own heart had been captured years ago.
Now he was back, settled in a job, living in his own place.
Now, surely, it was time to do something about his feelings for her.
Yes, she was eighteen to his twenty-three, but this was Lizzie he was talking about. A girl far older than her years.
Tonight, he was going to ask her out. He was happy to take things slow — the last few years had given him a lot of practice at slow — but he needed her to know his feelings went beyond those of an honorary big brother. Quite how he was going to do that was another matter. If he didn’t know her so well, if she’d simply been a girl who’d caught his eye tonight, he’d know the moves. Oh he wasn’t smooth — if only — but he’d acquired a fair bit of experience with the opposite sex. Enough to know how to buy a girl a drink. And, if he liked her, how to move onto stage two. He’d taken a few knock backs over the years, but other than a bruise to his ego, it hadn’t really mattered.
With Lizzie, it mattered, and not just because he loved her. Her friendship was as important to him as Robert’s, and tonight he could seriously screw up both. He had no clue what Robert would think of him fancying his sister. And he had no clue how Lizzie felt, either. She liked him, sure. But liked was a long way from how he wanted her to think about him.
Nick took a final swig of beer, straightened his back, and walked purposefully towards her. He was willing to risk Robert’s wrath if it got him Lizzie.
She was dancing with her friends, lost in the music, totally unaware of his approach. He watched, mesmerised, as her tall, sinuous body twirled to the beat. God she was gorgeous. The most stunning creature he’d ever seen, or was ever likely to see. And it wasn’t only he who saw it. Scanning the room he noticed other men watching her, young and old alike. She stood out from the crowd. She was unique.
‘Nick, there you are,’ she said with a smile, holding out her hand to drag him onto the dance floor. ‘I wondered where you’d got to.’
He allowed himself to be pulled towards her. Hell, he was so besotted he’d follow her wherever she led him. Off a hundred foot high cliff? No problem. Across an alligator infested river? Bring it on. Even onto a blasted dance floor. Never his forte. Getting his body to dance to a rhythm was well nigh impossible. Call it his reserve, or shyness, or maybe his total lack of musical ability. Whatever it was, next to her he looked stiff and awkward.
‘I was trying to avoid dancing,’ he replied, shouting to be heard above the sound of the music. ‘But it seems if I want to talk to you, I have to dance.’
She laughed, the soft, rich sound rippling through him. ‘We can talk anytime. Today I turn eighteen and I want to dance all night.’
He nodded back, though his heart sank in his chest. If she planned on fixing herself to the dance floor all evening, how on earth was he going to get her to himself?
The music moved on to the next track and still they danced, Nick doing a kind of shuffle to the beat while Lizzie whirled around him, her movements graceful and fluid. She danced in the same manner she did most things in life, vivaciously, possessing the confidence of someone twice her age. In contrast he danced awkwardly. He could manage a formal fox trot — set steps that could be learnt — but the loose-limbed gyrating of disco was beyond him. Aware of this he hung back, desperately hoping the music would turn slower. He’d have no problem holding Lizzie in his arms and gliding slowly around the dance floor. No problem at all.
His hopes were dashed as the next high tempo song blasted through the speakers. ‘I want to talk to you,’ he shouted across at her.
She smiled over at him, her blue eyes glittering and he felt his heart flip in his chest. ‘Go ahead, I’m all ears.’
He shook his head. ‘No, later. Somewhere quieter.’ Declaring his love for her in the middle of a crowded dance floor wasn’t what he had in mind. It had an advantage — it would be pretty easy for her to pretend not to hear him. Save them both the embarrassment of her turning him down. But shouting out his intimate feelings on a noisy dance floor wasn’t his style. No, he’d take the hit in private, thank you. That’s if she ever got off the ruddy dance floor.
The song ended and the music stopped altogether. With a surge of anticipation Nick reached for her hand and gave her a light tug. When she didn’t move, he stared at her, puzzled. Then he followed her eyes, catching sight of her father striding towards them, his handsome face beaming. As Nick looked on, the older man whispered something in Lizzie’s ear. She grinned in reply, nodding enthusiastically. With a wink at Nick, she let go of his hand and linked arms with her father. Together they walked towards the disc jockey and his microphone.
‘Friends,’ her father began. ‘As you know, we’re here today to celebrate my darling Lizzie’s eighteenth birthday.’ He looked over at Lizzie with the adoration only a doting father can bestow on his most precious daughter. ‘What you don’t know is we also have something else to celebrate. This afternoon Lizzie received a call from a modelling agency in New York. They want to sign her up.’ There was an awed hush as the crowd took in his words. ‘Yes, that’s right. My daughter is about to go and live her dream. New York here she comes!’
Nick stood, dazed, as Lizzie was besieged by cheering friends, all clamouring to congratulate her. He felt as if he’d been hit in the solar plexus by something large and solid. New bloody York? Could she go much further away? Numbly he watched as she revelled in the attention. He wanted to be happy for her. He really did. But the only feeling he could summon was anguish. There was absolutely no point in spilling out his feelings to her now. Not when she was off to start a shiny new life in America.
He’d lost her before he’d even had the chance to let her know how he felt. Later he’d tell himself it was for the best. That actually the announcement had saved him from almost certain humiliation, because he doubted she saw him as anything other than a friend.
But right now he felt as if life had turned around and spat in his face.
