A Whirlwind Engagement

wanted to go back to the way things had been before.

Here he was now. Bella felt her nerves crisp as Josh came up to her in the marquee, and she took a steadying slug of champagne. He was the same old Josh he had always been. It was nonsense to think that anything had changed between them.

'Are you OK?' he said, eyeing her with concern.

'Of course. Why?'

'You seem a bit tense, that's all. I wondered if you and Will might be having problems.'

'I don't know why you're so determined that my relationship with Will is a disaster,' said Bella, annoyed with him for hitting the nail so unerringly on the head. 'What could be wrong? Will's fantastic. He's incredibly attractive, generous, clever, successful…'

And he was, she reminded herself with a kind of desperation. She had been mad about Will when she first met him. Why couldn't she feel like that again?

'I'm just missing him while he's away,' she offered, hoping that the explanation would stop Josh probing any further. 'And the house feels very empty without Kate now.'

'It must do.' To her relief, Josh allowed himself to be diverted. 'Are you going to stay there on your own?'

'I think so. I only pay a token rent as it is. Phoebe doesn't need the money-one of the many advantages of having a rich husband!-so I can afford to have the house to myself.'

'I'm surprised you don't move in with Will if he's as perfect as you say he is,' sniffed Josh. 'Doesn't he want to 'commit'?' he added, hooking sarcastic inverted commas around the word.

'That's good coming from you!' said Bella, provoked out of her awkwardness. 'You've never committed to anyone!'

'I'm just waiting for the right woman,' he said loftily.

'No, you're not,' she said. 'You're scared to take a risk.'

Josh's jaw dropped. 'How can you say that, Bella?'

'Yes, yes, I know that you've taken convoys through war zones and rescued people off mountains in blizzards and all that stuff,' she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Before he set up his own company to provide executive training a couple of years ago Josh had provided logistical support for expeditions. Most of them were providing disaster relief but sometimes he would organise fund-raising expeditions for the aid agencies he dealt with. Bella had never been able to understand why someone would want to pay good money to be tired and cold and terrified for a month, but they had always proved very popular.

'I know you've been in loads of dangerous situations,' she went on, 'but those are physical risks. Have you ever taken any other kind of risk?'

'It was risky setting up my own company,' said Josh, sounding a bit huffy.

Bella was unimpressed. 'That was a financial risk. I'm talking about emotional risks.'

Josh hunched a shoulder. 'You have to approach all risks the same way. Look at the situation logically, not emotionally, and balance the likelihood of possible outcomes.'

When he went all logical on her like that, Bella always wondered how on earth they had come to be friends. Mentally, she raised her eyes to heaven.

'It just so happens that as far as relationships are concerned I've never been convinced that the risk was worth taking,' he was saying, 'but it's not a question of being scared.'

The scared thing had obviously rankled.

'We're not all like you,' he accused her, 'investing everything in a relationship five minutes after you've met a man. You'd think experience would have taught you to keep something back, but no! You're barely over one disastrous affair before you plunge into another one!'

'Better that than dithering around on the edge for ever, wondering if you might just have missed the chance of a perfect relationship,' Bella retorted.

'And that's what you've got with Will, is it?' Josh asked sceptically.

She lifted her chin defiantly. 'I think so, yes.'

'So why not live together?'

'Because we're both happy as we are. We've each got our own place to live and that means we can give each other some space. We all need that.'

Josh didn't bother to hide his disbelief. 'You? You're the most sociable person I know! I can't see you hankering after your own space.'

'Perhaps you don't know me as well as you think you do,' said Bella crossly. 'As a matter of fact, I'm looking forward to living on my own. I've been getting gradually used to it since Kate has been spending so much time with Finn and Alex, so it won't be that different now. I might go back to sharing eventually,' she conceded, 'but it wouldn't be the same. Where would I find someone I'd get on with as well as Phoebe and Kate?'

'What about Aisling?' said Josh casually.

Bella looked wary. What about Aisling?

'She's looking for somewhere to live at the moment,' he explained. 'And you'd be bound to get on. I'd have thought she'd be perfect for you.'

What planet was he living on? Bella stared at him in disbelief. He didn't really see her and Aisling as bosom buddies, did he? Didn't he know her at all?

'I'm not sure we've got that much in common,' she said carefully.

Josh looked surprised. 'Don't you? I think you're very alike. Aisling's in marketing and you're in PR-they're not that different as careers go, are they? And she's a bit of a social butterfly, too.'

'I thought she spent her whole time climbing mountains or knocking up rafts out of a couple of tin cans and a piece of string?' said Bella a little sourly.

'She's got a lot of expedition experience,' Josh agreed, 'but she's a good-time girl like you on the side as well.'

Oh, right. So Aisling swung both ways. She could hack her way through a rainforest and wear lipstick. Bully for her. Bella took another slurp of champagne.

'She's not quite such a princess as you, though,' Josh was adding with something less than his usual tact. 'She doesn't actually require somewhere to plug in her hairdryer when she's camping!'

Bella eyed him with some hostility. Josh had once insisted on taking her camping in the Yorkshire Dales, and had been appalled when he discovered that not only had she taken a hair-dryer with her but she had actually used it. He had never let her forget it. Bella was quite sure that Aisling had heard that story and laughed prettily at the idea that anyone could be quite that much of a city girl.

'I'm not sure Tooting would be very convenient for Aisling,' she said. 'It's not exactly handy for your office, is it?'

'Aisling's been trekking across the Sahara,' Josh pointed out. 'I don't think she would find changing tubes a problem!'

Well, that put her in her place, thought Bella grumpily.

'Yes, well, I'll talk to Phoebe,' she said without enthusiasm. 'It's her house, so it's her decision really.'

'Great,' said Josh. 'I'm sure Phoebe won't mind.'

'Where is Aisling, anyway?' said Bella. She had to get to Phoebe before Josh did. There was no way she was going to share a house with Aisling.

Josh looked around the marquee, and pointed. 'Over there, talking to Finn's sister.'

As if she had heard him, Aisling looked over, and beckoned imperatively. In spite of being anxious to get rid of him so she could go and find Phoebe, Bella couldn't believe it when Josh just went. He ought to have more pride, she thought crossly.

Still, now was her chance to grab Phoebe.

'So you will say no, won't you?' she begged when she had dragged Phoebe away from Gib and poured the whole story into her ears.

'If you want,' said Phoebe, 'but I don't know what I'm going to say to Josh. I can't think of any reason to object to Aisling. She seems very nice.'

'I don't like her,' said Bella.

'Why not?'