Appointment at the Altar

‘I can’t say we hadn’t hoped that Lucy and Richard would…but of course we’re happy for you, Lucy,’ said Frank, kissing her gallantly on the cheek. ‘I know Ellen will be too. Richard may be a bit more disappointed but…well…as long as you’re happy.’

Privately, Lucy was convinced that Richard wouldn’t care nearly as much as his parents seemed to think, but there was no point in saying that to Frank.

‘Thank you, Frank. That’s sweet of you,’ she said, kissing him back.

Frank turned to Guy and wrung his hand. ‘Congratulations! You’re a lucky man!’

‘I know. I can hardly believe it myself,’ said Guy, his voice laden with irony that only Lucy seemed able to hear. ‘It hardly seems real yet!’

‘Come up and meet Richard and Ellen,’ Frank was urging, but fortunately Guy managed a graceful refusal. ‘I can’t leave the car where it is. I’m liable to get towed away as it is, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘I really just came to drop Lucy off.’

‘Oh, that’s a shame. Another time, maybe. You’re coming in, though, Lucy?’

‘Of course.’ Deciding that she had probably pushed Guy far enough, Lucy opted for a tactical retreat. ‘I’ll come with you.’ She kissed the corner of Guy’s mouth. ‘Bye, darling!’ she said gaily and waggled her fingers at him in farewell. ‘See you tomorrow!’

And tucking her hand into Frank’s arm, she sashayed off with him, leaving Guy looking after her with a twisted smile on his face.

‘I can’t believe it!’ cried Richard’s mother when Frank broke the news. ‘You and Guy Dangerfield? ’

Lucy accepted Ellen’s hug, uneasily aware of the petite blonde nurse called Mairi who was at Richard’s bedside, taking his pulse. Mairi seemed to take her pulse-taking duties very seriously. She was always there, holding his wrist and pursing her lips as she checked the watch pinned to her uniform. Lucy felt frivolous next to her, and she could never shake the feeling that Mairi disapproved of her, but she couldn’t see why the nurse should be interested in her supposed engagement.

‘Yes, it’s true, but we want to keep it a secret for now,’ she said firmly. It occurred to her that they might want some reason why she and Guy weren’t shouting their love from their rooftops. ‘We’re waiting until Meredith comes back from Australia.’

‘Let’s hope that’s soon,’ said Richard as Mairi gave him back his arm. ‘I miss her, and you’ll want to get married as soon as you can, I expect.’ He smiled weakly up at Lucy. ‘I’m really happy for you, Lucy.’

In spite of their evident disappointment that she and Richard weren’t going to get back together, Ellen and Frank insisted on celebrating her supposed engagement, and took her out for a meal after they had said goodnight to Richard. Their kindness made Lucy feel awful. She shouldn’t be lying to them.

It was all Guy’s fault, she thought darkly. If he hadn’t kissed her, she wouldn’t have been provoked into telling Frank that they were engaged. Now she had the sinking feeling that things were getting out of control. The Pollards were alarmingly impressed by the idea of her knowing Guy Dangerfield, let alone marrying him, and the more they talked excitedly about his business reputation, his celebrity status and his fortune, the more Lucy’s heart sank. Why had no one told her how famous Guy was?

Why hadn’t she listened more closely to Imogen? Or bothered to read a newspaper?

Because you always rely on someone else to sort things out for you.

It wasn’t a comfortable thought. Lucy lay awake that night and thought about the times she had blundered into situations without really thinking them through and, although she had never consciously relied on someone else to clear up the mess, maybe that was what had happened. The jobs she had drifted in and out of…had she ever given a thought to the way someone else had to take over from her? She had wild enthusiasms that didn’t last. How often did she finish anything she had started, in fact? Lucy wriggled uneasily beneath the duvet.

And what about relationships? Since she was squirming under the lash of self-awareness, she might as well face up to the fact that she had a pattern there, too. Time and again, she had fallen madly in love, only to find that the relationship turned out to be a lot less romantic than she had hoped. It was always fine at first, but when Lucy looked back she realised that she had always been the one to make all the running. She was full of dreams and romance, and the men in question weren’t going to turn down a girl with her looks, but how many of them had loved her for herself? she wondered now.

And how much, really, had she loved them? Lucy asked herself with sudden insight. Hadn’t she just fallen for an image as much as they had done? Look at Kevin. She had been so taken up with the romance of the outback and falling for a man who fitted the part so perfectly that she hadn’t paid much attention to what he was really like. No wonder Kevin hadn’t seemed bothered when she had had to leave so suddenly. He had understood, better than she had done, that what they had was no more than the romance of a moment.

And now Meredith was stuck in the outback because she, Lucy, had insisted that romance was real. Meredith would be hating every moment, but she had stayed for her sister. Lucy bit her lip at her own selfishness. She would have to go back as soon as she could and rescue Meredith for once.

But first she would have to sort out this latest mess she had got herself into. Lucy wasn’t quite sure how to do that, other than by apologising to Guy, and once she had decided on that she managed to convince herself that the situation wasn’t that bad. Yes, it had been a stupid thing to say that they were engaged, but there was no reason to believe that it would go any further. Only the Pollards knew about their supposed engagement, and she hoped that she had impressed on them the need for secrecy.

Still, the thought of facing Guy the next day made her feel more than a little nervous and she made a point of getting in to work early. Guy, though, was in even earlier. Lucy had only just hung up her coat and settled down behind the desk when the phone rang.

It was Guy’s PA, Sheila, who said that Guy would like to see Lucy at her earliest convenience. Would she come up to his office?

Feeling as if she had been summoned to the headmaster’s office, Lucy took one of the spectacular glass lifts up to the penthouse floor. She had never been there before, and would normally have been interested to see what it was like, but now she was too nervous to notice much as she stepped out of the lift.

She wondered what Guy had told Sheila, but it was obviously not the truth, judging by the smile Sheila gave her when she arrived. Grey-haired and very elegant, Sheila adored Guy and was fiercely protective of him. Lucy had helped her out on a couple of occasions, but she knew that wouldn’t count for much if Sheila found out that she had been doing anything to prejudice Guy’s reputation.

Like pretending to be engaged to him.

‘Go right in.’ Sheila smiled. ‘He’s expecting you.’

Taking a deep breath, Lucy pushed open the door of Guy’s office, only to stop dead as she stepped inside. It was a huge room with a carpet so deep and soft you could lose yourself in it, a vast desk and some plush sofas where no doubt millions of dollars changed hands regularly in the course of a conversation. One entire wall was made of glass and offered such a spectacular view of St Paul’s Cathedral that Lucy actually gasped. ‘Oh,’ she said, nerves and guilt and embarrassment momentarily forgotten as she stared.

‘Quite a view, isn’t it?’ Guy got up from behind the desk and came towards her and a strange thing happened. The amazing cityscape behind him blurred and he snapped into focus. Everything about him was suddenly sharply defined-the dark blond hair, the planes of his face, the angle of his jaw, those blue, blue eyes with their fan of laughter lines, and Lucy’s breath snarled in her throat.

‘You sent for me?’ It came out more aggressively than she had intended and he raised an eyebrow, gesturing her to one of the sofas.

‘I asked if you would come and see me,’ he corrected her. Hitching up immaculate trousers, he sat down opposite her. ‘I could have come to you, I know, but I didn’t think you would want to discuss our supposed engagement in the middle of reception. And I think we do need to discuss it, don’t you?’

‘Look, I’m sorry, OK?’ said Lucy, guilt making her belligerent. ‘I shouldn’t have said that to Frank.’

‘I seem to remember you promising to think before you opened your mouth,’ said Guy mildly enough, but there was something daunting about the set of his mouth, and Lucy could feel dull colour creeping up her throat.

‘I might have remembered if I hadn’t been provoked!’ she retorted.

‘Provoked?’

‘You know what I mean,’ she said sullenly. ‘You kissed me.’