Appointment at the Altar

Lucy couldn’t help laughing at her mock-threatening stance. ‘I know, I know! I would have told you, Imogen, but I didn’t know how I felt about Guy myself for ages.’

‘I did.’

‘You did what?’ Lucy asked, puzzled.

‘I knew there was something between you and Guy straight away.’

‘You did?’

Imogen rolled her eyes. ‘It was obvious, Lucy! I could tell by the way you looked at each other, and by the way you didn’t look at each other. Either way, there was always a kind of sizzle in the air between you. I used to get quite hot just watching you,’ she told Lucy, who belatedly tried to smooth her expression. It probably wasn’t a good idea to boggle at Imogen as if she were astounded at the news that she and Guy had seemed attracted to each other. A real fiancee would have picked up the vibes herself. ‘I wasn’t at all surprised when I saw that piece in the paper,’ Imogen finished, ‘although I do think you might have told me!’

It seemed that Imogen was not the only one who claimed to have known all along that she and Guy were in love. Lucy began to feel quite uneasy. How could it have been so obvious to everyone when it wasn’t true?

Unless it was true.

Lucy’s blue gaze found Guy on the other side of the room. He was being hugged by a group of cleaners, who were all shrieking with laughter as he teased them. He wasn’t looking at her, but she could still feel the warmth of his smile lighting up the room.

The world seemed to judder to an abrupt halt, leaving Lucy jarred and breathless.

Oh, God, it was true. Of course it was true. Of course she was in love with him. What a fool she had been! Lucy berated herself. Imogen was right. It had been obvious. The only one who hadn’t seen it until now was her.

And Guy, she hoped.

Guy…Lucy smiled and chatted and did her best to seem like any other radiant fiancee, but inside she was reeling. When had it happened? When had he become the very centre of her existence? When had his presence, the smile in his eyes and the touch of his hands and the turn of his head, become as necessary to her as breathing?

Sipping her champagne, Lucy was feeling a little sick. It was as if everything that she had believed true about herself had been swished away, leaving her hollow and slightly giddy.

Guy. How long had she wanted him? Needed him? Loved him?

It wasn’t just the way he looked, it was the man he was, Lucy thought. A man who was so much more than she had realised when she had dismissed him so casually in Australia. She knew him better now. She knew how patient he was with his mother, how generous to his staff. He was a man tough in negotiations, kind to cleaners, friendly to waiters, charming to all. No wonder everyone loved him.

They didn’t love him the way she did. But how could she tell Guy that? Only a few weeks ago, she had been insisting that she loved Kevin. He would never believe her if she confessed how she felt now-and why should he? He knew that she had spent her whole life tumbling from one enthusiasm to another. Of course he would assume that loving him was just another passing infatuation for her.

It wasn’t, though. Lucy knew that, deep in her core-a part of herself she hadn’t even known existed before. Always before, she had tumbled joyfully into imagining herself in love, but this time it was different. This time she was almost scared by the intensity of the feeling. This time she had to see past the romance of falling in love with someone wonderful to some hard truths.

First of which was the fact that Guy wasn’t in love with her.

And why should he be, after all? All she had done for him was snipe at him, let him rescue her and then pitch him into an embarrassing situation that might yet jeopardise an important merger.

Lucy cringed inwardly when she thought of how casually she had treated Guy, how carelessly she had taken his help for granted. How could she ever hope that he would love her? She wasn’t a serious person. She had never stuck at anything, had never made a success of anything. She had just drifted around, having a good time. Guy deserved more than that.

Maybe she deserved more than that, too.

What was it that Guy had said about having higher expectations of herself? He had changed, he had fulfilled his potential, and she could, too. He had offered her a chance with this new job, and that would be a start. So what if it was only temporary? After she had kept her promise to Hal, there was no reason why she shouldn’t find a career of her own. No reason why she couldn’t make something of herself, and prove to herself as much as to Guy that she was someone worth loving.

Someone was clinking a knife against a glass and gradually the hubbub in the room diminished in response. Lucy found herself pushed towards a dais where Guy was standing next to George. They were both looking for her and, as she emerged at the front of the crowd, Guy smiled in a way that made her heart stutter. He’s playing a part, she reminded herself, taking the hand he held out and letting herself be drawn into the circle of his arm

She needed to play a part too, although hers was more difficult than his. Guy just had to pretend to be in love with her. She had to pretend that she was pretending, but be convincing at the same time. It was the least she could do after landing him in this mess. Guy had made it clear that no one here should guess that their engagement wasn’t real, and she wouldn’t let him down.

So Lucy smiled and let herself relax against Guy, sliding her arm around his waist. George embarked on a speech, but she hardly heard a word of it, too aware of Guy, of the lovely solid warmth of him beneath her hand, of the new terrifying knowledge of how much she wanted everyone else to vanish so that she could turn into him, hold him closer, press her lips above his collar and kiss her way up his throat. She wanted to burrow into his sureness and his strength, to lose herself in his touch and his taste…

There was a burst of clapping as George got to the end of his speech at last. Glasses were lifted to a chorus of ‘Lucy and Guy’ and then Guy was stepping forward to reply. Lucy was intensely grateful that she wasn’t being called upon to string two words together. It was all she could do to keep her smile in place while her body jumped and twitched with the need to crawl all over him.

Guy had let go of her waist, but he kept a firm hold of her hand. Lucy let her fingers curl around his, hanging on to his reassuring warmth and steadiness, and tried to cool the fever humming in her blood.

‘I want to thank you all for your good wishes and for being here this evening,’ he said. ‘I know Lucy is as touched as I am.’ He glanced down at her and she nodded her agreement, even managing a smile when all she wanted to do was to shout, Forget about them! Lay me down on the floor here and make love to me!

‘To be honest,’ Guy went on with a disarming grin, ‘realising that we want to spend our lives together has been almost as much of a surprise to us as it must have been to you. Tonight is the first time it has really seemed true, and that’s thanks to you. Being together feels very new to both of us, but it feels right too, and it’s wonderful to know that so many people are happy for us. Neither of us will forget this evening, will we, Lucy?’

‘No.’ She would certainly never forget, thought Lucy. She would never forget the moment when she’d realised how much she loved him.

‘So thank you all, very much,’ Guy finished, and there was another storm of applause, followed by a peculiarly expectant silence.

Still dazed by his nearness and her own desire, it took Lucy a moment to realise what they were all waiting for. When she did, her eyes met Guy’s and her heart turned over. He knew what they wanted. The smile deepened in his eyes, spreading over his face as he bent his head towards her, and there was an almost audible sigh of release from everyone watching as his lips touched hers and he kissed her at last.

The touch of his mouth sent a jolt of response through Lucy. The earth seemed to shift beneath her feet and the hand that wasn’t curled tightly around his came up instinctively to clutch at the lapel of his jacket and keep herself steady. It felt so good, so sweet, so right to be kissing him that she forgot that they were being watched by the entire staff of Dangerfield & Dunn and gave herself up to the sheer relief of being able to kiss him back.

Guy must have felt her yielding against him. His arm tightened around her and for a moment his kiss was hard and hungry. Lucy’s body flared in response to its fierce insistence and she pressed closer, oblivious to the watching crowd, to anything but the feel of his lips on hers, the taste of his mouth, the strength of the arm encircling her.