Cinderella’s Wedding Wish

Whatever his private doubts about me, mine left me a controlling share in the Knighton Group. I wish I’d come back before he died so he could see what I’d learnt and how I’d changed, but we always think there’ll be time enough…’

His voice trailed off and he lifted a shoulder as if trying to shrug off regret. ‘I thought he was so disappointed in me that he might have made other arrangements, but he was a believer in duty and family and perhaps he wanted to give me a chance.’

‘Or perhaps he just loved you and wanted to leave you everything he had?’

Rafe’s smile was crooked. ‘Perhaps. Either way, he’s entrusted me with the group, and it feels as if keeping the company successful is my responsibility now. It’s something I need to do for him, and want to do for myself. I hadn’t realised how much the firm means to me until I came back. It’s in my blood, I suppose.’

‘It must have been a bit of a shock taking over a company like Knightons, after working in villages,’ said Miranda, still trying to come to terms with this new, disturbing knowledge of him. She felt completely thrown.

She wished she didn’t know what he had been doing for the past four years. She wished she could still think of him as spoilt and superficial. She wished she hadn’t noticed the pulse beating in his throat and the texture of his skin and the power of his long, lean body. It had been easier before.

Swallowing, she reminded herself sternly that she was here in a professional capacity, no matter how unlikely a sunny pub garden might be as a workplace. This was her job, and for now Rafe was her boss. It would be inappropriate to feel attracted to him, physically or otherwise.

Inappropriate, and completely pointless.

It was depressing to realise that she was at risk of becoming a walking, talking cliche herself. Surely she knew better than to fall for her boss, no matter how attractive he might be? And surely-surely- she knew there was no point in even hoping that he might ever find her attractive in return?

Get real, Miranda told herself. You’re not Octavia. You’re plain and prissy and practical, and there’s no way a man like Rafe Knighton is ever going to look at you as more than an efficient secretary. Don’t be so silly.

‘It was. It still is,’ said Rafe ruefully recalling his initial culture shock on his first day back at Knighton’s.

To Miranda’s relief, he seemed completely unaware of her jittering with awareness beside him. Perhaps he was used to women going weak at the knees when he was near? The thought that she risked being one of such a large crowd stiffened Miranda’s spine. She was not going to be like all the others. If an efficient assistant was all he wanted, that was what she would be.

‘But I’m not going to give in,’ he was continuing. ‘I know the board are sitting there like vultures, waiting for me to make a mistake before swooping in, but I’m not going to let them.’ His jaw set in a resolute line. ‘They think I’m still the boy my father thought I was right to the end. I just have to prove them wrong.’

‘How are you going to do that?’ Miranda was proud of her cool tone. She had herself back under control after that rather embarrassing little wobble, which she blamed entirely on her hormones. It must be the time of the month. She wasn’t normally that silly.

‘I’m going to get married.’

‘Married!’ In complete defiance of the fact that it was supposed to be firmly under control, Miranda’s heart lurched into her throat, performed a sickening somersault and landed splat back between her ribs. ‘Congratulations,’ she managed after a moment. ‘I didn’t realise you were engaged.’

‘I’m not,’ said Rafe. ‘Yet. But I’d like to be.’ He grinned at her. ‘That’s where you come in.’

Off went her heart again, blundering around her chest. Don’t be ridiculous, Miranda told herself. Rafe wasn’t suggesting marrying her.

‘I’m not sure I understand,’ she said carefully.

Rafe sat up straighter. ‘I came home to take over the Knighton Group, and I’m glad I did,’ he said. ‘The company and its success are important to me. It’s not my capability that’s the problem, it’s trying to get people to take me seriously and acknowledge that I’ve changed. I feel as if I’m beating my head against the proverbial brick wall, hoping that my directors will recognise who I am now, not who I was even four years ago.’

‘It might take some time to change their views.’ Miranda looked doubtful.

‘I know, but I don’t want to wait thirty years before they get the message. I need to do something more dramatic now. That’s where getting married comes in.’

‘I don’t see how,’ she admitted. ‘It’s not as if you’d be marrying your directors.’

‘It’s about perception,’ said Rafe. ‘If I appear to be more settled, I think that would make a difference. And I’m thirty-five. I’m ready to settle down and be taken seriously. My grandmother was nagging me to do it four years ago, but I was too restless then. I feel differently now. I want to get married, start a family, concentrate on making Knighton’s an even better company than it is already.’

‘Then what’s the problem?’

‘I can’t find anyone to marry.’

Miranda laughed.

‘No, really,’ he said.

‘Oh, come on! You’re Britain’s most eligible bachelor! They must be queuing up to marry you.’ Octavia certainly was, she reflected.

‘That’s just the trouble,’ said Rafe. ‘Of course I meet plenty of women, but they’re not the kind of women I want to marry.’

When Miranda raised her brows, he went on. ‘Since I came home, I’ve been invited to all the same parties, where I meet all the same people I used to know, but I can’t be bothered with them any more. I can’t believe that was all my life was, just an endless round of social events.

‘It’s not enough any more,’ he told her. ‘I’m looking for something more…more interesting, someone more interesting.’

‘Well, that shouldn’t be too difficult,’ said Miranda. It was hard to believe that someone like Rafe would be lonely for long.

‘I didn’t think it would be either,’ said Rafe frankly, ‘but it’s certainly not as easy as I expected. The trouble is, I only get invited to the kind of occasions where the paparazzi are hanging around outside the door, and it’s all about celebrity and being seen. I don’t want to marry a model or a TV personality or a party girl with a trust fund to support her. If I’m going to spend my life with someone, I want her to be someone with a little more substance, with her own ambitions, her own opinions, her own interests. I want her to be a serious person, and serious people don’t go to the kind of parties I go to at the moment.’

Oh, dear. It wasn’t looking good for Octavia.

But who was she to talk? A temp who moonlighted as a cocktail waitress in a cat suit hardly ranked as a serious person either. Miranda was very glad she had decided not to do anything silly like falling for Rafe herself. Whatever wife Rafe had in mind, it wasn’t going to be anyone like her.

‘So I’ve decided to do something about it,’ Rafe announced. ‘I know the right woman for me is out there somewhere. I’ve just got to stop hoping I’ll stumble across her and go out and find her instead. And then I’ve got to persuade her not to hold my reputation against me.’

Privately, Miranda couldn’t see that being much of a problem. Few women, no matter how high-minded, were going to be immune to a handsome, single, straight, wealthy man, let alone one who was looking for long-term commitment.

But it wasn’t her job to pander to Rafe Knighton’s ego.

‘So you’re just going to find someone serious and then marry her?’

‘Of course not,’ he said. ‘All I want is the chance to meet more people and hope that I might find someone I find attractive and interesting among them. I want to try and change people’s perception of me. And that’s where the ball comes in. I want to invite serious women.’

‘What, so you can inspect them as if you’re at a smorgasbord and take your pick?’ said Miranda, unimpressed.

‘How else am I going to meet them?’ he countered reasonably. ‘And I won’t just invite women, of course. I’m not that crass. I just want to meet a more interesting mix of people. Is that too much to ask?’

‘You don’t think it will reinforce your reputation as a party guy?’ she asked. ‘A ball is a pretty frivolous idea, after all.’

‘I’m thinking of it as a bridge between my two different worlds,’ said Rafe. ‘I still like people, and I like socialising, but that’s not all there is to me. Sure, I’ll invite some glamorous friends, but it’s not going to be all