Bride For A Year

‘Just goes to show you can’t take anything for granted.’ Rosie nodded. ‘I think we were all convinced that Carolyn would marry Brad. They seemed like the perfect couple, didn’t they?’

‘Yes, they did,’ Paige agreed quietly.

‘Of course, Robert comes from an extremely wealthy family. They own a lot of property in San Francisco. Carolyn was telling me that they are going to live there after the wedding.’

Paige wondered if deep down Brad was heartsore about the whole thing.

‘Anyway, the coast is now clear. As far as I can make out Brad isn’t seeing anyone at the moment...not a girlfriend on the playing field.’

‘I’m sure that won’t be the situation for very long.’ Paige sipped her coffee then met the gleam in her friend’s eye. ‘Don’t look at me like that. I’m not in the slightest bit interested any more,’ she said staunchly.

Yet despite the strong words, despite everything that had happened to turn her against Brad, she knew very well that she was far more interested than she should be. She wondered if the fact that Carolyn had finished with Brad had triggered his decision to propose to her. Perhaps he had been counting on Carolyn to be by his side during the elections and now that the love of his life was going to marry someone else he had decided just to cut his losses and make a marriage purely for business reasons. ‘Anyway, once this place is sold I shall be moving away. So it’s irrelevant who Brad is seeing or isn’t seeing,’ she said firmly, trying very hard not to care.

Rosie frowned. ‘You aren’t really serious about leaving the valley, Paige? Surely you could find a job around here? You’ve only just graduated from college; you’ve got bags of qualifications.’

Paige shook her head. ‘I’m going to make a fresh start,’ she said with gentle determination. ‘I couldn’t bear to stay around here and see this vineyard being run by someone else. It would just break my heart.’

‘I don’t want you to leave, Paige...’ Rosie looked over at her, a sudden serious light in her eyes. ‘Especially now.’

‘Believe me, I don’t want to go—’ Paige broke off and frowned at her friend. ‘Why especially now?’

‘I was going to ask you to be godmother to our baby.’ Rosie smiled, happiness radiating through her every word.

‘Rosie! You’re not!’ Paige put her cup down and squealed with delight.

‘I am.’ Rosie nodded. ‘Four weeks pregnant.’

Paige moved to throw her arms around her friend.

‘It just seems that everything is going right at last,’ Rosie said, her eyes misting with sudden tears.

‘Oh, Rosie, it’s wonderful news. I’m so happy for you both.’ Paige squeezed her friend warmly before drawing back.

‘So you can’t go away...not now,’ Rosie said earnestly. ‘I want you to stay. I want you to settle down here and be as happy as Mike and I are.’

‘I don’t think that’s possible,’ Paige said with a tremor in her voice.

‘Anything is possible,’ Rosie said with strong conviction.

The sound of a car driving up outside made Rosie break off. Paige went to glance out of the window. A bright red Porsche had pulled in alongside Rosie’s old car and her Jeep.

‘It’s Brad,’ Paige murmured, her body filling with sudden apprehension.

‘Anybody home?’ His voice, strong and decisive, filtered through from the front hallway a moment later.

‘He acts as if he owns the place already,’ Paige said with annoyance. ‘Just barges on in when it suits him.’

Rosie smiled. ‘We are in the kitchen. Brad,’ she called out cheerfully.

A few seconds later he appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking tanned and powerfully attractive in his jeans and a navy blue polo shirt. ‘It seems I’ve arrived just in time,’ he grinned, eyeing the coffee pot on the table.

‘You certainly have.’ Rosie was the one who got out another cup and poured the drink for him. ‘Good to see you, Brad.’

‘It’s good to see you too...and looking so well.’ He smiled and kissed the side of Rosie’s cheek as he passed her. ‘I’ve just come from your house. Mike was telling me the good news. Congratulations.’

Rosie’s cheeks flared a bright pink. ‘Thanks.’

Brad glanced over at Paige and for a moment his dark eyes lingered contemplatively on her face.

She felt heat licking through her veins as she remembered their last meeting, the way he’d kissed her...his proposal.

She looked hurriedly away from him, but she was still acutely aware of the way he was watching her, the way his eyes had travelled away from her face and down over the slender lines of her figure in the pale blue sundress.

Rosie handed him his coffee. ‘Actually, I was just leaving,’ she said, looking from him towards Paige.

‘You don’t have to dash off on my account,’ Brad said sipping his drink.

‘No, no, I was going anyway.’ Rosie finished her coffee. ‘Perhaps you can talk some sense into Paige. She’s talking about going to live in Seattle, you know.’

‘Seattle?’ Brad looked at Paige with a frown.

Silence hung heavily in the air for a moment before Rosie said with a gleam of mischief in her eyes. ‘She won’t admit it, but I’m sure it’s that guy she met at college trying to talk her into going up there. Probably hoping she’ll agree to live with him.’

‘Rosie!’ Paige’s eyes widened at such a blatant untruth.

‘It isn’t good to make such a radical decision while you are still in mourning for your father, Paige... You’re not thinking clearly,’ Rosie continued totally unabashed by the look of disapproval on her friend’s face. She reached to pick up her handbag. ‘Anyway, I’ll leave you two alone. As I said, perhaps you can talk some sense into her Brad...?’

‘Thank you, but I don’t need anyone to talk sense into me,’ Paige murmured uncomfortably. ‘I am quite capable of managing my own life.’

Rosie shook her head. ‘I’ll phone you later, Paige. Let’s have lunch one day next week?’

Paige nodded and made to walk to the car with her friend, but Rosie waved her hand. ‘I can find my own way.’

The silence in the kitchen was loaded with tension once the back door closed behind her.

‘Seattle?’ Brad said again, and shook his head. ‘You know it does nothing but rain up there, don’t you?’

‘It will make a refreshing change, then, won’t it?’ Paige said briskly. She finished her coffee and put the cup down on the pine kitchen table, her eyes moving to the perfect blue sky outside.

‘Is there some man waiting in the wings for you up there?’ Brad persisted.

‘I’ve told you once, that’s none of your business,’ Paige replied staunchly. She had too much pride to admit that it wasn’t the truth. Let him think there was someone else who wanted her... and not for the cold-blooded business reasons he had propounded.

‘Rosie is right in a way, you know; you shouldn’t make such radical decisions at the moment. You’re still in shock from your father’s death.’

She glanced over at him. ‘Is that your way of telling me that you have changed your mind about us getting married?’

‘No, my...offer still stands.’ His voice was low, velvety and seductive.