Red-Hot Lover. Sarah Holland

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СКАЧАТЬ you see?’ Susie said when the usher had gone. ‘You’ve just been sitting down and now you’ve got champagne flowing wherever you turn! What more could any man ask for?’

      ‘Privacy. You forget—there are photographers around. I always feel uneasy when they can take pictures of Clara and I without my permission.’

      Clara frowned. He didn’t mind publicity. On the contrary—he actively sought it. It helped his businesses. Publicity always did. The higher the profile, the more business he attracted. That was the way it worked in any sphere of life, and Jared was nothing if not an arch self-publicist. So why was he lying? More to the point—why was he so tense and edgy? Her instincts were buzzing at her from the back of her mind. But no matter what she did or how she looked at things, she could not find a rational explanation for his agitated emotional state.

      Susie bit her lip. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to pose for the wedding pictures in a minute. Will that be a problem?’

      ‘The photos,’ he muttered thickly, and his hand tightened on Clara’s waist as he stood stiffly, his arm around her. ‘I’d forgotten about them…’

      Concern lit her eyes as she studied him. ‘Is anything wrong, darling?’ she murmured.

      ‘Why should anything be wrong?’ he demanded tersely.

      ‘So you will pose with us?’ Susie said at once. ‘Oh, good, because I must have Clara in the photos, and it’ll be bad luck if you don’t stand beside her.’

      ‘Will I have to pose with the whole family?’ Jared looked at Susie with a brooding expression. ‘I don’t want to be here all afternoon. I wanted to leave early so I could listen to the rugby on the way to the reception.’

      Susie laughed. ‘Not another one. Gareth almost cancelled the wedding when he realised it would conflict with England versus Wales!’

      ‘He ought to be put up against a wall and shot,’ Jared bit out thickly. ‘Calls himself a Welshman? He should have cancelled the wedding on the spot. I would have done.’

      Clara stared at him anxiously, and so did Susie. His remark would have sounded like a friendly joke if he had not uttered it in that hard, biting voice.

      ‘Darling—’ Clara worriedly soothed him with her most loving smile ‘—you can’t go around cancelling weddings in favour of rugby matches. Besides—this isn’t any old wedding. This is my sister’s wedding.’

      ‘She’s not your sister,’ Jared said harshly. ‘She’s your best friend, and your relationship is as much a farce as this wedding!’

      Breathless, she felt the colour drain from her face as the knife went into her heart. How could you? she thought, pain glittering in her eyes. How could you have said that when you know how I feel about her? Even Susie was too shocked to speak. They both just stood there, staring at him. The sun shone down on the spire of the church rising above their heads to a halcyon blue sky.

      Jared looked away. ‘Forgive me. I didn’t mean that.’ Then he drained his glass of champagne and strode to the trestle table to get a refill. Clara stared after him.

      ‘Well…’ breathed Susie beside her, trying to make light of it although her voice was shaky. ‘Somebody got out of bed on the wrong side this morning. Talk about grumpy-stump-stump!’

      Clara turned slowly. Her fingers were so tense on the champagne flute in her hand that she thought the crystal might break at any moment. ‘Susie, I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry. Please forgive—’

      ‘Oh, don’t worry about it.’ Susie put a hand on hers, shaking her red-gold bridal head. ‘You’ve always said he hates weddings and now I’ve seen it for myself. I just didn’t realise he hated them this much.’

      ‘Neither did I.’ Clara looked across the lawn to him again.

      Jared seemed to sense her watching him and looked round. Their eyes met. He gave her a long, hard stare then a tell-tale stain of red touched his scarred cheekbone. He turned away, drinking his champagne. Hiding his expression from me, thought Clara at once. He doesn’t want me to know what it is he’s feeling. And that’s the key to all this, isn’t it? she thought suddenly. His feelings are building up like a whirlwind. If only he’d tell me what they are.

      ‘Maybe it’s because it’s my wedding.’ Susie frowned, deep in thought, as she too looked at Jared, trying to understand why a man who had always treated her with affection and respect should suddenly turn into this hostile stranger.

      ‘But Jared adores you, Susie.’ Clara turned back to her. ‘He really does. I mean—he hates most of my friends but I know he likes you. He would try to get rid of you if he didn’t. You know how possessive he is.’

      Susie smiled wryly. ‘The men who love you always are…’

      ‘But he’s never done that with you. If anything, he’s encouraged our friendship.’

      ‘Well, he’s not encouraging it any more, is he?’

      Clara’s lovely face went very still. ‘You don’t think that’s why he said all that, do you?’

      ‘I don’t know Clara-Bear.’

      Their eyes met and held in poignant affection for a moment.

      ‘If he’s trying to break us up, I’ll never forgive him,’ Clara muttered fiercely under her breath. ‘I just won’t.’

      ‘Calm down,’ Susie said at once, taking her hand again. ‘It might be a false alarm. For all we know, he’ll stop being so bad-tempered once he gets to the reception.’

      ‘What if he doesn’t? What if he—?’

      ‘Susie! He wants to do the photos now!’ Gareth called suddenly from across the lawn, smiling and waving as he stood on a mound of grass with his family. ‘Bring Clara and Jared, will you?’

      ‘Okay, darling!’ Susie called, then turned back to Clara, whispering confidentially, ‘I’ll leave you to get Jared. But try to hurry him up. The quicker these are taken, the quicker we can all get to the reception.’ She glided away.

      Clara took a quick drink of her champagne, then turned to walk over to Jared.

      She stopped after one step. Her heart somersaulted with sick disbelief. Jared was flirting with another woman. Not just flirting but actively showing sexual interest. And the brunette beside him was lapping it up, thrusting out her cleavage, tossing her long hair and licking her over-painted lips.

      I can’t believe it, she thought, trembling. He’s never flirted with another woman. Never even looked at one. Since the minute they’d met, Jared had only had eyes for her. Why was he doing this? Right in front of her? Right here on Susie’s wedding day, when he should have been at Clara’s side, sharing her joy and happiness—not behaving like a swine, biting people’s heads off then going to flirt with another woman.

      Tears sprang to her eyes but she blinked them back. She groped around for her faith in him. He loves me, she told herself fiercely. I know he does. It’s just that something’s wrong and he can’t share it with me. Not yet. Whatever it is, I’ll sort it out with him later. Meanwhile, that little man-eater is not getting СКАЧАТЬ