Best Friend To Royal Bride. Annie Claydon

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      Alex had been looking forward to seeing Marie again. He’d wondered whether he should confide in her, and now that he’d sent Laura safely on her way the yearning to do so reasserted itself. He knew he wouldn’t, though. Marie normally understood everything, but she wouldn’t be able to understand how difficult the last few months had been. She’d struggled for everything she had, and it felt somehow wrong to confide his pain and dismay at finding he had much more than enough of everything.

      ‘Aren’t you cold?’

      When he heard her voice it didn’t come as much of a surprise. Maybe that was what he was doing out here, shivering under the street lamps: waiting for Marie to come and find him.

      ‘Not really.’ He took his jacket from her, wrapping it around her shoulders. The pleasure he got from the gesture seemed way out of proportion to its true worth.

      ‘That was a bit like old times.’

      She turned her gaze on him and suddenly it felt a lot like old times.

      ‘Yes. I’m glad Laura’s okay.’

      ‘She has you to thank for that. So, since we seem to be out here, and your jacket’s nice and warm…’ Marie gave him an impish smile. ‘You can tell me what the matter is.’

      It was tempting. Alex had never been able to resist her eyes. Almost violet in the sunlight and deep blue in the shade. She wore her dark hair in a shining pixie cut, and Alex always thought of mischief and magic when he looked at her.

      ‘I’m fine…just tired. You remember tired?’ He smiled at her.

      She chuckled. ‘Remember that time you came round to my place and I’d been up all night working on abstracts?’

      ‘I’ve never seen anyone actually fall asleep while they’re drinking coffee before. Particularly since I’d made it so strong…’

      Marie had got a job writing abstracts for scientific papers, which had been more lucrative than waitressing and had fitted around their busy study schedule better. Working and studying at the same time had been a struggle for her, but Alex had learned early in their friendship that she never took help from anyone.

      Suddenly he was back in that time when he’d first felt completely free. Marie’s two shabby rooms, right at the top of a multiple-occupancy house, had been as clean as one pair of hands could scrub them, and full of outrageous low-cost colour.

      ‘Funny thing about that…’ Marie gave him a knowing look. ‘When I woke up you were gone, but I sat down to review my abstracts and found they were all perfect. Not a spelling or grammar mistake in any of them.’

      Alex had reckoned he’d got away with that. He’d tried to make Marie stand up but she’d slumped against him, still asleep, so he’d had to practically carry her into the bedroom. He’d taken off her cardigan and shoes and decided to stop there, covering her up with the brightly patterned quilt. He’d sometimes imagined their two bodies naked together under that quilt. But Marie was far too good a friend, too good a person, to contemplate having a throwaway romance with her.

      Alex had glanced at the document that was open on her laptop, meaning to close it down. He’d seen a mistake in the text, and had sat down and worked through everything, correcting the slips that fatigue had forced upon her.

      ‘You must do your best work when you’re flying on autopilot.’ He tried to maintain a straight face.

      ‘I suppose I must. Apparently I also spell synthesise СКАЧАТЬ