Best Friend to Wife and Mother?. Caroline Anderson

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СКАЧАТЬ I can while you’re there. It’ll be a pleasure to help you, and it’s high time I gave you something back. On one condition, though.’

      ‘Which is?’ he asked warily.

      ‘I help you with her care when the filming starts—take some of the burden off your parents. Then I’ll call it quits.’

      ‘That’s a big commitment.’

      ‘I know that, but that’s the deal. Take it or leave it.’

      His shoulders dropped, relief written all over him, and she felt some of the tension leave her, too.

      ‘I’ll take it. And thank you, Amy. Thank you so much.’ His brow furrowed. ‘Do you have a case packed ready to go?’

      ‘Yes. I’ve got smart-casual, beach, jeans—will that do?’

      He nodded and got to his feet. ‘Sounds fine. I’ll get Ella’s stuff together and we’ll go. I’m not sure, but we might even be able to fly out today.’

      ‘Today!’

      ‘Is that a problem?’

      She shook her head vehemently. ‘No. Not at all. The sooner the better. I was just surprised. I thought you said you were going tomorrow.’

      ‘I was, but today would be better and I seem to be unexpectedly free now,’ he added, that wry grin tugging at his mouth and making her want to hug him. ‘I’ll see what I can do. How soon can you be ready?’

      She shrugged. ‘Half an hour? Twenty minutes, maybe?’

      ‘OK. I’ll call if there’s a problem. Don’t forget your passport—and your camera.’

      ‘In my bag. Just do one thing for me before you go. Get me out of this dress? I’d forgotten all the stupid buttons.’

      She scrambled to her feet and turned her back to him, and he began undoing the million and one tiny satin buttons and loops that covered the zip underneath. And as he worked, button by button, he became suddenly, intensely aware of the smooth, creamy skin of her shoulders, the fine line of her neck, the slender column of her throat. He could see a pulse beating under the skin at the side, and feel the tension coming off her. Off him, too, but for an entirely different reason. Crazy. This was Amy, for goodness’ sake! She was his childhood best friend, virtually his sister!

      He finally freed the last button and slid the concealed zip down, and she caught the dress against her chest and turned to face him, a peep of cleavage above some transparent lacy undergarment taking him by surprise. He hauled his eyes up away from it, shocked by the sudden heat that flared through his body.

       Really?

       Amy?

      He backed up a step. ‘OK now?’ he asked tersely, his throat tight.

      ‘Yes. Thank you. I’ll get changed and see you downstairs in a few minutes.’

      ‘Good. Wear something comfortable for travelling.’ Preferably something that covered her up. He backed away further, turning on his heel and reaching for the door handle, suddenly desperate to get out of there.

      ‘Leo?’

      Her voice checked him and he turned and looked at her over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow in question.

      ‘I’m starving. Grab some food to take with us, would you?’

      Food? He laughed, letting some of the tension go. Food was easy. Food he could do.

      ‘Sure. See you in a bit.’

      He called the catering manager on the way down the stairs, rang his mother to prime her and went into the kitchen.

      Three pairs of eyes locked on him instantly. ‘How is she?’

      ‘She’ll do. Jill, can you help her get ready? I’m taking her to Tuscany with me and we’re leaving as soon as possible. I’m trying to get a flight this afternoon.’

      ‘Tuscany? Brilliant, it’s just what she needs.’ She went up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you, Leo. Bless you. She’ll be ready.’

      * * *

      It was tight.

      While he packed he rang the charter company he used from time to time, and found they had a small jet flying to Florence for a pick-up; he could hire the whole plane for the ‘empty leg’ rate, but it was leaving City Airport at three. And it was twelve forty already.

      Tight, but doable, if she was ready to go. He rang to warn her, loaded the car in no time flat and drove straight round there, reaching the front door as Amy opened it.

      ‘I’m ready,’ she said, her smile a little forced in her pale face, her eyes still red-rimmed, but there was life in them now, unlike the blank eyes of the woman he’d walked down the aisle less than an hour ago. Sure, she was hanging by a thread, but she’d make it, especially once he’d got her out of here, and he was suddenly fiercely glad that he’d managed to convince her to come with him.

      ‘Got your passport?’

      ‘Yes, I’ve got everything. What’s the luggage limit?’

      He smiled wryly. ‘There isn’t one. It’s a private charter.’

      Her jaw dropped slightly. ‘Private—?’

      He pushed her chin up gently with an index finger and smiled at her stunned expression. ‘It’s going on an empty leg to pick someone up—I’m only paying a fraction of the normal charge.’ Which was still extortionate, but she didn’t need to know that.

      ‘Wow. Great. OK.’ She turned to her mother, hugged her hard, hugged her bridesmaids and got in the car.

      ‘Thank you, Leo,’ Jill called, and he lifted a hand as he slid behind the wheel and closed the door.

      ‘Did you get food?’ Amy asked, and he leant over into the back and pulled out an insulated bag.

      ‘Here. You can feed me en route.’

      ‘Or I might just eat it all.’

      ‘Piglet. Buckle up,’ he instructed, but she was there already, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, the eyes that kept flicking to his filled with a welter of emotions that he couldn’t begin to analyse. He didn’t suppose she could, either, but there seemed to be a glimmer of something that could have been excitement.

      He smiled at her, and she smiled back, but it was a fleeting parody of her usual open, happy smile, and he felt another sudden pang of guilt. What if it wasn’t excitement? What if it was hysteria? She was on a knife-edge, he knew that. Had he imposed his own feelings about marriage on her? Put doubts in her mind when they hadn’t really been there at all? He hoped not—even if Nick hadn’t been right for her, it wasn’t his call to sabotage their wedding.

      ‘You OK?’

      She nodded. ‘Yes—or СКАЧАТЬ