Jessica Hart - A Whirlwind Engagement

The third book in the City Brides series, 2003

'There's Bella.' Aisling nudged Josh, and he turned in the pew to see Bella and Phoebe hurrying down the aisle.

As befitted best friends of the bride, they had pulled out all the stops. Phoebe was dark and striking in an acid-yellow suit, while Bella had gone for a more romantic look in what Josh inexpertly assessed as a floaty pink number, with a spectacular hat that was clearly intended to knock all the others in the congregation into the shade.

Josh didn't pretend to know about such things, but even he could see that she had probably succeeded. Even Aisling's hat, which had made him raise his brows when he first saw it that morning, seemed tame in comparison. Typical Bella, he thought affectionately. She had always had the ability to turn heads, with or without a hat.

Phoebe waved as she spotted Josh and Aisling, and pointed Bella in their direction before heading up to have a word with her husband, Gib, who was best man and waiting with a very nervous Finn in the front pew.

Josh saw Bella register his presence, and an odd expression flitted over her face. It even seemed to him that she hesitated before sliding into the pew beside them, and his brows drew together slightly. Bella was his best friend, but she had been oddly distant recently.

'Sorry I can't kiss you,' she said, indicating the enormous brim of her hat. 'This isn't designed for close contact.'

'Yes, it is a bit awkward, isn't it?' Josh ducked underneath to kiss her cheek, anyway, and was sure he felt her tense at the touch of his lips.

He frowned as he drew back. 'Is everything OK?'

'Yes, of course,' said Bella, but he noticed that she didn't meet his eyes as she leant round him to greet Aisling. 'You know what weddings are like,' she went on, sitting back. 'There's always some last-minute panic when things get a bit tense.'

Just a fraught morning, then, thought Josh, telling himself that explained the unusual brittleness of her smile. 'How is Kate?'

'A bit jittery, but she'll be fine. She should be here any minute.'

On his other side, Aisling leant forward to talk across him. 'I'm surprised you're not Kate's bridesmaid, Bella,' she said. 'You are her best friend, after all.'

'So is Phoebe.' Bella's tone was cool. 'And Kate's not very tall. She'd look ridiculous with both of us towering over her.'

'Yes, but Phoebe's married.'

'So?'

'So as the only unmarried friend left, it would have been quite natural if Kate had chosen you as her bridesmaid,' Aisling tried to explain.

'Oh, I think I'm a bit old for that, don't you?' said Bella pleasantly enough, but sitting between the two women Josh could feel a distinct undercurrent of tension.

'I wouldn't have thought so,' said Aisling. 'You can't be much more than thirty-five, surely?'

Josh cleared his throat and shifted in the pew. Aisling was treading on dangerous ground. Bella was very sensitive about her age for some unfathomable reason.

Glancing sideways, he saw Bella's blue eyes narrow beneath the brim of her hat. 'Not quite,' she said thinly. 'As it happens, I'm only thirty-two.'

And she shot a glance at Josh which said more clearly than words ever could that he wasn't even to think about adding 'nearly thirty-three'.

'Really?' Aisling was tactlessly surprised. 'I always thought you'd be more Josh's age since you were students together.'

'No, Josh was a bit older than the rest of us when he started,' said Bella grittily, and Josh decided it was time to change the subject.

'Is Kate not having any bridesmaids then?' he asked hurriedly.

'Alex is going to have the starring role all to herself. Alex is Finn's daughter,' Bella added for Aisling's benefit. 'She's absolutely thrilled-more excited than Kate, I think! She couldn't stand still while we were helping Kate get ready.'

She smiled at the memory. 'It's much more appropriate for Kate to have her stepdaughter, and anyway, if I'd been bridesmaid I wouldn't have been able to wear this hat!'

'And that would have been a crime,' said Josh solemnly.

Bella adjusted the hat on her head, and sent him a speculative glance from beneath the brim. 'What do you think of it?' she asked him.

'It's…very…big,' was the most diplomatic thing he could come up with.

She laughed and for a moment it was the old Bella beside him, her face vivid and the bright blue eyes alight with laughter. It made Josh realise how much he had missed her recently.

Not that he hadn't seen her, but somehow she just hadn't been herself. Their friendship had always been such an easy one, but recently Bella had been strangely constrained. Something was wrong, and Josh didn't like it. She had lost her sparkle, and he missed it.

Of course, she might be having problems with Will but he had seen Bella through more romantic crises than he cared to remember, and it had never affected her relationship with him before.

Maybe it was different this time. Maybe Will was more important to her than all the others.

For some reason, Josh didn't like that thought very much. Will wasn't nearly good enough for Bella in his opinion.

'Where's Will?' he asked trying not to betray his dislike of the other man. 'I was expecting him to be keeping a pew for you.'

Bella had picked up the order of service and was studying the front, which was embossed simply with the names Kate and Finn, and the date, 6th September. 'Will?' she said a little too casually. 'He's in Hong Kong.'

'Hong Kong!' Josh scowled. 'What's he doing there?'

'He's got a meeting,' said Bella, opening the order of service to look at the hymns.

Josh snorted contemptuously. 'When did he arrange that?'

'It came up at the last minute.'

'Couldn't he have arranged to go next week? He must have known about Kate's wedding for ages.'

Bella kept her eyes on the order of service. 'Yes, but this was important,' she said, sounding reticent. 'There was some kind of crisis and he had to drop everything and go.'

'You're important, too,' said Josh angrily.

That was typical of Will! Swanking off to the other side of the world instead of supporting Bella. Josh had always thought him a prat of the first order, and this just confirmed it.

He couldn't understand why Bella always went for men like Will. They were too smooth by half, in Josh's opinion. Will was suave and handsome and drove a Porsche, but he didn't impress Josh. When the chips were down, Will wasn't a man you could rely on, and his attitude to Bella just proved it.

'It's not as if he's a brain surgeon,' he went on pugnaciously. 'He doesn't do anything. He just sits in some plush office in the City and plays around with money. What's important about that?'

'It's his career,' said Bella, tight-lipped. 'And he doesn't just "play around" with money. He deals with millions and millions of pounds, and when something goes wrong with that kind of money, it can affect the international money markets which affect economies around the world, which affect our jobs and our income and our quality of life. I think that's important,' she finished defiantly.

Josh wasn't ready to be convinced that Will had any useful contribution to make to society. 'If I thought the economic stability of the world rested on Will's ability to rush off to Hong Kong at the drop of a hat, I'd be really scared,' he said. 'As it is, I suspect that the global economy wouldn't so much as totter if he'd left it until Monday instead so that he could be with you today.'