Robyn Donald - One Passionate Night

‘Speaking of our marriage,’ Daniel said, ‘perhaps you’d better fill me in on all the details about tomorrow. Times, places, et cetera. And then, if you don’t mind, could you give me a lift back to Beth’s house? It might be easier if we explained what we’re going to do tomorrow together.’

‘Oh, no, do I have to?’

Daniel wasn’t worried. He knew Beth was going to like Charlotte. A lot.

‘Yes, Charlotte,’ he said firmly. ‘You have to.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘ARE you absolutely sure about this, Charlotte?’ Louise asked. ‘It’ll be too late afterwards.’

Charlotte, who was sitting on one of their wooden kitchen chairs with a plastic cape around her shoulders, took a moment to snap out of her daydreaming. For a split-second, she thought Louise was talking about her decision to go through with the fake wedding later that day. But then she realised Louise was giving her one last chance to back out of her decision to get rid of her blonde hair.

‘Absolutely,’ she said.

Changing her hair was one thing she was sure about. Her going through with the fake wedding—whilst impossible to back out of now—was still causing her concern.

She should have told her parents the truth straight away. She could see that now. Pretending to marry Daniel, then spending the night in the bridal suite as his bride, was asking for trouble.

The man was dynamite. And she…she was a silly fool.

Already she could feel herself being drawn into his web, into wanting more than one night with him. Who knew how she’d feel tomorrow morning if he was as good in bed as she suspected he was going to be?

And maybe he was bargaining on that. He’d been all too ready to agree to her saying he couldn’t come on the honeymoon with her. She wouldn’t mind betting he still hoped to persuade her otherwise. She could only hope that when the time came, she would have the courage—and the character—to say no to him.

‘Be it on your head, then,’ Louise said blithely, and began applying the deep-walnut-brown colour.

‘Well, it will be, won’t it? On my head, that is.’

‘Very funny.’

‘Come, now, Louise, you always said my being blonde was not my best look. Underneath, I agreed with you. Now that I don’t have to please Gary any more, I can’t wait to go back to being a brunette.’

‘So who are you trying to please this time? Not this Daniel, I hope. You haven’t fallen for him, have you?’

Charlotte should not have hesitated in answering.

‘Oh, you have!’

‘No, no, I haven’t,’ she denied. ‘But he’s the sort of man a girl could easily fall for. You haven’t met him, Louise. Wait till you do. Then you’ll understand. He had Mum and Dad eating out of his hand in no time flat. It was almost embarrassing. But impressive.’

‘Sounds like another empty charmer to me. Like Gary. And Dwayne. They both had the gift of the gab. You always go for the guys with the silver tongues.’

‘He’s nothing like Gary or Dwayne,’ Charlotte said. He was far more dangerous than either of them. Charlotte could see now that neither Gary nor Dwayne had mean t to betray her. They’d just been weak.

There was nothing remotely weak about Daniel.

‘You’ll see when you meet him,’ she repeated.

‘I can’t wait. Neither can Brad.’

‘I wish you hadn’t told Brad the truth.’

‘You didn’t really expect me not to tell him, did you? He has to get dressed with this guy at the hotel today and hold his hand till you show up and pretend to marry him. Brad can smell a rat a mile away. He’d have known something was up.’

‘I suppose so.’

‘Don’t worry. He really liked the sound of Daniel. Brad admires the go-getters in this world.’

Charlotte shivered inside. The last thing she needed to hear today was how much of a go-getter Daniel was. She was trying not to think too much about him at all. She had a wedding to prepare for and get through.

Which rather made a mockery of her decision to revert to being a brunette. If she was strictly honest with herself, Charlotte had to confess she wanted to blow Daniel away today with how she looked.

Her so-called pride had given way to sheer vanity. She would pay the price, she knew, if he fancied her even more as a brunette. But she simply couldn’t resist the temptation to eliminate the one thing about her he probably liked the least.

Her fake blonde hair.

‘You are going to look fab with this colour hair,’ Louise said. ‘Blonde hair was so not you. Daniel is going to flip when he sees you, especially wearing that sexy wedding dress. Who knows? Maybe he’ll fall in love with you and the next thing you know, you’ll be having a real wedding.’

‘Dream on, Louise. He’s a divorce lawyer with a dad who’s been married five times. Daniel’s dead against marriage, except when it gets him into the pants of the bride.’

‘Charlotte! You’re sounding as cynical as I do.’

‘You get that way eventually.’

‘True. But I hate to see you like that. I always liked your sweet, country-girl optimism.’

‘Huh. That’s just a nice way of saying I was naive and stupid. Well, I don’t intend being naive and stupid any longer. I’m going to spend one night with Daniel, just to see if he’s as hot in bed as he looks, and the next day I’m off.’

‘You’re not taking him on the honeymoon with you?’

‘Absolutely not.’

‘But why not? I bet he’d go.’

‘I’m sure he would. But I can’t use men like you do, Louise. I’m not cut out for it. I’d fall in love and have my heart broken all over again.’

‘You’re right. You would.’

Both girls fell silent for a while.

‘You really think I use men?’ Louise asked finally.

Charlotte sighed. She loved Louise. The girl had been a good friend to her. But she was awfully hard on the opposite sex. She believed none of them were capable of true love, only true lust, which Louise estimated had about a six-month shelf-life. She and Brad had been together for just on six months.

‘Brad really loves you, Louise.’

Louise snorted. ‘I know what Brad loves. That’s why I’m dating him. Man, but that guy is good in bed. And he can go all night.’

‘ Really? All night?’

‘He’s awesome,’ Louise said with feeling in her voice.

‘If Daniel doesn’t work out, maybe you could lend me Brad for a night,’ Charlotte quipped.

‘Over my dead body, girl.’

‘See? You love him,’ Charlotte said, and glanced up at her friend. ‘It’s not just sex.’

Louise stopped painting on the colour for a second. ‘Yeah. I probably do. But I don’t intend telling him that. Not yet, anyway. I want to see what he does after the gloss wears off. Which should be any day now. But back to you, lovey dovey. Why don’t I fix you up with one of Brad’s mates in a week or two? He’s got plenty.’

Charlotte didn’t doubt it. Brad was a very outgoing guy with loads of energy and a great sense of humour.

‘I don’t think so, Louise. I think I’ll just forget about dating for a while.’

‘Don’t leave it too long. You know what they say. When you fall off a horse, you should get right back on again.’

Charlotte didn’t respond to this advice. She suspected that Daniel would be the straw that broke her back where men were concerned. She sat there in silence, fiddling with the diamond and sapphire engagement ring Gary had given her, and which she was forced to keep wearing, at least till after the wedding.

The wedding…

A wave of depression suddenly swamped her as she realised the utter futility of today. And tonight. Any silly hope that she was going to suddenly blossom seemed ludicrous. Blonde or brunette, she was the same girl who’d been consistently dumped and cheated on by her boyfriends in the past. The same clueless Charlotte.