Sophie Weston - The Bridesmaid's Secret

“I’m a walking disaster,” Bella said.

Gil laughed, his eyes warm. “I don’t buy that.”

“Oh, I can get dressed up in my party gear and dazzle the world. Doesn’t stop me making a complete idiot of myself.”

His dark eyes narrowed. “You’re talking about a specific instance, aren’t you? Want to tell me?”

Bella swallowed, shaking her head.

He saw her distress. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Oh, yes, it can!”

Dear Reader,

If you have read The Millionaire’s Daughter you will recognize Bella.

I didn’t set out to write a pair of novels. But as I came to the end of Annis’s story, I realized that Bella was at the start of a story of her own. What was more, she had behaved so generously, I really wanted her to have a happy ending, too.

There are a lot of brothers and sisters out there welded together entirely because of their parents’ remarriage. So often they resent it—and each other. But Bella and Annis were born to be sisters, even though there is no blood tie and they have nothing in common but affection. And respect, of course. And a shuddering distaste for blue tulle. I’m crazy about them both.

I hope you enjoy reading these books as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Best wishes,

Sophie Weston

Readers are invited to visit Sophie Weston’s Web site at www.sophie-weston.com.

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CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

‘OF COURSE Bella will be your bridesmaid. Why on earth wouldn’t she?’

Annis shuffled sample wedding invitations uneasily. ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she said vaguely. ‘She’s only been in New York a couple of months. Maybe she’d prefer to settle in properly before making a major trip back to London.’

‘Sure,’ said Bella’s mother. ‘That’s why she didn’t come back at Christmas. But your wedding. That’s different. She’s been waiting to be your bridesmaid all her life.’

Annis smiled reluctantly. ‘You’re right there. Bella was born to wear flowers in her hair.’

Instinctively they both looked at the photograph on the bookcase. It was a black and white studio portrait, all cheekbones and soulful eyes. So it missed the gold in Bella’s hair or the forget-me-not blue of those eyes. But what it caught completely was the fun. The eyes sparkled. There was a naughty tilt to the head. You could tell that, in spite of her solemn pose and the dramatic lighting, laughter was on the point of breaking through. This was a girl who thought life was a party and who wasn’t going to sit still much longer while it went on without her.

Lynda Carew smiled on her absent daughter. ‘Yes, she still loves dressing up, doesn’t she?’

‘Hey, we can’t call it dressing up any more. Now she’s working for Elegance Magazine, she’s a high-fashion babe.’

Lynda suppressed a sigh. ‘She’s certainly found herself the ideal job. I just wish she hadn’t had to go so far away to get it.’

Annis had a feeling that the miles between the Carews’ London home and Elegance Magazine’s Manhattan office was a good part of the reason that Bella had so surprisingly applied for the job in the first place. She did not say so. What was a feeling, after all? Just a faint impression, based on a couple of things Bella had said months ago, which Annis had paid no attention to at the time. Coupled with the things she had not said when Annis had announced that she was marrying Kosta Vitale.

And then that abrupt departure for the US.

But, on the other hand, Bella always did things on the spur of the moment. Miss Spontaneous, that was what her stepfather called her. And she had always been a globe-trotter.

The wedding preparations list forgotten, Annis tapped her teeth with her pen. Heck, maybe it was nothing. Feelings had never been her strong point. It was Bella who understood why people did things, not Annis, the intellectual stepsister she called Brain Box.

‘Annis—’

She looked up. Lynda was watching her narrowly. Annis blinked. She loved and respected her stepmother but it was still sometimes a bit of a shock to bump into one of her moments of shrewdness.

‘Is there something I should know?’ Lynda asked quietly.

It was a question Annis had dreaded for weeks. Partly because she did not know the answer. Partly because sometimes—in the early morning when Kosta was still sleeping and she was awake and dreamily content in his arms—she half wondered if her happiness had somehow been bought at Bella’s expense. She did not quite see how that could have happened. But there was something—

‘No,’ she said now uncertainly.

Lynda was not a dragon but when something was important she did not give up easily.

‘Is something wrong with Bella?’

‘I—’

‘Tell me, Annis.’

Annis looked again at the photograph.

Bella looked back, all suppressed mischief. Her bare shoulders caught the light. Her mouth was not only trying not to laugh, it had a sensual curve which would raise the blood pressure of any man under ninety. A diamond teardrop, a twenty-first birthday present from her doting stepfather, nestled seductively against her neck under a feathery fall of hair.

Of course there was nothing wrong with Bella. She was blonde, gorgeous and twenty-four. She had a job most people only dreamed about. She was living in the most exciting city in the world. She could have any man she wanted. What could possibly be wrong with Bella?

‘No,’ said Annis, convinced at last. ‘Bella’s wonderful.’

She gave Lynda a brilliant smile.

Her stepmother did not respond for a moment.

‘Bella would tell you anything,’ she said, almost to herself. ‘But would you tell me?’

‘If I thought there was something really wrong with Bella I would,’ Annis assured her. ‘But I don’t. Honestly. I’m probably just getting myself stewed up about the wedding. You know what I’m like about performing in front of a lot of people.’

Lynda hesitated. But Annis was certain now and it had its effect. Eventually her stepmother nodded, satisfied.

‘All the more reason for Bella to be a bridesmaid,’ she said practically. ‘You know she gets you out of stage fright.’

Annis remembered adolescent drama groups, school concerts, sailing club votes of thanks. Two minutes before she was due to open her mouth, Annis would freeze. That was when Bella would ram a crown down over the brows of one of the peacock boys, or seize a triangle and dodge among the waiting players, refusing to give it back; once she had slid along the polished floor of the church hall on a tea tray and had brought the wrath of a phalanx of church wardens down on her head; once, memorably, she had nearly lost her dress when a shoelace strap had broken at a critical moment. Annis would dive to the rescue. By the time she’d rush out to do her bit on stage, she’d still have half her mind on Bella. None at all was left for her nerves.