Elizabeth Duke - The Husband Dilemma

“Could you and I ever go back to the way we were?” “Could you and I ever go back to the way we were?” Jack continued, “Could we start all over again?” Before Kate could even react, his mouth was on hers, gently seeking an answer. She felt weak and dizzy, helpless to control her arms as they wound themselves around his neck. She’d only ever felt like this once before...and only ever with him. “You still feel it, don’t you, Kate? There is still hope for us...if we can only let go of the past.” “Oh Jack...” She let her hands slide from his shoulders, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t have let you kiss me, Jack.” She looked up at him with stricken eyes. “Jack, I’m getting married in two weeks!” About the Author Elizabeth Duke was born in Adelaide, South Australia, but has lived in Melbourne all her married life. She trained as a librarian and has worked in many different types of libraries, but she was always secretly writing. Her first published book was a children’s novel, after which she successfully tried her hand at romance writing. She has since given up her work as a librarian to write romance full-time. When she isn’t writing or reading, she loves to travel with her husband, John, either within Australia or overseas, gathering inspiration and background material for future romances. She and John have a married son and daughter, who now have children of their own. Look out for Taming a Husband by Elizabeth Duke in The Australians, May 1999. Title Page The Husband Dilemma Elizabeth Duke www.millsandboon.co.uk CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE Copyright

“Could you and I ever go back to the way we were?”

Jack continued, “Could we start all over again?” Before Kate could even react, his mouth was on hers, gently seeking an answer.

She felt weak and dizzy, helpless to control her arms as they wound themselves around his neck. She’d only ever felt like this once before...and only ever with him.

“You still feel it, don’t you, Kate? There is still hope for us...if we can only let go of the past.”

“Oh Jack...” She let her hands slide from his shoulders, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t have let you kiss me, Jack.” She looked up at him with stricken eyes. “Jack, I’m getting married in two weeks!”

Elizabeth Duke was born in Adelaide, South Australia, but has lived in Melbourne all her married life. She trained as a librarian and has worked in many different types of libraries, but she was always secretly writing. Her first published book was a children’s novel, after which she successfully tried her hand at romance writing. She has since given up her work as a librarian to write romance full-time. When she isn’t writing or reading, she loves to travel with her husband, John, either within Australia or overseas, gathering inspiration and background material for future romances. She and John have a married son and daughter, who now have children of their own.

Look out for Taming a Husband by Elizabeth Duke in The Australians, May 1999.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

KATE stared at her reflection in the mirrored wall of Madame Yvette’s Exclusive Bridal Fashions. The slender golden-haired woman in the classic white wedding gown stared back.

She felt a quiver of panic.

The wedding was so close. Less than three weeks away. Three short weeks.

It hit her for the first time. In just three weeks she would be a married woman, a wife, a life partner. Paired for ever with one man.

This was the biggest step she would ever take in her life. The most important, most life-changing, most permanent step...if you believed that marriage was for life, which she did. It was a bit scary.

Not that she had any doubts. She straightened her shoulders. Brendan loved her and she loved him. Even more important, she liked and trusted him. He might not be the most exciting man in the world, the most passionate man in the world. He might not have stunning good looks or a tanned athlete’s physique. He might not send her blood roaring through her veins the way... the way...

She had a fleeting image of piercing blue eyes, windswept black hair and powerful sun-bronzed shoulders.

She blinked the disturbingly vivid image away. The last man in the world she wanted to think about—now or ever—was Jonathan Savage. The way he could still haunt her on occasion, could still slip into her dreams at night, was maddening. It made no sense. It was nearly five years since that tumultuous day on Shelly Beach...the promising dream that had turned to a nightmare.

She hadn’t seen or heard of him since...or wanted to. Not consciously, at any rate.

Of course, it was the image of her gallant rescuer Jack, not the despised Jonathan Savage, that occasionally haunted her dreams. And Jack didn’t exist. He’d been a fantasy figure, a dream man, and dream men were illusions. She’d spent years looking...hoping...for another man who could make her feel the way Jack had—Jack, not Jonathan Savage—but no other man ever had. She’d finally realised that she was chasing after a phantom, an impossible dream, and had come back to cold reality.

Passion...feelings...weren’t to be trusted. It was trust, reliability, steadiness in a man that mattered, not how a man made you feel. Fire and passion only clouded the issue, blinding you to the harshly real human failings underneath...like heartless indifference and ruthless insensitivity!

She lifted her chin, relegating Jonathan Savage back to where he belonged...in the past. It was just pre-wedding jitters. All brides suffered them at some time or other. She’d panicked for a second, seeing herself dressed as a bride, realising how close the wedding was, how final it was. She was being silly. Everything was just fine. Everything was going to be fine.

‘You’re going to make a beautiful bride, Kate,’ a soft voice said from behind.

She turned her head, and summoned a quick smile. Melanie, her bridesmaid and best friend from their school days, as well as her current flatmate, had come to watch her final fitting. Only the hem and some beading needed to be done now ... and Madame Yvette, kneeling on the floor, was busily working on the hem right at this moment.

‘And you’re going to be a beautiful bridesmaid, Mel,’ Kate said warmly. ‘You’ll look stunning in that crimson dress we’ve chosen, with your dark hair.’

‘Always the bridesmaid, never the bride...’ Melanie’s smile was rueful. ‘This will be my third time. Not that I’m not delighted to be your bridesmaid, Kate, you mustn’t think—’

‘Your turn will come, Mel. It’s amazing no one’s snapped you up already. You have the loveliest face in the world, you don’t have an ounce of malice in you, and you’ll make some lucky guy the most wonderful wife...and be a perfect mother too. You’ve even had practice looking after babies and young children, with your work at the crèche.’

‘I think men find me boring,’ Melanie said with a sigh. She was a real homebody, happier spending her time curled up on a sofa reading a book or making dolls and toys for local fêtes and hospitals—or for her young charges at the crèche—than playing sport or going to parties. And yet she was far from dull. They often saw movies or plays together—when Kate’s schedule permitted—and a lively discussion always followed. Mel was a delight to be with.

‘But never mind about me. What about you, Kate?’ Melanie probed gently. ‘You were looking a bit wistful a moment ago. You’re not getting cold feet?’ she asked half-jokingly. But her soft dark eyes were concerned. ‘You...do love Brendan, don’t you?’