the lake.
Louisa had given Mia a squeeze on the arm as they’d sat down and in return she sent Louisa a reassuring nod because even if Angus didn’t smile much she had an idea he was a fair and reasonable man.
Mia would make sure there was nothing for the older lady to be nervous of, though, to give Angus his due, he’d invited her for just that reason.
Ned seemed overly hearty too and Mia began to understand that Angus wasn’t the only one who felt some strain with the family party.
Simon looked as relaxed as a tomcat in the sun and proceeded to nod at all the pretty girls at the other tables.
Mia couldn’t help smiling at him. Then she looked up she saw that Angus was watching her and her smile faded.
No wonder it felt more like a wake than a party, with Mr Dour over there. He could make a little more effort.
‘So, five days to the wedding?’ Mia said brightly into the silence, and half of the table jumped at the sound of her voice.
Angus’s half didn’t. He just stared thoughtfully at Mia.
Ned dived in. ‘I keep telling Louisa to let the caterers do the work. We’re having the reception outside in a marquee, no connection to the house or the kitchen, and I can’t have my bride exhausted for her wedding.’
Louisa looked fondly across at her fiancé. ‘Well you had to catch wedding fever from Misty and Ben and want it all done in a month. Not that I mind.’ Louisa reached across and squeezed Ned’s hand.
Mia blurted out the question as it rose. ‘So had you thought about staying till Saturday, then, Angus?’ She hoped no one thought she had any interest in the answer, but it was too late to call it back once it was out.
There was silence at the table and Angus narrowed his eyes at Mia and then turned to his father.
‘I hadn’t intended to.’
Simon leant forward as if to say something and Angus raised his finger and silenced him without looking in his direction. Interesting dynamics with so short an acquaintance, Mia thought, but Angus did look used to command. Simon sat back in his seat.
Angus went on. ‘I’ve a meeting in Brisbane on Thursday, but could fly back that night and stay the extra two days, I guess. If Louisa and you would like us to, of course.’ He looked at Louisa for the first time and his face softened. ‘If you’ll have us.’
Angus glanced at his son, who nodded before returning his attention to his father’s fiancée. Mia thought for a moment he would smile, but he didn’t.
‘Of course.’ Louisa smiled for everyone and she seemed to relax a little. ‘We’d love you to stay. I’m so pleased you can manage it.’
‘That’s settled, then,’ Mia said as another silence settled over the table. Mentally she groaned as nobody picked up the conversational ball. This was hard work. Didn’t these people know how to have a good time? She looked at Simon and mischief lurked in his eyes. Salvation.
‘Tell us a joke, Simon,’ Mia said, and sat back to listen.
Simon couldn’t wait. ‘Once there was…’ And the lunch improved marginally from then on.
CHAPTER THREE
‘GOOD morning, Mia.’ Angus stood as she entered the breakfast room and she didn’t bother to tell him to sit down. Mia wondered if she would have been disappointed if he hadn’t risen. How quickly she could adapt to chivalry.
‘Morning,’ she said briefly.
After saying he’d stay for the wedding, Angus had said very little else at the lunch and despite Simon’s jokes it had been a long and painful affair. She was still cross with Angus’s poor effort, although Louisa had spoken to her later and raved about how much better that meeting had gone than the previous night.
And to think she’d wanted to be a fly on the wall the first night. No doubt the flies had left the room bored witless.
The aroma of his special coffee beans teased her nose and she sniffed reluctantly. At least he made excellent coffee and she wondered if he’d be offended if she wasted it just to sniff.
When she sat down she could feel the weight of his appraisal and she looked up and glared at him. His eyes widened in surprise and she looked away. As well you might wonder, mister, she grumbled silently to herself. Poor Louisa must dread running into him.
Who did he think he was anyway, putting a damper on the whole house? Her control snapped. ‘So what happened between you and your father to make you so cold towards him now?’
One thick black brow twitched. ‘You do like to dance around a subject, don’t you?’
‘I’m not in the mood to play games this morning, Angus. If I hadn’t been called into work after lunch I would have said this yesterday. Now I’ve lost sleep over how upset I was for Ned and Louisa.’
He sat back in the chair and considered her. ‘I’m sorry you lost sleep about something that’s really not your concern.’
Snooty pig, Mia thought. Well, someone had to stick up for Ned and Louisa. ‘Because it’s not my concern is the very reason I can say what I like. You can freeze me out, but the cold will bite back.’
‘It’s all a Storm in a coffee cup,’ he quipped, and she rolled her eyes.
Spare me, Mia thought. ‘Do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard jokes about my name in my lifetime?’
His face was deadpan. ‘Storm by name and storm by nature.’
She inhaled the steam and it was as good as she remembered. He’d be gone by the time she could really enjoy the stuff. ‘You won’t divert me. I want to know what happened between you and Ned.’
The expression on his face didn’t change, but she had the feeling she’d actually penetrated the thick barriers he’d surrounded himself with. So she wasn’t surprised he told her—just with the brevity of the telling, and the fact that he sounded like a bored newsreader discussing a famine he had no interest in.
‘My mother left my father when I was sixteen. She ran away with another man and I blamed my father because I didn’t want to blame my mother.’
‘Poor Ned,’ she said.
He inclined his head, but she couldn’t tell if he agreed or not. He went on. ‘Then I slept with Simon’s mother and she fell pregnant and my father warned me she wouldn’t stay with me either. After a heated discussion with my father, Simon’s mother and I left, and I haven’t spoken to him since he told me never to return.’
That explained that, but something still wasn’t right. ‘If you knew Simon’s mother was pregnant, how come you didn’t know about Simon?’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Because as far as I was aware he wasn’t born alive.’
She thought about that. Someone had done the dirty on Angus.
He rolled
