Her sisters. All happy with their partners. Divorce was unheard-of in her family.
Suddenly she wanted to know more about the man who was going to pretend to marry her tomorrow. A whole lot more.
‘How about we go for a cup of coffee somewhere?’ she suggested. ‘We really need to talk.’
He smiled that sexy smile of his. ‘We really need to do a whole lot of things. But you’re right. Talking would be a good idea for now. But somewhere very public, please. So that I can keep my hands off you. Kissing you before did dreadful things to me. If I hadn’t been able to distract myself with food I don’t know what I would have done.’
Charlotte found herself laughing again. ‘You’re a wicked man, do you know that?’
Daniel didn’t know that. He had his shortcomings but he’d never thought of himself as wicked. Still, her comment made him try to do what he’d just said couldn’t be done. Analyse his feelings for Charlotte.
Was it just sexual desire for her which had propelled and compelled his actions today? Was he going through with this pretend wedding, just to get her into bed?
Absolutely not. He could have got her into bed anyway. The way she’d responded to his kiss had told him that. He was doing what he was doing because he genuinely liked her. And genuinely liked her folks. They were the warmest, nicest family he’d ever met and he hated to think of them in distress.
But perhaps it was for the best if he didn’t tell her that. Best she think he was wicked. The thought seemed to amuse her. And turn her on. Turning her on was good. Having her fall in love with him on the rebound was not.
Daniel didn’t want to take up where Gary had left off.
That would be cruel.
Charlotte had to be extra-vulnerable right now. Still, she wasn’t some young naive girl. She was a woman, a beautiful sexy woman with needs. It had been eight months since she’d been with a man. Daniel had been without a woman in his bed too.
High time they both had some comfort.
The prospect of spending their ‘wedding night’ together tomorrow was going to keep him awake tonight, that was for sure. Thinking of their wedding night, however, brought another idea, one which he would attend to before leaving the hotel.
‘Where do you want to go for coffee?’ he asked.
‘We could walk down to one of the cafés on the quay. Then I could take you to the clothes-hire place on the way. It’s not far from here. We need to rent a tux for you.’
‘No need. I have a tux. Never go anywhere without one.’ He’d been caught short once when he’d gone to Boston to visit friends.
Charlotte frowned. ‘What kind?’
‘Black. Single-breasted. Satin lapels. A white dress shirt and a black bow-tie. Will that do?’
‘Perfect,’ she said. ‘That’s one less expense. And one less job to do. Now all I have to do is let the florist know the wedding’s back on, plus the celebrant.’
‘You can call the florist but forget the celebrant. We can’t have a real one, Charlotte. Too risky, legally. I’ll get someone to stand in and play the part. My brother-in-law will do it. The bridal suite can be real, though.’
‘The bridal suite?’ she choked out.
Their eyes locked, hers wide, his narrowed.
Daniel was momentarily thrown by the sudden panic he glimpsed there. Surely she must have realised that was where tomorrow would end.
‘You said you’d cancelled it,’ he reminded her.
‘I… I didn’t actually book one of the bridal suites,’ she said, clearly flustered. ‘They have several here in the hotel, each one decorated with a different theme. They’re all terribly expensive. I couldn’t afford any of them so I booked one of the ordinary suites.’
‘I see. Well, you don’t have to worry about the expense any more. My treat. You ring the florist whilst I go organise one of those suites. Then we’ll have that coffee. I think a walk in the fresh air would do us both good.’
Ten minutes later they were walking together down George Street towards the quay. The day had become a little hotter, but not unpleasantly so. Charlotte had had no trouble re-booking the florist, with Daniel looking similarly pleased.
She didn’t dare ask him what suite he’d booked. She didn’t want to think about tomorrow night. She would think about that tomorrow.
‘You handled the situation with your parents very well,’ Daniel complimented when they stopped at a corner for a red light. ‘No one would have known you were upset. Which you must be. I’m not that insensitive that I don’t realise today has been very difficult for you.’
Difficult in more ways than one. How often did one man dump you and another bewitch you within the space of a few hours?
‘Training,’ she said brusquely, which led to her telling him about her work history and how she’d learned not to wear her heart on her sleeve.
‘Except when I’ve just been jilted,’ she added as the light turned green and they walked on. ‘I always lose it on occasions like that. Especially when I find out the man who’s supposedly in love with me has made some other girl pregnant. Would you believe this isn’t the first time this has happened?’
‘That’s incredibly bad luck.’
‘I agree,’ she said drily, and launched into her sad tale about Dwayne.
Daniel nodded sympathetically at all the right moments.
‘Men can be right bastards at times,’ he pronounced when she finished.
She stared at him, then smiled. ‘You’d know, I guess.’
By this time they’d reached the quay area and weren’t far from the open-air café Charlotte was taking him to.
‘On the plus side,’ she said as they strolled along together, ‘you are a wonderful listener.’
‘Aah, now, that’s my training. I’m not just any old lawyer, you see. I’m a divorce lawyer. With female-only clients. A good proportion of my job is just listening to women rave on. I have to confess I’m used to hearing the sexual shortcomings of the male sex. Frankly, some of the horror stories I’ve heard make me ashamed of being a man at times.’
‘But why do you have only female clients? Surely men want you to represent them sometimes.’
‘Aah, now, that’s a long story.’
Charlotte refused to let him fob her off with that old chestnut. ‘You must tell me all about it over coffee,’ she said firmly.
Daniel had no intention of doing any such thing, but oddly enough, within ten minutes of their sitting down together at one of the very pleasant alfresco tables, he found himself telling her in minute detail all about his father’s desertion and subsequent marriages.
‘Mom
