who was in the process of grabbing a bottle of bubbly from a passing waiter, topped up their glasses, resisted the man’s attempts to reclaim the bottle, and followed the line of Lottie’s gaze. It wasn’t hard to see where Todd and Merlin had been, and Rory had followed. ‘Who, the beach bum?’
‘No, Rory, silly.’
‘I wouldn’t like to say who’s the fittest. Who do you reckon has the most stamina?’ Pip raised an eyebrow and Lottie hoped she hadn’t gone the shade of beetroot she normally did when asked questions like that.
‘Rory, of course.’
‘Of course.’
‘You never were very keen on Todd, were you?’
‘I didn’t need to be, he had it covered.’
‘That’s a bit mean. He was quite nice, really, until…’
‘Lottie that man spent more time looking in the mirror than both of us put together when we were in Barcelona. Hey, look. Is that them coming back?’
‘Crumbs, I’m drunker than I thought. I knew I should have eaten something, but I was frightened I’d bust out of my dress.’ Lottie squinted, and when that didn’t help she tried covering one eye, but she was definitely seeing double, or triple. There were only two men (two was good, they hadn’t killed each other) and one girl (that had to be Tab), but several…
‘Why’ve they brought all those horses?’ Pip said the words Lottie hadn’t dared, in case she actually was imagining it.
‘Thank heavens for that.’
‘What do you mean, “thank heavens for that”? You don’t bring horses to wedding receptions. Amanda was upset enough with just the one. She’ll have a pink fit if she sees this lot.’
‘I thought I was seeing things.’ Lottie giggled with relief. ‘I didn’t mean thank heavens for all the horses.’
‘Charlotte, what on earth is Rupert doing now?’
The giggles froze in her throat when she realised her gran was breathing down her neck. Lady Elizabeth Stanthorpe had sneaked up in her usual manner and was now peering across the lawn at the rapidly approaching group. ‘And who is that fellow with him and young Tabatha? He doesn’t look like a groom. The man hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing. Terrible hands and just look at that seat! Looks like he’s about to come off the horse.’
Lottie sighed. For some reason of her own Elizabeth insisted on calling Rory by anything but his actual name, usually to his face. She was pretty sure her gran was actually fond of Rory (just as she was fond of Billy, who had married her late daughter and given her her only grandchild, Lottie), but for some reason she seemed determined not to acknowledge the fact. And Rory, just like Billy before him, refused to rise to the bait. Maybe it was some weird kind of test.
‘That’s the Australian.’ Pip supplied helpfully, and Elizabeth grunted and looked again.
‘I thought William told him to shove off?’
‘I do love the way you say that.’ Pip grinned. ‘Shove orff.’
‘I wish he had.’ Lottie muttered, wondering why on earth they’d all come back.
Rory and his entourage came to a halt several feet away, and this time Todd wobbled but he didn’t fall off.
‘How’s it going, Lots?’ All grins. The man she never thought she’d see again. She peered more closely. She’d expected to see at least some signs of a fight or a minor scuffle, or at the very least like Rory had told him off.
‘Who exactly is that man, Charlotte?’
Lottie brushed the feathers, once jaunty but now drooping sadly from Elizabeth’s hat, out of her face.
‘That man,’ Pip was enjoying herself, ‘is Todd, and he’s the reason Lottie came home.’
‘Well, at least he has some uses.’ Elizabeth sniffed dismissively and turned her attentions to Rory. ‘And what are you up to Richard?’
‘We decided to have a competition. Like a duel but without the death.’
‘A duel?’ Elizabeth had really perked up now, thought Lottie, unlike the feathers.
Rory shrugged and grinned. ‘Well not exactly a duel. We just thought this party needed livening up, and old Todd here is game.’
Lottie looked at ‘old Todd’ and back to Rory. She didn’t like the sound of this at all. Well, it was good that they didn’t actually seem at loggerheads. In fact Rory seemed to have ditched the idea of protecting her honour, which she had to admit miffed her slightly. ‘Not a duel? You don’t want to kill him then?’
‘Kill him?’
‘I thought that’s why you were chasing him.’
‘Oh that. Well, I ran out of petrol and he fell off and we couldn’t be arsed to kill each other.’ He slid off his horse, landing at her feet and gave her a smacker of a kiss, which mollified her a little bit. ‘He explained everything, darling.’
‘He did?’
‘He’s sorry, it was just a bit of a cock-up. I think I might have overreacted a bit when I chased him.’ He grinned sheepishly. ‘Thought he wanted to whisk you away, but he only came to apologise.’
‘A cock-up?’ Lottie stared. She wasn’t sure if it was good that Rory and Todd had decided they were buddies, or bad that she was the last one to get the explanation, as per normal. And the apology. She looked at Todd.
‘He’s spot on, Lots. I mean, I didn’t exactly have time to say goodbye or anything before they bundled me on the plane, did I? But it was all a misunderstanding, mate.’
‘The horses Robert?’ Elizabeth tapped her foot impatiently and looked disapprovingly at Todd, who wisely shut up.
‘Tippermere against the rest of the world. Once I’ve had a drink, that is.’ He nodded in Todd’s direction. ‘And you better have one too. Looks like we’ve some catching up to do.’
‘Whatever you say, mate. How do I get off this thing?’
It was at this point that Lottie realised the wedding was at a turning point, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. Or about getting an explanation from Todd.
Her father, Billy, Uncle Dom and several of the other guests had already been drawn by the sight of the horses and the competitive spirit was kicking in faster than the alcoholic kind.
‘It’s you,’ Rory nodded towards Billy, ‘me and Dom against him,’ Todd got a look, ‘Mick and’ he looked round, searching the expectant faces for a suitable outsider.
‘And me.’ Tabatha, who had spent most of the afternoon chasing after the elusive Todd and Merlin finally spotted her chance. ‘Don’t you dare say I can’t.’
Rory chuckled. ‘If Todd’s happy with you,
