At this distance she could feel the frisson of energy and strength of the man whose property development signs were outside homes and office blocks in cities all over Britain and the East Coast of America.
And he knew it.
This was the kind of man who was accustomed to walking into a cocktail bar or a restaurant and having head waiters fawning over themselves to find him the best table.
Well, not this time, handsome!
She could stick this out longer than he could.
The bell saved him. Amy’s private cellphone rang a couple of times before she dragged her eyes away from his, glanced down at the caller ID, twisted her mouth with annoyance, and stood up quickly to take the call.
Within seconds she had turned back to face him, and he instantly recognised a certain look in her eyes which brought his back even straighter.
‘Yes. I can be there in twenty minutes. Thank you.’
Amy exhaled slowly, then marched to the back of the kitchen and shrugged off her long apron, revealing a short-sleeved navy blue T-shirt.
She was still drying her hands when Jared walked up.
‘Do you remember the wedding planner that Lucy hired? The one with all the celebrity clients?’ she asked.
There was a sharp intake of breath from the man standing ramrod-straight next to her, his back braced. He was looking horribly tall, as though he feared the worst and the wedding plan might be about to hit the fan.
It hit the fan.
‘Clarissa has cancelled all her appointments and eloped to Antigua. With the bridegroom who was supposed to be walking down the aisle tomorrow morning. I’m going to her office right now to pick up Lucy’s file. Want to come along?’
CHAPTER TWO
HE HAD known something like this would happen.
Worse. It was entirely his fault.
He had taken his eyes off the ball and allowed a wedding planner he had never met to run a project as important as his only sister’s wedding. So what if he was in the middle of one of the biggest deals of his life in New York? Family came first.
He had promised his mother before she moved to France that he would take care of his sister.
He had let her down.
Not going to happen. Not while there was still blood in his veins. He had a brilliant PA, and a team back in New York who could be on the next flight out if they had to.
The sound of a car horn snapped Jared out of his thoughts, and he ran the fingertips of both hands through his hair, before flicking open the buttons of his suit jacket.
Suddenly he felt hot, tired, and running on empty. He went to the door to get some air. Maybe he should have eaten some of the strudel? It wouldn’t have killed him. He might even have liked it. Lucy would have told him to be kinder to her friend who was offering him free food.
But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, Lucy Lou.
Even if Amy Edler was not the girl he had expected.
As he turned away from the London traffic whizzing by outside, Amy jogged past him out of the shop door; her arms full of Edlers cake boxes, and nudged him in the arm before speaking.
‘We’re going to need serious bribery to pull this one off—and I don’t mean a wad of twenties.’ She nodded down the busy street. ‘There’s a bus that stops across the road which will have us at the wedding planner’s office in fifteen minutes.’
‘The last time I was on a bus,’ Jared said, pulling out his cellphone, ‘I was still in school. That won’t be necessary.’
Amy looked up as a glossy silver-grey Rolls-Royce car glided to a smooth halt only three feet away from where they were standing. She leaned closer to him. ‘Drat. A customer. And we are totally out of Sachertorte. Wait a minute—I recognise that car from somewhere!’
Jared was holding one hand up and he gestured towards the car.
‘Relax. I was on my way home from the airport when I stopped by. Let me take those boxes for you, and let me introduce you to my driver, Frank…’
Jared watched in amazement as Amy literally threw the boxes at him and ran into the arms of his old friend to receive a warm bear hug. He could only stare, slack-jawed, as Amy stood on tiptoe and kissed Frank heartily on the cheek.
And damn if he didn’t feel a tug of jealousy.
Where had that come from? He didn’t do jealous. Especially not for a woman he had met only minutes earlier.
He faked calm indifference as he carefully balanced the cake boxes on one arm while he opened the boot, its shiny metal surface blocking his view of the intimate greeting.
‘Amy, love. So this is where you’ve been hiding. Well—Edlers?’ Frank shook his head and crossed his arms to scan the shopfront. ‘You actually did it! Lucy should have told me.’
‘You’re welcome here any time—you know that, Frankie. You can have anything you can dream of eating.’
Jared closed the boot, as Amy stepped back from Frank with a beaming grin on her face, transforming her from being pretty into the kind of woman worthy of more than a second look. Even a third.
Under the fluorescent kitchen lighting he had not missed the fact that Amy was the kind of girl who looked good without make-up, but in the fading sunlight her skin appeared pale and translucent in contrast to the bright sparkling green of those amazing eyes. But it was her smile, her bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked smile, that hit him hard in the bottom of his stomach.
This version of Amy Edler was a stunner.
Something twisted inside Jared’s gut and he swallowed hard. When was the last time any girl had looked at him like that with such warmth and affection? And meant it?
Come to think of it, when was the last time he had met a woman outside business? A woman like Amy Edler? Maybe if he had the time he could turn on the charm and persuade her to turn one of those smiles in his direction. Except he did not have the time. He had a week to plan his sister’s wedding before he turned his back on London for good, and nothing was going to get in his way.
‘I take it you two know each other, then?’ Jared managed to ask casually, as he strolled over to hold the rear passenger door open for Amy.
‘Who else would little Lucy call to collect her best friend from the airport? Rent-a-cab? Not likely, mate. Only the best for this lady.’ Then his expression changed, and Frank reached out and held Amy by both arms. ‘You look great, girl. Gorgeous as ever. How are you feeling?’
As Jared watched, the smile faltered on Amy’s lips, before she relaxed. ‘Fine—I’m fine. Never better.’ Her words were softer, lower, as though she was protecting Frank from some unpleasant truth.
Frank gave a sharp nod and turned back
