Page 8 of Consequences of Their Wedding Charade
His suddenly unreadable green eyes were locked speculatively on her face and she felt her heart speed up. She wanted to cry, which was ridiculous because it was perfectly healthy for her to keep her distance. In time, they would resume their friendship but when that happened she would no longer be in thrall to him.
‘I’m assuming,’ he drawled, ‘that that’s your reason for turning down my generous offer...’
What to say? How to respond? She thought about her ‘hot date’. Poor Mike...so nice, so pleasant-looking—so many boxes ticked—and yet not enough.
That was information she didn’t want to impart so she shrugged but, instead of backing away from the topic, he shamelessly prodded, ‘Well? Am I on the right track here?’
‘How is it,’ she said, frustrated, ‘that I never realised how much like a dog with a bone you are when it comes to getting what you want?’
He visibly relaxed and she was cravenly grateful that the status quo was back.
‘I have no idea. You should have. Are you concerned that the new guy in your life might not like the fact that we’re spending a long weekend together?’
Jess marvelled that he could make a statement of fact sound so disconcertingly intimate without even realising it.
‘I would never let anyone dictate how I spend my time,’ she retorted and blushed when he grinned with smug approval.
‘Thought not, but if thathadbeen the case then you could truthfully have told him that we would be in separate rooms and, quite honestly, you would be free to more or less do your own thing for most of the weekend. Yes, we would be together for the ceremony, but that’s about it. You could ski to your heart’s content the rest of the time...’ He leant towards her and murmured softly, ‘Don’t tell me that you’re not tempted...’
Jess blinked.
Temptation was a finger’s touch away if he but knew it and when it came to temptation the prospect of skiing paled in comparison.
‘But,’ he continued briskly, ‘just in case you need further persuasion, I would very much like to dangle a carrot in front of you...’
‘What carrot?’
‘A very healthy donation to your school.’ He smiled. ‘I know that if it’s not because of a guy, then it must be because you don’t think you’ll be able to spare the time because you’re all engaged on a fundraising drive to get new desks for your school...’
‘Computer equipment.’
‘I already contribute generously to many charities via my various business holdings, but I would like to personally donate towards whatever equipment you need.’
He named a sum that took her breath away because not only would it cover all the equipment the school needed, but also repair work to two of the buildings caused by water damage the previous winter.
‘It’sthatimportant for you to have a chaperone to a wedding, Curtis?’
‘You should have come to me if you needed financial assistance for your school.’
‘Of course I’m not going to do that!’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I... I justwouldn’t.’
‘You’re one of a kind, Jess,’ he said softly. ‘You have no idea how many people would think nothing of coming to me with a begging bowl to support whatever cause they needed money for. You’re one of the least opportunistic women I’ve ever known.’
Pleasure bloomed inside her and she pinkened.
‘We go back a long way,’ she admitted. ‘I knew you before you made it big.’
‘So will you come with me, Jess? You really would be doing me a huge favour...’
There were no other reasons she could possibly give for rejecting his offer. They weren’t on the same page emotionally, but how was he to know that?
And if she kept avoiding him, surely he would begin to smell a rat? She valued his friendship. She would hate to lose it and she knew that in due course, once she’d broken free of whatever spell he had cast over her down the years, they would once again be pals, but this time on an equal footing.
Would she now want to jeopardise that? Mike the teacher might not have been the one for her, but therewassomeone out there for her and when that someone came into her life all the foolish feelings she had towards Curtis would disappear like dew in the summer sun.
