Second Chance Bride (Montana Born Brides) (11 page)

Scarlett’s blood started to boil.

Nuh-uh, that was so not happening. Not on her watch.

And she looked down at her cotton sundress and simple sandals and headed straight back to the villa. It was time to bring out the heavy artillery.

Mitch checked his watch. They’d be heading for their table soon and there was still no sign of Scarlett. Kristelle was still standing there, talking away, making out like they were best of friends, while the parents had formed their own private collective and Robbo—who had practically warned him off his wife-to-be—was deep in conversation with the bridesmaid. How did that work?

And meanwhile he stuck here getting a blow
-by-blow description of the wedding plans, right down to the gazebo and the lily pond and what was on the menu.

Maybe
Robbo could hear the conversation and thought there was nothing going on, but it wasn’t about the setting or the arrangements at all. It was about Kristelle being oblivious to his signals to give it up and making pretty eyes, come hither smiles and forever moving a hand there, a gesture here, the flick of a bit of invisible lint from his shirt.

H
e’d just about had a gut-f of it.

“Hey, sugar.” The voice was right but the accent was wrong, and he looked around, confused. He was more confused by what he saw. He seemed to remember
Scarlett had been wearing something else when he’d left because he sure as hell would have remembered if she’d been wearing this. She was dressed, if you could call it that, in a teensy tiny denim skirt with a teensy tiny white tank with fringing and spangles along the neckline. Not that, he noted, it ventured anywhere remotely near her neck. And if he wasn’t mistaken, on her feet were the same pink spangly boots she’d been wearing at Bella’s.

Those boots that had been almost enough to make him hard all by themselves.

Those
leave-them-on
boots.

His tongue stuck hard to the roof of his mouth.

Had she been packing those boots all along? Words would be said. But later. Right now he was too busy watching, as she sashayed between the tables, her hips swaying like a pendulum, the fringe at her breasts swaying to the opposite beat. It was provocative. It was mesmerizing. And despite the fans working overtime overhead, the heat in the room went up a dozen degrees.

She stopped just shy of him. “I missed you,” she said, and hooked her fingers under his waistband and yanked him close. The other hand snaked around his neck and pulled his head down to her red painted mouth where she damn near sucked out his brain with her hot mouth and clever tongue.

Oh yeah!

When he lifted his head, her eyes twinkled up at him conspiratorially and he made another addition to her impressive skill set. She was the best damned red-headed Rottweiler he’d ever had.

Finally he looked around at the startled group, knowing his lips must be as painted red as hers. “Everyone,” he said, “Meet Scarlett.”

Scarlett
couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun. The setting was out of this world and the company was fine too, once they’d recovered from the shock, and even if, she noticed, Robbo’s mom did look a bit tense from time to time.

But Scarlett’s accent soon brought the topic of travel to the conversation, with plenty of questions about Montana, and it was surreal to conjure up pictures of snow
-covered mountains and crystal clear lakes when she was sitting in a tropical beachfront paradise half a world away. Even more surreal to think she’d be back in Montana in a few short days and this would all be just a memory.

E
ven though she needed to get home—
wanted desperately to get home—
her head wasn’t ready to leave this place just yet. Instead she planned to extract every last shred of enjoyment from the experience.

So when the chance came, she let the conversation move on. The long flight to Australia had shown her the world was a far bigger place than just Marietta and Big Sky
country. The stories she was hearing now made that world expand even more.

Robbo’s
parents fought it out with Kristelle’s parents for the prize of the best trip ever, to which there was no easy winner, before they headed into the territory of worst travel experience.

T
here was still no winner until Sharon told the story of when she’d been waiting for a train at a quiet station deep within the Arctic Circle, and how the train had grown later and later and how she’d grown colder and madder, until finally, shivering her ass off on a lonely seat in a lonely station, she’d figured out that the trains only ran in the summer, and her train wouldn’t arrive for another three months. Sharon won the contest hands down. Scarlett liked her stories and her easy laugh.

As for
Robbo, he just kept smiling benevolently over at her and Mitch as if her presence had made his day. And when the topic of conversation had moved on and one of the parents asked Sharon what she did, it was Robbo who answered, ‘Sharon’s an accountant. We only found out when we were having drinks in the bar before. Can you believe Kristelle never mentioned it?’

Kristelle
just rolled her eyes. “Maybe because I never knew. It’s not like we work together. We’re gym friends, aren’t we, Sharon?”

Sharon just smiled weakly and reached for her wine.

“Truly,” Kristelle continued, “It is fabulous our special friends and family could be here to share this happy event, especially given how suddenly this was all arranged. Darling Robert just couldn’t wait a moment longer to tie the knot.”

Robbo
raised his eyebrows a little at that but agreed with the sentiments. “Hear hear. And we’re very grateful our parents could all be here with us and that both Sharon and Mitch could be on hand as our bridesmaid and best man. We’re honored to have you all,” he said, raising his glass in a toast to them.

They drank and then Mitch proposed a toast to the happy couple and they drank some more and the mood was fine.

Until Kristelle said, with a laugh as she looked squarely at Mitch. “It is funny, though, isn’t it, that you’re called the best man? When obviously—you’re not.”

Scarlett, who’d been thinking that maybe she’d just been a bit too hard on
Kristelle because everyone was getting along so well, and who’d noticed a definite tic in Robbo’s mom’s eye every time the bride-to-be spoke, thought again. “Maybe that just depends,” she said, with a smile as she wound her arm around Mitch’s and laid her head adoringly on his shoulder, “on your point of view. I’m perfectly happy to settle for good ol’ Mitch here.”

“Hey babe,” Mitch said, with a smile, “you’re pretty good yourself.”

“Hear hear!” said Robbo once more applauding, clearly getting into the swing of things. “Well said!”

“How lovely,” said
Robbo’s mom, looking relieved, “I wonder if there’ll be another wedding before too long.”

Mitch took Scarlett’s hand between his and looked into her adoring eyes, “Well, there’s no saying what’s in the future for any of us, but if anything does happen between Scarlett and me, you can be sure, as parents of one of my oldest friends, we’d want you there to celebrate with us.”

Robbo’s parents puffed up. “We’d be honored, son,” said Andrew.

“How sweet,”
Kristelle said with a smile, while her eyes sent a death stare straight to Scarlett.

Scarlett sent a smile back that was so dripping with sugar, it should have come with its own dentist
’s drill.

There was no time to enjoy the moment because right then, sunset arrived, not with a whimper, but a bang, the way it
apparently always did in the tropics. One moment the light was bright and hard, dulled only by the grey clouds, then next the sun had slanted and lit a wick that set fire to the sky. The clouds turned orange and the sea turned gold and the restaurant fell silent as every eye was drawn to the spectacle.

And Scarlett, who back home in Montana had witnessed some of the world’s most spectacular sunsets, found one more place where the simple act of the sun setting could rock your world.

“Wow,” she said, clutching Mitch’s hand as the last of the red light faded into black. And on impulse she turned and pressed her lips to his cheek. “Thank you so much for bringing me here,” and he smiled and lifted their joined hands to his mouth and pressed his lips to the back of her hand, and her heart gave a little wobble at what she saw in his eyes.

“The pleasure is all mine.”

She wondered at how easily the line had blurred between acting a part to look convincing and honestly expressing her feelings. Or his.

Their
appetizers arrived, and Scarlett found she could breathe again, as various amazing offerings of scallops and pearl meat and more found their owners. Mitch and Scarlett laid claim to the shared mezze plate for two, featuring chorizo, harissa prawns, grilled squid, marinated feta, and olives.

“Plain
salad, no dressing?” a waiter asked and Kristelle waved her hand. “Here.”

“This looks amazing,” said Mitch, popping a piece of chorizo into Scarlett’s mouth. “Try this.”

“Mmmmm.” She returned the favor and he took it from her fingers, his tongue licking the slickness clean, and she said “mmmm” all over again and saw the heat flicker in his eyes.
Oh boy.

Together they demolished the platter, feeding each other morsel after morsel, and nobody could say that they didn’t make a convincing couple.

And while a newly discovered voice of sense and reason in the back of mind told Scarlett that she really needed to remember this was a role she was playing, it was all too tempting to blot it out and just enjoy this man’s attentions while they lasted. Was it so wrong, she asked herself, to wish that things could be different, that she wasn’t a mere day or two away from leaving here and Mitch forever; that there was something more in his heated looks than mere lust?

T
hen something touched her thigh and she jumped and figured that maybe the answer to question number two was a definite no. Because beside her, Mitch was busy staring the other way while his fingers were attempting to sneak under the hem of her skirt. “‘What are you doing?’ she whispered.

“F
inding out if you’re wearing knickers.”

She shied away.
“You’ll just have to wait.”

“
I can’t!”

She smacked his hand away.
“Down boy!”

Across the table
Robbo laughed. ‘Mitch getting a little frisky for you over there, Scarlett?”

She gave an exaggerated sigh.
“Honestly, sometimes he’s like a dog with a bone.”

The men snorted, the
two mothers didn’t know whether to be shocked or laugh, Sharon sucked her lips between her teeth to stop herself laughing, and Kristelle just looked glummer and glummer. “I’m worried about the weather,” she lamented, looking out at the threatening sky. “What if it gets worse? What if there’s no Staircase to the Moon?”

Robbo
turned to his fiancée, his hands upturned. “Then there’s no Staircase to the Moon, Kristelle, It’s not going to be the end of the world. We’ve still got our wedding to look forward to.”

“
But it’s supposed to be the Staircase to the Moon. It’s supposed to be magical.”

“
It’ll be fine, sweetheart,” soothed her mother, “your father will fix it.”

Rolf spluttered, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
“How, in heaven’s name, am I supposed to do that?”

“
I don’t know, darling,” she said, patting his hand. “But you’ll find a way, I’m sure.”

Scarlett glanced up at Mitch who was way too cowardly to meet her eyes and luckily the
entrees arrived and they had more food to concentrate on, the seafood paella for Scarlett, a grilled eye fillet of Kimberley beef for Mitch. Robbo stumped for the lamb shank, and there were a number of fish that gave up their lives in the cause of a very good feed also.

Kristelle
, who hadn’t ordered an entree, picked valiantly at her salad. She looked accusingly over at Scarlett’s paella. “Clearly you’re not the one who has to fit into a designer wedding gown tomorrow.”

“
No, thank god,” said Scarlett. “Someone pass the garlic bread.”

Mitch was only too happy to comply.
“Here you are, sweetlips, we need to keep up your strength.”

Kristelle’s
barely-used silverware crashed to the plate.

Robert looked around.
“Are you okay?”

“
I’m so sorry,” she said with a jagged little laugh. “They must have slipped. Excuse me a moment.” And she rose and left.

They all looked at each other.
“Should someone go with her?” Scarlett said.

Sharon was already on her feet. “I’ll check.” She was back inside a minute, her face burning red,
her mouth tight. “She said she just wants to be alone a minute or two. She just needed some air.”

“Oh, the excitement’s getting to her,” said her mother. “I remember what it was like before our wedding, Rolf, I was so excited.”

Rolf grunted, deep in remembering, his hand firmly wrapped around a tumbler of scotch.

Scarlett looked at Mitch. He took her hand, clearly thinking along the same lines, that it was a different kind of excitement getting to
Kristelle than pre-wedding jitters and that she’d probably had enough of being convinced they were a couple for one night.

“We’ve had a long day. We might call it an early night, if you’ll excuse us.” He dropped
a heap of twenties on the table and saw Scarlett eyeing the stack. “Is that enough?” he said for a joke, and she nodded. “Good tip, too.”

Robbo
looked disappointed that the party might be breaking up so early. “Mitch,” he said, “before you go, can I have a word?”

“Go ahead you two,” Scarlett said. “I’ll see you back at the villa,” and she bade them all a good night.

“I’m sorry, mate,” Robbo said, when they were far enough away. “I came on a bit strong before.”

“No,” Mitch said. “I shouldn’t have asked you what I did.”

“Well...” Robbo’s head bobbed from side to side. “When it comes down to it, I have been having doubts.”

“About
Kristelle?”

“Yeah, that too. And
Kristelle’s been so insistent on you being here for the wedding it got me wondering whether she was having second thoughts and I guess you got me at a raw moment. But I can see you’re happy with Scarlett and frankly, I can see why. She’s a top sheila.”

“Yeah. That she is.”

“So, no hard feelings. And I really mean it this time.”

“Sure, no hard feelings.”