The Best Man for the Job Read Free Page B

changing the subject. And what was Dan doing, making it sound as if he and Celia were a thing when they were anything but? ‘Does she?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Right.’
    ‘Want to know what she sees between the two of you?’
    Not particularly. ‘Knock yourself out.’
    ‘Chemistry. Tension. Denial.’
    Huh? Marcus reeled for a moment, then rallied because Zoe was wrong. Totally wrong. ‘She sees a lot,’ he said, keeping his expression poker.
    ‘She does.’
    ‘Too much.’
    ‘Perhaps.’
    ‘What makes her such an expert anyway?’
    ‘She’s made an art out of reading people. She’s generally right.’
    ‘Not this time.’
    Dan shot him a shrewd look. ‘She reckons it’s like that kid analogy,’ he said.
    ‘What kid analogy?’ asked Marcus, although he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
    ‘The one about pulling the pigtails of the girl in class you fancy.’
    At the odd spike in his pulse Marcus shifted uncomfortably. ‘It’s nothing like that,’ he said, wondering what the hell the brief leap in his heart rate was all about.
    ‘If you say so.’
    ‘Celia deeply disapproves of me, and I—’ He stopped because how could he tell his best friend that he thought his sister was an uptight, judgemental, workaholic pain in the arse? ‘Anyway, wouldn’t it bother you?’ he said instead, although now he thought about it perhaps the question came fifteen years too late.
    ‘You two together?’
    Marcus nodded. ‘Hypothetically speaking, of course. I mean, she’s your sister and I’m not exactly a paragon of virtue.’
    ‘It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest,’ said Dan easily. ‘Celia’s perfectly capable of looking after herself and, actually, if I was going to issue a big-brother kind of warning I’d probably be issuing it to her.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘She’s a tough nut to crack.’
    ‘One of the toughest,’ Marcus agreed, because she was, and not only because she was the only nut he’d wanted but had never managed to crack. Not that he thought about that night much because, after all, it had been years.
    ‘She’d drive you to drink trying.’
    ‘Undoubtedly.’
    ‘And that would be a shame.’
    ‘Just as well you don’t have to worry about me, then, isn’t it? Although I do think you ought to be worrying about Zoe,’ he added, now just wanting this oddly uncomfortable conversation to be over. ‘She’s been cornered by your mother and a couple of your aunts.’
    ‘So she has,’ said Dan, that smile on his face widening as his gaze landed on his wife. ‘I’d better rescue her.’
    ‘Off you go, then.’
    Dan must have caught the trace of mockery in his voice because he stopped and shot him a look. ‘One of these days it’s going to happen to you, you know.’
    ‘What is?’
    ‘Love and marriage.’
    Marcus shook his head and laughed. ‘Not a chance.’ He valued his freedom far too much, and anyway, he’d seen what love could do. The pain it could bring. The tragedy it could result in. He’d been part of the fallout.
    Dan arched an eyebrow. ‘Too many women, too little time?’
    ‘You said it.’
    ‘If you really believe that then you’re going to end up like my father, heading for sixty and still chasing anything in a skirt.’
    ‘That’s a risk I’m prepared to take.’
    Dan laughed and clapped him on the back. ‘One day, my friend, one day,’ he said, then set off for Zoe, leaving Marcus standing there frowning at Celia and thinking, Chemistry, tension and denial? What a load of crap.

TWO
    Three hours later, Celia had worked her way through one cup of tea, two glasses of champagne, a dozen of the most scrumptious mini sandwiches and petit fours she’d ever eaten and a hefty piece of wedding cake. She’d survived the photo session, listened to the short yet witty speeches, and had had conversations with everyone except Marcus and her father.
    The reception so far had been beautiful. The weather was behaving, the sky a cloudless blue, the sun beating down gently,