The Night That Started It All Read Free

had the impression Neil didn’t share his wife’s confidence in her charming brother.
    Shari took a moment to nerve herself before pressing Neil and Emilie’s bell. She’d stopped wearing the ring weeks ago, of course, but if anyone asked her about it, if they even mentioned Rémy’s name, she still wasn’t sure how far she could trust herself not to turn into a complete wuss and burst into tears.
    Too emotional. Just too emotional.
    Emilie opened the door.
    ‘
Enfin
, Shari, after all this time …’ She stopped short, looking Shari up and down. ‘My God. Is it really you? You look …
incroyable
.’ Emilie kissed her on both cheeks and dragged her inside. ‘I adore it. So sexy and
mystérieuse
.’ Emilie thought she was speaking in English, but it often came out sounding like French.
    With gratifying awe she examined Shari’s transformation. The stripe across her eyes was intriguing enough, Shari supposed, but it was her chiffon dress and new five inch platforms that really had Em reeling.
    ‘Oh-h-h,’ the darling woman enthused. ‘I am
green
. How can you walk in them? But what have you done to your eyes?’ Shari’s heart suffered a momentary paralysis, but Emilie continued exclaiming. ‘
Pretty
, so pretty. Is that frog a tattoo, really?’
    Shari eased back out of the direct light. ‘You know me. Always faking it.’
    Emilie giggled. ‘No, don’t say so. Now, where’s Rémy?’ She peered out into the dark street.
    Shari tightened her grip on the strap of her shoulder purse. ‘Rémy isn’t coming.’
    ‘Not?’ Emilie looked nonplussed. ‘Oh, but … quick, phone him. Tell him he has to. Our cousin is here to see him and he’s looking so stern everyone is terrified.’
    Shari looked steadily at her. ‘No, Em. I can’t.’
    Emilie blinked bemusedly at her, and Shari was about to drop the bombshell when more guests piled in through the gate and hailed the hostess.
    Shari seized her escape.
    ‘Catch you later.’ She smiled, and walked through to the party like a woman riding a storm.
    It was a while since she’d visited. As things had deteriorated on the engagement front, she’d chosen to avoid the perceptive gazes of her brother and Em. Little changes had taken place in their home since the last time she’d dropped by to hang and read to their little girls.
    Tonight the rooms were crowded, people spilling from theliving rooms to the pool terrace. A small army of hired staff was flitting about, distributing hors d’oeuvres like largesse to the poor.
    Heading for a quiet corner, Shari felt conscious of eyes turning to follow her. For a scary moment she feared her stripe wasn’t holding up, until a likely lad stepped in her path and told her she looked hot.
    Hot
? Oh, that glorious word. Pleasure flowed into the dry gulch where her self-esteem had once bubbled like the tranquil waters of an aquifer. Her spine stiffened all by itself. She loved the sweet-talking hound.
    Standing way taller on her new platforms, she blew him a kiss. ‘Too hot for you, sweetie,’ she tossed over her shoulder as she swished by.
    There now, that wasn’t too hard, was it?
    She greeted a few faces she recognised, flashed a wave here, a smile there, just as though everything in her little corner of the world was hunky-dory. She hoped no one inquired about her so-called fiancé. She should never have promised to allow Rémy time to break the news to Em in his own way. She might have known he’d never drum up the courage.
    Face it, she’d known all along she should have told Neil and Em herself. Weeks ago, she saw now, instead of feeling she had to avoid them all this time. How much could she tell Emilie about her beloved Rémy, though? It was clear she couldn’t reveal anything tonight, with her sister-in-law under pressure.
    And she’d have to be careful how much she told Neil. She’d long sensed he didn’t like Rémy. He’d always been so protective of her, heaven knew what he might do if he knew about