Wedding-Night Baby Read Free

friends or I wouldn’t have resorted to hiring you?’
    â€™Now there’s an interesting thought.’
    Georgina flicked him a brief, fulminating glare before gritting her teeth. ‘I come from a small village where the fact that my cousin is marrying provides hours of entertainment. I don’t want to expose a friend to that sort of curiosity. I need someone who can disappear without trace. Someone presentable, but—’
    â€˜Forgettable?’
    She grudgingly nodded her agreement. ‘You’ll stick out like a sore thumb,’ she complained, her mobile mouth pursing as she considered her ill luck.
    â€˜Why’s that?’ he enquired, evincing interest.
    â€˜We’ve had about two days’ insipid sun so far this summer; you look too tanned,’ she said critically. The fact was that he was far too arresting to fade into the background, but she wasn’t about to feed his ego; she felt sure he knew
perfectly well what she meant. Under normal circumstances a man like him wouldn’t be seen with a girl as ordinary as her. ‘Don’t you know sunbeds are bad for the skin? Skin cancer!’ she elaborated darkly.
    â€˜I’m touched by your concern but I’ve been working overseas, outdoors.’
    â€˜Manual work?’ That would explain the splendid physique.
    â€˜Don’t worry, it’s not catching.’
    The disdain in his voice made her flush angrily. ‘I don’t give a damn if you’re an itinerant labourer or a brain surgeon so long as you don’t blow this for me. There’s nothing wrong with manual work.’
    â€˜I feel better already.’
    â€˜I’m glad one of us does,’ she said grimly. She’d had enough of the objectionable Callum Smith and the day had hardly begun!

CHAPTER TWO
    T HE VILLAGE CHURCH was the same one in which she had imagined herself walking down the aisle with Alex, and now she’d have to smilingly watch her cousin make that journey she’d so longed for. I don’t care any more, she told herself firmly as the constricting waves of emotion rose to suffocate her. She had no intention of wallowing in self-pity even though the temptation was strong.
    She started as Callum held the door open for her; she hadn’t noticed him get out of the car.
    â€˜Thank you, Mr Smith,’ she said, ignoring his outstretched hand.
    â€˜I think you’d better make that Callum, in the interests of authenticity,’ he observed drily. ‘Don’t forget the hat.’ Slightly narrowed eyes had taken in at a glance all the tiny details of stress in the face of the girl beside him. She was hiding it well, but the tautness about her mouth and the rigidity of her usually mobile features gave away the inner turmoil. He found his eyes strangely reluctant to leave her slightly parted pink lips.
    Flustered and mildly resentful because he appeared to be taking charge, Georgina grabbed the silky mushroom and crammed it on her head, tucking strands of her hair into the crown. ‘How’s that?’
    â€˜You missed a bit.’ He took hold of a strand that had slithered down her neck and slid it under the fabric rim, recalling as he did so that he’d heard her referred to as ‘Miss Efficiency’ in scornful tones very recently. At the
moment she looked very young and quite appalling vulnerable. Was that how she’d got to the old fox? he wondered cynically.
    His fingers were very long, Georgina noticed as she gave a small, delicate shiver. The slight touch of faintly calloused fingertips against her throat was distracting, though not exactly unpleasant, she conceded. In fact, it was quite nice to be distracted from the ordeal ahead. ‘Charming. I’m sure the groom will be consumed with regret,’ he said, his lips twisting cynically.
    â€˜I really couldn’t give a damn,’ she said haughtily. The implied criticism made her bristle