CHAPTER ONE

      ‘JAMES hasn’t seen your dress, has he?’ Kate asked, glancing at the magnificent satin and lace bridal gown hanging on the wardrobe door. ‘You know that’s considered unlucky.’

      Ashleigh put down her mascara and smiled at her chief bridesmaid in the dressing-table mirror. ‘No, Miss Tradition. He hasn’t. Not that it would worry me if he had,’ she added with a light laugh. ‘You know I don’t believe in superstitions. Or fate. Or luck. People make their own luck in life.’

      Kate rolled her eyes. ‘You’ve become annoyingly pragmatic over the years, do you know that? Where’s your sense of romance gone?’

      It was killed, came the unwanted and bitter thought. A lifetime ago...

      Ashleigh felt a deep tremor of old pain, but hid it well, keeping her mascara wand steady with an iron will as she went on with her make-up.

      ‘Just look at you,’ Kate accused. ‘It’s your wedding-day and you’re not even nervous. If I were the bride my hand would be shaking like a leaf.’

      ‘What is there to be nervous about? Everything is going to go off like clockwork. You know how organised James’s mother is.’

      ‘I wasn’t talking about the wedding. Or the reception. I was talking about afterwards... You know...’

      ‘For heaven’s sake, Kate,’ Ashleigh said quite sharply. ‘It’s not as though I’m some trembling young virgin. I’m almost thirty years old, and a qualified doctor to boot. My wedding-night is not looming as some terrifying ordeal.’

      Oh, really? an insidious voice whispered at the back of her mind.

      Ashleigh stiffened before making a conscious effort to relax, letting out a ragged sigh. ‘I’m sorry,’ she apologised. ‘I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.’

      ‘You are nervous,’ her friend decided smugly. ‘And you know what? I think it’s sweet. James is a real nice man. Much nicer than...’ Kate bit her bottom lip and darted Ashleigh a stricken look. ‘Oh, I...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...I...’

      ‘It’s all right,’ Ashleigh soothed. ‘I won’t collapse in a screaming heap if you mention his name.’

      ‘Do you...ever think of him?’ Kate asked, eyes glittering with curiosity.

      Too damned often, came the immediate and possibly crushing thought.

      But Ashleigh gathered herself quickly, refusing to allow Jake—even in memory form—to mar her wedding-day.

      ‘Jake’s as good as dead as far as I’m concerned,’ she stated quite firmly. ‘As far as everyone in Glenbrook is concerned. Even his mother doesn’t speak of him any more.’

      ‘What about James?’ the other girl asked. ‘I mean...he and Jake are twins. Doesn’t he ever talk about his brother?’

      ‘Never.”

      Kate frowned. ‘I wonder what Jake would think of his quieter half marrying his old girlfriend. Does he know, do you think? They say some twins, especially identical ones, have a sort of telepathy between them.’

      Ashleigh’s fine grey eyes did their best to stay calm as she turned to face her old school-friend. ‘Jake and James never did. As far as Jake knowing...’ She gave a seemingly offhand shrug. ‘He might. His mother insisted on sending him a wedding invitation. God knows why, since she doesn’t even know where he’s living now. She posted it to his old solicitor in Thailand, who once promised to pass on any mail. Naturally, she didn’t receive a reply.’

      Ashleigh sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, hoping to ease the constriction in her chest. ‘Jake wouldn’t give a damn about my marrying James, anyway,’ she finished. ‘Now...perhaps we’d better get on with my hair. Time’s getting away.’

      Kate remained blessedly silent while she brushed then wound Ashleigh’s shoulder-length blonde hair into the style they’d both decided on the previous day. Even though Ashleigh appeared to be watching her hairdresser friend’s efficient fingers, her mind was elsewhere, remembering things she shouldn’t be remembering on the day she was marrying James.

      Jake...holding her close, kissing her.

      Jake... undressing her slowly.

      Jake...his magnificent male body in superb control as he took her with him to a physical ecstasy, the like of which she doubted she would ever experience again.

      A shiver reverberated through her.

      ‘You’re not cold, are you?’ Kate asked, frowning.

      Ashleigh tried to smile. ‘No... Someone must have walked over my grave.’

      Her friend laughed. ‘I thought you didn’t believe in stuff like that. You know what, Ashleigh? I think you’re a big fibber. I think you believe in fate and superstitions and all those old wives’ tales as much as the next person. And I’ll prove it to you before this day is out. But, for now, sit perfectly still while I get these pins safely in. I don’t want to spear you in the ear.’

      Ashleigh was only too happy to sit