From Mistresses To Wives?: Mistress to a Bachelor / His Mistress by Marriage / Accidental Mistress. Susan Napier
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The gesture warmed Jessica’s heart, making her feel not quite so alone. In Sarah, she sensed a friend.
Henry had elected, in the absence of her father, to give her away. He was waiting for her when she came downstairs, the others having already left for the church. He nodded approval of her appearance.
‘Very nice, my dear. A credit to the family!’
‘Are you going to be all right?’ Jessica asked anxiously, searching the thin features.
Just for a moment he seemed to hesitate, an odd expression in his eyes, then he shook his head as if in dismissal of some thought. ‘I’ll be perfectly all right. That sounds like the car arriving. Shall we go.’
It took them only ten minutes to the little village church. Jessica was surprised, and somewhat disconcerted, to find many locals occupying the pews. Tall, dark and devastating in a charcoal suit, Zac gave her an encouraging smile as she joined him before the altar.
‘You look wonderful!’ he murmured.
The service went by in a flash. Signing her maiden name in the registry for the last time, Jessica allowed herself no regrets. She was starting a new life. One she intended making the very best she could of.
Sarah came to press another kiss to her cheek as they emerged into sunshine again, her pretty face aglow. ‘All the happiness in the world!’ she said. ‘You too, of course, Zac.’
Her husband echoed the sentiments, if with rather less ebullience. Jessica doubted if there would be many family get-togethers once this was over. She wondered what had drawn a girl of Sarah’s vivacity to a man like Brady, who so seldom let go with a smile, much less a laugh.
It took her mother-in-law to make her feel really at home. ‘I’m glad Zac waited till now,’ was all she said, but it was enough.
Dulcie had prepared a quite superb buffet back at the house. There was Champagne too, although Zac drank no more than sufficed for the toasts. His grandfather showed no such forbearance. Watching him toss back his third glass, Jessica took it that he’d decided to live his life to the full in his final days. All the same, she was surprised that no one made any attempt to stop him.
‘The old man always did like a tipple,’ said Brady, misreading her expression. ‘He can hold it.’
‘I suppose it doesn’t really matter any more,’ Jessica returned wryly.
Dark brows drew together. ‘Meaning what?’
His tone flustered her. ‘Well, it isn’t going to make much difference to the outcome, is it?’ she said uncertainly. ‘If I only had a short time to live, I’d probably do the same.’
‘A short time to live?’ Brady’s frown deepened. ‘What gave you that idea? Apart from a touch of angina, he’s as strong as an ox!’
He hadn’t been told, thought Jessica in dismay. Why on earth hadn’t Esther warned her? She wondered if she and Zac were the only ones who did know—and if so, why?
She looked back to the man in his chair by the window, fighting a creeping suspicion as she studied him. He had never looked like a man all that close to death. Supposing, just supposing, it was all a fabrication: a ruse to force Zac not only into proving that the girl he’d ostensibly fallen for really existed, but to marrying her into the bargain. Zac had said himself that he could be ruthless.
It couldn’t be true! she told herself. Surely no man would consider putting his own flesh and blood through such an ordeal just to get his own way? Surely no wife would consent to go along with it?
Esther was looking her way when she glanced across. The plea in the older eyes was all the verification needed. Jessica found her voice with an effort.
‘I must have misunderstood.’
Brady viewed her with cynicism. ‘So it seems. Is Zac labouring under the same misunderstanding?’
‘I’m…not sure.’
‘Oh, I think you are,’ he said. ‘It explains all this. He thought there was a chance of the old man cutting him off if he didn’t show willing in the marital stakes.’ He smiled sourly. ‘I’ll give him top marks for effort! Pity it was for nothing.’
Jessica’s eyes blazed sudden green fire. ‘This might have happened a bit sooner than it would have done, but it certainly isn’t for nothing!’
‘Not for you, maybe. Although I wouldn’t count on holding his interest for too long. A regular Don Juan, is Zac. He’s had more women than I’ve had hot dinners!’
He was getting a real kick out of this, Jessica realised. A wholly malicious one too. What she wasn’t about to do was give him the satisfaction of seeing her true feelings at this moment.
‘Understandable,’ she said. ‘He’s every woman’s dream of a man!’
The point went home, bringing a nasty glint to the grey eyes. ‘Only till they wake up.’
Isabel appeared at Jessica’s elbow as she opened her mouth to deliver another broadside. Her mother-in-law looked from her to Brady with some speculation.
‘Your wife went to lie down,’ she said. ‘I think she’s just tired, but perhaps you should go and make sure. Her time can’t be all that far off.’
‘It’s another eight weeks yet,’ Brady responded, making no move.
Isabel held her gaze. ‘All the same…’
He took the hint, albeit with reluctance. Isabel turned her attention to Jessica with a smile. ‘Men can be so dense at times, don’t you find?’
Jessica found a smile of her own, if a strained one. ‘Not up to now.’
‘Oh, I’m not talking about Zac. He’s always been quick on the uptake.’
Not this time, Jessica reflected hollowly. If he’d realised what his grandparents were up to, she wouldn’t be standing here now.
‘Are you all right?’ asked Isabel on a concerned note. ‘You’ve lost colour.’
Jessica shook herself mentally. ‘Too much Champagne, I expect. It never did suit me very much.’
‘Me neither. I never could see what all the fuss was about. Personally, I’d as soon have a glass of apple juice.’ She paused, her expression softening as she surveyed the striking face beneath the crown of lilies. ‘Zac’s a very lucky man to have found you, Jessica. I have to confess, I was a bit concerned about the short time you’ve known one another, but I can see there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve asked him to bring you up to Scotland as soon as possible to meet my family. You will come, won’t you?’
There was only one answer Jessica could make. ‘Of course. I’ll look forward to it.’ She felt her lips go stiff again as she caught Zac’s signal from across the room. ‘I’d better go and change,’ she added.
‘Oh, yes, you’re going down the coast for a few days. I’d have thought Zac might find the time to take you somewhere a little more romantic, but I don’t suppose it really matters where you spend your honeymoon.’
From the sound of it, Jessica could only conclude that Zac hadn’t seen fit to pass on the news of his grandfather’s alleged condition to his mother either. But then, he’d hardly want her to see the marriage as nothing more than a means to an end? Which was all it really was, of course. To do him credit, he’d never tried to make out that love played any real part in the relationship.
Upstairs in the bedroom, she took off the silk dress and sat down at the dressing mirror in her filmy underwear to renew her make-up. The face gazing back at her looked normal enough, green eyes surprisingly steady. Zac had to know the truth, of course. The realisation that he’d been tricked into this hasty marriage was hardly scheduled to enhance the honeymoon, but she could hardly keep it from him.
She