A Whirlwind Engagement. Jessica Hart
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like the schoolboy she was dancing with now.
There had been a starry quality about Bella, even then, he thought. For the first few weeks, he had gawked at her from a distance. She was so clearly out of his league, that it never occurred to him that they could ever be friends, but when he did get to know her properly, he was bowled over by the charm that made him feel as if she had been waiting all this time just to meet him, plain Josh Kingston. He had been amazed to discover how friendly and natural she was, and how funny. She might look like a princess, but she had an infectiously dirty laugh.
Not that Josh ever tried to take advantage of the closeness that grew up between them. His role was as a friend, the one constant male in the dizzying ups and downs of her romantic life.
And Josh didn’t mind, or he told himself he didn’t, anyway. At least that way he saw Bella, and he kept on seeing her in a way the men she fell in and out of love with didn’t. None of them ever lasted very long. Bella might look sophisticated, but beneath her glossy veneer beat the heart of a true romantic, determined not to settle for anyone less than Mr Perfect.
Maybe she had found him in Will. He seemed an unlikely Mr Perfect to Josh, but he had never understood Bella’s taste in men. He had wondered if things had run their course with Will earlier, when she had seemed tense and unhappy, but there was no sign of that now.
Josh’s mouth curled affectionately as he watched Bella dancing up and down the line in the other set, laughing that laugh of hers. She was being swung around and around between each couple, her hair shimmering as it flew around her vivid face and her skirt swirling around those spectacular legs.
‘Josh!’ Aisling hissed at him, and he started as he realised that he was supposed to be joining hands and going down the set with her, not watching what was going on elsewhere.
He didn’t get a chance to dance with Bella herself until much later in the evening.
‘I’m tired,’ she said when he held out his hand to pull her onto the dance floor.
‘Tired? You? Never!’
‘I am,’ she protested. ‘I’ve been dancing all night.’
She fanned her hot face, unwilling to let him know reluctant she was to take his hand. ‘Ask Aisling.’
‘She’s dancing with Gib.’
‘Honestly, Josh, I’m exhausted,’ Bella tried, but Josh was determined.
‘This isn’t going to require any energy,’ he said as the band struck up a slow tune to give everyone a chance to cool down. ‘We just need to stand there and sway a bit, I’m no good at doing anything else anyway.’
He put out his hand again. ‘Come on, Bella, you can manage that, and it’s only me!’
That’s right, it was only Josh. Bella clung to the thought as she relented and took his hand. Following him onto the floor, she told herself that she could hardly refuse to dance with him. He really would think something was wrong then, and there wasn’t. It was only Josh.
Only Josh’s arms around her. Only Josh’s broad chest tantalisingly close. Only Josh’s cheek resting comfortably against her hair. They had danced like this countless times before, so why was it different now? Why this sudden longing to tighten her arms around his back, to lean against him and press her face into his throat?
Bella swallowed. ‘Great wedding.’
‘You certainly seem to have been having a good time.’ Josh sounded amused rather than jealous. ‘What’s with this new interest in toy boys, Bella? I’ve lost count of the callow youths I’ve seen you reduce to stammering incoherence tonight! You realise you’ve spoilt them for life,’ he went on cheerfully. ‘They’re going to be dreaming about finding a woman like you for years to come, and most of them are going to end up disappointed. You ought to come with a health warning for young men!’
‘It never bothered you,’ said Bella, more sharply than she had intended, and Josh pulled away slightly to look at her with puzzled frown.
‘It was different for me.’
‘I know,’ she said.
Why? she wondered. Why didn’t he desire her like other men? He had never so much as hinted that he wanted her as anything more than a friend. And she would have been appalled if he had, Bella reminded herself honestly.
So why was it suddenly so hard to dance with him like this? It was if something was unravelling uncontrollably inside her, and she didn’t know what it was or how to stop it. She was agonisingly conscious of him as he held her against him, not too close, but close enough to be aware of the solid strength of his body, of the warmth of his hand on her back, and the feel of his fingers curled around hers.
Terrified that she was pressing herself against him, Bella held herself stiffly. Her tongue seemed to be stuck to roof of mouth, and she felt absurdly shy of him. As the silence lengthened, she was even reduced to asking how work was going.
‘Very well,’ said Josh, almost as if he too was relieved at her attempt to break the increasingly tense silence. ‘Things have really taken off since Aisling joined us. With her background at C.B.C.—they’re our major client—she’s been incredibly useful, as she knows how both organisations work.’
‘Really?’ said Bella, trying to force some interest into her voice.
‘There’s a possibility of a big contract coming up. It could be the one that changes everything for us.’
‘Why is it so important?’
‘It would mean expanding internationally,’ Josh told her. ‘C.B.C. are based in Paris, but they’ve got subsidiary offices around the world. We did some work for head office recently, and now they want us to implement the same training system globally.’
Bella perked up a bit, impressed in spite of herself. ‘That sounds cool.’
‘It might be “cool”, but every national office has a lot of independence, and most are very resistant to the idea of trainers being parachuted in from head office. In some countries it’s vital to establish a personal relationship with the senior executives before you start doing business.’
‘You can hardly go around the world introducing yourself to every office!’
‘Quite,’ he agreed in a dry voice, ‘but once a year C.B.C. invite the most successful executives and partners on an all-expenses-paid holiday. It’s mainly intended as a social occasion and a reward for high-achievers, but it also ensures they all share in the same company ethic.’
‘I’d share the ethics of any company that sent me on an all-expenses-paid holiday,’ said Bella, glad that the conversation seemed to be distracting her somewhat from the pulse that beat in Josh’s throat, right where she would most like to rest her face.
‘That’s my Bella, ever the moralist!’
Bella tore her eyes from his pulse. ‘So where do they do all this bonding?’
‘It’s in the Seychelles this year. They’re taking over a hotel on one of the small islands, and C.B.C. suggested that I go along. They think it would be a good opportunity to meet a lot of those people I may have to deal with on a social basis.’
Only Josh could sound glum about being offered a free trip to the Seychelles!
‘Are you going to go?’
He lifted his shoulders as well as he could given that he had one arm round her waist and the other was holding her hand. ‘Those kinds of corporate jaunts aren’t really my thing,’ he said, ‘but Aisling thinks I should go.’
Surprise, surprise, was Bella’s first jaundiced thought. ‘I suppose she’ll be going as well?’
‘Yes.’ If Josh noticed the acid tinge to her voice, he gave no sign of it. ‘She’s the one with all the contacts and she says it’s important for me to meet people and talk