Royals: His Hidden Secret. Kelly Hunter
day than Rafe spiriting Luc away to the vineyard last night and leaving her and Gabrielle to occupy guest-house rooms as per tradition? At least Luc and Gabrielle had spent most of yesterday together.
Simone had spent the day alone with only her thoughts for company.
They’d been decidedly dangerous thoughts.
Soon, Simone would call for coffee and then call to see if Gaby was awake and wanted her company, but for now she remained content to sit in her little guest-room courtyard, with the smell of night jasmine still lingering in the silvery dawn air.
She could do this.
No matter what Rafael’s mood today, or her own mood for that matter, she would do this. For the brother she adored. For Gabrielle with whom she’d shared so many childhood dreams. For her own sake, because she would never forgive herself if she made a mess of the bridesmaid duties bestowed upon her.
She could control her longing for Rafael today. She just had to do something to take the edge off her need beforehand, that was all. Maybe she should have booked a dawn skydive or gone for a quick swim in shark-infested waters. Maybe she still could. How far away was the beach? She padded inside and looked at the tourist leaflet on the bench. The beach was hours away and there was no promise of sharks.
Fine, then, she would just have to think rural. Horses. A spirited stallion with a burning desire to remain unbroken. A wild, beautiful, big-hearted beast who refused every normal rule of engagement and all you had to do was forget the rein and earn his trust and trust him not to hurt you in return. That was if he ever let you get close enough to him to try. But if he did let you close…if he did let you ride…the experience stayed with you for ever and ruined you for all other horses.
‘Bastard stallions,’ she muttered. ‘More trouble than they’re worth.’
She could be good, this day. She could do her duty as Gabrielle’s bridesmaid and her duty to the houses of Duvalier and Alexander both. One day. It wouldn’t kill her to behave for one more day.
Then she would go to war.
‘Your brother’s been pacing my kitchen since 6:00 a.m.,’ said Rafael, when Simone phoned the vineyard at Gabrielle’s urging, ostensibly to get an update on Luc’s frame of mind. ‘I cooked half a pig, a leg of cow and a dozen eggs and he barely managed a slice of Vegemite on toast. That’s gratitude for you.’
‘Show him your winery,’ said Simone.
‘Done that.’
‘I haven’t seen you round these last couple of days,’ she said next. Easy to be fearless from a distance. ‘Inigo even asked if you were deliberately avoiding me—you know how people talk. He seemed to be under the impression that you might be afraid of me. Or something. And that would be a shame seeing as we’re about to become one big happy family.’
Gabrielle snorted. Gabrielle grinned. Gabrielle silently shook her head.
‘I’m not afraid of you, Simone,’ Rafe said curtly. ‘I’m not avoiding you. And I thought we had a truce for today.’
‘Oh, we do,’ she said earnestly. ‘Has it started already?’
‘It’s today, isn’t it?’
‘Does that mean our truce finishes at midnight?’
Silence at that, followed by a curt one-word reply. ‘No.’
‘That’s what I thought. Why don’t we make this a twenty-four-hour truce starting from, say, now?’
‘Fine.’ If the phone could have bit her it would have.
‘Perfect. So what are we going to do about my brother?’
‘He’s driving me almost as insane as you do.’
‘Get him to help you make some wine,’ she offered.
‘I already have. Last night’s vintage has been tried, tested, barrelled, and for evermore shall be known as Bride’s Bane. It’s quite a drop.’
‘Luc better be sober, Rafael, or so help me you’ll both pay.’
‘Trust me, he’s sober,’ he said. ‘But tell me this. What the hell am I supposed to do with him for another six hours?’
‘You mean you don’t have a plan?’ Simone covered the phone with her hand and addressed Gabrielle in a loud whisper. ‘Luc’s fine. Completely relaxed. Not stressing at all.’ She uncovered the handpiece and addressed the angelic man on the other end of the phone. ‘Some best man you are.’
‘I do have a plan,’ he said. ‘Bring the wedding forward five and a half hours and we’ll meet you in the gazebo in twenty minutes. Luc likes it.’
‘It’ll never happen,’ said Simone blithely. ‘Take him to the barber’s instead. The barber can give him a nice close shave.’
‘No can do,’ said Rafael. ‘The days of the close shave are over. I’m the brother of the bride. This wedding’s on. What say we meet you and Gabrielle for brunch? How’s that for not avoiding you? You could come here. There’s bacon.’
‘No.’
‘Lunch, then?’
‘No.’
‘I’ll throw in some fried onions and BBQ sauce?’
‘Feed that man fried onions today and I’ll trim your grapevines to the ground and feed them to nameless ducks.’
‘All right already,’ he said with a long-suffering sigh. ‘No need to labour the point. I’ll name the ducks. Now where can we meet for lunch?’
‘You are so sweet when you’re desperate,’ she said. She’d seen a golf course not far from the guest house. ‘Take him for a game of golf.’
‘Does he play golf?’
‘He can learn.’
‘Golf’s a psychologically demanding game. I don’t know that he should start learning it on his wedding day. It’s unlikely to soothe him.’
‘Then play poker. And put him on the phone.’
‘Later.’ Anyone would think Rafe actually wanted to talk to her. ‘How’s my sister this morning?’
‘She’s an oasis of radiance and calm.’
‘Of course she is. Now try the truth.’
‘Put it this way. Remind me to get married at dawn.’
‘Are you sure you don’t want to meet up for afternoon coffee at, say, three?’
‘Your sister and I will be at the gazebo at six this evening. She’ll be the one in the long white gown.’ Simone rolled her eyes at Gabrielle who was laughing outright now. ‘I’ll be the one trailing behind her in the caramel-coloured sheath and, I promise you, we’ll both be worth the wait.’
‘I hate waiting,’ he said.
Simone grinned. There was something about weddings and truces that appealed to the sadist in her. ‘Don’t we all.’
By five-thirty that afternoon, Gabrielle and Simone were gowned and groomed to radiant perfection, and Sarah had taken over fussing duty.
‘Stop it,’ said Sarah sternly as Simone bent to check the hem of Gabrielle’s gown. ‘It’s my turn. From now on, you both get to stand there and look astonishingly beautiful and I get to do any last minute running around.’
The photographer arrived and started snapping. Harrison arrived and smiled shyly. Simone had met him earlier in the week—a big, spare-framed man with gentle strength, a rough-hewn face and eyes that were almost as blue as his son’s. Rafe didn’t resemble him much, apart from the colour of his eyes. Gabrielle’s resemblance to Harrison was only slightly more pronounced. Both