LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER ONE

      ‘THERE’S Bella.’ Aisling nudged Josh, and he turned in the pew to see Bella and Phoebe hurrying down the aisle.

      As befitted best friends of the bride, they had pulled out all the stops. Phoebe was dark and striking in an acid-yellow suit, while Bella had gone for a more romantic look in what Josh inexpertly assessed as a floaty pink number, with a spectacular hat that was clearly intended to knock all the others in the congregation into the shade.

      Josh didn’t pretend to know about such things, but even he could see that she had probably succeeded. Even Aisling’s hat, which had made him raise his brows when he first saw it that morning, seemed tame in comparison. Typical Bella, he thought affectionately. She had always had the ability to turn heads, with or without a hat.

      Phoebe waved as she spotted Josh and Aisling, and pointed Bella in their direction before heading up to have a word with her husband, Gib, who was best man and waiting with a very nervous Finn in the front pew.

      Josh saw Bella register his presence, and an odd expression flitted over her face. It even seemed to him that she hesitated before sliding into the pew beside them, and his brows drew together slightly. Bella was his best friend, but she had been oddly distant recently.

      ‘Sorry I can’t kiss you,’ she said, indicating the enormous brim of her hat. ‘This isn’t designed for close contact.’

      ‘Yes, it is a bit awkward, isn’t it?’ Josh ducked underneath to kiss her cheek, anyway, and was sure he felt her tense at the touch of his lips.

      He frowned as he drew back. ‘Is everything OK?’

      ‘Yes, of course,’ said Bella, but he noticed that she didn’t meet his eyes as she leant round him to greet Aisling. ‘You know what weddings are like,’ she went on, sitting back. ‘There’s always some last-minute panic when things get a bit tense.’

      Just a fraught morning, then, thought Josh, telling himself that explained the unusual brittleness of her smile. ‘How is Kate?’

      ‘A bit jittery, but she’ll be fine. She should be here any minute.’

      On his other side, Aisling leant forward to talk across him. ‘I’m surprised you’re not Kate’s bridesmaid, Bella,’ she said. ‘You are her best friend, after all.’

      ‘So is Phoebe.’ Bella’s tone was cool. ‘And Kate’s not very tall. She’d look ridiculous with both of us towering over her.’

      ‘Yes, but Phoebe’s married.’

      ‘So?’

      ‘So as the only unmarried friend left, it would have been quite natural if Kate had chosen you as her bridesmaid,’ Aisling tried to explain.

      ‘Oh, I think I’m a bit old for that, don’t you?’ said Bella pleasantly enough, but sitting between the two women Josh could feel a distinct undercurrent of tension.

      ‘I wouldn’t have thought so,’ said Aisling. ‘You can’t be much more than thirty-five, surely?’

      Josh cleared his throat and shifted in the pew. Aisling was treading on dangerous ground. Bella was very sensitive about her age for some unfathomable reason.

      Glancing sideways, he saw Bella’s blue eyes narrow beneath the brim of her hat. ‘Not quite,’ she said thinly. ‘As it happens, I’m only thirty-two.’

      And she shot a glance at Josh which said more clearly than words ever could that he wasn’t even to think about adding ‘nearly thirty-three’.

      ‘Really?’ Aisling was tactlessly surprised. ‘I always thought you’d be more Josh’s age since you were students together.’

      ‘No, Josh was a bit older than the rest of us when he started,’ said Bella grittily, and Josh decided it was time to change the subject.

      ‘Is Kate not having any bridesmaids then?’ he asked hurriedly.

      ‘Alex is going to have the starring role all to herself. Alex is Finn’s daughter,’ Bella added for Aisling’s benefit. ‘She’s absolutely thrilled—more excited than Kate, I think! She couldn’t stand still while we were helping Kate get ready.’

      She smiled at the memory. ‘It’s much more appropriate for Kate to have her stepdaughter, and anyway, if I’d been bridesmaid I wouldn’t have been able

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