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sure he would. But I can’t use men like you do, Louise. I’m not cut out for it. I’d fall in love and have my heart broken all over again.’

      ‘You’re right. You would.’

      Both girls fell silent for a while.

      ‘You really think I use men?’ Louise asked finally.

      Charlotte sighed. She loved Louise. The girl had been a good friend to her. But she was awfully hard on the opposite sex. She believed none of them were capable of true love, only true lust, which Louise estimated had about a six-month shelf-life. She and Brad had been together for just on six months.

      ‘Brad really loves you, Louise.’

      Louise snorted. ‘I know what Brad loves. That’s why I’m dating him. Man, but that guy is good in bed. And he can go all night.’

      ‘Really? All night?’

      ‘He’s awesome,’ Louise said with feeling in her voice.

      ‘If Daniel doesn’t work out, maybe you could lend me Brad for a night,’ Charlotte quipped.

      ‘Over my dead body, girl.’

      ‘See? You love him,’ Charlotte said, and glanced up at her friend. ‘It’s not just sex.’

      Louise stopped painting on the colour for a second. ‘Yeah. I probably do. But I don’t intend telling him that. Not yet, anyway. I want to see what he does after the gloss wears off. Which should be any day now. But back to you, lovey dovey. Why don’t I fix you up with one of Brad’s mates in a week or two? He’s got plenty.’

      Charlotte didn’t doubt it. Brad was a very outgoing guy with loads of energy and a great sense of humour.

      ‘I don’t think so, Louise. I think I’ll just forget about dating for a while.’

      ‘Don’t leave it too long. You know what they say. When you fall off a horse, you should get right back on again.’

      Charlotte didn’t respond to this advice. She suspected that Daniel would be the straw that broke her back where men were concerned. She sat there in silence, fiddling with the diamond and sapphire engagement ring Gary had given her, and which she was forced to keep wearing, at least till after the wedding.

      The wedding…

      A wave of depression suddenly swamped her as she realised the utter futility of today. And tonight. Any silly hope that she was going to suddenly blossom seemed ludicrous. Blonde or brunette, she was the same girl who’d been consistently dumped and cheated on by her boyfriends in the past. The same clueless Charlotte.

      By tomorrow morning, Daniel would be relieved that he wasn’t coming on the honeymoon with her. He’d probably be bolting for the bridal-suite door before breakfast, only too happy to leave her to her misery.

      Charlotte’s sucked-in sobs had Louise dropping the brush back into the basin and running round to kneel in front of her friend.

      The sight of her best friend’s flooded eyes brought a huge lump to her throat. Truly, she could be such a fool at times. She should have anticipated how fragile Charlotte would be this morning.

      ‘There there,’ she said softly. ‘I’d give you a hug, except I’d end up with a walnut-coloured face. You don’t want your chief bridesmaid looking like she bought a cheap tanning product, do you?’

      A watery smile broke through Charlotte’s tears. ‘I guess not.’

      ‘Look, I know today is going to be hard for you, Charlotte, but just keep remembering why you’re doing it,’ she said encouragingly. ‘You said you couldn’t bear to hurt your folks. Nothing else matters today, does it? Not really.’

      ‘You’re right,’ Charlotte returned, dashing her tears away with her hands. ‘I’m being pathetic. And so typically female. Don’t worry, Louise. I’ll be fine. Get back to my hair. I want to be the most beautiful bride I can be today. I want my mum and dad to feel nothing but pride.’

      ‘Atta girl!’ Louise said, thinking privately that that wouldn’t be too hard.

      Dear Daniel was in for one big surprise when he saw Charlotte. He might have lusted after her yesterday. But today, the bride was going to lift the groom’s desire to another level entirely!

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      ‘SO, GARY, is this the first time you’ve been married?’

      Daniel stopped tying his bow-tie to give his supposed best man a thoughtful glance.

      Brad was in his mid-twenties, a tall, lean guy with sandy hair and a cheeky grin. A real-estate assessor, he’d been dating Charlotte’s best friend for about six months, despite being a decade younger. He seemed intelligent, and highly amused by something. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what.

      ‘OK, Brad,’ Daniel returned, ‘let’s cut the crap. You obviously know the real deal here, so you can forget calling me Gary. In private, that is. My name is Daniel,’ he said, extending his hand for the second time. ‘Daniel Bannister.’

      Brad grinned as he shook it. ‘Great to know you, Dan. Sorry about the charade. I can never resist a laugh. But for what it’s worth, I think what you’re doing for Charlotte is real neat. She’s a great girl. You sure you don’t want to marry her for real?’

      Daniel smiled. ‘Apart from the legalities which could not be overcome at such short notice, I don’t think that would be a very sensible thing to do. I only met Charlotte yesterday,’ he finished, and went back to tying his tie.

      ‘So what? I knew within minutes of meeting Lou that she was the girl for me. What a hot babe! Trouble is she’s a tough cookie. Been burnt a few times. But I’m going to marry her one day, no question about it.’

      ‘Have you asked her?’

      ‘Sure. The very first week. Lou laughed so hard and for so long that I decided not to ask again for a while. She says younger guys are good for only one thing and it’s not marriage.’ He grinned again. ‘But I’m making headway. We sometimes spend time together out of bed now.’

      Daniel had to laugh. But the word ‘bed’ propelled his mind to tonight. A lot rested on tonight. Frankly, he’d never felt such sexual pressure. Today was proving to be much more stressful than he had anticipated.

      ‘To answer your first question,’ he said, undoing his slightly lopsided tie and starting again, ‘no, I’ve never been married before.’

      ‘So you’re on the market, eh, Dan?’

      ‘I’m a bachelor, yes.’

      ‘How old are you, exactly?’

      ‘Thirty-six.’

      ‘Girlfriend back home?’

      ‘Not at the moment.’

      ‘Lou says you’re a lawyer. A well-heeled one by the look of you.’

      ‘I’m comfortably off.’

      Rather an understatement of his financial status.

      ‘Comfortably off’ would have been an accurate description of Daniel’s wealth prior to his investing in a movie four years earlier. At the time, one of his female clients—a middle-aged actress—had just been dumped by her producer husband. When she showed him this script she’d bought and which she claimed would revitalise her career, Daniel had read it more out of sympathy than anything, but found himself totally engrossed. He’d invested as much as he could find in it, and talked all his partners into putting up the rest.

      The independently made thriller had gone on to be a huge hit and the money had been rolling in ever since.

      ‘I’ve made a few wise investments over the years,’ he added.

      Brad chuckled. ‘You’re a cool dude, aren’t you? What

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