other guests had already assembled and were enjoying their pre-dinner drinks as the waiters began to lead them to their tables.
‘You’re on table one,’ the same staff member informed her. ‘Come this way.’
Mia followed him to the table where some of the guests were already seated. They sprang to their feet as she approached and congratulated her effusively.
‘Such wonderful news!’
‘I always knew he’d do it some day.’
‘But you’re gorgeous! No wonder he was instantly smitten.’
Mia lapped it up. She felt like a Hollywood movie star. She smiled and took each hand in turn, doing her best to memorise names and faces as each person introduced themselves.
‘Here, sit next to me.’ An older woman called Jocey Myers patted the seat beside her. ‘Bryn will be here soon.’
‘Thank you.’ Mia sat down and settled her gown around her.
‘He’s probably visiting his great-aunt,’ Jocey said in an undertone. ‘Has he told you about her?’
Mia wasn’t sure how to answer. She was supposed to be his fiancée. Surely a fiancée would know just about everything about the man she was about to marry. ‘Um…yes…’
‘She’s not expected to live much longer, poor dear,’ Jocey went on. ‘He doesn’t know I know. I only found out by accident, as my mother-in-law is in the same palliative-care unit.’ She leaned towards Mia conspiratorially. ‘No one at the station knows, of course; it just wouldn’t go with the image, now, would it?’
‘Er—no…’
Mia frowned as she took in the information about Bryn’s relative. She felt as if she’d done him a disservice, assuming he’d been off with one of his lovers when instead he had been sitting by the bedside of a terminally ill relative.
She thought of her own elderly relatives, the extended family that she so adored, uncles and aunts, great-uncles and great-aunts and her three remaining grandparents. They had filled her life with such amazing love and security and given true meaning to the word family.
Jocey tapped her on the shoulder. ‘Ah. here he is now.’
Mia turned to see Bryn approach the table, his tall, commanding stance turning every head in the room. He bent down and, before she could do anything to counteract it, pressed a lingering kiss to her mouth.
‘How’s my beautiful fiancée this evening?’
She gave him a tight smile without answering, but she sent him a message with her eyes which she hoped no one else could see.
His mouth tilted as he tapped her gently on the tip of her nose with the end of one long finger. ‘I can see you’re speechless with love for me. How adorably sweet.’
‘You lucky dog.’ One of the older men thumped Bryn on the shoulder on his way past to the drinks waiter.
‘I told you it would happen eventually,’ another guest said.
‘I thoroughly approve,’ one of the other women said. ‘You should have seen how she handled the media. A natural, if you ask me.’
‘How did you handle the media?’ Bryn asked softly as he sat down beside her.
Mia couldn’t help feeling a little ashamed of her earlier behaviour with the Press. She’d come across as an empty-headed, star-struck bimbo. If only she’d known he was visiting his dying relative. Now she just felt silly and childish.
‘It was a piece of cake,’ she whispered back.
‘Good girl,’ he said and reached for his glass. ‘I’d hate for this children’s charity to be spoilt by a bad Press release.’
Mia stiffened in her seat. Children’s charity? She glanced towards the podium, where a brightly festooned sign portrayed the emblem of the charity for kids with cancer. Bryn’s name was printed there as principle sponsor and another wave of shame passed through her from head to toe.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. ‘You look a little flustered.’
Mia bent her head and stared at her cutlery. ‘I’m not the least bit flustered.’
‘Why are you blushing?’
‘I’m not blushing,’ she denied even as her face felt as if it was going to explode with heat. ‘It’s hot in here.’
‘Let’s go get some air,’ he said and drew her to her feet.
She had no choice but to go with him. The other guests looked on indulgently as he escorted her from the ballroom, a couple of cameras flashing at them as they went past.
He waited until he’d led her into a quiet alcove out of the way of the Press. ‘I’m sorry I was late. I had something to see to.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me you were visiting your great-aunt?’
He frowned down at her, his dark eyes narrowing into slits. ‘Who told you about my great-aunt?’
‘Jocey Myers.’
His features darkened and Mia noticed his hands begin to clench by his sides. ‘She had no right to do that.’
‘I think she had the right to tell me the important details of your life and background,’ she said. ‘I can’t act this role if I don’t know who the other principle character is.’
‘You don’t need to know me. This is all an act. Just run with the script I gave you.’
‘The script you gave me has some very big gaps in it,’ she said. ‘I can’t do this convincingly if I don’t know who you are as a person. No one will believe I have fallen in love with you unless I can prove I know who you really are.’
Bryn thought about it for a moment. ‘All right, I’ll fill you in on some details but they are to go no further. Understood?’
She nodded.
‘Right, then.’ He took a breath and wondered where to start. ‘My parents were killed when I was seven. I hardly remember what they looked like now. My great-aunt Agnes stepped in and brought me up. End of story.’
Mia frowned. ‘But surely—’
‘I don’t remember, OK?’ His eyes hardened as they lasered hers. ‘Now let’s go back and do what we’re here to do.’
‘What exactly are we here to do?’ she asked as she trotted to keep up with his long strides.
‘We’re here to raise a hundred thousand dollars for the Children’s Cancer Ward at St Patrick’s.’
She stared at his back as he started back towards the ballroom. ‘Wait!’ She tugged on his arm and he turned to face her. ‘What do you want me to do?’
He looked down at her mouth for a moment before he tore his gaze away. ‘I told you this afternoon. I want you to act the role of the devoted fiancée. Did you happen to cover that at stage school?’
She lifted her chin. ‘That was in Tricky Relationships 101.’
He threw back his head and laughed.
‘What’s so funny?’ she asked. ‘You don’t think I can do tricky relationships?’
He placed a casual arm around her shoulders as he led her back into the ballroom. ‘I’m beginning to think I’ve seriously underestimated your acting ability.’
‘I told you I can act,’ she said through a forced smile as someone stopped to take their photo.
‘So you did but up until today I hadn’t seen you do it very convincingly.’
‘I was going on instinct rather than experience in Theo’s play.