Best Friend...Future Wife

Best Friend...Future Wife
Claire Baxter

Della has always been in love with her childhood friend Luke, with his charming smile and his gorgeous gray eyes. Trouble is, Luke's only ever wanted to be friends. And when he moved overseas she lost even that. Then Luke unexpectedly returns home, and lights up Della's world all over again.Della must make an agonizing decision–reveal her true feelings to Luke and risk rejection, or keep them hidden forever, never knowing what they could have had…

Best Friend…Future Wife

Claire Baxter

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

For Raelene—for the constant encouragement

and unconditional friendship

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

‘PLEASE don’t let it be Tom,’ Della Davis muttered when her mobile phone rang.

She reached into her handbag with one hand and skilfully steered the car around the corner with the other. She didn’t need another call from Tom Dermont, client from hell. She’d spent most of the day dealing with him, and he’d turned her mind to mush.

After coming to a standstill in the side street, she delved deeper into the large leather bag. Retrieving the phone from the very bottom, she steeled herself to see the caller’s ID. If it was Tom again, she’d scream. Better yet, she’d resign.

The phone stopped ringing as she flipped it open. Great. She closed it with a snap and dropped it into her lap, sorely tempted to switch it off. But her conscience wouldn’t let her. Nor would she resign. She had too much to lose, including the promotion she’d worked so hard for.

Still, she’d had enough of Tom for one day—her least favourite person at the best of times and, in a PR crisis like today’s, her worst nightmare.

‘Remind me why I love my job,’ she said out loud.

Silence was the only response, and she shrugged, wincing at the stiffness in her shoulders. She needed a relaxing soak in her favourite lavender-scented bath foam.

Rolling her shoulders slowly, she pictured herself collapsing into bed…but not to sleep. Not to do anything normal people did in bed. Fat chance. She’d brought piles of work home, and she’d be sitting up with it till she fell asleep on the laptop. Again.

A beep from the phone made Della jump. Accessing her voicemail, she sighed with relief at the sound of her best friend’s bright tones. She rang Lyn straight back. Just what she needed. The perfect antidote for the way she felt.

Lyn answered on the first ring. ‘I’m in the car,’ she said.

Della heard the familiar background track of Jamie, aged four, singing at the top of his voice and Cassie, six months, drowning him out with her wails.

‘I have big news,’ Lyn said.

Della rolled her eyes, but smiled at Lyn’s excitement. ‘Where are we going this time?’

‘Where are we going?’

‘I have more than enough shoes, Lynnie, so I hope it’s not another—’

‘No, no. It’s not a sale. Not this time. Luke’s coming home. For good.’

It took a moment for Lyn’s words to register. Della blinked at the phone. ‘What did you say?’

‘Shock, isn’t it? Good one, though. I can’t wait to see him.’

Too stunned to speak, Della wondered what she’d done to deserve this. On top of everything else. Today of all days.

‘Shock’ was an understatement. Oh, she’d known Luke would come home one day. He’d always said he wouldn’t stay overseas for ever. But she’d expected to have some notice. Time to prepare herself before seeing him again. With his wife.

‘Dell, hon? Are you there?’

Della snapped out of her trance. After years of hiding her feelings from Lyn, the last thing she needed was to give herself away now.

‘Coming home?’ Her voice sounded almost normal. ‘You mean he and Yvonne are going to live here?’

‘Had enough of living in India, apparently. Moving back to little old Adelaide and his loving family.’ Lyn laughed. ‘Incredible, isn’t it?’

‘It’s—’ Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She tried again. ‘When?’

‘You know my brother,’ Lyn said. ‘Loves his surprises, doesn’t he? He rang from Melbourne while waiting for a connecting flight. So, Mum wants you there for dinner tonight.’

‘Tonight…’ Della’s brain had gone into overload. It simply couldn’t cope. She didn’t know what to say.