The Wedding Challenge

‘No,’ agreed Bea after the tiniest hesitation. She had thought much the same herself, but when she remembered his mouth, she wasn’t quite so sure.

‘He’s too dour for me,’ Emily went on. ‘You’d never guess he was related to Nick. With a name like Sutherland he must be a throwback to some Scottish ancestors. He could do with lightening up a bit, if you ask me. It might make him less intimidating.’

‘I wouldn’t say that he was intimidating,’ said Bea, thinking about the way Chase had sat at the kitchen table and told her about his brother’s marriage. He hadn’t been friendly exactly, but he hadn’t been quite as dismissive either.

‘That’s because you don’t intimidate easily,’ said Emily. ‘Anyway, I think he likes you.’

Bea sat up and stared across at her friend. ‘How do you work that out?’

‘I noticed him watching you at dinner.’

So Emily had noticed too. Bea had wondered if she was imagining it, or if it had just been chance that whenever she looked up her eyes had encountered Chase’s cool blue ones. His expression had been impossible to read, but she didn’t think it had been one of liking.

‘He was probably just wondering how soon he could get rid of us,’ she said with an unsuccessful laugh.

‘He’d better not have been,’ said Emily, reaching out to switch off the bedside light. ‘I’ve just found the man of my dreams. I’ve got no intention of leaving on Chase Sutherland’s say so!’

When the alarm went off at four-thirty the next morning, Bea sat bolt upright. She had been sleeping uneasily, dreading the moment when it would go off, and now she groped for the clock and switched it off quickly.

Rubbing her eyes, she switched on the little lamp by her bed. There had been no need to worry about waking Emily. She was sound asleep, one arm flung above her head. You could have conducted a rousing rendition of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ under spotlights without her so much as stirring.

It was pitch dark outside and the early morning air was unpleasantly chilly. Bea dressed, shivering. Nobody had told her it could be cold in the outback, and she hadn’t brought a jumper with her. The best she could do was a T-shirt and chinos. Hugging her arms together, Bea cast a last, longing glance at her warm bed and crept down the darkened corridor to the kitchen.

The overhead lights were very bright when she switched them on and she had to screw up her eyes until she got used to them. It didn’t stop her feeling any less of a zombie, though. Her body kept insisting that it had missed out on a good four hours sleep to which it was accustomed, and refused to co-operate as Bea moved blearily around the kitchen, putting on the kettle, laying the table and setting out cereals, and jams for toast.

Chase appeared just before five, and something about the sight of him jerked Bea abruptly awake. His presence seemed to fill the kitchen. Under the harsh overhead light, his features were stronger and more definite than she remembered, but his eyes were as cool and keen as ever.

As they swept over her, Bea was suddenly acutely conscious that her hair was rioting uncontrollably around her head, that she hadn’t so much as washed her face and that she was bug-eyed from lack of sleep. She eyed him with resentment. He made it look as if it was perfectly normal to have breakfast in the middle of the night.

Chase was glad to see that she was up and appeared to have breakfast under control, although she looked less than her usual immaculate self. There was a cross, tousled air to her this morning, and he had a sudden, disturbing awareness that she had just got out of bed.