To Be A Bridegroom

Stazy couldn’t say she exactly liked being used as a smoke-screen, but if she really was here for that purpose Jordan was doing a lousy job of playing her partner! Several people were now giving them more than enquiring looks, and although she had tried to ignore it for the last five minutes a rather attractive couple standing several feet away now seemed as if their curiosity had got the better of them, and they were going to come over and talk to them!

She turned impulsively to Jordan. ‘Would you like to dance?’ she prompted quickly; several other couples besides the bride and groom were on the dance floor.

Jordan looked at her blankly for several seconds—almost as if he had forgotten who she was! The man was doing wonders for her self-esteem. And to think she was trying to help him!

‘Dance, Jordan?’ she repeated. ‘The music plays fast or slow—’ She paused to listen to the band. ‘In this case slow,’ she continued mockingly. ‘And we human beings—strange creatures that we are!—move in time to it. It really is quite easy—’

‘I know what dancing is, Stazy,’ he snapped irritably.

Oh, he knew what it was—he obviously just had no intention of doing it!

Ah, well, she had tried, she told herself as she saw the attractive couple fast approaching them...

‘Enjoying yourself, Jordan?’ It was the man who spoke, tall and dark, arrogantly assured, his glance resting curiously on Stazy as he spoke. A golden-eyed gaze!

Another Hunter, Stazy realised, which meant this had to be the oldest brother, Jarrett. Jordan had at least briefly filled her in on family relations before they came. Good of him! The beautiful dark-haired woman at Jarrett’s side had to be his wife, Abbie, a former model. They had two children around somewhere too, Stazy recalled vaguely—a little girl called Charlie, and a baby boy called Conor.

‘Not particularly.’ Jordan answered his brother curtly, still scowling.

Jarrett smiled, instantly dispelling that air of arrogance. ‘No, I forgot—weddings aren’t your favourite things, are they?’ he drawled before turning to smile warmly at Stazy. ‘I hope you’ll forgive my little brother for not introducing us—he seems to have left his manners at home this evening.’ It was a teasing rebuke, but nevertheless there was a steely edge to it. ‘I’m Jarrett Hunter. And this is my wife, Abbie.’ He put his arm affectionately about his wife’s slender waist.

‘Stazy Walker,’ she returned lightly, allowing herself a smile at Jarrett’s description of Jordan being his ‘little brother’; there was nothing ‘little’ about Jordan, and the two men were of similar height. And, although she knew Jordan was the youngest of the three brothers, at the moment, grimly unsmiling as he was, he looked every one of the thirty-plus years she guessed him to be.

‘Would you care to dance, Stazy Walker?’ Jarrett invited smoothly.

‘I was just about to ask her myself,’ Jordan muttered—evoking a disbelieving look from Stazy as he did so.

He had been about to do no such thing; he’d already ignored her suggestion a few minutes ago that they dance! But he obviously wasn’t happy with the thought of her dancing with his oldest brother—so unhappy about it he was even willing to escort her onto the floor himself in order to prevent it!

‘Too late,’ Jarrett replied lightly. ‘Maybe next time,’ he added tauntingly, a light but firm hand in the middle of Stazy’s back as he guided her towards the other dancers. ‘Why don’t you invite my wife to dance?’ he paused long enough to suggest to Jordan, before whirling Stazy away in time to the music.

Stazy loved to dance, and Jarrett Hunter was a more than capable partner, moving effortlessly in time to the music. But then, she had a feeling this man did most things well; his wife certainly looked contented enough as she and Jordan began to dance together a short distance away, the married couple sharing a glance of humour over Jordan’s shoulder as he still scowled darkly.

Jordan was his own worst enemy, Stazy decided ruefully. He had obviously brought her here for a purpose, as a female partner for the evening, but one he could totally forget about once tonight was over. Behaving in the way that he was, Jordan was leaving himself open to the sort of mockery she was sure his brother Jarrett could dish out by the barrel-load. Not that she thought Jordan would appreciate her telling him as much; he was too immersed in himself—for whatever reason!—to listen to anyone, least of all her!

‘Have you and Jordan known each other very long?’

Ouch. Stazy inwardly grimaced at Jarrett’s casual question. It was obvious—to her, at least; Jordan didn’t seem to have done too much thinking at all!—that Jordan’s family were going to be very curious about the woman he had brought with him to this family wedding. And the Hunter family, from the little she had observed of them, did not appear to be backwards in coming forwards; Jarrett certainly hadn’t been!

She wished she had realised earlier the curiosity her presence here was going to arouse. As early as yesterday, when Jordan had first invited her. Because if she had she wouldn’t have accepted!

‘A couple of months.’ Stazy answered Jarrett evasively. She couldn’t really tell Jordan’s older brother that until yesterday Jordan had barely been aware of her existence! That didn’t do her any favours, let alone Jordan. But, to be fair to herself, if she had realised she would be going to his brother’s wedding reception, she would have made sure she had told him she was busy!

‘Jordan is a little uptight at the moment,’ Jarrett told her.

Stazy looked at him with raised brows. ‘Only at the moment?’

Uptight was not the word she would have used to describe Jordan, but as she didn’t intend meeting any of these people again—including Jordan himself, next-door neighbour or not!—she felt it would be as well if she kept her opinions to herself. Good-looking though he was, Jordan was still one of the rudest, most arrogant men she had ever met. And she had met more than her fair share of them!

‘Weddings have this effect on him,’ Jarrett explained laughingly. ‘Especially family ones,’ he added pointedly.

But his point was lost on Stazy. Unless her earlier guess about a love triangle was correct...?

‘They can be—traumatic,’ she said noncommittally.

‘Are you Canadian or American?’ Jarrett prompted interestedly at her obvious reluctance to respond to his questions.

Trying a different tack, Stazy realised, knowing she had been correct in her assessment of Jarrett being an astute and clever man. As the founder of Hunter’s, a company dealing in hotels and property all over the world, and a director, along with his two brothers, he was unlikely to be anything else! Oh, well, she would play along with this game for a while—until it didn’t suit her to do so any longer.

She smiled at Jarrett, blue eyes glowing with mischief. ‘And until yesterday I had always thought my English education had obliterated most of my American accent!’

He raised dark brows. ‘What happened yesterday to tell you otherwise?’

Jordan had spoken to her—really spoken to her, rather than offering the odd terse greeting—for the first time!

But she wouldn’t tell Jarrett that. After the way he had behaved so far this evening, she certainly didn’t owe Jordan any loyalty, and she was still more than a little annoyed with him for dropping her into this awkward situation with his brother in the first place, but her mother had always taught her that two wrongs did not make a right! She could cheerfully have kicked Jordan in the shin for abandoning her to his brother’s mercy, and she would much prefer the physical satisfaction of administering that kick than getting back at him any other way!

‘When I’m in England people tend to know I’m American,’ she replied, effectively ignoring the probing in his question. ‘But when I’m at home everyone assumes I’m English.’ She gave a rueful shake of her head.

‘Can’t win, hmm?’ Jarrett acknowledged understandingly. ‘Might one ask why, when America has some damned fine schools of its own, you were educated in England?’

One might ask—but one wasn’t about to get an answer! Not in any great detail, anyway. This man missed nothing, she realised, separating the waffle from what was really important. She had made a throw-away comment about her English education—but it was this fact Jarrett had latched onto. Because he knew by asking it he could learn much more about her background—and, hopefully, about her along with it.

She shrugged. ‘Parents tend to make these decisions for their children, don’t they?’ she responded, looking curiously around the crowded room. ‘Talking of parents—which lucky pair are your own parents?’

Jarrett’s mouth twisted as the tables were turned on him. ‘Our parents are divorced,’ he rasped. ‘But my father and stepmother are about somewhere,’ he went on more lightly.

But not his mother... Interesting. Although Stazy could see by the slightly puzzled expression on Jarrett’s face that he thought, if she and Jordan had been seeing each other for a couple of months, she would have known their parents were divorced...

Another oversight on Jordan’s part. Again not her fault. She hadn’t even known Jordan had one brother until this evening, let alone two.

‘It happens.’ She shrugged off the divorce. It did happen, as statistics showed all too often, and the fact that Jordan’s mother wasn’t present at her own son’s wedding hinted at the fact that this one had been acrimonious. ‘Personally, I think it’s much better for people to part if they are unhappy, rather than try and make it work for the children. From what I’ve observed,’ she continued, ‘the kids usually end up more scarred than the parents! ’

Jarrett’s brow cleared. ‘I hadn’t thought of it in quite that way before...’

Because he was too close to the situation, Stazy guessed. Although it was odd that the three Hunter brothers had remained close to their father and not their mother. She wondered if—

No! She did not want to know anything about Jordan or his family. She did not want to get involved. Tonight had been a mistake, and the further—and quicker—she removed herself from it the better!

‘Are you—?’

‘My dance, I believe, Jarrett,’ Jordan told his older brother with satisfaction as he arrived at their side, Abbie Hunter giving Stazy a sympathetic smile as she accompanied him.

Stazy could imagine that while she and Jarrett had been chatting quite amiably Jordan had continued to be his taciturn self as he danced with Abbie. In fact, Jordan had probably spent the time wondering what she and Jarrett were finding to talk about!

‘Mind he doesn’t step on your toes, Stazy,’ Jarrett warned mockingly as he led his wife away.

‘Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit,’ Jordan muttered as he and Stazy began to dance.