Beresford's Bride

“Maybe. Zoe loves weddings. All the excitement and glamour. That wonderful feeling of magic in the air. She doesn’t give a lot of thought to after.”

“Then you can count it a miracle she stayed so long with your father.”

“I promise you she did love him,” Toni said out of her deep knowledge of her mother. “And there were the two of us.”

“A daughter thirteen. A son seventeen. Problematic ages, one would have thought.”

“Zoe wasn’t qualified to give advice.”

He glanced at her with a sympathy he couldn’t suppress. “Does she ever show regret?”

Toni rubbed a finger between her arched brows. “One can’t judge Zoe by normal standards. She doesn’t look on broken marriages as failures. More as a way of breaking out of a bad situation. I should warn you, she could bring Patrick when she arrives.”

“So long as she doesn’t bring Akbar.” Amusement showed in his light-struck eyes.

“All right, I was joking about Akbar.”

“Some joke.”

“You believed me?”

He shrugged. “It must have something to do with the fact you’re Zoe’s daughter.”

“A real flake.” That was the general impression before they came to know her.

“The sort of woman to drive men wild.”

It was difficult suddenly to breathe. “I missed out on that talent.”

“I’ve seen nothing to indicate- that so far,” he drawled. “In fact I’m wondering how we’re going to prevent you from upstaging Cate.”

Toni flushed with hurt. “That’s what I call a bit of out-and-out malice.”

“Not at all.” His silver eyes sparkled. “Some weddings I’ve been to the bridesmaid has upstaged the bride.”

“That shouldn’t happen.”

“But it is a problem. I suppose you know Cate has three little flower girls lined up, as well as her four bridesmaids?”

Toni smiled. “She always did say she wanted a large wedding. I know Sally and Tara, of course—” she referred to the Beresford cousins “—but I don’t think I’ve met Andrea.”

“Andrea Benton.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.” She looked at him inquiringly.

“You’ve been out of the country awhile. Andrea’s father has been making the news for the past couple of years. Corporate takeovers, that kind of thing.”

“It doesn’t sound as if you like him.”

“I can promise you I like Andrea.” He let his gaze skim over her. Thinking, She doesn’t miss a thing.

“Should I read something significant into that?”

“You’re welcome to, if you like.” He smiled. “I don’t know that it means anything.”

“Just a friend of the family?” She shifted position so she could look at him. He was the most marvelous-looking man she had ever seen. Supremely self-assured, and it showed.

“Don’t press too hard, Toni,” he warned without sounding riled.

“Why, are you scared of matrimony?”

“That’s right, ma’am,” he drawled.

“Shame on you, Byrne. And you don’t like to get yourself into critical situations?”

“You’d better believe it.” He took his eyes off the control panel to stare at her. “There are no scandals in the Beresford family.”

“None whatsoever?” She couldn’t resist it. “Didn’t your granduncle have a mistress called Dolly?”

He laughed all of a sudden, and the laughter stayed in his eyes. “Lord, yes, I’d forgotten all about Dolly.”

“It’s what’s called selective memory. But I suppose if we stuck Dolly into the cupboard you’d have been a very worthy family. Maybe a bit starchy.” What the heck was she doing, being so irreverent?

“Okay, Antoinette, you’ve had your little bit of fun.”

“Only because you’re being pretty mean to me.”

He gave her a glance that spangled. “I’m sorry.”

She felt a kind of heat spread in her. “Okay, apology accepted. Anyway, I can’t talk. I have no immediate plans to get married, either. I’m a bit like you. I’m runnin’ scared.”

She hoped she might have tweaked his ego, but he laughed. “I guess I asked for that. Was it so bad moving in your mother’s circle?” he asked with surprising sympathy.

“Awkward.”

“If you needed money to come home, you only had to ask.”

“Do you honestly think I’d have approached you, Byrne?”

“You had Kerry.”

She paused, reflecting. “I don’t think Kerry and I will ever get back to what we were.”

“That’s nonsense!” He gave her a disapproving look. “He loves you.”

“He did when we were growing up. But somehow when I wanted to join Zoe he came to believe the Zoe side of me would triumph. It is scary the way I look like her. I even talk like her sometimes.” She smiled wryly. “Kerry never did identify with Zoe. He’s a Streeton through and through. In some ways, too, Kerry left Zoe out in the cold. He was very critical of her and her be-haviour from an early age. I think he felt shamed when Zoe flirted with every man in sight. He didn’t understand. Flirting is natural to her. She can’t stop it. After Zoe divorced Dad, Kerry. turned against her completely. I’m not defending Zoe for what she did, but I can see some things from her point of view.”

“Of course,” he conceded. “I would expect you to be loyal to your mother.”