The Wedding Surprise

‘I was.’ Her chin rose as she stared him straight in the eye.

Aiden stared right back. ‘It has to happen for all this to be convincing.’

An eyebrow quirked. ‘Next you’ll be suggesting we sleep together for the sake of realism. I didn’t sign up for that kind of a show.’

The male hormones in his body transmitted a very vivid mental image from her words, and Aiden frowned. Six months alone had made him a raging sex maniac all of a sudden?

‘Honey, you’d better watch that head of yours doesn’t get too large for the doorways in this place.’

‘I am not kissing you while that beard is there, so you can forget it!’

‘You’re prejudiced against beards for some reason?’

‘As a matter of fact, I am.’

‘Because…?’

He waited patiently for an explanation, filling the time by stirring the bubbling beans in the saucepan in front of him.

When there was no explanation volunteered he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. ‘Well?’

Caitlin was annoyed by how easily he made her angry. She was usually cool, calm and collected. Occupational necessities when restaurants were full and head chefs were yelling in hot kitchens. But Aiden could raise a spark in her from a glance, a single statement—from several spots of tomatoey sauce on her cooker-top.

‘Well, what?’

He removed the pan from the hob and said nothing.

Caitlin sighed in frustration. ‘They scratch.’

He hid a smile as he removed toast from the grill and laid it on two plates.

‘And they do actually cause rashes on sensitive skin.’

Another mental picture formed. ‘You never did get round to showing me that.’

Her mouth quirked at the edges. ‘And neither will I.’

‘Spoilsport.’

The quirk became a smile as she moved closer to watch his attempt at arranging cheese on beans on toast to make it look appetising. When she was right by his shoulder she lowered her voice and asked, ‘Aiden Flynn, are you flirting with me?’

Aiden continued concentrating on his masterpiece. ‘Is it working?’

She leaned in close to his ear to whisper, ‘No.’

He smiled as he sprinkled the last of the grated cheese. ‘Well, then obviously I’m not.’ Lifting a plate, he turned to wave it beneath her nose while looking into her eyes. ‘Because if I was flirting with you it would be working.’

Caitlin’s dark eyes studied his too blue eyes just inches from hers. She searched for answers, for the reasons behind his Jekyll and Hyde personality. But all she could see looking back at her was a warm sparkle of challenge. As if it was some kind of game to him. Maybe it was. Maybe his way of coping with the next few months was to make it ‘fun’. He obviously hadn’t as much to lose as she did if it didn’t work.

‘I need this thing to work, Aiden.’

He blinked long dark lashes at her with a question in his eyes. ‘The show?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why is it so important?’

She avoided his questioning eyes with a downward glance at the plate. ‘It just is.’

Aiden had read her questionnaire for the show and memorised over and over the study guide from the night before. ‘You want your own restaurant that badly?’

‘As badly as you want to fund whatever it is you need a year off work for.’

He continued to hold a steady gaze as she looked back into his eyes. It was what he’d filled in on his own questionnaire. And it was half true, in a way. He needed what the show would bring him to take time to fulfil a promise. To complete a legacy. On the form all he’d said was ‘to fund a career break’. But the words didn’t even cover half of the story.

The look in her eyes said she wanted to know more.

Aiden wasn’t ready for even half an answer. ‘It’s important to me too.’

She seemed to think about pushing him for an explanation, but with a shrug of her shoulders she let it go. ‘Then we’re together on this?’

‘I guess we are.’

A small nod, and then she reached out to take the plate from him. ‘Then maybe you should stop making this into a game of some kind.’

‘That’s my doing, is it?’

‘Isn’t it? All this word-play you have us doing?’

‘A game is exactly what this thing is. Why shouldn’t it be fun along the way?’

Because there was too much to lose.

Avoiding his ridiculously blue eyes, she turned and took her plate to the table overlooking the small outdoor courtyard. ‘For us both to win we need to work together. To concentrate on what we’re doing. With no distractions. And we can’t do that if you keep playing with words and taunting me.’

‘Oh, I see.’ He picked up his own plate and moved across to join her. ‘We should run it like some kind of military campaign, should we? Every word and gesture rehearsed ahead of time?’

‘Yes.’ She frowned at him as he sat down and handed her a knife and fork. ‘We have to plan for every eventuality.’

He thought about her words for a few moments, then asked in a calm voice, ‘Is that how you run your life? Everything planned out in advance?’

‘It makes sense.’ She continued frowning at him. His lack of approval was evident. ‘You set yourself goals, targets to aim for, and you work ’til you get there. I suppose that’s very alien to you and your bohemian approach to a career?’

‘You can’t plan for everything. No matter how you try to. That’s life.’ He spooned a forkful of food into his mouth, chewed a couple of times, and continued talking with his mouth full. ‘You should know that from what happened to your fiancé.’

His words were like a blow to her chest and she felt her eyes stinging angrily. ‘How dare you?’

Pushing her chair back from the table, she glared down at him from above. ‘How dare you throw that at me like it was some little glitch in my great plan for life? Some little wobble that I should have planned for!’