tents of her stomach had gone down the toilet.
‘A piece of work’, he’d called her. As if she were defective—something she’d worked hard with her therapist to convince herself she wasn’t.
Lulu realised her hand was shaking as she pointed out her luggage to the nice airport attendant who had volunteered to help her.
That was something that man from the plane could have been—helpful rather than being horrible to her.
Oh, forget him, she told herself briskly. He’s probably forgotten all about you!
To be honest, as she made her way out into Arrivals with her stick-and-stop trolley, she was feeling a bit desperate, and was looking forward to seeing her fellow bridesmaids, Susie and Trixie. They at least would provide a buffer against the rest of the world.
Right now Lulu didn’t think she could face anything more challenging.
Only ten minutes later she was still scanning the crowd anxiously and wondering if she was even going to get to the castle before Gigi said I do.
She had her phone out to track down the other girls when she was nudged by a new influx of people streaming around her and jostled backwards into a warm, hard body. Incredibly hard. Masculine, judging by the size, the solidity and the weight of the strong hands that settled around her shoulders to steady her.
He said something and Lulu froze.
She recognised that voice.
Dieu, it was the bully from the plane.
Run—run!
But her legs had gone to water. As much as she reminded herself that hostile men didn’t scare her any more—she had rights…she was protected under the law—she still felt incredibly vulnerable. And she hated that feeling. She was trying so hard to be strong.
Which didn’t explain why she’d fastened her gaze on his wide sensual mouth, noticing the shadow along his jaw where he’d clearly shaved this morning and would probably need to shave again later. He was very masculine.
Lulu reminded herself that she didn’t like masculine men. She didn’t like the way they pushed and shoved and shouldered their way through the world and got away with things through intimidation. They made her nervous. Only this man didn’t exactly make her nervous—he made her something else.
It was the something else she was struggling with now, even knowing what a bully he was.
He was also gorgeously tall and broad-shouldered, with a stunning face—all cheekbones and sensuous mouth and golden-brown eyes that looked magnetic against the olive tint of his skin.
His tousled chestnut-brown hair was so thick and silky-looking her fingers just itched to touch it. She made fists of her hands.
She didn’t like him, and he was looking at her as if he didn’t like her very much either.
Good, it was mutual. The not liking, that was.
So what if he looked like…? Well, he looked like Gary Cooper. In his rakish early career, when he’d picked up and slept with every starlet who wasn’t nailed down.
Not Gregory Peck, though. Gregory Peck was reliable and stalwart and…decent. He would never insult a woman.
Stop staring at him. Stop comparing him to Golden Age Hollywood movie stars.
‘Buenas tardes, señorita,’ he said, in a voice that made him sound as if he was making an indecent proposal to her. ‘I believe you’re looking for me.’
Lulu automatically repressed the responsive curl of smoke in her lower belly raised by the sound of his deep and sexy Spanish accent.
No, no, no—he would be lighting no fires in her valley.
She drew herself up. ‘I certainly am not.’
Alejandro was tempted to shrug and walk away, and let the little princesita discover the hard way that he wasn’t trying to pick her up. But in the end he had a duty to perform for a friend and she was it.
She continued to regard him as if he would spring at her, so he extended his hand.