The Deserving Mistress

‘Congratulations!’ Will was the first of the four newcomers to find his voice, moving forward to kiss May lightly on the cheek before shaking Jude warmly by the hand. ‘Looks like the Calendar charm worked its magic again,’ he added with a grin.

May was still staring at Jude, totally transfixed. Why on earth had he said something so stupid? Worse, how did he think they were ever going to be able to extricate themselves from such an announcement?

More to the point, what good had announcing their engagement done towards encouraging her sisters and their fiancés to leave the hotel?

‘Welcome to the family, Jude.’ January moved on tiptoe to kiss him lightly on the cheek before turning to hug May.

‘Welcome, Jude.’ March nodded, a little more reserved in her congratulations towards him, although she gave May a rib-crushing hug seconds later.

Only Max, it seemed, with his added astuteness from his conversation with May earlier this morning, sensed that something wasn’t quite right about this situation, his brows raised questioningly at May over March’s shoulder.

She gave a barely perceptible shake of her head; she had no idea what was going on, so how could she possibly even begin to explain it to Max?

Jude, the instigator of this situation, still seemed totally nonplussed by his own behaviour, although the dazed look was starting to leave his face now as his expression became more unreadable by the second.

‘It’s a little early, but I think champagne is in order, don’t you?’ Will announced happily.

May glared at Jude, still willing him to say something, do something, to get them all to leave. Although, going on his last effort, perhaps he had better not bother.

She turned back to the others. ‘We’re hardly dressed for it, are we?’ she dismissed lightly with a pointed grimace at their disreputable clothing; Jude was the only smartly dressed one amongst them. ‘I thought we would all go back to the farm—’

‘And break up the party?’ Jude smiled, finally seemed to have found his voice, moving closer to May now as his arm moved lightly about her waist. ‘Champagne sounds like a wonderful idea.’

‘I’ll go and ask the receptionist to bring us some.’ Max spoke quietly. ‘Would you like to come with me, May?’ he prompted softly.

May gave him a grateful smile; even a few moments’ respite from what was turning into a complete farce would be welcome.

‘It doesn’t take two of you to order champagne, Max,’ Jude was the one to answer him before May even had a chance to do so, his arm tightening about her waist. ‘Besides, the road to love has been rather a rocky one, and I’m loath to have May away from me for even a few seconds,’ he added huskily. ‘She may just change her mind between here and the reception desk,’ he added with a challenging look in her direction.

Change her mind! Making her mind up in the first place would have been rather nice.

Not that she thought for a moment that this engagement was meant to be a real one. She wouldn’t be feeling so desperately unhappy if it were.

She had known after last night how deeply in love she was with Jude. Completely. Utterly. There was no way she would have responded to him in the way she had if she weren’t. Which was why his announcement just now, made for appearances’ sake only, gave her such an aching pain in the region of her heart…

‘May and I will go and order the champagne,’ Jude assured the other man. ‘You all make yourselves comfortable. We won’t be long.’

Long enough, May hoped, for her to tell him exactly what she thought of his effort to help the situation—it was now ten times worse.

‘Wait,’ Jude instructed as May turned to him as soon as they had left the lounge.

‘You—’

‘I said wait, May,’ he repeated tautly, having been expecting this verbal reprimand as soon as they were alone, but nevertheless choosing to delay it for a few more minutes. ‘In fact, wait here while I order the champagne.’ He grasped her shoulders to halt her several feet short of the reception desk, walking on alone.

Not that he didn’t think May had a perfect right to be furious with him for having announced their engagement in that unexpected way; he had been more than a little stunned by it himself.

But having once made the announcement, he had begun to realise that he actually liked the sound of it, that the thought of being engaged to May wasn’t an unpleasant prospect at all. In fact, the more the idea sank in, he realised it was exactly what he wanted.

He had been fighting his feelings for her for days now, choosing to put many different labels on his behaviour rather than face up to the real reason he felt so protective towards her. He had even thought, by leaving this morning, that once May was out of sight she would also be out of mind. What an idiot!

He was in love with May Calendar…

The thought of not seeing her, not being with her, even not arguing with her, was a completely unpalatable one.

If she hadn’t arrived at the hotel in the way that she had, how far would he have got? To the motorway? All the way to London? Or would he have got as far as the borders of Yorkshire and realised that in leaving May he had left the most important part of himself behind?

The latter, he now believed…