The Deserving Mistress

But there was still Jude to introduce to January and March, Max and Will having already greeted their friend, obviously puzzled by his seemingly easy presence here after all the things May had said about him in the past.

‘Jude and I ate dinner together while he continued his campaign of trying to talk me into selling the farm,’ May breezily explained his presence here to her two future brother-in-laws, deliberately ignoring Max’s searching look and Will’s puzzled one; the last time she had spoken to either of these men she had made her feelings concerning the absent Jude Marshall perfectly clear, and now here he was, apparently happily ensconced in her kitchen, after having eaten dinner with her.

‘Jude can be very persuasive,’ Max acknowledged softly.

‘Very,’ Will echoed dryly.

May turned determinedly away from their two knowing glances. ‘January, March, this is Jude Marshall,’ she told her sisters more assuredly.

‘Jude,’ January greeted, shaking his hand guardedly.

‘Did you check the food for slow-acting poison before eating?’ March, with her usual outspokenness, suffered from no such niceties as she beamed him a mischievous smile.

Jude had stood up as the introductions were made, standing a couple of inches taller even than Max and Will, his sheer physical presence completely dominating. ‘I believe you have to be March,’ he murmured appreciatively. ‘I’ve heard a lot about both of you,’ he explained dryly at March’s questioning look. ‘As to the poison, I think May and I have what’s called a truce at the moment,’ he drawled in answer to March’s question, at the same time turning to give May a smile that could only be described as intimately loaded.

May’s eyes widened, and then she frowned. What on earth was he up to now? Whatever it was, she didn’t like it!

‘That’s great,’ Will said with obvious relief.

March nodded as she s

tood at his side. ‘So much better if the best man and the chief bridesmaid don’t have any inclination to stab each other part way through the marriage ceremony!’ she agreed happily, hazel grey-green eyes sparkling with the mischief that was never far from the surface where March was concerned.

‘Best man—’

‘Chief bridesmaid—?’ May gasped over the top of Jude’s own obvious shock.

‘Don’t look so surprised, you two.’ January laughed, obviously a lot happier now than when she had left for her holiday with Max two and a half weeks ago.

For which May was very grateful. January had been very upset after her recent ordeal with a stalker, hence Max’s suggestion of a holiday to help her get over it; it seemed to have worked, January absolutely blooming with happiness now.

‘Who else would we want as our two main witnesses?’ March took up the conversation, grasping both May’s hands in hers. ‘We thought a double wedding at Easter would be rather fun,’ she added encouragingly.

‘Very nice,’ May assured weakly, very happy for both her sisters, but not so happy at the thought of sharing such a family occasion with Jude Marshall, of all people.

Although it had always been on the cards that would be the case; Jude was obviously an extremely close friend of both Max and Will, their business differences over the buying of this farm apart.

‘We would be honoured, wouldn’t we, May?’ Jude answered for both of them, once again flashing her that intimate smile.

It was a smile, after his recent blackmail into having dinner with him tomorrow evening, that May completely mistrusted.

He was enjoying himself, Jude easily acknowledged. January and March were everything that Max and Will had claimed them to be: absolutely beautiful, charming, with an underlying spark of self-determination that so echoed the one he recognised in May.

It was also interesting to see his hitherto confirmed-bachelor friends so obviously deeply in love with these two beautiful women.

But most of all he was enjoying the fact that for once May was completely disconcerted, that the unexpected arrival of her two sisters had so obviously shaken her. To his eyes, at least. He didn’t think that any of the others were aware of it in the same way that he was…

Although there was still the little problem of May having assumed he was behind this surprise arrival of the engaged couples, he acknowledged with a grim tightening of his mouth.

He might be many things, but, despite his previous teasing, he had known all too well that May didn’t want either of her sisters told that she was alone here, and, whether he agreed with that decision or not, he had respected it.

‘So what brought the four of you back here so unexpectedly?’ he prompted casually.

‘You mean, because darling May hadn’t seen fit to tell any of us that she was managing alone here?’ March said dryly with a reproving look at her eldest sister.

Jude gave the middle Calendar sister a look of appreciative respect; obviously these three women had intelligence as well as beauty. Not that he had really doubted that; it would have taken an exceptional woman to attract either Max or Will. It seemed that all three Calendar sisters were that.

May looked uncomfortable at the accusation. ‘There was absolutely no reason to tell any of you—’