The Deserving Mistress

But he hadn’t known, really hadn’t realised—or just refused to accept…?—the way he felt about her, until he’d heard himself announce their engagement. And then it had all become amazingly clear, so utterly right that he knew he was fighting a losing battle in trying to leave her. Separation wouldn’t change the way he felt about her, it would only make that separation harder to bear.

How to convince May of that—that was the question.

How ironic. The self-assured, self-contained Jude Marshall, brought to his emotional knees for love of a woman who claimed to feel nothing but physical attraction towards him. It would be funny if it weren’t so heart-wrenchingly painful.

‘Champagne’s on its way,’ he told her lightly as he returned to her side. ‘Cheer up, May,’ he added mockingly, not at all reassured by the paleness of her face. ‘It’s only an engagement, not an actual wedding.’ Persuading May into marrying him was going to be much more difficult.

She shook her head. ‘It isn’t that,’ she breathed huskily, looking past him now, her eyes having taken on a haunted look. ‘April Robine just came down in the lift…!’ she added weakly.

Jude turned sharply, just in time to see April stepping out of the lift, turning to laugh huskily at the person who accompanied her.

Jude’s eyes widened as he saw David Melton follow April into the reception area, knowing by the way that May stiffened at his side that she had

also seen the other man, added two and two together, with the earliness of the hour, and probably come up with the same conclusion that Jude had—David Melton had spent the night at the hotel.

Great. In all the time Jude had been friends with April, which was getting on for six months now, he had never known her to be involved with anyone, romantically or otherwise. And now, when May already had such prejudice against her, April was obviously involved with the film director.

A man Jude still wasn’t a hundred per cent certain that May didn’t have feelings for herself…

Jude turned back to her decisively. ‘It may not be what it looks, May,’ he attempted to reassure her, at once struck by the irony of his protective feelings towards May actually stretching to the point where he didn’t want anyone to hurt her, including another man.

A month ago, a week ago, he wouldn’t have cared one way or the other about anyone else’s actions, would have considered it their own business and no one else’s, but with his newly realised feelings for May he knew that anyone, anyone at all, attempting to hurt her would bring his wrath down upon their head.

Her mouth twisted derisively, a pained look in her eyes. ‘Of course it’s what it appears,’ she snapped dismissively. ‘So tell me, Jude—’ she looked up at him challengingly ‘—what do we do now?’

Good question.

But as he had no idea in which direction he was coming from—to keep April away from the two daughters who had lived in ignorance of her existence for over twenty years, or to punch David Melton on the nose for trifling with May’s affections while so obviously involved with April, a move definitely guaranteed to draw attention to the other couple—Jude really had no idea.

Which was probably another first for him, he acknowledged.

No wonder he had chosen never to fall in love before; at the moment he didn’t know whether he was on his head or his heels, and as for any feelings of positive action…

Chosen to fall in love.

Who was he kidding? There had been no choice involved in loving May; he simply did.

He gave a rueful grimace. ‘We could always invite the two of them to join us for a glass of champagne?’

May glared up at him. ‘Very funny. Now come up with an answer I would find acceptable.’

He didn’t have one. He really didn’t. But very soon the situation was going to be taken out of his hands anyway, April and David moving away from the lift now, which meant that at any moment they were going to see May and Jude standing a short distance away.

And then all hell was going to break loose.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

MAY didn’t have time to wonder what April was doing in the company of David Melton this early in the morning; the fact that April was standing only feet away was what held her immobile.

January and March were sitting in the lounge just across the reception area, and at any moment April might turn that beautiful head and see them there. There was absolutely no chance, once she had seen them, that the actress wouldn’t recognise January and March for exactly who they were; the likeness between the three sisters was as unmistakable as their likeness to April herself.

She looked at April and David, turning slightly to look at her two sisters chatting away happily in the lounge, before turning back to April and David.

May couldn’t breathe. Her head felt light! She was going to—

‘You can’t faint here,’ Jude told her firmly as he took a grip of her arm.

Why couldn’t she? If she were to faint, then—