To Love Honour and Disobey

Ana felt the clumsy, gawky, overgrown teen inside her tear off her superficial layer of mature, confident adult. Suddenly she was sure that if she tried to take so much as a step she’d probably trip over, or bang into the corner of a table. That if she tried to talk it’d be some squeak of stupidity. That her feet were bigger than Ronald McDonald’s.

This girl was a flawless diamond, and Ana was an oversized lump of coal.

She didn’t even look at Ana. At least, not initially—not while she was busy leaning into him with the brilliant smile in place, utterly Miss Effervescent. Then she turned her head, still pressing into Seb, and subjected Ana to a totally different sort of smile. The sort that was still vivacious but that held none of the flirtation and all of the challenge. Oh, yes, the petite piranha had her teeth in and she wasn’t letting go.

‘Ana, this is Cassie. Cassie, Ana.’

Ana was surprised he could still speak given the way the woman had invaded every inch of his airspace.

‘Ana? How lovely to meet you!’

Oh, could she be more sparkly? Ana felt snark in every cell but she managed an almost smile and waited for her to let go of Seb.

She soon realised she was going to be waiting a long, long time.

‘It’s been too long, darling!’ Cassie was patting his chest—stroking, in fact. ‘You’ve been working too hard. You obviously need to have some more fun.’ There was a flashing look beneath her lashes at Ana then—a flash of a knife. ‘When are we hitting the club scene again? Later tonight?’

And Seb, damn him, was smiling right back, his lazy charming smile, and he wasn’t stepping away from her full-frontal contact.

‘Not tonight, Cass. This wedding is enough excitement for one day.’

Ana watched the pout of disappointment and then the resurgence of that brilliant smile as Cassie tried to secure his company for another night. Was she an octopus? She had hands everywhere.

‘I’m sorry.’ Seb shook his head. ‘Will you excuse me? I have to go grimace for some photos.’ Seb finally put his hands on Cassie’s and removed them from where they seemed to be smoothing over his entire torso.

Photo call, huh? Ana was jealous—of that and a lot of other things right now. He’d better not be planning on leaving her with this predator.

‘You two have a lot in common.’ Seb actually managed to tear his gaze from the lovely blonde one and look at Ana. ‘Cassie loves accessories.’

Yeah, of the tall, dark and handsome variety. And he really was leaving her—walking off with a look of total, possibly evil, amusement. Ana stared after him, tossing an imaginary dagger or two into his back. Then she turned to face the ultimate in competition. She might as well roll over and surrender now.

‘Have you known Sebastian a while?’ The petite piranha was quick to skewer her with the smile and the questions.

‘Yes,’ Ana said carefully. ‘A little while.’

‘We go way back. We’re very close.’

Ana just bet they were. ‘How lovely.’

There was a moment when they smiled insincerely at each other.

‘You’ve a fabulous tan for this time of year,’ Cassie then commented. ‘Gosh, I just couldn’t go in the sun like that. I wouldn’t want to damage my skin.’

‘No? Shame.’ Ana smiled sweetly. ‘We’ve just got back from Africa.’ And it had been so worth the skin damage, darling, she added under her breath.

‘Africa?’ Cassie’s sharp eyes narrowed. ‘With Sebastian?’

‘Yes.’ Desperate to put this woman in her place, she couldn’t resist recklessly adding, ‘It was our honeymoon.’

‘Your honeymoon?’

For one second, absolute triumph zapped through Ana. Unfortunately it was instantly zapped by a regret so awful she felt sick. She wanted to retract. Immediately she drained her glass and escaped to the bathroom. But when she walked out five minutes later she saw blondie in earnest conversation with Sebastian’s mother.

Oh, no.

She met the ice-cool gaze of his mother with a flush, helplessly watched as the older woman turned and went to Seb, interrupting the photo call as she asked the question.

By rights the glass windows should all have shattered. The decibel of the shriek certainly had all heads turning.

‘You’re married.’ His mother’s voice carried clearer than a bell.

Seb, standing to the right of his father, turned and looked across at Ana. She lifted her head, meeting his eyes full on and determined to hold onto her justification. She had some somewhere—didn’t she?

And all of a sudden she was trapped between him and his mother, who was firing questions machine-gun style.