Page 90 of The Wedding Proposal
Fiona tried to quell him with a frown. ‘Well! I suppose she thought she was putting me in my place.’
‘Quite,’ agreed Geoffrey. ‘I suppose it gave her some satisfaction not to grasp the olive branch.’
‘Dad,’ said Lucas, ‘if either of you think that that was an olive branch, you have a lot to learn about trees. And as far as putting you in your place is concerned, I think she succeeded.’ He liked the pugnacious side to Elle he’d just seen. He let his eyes follow her. When she let her gaze slide back his way under her lashes he lifted his glass to her in a silent toast and had the pleasure of seeing her flush.
At that moment, Loz appeared in the doorway to the saloon, giggling. Beside her was a tall dark man, brushing his wavy hair out of his eyes and grinning. ‘Elle,’ Loz called across the saloon. ‘Someone here to see you.’
Lucas felt his smile falter as Elle turned and after a stunned instant, cried out in pleasure and pelted across the saloon. ‘Simon! Oh, Simon.’
Simon opened his arms and swept her up into a huge hug. Behind his back, Loz hastily relieved Elle of the wine bottles.
‘Simon?’ said Fiona, blankly. ‘I didn’t realise they were that friendly.’
‘I had no idea that he was over here.’ Geoffrey sounded as if he felt he should have been apprised.
As the rest of the guests gradually stopped craning their necks and returned to their own conversations, Lucas watched Elle and Simon hug and hug, laughing, talking over one another, laughing and hugging again, and he felt as if someone had opened up his chest and let an icy wind breathe over his heart.
Elle looked so happy to see Simon. Though Lucas had once joked about it, there was nothing lover-like about their embrace and nothing in their body language to suggest romantic love. Just open joy and huge friendly hugs.
But he could see something in Elle’s face that made him want to turn away.
It was trust. In Simon’s arms, Elle felt safe.
Elle disengaged herself in the end, still laughing and joking as she collected her wine bottles and prepared to resume her duties.
Simon made his way over to join his family. He shook hands with Geoffrey and Lucas and kissed Fiona briefly on her cheek. ‘Can we talk?’ he said. ‘Loz says we can use the sky lounge.’
They followed him up to a lounge above the main saloon. From its many windows they had an impressive view of the yachts up and down the creek.
Simon seated himself in a black leather chair, took his glasses out of his top pocket and put them on to look keenly around at everybody. ‘Tell me I’m not really the only one that Elle had confided the whole story to.’
A cold lump settled in the pit of Lucas’s stomach. ‘Have you known the truth about Ricky all along?’
‘I believe so.’ Simon shook his head, as if disappointed.
Fiona sat up indignantly. ‘I’m not sure any of us can be held accountable for not being told the truth.’
‘I can,’ said Lucas, rawly. ‘And I’m not proud of myself that she never felt she could confide in me. She went to lengths to conceal from me what she thought I wouldn’t understand. She couldn’t trust me to trust her.’
Geoffrey sighed. ‘I’m afraid you were very hard on her, Fiona. I can see why she didn’t feel she could confide in us.’
Fiona swung on him. ‘Me hard on her?’ she demanded, incredulously. ‘What about you?’
Geoffrey sucked his lips and screwed up his eyes as if weighing up the rights and wrongs of a case. ‘I believe I mainly reserved judgement,’ he decided. ‘You were the vocal one.’
Fiona jumped up in disgust. ‘You’re rewriting history, Geoffrey. You were plenty vocal about her behind the scenes. You just let me be the mouthpiece for us both, as always. For goodness sake, stop being so pompous. Let’s go and get a stiff gin.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Geoffrey, taking refuge in yet more pomposity as he followed her out. ‘Drink scarcely encourages you to watch what you say, darling.’
Lucas was left alone with his uncle. ‘Thanks for being there for her,’ he said. ‘She certainly needed a friend.’
* * *
Elle was tired. Her face ached from smiling and her hands ached from being permanently clenched around the necks of wine bottles.
Her earlier ability to confront and engage felt now as if it had been a dream. Lucas and Simon had disappeared. Fiona had spent most of the party in the company of Loz and Davie and their cocktail shaker, while Geoffrey had found a retired court official and had passed the evening talking shop.
Elle yawned as she put down the wine and retired to the galley. It seemed to her that most people had already drunk their body weight in alcohol and she’d be doing them no favours by pressing more on them. She was loading the dishwasher when Loz trotted in, fingers across her mouth to hide her grin.
