His Summer Bride: Becoming Dr Bellini's Bride / Summer Seaside Wedding / Wedding in Darling Downs

‘Then you’ll be disappointed. I won’t forgive you for holding back from me. You let me down. You betrayed my trust… my faith in you. I’d begun to think you were someone I could believe in, but it turns out you’re no different from any of the other men in my life.’

His head went back at that and sparks flared in his eyes, as though she had slapped him. A moment later, though, he recovered himself and said in an even tone, ‘I can see I’ve a lot of fences to mend. I hoped you would understand that I did what I felt was right. I had to keep my promise to your father.’

She gave an indifferent shrug. ‘That’s as may be. I’m not disputing that. You made your choice and you stuck by it. That’s fine. Just don’t expect me to agree with you. If you had any thought for my feelings at all, you would have warned me. Instead, you let me blunder on, thinking I actually had a father who loved me but who had simply made a mistake.’ Her jaw clenched. ‘But, of course, it turns out that I was the mistake. That’s laughable, isn’t it? The offspring who really mattered to him are standing over there, talking to his lawyer.’ Her gaze was steel sharp. ‘You colluded with him.’ She gave an imitation of a smile. ‘I must have thrown the cat among the pigeons, turning up here out of the blue.’

His mouth compressed. ‘You know I’m not to blame for any of that, Katie. You’re putting the sins of your father onto me. Don’t you think you’re mixing things up in your head just a little?’

‘No, I don’t. Not at all.’ Her mouth tightened. ‘You should have told me, and you could at the very least have persuaded my father to tell me, instead of leaving things until it was too late.’

She started to turn away from him. ‘I’m going to talk to Libby for a while,’ she said, ‘and maybe I’ll go and help myself to something from the buffet.’ She threw him a warning glance. ‘I hope that doesn’t mean you’ll feel obliged to butt in there as well.’

A muscle flicked in his jaw. ‘You’re mistaking concern for interference, Katie. I only want what’s best for you.’

Katie’s mouth twisted. ‘Whatever. I don’t need your help or your concern. It’s way too late for that.’ She walked away from him, going over to the buffet table where Libby was standing alone, looking lost. She had to get away from him.

The truth was, she still could not sort out in her mind where everything had gone wrong. He had stolen into her heart and she had glimpsed a snapshot of how wonderful her life might be with him as part of it. She had begun to care for him and those feelings lingered on, in spite of herself. It wrenched her heart to know what a fool she had been to fall for him.

Natasha came to join them a minute or so later. ‘I’m just going to grab a quick bite to eat and then I’ll go and fetch Sarah down from upstairs.’ She bit into a cheese topped cracker, savouring it as though she hadn’t eaten for hours.

Katie frowned. ‘Who’s Sarah?’ she asked.

‘Oh, of course, you don’t know, do you?’ Natasha smiled. ‘She’s my little girl. I laid her down in the cot upstairs before you arrived. Even with the excitement of a house full of people, she was ready for sleep.’ She helped herself to a sandwich. ‘I thought I heard her stirring a minute ago. She usually naps for a couple of hours in the afternoon, so I take my opportunities while I can.’ She waved the sandwich in explanation.

‘I’d no idea,’ Katie said. ‘You look so young, and I’d assumed you were single, like Tom.’

Natasha smiled. ‘She’s eighteen months old—I’ve been married for four years, but Greg and I separated a few months ago, so it’s just Sarah and me now.’ Her mouth flattened briefly. ‘Not that she’s any trouble. Lately, she just wants to sit quietly and play with her dolls. None of that racketing about that she used to do when she first started to walk.’ She frowned, thinking about it. ‘Perhaps I ought to take her to the doctor. She’s definitely not as lively as she used to be… but, then, I don’t want to be labelled as a fussy mother, and it could be that she’s fretting over her father.’ She crammed another cracker into her mouth, brushed the crumbs from her hands and hurried away. ‘Must go and check on her,’ she said.

Katie watched her go, feeling a little sad. There were so many things she didn’t know about her newfound family. They had at least twenty-four years of catching up to do.

‘We ought to get together over the next day or so,’ Tom said, coming to the table to pour himself a cup of coffee from the ceramic pot. ‘There’s been a lot to take in today, and the land and holdings are all a bit complex, so we really need to iron out what we’re going to do.’ He looked around. ‘There’s no use doing it here. I can’t think straight in this house… too many memories. I can see Dad in my mind everywhere I go. And if today’s anything to go by, there are likely to be interruptions, with visitors stopping by to pay their respects over the next week or so.’

He swallowed his drink. ‘Nick has offered us the use of a conference room at his hotel. It’s quiet there, and the lawyer, Antony, has said he’ll come along and talk us through things in detail. I thought Wednesday would be a good day for it—you have a half-day then, don’t you, Katie?’

‘Um... yes, that’s right.’ Katie was looking at Nick, who had somehow managed to appear by Tom’s side. The last thing she wanted to do was spend time at Nick’s hotel. He must surely be aware of that.

His gaze meshed with hers and in that moment she knew without a doubt that he had set this up. There was a hint of satisfaction in the faint curve of his mouth. She might run, his blue eyes were telling her, but he would always be there, in her wake.

‘I ran it by Natasha, and she’s okay with that,’ Tom said, ‘so if it’s all right with you, Katie, we could go ahead and make arrangements.’

She could hardly disrupt their plans for her own selfish reasons, could she? Katie flinched inwardly, but heard herself saying, ‘Wednesday’s fine by me,’ and Nick’s mouth curved.

‘Juice!’ A child’s voice cut into their conversation, sounding clear and sharply commanding, and Katie looked round to see Natasha crossing the room. ‘Juice, Mummy.’ A chubby little hand appeared from out of the blanket-wrapped bundle that Natasha was carrying, the fingers curling and uncurling as the child poked her head above the fleece and spied the jugs of orange juice on the table. Pale faced, she had a mass of auburn curls that quivered around her cheeks with her excitement at seeing the buffet table.

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