Page 11 of Her Fake Island Wedding

Chapter Seven

“Are you okay?” Rosie asked in an undertone as Bryce helped Justine aboard the boat to Sunfish Island. “That was pretty extreme.”

And publicly messy, Lucy thought but didn’t say. Fortunately Jill had spirited the other incoming guests off to the bus, leaving Bryce, Rosie and Lucy to bring a stunned Justine along behind. By the time they arrived at the bus, Justine had progressed from “This has to be a prank” to “Howdareyou not tell me about this!”

At that point, Jill took charge, welcoming her to the resort as a VIP guest, which rather took the wind out of Justine’s sails. The twenty-minute bus ride from the airport to the marina had been difficult, with Justine fairly shoving Lucy into a seat and hissing questions into her ear.

“It’ll be okay,” Lucy answered Rosie’s question in an equally quiet voice. “To be honest, I’m quite enjoying seeing Mum this flustered.”

Rosie’s lips twitched with laughter. “It’s pretty funny watching her with Bryce. She looks like she doesn’t know whether she wants to ogle him or push him overboard.”

“Don’t give her ideas.” Lucy couldn’t help a giggle at the mental image, though.

Bryce returned to her side just then. “Come on, you two. You’re the last ones to board; everyone’s eager to get to Sunfish. Let’s go.” He slipped his arm around Lucy’s waist, which startled her slightly. While she’d gotten used to holding his hand, this was slightly more intimate. She turned her face up to him in surprise.

“Your mother’s watching,” Bryce said softly, just before he pressed a light kiss on her lips and smiled broadly at her.

“Let’s go, lovebirds,” Rosie said loudly, striding up the ramp, and Lucy was grateful for Bryce’s supportive arm around her waist as they followed, because that light brush of lips had rocked her to the core.

* * *

What the hell had possessed him, kissing Lucy like that? Bryce’s lips were still tingling as he released her and moved to the front of the boat to help cast off the lines. Justine’s denigration of Lucy had outraged him, though, and he was now determined to rub her nose in the fact that Lucy had proved her mother’s predictions wrong. Kissing her had seemed like the most obvious thing to do, and he’d done his best to make it look natural.

The problem was that as soon as their lips met, he’d wanted more. It had taken everything he had not to drag her hard against him and kiss her senseless. His lips were still tingling, every sense on high alert, hyper-aware of Lucy’s movements at all times. He was always aware of her, but right now he was pretty sure he could have closed his eyes and still known if she made the slightest move.

“Bryce,” Jill’s voice said behind him, and he jumped about a foot in the air, making her shriek with surprise.

“Sorry,” he apologised. “I was miles away.”

Hand to her heart, Jill stared at him wide-eyed. “I was just going to ask if you’d demonstrate putting on a life-vest while I do the safety briefing,” she said.

“Of course.” Embarrassed, Bryce followed her into the boat’s main cabin, plastering on a broad smile for the benefit of the incoming guests. Justine was staring at him, even as a male guest probably fifteen years her junior shifted seats to sit beside her and make a hopeful pass.Holy hell, she really was stunning, he thought very privately. He hadn’t actually asked Lucy how old her mother was, but Justine couldn’t have been much out of her teens when Lucy was born, and she could easily pass for the same age as Lucy now.

That said, he’d always thought Lucy looked a lot younger than she actually was. Obviously, she’d inherited Justine’s eternal-youth gene.

“Go away,” Justine said coldly to the poor sap trying to hit on her, and the guy immediately moved away, crushed.

At least Lucy didn’t inherit the bitch gene, Bryce thought, muscles along his jaw clenching. He’d been absolutely livid in the airport when Justine had put Lucy down by asking why on earth Bryce would be interested in her. What a dreadful thing to say about your own daughter!

More determined than ever to convince Justine that he was madly in love with Lucy and could hardly wait to marry her, Bryce smiled warmly in her direction several times during the safety demo, before going straight back out to the front of the boat where Lucy and Rosie were sitting.

“Hey.” Taking a seat beside Lucy, he put his arm around her shoulders, deliberately leaned in close and planted a kiss on the side of her brow. “Your mother just shot down some poor fool who tried to hit on her.”

Lucy smiled tightly. “No doubt there’ll be plenty of that.”

“She wouldn’t be interested in anyone?” Rosie asked curiously, keeping her voice low.

“She hates men, and frankly she doesn’t have a lot of time for women either.” Lucy cast a glance at the open doorway, keeping her own voice low. “My father was married, promised he’d leave his wife for her. The usual. Didn’t follow through. She had to fight him to get child support paid. I think she might actually have loved him until she realised he was lying his ass off.”

Rosie winced; Bryce tightened his arm around Lucy instinctively, wanting to comfort her. She looked up at him with a small smile. “My mother is a bundle of neurotic contradictions, I’m afraid. Wants grandkids, but wants me to be married first, but is also convinced that no man is worth marrying.”

“Frankly, you did well to turn out so normal,” Rosie said, and Lucy chuckled.

“Who says I’m normal?”

“Beautifully, perfectly normal,” Bryce said loudly, alerting the two girls to Justine’s approach. He’d spotted her from the corner of his eye, approaching the door.

“Bit windy out here, isn’t it?” Justine said, smoothing her hair as the wind whipped at it.

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