Page 82 of The Wedding Cake Wish
Amelia looks as if she’s about to deny it. Then she laughs,although it’s a little less brashly confident this time. ‘Well, there’s no needto get so uptight about it. It was just a bit of a giggle.’
‘Agiggle?’ He stares at her in horror.
‘Yeah. An actress in between jobs needssomethingtoget her teeth into, and you were the perfect project! We were sitting rightnext to you in the café and I have to say, your story was fascinating to listento – the loving brother grieving for his dear departed identical twin. So Katbet me that I wouldn’t be able to pinch you from Rubes here, and I said itwould be as easy as taking candy from a baby because I had a plan that I knewwould work. I’d pretend to be Myles’s devastated and devoted girlfriend, andyou’d be unable to resist comforting me and...well, I wasconfident the rest would be history.’
It was easy enough to sweet-talk Gordon into sending me someof his photos for a “project” I was doing, including the one of you and Ruby.Of course I croppedherout.’
Hudson is staring at Amelia with mounting revulsion, and myheart goes out to him. Anger at Amelia is now taking the place of myastonishment that someone could even do such a thing. Even Kat is looking uneasynow and she slinks away from the table, muttering something about gettinganother drink.
Amelia smiles at Hudson. ‘I must admit, you were a bit of ahard nut to crack. A brilliantly sympathetic ear – can’t fault that at all. Buta bit slow in the romance department. Trust me to pick a saddo to target!’
Suddenly, the anger I’m feeling –that she could havetricked Hudson when he was so obviously still grieving over Myles!– boilsover. ‘I think it’s you who’s the saddo, Amelia.’
She turns and sneers. ‘Oh, yes?’
‘Yes. Because, actually, the real reason Hudson didn’trespond to your advances is not because he’sslow in the romance department.But because he and I have been secretly together, as a couple, for a while now.So all the time you were trying to steal him from me, I was having a propergood laugh at you behind your back!’
‘Yeah, right.’ She looks at me mockingly, clearly notbelieving a word of it. ‘That is such a lie. It was obvious to me from thestart that you were pining for Huddie, when to him, you were clearly just amate. You couldn’tstandthe thought that I was muscling in ahead of youand stealing him from right under your nose!’
I swallow. There’s so much truth to this, it takes the windright out of my sails.
Am I really that transparent?
I stare at her, my face as piping hot as a barbecue on asummer’s day. I just want the ballroom floor to open up and reveal a hiddenswimming pool so I can dive in and just disappear from Hudson’s view.
Because after Amelia’s nasty comments about me, I’m somortified, I can’t even look at him now.
There’s a tense silence. Then Hudson says, ‘Well,thatwasawkward,’ and my heart sinks into my shoes.He’s embarrassed I’ve got acrush on him...
‘I agree it’s sad when someone fancies you but you don’t returntheir feelings,’ he’s saying. ‘Telling them can be...brutal...soyou have to let them down as gently as you can.’
Oh, God, here we go. He’s going to ‘let me down’ – infront of Amelia – and she’s going to be ecstatic with glee...
I flick my eyes up at him, preparing for the ultimatehumiliation.
‘But luckily,’ he says, smiling at me, ‘this isn’t one ofthose cases. What Rubes said is true, Amelia. We’ve been together for a whilenow. But we kept it a secret. We thought it might look less than professionalif we were solving cases together while being romantically involved. But...’He shrugs. ‘The secret’s out now, Rubes.’
‘Erm...yes. Yes, it is.’ My head isspinning.
‘So we don’t have to pretend anymore, do we?’ He gazes intomy eyes as if I’m the only other person in the room, and suddenly I can hardlybreathe. I know he’s just saying all this to get his own back on Amelia, butjust for a second, the look in his eyes as he says it seems so real.
He scrapes back his chair and stands up. ‘Miss Watkiss, willyou do me the honour of dancing with me?’
‘I...I’d be delighted, Mr Holmes.’
I stand up to join him. And then, without warning, I findmyself swept into his strong arms and held close to his chest. With a gasp, I gazeup into his eyes, aware on some distant level that Amelia is looking on at usin disgust.
But a second later, all thoughts of that hideous she-devilfly from my mind as Hudson’s mouth comes down hard on mine and we kiss.
My whole body goes limp in his arms, and if Hudson wasn’tholding me up, I’d be just a swoony pile on the floor. I reach my hands aroundhis neck and pull him down and our kiss intensifies. It feels so natural and Iallow myself to dream that maybe my feelings of longing aren’t one-sided, afterall...
Only when a smattering of claps and whistles startpenetrating our intimate moment do we surface, pulling away. I look foolishlyaround me at all the smiling faces. Then I frown at Hudson. ‘Where’s Amelia?’
But he doesn’t reply. He’s just gazing at me, a stunned lookin his eyes.
Then everyone starts cheering, and Madison leans over andsays, ‘Wow, so I guess you’re a partnership in more ways than one now, then. Iknew it! You’ve been keeping it a secret all this time, haven’t you?’
‘No!’ I glance at Hudson but he’s still got that slightlyshell-shocked look on his face, and suddenly I feel so awkward with everyonewatching us. ‘I mean, no, Hudson was just...sorting out aproblem. That kiss was a means to an end.’ I shoot him a glance, expecting himto back me up. But most unusually for him, he remains silent.
