‘No one can upstage my beautiful daughter, Rachel!’
‘Well, if she does, she’ll just make herself look like the sad, bitter, jealous old crone that she is!’
‘Rachel!’
‘It’s true, Audrey, you know it is. She’s never really welcomed Zara into the family, treats her like she’s some kind of criminal for stealing her son’s heart. God, call in the love police, why doesn’t she! I’m so glad Jason takes after George.’
‘It’s fine, Rach. Jason is upset about it too, but once we’re married, we can do our own thing, visit her when we like, or not, so I’m not worried.’
‘Yes, well, she could at least be happy for you on your wedding day. In fact, I might just have a quiet word with her…’
‘No, please don’t, don’t rattle her cage, it’ll only make things worse.’
‘Okay, but there’s something else I need to talk to her about…’
‘What?’
Rachel hesitated, flashed a look at Lexie, and then clearly decided not to burden Zara with any more troubles on her wedding day.
‘It’s nothing important, just a jewellery commission…’
‘Oh, that’s great, Rach. Maybe after seeing the gorgeous wedding necklace and earrings you made for me, she’s going to ask you to design a more up-to-date wedding tiara.’
Oh God, Lexie gulped, did Nadia know that Patrice was planning to propose? Was that why she’d been so distracted at the rehearsal dinner? She hoped not, because if Nadia was expecting a proposal, there was no way on the earth Lexie would be able to persuade Patrice to postpone going down on one knee until the following weekend.
‘Right, if everything is okay here, I’ll go and check on Jason, make sure he’s got everything in hand,’ smiled Lexie, placing ticks next to the appropriate boxes on the sheet in Marley’s folder headed ‘Wedding Day – Morning’.
‘Tell Jas I love him and under no circumstances must he be even one minute late!’
‘When has Jason ever been late for anything?’ asked Rachel, smiling at the look of pure adoration on Zara’s face before locking herself in the bathroom.
‘I know, that’s one of the many reasons I adore him!’
‘I’ll be back in half an hour.’
Lexie had taken only a couple of steps down the corridor towards the gallery landing when she heard a heated conversation taking place in the seats next to the window and she recognised the voice immediately.
‘I told you, she knows! I thought I recognised her when I arrived on Thursday night, and I was right. What if she tells Nadia? Look, I’m going to do it now.’
There was a pause before he said ‘Why not?’ and Lexie realised Patrice was on the phone.
‘I don’t care. Once the ring’s on her finger… No, that didn’t do the trick… No, I can’t talk to her, I told you, she’s the goddamn bridesmaid. She’s ensconced in the bridal suite and I’ll never get her on her own. This is the only way. Look, I’ve got to go, I’ll call you back.’
Patrice jumped out of the chair and did a double take when he saw Lexie loitering less than two metres away, before recovering quickly and plastering a wide smile on his handsome face, switching on the false charm.
‘Wow, you look great, Lexie, love the hair. Have you had highlights done?’
‘No, I—’
‘Is everything going according to plan for the Wedding of the Year?’
Lexie decided to go with the charade.
‘It is, thank you. Zara’s so excited and it’s my job to make sure nothing and no one spoils her day.’
She flashed a warning look at Patrice, holding his gaze for a few seconds longer than necessary. Of course, she had known that he planned to propose to Nadia later on in the day, but now it looked like he intended to bring that forward for some reason and she couldn’t let that happen. However, she now wanted to know more than ever what Rachel knew about Patrice because whatever it was could, perhaps, be used to persuade him to delay his proposal until the day’s celebrations were over and done with.
‘Well, I can confirm that Nadia is already being pampered to within an inch of her life by the gorgeous André, who’s also agreed to help her get dressed for the ceremony so there’s no need for you to worry about us. You can put two more ticks on that little clipboard of yours.’
‘That’s great, thanks,’ she said, ignoring his sarcasm. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen Jason, have you?’
‘Yes, he was in the breakfast room with Hannah, Dan and that little imp of a sister of his. Did you know she put a mechanical mouse in our bed last night – Nadia nearly died of a heart attack and she’s like a cat on a hot tin roof this morning!’
So Zara was right – there was something going on with Nadia. Lexie had no idea what it could be, and maybe it was totally unconnected to the wedding, perhaps something between her and Patrice, but there was a nugget of dread forming in the pit of her stomach.
‘Don’t worry, Dan has promised to have a stern word with Jasmine.’
‘Well, about time too. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I can’t stand around here chatting all day, even though there’s nothing I’d rather do more.’
Patrice gave Lexie what he obviously thought was a sexy smile but which made her cringe. He was clearly an accomplished flirt, had no doubt honed his skills over many years, and an uncomfortable thought popped into her head, but she pushed it away immediately. Surely Patrice wouldn’t propose to Nadia unless he loved her unconditionally?
She watched him swagger down the stairs and suddenly she was desperate to talk to Theo to relay the details of the one-sided phone conversation she’d just overheard and to ask his advice on what she should do.
Then another thought occurred to her. Rachel knew something about Patrice that he didn’t want Nadia to know about. Was that enough reason for him to sabotage her dress and replace her tonic with a gin bottle to cause an argument between the two friends? Or perhaps he’d done both those things under the direction of Nadia who quite clearly didn’t want the wedding to go ahead smoothly, if at all. There was something cagey about Patrice, she’d felt the vibe as soon as she’d met him, and she also knew from what Zara had said at the fitting that Jason didn’t trust him either.
Lexie heaved a sigh and forced herself, once again, to concentrate on the job in hand. As she made her way down the stairs, this time taking the more conventional route, her mind whirred, but she ignored the questions sparking around her brain like a menagerie of escaped firecrackers. The wedding was her priority, not Patrice’s furtive conversations, not Nadia’s strange behaviour or her attempts to steal the limelight from Zara.
She poked her head around the door to the breakfast room and smiled with relief. The men – Jason, Dan, George and Theo – were sitting at a linen-bedecked table next to the French windows sipping coffee as though they didn’t have a care in the world and certainly not as though there was going to be a wedding in two hours’ time.
‘Hey, Lexie, come and have some breakfast,’ called George, jumping up and offering her his chair.
‘No, I’m fine thanks, George. I just wanted to check with Jason that he has everything sorted.’