Don't Marry Thomas Clark (14 page)

Great. I'm about to take part in a charity event wearing a plain black sheath dress and a pair of earrings that I bought in Camden Town market. I wish I could just disappear off the face of the Earth.

‘This way,' says a waiter, directing us towards one of the two rooms leading off the main lobby.

‘Mister Clark, such a pleasure to see you again,' says the maître d' upon seeing him. ‘Please let me take you to your table.'

We arrive at a table for eight in the middle of the room, where some guests are already sitting, and at first glance I don't recognize anyone, which is reassuring.

‘Casey…'

‘Thomas! You're here, finally,' exclaims a young man with a cheerful voice, getting to his feet as soon as he sees us approaching.

‘Let me introduce you to Sandy. Sandy, this is Casey Hughes, head physician of the paediatric ward at Eastbridge Hospital.'

‘Pleased to meet you,' I greet him, shaking his hand.

‘The pleasure's all mine,' he answers kindly.

‘Thomas, why don't you introduce Sandy to us too?' moans a blonde dressed in red from behind me, looking me up and down with a disagreeable smile.

There you go. I
knew
it was too good to be true.

‘Sandy, this is Agatha Turner and her sister Felicia. They're at Turner & Davis, the notary's office in Canterbury.'

‘Pleased to meet you.'

I make an effort to sound friendly. They don't get up, or even reply – just give me a vague nod and sit there staring at me with annoyingly sarcastic expressions.

There's only one person left at the table and Thomas walks over to him quickly, taking me with him. ‘Sandy, do you remember Robert? He recently entered the House of Lords, but until a few months ago he was the director of his father's newspaper,' he tells me.

‘To be honest…' I mumble embarrassed. The more I look at him, the more I realize that he does have a familiar face, but I can't quite place him… He's a big guy, with curly red hair. He must be a few years older than me and even though he's sitting down I'd guess he's quite tall…

‘Sandy? Sandy Price?' he exclaims opening his eyes wide.

Oh my God… Robby-lapdog-Cooper. No, I can't believe it. Do the other lords
know
that he was wearing nappies until he was eight?

‘Of course!' I say, stretching out my hand, which he seizes, standing up just enough to match my height.

The maître d' moves one of the free chairs and waits for me to sit down, while Agatha asks Robert, ‘Do you two know each other?'

‘Do I know Sandy? Of course I know Sandy! She used to spend her summer holidays in Canterbury. Her parents were old friends of Sir Roger's, weren't they?' he says, turning to Thomas for confirmation. Thomas nods.

‘Really?' she asks, faking surprise. ‘So tell me, Sandy,' she continues, pronouncing my name with distaste, ‘what exactly do you do?'

A perfectly legitimate question, since Thomas didn't give any details about me when he introduced us. Doctor Hughes, the Turners, both notaries, Lord Robby-lapdog-Cooper and then me, Sandy. Just Sandy.

‘At the moment I keep her busy,' Thomas cuts in before I can say a word.

‘Shut up! Are you Tommy's new sweetheart?' Felicia asks me amused.

‘I'm not sure,' I answer doubtfully, faking astonishment. ‘Tommy,' I say, imitating her coquettish tone, ‘am I your new sweetheart?' and I flutter my eyelashes, making her look an absolute idiot. The people sitting at the tables around us break into wild applause, the crowd goes mad, and…

OK, it doesn't go quite like that. I was just daydreaming. Who am I kidding? I wouldn't have done anything like that even if I knew how. I would have reacted exactly the way I did: by not saying anything.

‘Sandy and I are engaged,' says Thomas, to general astonishment. It must have been hard for him to come out with it, but I'm the only one who knows that. All the others sit there with their mouths hanging open in surprise, looking as though they're expecting some kind of explanation. The only one who congratulates us is Casey, the doctor. He, at least, reacts honestly and happily. How can someone like him hang around with people like this?

‘So, Sandy,' he teases, ‘how did he manage to blackmail you into it?'

‘He made me an offer I couldn't refuse,' I answer in a gloomy voice, quoting
The Godfather
. Casey bursts out laughing, and Thomas almost chokes on his Château Lafite.

‘Unbelievable. I never thought I'd see the day. When is it, by the way?' Agatha asks.

‘In November,' says Thomas. ‘But we haven't chosen a date yet.'

She's about to ask more questions, but we are suddenly surrounded by an army of waiters serving canapés, so we are forced, thank God, to change the subject.

The evening is even more boring than I'd imagined, and when dessert is served I am secretly over the moon. Thomas is discussing legislative decrees with Robert and Casey, and so all that's left for me to do is have a quick tête-à-tête with the champagne bottle.

‘So you're getting married in November?'

It's Agatha – I imagine she wants to use Thomas's temporary distraction to continue her nosing about in my private life.

‘That's the plan,' I answer, unruffled.

‘You must be in seventh heaven,' continues Felicia, slipping into the conversation.

‘Everything happened so quickly,' I say, trying to be vague and avoiding openly lying.

‘Of course… What a marvellous shawl,' she says, caressing its hem and then glancing at her sister conspiratorially. ‘I think I saw one just like it in Fashion UK.'

I doubt that my shawl appeared in a fashion magazine, so I surrender myself to the idea that they are going to tease me for the rest of the evening.

‘Adorable!' Agatha agrees.

‘Sandy Price,' mumbles Robert, attacking his crème brûlée. ‘Who'd have thought it? Do you remember that time Thomas and I locked you in Sir Roger's stable?' he asks, swinging his spoon, with the expression of someone who has just told an incredibly funny joke.

How could I forget? They left me there for hours. Luckily the stable boy found me, or I'd have been in there until morning.

‘When we were kids we got up to all sorts of mischief,' continues Robert to Agatha and Felicia. ‘And Sandy was our favourite victim.'

‘Knowing you, I would never have imagined you were such an unruly child, Thomas,' comments Casey in surprise.

‘Yes, I was actually quite unruly,' Thomas admits, helping himself to a glass white wine.

‘Sometimes destiny is unpredictable,' says Casey. ‘I wonder what you would have thought as a child if someone had told you that Sandy was the girl you were going to marry one day.'

If someone had told
me
, I'd probably have become a nun.

‘Well, yes…' answers Thomas curtly, ‘I don't imagine I would have believed them.'

‘I suppose it would have been the same for Sandy,' continues Casey, and I decide to just smile diplomatically.

‘Shall we go?' asks Thomas suddenly, after looking at his watch.

I'm surprised by the question, as it comes out of the blue while the others are still having their dessert, but I decide to take advantage of it. Who knows when I'll have another chance.

‘If you like,' I nod, standing up. ‘Can I just have a minute?'

‘Sure. Shall I wait for you by the cloakroom?'

‘Fine.'

‘We'll be going too, in that case,' says Agatha. ‘We've got an early morning tomorrow,' she explains while gently dabbing her lips with the corner of a folded napkin.

‘Do you mind if I go too, Rob? I'm on the night shift tonight.'

‘Course not, Casey,' Robert reassures him. ‘Let's all leave together.'

‘I'll only be a moment,' I say, leaving the group and heading for the bathrooms.

What an infernal evening!

The toilets are all busy, so I go to one of the sinks to freshen up, holding my hands under the running water. When I straighten up I see the image of myself in the mirror: I look exhausted. My make-up has almost gone, but at least my hairdo is still in place. I take a small make-up set from my bag to put some colour on my face, then sigh deeply and open the door to join the others again, trying to summon up my courage. ‘Another five minutes and you'll be free, Sandy,' I repeat to myself as I walk along the corridor towards the lobby.

Thomas is the first person I see in the queue at the cloakroom. He's talking to Agatha and Robert, and Casey and Felicia are in front of them asking for their coats.

‘So how come you were you so easily won over, Tommy?' Agatha is asking him, a surprised expression on her face. ‘I hope you don't actually believe she's with you for
love
.'

‘Thomas is a hopeless romantic!'

‘This is not about sentimentalism, Robert. Did you see the way she's dressed?'

‘Sandy's a very ordinary person,' Thomas answers calmly. ‘She'd never feel comfortable in showy clothes.'

‘Well, whatever, but she looks like she's just left the bloody orphanage. It's ridiculous!'

‘You should've seen her when she was a kid!' adds an amused Robert. ‘With her silly pigtails and those checked skirts…'

‘Oh, spare me – the grown-up version is bad enough,' she bursts out, waving her hand.

‘Don't listen to her, Thomas, she's just envious. Good God, she certainly grew up into a very tasty young lady. If you should change your mind, please feel free to give her my number,' continues Robert, laughing at his own words.

‘I'm not sure she would appreciate that, after you dissected her dolls and organized them in order of severity of injury for your experiments in emergency surgery.'

‘Ha! I had forgotten that!'

I blush and turn around, trying to hide behind a column between the lobby and the bathrooms. Is it possible that Thomas didn't say anything in my defence? But then, why should he defend me anyway? He probably agrees with them.

I'm surprised by Casey's voice.

‘I think you are very beautiful.'

He must have walked over without me noticing.

‘Oh… I…'

‘Take no notice of Agatha,' he continues, offering me his arm. ‘She's always had a crush on Thomas. The news about you two getting married must have upset her. That was just her nerves talking. What about if we give her the
coup de grâce
?'

I involuntarily burst out laughing, hiding my face with a hand.

‘I… my dress… I didn't know it would be… I mean…' I gesture around me. ‘Thomas talked about a dinner party, he didn't say…' I continue, embarrassed and attempting to justify myself.

‘Sandy, I think your smile was the most elegant thing I saw all evening,' he says seriously, putting an end to my babbling and giving me the strength I need to confront my stupid fears.

‘Are you ready?'

I nod and take his arm, allowing him to accompany me towards the entrance.

‘Casey…' I whisper before we reach the others. ‘Thanks.'

Once we're out of the hotel we head towards the car park At this time of night the streets are deserted, and we only bump into the occasional passer-by walking hurriedly towards the neon sign of a pub.

When we get in the car, Thomas asks me if I'm all right. He must have finally realized he can't keep acting like nothing has happened.

‘Tell me,' I blurt out, more and more upset. ‘Why did you ask me to pretend to be your girlfriend?'

‘I thought I'd already explained it to you.'

‘I am not talking about the will. I'd like to know why you asked me to accept this absurd cohabitation, if all you need is a simple written statement in which I say I don't want to marry you. There are things about all this that I just don't get. You're kind to me, then you're nasty. At first you beg me to help you, then you accuse me of having used you. You ask me to spend more time with you to prevent suspicion, but you let people put me down and act as if it wasn't your problem. What's going on here?'

‘You're talking nonsense,' he scoffs, starting the car. ‘Nobody put you down, and I'd like to remind you that the day that I asked you to help me, your reply was that you could barely stand me and didn't want anything to do with all this. And then, as soon as you saw the notary you magically changed your mind without even warning me beforehand, meaning that I could have inadvertently said something that might have jeopardised my position. I have every reason to be upset, but as you see, I'm trying to move forward, trying not to think about it.'

‘Nobody put me down? Do you think I'm stupid? I heard what Agatha said. She basically said I was a social-climber who's only after your money.'

‘It's not a million miles away from the truth,' he says, a relaxed expression on his face. I don't know how he manages it – I'm a bundle of nerves myself, and I can't hide the fact. ‘Anyway, I think it's important to play along with them. The fact that they think you're an opportunist makes it easier to prove my good faith. When you dump me at the altar, they'll be all ready to testify that my attachment to you was sincere and that you were anything but disinterested.'

‘But if I were, why would I leave you?'

‘We could say that I'd tried to force you to accept an unfavourable prenup or something. But we'll sort out the details with Frank as soon as he's got time to see me.'

So not only do I have to give up six months of my life, but I also have to go down in history as a gold-digger.

The rest of the journey passes, as you might imagine, without either of us uttering a single word, and when we get home, I go straight to my room, lock myself in and call Rufus. Unfortunately, his phone's off, so I have to do without his advice. I'd like to call my family, but it's late and I don't want to worry them. I could try the girls, but they're already feeling pretty guilty about what I'm doing for the bistro, and I don't want to get them any more stressed than they already are.