Prologue
Sabrina Swift violently ripped off her diamond-encrusted satin veil and threw it on to the four-poster bed of the smart Soho Farmhouse cabin.
‘And here endeth the fucking fairytale.’
‘Do you have to be so bloody dramatic?’
‘Dramatic! You shagged someone half your age and she’s turned up onourwedding day… all the way from Paris, might I add, to share this life changing mic drop, with not only me but all ofourwedding guests. So yes, I think on this occasion, I do, Dominic.’
‘It was a stupid mistake, a one-night stand.’
‘Just the once. That’s alright, then.’ Sabrina laughed coldly. ‘Let’s get those vows done and dusted, sing hosanna and run off into the sunset together, then, shall we?’
‘It honestly meant nothing to me.’ The man’s face twitched.
‘Well, it clearly meant something to Little Miss Frenchie downstairs, didn’t it.’ Sabrina’s face, a mixture of anger and hurt contorted as the tears started to fall. ‘The only blessing in this mess is that I hadn’t yet said “I do”.’ She dragged her Vuitton suitcase up on to the bed and started to haphazardly fill it with anything in sight.
Dominic’s voice took on an edge of panic. ‘Sabrina, please. I love you. We can work this out. There’s too much between us to throw it all away.’
‘Well, you should have thought of that before you pulled your cheating dick out of your trousers, shouldn’t you.’ She slammed the case shut. ‘Now, please get out of my way. I’m leaving.’
‘Shall I meet you back at home?’
Sabrina shook her head in disbelief. ‘You are something else.’
‘But where are you going?’
Sabrina blew out a long breath of despair. ‘I don’t know yet– but what I do know is that I need some time away from everything and everyone to think.’
Chapter One
Sabrina Swift yanked theThe Newlywedslabel off the welcome pack, cast it to the floor and twisted at it viciously with the heel of her Louis Vuitton boot as if stubbing out a cigarette. As the lights in the old Cornish cottage flickered wildly, the brunette looked up at the ceiling with a pained expression. ‘Don’t you flipping dare go off. Not now it’s dark. Please, no!’
Arm held aloft and waving her phone around in the air, she made her way to the bathroom and stood shakily on the toilet seat. With her right hand almost touching the bathroom skylight, the familiar dialing tone gave way to the even more familiar Essex twang of her oldest friend and confidante, Delilah Dickinson. Sabrina breathed out a huge sigh of relief.
‘Dee, thank God! The signal here is SO shite.’
A careworn voice greeted her relieved one. ‘Rini, you do realise it’s midnight, don’t you?’
But Sabrina hadn’t called to listen. ‘I told himThe Scarletmight be a better option, but no, he had to go all Bear bloody Grylls on me and book off grid.’
‘Darling, wait until it’s light. You’ve had a long drive. And from the photos you showed me before you went, it looks like a stunning location.’ Dee was whispering now. ‘Give me a sec, I don’t want to wake Stu.’
As Dee crept out of her cosy bed and on to the landing, Sabrina’s sorrowful diatribe was unrelenting. ‘It’s a bungalow. I mean, what evenisa bungalow? And I’m stood in the smallest bathroom in history, on an effing toilet seat, reaching up as far as I can for signal, in the middle of effing nowhere. There is no coffee machine. No full-length mirror. And the TV isn’t even a smart one.’ Sabrina let out an exaggerated breath. ‘I could be raped, pillaged, or worse still, murdered, and nobody would even know.’
Dee yawned. ‘Anyone would think you were an actress, the way you’re going on.’
‘Ha bloody ha.’
‘I hate to say it, Rini, but it was you who made the final decision to escape to the depths of Cornwall, for this…this… noneymoon. And to be frank, the mood you’re in, I think even the most determined of intruders would run a mile.’
‘Noneymoon? You’re such a smart arse!’
‘Well, that makes up for the TV then.’
Sabrina managed to laugh.
‘Get some sleep, sweetheart,’ Dee soothed. ‘And in the morning, I’m sure you’ll feel and think differently.’
