‘It’s a lot quieter than anywhere,’ he said drolly, ‘but I live in Perth.’
‘Really?’ Her heart took a nosedive. She’d assumed he’d travelled out from Sydney like the others. But Western Australia? There’d be no chance of ever bumping into him after the wedding.Bold of you to think this guy would ever see you again after the wedding, Perth or not.
‘Yeah. Been over there for the last three years. I love it. Have you ever been?’
‘No,’ she said, shaking her head.
‘You should. The landscape is like nothing you find on this side of the country.’
‘What do you do over there?’
‘I’m in the mining industry, primarily iron ore.’
‘You’re a miner?’
He flashed her a brief smile. ‘No, I’m more corporate. I deal in the business side of things.’
‘Oh.’Dumb arse, she rebuked herself. As if those hands had ever dug in a freaking mine.
‘How do you know Tristan?’
‘We went to school together.’
That had put the question she’d wondered about to rest—his age. Tristan, she knew from Larkin, was almost thirty.Which made Tate the same age as her. Thank goodness for Larkin’s attraction to older men. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be a cougar quite yet.
‘So, you and Larkin are cousins?’
‘I know, it’s hard to believe. I’m the black sheep of the family.’
Tate sent her a strange look. ‘Black sheep? How so?’
‘I mean, Larkin is … well,Larkin. She’s got the looks and the talent … the ambition,’ Bel said. ‘And I’m just … me.’
‘You don’t think you’re as beautiful as Larkin?’
His question made her give him a double-take. ‘No.’
‘Seriously?’
Bel wanted to laugh at him, but he looked genuinely confused.
‘I don’t normally look like this,’ she said, swallowing hard.
‘How do you normally look?’ he asked with a teasing glint in his eye.
He didn’t recognise her. He had no idea she was the woman who’d served him and made an absolute idiot of herself that first day. Part of her was high-fiving at the realisation she now had a clean slate, but a small part of her was asking how he could not know. She hadn’t changed that much, surely?
She pushed the question away and decided to take the small win. He had no idea she was that fumbling, awkward woman. His only knowledge of her was here and now, in her new, albeit somewhat temporary, skin. She was a new woman, for all intents and purposes. She didn’t have to belonely, romance-reading Bel. For a little while, she could be better-hair, nicer-clothes, more-worldly Bel instead.
She glanced at her watch and reality knocked on her door. It was almost midnight.
‘I have to go,’ she said, placing her empty plate on the table.
‘You’re not staying out here?’
‘No, I have my own place in town.’
‘It’s still early. You can’t stay and have a drink?’
