His Diamond Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

it.’
    â€˜Why, what a coincidence!’ Helen exclaimed. ‘Dee’s been saying how much she wants to see it. You can all go together.’
    â€˜Mum, I can go another time,’ Dee muttered, appalled by this blatant manipulation.
    â€˜Nonsense, you go now. You’ve been working hard. Clear off, the three of you. Have a good time.’
    Sylvia seethed at having a chaperone forced on her. Dee was ready to sink into the ground at the suspicion of what Mark must be thinking. But when she dared to meet his eyes, she found them alive with fun.
    Of course, she thought. He must have been in this situation a thousand times. The world was full of mothers trying to shield their daughters from his looks and charm.
    She felt better. And the thought of an evening in his company was blissful. It was Sylvia who sulked.

CHAPTER THREE
    I F M ARK was annoyed at Dee playing gooseberry, he didn’t show it. At the cinema he paid for her seat, placed her so that he was sitting between them and bought her an ice cream. When the lights went down, she sensed that he slipped his arm round the back of Sylvia’s seat and turned his head in her direction.
    After a while a woman in the row behind tapped him on the shoulder.
    â€˜Do you mind not leaning so close to your girlfriend?’ she hissed indignantly. ‘You’re blocking my view.’
    He apologised, and after that he behaved like a perfect gentleman.
    When they left the cinema the lovers were in dreamily happy moods, but Dee was disgruntled.
    â€˜It was awful,’ she complained. ‘Not a bit like the book.’
    â€˜It’s a film,’ he objected mildly.
    â€˜But the book is by Charles Dickens,’ she said, as though that settled the matter. ‘And they changed things. The Ghost of Christmas Past was played by a girl, they cut out Scrooge’s fiancée and—oh, lots of things.’
    â€˜Did they?’ he asked blankly. ‘I didn’t notice. Does it matter?’
    â€˜Of course it matters,’ she said urgently. ‘Things should be done right.’
    â€˜Never mind her,’ Sylvia said, peevish at having the romantic atmosphere dispelled. ‘She’s always finding fault.’
    Mark grinned, his good temper unruffled. ‘Hey, you’re a real stickler, aren’t you?’ he challenged Dee.
    â€˜What’s wrong with that?’ she demanded.
    â€˜Nothing, nothing,’ he said with comic haste. ‘Just remind me not to get on your wrong side.’
    Still clowning, he edged away from her, but added, ‘I’m only joking.’
    â€˜Well, you shouldn’t be,’ Sylvia put in. ‘People do get scared of Dee because she’s always so grim and practical.’
    â€˜I’m not grim,’ Dee said, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice, but failing.
    Perhaps Mark heard it because he said quickly, ‘Of course you’re not. You just like to be precise and correct. Good for you. A nurse needs to be like that. Who’d want to be nursed by someone who was all waffly and emotional? I’ll bet when you were at school, your best subjects were maths and science.’
    â€˜They were,’ she said, warmed by his understanding.
    â€˜There you are, then. You’ve got what my father used to call a masculine mind.’
    The warmth faded. He considered her precise, correct and unemotional, practically a man. And she was supposed to be flattered. But then, she thought sadly, he had no idea that his words hurt her. Nor did he care. He’d merely been spreading his charm around to avoid an argument. She pulled herself together and answered him lightly.
    â€˜You don’t have to be a man to appreciate scientific advances. That film we saw tonight was in black and white, but one day they’ll all be in colour.’
    â€˜Oh, come on!’ Sylvia exclaimed cynically.
    â€˜No, she’s right,’ Mark said. ‘They’re making a