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Shaking her head, Violet gave hientle smile ‘It’s fine I promise’ Dad hadWill, Daisy, Rose or Violet could do to change it And so there was no point dwelling on it She’d just stay out of his way as much as possible and hope for the best

What else could she do?

‘And about the Benefit Concert—’ he started, but Violet cut him off

‘Go on, Will’ She pushed against his arm ‘Go whisk Rose away on your honeys here, I prouy my phone nue one airport pick-up You two go relax for a bit Get used to being ed’

‘Okay See you soon, kid’ With a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, he headed back towards Rose, and Violet was alone again

As usual

She hadn’t exactly lied to Will, she decided She had never thought of Will as husband ht stand material He orth far more to her as a friend, and she’d never felt that spark, that flash of so else

It was just kind of weird that he obviously felt that flash with Rose of all people Her so-identical-it-was-actually-spooky twin sister

Although, really, she should be used to people seeing so in Rose that they never saw in her After all, hadn’t their parentsback to the States after Daisy’s wedding, just so she could organise their vow renewal cereht there, with time on her hands, happy to help?

Not that she was bitter She knehy they hadn’t asked—because they’d been sure she wouldn’t want to do it Wouldn’t want to have to deal with soeyes

And they were probably right

Will hadn’t thought about that as he’d told her where to find Rose’s black planner, though, and asked her to don Hall Benefit Concert while they were away on their honeyht up in the flush of true love to think about it Or ency person, hired to cover Rose’s job

Maybe she should After all, she knew absolutely nothing about how to organise a concert for thousands of people Will had insisted that Rose had already done all the hard work, that there’d be practically nothing left for Violet to do

Because obviously otherwise they’d have found soe

Violet shook her head She was being ridiculous She hadn’t wanted to organise the vow renewal anyway Or the Benefit Concert, coations But now that Rose had told their dad she’d be stepping down fro Leot back from her honeymoonwell, sonore the very sht that person could be her

No She had no experience, and no desire to deal with people who laughed at her behind her back all day long She’d just stick to things she knew she was good at Like arranging flowers, thank you very much

The flower displays she’d designed for the vow reneere, she decided, by far her best displays yet Lots of exotic bloo and memorable, just like her parents Her flowers rocked, everyone said so

There you had it Twenty-seven years on the planet, and that was all she could say about herself

Violet Huntingdon-Cross—kick-ass flower arranger, wannabe crocheter Potential cat lady in waiting

No, that wasn’t all That was just all that other people saw—and she was happy to keep it that way She ers every day, even if no one ever kneas her After all, if word got around that Violet Huntingdon-Cross wasthe phones at the troubled teen helpline, their calls would skyrocket with people wanting to ask her about her own past, or just talk to a minor celebrity—and the kids she really wanted to help wouldn’t be able to get through at all So she helped where she could Even if she wished she could do more

Her parents did the sa out charities anonymously when they could The only difference was, they also did enough charity work—as well asrespectively—in public that everyone assu there was to know about Rick and Sherry Cross

But with Violetwell, Violet could only i about her Probably the nicest was that she’d become a recluse

Still, that was a hell of a lot better than what they’d been saying about her eight years ago

Pulling her phone fro, she checked the time and then double-checked the euy’s fli

ght details Thomas Buckleythat was his nauy all the tih it never hurt to have a reminder that the press were press and always on the record, whatever they said Not soain

Tirab the ridiculous name card Rose had left for her and be at Heathrow in plenty of tiht landed And, best of all, she wouldn’t be stuck in romance central another minute

Moving towards the side door to Huntingdon Hall, Violet paused as she caught sight of her parents, dancing in the light of the just risen moon So wrapped up in each other that the couple of hundred people watching, who’d coht not even be there at all Sherry Huntingdon and Rick Cross were faht them in moments like this that she really believed the media hype

And that, she finally admitted to herself, was the real reason all this love stuff was getting to her Deep down, she’d always believed that she’d just fall into a perfect relationship like her parents had, like both her sisters had now found too

Instead, she’d got so else entirely Like anti-love The sort of relationship that tore up your insides and made you someone else After that, if she was honest, Violet wasn’t sure she’d ever have the courage to try again

Her phone rang in her hand and Violet answered it autolad for the distraction ‘Hello?’

‘I was under the impression that you, whoever you are, were supposed to be o’ The Auy Except Rose’s e in an hour and a half Dammit!

‘I’m so sorry, Mr’ Oh, God, as his name?

‘Buckley’ He bit the surnaet here, will you? I’ll be in the bar’

And, with that, the line went dead

Picking up her skirt, Violet dashed for the garage and prayed no one had blocked her car in She’d have to borrow one of her dad’s if they had No tie now, or even pick up that specially made name card of Rose’s If she ever wanted to be relied on for more than flowers, she needed to not screw this up And since the bad impression she—and by extension her fauy was already done, she needed to find a way to fix it Starting with getting to Heathrow as fast as hu his story She knew journalists The truth seldoht they knew all about a person it was almost impossible to convince them otherwise