Chasing the Groom

Chapter Four

Her name is Lexie Smith.

I’ll be honest, I was kind of expecting something more exciting. Something like Lexie Aurorabelle van de Maur. Or at least a more interesting surname than Smith.

Men don’t leave their fiancées for women named Smith, do they?

Maybe there really is an explanation for all this. Something where Drew isn’t the bad guy and we still get our happy ending wedding day at an upmarket London hotel.

 But it would have to be something bloody good to explain why he hasn’t bothered to call me, or even respond to the hundreds of calls and messages I’ve left him.

And then there’s the matter of Lexie’s villa here in Barcelona.

Amy’s plan to get information out of Joaquin actually worked and she somehow found out that Lexie Smith is a well-known woman in the area who owns a posh villa and has lived in Spain for years.

The only thing that convinced me she’s the right person is when Joaquin mentioned her new boyfriend. Apparently his name’s Drew and he’s a floppy-haired English man who still wears a suit in the blistering heat.

Amy managed to keep her cool, casual demeanour all the way through phase two and pretend like she was interested in buying a holiday villa so that she could extract the specifics from him.

This is why Amy, Lou and I are standing outside the most amazing house I have ever seen.

Well, it’s not a house. It’s perfection in a sloping-white-walls-and-private-pool package.

I can’t believe that anybody lives here, never mind her. The woman who stole my fiancé.

“Joaquin said that she owns this place?” I ask in awe.

Amy shrugs. “Yeah, she’s from a rich family or something.”

“So how does Drew know her?” Lou frowns as we reach the curved brick wall running around the outside of the villa.

I run my hand along the brickwork. “I haven’t got a clue. Sharon doesn’t know who she is and Felicity’s never heard of her.”

Amy fiddles with a tall iron gate, with no luck. “Does he work away a lot?”

“Not really. Obviously he goes off to conferences at hotels and stuff in London.” I freeze, my hand covering my mouth. “Oh my God. That’s how he knows her, isn’t it? She’s probably one of the boring rich businesswomen he told me about.”

Amy gawps at me. “He told you about her?”

“Not her specifically,” I clarify. “But her type. Women who work in the leisure industry and own exotic villas are the typical guests at the hotel conferences he goes to.”

“That bastard!” Amy pumps one fist in the air.

“What do we do now?” Lou peers through the gaps in the iron bars. “I think there’s an intercom system. We could buzz in and say—”

“Say what?” Amy challenges. “We can hardly say ‘Hi, this is Drew’s fiancée come to steal him back in time for the wedding’”

“Well, no, something more intelligent than that.” Lou sighs and looks at me. “What do you think, Kirst?”

“Do you think anybody’s in there?” I nod towards the extended grounds behind the wall in front of us.

“Hard to tell.” Amy cranes her neck above the wall.

“They’ve got to come back at some point though, haven’t they?” Lou says.

“And if they’re in, surely they’ll need to come out,” I agree.