‘How do we look?’ Stevie did a twirl, when she met them in their suite an hour later.

‘You both look great, although you do have the perfect figure for that dress you were wearing earlier – apart from the knees!’ Ashleigh looked around their suite as she spoke. Calvin Welch might have wanted her, but he clearly wanted Zac a darn sight more. The room they stood in had a highly polished chocolate-brown marble floor and a wall of glass, which looked directly out on to the strip. There was a curved bar area in one corner, with bottles of champagne lined up and a huge box of chocolates, the like of which Ashleigh had only seen once before. Why did everything have to remind her of Tom?

‘What’s the plan for tonight?’ She watched an unreadable expression cross Zac’s face.

‘Well, we were going to ask you for one last favour, before we go public with all of this. We want to be able to pick a wedding venue without the world breathing down our necks and revealing what we’re up to before we’re ready.’ Zac headed towards one of the other rooms in the suite as he spoke.

‘So that’s the plan, look at a few venues and then go out for dinner to celebrate with our beautiful bridesmaid!’ Stevie swept her into his arms again.

‘And what’s the favour you want from me?’

Zac emerged from the other room, sporting his stick on beard from earlier and a pair of dark glasses. ‘I thought it might be best to go incognito, whilst we’re keeping things under wraps, so I wondered if you’d mind pretending the wedding was for you and me – at least until we decide on the venue.’

‘This has an oddly familiar feeling about it.’ Ashleigh raised an eyebrow. ‘But what’s a bit of fraud between friends?’

****

‘What do you think?’ Zac leant over the replica of the Rialto Bridge in The Venetian Hotel and gestured towards the bride and groom being punted in a gondola along the faux river towards them.

‘I love it!’ Stevie hadn’t stopped grinning all night. It was no surprise, after all Vegas was his spiritual homeland and he’d loved all the other venues – the replica of the Eiffel tower, the helicopter, the grand staircase at the Luxor Hotel and the courtyard over-looking the fountains at the Bellagio. He just wanted to marry Zac, Ashleigh could see that, and he didn’t give a damn where.

‘They’re all brilliant options for the two of you, but maybe this one is a bit public?’ She raised an eyebrow, as they were pushed up against the side of the bridge by other people wanting to get a glimpse of the new bride and groom in their finery. ‘Do you really want to wear that fake beard on your big day?’

‘True. You know I liked The Crystal Room at The Golden Rock, it was so intimate and like something out of Narnia.’ She couldn’t tell if Zac was blushing beneath his beard, but she wouldn’t have been surprised.’

‘The Crystal Room it is then.’ Stevie didn’t even hesitate. ‘Come on, let’s get on with the celebrating and work out just which outfits are going to work best with crystals… ’

****

Tom scrolled through the messages on his phone, he was in his office in the Glitz building where he now seemed to spend most of his time. There were eight texts from Karen. What the hell had he been thinking of? She was desperately searching for a replacement for Graham, someone to build her self-esteem, and Tom needed that kind of complication like a hole in the head. He hadn’t done anything, thank God, they’d both been far too drunk.

He looked at the rest of the messages on his phone and sighed, trying to summon up the energy to read them, but it just wasn’t happening. There was one from Zac. He was one client who didn’t need any help getting on to the front pages of any magazine or newspaper come to that. In fact they were all full of the news that he’d headed off to Vegas, allegedly in hot pursuit of the photographer he’d been seeing since January. Tom couldn’t believe that. The papers must have got it wrong, it’s not like it was the first time. Much more likely that Zac had gone to explore Calvin Welch’s offer, the rest of it was just gutter journalist guesswork. Someone who knew Ashleigh and Zac had obviously put two and two together and made five, and then sold the ‘story’ to the papers. If his mind had been on business he might have been angry that Zac wasn’t involving him in the negotiations with Calvin Welch, but he didn’t seem to feel anything much of late – until he opened the email.

From: Zac Starr [mailto:zac@zacstarr.com]
To: Tom Rushworth

Subject: Taking the plunge

 

Hi Mate

 
Thought I should let you know before the paps do that I’m finally taking the plunge at The Golden Rock, the day after tomorrow at 6 pm! Calvin’s using some of the photos as promo for the hotel, but Glitz can have the rest.

 

Talk later. Zac

 
Tom swallowed hard and wondered when he was going to wake up. Zac was getting married to Ashleigh? He shook his head and read the message again, the words swimming in front of his eyes. She’d once said she wanted to get married in Vegas, when they’d been in the chapel for the shoot at Zac’s house, but it couldn’t be true. No, it would be some eighteen-year-old showgirl, someone he’d known for five minutes and decided to marry whilst he was under the influence. There couldn’t be any other explanation. It took him a few seconds to realise that someone was knocking on his office door.

‘Tom?’ Angus peered round the side of the door, as if he was worried about stepping in.

‘Have you heard from Zac too?’

‘No, but another story’s just broken about him and I don’t think you’re going to like it, because Glitz has missed out on the exclusive for this.’ He edged towards Tom’s desk and set down a printout of some grainy photos. They might not have been crystal clear, and Zac might have been attempting a half-hearted disguise, but it was obvious who was in the photo. ‘A wedding coordinator in Vegas twigged it was Zac and took the photos on her mobile. He was with his fiancée picking a venue apparently.’

‘Right.’ Tom couldn’t manage more than a single word. So it was true.

‘You know it’s Ashleigh, don’t you?’ Angus was doing his anxious hopping from side to side, as he always did when stress got to him. ‘I was sure the papers had that all wrong, but it seems not…’

‘Thanks, I’ll sort it.’ Tom looked up at his old friend. Angus had been right, he didn’t like it one bit, but it had absolutely nothing to do with Glitz missing out on an exclusive.