Because although her best friend may be on the other side of the world, she’s everywhere as well, in Violet’s thoughts. Despite the fact that Violet feels as though this is something she’s been waiting her whole life for, the very thing she was urging Elizabeth to get out there and find, she’s crippled by guilt. It started off as a crazy, wrong one night stand but neither of them could forget it and the next time they saw each other, at the home of mutual friends, both of them almost buckled under the weight of the sexual tension. Martin doesn’t want her pity though – it’s soon quite obvious that he wants something else entirely, the back-and-forth insulting banter sparking a rather explosive sexual attraction.īefore long, Martin and Violet are seeing each other every day. After all, she was the one thing that was special to both of them, so she finds herself suddenly sympathetic to him. When Violet hears that Martin’s attempt to retrieve Elizabeth from Australia and bring her home as failed, she takes him a peace offering, feeling a bit sorry for him in his loss of Elizabeth. For both of them, this is quite a surprise – they are both a bit…disappointed. He’s tolerated her purely for Elizabeth’s sake and when Elizabeth calls off their wedding and heads to the other side of the world, Martin and Violet come to the realisation that they need never see each other again. Martin thinks that Violet is too loud, too flirtatious, too flashy in her dress and overall just far too much in general. She’s never made any secret of the fact that she doesn’t like him and she knows that she draws his contempt as well. He’s stuffy, uptight, boring and cares only about networking his way to the top of his prestigious and equally stuffy law firm and presumably towing Elizabeth along for the ride.

Violet Sutcliffe has never had any time at all for Martin St Clair, who is engaged to her best friend Elizabeth. Self published through Small Cow Productions

Her Best Friend by Sarah Mayberry