Pulling out his phone, he glanced at the screen and frowned.
‘Right. I’m going to go and change.’ He paused again. ‘Which reminds me—you need to go shopping.’
The change of subject caught her off guard.
‘I do?’
His gaze held hers. ‘There’s a charity fashion show a week from tomorrow. I think it should be our first public appearance. We’ll be ready by then.’
Daisy flinched inwardly. He wasn’t asking, but telling her, and his cool statement was yet another reminder of the fact that she was dealing with a man who always got what he wanted, one way or another.
He stared at her calmly. ‘It won’t be too formal or intimate, and you’ll be visible but anonymous, so it will be the perfect moment to introduce you as my girlfriend. But you’ll need something to wear. Kenny, my driver, knows which stores to go to. Just choose whatever you like and charge it to my accounts.’
‘That’s very generous.’ She frowned. ‘But I don’t expect you to buy my clothes. Besides, I have quite a few back at David’s,’ she said, trying to make a joke.
But he didn’t laugh. Instead he stared at her, for so long and so intently that she wasn’t sure if he’d actually heard her. But then, finally, he smiled coldly.
‘I’m sure your clothing was adequate for your life before, but trust me—you’ll feel more comfortable in something a little more appropriate.’
Adequate! Appropriate!
Hands curling into fists, Daisy gazed at him in angry disbelief.
Moments earlier she had felt...if not close to Rollo, then at least more relaxed with him. Now though, she was remembering just how much she loathed him.
He was so unspeakably arrogant and autocratic.
‘Shouldn’t it be up to me to decide what is appropriate?’ she said tightly.
‘Ordinarily, yes. But that was before you agreed to become my wife.’
He took a step closer and she felt her shoulders tense, priming her for his next move.
‘You told me earlier that I needed to commit. And I have...’
He paused and her skin seemed to catch fire as, reaching out, he stroked the curve of her cheek gently.
‘But in return you need to stop fighting me. That’s only fair, isn’t it?’
The rhythm of his fingers was making her breathing slow so that she felt as though she were suffocating.
‘So when I politely suggest you go shopping, you go shopping,’ he said softly. ‘Or next time, I might not ask so nicely.’
And, leaving her furiously mouthing words after him, he turned and sauntered out of the room.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘SO...’ ROLLO PAUSED and glanced over to where Daisy sat, slumped in one of the apartment’s huge leather armchairs. ‘You prefer coffee to tea, red wine to white and you hate whisky.’
He waited, letting a long silence pass, battling with an irritation that had become familiar to him over the last twenty-four hours.
‘And...?’ he prompted finally as she continued to stare across the living room, her gaze fixed determinedly on the view of downtown New York.
Turning, she screwed up her face as though concentrating. ‘You like red wine too.’ She hesitated. ‘And you prefer your coffee white.’
He gritted his teeth. ‘No. Black.’
Ordinarily he would have already drunk several cups of espresso. But right now he could do with something stronger.