It had been like a starter pistol going off in his head.
Suddenly proposing had seemed like the obvious next step. And with Daisy wearing his ring their ‘marriage’ was a step closer to being real—a step closer to the moment when James Dunmore would finally sell to him.
* * *
Back in the limousine, Daisy couldn’t stop looking at her finger.
‘Relax. It’s not going anywhere.’
She looked up. Rollo was watching her meditatively.
‘I know. I just like looking at it.’ Holding out her hand, she twisted the ring from side to side. If being seen with Rollo in public had been like putting on a parachute, this was like jumping out of the plane. Now it really was real. She was his fiancée.
‘I suppose I should tell my parents and David.’
‘I suppose so.’ His eyebrows raised mockingly. ‘But let’s just have a couple of hours to get used to it ourselves.’
The next moment an electric thrill snaked over her skin as his fingertips brushed against hers.
‘If it needs to be altered, tell me.’
She nodded. ‘I will. I don’t want it falling off.’
‘Neither do I. It’s got to go back to the jewellers in a year.’
> Staring fixedly at the ring, Daisy felt her stomach plummet like a broken kite.
A moment ago she’d felt like Cinderella. Now though, she realised she was actually Sleeping Beauty—only the Prince hadn’t woken her with a kiss. He’d tipped her out of bed and onto the floor.
Her head was pounding.
So what if he had? She knew it wasn’t a real proposal. They weren’t in love; their entire relationship was a sham. They were only together to convince Dunmore to sell his building to Rollo.
But for some reason none of that seemed to matter right now. She still felt like a failure. Just as she had when Nick had broken up with her. And before him, Jamie.
She’d thought they’d loved each other. She’d been wrong. And they’d been wrong for her. Only it had still been devastating to accept—particularly when all she really wanted was that effortless understanding with someone that her parents shared.
But it was supposed to be different with Rollo. With him she had thought she could relax and not worry about getting hurt.
Her heart twisted.
Except that apparently she’d got that wrong too.
Slowly she withdrew her hand and pressed it against her forehead.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘Nothing. Just a headache. I expect it’s drinking wine at lunchtime. I probably just need to have a lie-down.’
Rollo stared at her in silence. A headache?
Angrily, he looked down at the ring on her finger, its glittering facets like so many mocking faces. Back at the restaurant it had felt so real. The food, the conversation... He’d even told her about working there—something he’d never shared with anyone. But now she was lying to him. Again, he thought, with an almost unbearable sting of swift, startled astonishment.
‘Perhaps you could just tell the truth.’ Shaking his head, he stared down into her wide, shocked eyes. ‘That you’re upset about having to return the ring. Surely you didn’t think you were going to keep it?’
For a moment she was too shocked to speak. Then slowly she felt a shivering hot anger slide over her skin.
‘Yes, I did. And I thought you would give me half the apartment too,’ she said curtly. ‘No, Rollo, of course I didn’t think that. I hadn’t even thought about a ring at all until you gave me this one. Why would I? You said you were going to go public with the engagement in a couple of months.’