“You cooked this?” she asked with amazement when he pulled off the plate cover.
“No. The fabulous chefs at Lucerne did. I just put it on the plates.” While he could cook simple things like pasta and eggs, anything more elaborate was out of the question. Reaching for the wine, he poured some in her glass and then his. “Are you okay? You look tired.” Dark purple smudges were under her eyes and her face looked pale.
“I didn’t sleep well with you gone.” She picked up her fork, the frown changing to a tight smile. “I’m glad you’re home.”
Conversation over dinner remained minimal and Trent assumed her lack of sleep was to blame. He hadn’t slept well either, but right now weariness didn’t bother him. In fact, he suffered from just the opposite. His insides were vibrating and he suspected he could run the Boston Marathon and set a new course record.
“Sit there and I’ll get dessert.” He removed her plate when she said she was done. Although she’d claimed the food tasted delicious, she’d eaten less than half while he’d cleaned his plate.
Like dinner, he’d ordered the same dessert she’d ordered the night they’d dined there.
“You didn’t need to do al
l this,” Addie said when he put down the dessert.
The music in the background changed as the romantic ballad by a female singer he didn’t recognize changed and a male belted out a classic rock ballad. “Yes, I did,” he said. Unable to wait until after dessert as he’d planned, Trent cleared his throat and reached for her hand across the table. “I wanted tonight to be special. A night you’d remember forty years from now.” His mouth grew dry and he paused in his speech for a drink.
Addie didn’t move or say a word as she watched him but her mouth curved downward, her frown from before back in place.
“Before you, I didn’t think love was in the cards for me. I knew it existed, but I’d never experienced it. Now, I can’t imagine my life without you.” He pulled out the diamond and platinum ring he’d hidden under a flower petal. “Addison Raimono, will you marry me?” He slipped the ring onto her left hand.
Addie’s eyes looked at the ring, then back up at him, but rather than smile or cry out with joy she pressed her lips together and swallowed.
“Addie, this is where you’re supposed to say yes.” He tried to joke, but a sinking sensation set into his stomach.
“Trent, I love you and there’s nothing I’d like more than to marry you.” She said the words he wanted but her tone made his stomach sink further. “But I need to ask you something before I accept this ring.”
“Ask me anything.” He had no secrets to hide from her.
“Do you promise to answer honestly?”
Trent nodded, prepared for a question about his past.
Addie took a deep breath. “The other night I did some work in your office. The printer ran out of paper so I looked for more. I found something strange in your desk.”
He kept only work related stuff in there. “Okay, what?”
Without answering, she left the table and came back from his office with something in her hand. “These.” She placed several binders and a folder on the table near his dessert. “What are they?”
He’d forgotten about the binders from Marty. After the meeting when Marty gave them to him, he’d tossed them in his desk and not looked at them again. What he should’ve done was put them through the paper shredder. He stared at them, willing an answer to come that wouldn’t make him look like a complete ass.
“I read them all. I know I shouldn’t have, but I did. Why did you need all that information about me and those other women?”
He stared at the materials. His mind a blank slate.
“At first I thought maybe these women were people you dated before me. That maybe you checked out all your girlfriends, afraid they were after your money or something.” He heard the catch in her voice. When he looked up he saw the suspicion on her face. “But they all have a July date on them, including mine.”
Complete honesty was his only option now. “You know that I have a less than stellar reputation.” He’d have to start at the beginning.
Addie nodded, clasping her hands in front of her.
“My campaign advisor was concerned it would hurt my chances at election. His solution—find a wife long before the election.” Just talking about the plan made him feel like a jerk. “He had connections with some high-profile families who would be interested in a marriage of convenience. These three women come from those families.”
“That’s insane but whatever. That explains those binders. But what about my information, and shouldn’t you be here right now with one of those women instead of me?” she asked glaring at him.
“I agreed with his marriage of convenience proposal since everyone involved would be on the same page.” Did he have to tell her everything? Could he just tell her he’d changed his mind after meeting her? If he did that he could use her previous assumptions about her file.
“Trent, are you going to answer me?” she asked when he remained silent too long.