‘And how long do you think…?’
‘Do I think what?’
‘Well, how long do we have to go through with this charade?’ His mouth tightened and Katy realised just how awful it would be for him. ‘And what about your work?’ Her frown eased and she nodded a little to herself. ‘Oh, I understand what you’re probably going to do. You’re going to head back to London and then maybe commute on the weekends, and that way,’ she said slowly, ‘we can always say that things didn’t work out because of your work commitments…’ That scenario had a number of benefits, the most important being that if Bruno wasn’t around, it would give her time to get her wayward heart in order.
‘That’s an option, indeed,’ Bruno murmured noncommittally. He sat back and observed her flushed face.
Katy, conjuring up a scenario wherein she wasn’t faced with the agony of being near him all the time, was nodding to herself. ‘Yes, that’s it. Maybe you could even go somewhere. Travel to another country where you would suddenly find yourself involved in a deal that took much, much longer than you’d expected. Days. Weeks! Of course, I would grow depressed and start wondering how we would be able to function as a married couple if you were going to be away for months on end. It would be only natural for our relationship to fizzle out, by which time Joseph and my parents would be braced for that to happen…’
‘In the meantime,’ he said with a depressing sense of purpose, dragging her full tilt right back into the reality she had been busily trying to avoid, ‘we have to do something about a ring.’
‘A ring?’
‘An engagement ring. Joseph will expect you to be wearing one when he gets back from his little jaunt. If we leave now…’ he looked at his watch and appeared to be making a few mental calculations ‘…we can be in town in half an hour.’
She had only sufficient time to grab her light jacket, ignoring the rumblings in her stomach, which had cottoned on to the fact that she had missed breakfast. She would have to grab something somewhere along the line. Or else eat as soon as they returned home.
An hour and a half later and after two jewellers who appeared to have nothing good enough for Bruno, she trailed behind him into the third jeweller’s. As far as she was concerned, any ring would do. It was all a phoney engagement anyway, she told Bruno several times, so what did it matter what the ring looked like?
When a tray of impressive diamond rings was brought out for her to inspect, she cleared her throat and said in an ultra polite voice, ‘Aren’t these a bit expensive? For what we have in mind?’
‘Nothing but the best for you,’ Bruno murmured. He reached out and gently massaged the back of her neck with such intimacy that she felt her face going bright red.
Half an hour later, Katy was the recipient of a slender gold ring topped with two small diamonds. She had fallen in love with it. Choose something unappealing, she had sternly told herself as she had gazed down at the black velvet display board, and had immediately found her hand reaching out for the most charming engagement ring she had ever seen.
Now she couldn’t help sneaking glances at her finger and wondering what it would be like if this charade were reality, if Bruno really did love her.
‘What’s the loud sigh for?’ he asked and Katy started.
‘Did I sigh?’
She looked up at him, met his eyes and was busily thinking of something when he continued, ‘I haven’t got around to thanking you.’ He pushed open the door to a coffee shop and Katy realised that somehow they had been walking in the direction of the town centre. She must have been miles away.
‘You’ve done me a favour,’ he drawled, ordering himself a black coffee and a café latte for her. She had a preference for the milky coffee. She could remember telling him that ages ago, though she was surprised that he had remembered. But then he had been cooped up with her for long enough. There had been none of the usual distractions that would have allowed such unnecessary information to filter out of his brain.
Bruno sat back and waited until his cup was deposited in front of him. ‘There was no need for you to agree to this engagement. The pressure was entirely on me to account for myself.’
‘Well, I still blame myself for getting you into the mess in the first place,’ Katy mumbled. ‘And I couldn’t just walk away from it that easily. I mean, there was Joseph to consider and also my parents. They would have understood, but there would still have been some lingering doubts about what gave rise to such a revelation in the first place. No smoke without a fire sort of thing. Anyway, it’s just for a little while, isn’t it?’
‘But, unfortunately, it might be slightly more hectic than we both initially imagined…at least to start with.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that it was a bit unrealistic to expect things to remain in the closed circle of immediate friends and family. It’s easy to think that it’s possible to escape reality because Joseph lives in the countryside. Open fields lend the illusion of escape. Unfortunately, despite being a very private man, I happen to have a highly public profile. I’ve already received countless emails from business associates congratulating me and invitations for the both of us to make a public appearance at various gatherings.’
Katy visibly paled.
‘Tomorrow night we’ve been jointly invited to a client do at the Royal Albert Hall.’
‘But…that’s ridiculous,’ she squeaked.
‘Be prepared for cameras.’
Katy gulped down several mouthfuls of latte and had a sickening feeling of being drawn into a web that was growing monstrously big and out of control.
‘You’ll have to find some excuse,’ she said a little desperately.
‘Such as?’
‘I don’t know! Use your imagination! I know we’re in this mess now, but…’
‘I’ll limit the social engagements. In the meantime, I think it might be an idea if you expanded your wardrobe to cope with immediate eventualities.’ He drained his coffee, sat back and folded his arms.
Katy could have hit him. He was so arrogant, so absolutely certain that he could control events. As far as he was concerned, they had agreed on a course of action and he would move with ruthless efficiency to implement it. No matter that she had feelings, no matter that she would be trailing along in his wake, waiting for him, no doubt, to decide when they could reasonably call the whole thing off after a decent interval. She would dress the part, play the part, and when the time was right she would have to walk away from the part as though it had never existed. He would never have imagined that this could cause her a problem. Why should it? It wouldn’t cause him one. He would have walked away from her without a backward glance, but fate had thrown them together against his will and he would set about tackling the problem like he tackled everything else. Thoroughly.
‘And what if I don’t want my wardrobe expanded?’
Bruno shrugged. ‘Up to you. The Royal Albert Hall is usually a fairly formal venue, though. If you don’t think you would feel uncomfortable wearing what you wear here, those smocky type garments, to an event like that, then that’s entirely up to you.’
‘You are so rude and I hate the way you think you can manipulate people,’ she whispered shakily under her breath.
‘Is that how you see it?’
‘I don’t see why we can’t just play this pretend game for a little while then let things fade away. No coming to London with you. No public appearances.’
‘Just those reporters lurking in the bushes waiting for a candid shot. Trampling over the flowers. Driving Joseph into the house rather than face prying eyes peering at him through binoculars. There is nothing more juicy for a reporter, especially those of a paparazzi nature, than the whiff of the clandestine. They will see your refusal to be seen on my arm as an indication of something to hide. On the other hand, give them a few decent pictures and they’ll soon disappear.’
‘We shouldn’t have started all this,’ Katy said unsteadily.
�
��You mean we shouldn’t have kissed one another by the pool that day? Or was the mistake in getting caught by a vengeful ex?’
‘We should have just told the truth when we could have instead of…of…’
‘No point going down the should have road. It always proves to be a very futile exercise.’ Bruno stood up, dropped more than sufficient money to cover their coffees on the table and waited until Katy had reluctantly got to her feet.
How had she ever got so deep into this? It had seemed so easy at the time to evade the truth, with Joseph disappearing almost as soon as he had dropped his bombshell, and then Bruno using that silver tongue of his to make her follow his lead.
She barely noticed as they walked towards the town centre, nor did she pay the slightest bit of attention to the shop until they were standing inside it, at which point Katy blinked and hazarded a weak smile in Bruno’s direction.
He had struck up a conversation with the proprietor. Katy was pretty sure that the woman would not have paid her the least attention had she come in on her own, but Bruno was the sort of man who exuded money. The tall, haughty brunette’s nose seemed to visibly twitch as she conversed with him, pointing out new collections and sparing Katy one brief, speculative glance that spoke volumes.
When Bruno insinuated that a buying spree was imminent, Katy took a deep breath and said very firmly, ‘One outfit. One social occasion, one outfit.’
To her surprise, he smiled and moved over to where she was standing resolutely by the door. ‘And here I was, thinking that women loved having things bought for them,’ he murmured.
‘Don’t stand so close to me,’ Katy hissed.
‘We’re engaged. Remember? Engaged people have a tendency to stand close to one another. It’s almost expected. Anyway, you’ll have to get used to it. Your parents and Joseph might be a bit alarmed if we spend the evening on opposite sides of the room.’
‘Well I don’t see Joseph or my parents around at the moment, do you? Just one very snobbish sales assistant who doesn’t know us from Adam.’
‘No point doing a job unless you do it properly,’ was his response.
So now she was reduced to the status of a job that needed to be done. She shouldn’t be surprised considering Isobel had been little more than a suitable possible arrangement at the time, but it still made her feel sick inside to know just how disposable she was. And she really wished he would move away. Her body had a memory and a will of its own and his proximity was making her burn with something that was definitely not dislike.
He must have read her mind because he sauntered off and sat down on the chair located at the side of the room, for a bird’s-eye view of assessing various outfits.
‘Right,’ he drawled, the object of what Katy could only call slavering attention from the sales assistant, ‘a few casual pieces, no ridiculous styles, and one dressy outfit suitable for mixing with royalty.’
Katy scooted over to the chair and fixed him with a glare. ‘I realise that I’m nothing more than a job number,’ she muttered, ‘but isn’t this taking things a bit too far? Have you any idea how much these clothes cost? And I won’t be able to use them and return them for a refund. You’ll be throwing an awful lot of money down the drain when the job is finished and you have the clothes back.’
Bruno’s mouth thinned and he looked at her coldly. ‘I find that remark particularly tasteless,’ he said, but, instead of being squashed by the iciness of his voice and the patent anger burning in his black eyes, Katy felt a little swoop of delight that she had managed to somehow get behind the indifference and prod him into a reaction. It hadn’t seemed fair that she should be so churned up by this horrible complication, so gutted by her own emotions, while he remained so composed, controlled and infuriatingly unmoved.
‘But it’s the truth,’ she insisted with wide-eyed, bemused innocence. More satisfaction as his face darkened. ‘Once the job’s finished, all of this will just be money wasted.’
‘You can keep the damn clothes,’ Bruno muttered harshly, ‘and the ring for that matter. Forget about the money.’
‘I certainly would never dream of keeping either, especially the ring.’ She twisted it self-consciously on her slender finger. ‘An engagement ring should mean something and this ring doesn’t mean anything at all. When I wear an engagement ring for keeps, it’ll be because it’s cementing a worthwhile relationship and not…not something like this.’
Bruno’s jaw hardened and he stared stonily at her. ‘I think the sales assistant is getting a little restless,’ he remarked with pointed patience. ‘And this conversation is going nowhere. If you decide you don’t want to keep the clothes, then they’ll be given to charity.’ He looked away from her, folded his legs and gave the sales assistant an imperceptible nod.
The brunette’s cue to move into immediate action.
Of course, she wouldn’t keep the clothes. They weren’t her style at all. And of course, despite their one night of passion, she had made no emotional impact on him, quite a different story for her with her gullible heart and foolish longings. But…
If this was play-acting, then why not obey the decree he had laid down and enter into the spirit of it? She stilled the little voice whispering in her ear that maybe, just maybe, she could show him that she wasn’t the smock dress country bumpkin he labelled her, that she could look sexy if she wanted.
Having never done it before, Katy was bemused to find that the process was more enjoyable and a lot easier than she had imagined. She tried on outfits, she twirled, she marvelled at how the cut of the clothes made her figure look like a figure instead of the off-putting boyish build she had always thought she possessed.
Bruno, gallingly, made no flattering noises, and while Katy tried to ignore the aching disappointment in her heart, she couldn’t help feeling hurt that he limited his remarks to the essential, and when the trying-on was over simply got to his feet, instructed the sales assistant to deliver the lot to the house by mid afternoon and paid the bill.
The hurt developed a wall of icy protectiveness over it and as they left the shop she turned to him brightly.
‘I’ve changed my mind.’
‘What about?’ Bruno asked, not looking at her and showing marginal interest.
‘About the clothes. You can have back the ring but maybe I’ll keep the clothes…’ She slid him a sidelong glance, hating herself for just wanting him so much to compliment her on how she had looked. ‘After all,’ she tacked on casually, ‘once this is over and done with, they might come in very handy when it comes to meeting guys. You were right all along. I can’t bury myself up here any longer. Course, I’ll still work with Joseph but…well…there’s a whole world waiting out there, isn’t there…?’
CHAPTER NINE
KATY lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. There wasn’t much to see. It was after midnight, she hadn’t bothered to switch the lights on and only the moonshine filtering through the curtains picked out the contours of the room.
She couldn’t quite decide what tonight had been: raging success or abysmal failure.
Her parents had arrived at teatime and had been, unsurprisingly, a little taken aback at the size of the house and the gardens. Katy had been overjoyed to see them. She phoned regularly, but only managed to make it to her home town at irregular intervals and seeing them in her own surroundings had been wonderful. She had shown them around the house, strolled through the gardens, chatted when she’d had to about Bruno in a vague and hopefully contented voice, by which time they had relaxed and then Joseph had appeared, apologetic about not having been there to greet them,
‘But an old man with a tired heart apparently needs to rest fifty per cent of the day,’ he confided with an impish glint in his eyes, at which point all ice melted.
There was a little window during which no searchingly intrusive questions were asked and Bruno, tangled up in a three-hour conference call to America, had not yet appeared.
They took tea outside; her moth
er chatted animatedly about Joseph’s orchids. Naturally, it couldn’t have lasted. By the time Bruno surfaced, her mother had cornered her and the catalogue of questions had begun. Interested, concerned, a little too shrewd. Then her father had cornered her, ostensibly to apologise for her mother being a little too much of an inquisitor but really so that he could reassure himself that his little girl was not making the biggest mistake of her life.
Who was this Bruno character? Why the speed? Had they had time to get to know one another? What sort of man was he? Was he a family type of man? When were they planning on getting married?
Then, when Joseph tactfully excused himself so that he could chat to Maggie about dinner preparations, she was subjected to a dual attack.
By the time Bruno emerged from the office, Katy was feeling drained and hunted.
She had hoped to waylay him so that she could make her case for treading carefully and avoiding too many detailed answers that might come back to haunt them when the unravelling of their so-called relationship began. She had also, subconsciously, wanted him to sympathise with her in the face of all the parental questions she had had to fend, but in all events he was in a foul mood.
No one else was able to glimpse that. He had enough surface charm to bowl anyone over and her parents were no exception. He played the part of the perfect gentleman. He was amusing, asked countless questions about them, made fluent conversation on topics her father was interested in and he was aggravatingly solicitous in his dealings with her.
Intimate looks, a hand circling her waist, a swift kiss on the nape of her neck. She felt every touch and her body responded with savage enthusiasm, all the worse because of his foul mood, which she had spotted. How could he pretend so successfully when he was simmering over something? Probably the conference call?
The whole show had made her see just how much she had bitten off. She fell into an unsatisfactory sleep two hours later and woke up to bright sunlight bathing the room because she had forgotten to close the curtains.
Resolve was what was called for, she told herself, getting dressed in one of her new, startling outfits, which was a figure-hugging beige top and the same style loose, calf-length skirt she was accustomed to wearing, but this time one that sat on her hips, revealing a slither of firm stomach and her belly button.
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