‘Actually,’ she said, ‘I think I have. But I’ve allowed my inbuilt aversion to being used to take precedence on this occasion.’
‘Well, thank you, anyway, for going along with it.’
‘As opposed to calling you a liar in front of your family?’ She sighed. ‘Oh, Gerard, what a mess.’
He said with faint stiffness, ‘It doesn’t have to be. My suggestion we should become engaged, even on a trial basis, was perfectly sincere. And that’s what’s going to happen. We have to give ourselves a chance.’
‘Not easy with half your relations asking if we’ve set the date yet, and the others behaving as if you’ve had a mental breakdown,’ she said bitterly.
Except I’m the crazy one for agreeing to this engagement fiasco when I know I haven’t the slightest intention of marrying you.
Aloud, she added, ‘And as I’d rather not face them again, will you take me round to the side door, please, so I can go straight up to my room.’
‘Yes, if that’s what you want.’ He paused. ‘But they may find it strange.’
‘In which case,’ Alanna said coolly, ‘it will fit in nicely with the rest of the evening’s events.’
Alone in her bedroom, with the door safely locked, she took off her dress and hung it carefully away, then put on her robe and lay down on top of the bed, staring into space as she recapped everything that had happened.
* * *
After Gerard’s announcement, the opening of Niamh’s presents, which followed, seemed a total anti-climax.
She certainly exclaimed and enthused, but it was clear her heart wasn’t in it. When she unwrapped Alanna’s photograph frame, she studied it in silence for a moment, then looked up, smiling.
‘How thoughtful,’ she said softly. ‘I shall keep it for a picture of your wedding, dear girl.’
If, of course, you can find one small enough, Alanna supplied silently as she smiled back.
When they returned to the drawing room for coffee, Joanne flew across the room and threw her arms round first Alanna then Gerard, hugging them both exuberantly.
‘Well, you kept that up your sleeves,’ she teased, adding more quietly, ‘By the way, Felicity and her father have made their excuses and gone home. Grandam won’t be too pleased about that, but Zandor’s leaving as well which should make up for it.’
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