started, then berated herself for feeling guilty. Guilt belonged to those who’d committed crimes, who lied about their true motives.
Enough!
She smiled at Harry.
Her old university friend—a brilliant tech genius—had gone off the rails when he’d achieved fame and wealth straight out of university. Now a multimillionaire with enough money to bail out Penningtons, he represented her family’s last hope.
‘Well, you found me,’ she said.
He was a few inches taller than her five feet four; she didn’t have to look up too far to meet his twinkling soft brown eyes.
‘Indeed. Are you okay?’ he asked, his gaze reflecting concern.
‘I’m fine,’ she responded breezily.
He looked unconvinced. Harry was one of the few people who knew about her broken engagement to Zaccheo. He’d seen beneath her false smiles and assurances that she could handle a marriage of convenience and asked her point-blank if her past with Zaccheo Giordano would be a problem. Her swift no seemed to have satisfied him.
Now he looked unsure.
‘Harry, don’t fret. I can do this,’ she insisted, despite the hollowness in her stomach.
He studied her solemnly, then called over a waiter and exchanged his empty champagne glass for a full one. ‘If you say so, but I need advanced warning if this gets too weird for you, okay? My parents will have a fit if they read about me in the papers this side of Christmas.’
She nodded gratefully, then frowned. ‘I thought you were going to take it easy tonight?’ She indicated his glass.
‘Gosh, you already sound like a wife.’ He sniggered. ‘Leave off, sweetness, the parents have already given me an earful.’
Having met his parents a week ago, Eva could imagine the exchange.
‘Remember why you’re doing this. Do you want to derail the PR campaign to clean up your image before it’s even begun?’
While Harry couldn’t care less about his social standing, his parents were voracious in their hunger for prestige and a pedigree to hang their name on. Only the threat to Harry’s business dealings had finally forced him to address his reckless playboy image.
He took her arm and tilted his sand-coloured head affably towards hers. ‘I promise to be on my best behaviour. Now that the tedious toasts have been made and we’re officially engaged, it’s time for the best part of the evening. The fireworks!’
Eva set her champagne glass down and stepped out of the dining-room alcove that had been her sanctuary throughout her childhood. ‘Isn’t that supposed to be a surprise?’
Harry winked. ‘It is, but, since we’ve fooled everyone into thinking we’re madly in love, faking our surprise should be easy.’
She smiled. ‘I won’t tell if you don’t.’
Harry laid a hand across his heart. ‘Thank you, my fair Lady Pennington.’
The reminder of why this whole sham engagement was happening slid like a knife between her ribs. Numbing herself to the pain, she walked out onto the terrace that overlooked the manor’s multi-acre garden.
The gardens had once held large koi ponds, a giant summer house and an elaborate maze, but the prohibitive cost of the grounds’ upkeep had led to the landscape being levelled and replaced with rolling carpet grass.
A smattering of applause greeted their arrival and Eva’s gaze drifted over the guests to where Sophie, her father and Harry’s parents stood watching them.
She caught her father’s eye, and her stomach knotted.
While part of her was pleased that she’d found a solution to their family problems, she couldn’t help but feel that nothing she did would ever bring her closer to her sister or father.
Her father might have accepted her help with the bailout from Harry, but his displeasure at her chosen profession was yet another bone of contention between them. One she’d made clear she wouldn’t back down on.
Turning away, she fixed her smile in place and exclaimed appropriately when the first elaborate firework display burst into the sky.
‘So...my parents want us to live together,’ Harry whispered in her ear.
‘What?’
He laughed. ‘Don’t worry, I convinced them you hate my bachelor pad so we need to find a place that’s ours rather than mine.’
Relief poured through her. ‘Thank you.’
He brushed a hand down her cheek. ‘You’re welcome. But I deserve a reward for my sacrifice,’ he said with a smile. ‘How about dinner on Monday?’
‘As long as it’s not a paparazzi-stalked spectacle of a restaurant, you’re on.’
‘Great. It’s a date.’ He kissed her knuckles, much to the delight of the guests, who thought they were witnessing a true love match.
Eva allowed herself to relax. She might find what they were doing distasteful, but she was grateful that Harry’s visit to Siren three weeks ago had ended up with him bailing her out, and not a calculating stranger.
‘That dress is a knockout on you, by the way.’
She grimaced. ‘It wasn’t my first choice, but thank you.’
The next series of firework displays should’ve quieted the guests, yet murmurs around her grew.
‘Omigod, whoever it is must have a death wish!’ someone exclaimed.
Harry’s eyes narrowed. ‘I think we may have a last-minute guest.’
Eva looked around and saw puzzled gazes fixed at a point in the sky as the faint thwopping sound grew louder. Another set of fireworks went off, illuminating the looming object.
She frowned. ‘Is that...?’
‘A helicopter heading straight for the middle of the fireworks display? Yep. I guess the organisers decided to add another surprise to the party.’
‘I don’t think that’s part of the entertainment,’ Eva shouted to be heard over the descending aircraft.
Her heart slammed into her throat as a particularly elaborate firework erupted precariously close to the black-and-red chopper.
‘Hell, if this is a stunt, I take my hat off to the pilot. It takes iron balls to fly into danger like that.’ Harry chuckled.
The helicopter drew closer. Mesmerised, Eva watched it settle in the middle of the garden, her attention riveted to its single occupant.
The garden lights had been turned off to showcase the fireworks to maximum effect so she couldn’t
