publicly announced in the next few days,’ he informed her matter-of-factly. ‘So our next bonding session will be at a jeweller’s.’
Every trace of affection had disappeared. His cool washed over her like freezing water. He had detached. There was the man who could show one face to the public, and then there was the man who could remove that mask and be someone completely different in private.
This was a lesson she should learn, Alexa thought feverishly. While her feelings were all over the place, his had never shifted. He was completely lacking in all emotion—which was why he had no problem going along with the farce.
Considering she had always thought of herself as a restrained person—someone who could stand back and laugh at the weaknesses of other members of her sex, who got their emotions all tangled up, who ended up being ruled by them—it came as a shock to realise that she wasn’t quite the person she had thought herself to be.
She would have to learn fast.
‘When shall I pencil that in?’ she asked.
‘Whenever I tell you to. It will take full precedence over everything else.’
‘And I assume there will be some sort of stupid engagement party?’
‘I prefer the word lavish to stupid.’
Alexa glumly pictured the extravagant affair it would no doubt turn out to be. Lots of important people, and among them the friends she had made in her job—who would stick out like elephants in a tea shop.
‘I can’t see your father having a great time being entertained by my parents,’ she said snidely.
‘You’d be surprised. They may have their simmering feud, but they have still carried on mixing in the same social circles. You know well enough what it’s like over here.’
‘Not really. I’ve spent most of my time abroad. And anyway I never attended those events.’ Curiosity got the better of her. ‘You’ve seen our fathers interacting?’
‘On a couple of occasions. They bristle in each other’s company and yet end up having conversations—like a married couple who can’t help fighting but find it hard to stay away from one another. In a room of five hundred people, somehow they’ll end up right next to one another. And in between the fraught relations there’s usually a fair amount of gossip, which they can’t seem to help divulging. Which, in turn, is probably why my father turned to Carlo before heading to the nearest bank. It’s a strange case. So I shouldn’t worry over-much about your father at our engagement party...it won’t be a case of fisticuffs at dusk.’
‘Do you know why they fell out?’
‘Your guess is as good as mine.’
This lull in hostilities was a temporary soothing balm, but she shook herself free and recalled that this was just a business arrangement with a man she didn’t even like.
The limousine was pulling up outside her house, but she remained sitting in the car for a few moments after the car had come to a stop in the courtyard.
‘Perhaps you could text me with details of when this visit to the jeweller’s is likely to be?’ she offered politely.
Theo dragged his thoughts away from the way she was sitting, her body towards him, leaning in so that the soft mounds of her breasts were temptingly on show.
‘Let’s say I pass by for you at noon tomorrow. The sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned. We can choose a ring and then go somewhere to have lunch.’
Alexa couldn’t hide her dismay. ‘Lunch? Is that really necessary?’
‘Your constant shows of reluctance are really beginning to get on my nerves, Alexa! Yes, lunch! What exactly is your dilemma with that? We’re newly engaged. Has it occurred to you that as a newly engaged couple we might just want to celebrate together before scuttling off in opposite directions? Scuttling off in opposite directions would be more suited to a couple on the verge of divorce!’
Alexa glared, but this was her life for the time being and she knew that he was right. It was a game that had to be played to the full or not played at all.
She had embarked upon it, and it was too late now to start trying to renegotiate the terms of the contract.
‘I can meet you at the jeweller’s,’ she offered.
‘Not good enough. We’re browsing together. No need for hiking boots, though...’
‘Don’t worry,’ she sniped in return. ‘I know my trainers wouldn’t be suitable wear for being seen in public with you.’
‘You have to be the most argumentative woman I have ever met in my entire life,’ Theo mused in a driven undertone. ‘Are you this argumentative with all the men you’ve been out with?’
Alexa was momentarily caught on the back foot, because the number of men she had dated could be counted on the fingers of one hand and none of them had provoked her the way this man did.
‘I’ve never been out with anyone like you,’ she finally gathered enough wit to respond, and Theo grinned.
‘Are you telling me that I’m one of a kind?’
‘If I’m argumentative, then you’re downright impossible,’ she muttered. ‘I should be going in. The lights are on. My parents are probably waiting to hear how our first outing in public went—although judging from the amount of reporters there, they can probably find out in the papers tomorrow.’
‘If I’ve failed to mention it, you handled the evening incredibly well.’
Of their own volition, his eyes dipped to her full and still mutinous mouth.
‘Thank you. So did you,’ she responded in a stilted voice.
When she glanced down she could see her breasts, too big and too exposed for her liking—especially now that she was in the intimate confines of a car with him—and she surreptitiously adjusted her dress, hoping that he wouldn’t notice.
‘My mother will ask about this stupid...sorry, this lavish engagement party. I expect she’ll need time to sort it out. Could you give me an approximate...er...date? And I agree with you—the sooner the better.’
Theo marvelled that here was a woman who, only just engaged to be married to him, was clearly already thinking about the divorce papers being signed. Incredible. The fact that these were not normal circumstances did little to assuage his male pride.
‘At the outside...a fortnight.’
‘Will your brother attend as well as your father?’ she found herself asking, because she knew that his brother lived on the other side of the world and that during these transactions he hadn’t been a player on the scene.
Theo frowned. ‘All bets are off when it comes to that,’ he commented wryly. ‘Daniel is in the process of buying himself a toy, and it may remove him from the scene of the action while this drama is being played out.’
‘Buying a toy?’
‘He has his eye on a small
