Engaged at the Chatsfield Read Online Free PDF Page A

crossing a carpet of eggshells. ‘I hope I’m not disturbing you.’
    Everything about her disturbed him. The way she had felt when he put his arm around her. The way she smelt so homey and yet exotic. The way her freckles made her look so young and innocent. The way her shiny brown hair had natural streaks of mahogany that showed up in the sunshine or under strong lighting. How her figure was not stick thin but curvy and womanly. Her breasts creamy and full, the cleavage deep and tantalising at the neck of her dress. His insides stretched and then coiled tight with lust. She was so sexy but totally unaware of it, which somehow made her even more attractive . ‘How’d the tea party go?’
    ‘It was...fun...’
    ‘No male strippers?’
    Her cheeks went a shade darker. ‘I think there might be one planned for tomorrow night.’
    Marcus pushed back his chair and stood. ‘I had a call from Ben.’
    She put her purse on the coffee table before tucking a strand of hair behind one of her ears. ‘I got a call from Mum when I came up in the lift just now.’
    ‘What did you tell her?’
    Her gaze was still intent on avoiding his. ‘The truth.’
    ‘Always a good idea.’
    Her eyes slowly crept up to his, luminous and toffee-brown and as big as Bambi’s. ‘Marcus?’
    ‘What?’
    She rolled her lips together for a moment, her hands tying knots with each other in front of her stomach. ‘If you were going to propose to someone...how would you do it?’
    Marcus gave an uncomfortable laugh. ‘What sort of question is that?’
    ‘It’s just—’ Her teeth sank into the pillow of her lip. ‘I kind of told the girls how you proposed and—’
    ‘ You told them how I proposed? ’
    She gave him an exasperated look. ‘I had to tell them something. I’m wearing your ring.’
    He strode back to his desk and closed the lid of his laptop with a snap. ‘It’s not my ring. It’s not even a real diamond.’
    ‘You can tell that?’
    He looked at her shocked expression. Her eyes were wide and her lush rosy red mouth open in an O . Did it really worry her that much? Was losing face in front of those vacuous girls that important to her? ‘I designed a yacht for a diamond dealer a couple of years ago,’ he said. ‘I can spot a fake a mile off.’
    She looked down at her left hand, tilting it from side to side as if to see if it caught the light. ‘Do you think the girls will be able to tell? They didn’t say anything at tea....’
    Marcus shrugged. ‘Who knows?’
    Her forehead was pleated with worry. ‘I couldn’t afford to buy a real one. I had to do something quickly. I didn’t want them to think you were too tight with money to get me a ring.’
    He frowned at her. ‘Why would you care what they think about me?’
    Her eyes moved away from his. ‘I told them you proposed to me on a yacht you designed for a client. I told them it was really romantic with candles and fairy lights and a gourmet picnic and a string quartet playing on deck.’
    He coughed out a snort of disdain. ‘For God’s sake, Juliet, I would never propose like that. You’re making me sound like a soppy fool.’
    ‘I had to make something up on the spot,’ she said. ‘If we’d talked about it first we could’ve got our story organised a bit better. Now they want to see the photos.’
    ‘Photos?’
    She gave him another one of her wincing looks. ‘I don’t suppose you have any photos on your phone of one of your yachts?’
    ‘Plenty,’ Marcus said. ‘But sadly, not with fairy lights and candles and a string quartet.’
    She tugged at her lower lip with her teeth again. ‘If you let me have a photo of your most luxurious one I can tell them you were so overwrought with nerves you forgot to take any after you’d decorated it with the lights and stuff. That could work.’
    Marcus took out his phone, questioning his sanity as he selected a photo of a yacht he’d designed for a merchant banker last year. ‘Will this do?’ he