Hostile engagement Read Online Free PDF Page B

invited herself to the Hall, she reasoned. Why, his mother was here as well, wasn't she? She had been at the village hall this morning anyway, and if Carol Stanfield had been just a passing affair she couldn't see a man like him introducing her to his mother. Anger vied with sympathy for the poor girl, who in her opinion didn't look in the least like a gold-digger, then her anger gave way to the thought that if Jud Hemming wanted to be rid of her poor Carol was going to be hurt anyway, and there was nothing Lucy Carey could do about that. That thought salved her conscience somewhat-it was her ring, after all. He had gone to stand the other side of the long room-he had given her an ultimatum; 'Take it or leave it', he had said, and had made no attempt to persuade her to do what he wanted. Coldly, clinically, he was putting her sentimental attachment to the ring to the test. It was entirely up to her whether she took his offer or not—one thing was for sure, he wasn't going to lose any sleep whatever she decided.
    `H ... how long will this engagement have to last?' she asked his back. There was no question of romantic involvement-she shuddered at the thought; it was expedient at the moment for him to have a fiancée other than Carol Stanfield, and as soon as he had her out of his hair Lucy knew she would be released-.
    He turned and strolled towards her, coming to stand in front of her, and with a deliberate movement placed his glass down on the table beside the one she had used, then, straightening, looked hard at her.
    `Three months should be long enough.'
    `That long?' Carol must be very firmly entrenched for it to take that long for her to realise her affair with him was over. When he didn't answer her—Lucy had a feeling he
     
    never explained himself—she felt an overwhelming anger against him and his soured outlook on life. 'Women are mere playthings to you, aren't they?' she snapped furiously. `Just something to be picked up, enjoyed for the moment, then tossed aside.' She received a long enigmatic look for her trouble, a look that said, 'What else are they good for?' Without him having to speak she felt herself answered, and flared up at him again. 'You needn't think if I agree to this ridiculous arrangement that I shall be one of your toys.' She wished it unsaid as soon as she had said it—there had not been the smallest hint that he had anything of that sort in mind, and she went red as she waited for his daunting comment she knew was to come. She wasn't disappointed.
    `Allow me to tell you, Miss Carey,' he said loftily, 'that I'm more choosey than the Donalds of this world.'
    While wanting to slap his cynical, superior face, Lucy realised she had deserved that crack. Not that she didn't think she was every bit as good as he was, she knew she was, but what else had she expected with her leading remark other than the stinging answer she had received?
    With as much dignity as she could muster she rose to her feet. 'Do I have your word that if I agree to wear my mother's ring on my engagement finger for three months, at the end of that time the ring reverts to me?'
    `You have my word on it.' -
    Bending to pick up her bag intimating that she was now ready to leave, Lucy straightened and looked directly into those cold grey-green eyes. 'In that case Mr Hemming, I accept your terms.' As yet she had no idea what pretending to be engaged to a man like him involved, but it couldn't be anything very terrible since by his own admission, and he had made it painfully clear, he was not at all interested in the romantic side of such a liaison.
    He walked to the door with her, and by unspoken mutual consent the ring wasn't mentioned again-the last thing Lucy wanted was that he should go and take it from Carol
     
    and straightaway present her with it. With his hand on the
    door handle he paused. His face had registered very' little
    emotion since she had entered, and it was no different now.
    F or the record, my friends call me