Proposal in Room 309 Read Online Free PDF Page A

are consummate professionals and they’d never risk their reputation by doing anything untoward. Pity because he could do with having some laxatives slipped into his drink,’ Ben said and leaned back in his chair. ‘So, Doc, time to fish or cut bait.’
    ‘I’ve never understood that saying…what exactly does it mean?’ Joely demanded, wrinkling her nose. The sommelier approached their table with a champagne bottle in his hand. Joely flashed him a smile and demanded to know if he had an explanation.
    ‘I think it means that it’s time to make a decision, miss.’
    Ben nodded his agreement, sipped and tasted his champagne and their glasses were filled with the magic bubbles. In order to make up for their neighbour’s boorish manners, Joely praised the sommelier’s taste and expertise in choosing the delicious champagne. With a twinkle in his eye telling her that he appreciated her comments, the sommelier took the bottle of wine for the table next door from his assistant.
    Ben handed her a glass, picked up his and gently bumped his crystal against hers. ‘Happy birthday, Doc. Let’s cut to the chase….do you want to get married?’
    After choking on the bubbles of her champagne, Joely leaned back in her chair, feeling like the world had shifted beneath her feet. Everything was different, slightly off balance, out of whack. She felt like he had turned their relationship on its head with his question…want to get married? Four teeny tiny words and they were enough to freeze her blood and stop her heart. They had the same impact as if he’d told her he had a contagious disease or three weeks to live.
    Joely carefully placed her glass on the table, took a deep breath and her eyes shot lightning in Ben’s direction. ‘Did you just ask me to marry you?’
    Ben leaned back in his chair, looking as relaxed as if he’d just ordered a cocktail on a beach in the Caribbean. But his relaxed slouch was a con, she could see the tension in his jaw, in his clenched hand. ‘Not exactly…I asked you if you wanted to get married.’
    That was her proposal? Seriously? Ok, she didn’t want to get married but neither did she want an ad hoc, toss it out there and see if it sticks proposal either! On the very few times she’d allowed herself to imagine the moment, she’d fantasised about Ben going down on one knee, telling her that he couldn’t live without her, that she was his soul mate, the reason his heart kept beating.
    His tossed out sentence, spoken in the same voice he used to order coffee, had her blood vessels popping and worse, was deeply disappointing. Yet, if she didn’t want to get married, did she have a right to feel that way?
    Joely rubbed her forehead with her fingers. God, she was tired, hungry and she just wanted to enjoy her champagne. She didn’t want to have this conversation now or maybe…ever, as she told Ben.
    Ben’s eyes hardened. ‘Tough. We’ve been together for a year and a half and every time I raise it, you duck it. I want kids, a home, and a future with you. I want to know if you want the same thing.’
    ‘Of course I do but we don’t have to be married to have all that,’ Joely protested. ‘We can do that, have the kids and the house and the dog without the…the licence.’
    Ben leaned forward and pinned her to her seat with his intense eyes. ‘Do you love me, Jo?’
    ‘More than life itself.’
    ‘Well, that’s a start. And I love you, so what’s the problem?’
    ‘Marriage isn’t relevant anymore, Ben. It’s an outdated idea. There aren’t any good reasons to get married anymore.’
    Ben shook his head. ‘Are you being serious?’
    ‘Deadly. Ok, I don’t want to have this conversation, especially on my birthday, but you seem determined to have it so …ok.’ Joely pulled the linen serviette through her fingers. ‘Living together used to be a scandal, so people got married; now it’s not. It used to be a scandal to have children out of wedlock, nobody cares