Proposal in Room 309 Read Online Free PDF Page B

better.’
    ‘I don’t want to do better!’ Joely cried. ‘I don’t want to do it all!’ Joely leaned across the table. ‘I told you the night we met that I didn’t believe in marriage but you didn’t hear that, did you? You thought that you could talk me round, negotiate your way through it because that’s what you do…you negotiate, you manoeuvre, you scheme to get your way.’
    Joely felt her pride swell up into her throat and she threw her serviette onto the table between them. ‘I am not going to be manoeuvred, manipulated, negotiated into this Ben. Not now, not ever.’ She pushed her chair back as she stood up. She reached for her champagne glass and quickly drained it. ‘Thanks for the birthday dinner you are about to eat alone, Duncan.’
    Ben shot to his feet. ‘Joely wait…’
    Not a chance, Joely thought, winding her way through the tables to the exit. If she stayed Ben might just talk her into taking a bigger chance with him than she was already. Because he could do that if he really, really tried. He still hadn’t realised that there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for him if he pushed hard enough, long enough. She loved him that much, that intensely.
    He already held her heart, she couldn’t give him her soul too.
    Joely walked past the surprised sommelier and maitre d - she was probably the only person in the history of the world to leave the famous restaurant without touching the food - and walked back to the vaulted lobby, which was still buzzing, filled with well-dressed guests and visitors despite the late hour. At the fountain she stopped and turned in a circle, not sure what to do now. Going back up to the room was an option but Ben had the key. She didn’t want to try and make her way back home on the late night bus…
    What she really wanted to do was walk, get some fresh air, try to clear her head. She spun around to make her way to the doors and careened into Ben.
    He grabbed her elbows and steadied her. ‘Where are you going?’
    Joely stared at a point past his shoulder. ‘I was going to take a walk…maybe to the hospital and back. There’s a patient I wouldn’t mind checking on…’
    Ben nodded and jammed his hands in his trouser pockets. ‘And work always steadies you.’
    ‘I’ll see you later…back here?’
    ‘Sure.’
    ‘Ok.’ Joely adjusted the bag on her shoulder and walked towards the lobby doors and frowned when Ben fell in step beside her. ‘What are you doing?’
    ‘Coming with you.’
    ‘Ben, I want to be alone. I don’t want to talk to you right now!’ Joely protested, stopping at the door behind a rather large woman carrying a heavy backpack. The frocked doorman opened the ornate doors for her and Joely and Ben stepped across the carpet into the thundery night with a murmured thank you.
    ‘Scared you might change your mind?’
    Yes! No! Maybe!
    ‘Look, this is silly,’ Joely said, looking up at the sky. ‘It’s threatening to be a filthy night and you can go and sit in the bar or go up to the room and chill while I walk off my temper.’
    ‘Most woman get angry because men don’t suggest marriage, mine gets mad because I do.’ Ben’s even tone couldn’t hide his irritation. ‘You definitely keep life interesting, Doc.’
    Joely gritted her teeth. ‘Go up to the room, dammit. Give me some space.’
    Ben just sent her that implacable stare that made her want to smack him. ‘You can keep arguing or we can start walking. I won’t talk to you if that’s what you want but either way, I’m going to be walking next to you.’
    Joely twisted her lips. ‘You’re not going to let this go, are you?’
    ‘At some point we will finish this conversation no matter how crazy you get,’ Ben calmly stated as they started to walk away from the hotel and thunder rumbled.
    That, Joely thought, was what she was afraid of. And even scarier was how much she wanted to lose this particular fight.

Chapter Five
    Joely used a side door that bypassed A&E,