‘And did he?’
‘Yep.’ Aiden gave a wry grin. ‘The one thing she didn’t bank on when she worked out her plan was Zavier’s exacting standards. The day he realised it was more about money than love he dropped her—and there was nothing dignified about Louise’s exit, let me tell you. Even as we speak there’s a court action against him for breach of contract and emotional trauma. But this isn’t about money,’ Aiden insisted again through gritted teeth. ‘You can deny it all you like, Tab, but this isn’t about money. You know it and so do I.’
She did know it, yet was too terrified to admit it—even to herself. ‘He thinks the gambling debt is mine.’ Watching his uncomprehending face, Tabitha took a breath before venturing further. ‘I tried to tell him the truth but he just refused to hear it. Please, Aiden, don’t tell him otherwise.’
‘He’ll find out anyway,’ Aiden was shouting again. Tabitha put her hands over her ears but he carried on relentlessly. ‘Hell, he probably already knows. He’s using you, Tabitha. You can’t win this one.’ He quietened then, his voice softening when he saw her pain, saw the tears coursing down her cheeks. ‘It’s not too late to say no. Your surname’s not in the paper. Zavier can shoot the rumours down in five minutes flat—he’s done it for me before…He’ll demand a retraction and it will all be forgotten. You won’t need to go through this ridiculous charade.’#p#分页标题#e#
Which was what terrified her the most.
Tabitha closed her eyes. ‘Please don’t hate me, Aiden. I couldn’t bear it.’
‘I don’t hate you, Tabitha, I’m just scared for you—for me too, come to that.’
‘What have you got to be afraid of?’
‘You’re my best friend, Tabitha, and he’s my brother. I don’t want to lose either of you, and when it all goes bad—as it surely will—I don’t want to have to choose.’
There was so much finality in his voice, such a jaundiced air of inevitability, that the gnawing sense of foreboding she had awoken with multiplied with alarming speed and a surge of panic swelled within her.
‘It won’t come to that.’ Her voice wavered and there was nothing assured about her response.
‘I hope not.’
‘Will you give me away?’
‘You’re going to go through with it, then?’
‘If I do go through with it,’ Tabitha corrected, ‘will you give me away?’
Aiden let out a low whistle. ‘You’re pushing it, you know?’
‘Please, Aiden. I’ll be nervous enough; at least I won’t have to lie to you, pretending to be the blushing bride and all that. You know it’s just a business deal.’
‘But is it?’
She nodded, slowly at first and then more certainly. ‘You know it is. Please, Aiden, I really need you to be there for me.’
He stared at her for a moment. ‘Okay, then, but I’m not buying you both a present. I’ll save my money for the mountain of tissues and chocolate I’ll undoubtedly have to dole out when it’s all over.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Tabitha said resolutely. ‘I know what I’m doing.’
‘I hope so,’ Aiden said simply, and, giving her the briefest kiss on the cheek, he let himself out.
Only when she was alone did Tabitha remember her parcel. Her hands still shaking from the confrontation—from everything, really—it took for ever to open, but as the box slid open she let out a gasp of delight. The dress and shoes she had admired so lovingly last night lay on a mountain of tissue paper, only they weren’t black. Instead the softest, palest lilac beckoned her hands, which she ran over the soft velvet of the dress. In a second Tabitha’s robe was discarded and the dress skimmed over her head. Slipping the shoes onto her feet, she searched through the tissue paper until she found what she was looking for.
It wasn’t quite the declaration Tabitha had secretly been hoping for, but just the sight of his purple signature somehow soothed her.
Funny that a hastily written note with a noticeably absent kiss gave her more pleasure than several thousand dollars’ worth of clothes, Tabitha thought as she sat there dressed in all her finery staring at the piece of paper.
‘Six months,’ she whispered to herself.
Six months of sleeping beside him, waking next to him in the morning. Six months to show Zavier how good and sweet love could be if only you let yourself taste it.
Six months to make him love her.
In a corner? Maybe.
Making a mistake? Probably