“I want you to marry me.”
She could only stare at him. Words were failing her, which was virtually unheard-of. She always knew what to say. She always knew how to respond in every situation, quickly and efficiently, cutting if necessary. She was never speechless. Except she was now.
She opened her mouth, then shut it again, trying desperately to think of some kind of sharp, witty response. Instead she settled for simple. “Not really, though.”
A short chuckle escaped his lips. “No. Not really. I just want you to be my fiancée.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No! Absolutely not.”
“How much do you value your job, Lily?”
She locked her teeth together. “It’s everything to me. I’ve worked very hard to get where I am.”
“It would be a shame to have any of your hard work compromised, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes,” she bit out.
“I don’t want Madeline’s hard work compromised because she got tossed to the wolves. I don’t want her to lose all of the progress she’s made, all of the confidence she’s managed to gain.”
The threat, though he didn’t state it explicitly, was certainly implied. If she wanted to keep her job, she had to play by his rules.
“And it has to be you,” he continued. “You and I were seen together at the gala last night, and we were definitely breaching the boundaries of professionalism.”
“We were well within normal boundaries of a boss and employee attending an event together,” she said, even as images of him holding her close flashed through her mind.
He raised his eyebrows. “Really? What else do you consider within normal employer-employee boundaries? Gotten engaged to any of your other bosses?”
“I haven’t even agreed to get engaged to this one,” she said through clenched teeth.
On a personal level, she was horrified by the idea. She didn’t want to spend more time with Gage. She didn’t want to pretend to be his adoring fiancée. But if she pushed that aside and looked at it objectively, she knew that this was the best way to throw the spotlight off of Madeline without completely compromising Gage’s public image.
“You’re right,” she said finally. “I hate it when you’re right.”
“This will be simple for you, Lily. You’re the consummate professional.”
“If you think I’m going to fall for that, you’re sadly delusional.”
“What is that?” he asked, leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head, showing off his wonderful arm muscles. He knew.
“You’re turning on the Forrester charm. It doesn’t work on me,” she said, even as her stomach tightened a little bit.
“All right, then forget the charm. We don’t have another choice. If I go down, you go down with me. We have to fix this. If you walk away, it only gets worse for you. No one will hire you if they find out you left a client in the lurch when a massive scandal was breaking that related to his family. If you help successfully diffuse this, though …”
“I know.” She would most likely be sworn to secrecy about the fine details, but she imagined she would earn herself an extremely glowing reference. And the best record for a PR specialist was, without a doubt, a smooth history with the press. More than a hint of scandal and her career was in serious danger. “Fine. Yes.”
“Excellent.” Gage picked up his mobile phone and punched in a number. “Dave? I need an engagement ring. I don’t know.” He looked at her. “What size ring do you wear?”
“A six.”
“Six.” He paused. “It doesn’t matter. Make sure it’s noticeable.” He snapped the phone shut.
“Did you just call poor David at five in the morning to have him buy me a ring?”
“You already know the answer, why did you even ask?”
Annoyance rolled in her stomach, along with nerves that refused to be calmed. She flexed her fingers, imagining the weight of a ring there. His ring. It made everything in her feel jittery. It was such a symbol of ownership. Like he was marking her as his. Which was silly because they weren’t in a real relationship and they were never going to be. But everything about marriage and relationships severely unnerved her, and it was hard to shake the anxiety that was coursing through her.
“I was just incredulous,” she snapped.
“So, what’s the story?”
Right. Work. This she could do. Create a press release, get the right spin. She was good at this. She grabbed her notebook of the desk. “We’ve been working together for a while. We’ve grown closer, friendship, then, well … more. And then you proposed last night after the gala, which is why I didn’t have a ring yet. Because that detail would have been noticed.”