‘May I come in?’ he said, though it was less of a question than a demand.
‘I thought we were going out.’
‘In good time.’
Her heart began to race faster at the thought of being alone with him inherhotel room, which, though elegant, was far more like an ordinary room in proportions. With one big king-sized bed in the middle.
He strode in and took a look around, frowning with bemusement to see she didn’t have a suite.
‘I only intended to stay here two nights,’ she found herself saying defensively, as she shut the door. ‘And I don’t need more space than this.’
She’d taken two steps away from the door when the buzzer sounded and she paced back to it, opening it with a half smile in place. A waiter stood there with a room service trolley adorned with an ice bucket, French champagne, two flutes and chocolate-dipped strawberries.
‘Ma’am,’ he said politely. ‘Would you like me to place this inside?’
Annie was too flummoxed to respond, but Theo’s voice came down the narrow corridor. ‘Leave the trolley, thank you.’
‘Very good,’ the waiter said, brandishing a small clipboard for Annie to sign.
She reached for it, but Theo was there, signing his own name with a flourish after adding a generous tip to the line on the bottom. The waiter disappeared down the corridor, leaving Theo to roll the trolley into a room that already felt far too small for them.
His eyes rested sardonically on Annie as he removed the champagne bottle and unfurled the foil top, then with a bang removed the cork.
‘Are we celebrating?’ she asked, one brow arched.
‘I believe it’s tradition to toast an engagement with champagne.’
‘But ours is not a normal engagement. Behind closed doors, we don’t need to pretend.’
‘We can still toast to fresh starts.’
‘Are you forgetting what I said the other day?’ she demanded, nonetheless taking the glass he held out, hating the way her traitorous body responded to the feeling as her fingertips brushed his.
‘Definitely not.’
‘Good.’
‘Are you afraid that you might forget, Annie?’
She almost spluttered at such a preposterous idea, and took a big drink just to wash away the angry response she was tempted to deliver. ‘I’m confident I won’t,’ she managed, a moment later.
One corner of his mouth shifted in a half grin.
‘To the future,’ he said.
‘To us both getting what we want and never seeing each other again.’
‘Eighteen months is a long time to wait for that.’
‘It’ll be worth it.’
He sipped his drink, eyes resting on her face. ‘You love your father a great deal.’
‘What kind of statement is that? He’s my father—of course I love him.’
Theo’s eyes flashed with something, and his response was unnerving. ‘Do you think it’s mutual?’
‘I know it is,’ she said, shuddering a little, because her parents’ love had been overwhelming—to the point of stultifying. She’d only really acknowledged that after her mother passed away, and to Annie’s shame, mixed in with her grief had been a sense of…freedom. Because her father had been so wrapped up in his own immense sadness, and Annie had, for the first time in her life, been able to make choices for herself, without her parents constantly worrying and watching.