Page 17 of The Tycoon's Diamond Demand

Then Jens realised everyone was watching them, some laughing, some sniggering. On the plus side, their kiss would go a long way to show his colleagues and contemporaries he’d claimed Håkon’s daughter, that he was the winner in their long-standing feud. But why didn’t it feel as satisfying as he’d imagined? As good as he’d thought it would feel? He shrugged it off. He was just tired, sick of people, and he had a headache.

And as the crowd surged forward to offer their congratulations, he knew he’d feel better in the morning, be back to feeling like himself. He was in control.

Much later, Maja returned from the bathroom and slipped into the highly decorated room, heaving with the great and good of Norwegian society. Her nose itched from the competing perfumes and colognes, and her head felt as if it were about to split apart. Spots danced in front of her eyes, and she wished she could go home...

Back to Edinburgh, back to where everything made sense.

Maja moved along the back wall of the room towards the open doors and stepped outside, grateful for the crisp air. Moving down the balcony, she turned the corner and leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes.

She’d been catapulted back into her father’s A-lister world, had her cheeks kissed fifty times and thanked people for their murmurs of sympathy. She’d ducked questions about why she hadn’t attended Håkon’s funeral, telling them she’d had a migraine on that morning and said her private goodbyes later in the day, and explained that she’d been living a quiet life out of the media spotlight.

She’d thanked people for their congratulations on their engagement, repeating Jens’s story that they’d met a few months back, and it was a whirlwind romance. Unified by their love for Maja, Jens and Håkon had agreed to a ceasefire, and they were gutted a heart attack took Håkon before he could walk Maja down the aisle.

He’d lied, she’d lied, they’d both ducked and weaved. And she was exhausted and sick to her soul. After growing up under the shadow of Håkon’s narcissistic personality, she wanted to live in sunshine, in honesty. But Jens, their past and his feud with Håkon had yanked her back into the murkiness that always accompanied the need for control and power.

Maja gripped the railing and dropped her head, staring at the immaculate garden below. She was a pawn on Jens’s chessboard, just as she’d been on Håkon’s. She was here because Jens decreed it. After all, he had power and wealth and possessed a secret he could brandish like a sword.

And she’d kissed him. Worse, she’d liked—no,lovedit! She’d loved every second of being in Jens’s arms again, adored the contrast of her soft body against his hard muscles, how his gliding hands and clever mouth made her forget that he was using her, that he was blackmailing her into marriage.

If it weren’t for the career she’d worked so hard at, the name she’d made for herself, she’d tell him what to do with himself and where to go. But she had too much to lose...

So what could she do? Therehadto be something.

Maja bit down on her lip, forcing her aching head to think.

She could...well, she could make this situation as hard as possible for him. She could ramp up her level of uninterest. After tonight, she would make life very difficult for Jens. He might want a bride, but he’d have to drag her up the aisle by her hair.

She would not lift a finger to help him and refused to make the process easy for him. She’d keep her distance, mentally and emotionally, especially physically as she was so very attracted to him. He’d soon realise he’d bitten off more than he could chew.

She’d planned on slow-walking through her wedding preparations, but she was upping that to outright passive resistance. She wouldn’t engage, talk to him or offer her opinion. On any subject, at any time. Jens, a man of action, someone who preferred arguments to silence, would hate every minute of her passive, robotic stance. And she was counting on him cracking before she did.

CHAPTER FIVE

‘IWOULDN’TNORMALLYbother you with this, Mr Nilsen, but I’m not making any progress with Ms Hagen.’

In his penthouse office in Oslo, Jens glanced at his computer screen, annoyed at being interrupted by the video call. Especially by the wedding planner. He had a multibillion-dollar empire to run, he didn’t have the time, or interest, to talk about flowers and food.

Jens sat up straight and gave his full attention to his caller. ‘What do you mean you’re not making any progress?’

‘I’ve had a few meetings with Ms Hagen, but I cannot get her to make a decision about anything,’ Hilda told him. ‘You might be paying me exceptionally well to organise a wedding in just a few weeks, but I’m not a miracle worker and I can’t get anything done without input. I was wondering ifyoucould give me directions on the flowers, the cake, and the type of music you want. We’re running out of time.’

No, he damn well couldn’t! ‘Is Maja meeting with you?’ He snapped out the question.

‘Yes, but she can’t make up her mind. She often says she needs to talk to you before she gives me an answer. She promises to email but never does. We are no further along than I was when you first retained my services.’

Which he’d secured with a high six-figure deposit.

What was going on? Two weeks had passed since their engagement party, but it sounded as though his very expensive wedding planner was working with a ghost. Or a zombie. He told Hilda he’d get back to her and swung his feet up onto the corner of the desk, his irritation rising. He didn’t discount Hilda’s words because whenever he raised the issue of their wedding with Maja, she handed him a blank stare and shut down. He asked for her opinion and got no reply, he mentioned the list of tasks they needed to accomplish, and she shrugged, uninterested.

Being ignored, dismissed and not having his orders followed was an unusual situation for Jens. He was used to people doing what he demanded. A man in his position never had to ask twice—what he wanted was what happened.

Yet the wedding planner was stymied because Maja was being, at best, uncooperative. At worst, she was quietly sabotaging his plans. The part of him that wasn’t furious admired her for her courage. There weren’t many people who had the guts to defy him.

Jens rolled his fountain pen between his fingers, aggravated. He understood that being blackmailed into getting married wasn’t the best way to inspire someone to plan a wedding, but when he’d stumbled on his path to exact revenge, he hadn’t factored in Maja’s unwillingness to take part in the preparations.

He should’ve. He usually considered all the angles and imagined all possible outcomes. Annoyingly, Maja falling back into his life had short-circuited some of his synapses. He was trying to run his company, was deciding what to do with Hagen International. There was a possibility the company could be immensely profitable with some restructuring. But he’d lie awake at night reliving their limb-melting, searing, devastating-to-his-control kiss.

Her lips had been so soft, her body so yielding, it fitted perfectly into his...

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