Page 42 of The Tycoon's Diamond Demand

They’d have to meet at some point. She had clothes at his house, toiletries, and she wanted to know if she could have the art books in her grandmother’s studio. They needed to end this chapter in a civil, sensible way. She couldn’t run away again...

Maja heard someone trying to attract her attention and looked down to see a blonde bike courier on the pavement, a package in her hands. The courier looked up at her, squinting in the sun.

‘Maja Hagen?’ When Maja nodded, the biker told her she had a delivery.

Maja walked downstairs. She took the plastic envelope and ripped it open. Inside was a plain white, square envelope, with her name written across it in a bold black fountain pen. She recognised Jens’s handwriting...

Her heart rate picked up. ‘Do you need me to sign for it?’ Maja asked, looking for a reason to delay opening the envelope. Jens was a direct guy, someone who didn’t shy away from confrontation, and his sending her a paper and pen message couldn’t be good.

The courier shook her head, walked away and Maja turned the envelope over, then over again. Back in her flat, she paced, putting the envelope down, and then picking it up. Finally, irritated by her actions, she ripped the envelope open and pulled out the thick, expensive invitation.

Jens Nilsen and Maja Hagen

invite you to join them

to celebrate their wedding

at the Hotel Daniel-Jean...

Maja frowned. Why would he send her a copy of their wedding invitation? Why hadn’t he cancelled the wedding? What was he trying to say?

She flipped the card over. Jens had scrawled a sentence. It took her a while for the words to make sense.

I’m going to be there. Are you?

CHAPTER TWELVE

THISWASTHEIRwedding day and she was in the back of a taxi. Maja had flown into Ålesund hours ago and dressed in a bland hotel room and wondered if she was making the biggest mistake of her life. The taxi pulled up to the entrance of the Hotel Daniel-Jean and Maja laid her hand over her heart, telling it to calm down.

She was about to walk through the lobby, clutching a bouquet of white and cream roses, dressed in a simple but deliciously gorgeous wedding dress of French-lace-covered satin, her make-up and hair as good as she could get it...

And she didn’t know if Jens would be waiting for her in the gazebo at the end of the pier. He could be playing with her, this could all be one huge set-up, his way to exact payback... Was this a mistake? Was she setting herself up for failure?

Maja looked over the shoulder of the driver to the clock on the dashboard. She was on time. She turned her head to the side and watched an elegant couple slip into the hotel, hurrying to be there before the bride. She resisted the urge to roll down the window and ask them to check whether a suited and booted groom was waiting for her.

Maja pushed her fist into her sternum and wondered, not for the first or five thousandth time, what she was doing. There was a chance she was walking into more heartbreak, a press firestorm, a PR disaster. She’d just claimed her name back, and the art world was excited to discover the real identity of M J Slater. She was courting trouble with this stunt.

If Jens failed to appear, or walked away before they said ‘I do’, she’d be a headline tomorrow. She would be laughed at and commented on over morning coffee and marmalade on toast. She would be Norway’s, maybe even Europe’s, morning entertainment.

But, if Jens was there wanting to marry her, they would be extraordinarily happy, and her life would be complete. When she thought about it like that, there wasn’t a chance she wouldn’t take, a move she wouldn’t make, to be with him. She loved him and, because she did, she’d do anything, risk anything, to have Jens in her life...

That didn’t stop the butterflies in her stomach from whirring and buzzing. But she couldn’t sit in this taxi, biting her lip. She needed to move, to face whatever lay beyond those impressive hotel doors.

Maja thanked the driver, opened the door and stepped out onto the driveway, shaking out the folds of her dress. She’d opted out of wearing a veil, deciding instead to thread a few luscious cream roses, touched at the edges with blush pink, into her twisted-back hair.

You can do this, Maja. You have to know.

She’d had the mantra on repeat but, now that she was facing a long, lonely walk to the gazebo where the ceremony was to take place, her knees felt a little soft. She would not stumble at this last hurdle. She would not run away. She had to see this through, she had toknow...

There was such power in making decisions for herself, in having the freedom to chart her own course. She was taking a chance on Jens, risking her heart again. It felt wonderful, and terrifying. This could backfire horribly, but she knew if she didn’t, she’d regret not being brave for the rest of her life. Jens deserved her bravery, and she owed it to herself.

Maja walked through the lobby onto the wide veranda of the hotel and looked down. Hilda’s team had set up flower-decorated chairs, placing them in regimented rows on the lush lawn. The rows were bisected by a white carpet leading up to the stairs of the pier. Big screens on either side of the pier were there to transmit the ceremony to the guests. Maja stared into the shadows of the gazebo, conscious of her knocking knees and a pool of sweat gathering at the base of her spine.

She looked into the rose-festooned gazebo and her heart settled when she saw Jens standing by the simple altar, his hands clasped and his head down. He was there, waiting for her. He’d been prepared to take the risk of her not showing up, was willing to be vulnerable, and he’d put himself in a position to be humiliated...for her.

Maja understood, on a deep fundamental level, how much courage it took for him to do that, especially since he had no idea whether she’d arrive or not. This was Jens putting his heart on a plate. And what a gift it was. Maja placed her free hand on her heart and allowed her pretty bouquet to rest against her thigh.

As if sensing she’d arrived, Jens lifted his head, and across the swathe of lawn their eyes connected. His shoulders dropped and a small smile touched his mouth. None of their guests suspected how monumental this moment was, what they’d gone through to be here.

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