Page 44 of Three's a Crowd
‘Thank you,’ she said, with feeling.
Zach just shrugged, the corner of his mouth tugging into a satisfied smile.
‘You were just telling me how you hated all your clothes. Now you can get some new ones.’ He raised his hand, finger pointing up in ajust a momentgesture. ‘Actually, let me ask my PA to close a store for us tomorrow and you can go and shop for a new dress for the premiere in peace. If I drop my name, I’m sure I can get them to lend you a designer gown for the evening so you can spend your money on some stuff that you’ll actually wear again.What do you say? We could get Adam a tux at the same time?’ he added.
‘Oh!’ Daisy said, completely taken aback by this suggestion. She’d never even dreamed she’d be in the position to have an entire store closed just for her.What a rush!
Well, she may as well make the most of it. It wasn’t as if she got offers like this every day.
‘That would be fantastic,’ she breathed, smiling in disbelief at his thoughtfulness.
‘Fine. Consider it done. I’ll come and pick you both up about eleven tomorrow then,’ he said.
‘Okay,’ she agreed, elation surging through her. It wasso niceto be looked after like this.
She realised with a shock that she’d hardly thought about Adam all evening and the elation gave way to shame. But it was his own fault. If he hadn’t been in such a nihilistic mood…
‘Daisy?’ Zach said, gently, breaking into her thoughts.
‘Hmm?’
‘I’ve got something for you,’ he said, drawing a small, black case out of one of the side pockets of his cargo trousers.
Daisy stared at it, curiosity making her heart race.
‘What is it?’ she asked, taking it out of his proffered hand.
‘Open it and see,’ he said, looking at her intently.
She gave him a searchingly look, before flipping the lid open. It was a small, platinum pendant in the shape of a knot with a diamond buried in the centre of it, hanging from a delicately spun chain. The stone caught the light as she held it up and bright prisms flashed into her eyes.
‘It’s beautiful,’ she gasped, looking over at his expectant face. ‘But why on earth would you buy me this?’ she asked.
‘It’s a gift to say sorry for the way I treated you.’ He leaned forward in his chair towards her and she caught a waft of his delicious scent in the air. ‘To show how much I value your andAdam’s friendship. You’re the closest thing I have to family and I wanted you to know how much I care about you both,’ he said, his face a picture of sincerity.
‘Zach, you didn’t need to do this. I acted just as badly as you did, so you really don’t have anything to apologise for.’
‘Please take it, though. It would mean a lot to me if you’d accept it. It’s a friendship knot. Hopefully, you’ll think of me occasionally when you wear it,’ he added.
Daisy was overwhelmed. She’d never owned anything so beautiful.
‘Okay. Well, thank you,’ she said with feeling. There was a loaded pause where they just looked at each other. ‘I hope you didn’t get one of these for Adam as well. I don’t think he’s got any outfits he can wear a diamond pendant with.’ She smiled at her own joke but was disturbed to see he wasn’t smiling back.
‘I got him something different,’ he said, patting the pocket on the other side of his cargo trousers. ‘Some cufflinks. I was hoping I could spend some time with him, just him and me, while we’re all here. I think he’s still pissed off with me, judging by his performance earlier,’ he said, a flash of hurt crossing his face.
‘Don’t worry about him,’ Daisy reassured him, flapping a hand. ‘He’s just being a facetious arse at the moment. I don’t know why. Stressed from overwork, probably. He’ll be fine tomorrow.’
Zach half grinned at this. ‘He always was a mercurial bastard,’ he said, nodding slowly.
Except he wasn’t. Not really. He was always pretty straightforward and reliable when it came to how he felt about things and how he acted. At least he was with her.
‘Yeah,’ Daisy said, choosing not to argue and let it go. Perhaps Zach had a different experience with him. She stifled a yawn, feeling tiredness wash through her. She’d been up earlythat morning after all, ready to catch the flight to Nice, and it had to be well into the early hours by now.
Zach noticed her sudden droop and took the case with the necklace out of her hand.
‘Come here. I just want to see this on you, then we’ll get going,’ he said, picking the fine chain up and undoing the delicate clasp.
Daisy leaned towards him and Zach put his arms around her neck, drawing her closer so that he could close the clasp around the tiny loop. The close proximity of his body caused a gentle shiver to run thorough her, and she drank in his scent, closing her eyes in appreciation.
