Page 71 of The Exposed Heiress

The staff went through the process of opening the bottle and presented a sample.

Leo took a sip while smiling at her and said, “Excellent.”

The sommelier poured them each a glass and placed the bottle into an iced bucket set near the table.

Lifting his glass, Leo said, “To my beautiful Emma, may we find happiness.”

Emma lifted her glass and said, “To my beautiful Leo, may we find pleasure.”

He touched his glass to hers. “I don’t know how I’ll make it through this dinner.”

The waiter returned and let them know about the specials for the evening.

Emma handed her menu to the waiter. “The wild sea bass with roasted vegetables.”

“I’ll have the miso-glazed cod.”

The waiter took the menus and left them.

Emma took a sip of her champagne. “You didn’t return my calls.”

“I didn’t do anything else, either. I had no energy to start a new venture and was insanely distracted during meetings.”

She traced the stem of her glass. “I didn’t mean to hurt you by giving wrong information to the reporter.”

He covered her hand. “I hadn’t expected to be so gutted by that.”

Her heart constricted painfully. “I’m sorry.”

Leo sat back in his chair. “You don’t need to apologize. I thought we were on a serious path, and then the self-doubt crept in when you said there was nothing between us.”

Emma smoothed a stand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve never seen you doubt anything.”

He took in a breath. “It’s rare that doubt overtakes me. I grew up desperate for a father who would show up and take care of things. But he was unreliable and didn’t want to be a father. It didn’t matter how much I wanted him to be a good father. He wasn’t. I never wanted to be in the position of asking someone for love that didn’t want to give it freely.”

Her throat became painful and tears slide down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Leo.”

He sat up straighter. “It’s not your doing. When I gained some perspective, I realized that you hide your feelings out of habit. Of course, you would tell a reporter that nothing was between us.”

Emma twisted her hands in her lap. “I grew up needing to hide my emotions, but I no longer need to do that.”

He lifted his glass. “To sharing everything.”

She laughed and touched her glass to his. “To not hiding anymore.”

After taking a swallow, he asked, “Does that mean a huge society wedding?”

She shook her head. “No. It means a private, simple affair with family surrounding us. We can have your PR team deal with the exclusive photographs or whatever. But we can write our own vows.”

He laughed. “Deal.”

Much later that evening, they attended the after party in Rotherhithe and were overwhelmed with the number of guests. The caterer had to call in more help, and they were swamped with making cocktails and getting appetizers out and circling.

Claire pulled Emma aside and said, “Our website crashed again. It can’t take the volume of orders or inquires. The programmers are working overtime to implement a fix.”

Emma looked across the room and smiled when she caught Leo’s gaze.

Turning back to Claire, she said, “It’s a good problem to have.”

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