Page 13 of Their Diamond Ring Ruse

‘Precisely. The expectation would shift. When were you meant to have married?’

‘Next year.’

‘If you agree to this, that will never happen. What do you say?’

This whole idea was madness. Her heart raced just from thinking about it. She would be lying to her brother. Her mother.

But doing so might grant her a life that was all her own. That was what Julian was offering, and all he wanted was a fair shot at a deal that was unfairly being denied to him.

And Julian himself was an attractive part of the package. A fun, thrilling part. Of course this was all fake, but the idea of being around him and getting to know him better—this man who made her feel things she never had—was extremely appealing. Even now, when he was doing nothing more than looking at her, he turned everything inside her molten.

Maybe he could show her the passion she had been denied, even if it was temporary. And maybe...just maybe...she could finally have someone in her corner. Someone she could be honest with and confide in. Heaven knew how much she missed that.

It was hard to trust that everything would work out as he planned, though. It was hard to trust, period. Yet he had resources—power. He could more than adequately take on Lincoln if it came to that. Though she hoped it wouldn’t.

If Julian could free her, the least she could do was help him. He was right. This was a mutually beneficial plan, and she could count more pros than cons to this arrangement.

This was insane.

A rash decision.

Don’t do anything rash, please. Devan had asked.

Too damn bad!

This was a way out and she would seize it with both hands.

‘Let’s do it,’ she said, surprised by the steadiness of her voice.

A small smirk curved one corner of his mouth and she lost the ability to speak as his face was transformed into something roguish.

‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow evening. Seven. Wear something you’d like to get photographed in.’

He winked and leaned down to place a quick kiss on her cheek. Sensation exploded throughout her body, but before she could turn her head, maybe kiss him back, Julian had already pulled away, his eyes smouldering.

She saw his jaw flex and then he was striding out of her office...leaving her a nervous, excited, heaving, trembling mess.

CHAPTER FOUR

A DRESS THAT she would like to get photographed in.

Ordinarily an easy decision to make. Not tonight. Lily stood in her large walk-in closet, riffling through rails of beautiful dresses bought off catwalks around the world. None of them seemed right.

There was a lot of pressure on this date and this night. It felt monumental. The first step in taking her life back. Getting out of this pit of desperation and frustration. What dress, if any, would be appropriate?

A part of her that she didn’t want to pay attention to wondered if Julian would approve of what she wore. It shouldn’t matter. What they had was fake. But when she thought of that kiss in her office, as innocent a touch as it had been, she couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him.

For a hairsbreadth of a moment, when she turned her head, she wanted to be kissed by him. Wanted that light brush on her lips.

Lily couldn’t remember a time when she wanted that so badly.

It made sense. Julian was, objectively, gorgeous. She couldn’t be the only one to respond to him that way. Yet she hadn’t felt so strongly towards anyone else in the past.

Caught in her thoughts, she slipped a dress on.

This is the one, she thought.

The dress she would wear when she announced her relationship with Julian to the world. And her brother.

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