Page 24 of Their Diamond Ring Ruse

It didn’t matter. She and Julian had a plan.

Lily took another look at her ring. ‘I’m engaged,’ she whispered to herself. ‘What would a newly engaged woman do?’

The answer, she realised, was celebrate. She would show off her ring to her friends and family. Tell the world how happy she was. Well, she had no friends to speak of now, her family weren’t happy, and posting all over social media would be unfitting for someone of her station. Which was fine. Because there was really only one person she wanted to see. The one in all this with her.

Deciding it would look good for them both, Lily locked her office behind her and made her way to the front of the shop, where she put together a box of pastries. Leaving one of her assistants in charge, she climbed into her car and drove to the financial district.

Though she had never been there before, she knew exactly where the IRES building was located. A tall glass and steel structure, it was the closest of them all to the pier. As she drove around it to park in one of the guest bays Lily saw at the entrance a large wireframe sculpture of the earth surrounded by a solid green circle with two leaves on top.

She made her way to the reception desk and was shown up to the top floor without having to say who she was. Realising that Julian had obviously cleared her to enter the building made her smile. He’d thought of everything, which was reassuring.

An immaculately dressed brunette greeted her as soon as she got out of the lift.

‘Good morning, Miss Shah. Please follow me.’

Lily wasn’t sure what she’d expected the inside of Julian’s building to look like but, examining the white walls and floors with light grey furnishings and pops of green throughout the space, she figured she should have expected something like this. The no-nonsense décor seemed on point for him, but there was still a welcoming quality to the space. And the most impressive thing was that it didn’t interfere with the spectacular view outside.

‘Mr Ford, your fiancée is here to see you,’ the brunette announced, holding open the door to a massive corner office.

Julian flicked his gaze up from his laptop and Lily was lost in the force of it.

‘Thank you,’ he said to his assistant. ‘Hold my calls.’

Lily didn’t hear the door close. She was too focussed on Julian’s body as he rose from the chair and stepped around a large, frosted glass desk. He was in a dark blue suit today. Butterflies took flight in her stomach. An overwhelming urge to touch him seized her.

‘Hi...’ she breathed, then cleared her throat and tried again. ‘Hello, Julian.’

His eyes flashed as he stopped in front of her. His thumb pulled her bottom lip free from her teeth. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Yes, I just thought it might be nice if I brought my fiancé something from the bakery.’

She held the box out to him, and he took it with the utmost care. He leaned down to kiss her on her cheek. Her skin burned.

‘Thank you.’

Lily kept her eyes on him as he lifted the lid on the box, his eyes crinkling with amusement as he set it down on the table.

‘I thought I’d bring something for your employees...you know, because their boss is such a brute.’ She grinned.

His arms came around her waist and she watched, spellbound, as a broad, beaming smile broke through.

She’d thought Julian would be handsome with a smile on his face. That was like thinking Michelangelo’s David was a nice sculpture. A criminal understatement.

He was devastating. Deep dimples popping. Perfect white teeth gleaming. His eyes shining so bright. His face was transformed. Resplendent. It was like the sun coming out on cloudy day.

His smile was breathtaking...why did he hide it away? What had happened to him?

Lily resolved right then to bring a smile to his face as often as she could.

But she was already attracted to him...if he smiled like this often she would be in serious trouble.

‘Need sweetening, do I?’

She wrapped her arms around his neck, still thrown by her reaction to him. ‘Maybe...’

‘Cinnamon rolls aren’t very French,’ Julian teased.

His usually low, smooth voice was somehow richer with the smile colouring it. As if he was one step away from laughter.

---