One Winter's Sunrise. Alison Roberts

and downs of dating. A few weeks down the track, they’d take a broken engagement in their stride. If those kisses were anything to go by, she might be more than a tad upset when her time with Dominic came to an end. She pummelled back down to somewhere deep inside her the shred of hope that perhaps something real could happen between them after the engagement charade was done.

      ‘When will you tell your parents?’ Dominic asked.

      ‘Today. They’d be hurt beyond belief if they found out from someone else.’

      ‘And you’ll talk to Hannah about Timothy?’

      ‘At the family dinner. We should speak to her and Paul together.’

      ‘I hope she won’t be too difficult to convince. I really want to help that little boy.’

      ‘I know,’ she said, thinking of how grateful her family would be to him. How glad she was she’d agreed to all this for her tiny nephew’s sake. But what about Dominic’s family? This shouldn’t be all about hers. ‘What about your aunt? Do we need to tell her?’

      The shutters came slamming down. ‘No. She’s out of the picture.’

      The way he said it let her know not to ask more. Not now anyway.

      Dominic shrugged on his leather jacket in preparation to go. She stared, dumbstruck, feasting her eyes on him. He was so hot. She still felt awkward after their passionate kissing session. Should she reach up and kiss him on the cheek?

      While she was making up her mind, he pulled her close for a brief, exciting kiss on her mouth. She doubted there could be any other type of kiss but exciting from Dominic. ‘Happy to fulfil Condition Number Six at any time,’ he said, very seriously.

      She smiled, the tension between them immediately dissipated. But she wasn’t ready to say goodbye just yet.

      ‘Before you go...’ She picked up her smartphone again. ‘The first thing my friends who don’t know you will want to see is a photo of my surprise new fiancé.’

      He ran his hand over his unshaven chin. ‘Like this? Can’t it wait?’

      ‘I like your face like that. It’s hot. No need to shave on my behalf.’ Without thinking, she put her fingers up to her cheek, where there was probably stubble rash. His kiss had felt so good.

      ‘If you say so,’ he said, looking pleased.

      ‘Just lean against the door there,’ she said. ‘Look cool.’

      He slouched against the door and sent her a smouldering look. The wave of want that crashed through her made her nearly drop the phone. ‘Do I look cool?’ he said in a self-mocking tone. ‘I thought you liked hot?’

      ‘You know exactly what I mean.’ She was discovering a light-hearted side to Dominic she liked very much.

      Their gazes met and they both burst into laughter. He looked even more gorgeous when he laughed, perfect teeth white in his tanned face, and she immediately captured a few more images of him. Who would recognise this good-humoured hunk in jeans and leather jacket as the billionaire Scrooge of legend?

      ‘What about a selfie of us together?’ she asked. ‘In the interests of authenticity,’ she hastily added.

      Bad idea. She stood next to him, aware of every centimetre of body contact, and held her phone out in front of them. She felt more self-conscious than she could ever remember feeling. He pulled her in so their faces were close together. She smiled and clicked, and as she clicked again he kissed her on the cheek.

      ‘That will be cute,’ she said.

      ‘Another?’ he asked. This time he kissed her on the mouth. Click. Click. Click. And then she forgot to click.

      After he had left, Andie spent more minutes than she should scrolling through the photos on her phone. No one would know they were faking it.