‘He didn’t say anything. Just that he needed to speak to me before the meeting. But I was tied up on a call and I... I missed the meeting. He wanted to tell me.’
‘You couldn’t have known he was going to tell you that.’ She crossed to stand beside him and rested a hand on his shoulder. ‘It wouldn’t have changed anything. The news would have been the same.’
‘It would have felt different if he’d been able to talk to me before having to tell everyone else.’
‘You’re right. I’m sorry.’
He leaned his head against her arm and she let her hand brush against his hair.
‘And I’m sorry for what I told him about us.’
Eva moved her hand away, aware of a sudden change of the chemistry in the room. She hitched herself onto the corner of the desk, letting her stilettoed feet dangle.
‘What was that about? The truth would have been a much simpler explanation. It’s going to be a hundred times harder to explain things now. Engaged or not, who knows what he thinks we were up to in his office?’
‘I was thinking on my feet. I didn’t want him to think that you were involved in something sordid, and my brain went to “engaged” rather than “wardrobe malfunction”. You saw his face when I told him that we were getting married. I knew that it would make him happy.’
‘Marrying me?’
‘Being happy...settled. It’s all he wants for me. And since my divorce... You don’t want to hear all that. Just trust me on this one. I know my father. I knew it would make him happy.’
‘So what’s it going to do to him when you tell him there’s no engagement?’
And suddenly, from the defiant clench of his jaw and the killer look in his eyes, Eva knew that he wasn’t planning on telling his father the truth at all.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said, keeping her voice low and commanding. ‘We have to tell him the truth. I’ll tell him about the coffee and the dress. I’ll sort this out.’
Joss shrugged, never breaking eye contact, never backing down from the challenge she’d made so clear in her voice.
‘We’ll explain about the dress. But I see no reason to drop the pretence of our engagement.’
She stood slowly from the desk and took a step towards him, letting him know that she found neither his position in the company nor the six inches in height he had over her intimidating in the slightest. Least of all when he was seated and she could tower over him.
‘No reason, Joss? You just panicked and told a bare-faced lie that has implications for us both. I have no intention of lying to your father, so unless you want him to hear from me that you just fabricated a fiancée, I think you would do better to just tell him now.’
‘Or we could make him believe that it’s true.’
She took half a step back to stare at Joss. ‘Have you completely lost your mind? Why would we want to do that?’
‘Maybe I have lost my mind. It wouldn’t be the first time. I don’t know... What I do know is that my father has just told me that he’s dying, and I—we—can do something to make him happy in the time he has left.’
‘By lying to him? Do you think he’d really want that?’
‘You saw his face. You tell me if you think the lie hurt him.’
She shrugged, unable to contradict him. ‘I know he seemed happy, Joss. But it can’t be right. I mean, how long would we have to keep this up?’
She sat down again, losing a little of her anger as she realised what she was asking.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...’
‘I know. I know you didn’t mean anything by it. But, yeah, we would have to keep it up until he dies. Which, apparently, won’t be all that long. Don’t worry—I don’t expect you to actually say I do.’
She sat and thought on it for a moment. Remembered the look on Edward’s face when Joss had told his lie. She couldn’t deny that he’d looked happy. As happy as she’d seen him for a long time.
She loved Edward. He had been the one constant in her life for so long now, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to manage without him. A sob threatened, and her hand lifted slowly to her throat as she forced it down. She slumped into the back of the chair, suddenly deflated. Surely if it made Edward happy she could do this. She should do this.
‘I need some time to think about it,’ she said eventually, not wanting Joss to know the direction her thoughts had been heading.
Goodness knew she’d been trying to keep the details of her mind secret from him for long enough. If they were to go through with this completely ridiculous idea, how was she meant to keep that up? To hide the fact that her mouth wanted to part every time she saw him? That she had to stop her tongue moistening her lips and her body swaying towards him?
‘Take some time, then. No work’s going to get done this afternoon anyway, by the looks of it.’
Eva shook her head. ‘Your father will need me.’
‘I’m going to my father’s office now, and we’re going to have a long talk. I’ll make sure there’s not a problem. If you want, I can say you went home with a headache.’
‘While he’s still at work with a terminal illness? Thanks but no thanks. Lock yourself in with your father if you want, but I’ll be at my desk if either of you need me.’
Joss leaned back in his chair, raising his hands to admit defeat. ‘We need to talk, though. And we can’t do that in the office. Dinner tonight?’
Dinner tonight.
How many times had she imagined Joss issuing an invitation like that? Though she’d always known that she wouldn’t accept. It wasn’t even the time that he spent travelling around the country that made her think he was a million miles from boyfriend material. No, it was the fact that even when he was here he wasn’t quite...here. There was an isolation about him. A distance. Even when he was close enough to touch.
She’d done long-distance before, with people in her life that she’d loved, and she’d hated every second of it. The last thing she needed was a man—a fiancé—who was distant even when he was in the room.
But she couldn’t ignore him while he was going around telling people that they had got engaged. She had to convince him to tell his father the truth. And then figure out how they were meant to work together.
‘Yes,’ she agreed eventually. ‘I guess we do need to talk about this. My place? I don’t feel like going out after news like this. I don’t suppose you do either.’
‘No. That sounds good. Eight?’
She nodded, and scribbled down her address.
Walking back to her desk, she grabbed the coffee-stained dress and put it in the garment bag that she’d flung over her chair as she’d raced for the boardroom.
The blinds in Edward’s office were drawn—a sure sign that he didn’t want to be disturbed—so she sat at her computer, knowing that her work—the one constant she had in her life—was going to change irrevocably, and there was nothing she could do about it.
EVA CHECKED ON the food and resisted glancing at her reflection in the window. She didn’t want Joss to think that she’d made an effort, so she’d not touched her hair or her make-up since she’d got home, and had just thrown on jeans and a comfy jumper. She always wore her skinnies and a cashmere sweater for a Friday night in—that