Grady paused, not quite sure how to ask. Knowing he’d screw it up, he dove right in. “So, Patricia is planning to have you wear our grandmother’s rather ostentatious engagement ring for the party tonight. I... I hated my grandmother to be honest. She was less warm and fuzzy than Patricia.”
Claire’s grin morphed into a grimace. “Let’s hope it doesn’t fit.”
Catching his breath, his ribs tight against his hyper-inflated lungs, he continued, “My great-grandmother, on the other hand, was rumored to have been a decent person. A hard worker and a feminist. So, I have a better idea. Well, I hope you think so. If tonight is going to be an engagement party, even if not for me... shit, I’m terrible at this.”
Raising an eyebrow, Claire put her hands around his and stayed quiet, letting him sort out his thoughts.
“It’s too soon, but I’m sick of taking the safe route, of protecting myself from inevitable rejection. Will you marry me? It can be as long of an engagement as you need, or you don’t even have to say yes, just please don’t wear someone else’s ring tonight. Wear mine, at least for the night.” He pulled the simple band from his pocket and held it in his palm.
Mercifully, she didn’t say no right away. Eyes wide and glassy, she bit her lip and stared at the ring. Instead of the large diamond that would get caught on everything or not fit in her gloves, this ring was a thin gold band of fine woven leaves and a pink gem he didn’t know the name of, set into the pattern like a blossom. He hoped she appreciated the simplicity of it, like he did.
Claire slid the ring onto her finger. Hand held high, she spun the ring in the rays of sun. With a soft smile, she finally answered. “It’s perfect.” She climbed onto his lap and brushed her lips against his. “Some might say it’s too soon, but if you and I think the time is right, then it’s right. We’ll worry about the details later.”
With a grin so wide his cheeks hurt, the heaviness in his chest dissipated, morphing into tendrils of heat spreading throughout his body. “So that’s a yes?”
“Yes. And I’m not giving the ring back after the gala. It’s mine now. As you are.”
“It’s just a zipper. I don’t understand how this particularly delicate piece of hardware can be so mechanically inferior to ordinary zippers. I had no difficult with the one on my pants.” Grady’s hands gripped either side of the zipper of her dress, barely able to even grasp the tiny pull.
Claire laughed, and he hoped to hell she was admiring how adorable he was, rather than his struggles at getting the damn zipper to cooperate. Her voice danced with glee as she said, “The fabric was expensive, so I guess they had to save money on the zipper.” Turning in his arms, she grazed her hands down his bare abdomen, then tucked her hands in his waistband to demonstrate. “Your pants have a rather persistent escape artist behind the zipper and needed the durability.”
He dropped his hands to his sides and hissed, backing out of her reach. “Hey, trying to help here. We’re expected downstairs in six minutes.”
Laughing out loud, she raised her eyebrows, as if hinting at the many things they could accomplish in six minutes.
“No.” He shook his head and laughed out loud. “You are insatiable.”
Calming her laugh, on the verge of an unshakable giggle fit, she moved her hair off her back and turned away again. “One more try. If you fail, you’re going to fetch Haley, so I don’t have to wander the house like this.”
He growled and traced his fingertips along the edges of the zipper, sneaking in a final feel of her soft skin before having to keep his distance for the next few hours.
“Hello? Claire, are you ready? I thought I heard you from down the hall.” Patricia’s shrilly cheerful voice shattered... everything. “I was hoping we could chat before the guests arrive.” The door to the suite was closed, but that had never stopped his thoughtless mother before. How did she know Ryder and Claire weren’t having a moment in here?
“Shit,” Grady muttered, gripping the pull and tugging it up as quickly as possible, then remembered he didn’t even have a shirt on yet.
“Claire? I have a gift for you and Ryder downstairs for the party. He’s waiting for you in the parlor.”Oh yeah.
Patricia stormed right in like the intruder she was, assuming the open bedroom door meant nothing personal was going on in here. Eyes wide as an owl’s, as piercing as an eagle’s, and as stupid as a chicken’s, she looked from Grady to Claire in puzzled horror.
Grady stood tall at Claire’s side, hands out in a futile attempt to calm a frightened bull. “I can explain.”
Dim in the evening clouds, the last rays of sun filtered in through the window, casting a gray light that brought out the furrow between Patricia’s eyebrows. Seething, foaming at the mouth, she was rendered silent for the first time in history.
Finally, after hemming and hawing until he thought steam might actually puff out of her ears, she spewed out, “Explain? No, there is no explanation that will suffice. I’m downstairs, setting up what will be the gala of the century—in celebration of your brother’s engagement—and you’re fooling around with his fiancée?”
Biting his tongue, Grady struggled to not throw back every angsty, bitter sting he could.
Instead, Claire cleared her throat. “Patricia, I understand why you are upset. If you’ll give us a few moments, I’d like to talk this over in a civilized manner. With you and Ryder and Grady.”
Patricia couldn’t say no to manners, despite her fury. Her eyes raked across the unmade bed. “Unfortunately, we don’t have time for civilized. Our guests will begin arriving any moment. I suppose for tonight, we shall say nothing of... ofthis... and address the issue tomorrow.”
When the metallic taste of blood trickled into Grady’s mouth, he released his raw cheek from his clenched teeth, but tightened right back on, knowing he’d blow up if he opened his mouth. This was a shitty situation for her to walk in on, but maybe, for once in her life, she could try to hear him out.
Nostrils flaring, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.
Grady clicked the door closed behind her. Turning to Claire, he shook his head and apologized. “I’m so sorry.”
Gliding toward him in ice blue silk, Claire wrapped her arms around him. “One more night under this roof.” With velvety hazel eyes, she looked up at him and rose to her toes. She brushed her lips against his, soothing away the hurt.
