Binding Contract by Amelia Wilde

Author:Amelia Wilde [Wilde, Amelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub

15

Charlotte

The proposal will help stem the gossip.

Mason planned this because we need a way out. It makes perfect sense for him to put a ring on my finger. Even more sense for it to happen here, where everyone who’s been gossiping about us can witness it. The most sense for my parents to be in attendance, watching it play out and being powerless to stop it.

It’s a performance. Pretend. All for the cameras. Shutters snap shut at a slow, steady interval from different angles around the room.

But it feels real.

The velvet box underneath my fingers is real. The ring inside will be worth real money. Even the words out of his mouth felt real.

There’s no other option. I know that, too. This is how he’ll turn a real contract into a playful one. This is how he’ll turn something public back into something private. Proposing to me right now is a surefire way to turn the conversation inside out.

I don’t care about any of that.

Because when I look at him, the reasoning doesn’t matter. My heart is really pounding. My hands are really shaking. Mason hasn’t moved to open the box, and that’s the final seam in the costume. A man who proposes for show is the quickest to shove the ring into your face. Mason could have done that. He could have opened the box, before he said anything. Kept it open so people could crane their necks to see the diamond.

He didn’t.

I can’t look away from his eyes. The fine lines of his face are gorgeous. Arresting. He’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, and he’s looking at me like nothing else exists. This might be a public display of our relationship, but there’s no pretense in his eyes. No gathering storm. There’s a bright undertone of pain. The hard floor under his knee must be killing him. He wouldn’t let that stop him from dancing with me. He’s not allowing it to stop him from proposing. And along with that pain—a question.

Will you marry me?

Please.

My heart thuds. Somehow, he’s done magic. He’s slowed the passage of time. All the other people in the gallery are shimmering falls of fabric in the background. They’re waiting for my answer. Blood rushes to my cheeks. My breath gets shallow. The line between real and fake blurs until it’s meaningless. I dreamed of this as a girl. A proposal just like this one. My parents looking on. They were proud in my imagination, not silent and stunned, but the rest?

I thought it would be like this. Hoped it would be like this. Gave up that hope as I got older and realized that most public proposals sucked. Left it behind completely as Van Kempt Industries failed, and I understood that nobody would be getting down on one knee at a ritzy charity benefit. That was okay. I didn’t need it. I just needed to keep the roof over our heads.

It’s a dream. A real, waking dream.

A happy tear falls onto my cheek.

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