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Until the telephone rang.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DAISY automatically reached out and picked up the telephone receiver from the bedside table, not even wondering who was calling, her mind still floating from the pleasure of the deeply intimate connection with Ethan. It was a jolt to hear her mother’s voice.
‘Oh, good! You’re home! I thought you might still be out partying.’
‘Partying?’ Daisy repeated, trying to get her wits together. She sat bolt upright and shot Ethan a warning look, putting a silencing finger on her lips.
‘We saw you on television, standing right next to Ethan Cartwright when he was presented with the Golden Slipper. It was such a surprise. We couldn’t believe our eyes. You didn’t tell us you were going out with him.’
The chiding tone caused Daisy’s heart to skitter all around her chest. She took a deep breath to shoot some oxygen into her brain, knowing she needed an explanation that sounded reasonable. ‘Well, Mum, it was our first date and I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure. I mean he’s such a high-powered person, I felt nervous about going out with him, fitting in with his friends. It might have ended up awful, so I didn’t want to tell you about it. But I actually had a wonderful time. It was a marvellous day.’
‘Your first date.’ Her mother sounded pleased. ‘You looked beautiful, dear. Such a gorgeous dress and headpiece. Did you buy it especially?’
‘Yes. I splurged, but the outfit made me feel good so it was well worth the money. Lucky I have such a highly paid job now.’
‘And it’s lovely that you’re spending your money on yourself instead of on us.’
‘I didn’t mind that, Mum.’
‘Well, thank heaven it’s behind us. Or I should say thank Ethan Cartwright for his good advice. When we saw you together on the television, your father wasn’t as surprised as I was. He thought the man must have been sweet on you all along to have offered his help with our financial problems. Will you be seeing him again, dear?’
‘Yes. He’s invited me to a tennis party at his house.’
‘No need for you to be nervous about that,’ her mother said confidently. ‘You’re a better player than most people.’
‘I’m over my nerves now, Mum. I’ll be fine.’
‘I was thinking…Easter is coming up next week. The whole family will be here as usual. Why not invite Ethan to come to Sunday lunch?’
A vision of her family swarming around him, probably assuming things about their relationship they shouldn’t assume and making stomach-squirming comments, played havoc with the nerves she had just declared in fine condition.
‘I think it’s too soon for that,’ she said, inwardly re-coiling from any move that might bring rejection and the crushing of a dream that she hoped might come true, given enough solid time together.
‘It would be a nice way of showing our appreciation for what he’s done for us,’ her mother pressed.
‘Mum, it was business,’ Daisy said emphatically. ‘Ethan would have been rewarded for it, taking a commission on the deal.’ Her cheeks burned. She couldn’t look at him.
‘But that’s so impersonal, Daisy,’ her mother argued. ‘And what he did was personal. It was because he was pleased with you. You told us so yourself. And it’s obvious he’s still pleased with you. Ask him if he’d like to come.’
Daisy gritted her teeth and thought hard. ‘He probably has family of his own to go to at Easter.’
‘Well, if he has, he has. There’s no harm in extending an invitation.’
‘Okay. I’ll let you know.’ Please, God, let her stop now, Daisy prayed.
She didn’t.
‘You’ll be coming home anyway, won’t you, dear? We haven’t seen you since you took up your new job.’
Her free time was exclusively Ethan’s. That was the deal. But surely he’d understand she had to attend the family get-together at Easter. ‘Yes, I’ll be there,’ she answered unequivocally, not wanting to make some excuse unless she was forced to.
‘It will be such a happy day,’ her mother rattled on. ‘Ken and Kevin are both employed again. Your father has paid off Keith’s business debts, and we can now afford to send Violet’s boy to a special school for autistic children.’
‘That’s great!’
It really was—alleviating a lot of stress in her sister’s life. Money was not the root of all evil, Daisy thought. It could be a huge blessing.
‘Well, I’ll let you go, dear, but do ask Ethan if he’d like to join us for Easter Sunday. He’ll be most welcome. Such a handsome man, too,’ she added in a tone overflowing with benevolence, causing Daisy to fly into a panic.
‘Mum, don’t get ideas. This was a first date, remember. It doesn’t mean anything.’
‘Of course it does, Daisy. It means that he likes you and you like him. Now don’t do anything to spoil it, dear. I thought you looked perfect together. Bye now.’
Daisy fumbled the receiver’s return to its cradle, dropped back down on the pillow and closed her eyes. Tight. To shut out the dreadful embarrassment of knowing Ethan had overheard that conversation and had undoubtedly pieced together her mother’s side of it.
She felt him shift onto his side, prop himself up to examine the expression on her face, felt his eyes probing under her skin. A featherlight finger teased one corner of her mouth. ‘It doesn’t mean anything?’
For some reason his repetition of those words hurt unbearably. She opened her eyes and attacked with defensive ferocity. ‘You know perfectly well why I’m here with you, Ethan. Just because you’ve taken me out of your closet hasn’t changed the deal, has it?’
He frowned. ‘Weren’t you happy with me today?’
‘That’s not the point! My parents saw the presentation of The Golden Slipper on TV, saw us together, and my mother has leapt to the rosy conclusion that we’re a match made in heaven.’
His mouth quirked in amusement. ‘Maybe we are.’
‘Don’t make fun of it!’ she cried, hope giving her heart a painful kick. ‘I have to deal with this now. My family always get together at my parents’ home at Easter. They’ll be full of questions about you and…’ Her eyes pleaded to be let off his hook. ‘I know you demanded all my free time, but I’ll be breaking our family tradition if I’m not there with them.’
‘No problem.’ His eyes glinted with determined purpose. ‘I’ll go with you.’
She stared at him, her stomach curdling at the thought of what he’d be walking into. ‘I’m only asking for one day with my family, Ethan. Not even one full day. Lunch on Easter Sunday will be enough.’
‘Fine!’ he said. ‘We’ll roll up for lunch on Easter Sunday.’
Daisy closed her eyes again as she tried to swallow the sickening surge of panic. There was no moving him. He was bent on having his own way, relentlessly ruthless about getting it.
‘Your mother did invite me, didn’t she?’ he said without any doubt in his voice.
‘Yes,’ she bit out between gritted teeth.
‘Then tell her I accept.’
Daisy summoned up one last effort to change his mind, shooting him a begging look. ‘We’re a big family, Ethan. And because I’ve never brought anyone into it, they’ll pepper you with questions and size you up like you wouldn’t believe.’
She had invited Carl when she’d believed in their love for each other, but he had always found some pressing reason not to be available when she’d wanted him to accompany her. From the arguments preceding their break-up, she’d realised he resented her family and the hold it had on her, taking her away from what he wanted to do. If Ethan also resented their claim on her…
‘It won’t worry me, Daisy,’ he said, obviously not caring about being put in a hot seat. ‘I’m curious about them, too. I’ll enjoy meeting such a close-knit family. I haven’t had one myself.’
She heaved a resigned sigh. He was resolved on accompanying her, no matter what. She could only hope he did enjoy himself and somehow, miraculously, feel he could become a part of her family because there was no long-term future with him if he couldn’t.
The week slipped by all too quickly.
Daisy’s emotions were worn ragged, fretting over how her family would receive Ethan and vice versa.
He peppered her with questions about them, memorising all the names and connecting the children to the right parents, doing his homework before making an entrance. Applying good business practice, Daisy thought, but meeting a diverse group of people whose life experiences were nothing like his was much more complex than sitting down with a bunch of clients with similar interests—namely big money and what to do with it. She remembered how she’d hated him for being what he was—obscenely rich, stunningly handsome and sinfully sexy. Her brothers and sister could feel the same way.
