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He shook his head, fury spiralling inside him, his heartbeat slamming into his ribs. Had what happened last night and in the restaurant really affected her so little?
He gritted his teeth. The answer to that question was packed and ready to go.
‘But, let me guess, it is about you.’ His voice was rising. ‘And your brother.’
She breathed out unsteadily, trying to ignore his contempt and animosity.
‘It was only ever about David, and you knew that. Look, I can’t stop you calling the police. But I want to be there with him when they turn up.’
He gave a humourless laugh.
‘You really are a drama queen, aren’t you?’ He gestured towards her suitcase. ‘And how you love your props.’
‘It’s not a prop,’ she snapped, a flicker of anger catching fire inside her. ‘How else I am supposed to pack my things?’
‘You don’t need to pack. This is all just for show. Like everything else you do.’
Her head jerked up, eyes darkening with outrage.
‘Like everything we both do, you mean. You are such a hypocrite. Our entire relationship is a soap opera of your making, and you’ve got the nerve to accuse me of being a drama queen.’
‘This is not my idea of a relationship,’ he snarled.
‘Well, it certainly isn’t mine.’ She bit the words out between her teeth. ‘It’s more like living in a war zone.’
‘Then maybe you should stop turning everything into a fight.’
‘Me! What about you? You’re the one who threw a tantrum in the middle of Madison Avenue, storming off like some three-year-old.’
It was true. He had behaved childishly. But it was her fault. He might have a reputation as an ice-cold negotiator, but with Daisy his temper hovered between volatile and volcanic. It was an admission that did nothing to defuse his anger with her—or himself. In fact, it just seemed to wind him up more tightly than ever.
He stared at her coldly.
‘Oh but you throwing the ring I gave you back in my face—that was just so mature.’
‘I wasn’t trying to be mature,’ she snapped. ‘I was upset.’
‘You weren’t upset. You were gutted. As soon as you saw the ring you thought you were going to get to keep it.’
He saw the sudden startled flinch in her eyes but ignored it. ‘And when you found out that wasn’t going to happen you had a tantrum—’
‘That’s not true! Or fair. I hadn’t even thought about you giving me a ring.’
It was true—she hadn’t. At least she hadn’t thought about him doing so with such sensitivity. She’d supposed there would be a ring, but that it would be just a ring.
Remembering the effort he’d made in the restaurant to surprise her, she felt her eyes grow hot. ‘How can you accuse me of plotting to keep it?’
He could hear the shake in her voice, and knew he’d hurt her. Knew too, that he was being unfair, unreasonable, cruel. But he wasn’t about to start indulging Daisy the way his father had indulged his mother.
It was why he’d arranged this relationship with her in the first place—precisely to avoid that kind of emotional manipulation.
‘I find that hard to believe. You could hardly take your eyes off it in the car.’
Fighting tears, Daisy shook her head. Did he really think so little of her? Had it not occurred to him that she might have another, innocent, less self-serving motive for admiring the ring?
‘Not because I thought it was mine—’
Suddenly she couldn’t speak. How could she explain it to Rollo? A man who was indifferent, brutally dismissive of anything romantic. A man who dealt solely in facts. Who reduced everything to assets and liabilities. A man who was happy to fake his own marriage solely to con a business rival.
