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‘Of course not. Couples these days tend to wait—’ Emily began.

But he shook his head. ‘I wish that were the reason, Emily.’ He paused, his face like stone. ‘But it’s not. Daisy and I didn’t discuss children because it’s not you, James, who’s working on a different time scale. It’s me.’

His eyes met Daisy’s and suddenly she knew what he was about to do.

‘No, Rollo—’

Reaching over, he took her hand and squeezed it, his eyes greener and brighter than she had ever seen them.

‘It never would have worked.’

Abruptly he dropped her hand and, standing up, he turned towards James, his face fierce.

‘It’s not her fault. I made her do it.’

‘I don’t understand, Rollo.’ The older man stood up too. ‘What time scale? And what did you make Daisy do?’

But he did understand, Daisy thought miserably. She could see it in the way his jaw was tightening, and in the hardening of his eyes.

‘It’s a fake. We’re a fake.’

Even though she’d known what he was about to say, Daisy flinched at Rollo’s choice of words. But it wasn’t just what he said that hurt. The relief in his voice was so painful to hear that she had to grip the arms of her chair to stop herself from crying out loud.

‘You’d do this? You’d lie about a marriage? About being in love?’ James shook his head, anger vying with disbelief.

Rollo shrugged. ‘You wouldn’t sell to me so I became someone else. And I needed Daisy to help me. To be my wife.’

She swallowed, the sound echoing inside her head. His eyes were staring at hers directly, as though they were alone, and the intimacy of his gaze was so at odds with the brutality of what he was saying that she thought she might throw up.

‘How long were you going to carry on with this charade?’ James asked coldly.

Rollo stared past him. ‘A year,’ he said finally. ‘But I see now that a year was too long. Even a month has been too big a sacrifice to make.’

She breathed in sharply. It felt as if she’d been stabbed.

‘You’ve gone too far, Rollo.’

James looked shocked, and for some reason that made everything so much worse.

‘The deal is off. Over.’

Rollo nodded. For what felt like a lifetime he stood and stared at her, his gaze clear and calm, with the same acceptance of a gladiator stepping into the Colosseum. Then, turning, he walked away, his footsteps swift and light against the stone slabs.

‘Please...’ Daisy turned towards the Dunmores. ‘You have to stop him. I k

now we did a bad thing, but he did it for the right reasons.’

James Dunmore stared at her in bewilderment. ‘I don’t understand. He made you a part of this, and yet you want to help him.’

‘Yes, I do.’ Her voice was filling with tears.

‘But why?’

‘I know why.’

Stepping forward, Emily Dunmore took Daisy’s hand.

‘It’s because you love him, isn’t it?’

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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