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But D-Day had arrived for Blake. She and Morgan would be alone in the house until tomorrow at noon when Marni would bring Ciara back home. So tonight after the party at Laken Raines, Blake would talk everything through with Morgan. She knew it would not be easy and had been going over and over what she was going to say, still afraid of losing him and Ciara but knowing she could not stay here if it meant losing herself.
When she heard the front door close, meaning Morgan had returned, Blake walked from her room to the top of the stairs and said, “Did you say we would be leaving at six thirty?”
“That’s right.”
Neither of them spoke to each other any more than they had to. Was he hurting as much as she was? Or was he simply furious at her? She had told him from the start that she could not firmly commit to more than eight months, so if he did not love her, why would he be so angry that she might leave?
Whatever the case, Blake was going for an elegant but hot look tonight that she hoped would make Morgan proud to have her on his arm in front of his employees and associates. She was wearing a sleek mid-thigh burgundy dress with scalloped lace across the wide neckline. She had bought it specifically for this event back before she had gotten the emails from Harvard and Lydia. She knew Morgan would want her to look really good since he would be introducing her as his fiancée.
If Blake was hoping she would knock his socks off when she stepped out of her room, she had forgotten to factor in that Morgan might do the same to her. At the sight of him striding out of his room across the hall—his large powerful frame magnificent in a charcoal tailored suit, his deep gray eyes lasering in on her—well, Blake’s breath caught and she nearly fell over.
God, Morgan was everything she would ever want in a man she chose to spend her life with. Hot and sexy and handsome mixed with kind and smart and caring. Strong and powerful and protective, yet so gentle and sweet when he needed to be.
As he stepped closer, his gaze was on her mouth. She wanted him to kiss her so badly. Would he ever kiss her again? Or would it be over for good after their discussion tonight?
“You look nice,” he said, his voice a deep murmur.
“You do too,” Blake said softly. Lifting her hand, she added, “Um, since we are supposed to be engaged I thought I should have a ring on, so I bought this one to—”
“That is an embarrassment,” he said of the cubic zirconia she had found online. “I wouldn’t want anyone to think I gave a woman that junk.” He took her hand and pulled the ring off and stuck it on a hall table. His touch was so welcome, even if it was only because he was irritated with her.
“I’m sorry. I just thought I should—”
“So did I.” He pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Here. Put this on.”
When Blake looked in the box, her jaw dropped open at the huge heart-shaped diamond surrounded by a circle of tiny diamonds. “Oh my God, this is so beautiful. Is it real?”
“Yeah,” Morgan said. “Put it on. We should get going.”
The part of Blake that wished her engagement were also real made tears prick behind her eyes. But she looked down and blinked so he would not notice.
Her hands shook when she tried to get the ring out. Morgan obviously saw that, but he did not comment. Instead, he just stepped close and took the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger.
For a moment their eyes locked on each other and time seemed to stop. Blake had to hold back her tears and her wild fantasies of this being real and her secret wish for Morgan to open his mouth right now and ask her to marry him.
But then the antique clock that stood in the hallway chimed one bong for six thirty, breaking the spell of the moment, bringing her back to the reality that he was nowhere near ready to say those words to her—and may never be. How foolish was it to pass up the dream job of a lifetime to wait for something that might never happen?
Morgan turned toward the stairs. Blake knew he hated to be late, ever, so she turned with him and they went down together. Not arm in arm as they had for that party in Bridgehampton the first time they had played at this game. This time there was a cold tension between them, and she just hoped she could pull off the performance tonight without showing her painful cracks.
The Laken Raines party was held at a hotel ballroom not far from the company headquarters in Riverhead. Blake could not help her childlike delight at the holiday decor that had clearly been professionally done. An enormous Christmas tree covered in sparkling lights and shiny balls of silver and blue and gold that were echoed throughout the ballroom. Silver reindeer and large crystal snowflakes and round tables set with gold and silver candles and stars.
As soon as they walked in, a tall athletically built Black man rushed toward them, and Morgan gripped him in a man-hug.
“Blake, this is Cory Laken, my business partner who lives on the West Coast.” Morgan gestured to her. “This is Blake Sheehan, my fiancée.”
“Whoa,” Cory said as he shook her hand. “When did that happen?”
Blake glanced at Morgan. This was his call to make. “Early last month,” he said, “but we made it official on Christmas.”
“Congratulations,” Cory said, giving Morgan a playful punch in the arm, then smiling at Blake. “You sure you want to get mixed up with this guy? He’s kind of dangerous.”
Blake grinned back at Cory as she threaded her arm through Morgan’s and leaned into him. “I wouldn’t want him any other way.”
Blake had read on the Laken Raines website that Cory was ex-military like Morgan, who’d told her that he and Cory had worked bodyguard jobs together in the old days, becoming close friends and eventually opening their own service agency. It was pretty impressive that these two had managed to build a company that now had branches in LA, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta with a national roster of bodyguards and offering executive, VIP, and celebrity protection as well as a series of training and certification programs in different aspects of protection security.
And the people here clearly admired these two men, hovering around them now as if they were celebrities. She saw a crowd gathering near them, and before she knew it, she was being introduced to one after another so fast she could hardly keep up. Word of Morgan’s fiancée buzzed through the party swiftly and most of the females here seemed really curious about the woman who had managed to land a man like him.
“How did you two meet? What do you do, Blake?” asked a woman named Olivia in a low-cut sheath. She’d been introduced as the head of their IT department.
