Evan’s hands closed over her shoulders. She tried to flinch away, but he held tight. There was honest regret in his eyes, but there was also determination. Stubborn determination.
“Sit down, Celia,” he ordered in a low voice.
She gaped at him.
“Please.”
It was the please that did it. Or maybe it was how tired and resigned he sounded. Or maybe it was the bleak light that entered his eyes. Or maybe she was just a flaming idiot who deserved everything she got
for being sucked into this in the first place.
She sank onto the sofa, her entire body trembling as he took a seat beside her.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t expect you to believe I didn’t do this maliciously or to hurt you. I swear, I didn’t.”
She cast a sideways glance at him.
He sighed. “Someone really did a number on you, didn’t they?”
She turned away, refusing to give him confirmation.
“Celia, look at me.”
He waited, and she stared ahead. Still, he waited. Finally, she gave in and turned to look at him.
“I completely and utterly messed this up. I freely admit it. I expected to have time to discuss this with you before we ran into my family.”
She struggled to control her temper. He obviously wanted a reasonable discussion when she was feeling anything but reasonable. What she really wanted was to crack his skull on the coffee table and leave, but then she’d be without a room, and if anyone was sleeping in the hallway, it wasn’t going to be her.
“First, this has nothing—and I mean nothing—to do with you landing my account. You’re going to have to do that on your business and advertising savvy. I’m not putting my entire company in the hands of a woman based on her looks or anything else. Can we at least be clear on that?”
She swallowed. “That’s not how it looks to me, Evan. It looks to me like I got played for the fool and that you led me here on the premise of listening to my pitch when you never had any intention of this being about business. Tell me this much, have you already signed with Golden Gate? You owe me that much honesty at least.”
Evan gripped a handful of his hair and closed his eyes. “You’re pissed. I get it. You have every right to be, but will you please listen to my explanation. If afterward you want me to take a flying leap, I’ll be more than happy to accommodate you. You’ll never hear from me again.”
“I think you know I don’t have any other choice,” she said helplessly.
“I’ll try to make this as short and as concise as possible.”
She nodded.
“I didn’t have any intention of coming to this damn wedding. I couldn’t care less if they live happily ever after and I have even less interest in being here to wish them well along that path to happily ever after.
“Then my mother called and she begged me to come. She was worried that I wasn’t over Bettina and that’s why I wouldn’t come. The woman has a heart of gold, but she obviously knows nothing about me or she’d realize that Bettina was nothing to me the moment she left me for what she perceived to be the better catch.”
“Harsh,” Celia murmured.
“Is it? I’m only speaking the truth. Bettina was calculating. She hedged her bets and went with Mitchell as soon as he was named my father’s successor in the family jewelry business. To her it seemed a more glamorous life. I’d like to be a fly on the wall when she realizes how wrong she is.”
Celia’s lips curled in amusement. “Not feeling a wee bit vindictive, are you?”
He gave a short laugh. “I may not harbor any love for the woman, and I may not be a bit sorry that she’s out of my life, but she is a manipulative cat, and I won’t be sorry to see her suffer for the choice she made.”
“So your mom doesn’t think you’re over Bettina. That has what to do with me and this hoax you’re perpetuating? Which I really resent by the way because your mom is nice. I feel like pond scum for deceiving her.”
“I’m getting there. Just bear with me. When I got off the phone with Mom, I was angry because I let her talk me into going and I said as a last-minute thing that I was bringing someone. I fully intended to look up someone I’d seen casually in the past. Then I remembered that Friday I was supposed to be meeting you and that this meeting was extremely important to me. It seemed logical to combine the two and bring you out with me. I didn’t lie about needing to move on this fast. I’ve wasted weeks listening to pitches.
I’m ready to move.”
“I’m still seeing abut here,” she muttered.
“The but occurred when Bettina herself came to see me. She was steamed that I had the audacity to bring someone to her wedding. She felt like it was a poke in the eye at her, and if you can believe, she honestly thinks I’m still pining over her. She basically accused me of being a fraud and of trying to upstage her at her own wedding.”
Celia burst out laughing. God, he didn’t even see it. How typical a clueless male was he.
“What’s so damn funny?” he demanded.
“She accused you of doing exactly what you’re doing! The audacity. You crack me up.”
He blinked and then looked a little sheepish. “Okay, I get it. I’m an immature, egotistical man. The male ego is obviously a fragile creature. I think we can agree on that. Yes, it occurred to me to get a little of mine back on her by showing up with a gorgeous, stunning woman. Sue me. I even hatched the whole engagement scheme complete with the ring because I figured it was the best way to get them all off my back.”
Her shoulders shook and she closed her eyes. The man was nothing if not honest. She had to give him that much.
“Celia, look at me, please.”
His entreating tone had her turning once more to stare into those intense green eyes. He looked earnest, and he looked…worried.
“I didn’t do any of this to hurt you, I swear. I thought if I just came out and asked you to do me this
favor, you’d have never agreed to come with me, even with the promise of listening to your pitch.”
“So you lured me here and ambushed me instead,” she said drily.
“It didn’t go exactly as I’d planned. I’d hoped to have a nice dinner together in our suite and I was going to ask you to do me a personal favor then. I was going to outline the entire charade and ask you to play along. Just for the time we’re here. But that all went to hell when we immediately ran into my parents.”