Page 34 of A Diamond Deal
He’d give her everything.
Then he’d take it all away.
‘Goodnight, Poppy.’
Konstantinos closed the door in her face.
CHAPTER FIVE
The boned bodiceof Poppy’s dress felt like a too small cage.
Hunched over the laptop on her dressing table, she heaved, her chest pressing too tightly against the lace-ruffled trim.
She stared unblinkingly at the screen.
Konstantinos, he looked…
He didn’t look likehim.
She closed her eyes. Shut out the hundreds of images on her screen. Images of him. Endless open tabs of Konstantinos over the last year looking dishevelled.Distracted.In each photograph he looked…tortured.
She opened her eyes, looked down at the largest image in the centre of the screen. Konstantinos walking up the steps to his private jet. He’d turned. His black eyes shadowed.Unseeing.
The paparazzi had snapped him.
Never had she seen Konstantinos with a beard so unkempt.
Never had she seen him looking anything but pristine in public or private.
Image.It was everything to Konstantinos. So why was he not himself in any of these photographs? If his image was everything, why hadn’t he cared what he looked like when he knew the paparazzi would create those awful articles? Articles she’d read all afternoon. They’d analysed his every frown. Every inch of his too long hair…
The knock at the door sent her pulse into overdrive.
Poppy’s eyes snapped to the door.
It opened. He stood in the doorway in his perfect tux. She took in the sharp, angular jut of his jaw. His perfect face.
Still, she caught her breath.
Still, her stomach flipped.
He stepped into the room. ‘It’s time.’
‘I need my shawl,’ she said thickly.
His gaze flicked to the screen at her back.
She turned to it. Closed the lid. Collected her silver shawl and diamond clutch from where they sat next to the laptop. She turned back…
Her hand reached out automatically to steady herself. Solid heat met her palm. Her gaze flicked up to his.
His eyes dropped to her hand on his chest. ‘I have something for you.’
‘What?’
He didn’t answer. He caught her wrist and brought it between their bodies. His touch was a light hold, barely there, but it snatched the air from her lungs.
He reached into his pocket. ‘Did you really think I wouldn’t recognise them?’ To the tip of her ring finger he held her engagement ring. A green emerald and diamond trilogy set in silver platinum, and her wedding band.
