Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,8

said, leaning on the bar as I made the drinks for her order.

I shot a quick look at the couple sitting at table three and smirked. “Not a first date,” I said. “Probably only a second or third, though.”

“Will they make it?”

“Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “Look at the way she’s sitting. She likes him well enough, but only as a friend. They have no chemistry and every time the door opens, she looks up to see who’s coming in. If I had to guess…”

“What? Tell me.”

I smiled. “If I had to guess, I’d say she hasn’t long broken up with someone else and she’s still pining over him. She chose this guy because he’s safe and different to her rebel-without-a-cause ex, but really, she’s waiting for her ex to storm in here and sweep her off her feet.”

Sherry sighed with a beatific smile. “I want the ex to storm in here and sweep her off her feet. How romantic would that be?”

I shook my head and filled Sherry’s tray. It was fun to make up stories about the customers, but I would be glad when my shift was over. I could lie on my bed and binge on Netflix while trying not to think about what Lucas was getting up to with his brand new and sparkling fiancée. I mean, she would be an idiot to turn him down and as much as I didn’t like Clarissa, she was not an idiot.

I just had to get through the next hour and a half and then I could wallow. The next ninety minutes would be brutal.

Chapter 3

Lucas

I patted the corner of my mouth with a napkin and cleared my throat. The night hadn’t being going well. Clarissa was unusually quiet and, dare I say, a little frosty. Surely she couldn’t still be upset about the tie, could she?

Or maybe it was because she was nervous too. Maybe Mother had told her what to expect tonight, and she was waiting for me to finally pop the question.

I wondered what Frankie would make of how our date was going. I’d heard her make up stories about the couples that came into her bar all the time. If she was observing my current date with Clarissa, would she say it was going well or was the awkwardness obvious to everyone?

“So, um, we’ve been seeing each other for a while now,” I said, shifting in my seat.

Clarissa opened her mouth to reply, but a waiter approached to fill our wine glasses. She closed her mouth and smiled tightly until the waiter retreated. I took a sip and before she could say whatever it was she was going to say, I rushed on.

“I’ve been thinking about my future of late and the…the human condition, as it were.”

“So have I,” Clarissa interjected. “I’ve been thinking about us a lot, actually.”

Buoyed by her admission, I rushed on. “Right, so in light of the fact we have both reached a stage in our lives where it is time to settle down and plan for the future, I believe this is the next step for us.” I took a deep breath. “Clarissa, will you marry me?”

“I think we should break up,” Clarissa said at the same time.

“What?”

“What?”

“I’m proposing to you and you’re…breaking up with me?”

“You’re proposing to me?”

“I just asked you to marry me,” I said, belatedly pulling the ring box from my pocket and placing it on the table. I opened it and Clarissa gasped.

Her eyes hungrily ate up the four carat pavé diamond and platinum engagement ring that sparkled against the velvet of the box. She licked her lips, and then sighed, tearing her eyes away from the diamond to the surrounding restaurant before her gaze came back to mine.

“Why do you want to marry me, Lucas?” she asked.

“What sort of question is that?”

“An honest one,” she replied.

I sighed. “We’ve been dating for two years,” I replied, listing the points on my fingers. “You and my mother are practically best friends, we get on well, you would be a suitable wife…”

She snorted elegantly and then took a long sip from her glass.

“What?” I asked, flummoxed by her reaction.

“I want to be loved, not just tolerated,” she replied. “You just proposed to me and not once did you tell me you loved me. I don’t want to marry someone because I’m friends with their mother or because they think I would be a suitable wife. Yes, we’ve been dating for two years, but don’t you think it