Page 1 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

CHAPTER 1

Two days. Thatwas all it took before the media found out about our engagement. How? Only God knew! Matt hadn’t even told his family yet and I dreaded their reaction. I looked over at Dante as we did our warm-up stretches. He was being a bit guarded about it all. Of course, he congratulated me when I told him, but it didn’t seem sincere. He was more concerned about the blow-out I’d had with my family. He made me rehash every word uttered and then hugged me tightly before saying it was long overdue. I had cried a bit more and Dante had assured me things would only get better; that they would come around once they accepted their previous abhorrent behaviour and apologized for it. I could only wish. Aunt Cleo’s face when she said we were finished was burnt into my memory. She had looked so hurt, wounded, betrayed. I had betrayed my family.

“Madi, the reporters are still out front.” Bri fumed as she walked into the fishbowl. “Gloria said she was going to call the police if they didn’t leave. You’d think it was Prince William you were engaged to.”

I laughed at the thought as I retorted, “Well, he’s already married to a beautiful woman, although when I first moved here I hoped somehow I would catch his eye and he would fall madly in love with me. Ah well, no throne for me.”

Dante choked on his laughter, then Bri started laughing too as she placed one leg atop thebarreand began stretching.

“What?” I asked. “I’m princess material, hell, I’m a Queen in this upcoming production.”

Dante laughed even harder. Huh. It wasn’t that farfetched. It could happen. I mean, look at Matt and me. That got me thinking about my knight. When we flew home on Saturday, his driver had been waiting to ferry us to Matt’s Kensington home. George had spotted the ring gracing my hand in mere seconds. His face had gone all sorts of pale; shocked pale, disbelieving pale, ‘my boss has lost his mind’ pale. Then Matt had said:‘Aren’t you going to congratulate us, George?’

Poor George. His stammered congratulations were far from his usual poise and the ease between us had become quite awkward that day, so much so, I decided to spend the rest of the weekend at myplace which raised another problem. Matt wanted me to move in with him at once. I didn’t want to. I liked my own space, plus my house was much closer to my place of work, moving in with Matt wasn’t high on my agenda. When I mentioned my view, he had gone silent before notifying me it was inevitable as we would be living there once we were married, and it was best to speed up the process by moving in immediately. I hadn’t really thought about the ins and outs of being engaged. It was still unbelievable that we had reach this stage in our relationship in such a short space of time. But Matt was a man who saw what he wanted and took it, and it seemed he wanted me. I grinned at my reflection. Forget the Royal family, I had my own prince.

“First of December, people.” Liam shouted as he walked into the fishbowl with a furrow between his eyebrows. “Two weeks before opening night. I want things perfect. Sublime. I want those bastards to see our greatness on the stage. They will weep with joy over our production. They will line the streets shouting our names. We will be great.”

Dante and I exchanged a glance. Liam always got a bit dramatic when it came to opening night. He was a theatrical being. A tall, lanky being who had once again misplaced the office phone. I should start charging him for its use.

“Mental.” Bri muttered under her breath.

Soon enough everyone who needed to be in had arrived and we focused on getting things right. Unfortunately the lights above the stage were being redone today hence our use of the fishbowl.

“Madi,” Gloria opened the door and gestured to me. “You’ve got a call.”

My heart jumped into my throat. Every time my cell beeped, or the house phone rang, I would get this flutter of hope intermingled with dread. Hope that it was my Aunt, and dread that it was indeed my Aunt. I was a conflicted person at the moment.

“Who is it?” I asked once I shut the door behind me and followed her down the hall way.

Gloria tittered and shot me this girly look over her shoulder. “That man of yours.”

“What?” I stopped, folding my arms across my chest beforespinning on my heels with a little shake of head. “Tell him I’m busy.”

“I did.” She grabbed my arm. “But he ordered me to get you and,”

I arched an eyebrow at her.

“He’s so commanding. I couldn’t tell him no. He’s a billionaire for Christ’s sakes.”

I grunted something unintelligent under my breath and started back in the direction of my office with a relieved Gloria at my side.

“Line 2,” she said as I opened my office door. “And I’ve called the police about those reporters out front. Hopefully they’ll send someone to shoo them away.”

I waved her off and strode over to my messy desk. “Of all the-” I had forgotten the handset was missing. I hurried out my office to the reception area and grabbed up the phone on Gloria’s desk.

“Kind of busy today, Matt,” Was my greeting.

“Hello, poppet,” His deep voice was warm with affection and I tried to fight my smile. “I know you’re busy, as am I, but we’ve been invited to dinner by my parents. I tried your mobile numerous times,” There was a touch of reproach in his voice. He didn’t like when I couldn’t be reached.

“Matt-”

“Seven pm, so you’ll need to leave work early today.” he cut me off. “I’ll send the car around to pick you up and we can meet at the restaurant. Hold a moment.”

Music filled my ears. He had put me on hold. The cheeky tyrant had put me on hold. He was lucky I loved him so much.

“Sorry about that, poppet,” he said five minutes later. “Now where were we?”

“Dinner with your parents at 7,” I replied.

---