Page 15 of Prince of Her Heart
“As acasualcouple,” she insisted.
“As anengagedcouple,” he corrected smoothly, his eyes flicking pointedly toward the ring box in her hand.
Tabitha sighed, rubbing her forehead.The weight of it all settled on her shoulders.“I appreciate you doing this.I hadn’t really thought about what my parents must have endured all these years.”
“Good.”He leaned back against the desk, still watching her with that unreadable intensity.“So, what’s the dress code for a Hendersonville wedding?”
She twisted her lips, the box warming in her fingers.“I don’t know exactly what Stacy planned.I’ll call her and let her know I’m coming.And that I’m bringing a guest.”She tossed the small box back to Ramzi.“We’ll go as a casual couple.”
He caught the box again, glaring at her for a moment, but he didn’t argue.Not yet.“Will it be a problem for you to bring an unexpected guest?”
“No.”Her soft laugh echoed in the room.“Weddings in Hendersonville are actually pretty fun.The ceremony is always in a church.Then everyone heads out the back door to the reception, which is usually on the lawn.Most guests bring food to share, so the tables end up loaded down with heart-attack inducing foods.”She glanced up at him, a spark dancing in her eyes now.“I can almost guarantee you’re about to experience your first potluck.”
He blinked, thrown off.“What the hell is potluck?”he asked, his accent thickening around the unfamiliar word.
Tabitha twirled toward the door with a grin.“Oh, just you wait!”she called, already halfway into the hall.
She didn’t hear him murmur, “Looking forward to it all,” and had no idea his gaze remained locked on her, hungry and unrelenting, until she vanished from sight.
Chapter 5
The cornfields and wide pastures dotted with lazy cows slowly gave way to small, tidy homes.Then businesses.Each shift in the landscape sent a fresh wave of tension coursing through Tabitha’s body.
Five years.
She hadn’t been home in five long years.Not even for the holidays.
She knew it hurt her mother—how could it not?But working for someone like Ramzi meant long hours, last-minute flights, and being halfway across the world when most people were carving turkeys or opening gifts around a tree.She’d tried to make it up with extravagant gifts and invitations, always excited to show off her new apartment or upgraded house when she wasn’t jetting off to Tokyo, London, or Dubai.Her mother had probably bragged to friends about her glamorous daughter in glamorous cities.
But she hadn’t come home.
And that…that hurt.
Ramzi had been right.The silence had created space for gossip.And people in small towns always filled silence with the worst assumptions.That she was heartbroken.Still pining forhim.The one who’d humiliated her.Left her.
“It’s going to be okay,” Ramzi murmured, breaking through the noise of her thoughts.His voice was smooth, confident—quietly grounding her.“But this is going to help.”
She turned to him, really looking at him—and saw him through a different lens.Not as the powerful executive she worked for every day.Not even as the maddeningly gorgeous man who haunted her dreams.
But as her plus one.Her… fake fiancé.
Ramzi El Sandir, through the eyes of her hometown, would be a fantasy made real.Dark, smoldering eyes.Tanned skin and nearly black hair that always looked just a little rakish from his impatience with stylists.Clean-shaven for now, though she knew the scruff would return by evening.He hated the unkempt look.Said it sent the wrong message.
Still, she remembered those late afternoon meetings, when his five o’clock shadow appeared like clockwork.When she’d sit across from him, trying to focus, only to find her eyes drifting to the dark stubble and wondering—what did it feel like?Was it soft?Rough?Would it scrape her palm or tickle?
Damn, she wanted to know.
“What’s going to help?”she asked warily.
Without answering, Ramzi reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring she’d tossed back at him previously.
Before she could protest, he took her hand and slid it onto her finger.
She gasped.
The sparkle hit her eyes like a spotlight.She lifted her hand instinctively, stunned at how… perfect it looked.How easily her fingers curled, as if to keep the ring from slipping off.
“I can’t,” she whispered.But her hands refused to take it off.
