Savage pushed a ring onto her finger. It glided on as if made for her. As if it had been on her finger a thousand times and fit perfectly. She tried not to look at it, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t know a lot about jewelry or diamonds, but she did know when something was incredibly beautiful. The center stone was a fancy oval-shaped vivid teal-blue diamond. It nearly took her breath away, it was so beautiful. Small petals made of sparkling diamonds wrapped around the center stone like a flower, so they would lay on her finger perfectly.
A collective gasp went up around the table. Seychelle just stared at the ring, almost uncomprehending. She lifted her lashes and looked up at Savage, unable to think what to say. She couldn’t embarrass him in front of everyone and say no, she wouldn’t marry him, but she didn’t know how to feel. What to feel. She loved him more than she loved anyone. Herself.
She knew why he’d put the ring on her finger. It was so beautiful. It sat there, weighing on her, making her feel as if she was his, just the way he wanted her to feel, although she didn’t need the ring. Just being in his company did that. Breathing him in made her feel as if she belonged with Savage. It wasn’t the ring, no matter how much she wanted to blame it on the ring.
“You left home without your engagement ring?” Rebecca asked. Her voice trembled and her fingers shook as she placed them protectively over her wedding rings and rolled them back and forth soothingly. “You took it off?” She made it sound as if that would be a sacrilege.
Savage put his hand over Seychelle’s. “I like to tease her, but no, she didn’t leave home without it. Seychelle would never do that. This is the first time she’s ever seen it. I asked her to marry me some time ago, but the ring wasn’t made, so she called me her fake fiancé. That’s been a running joke between us. Ice finished it and gave it to me, so I brought it right away. I thought you ladies might enjoy seeing it as well.”
“Seychelle.” Doris whispered her name. “Let me see it, child. Ice made it. He’s so famous too.” She looked up as Sabelia came up to the table, carrying a tray with several teapots on it. “Sabelia, look. Savage and Seychelle are official. He isn’t her fake fiancé anymore.”
“Congratulations, Savage, you actually pulled it off,” Sabelia said as she put the teapots on the table. “The ring is beautiful, Seychelle.” She admired it for a long moment, then flashed Savage a grin. “You do have good taste. That was very intense, the scene with Campbell. He’s brought that girl in here more than once. He’s got a dark aura surrounding him.”
Savage sighed as the women began to pour tea into their cups. “Sabelia, do you think I could get a cup of coffee?”
“Your aura is as dark as they come,” Sabelia volunteered. “With a great deal of red swirling around in it. Wouldn’t want to try to figure you out. I’ll be right back with the pastries.”
“And my coffee,” Savage added.
Doris laughed. “I forgot you think tea is poison, Savage. He believes we’re trying to do him in with tea, ladies.”
Savage glanced at his watch. “Don’t think it, Doris, I know it. Blythe looks like an angel, same as this one right here.” He brought up Seychelle’s hand and kissed it. “But both are little hellions. They disagree with me on just about everything and then sweetly ask if I want a cup of tea. Don’t you think that’s just a little suspicious?”
Seychelle couldn’t help the way her heart stuttered around him. Her big, bad biker sitting with the older women, making them laugh the way he did. He looked so wicked, his low, clipped voice so sexy she could barely stand it. A tearoom was the last place a man like Savage would ever go. He would never sit at a table with a group of older women, chatting, making them laugh. She knew he was there for one reason. For her. He was there for her.
He had his fingers threaded through hers, their joined hands on his thigh, rubbing seductively back and forth while he conversed. Sabelia brought his coffee and the pastries and sandwiches, which he ate with one hand so he could keep hers captive. It was impossible not to be in love with him, to slide deeper and deeper under his spell, when she knew she was only going to suffer more heartache if she didn’t save herself.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Savage suddenly pressed her hand tighter against his thigh and leaned close, his lips whispering against her ear. A touch only. The lightest of kisses, if it was even really that, but the caress sent little darts of fire racing down her spine, straight to her sex. He was addicting. It was scary how much he could wrap her up emotionally as well as physically.