Adam looked as shell-shocked as she did. His arms rose as if to touch her and then dropped to his sides. A slow smile touched his lips. ‘You look superb, Ms Evans. You will outshine the entire catwalk and I will be the envy of every man there.’
His words were the equivalent of an iceberg’s worth of cold water, cementing what she had already known. Confirmation that Adam wanted her on display to ensure his image hadn’t been too tarnished by the exploits of billionaire-baggers and supermodels. As far as he was concerned that was what his credit card had bought and that was what he was entitled to expect.
A frown slashed his brows together. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. I’m glad I’ve come up to expectations.’
‘What does that mean? I’ve told you—you look sensational. What’s the problem?’
‘There is no problem and don’t worry. I won’t disgrace you. I know the drill.’ She’d grown up watching it, after all. How to dazzle with a smile, how to make the man you were with think he was the bee’s knees, wings and stripes.
‘Then let’s go.’
Adam held his hand out and Olivia stared at it.
‘Save it for the cameras,’ she said, and saw the flash of something that looked perilously like hurt cross his features. Steeling herself to ignore it, she swept past him and headed for the front door and the waiting limo.
Once inside the car Olivia slid into the furthermost corner and listened as Adam pulled out his phone. His conversations all concerned the forthcoming event and amply demonstrated just how involved Adam had been in the organisational details.
Dropping the phone onto the leather seat, he reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a sheaf of paper.
‘Is that your speech?’ she asked.
‘Yup.’ He looked down, his lips moving as he ran his eyes down the sprawling handwriting.
Olivia leant her forehead against the cool of the window and silently castigated herself as shame wormed a warm trail through her body. Adam cared about this event because it raised money for a charity that tried to combat the disease that had taken his mother from him. And she was sitting here cavilling over the fact that through no fault of his own he needed a girlfriend on his arm to demonstrate his respectability.
Yuck. She was so busy worrying about what people would think of her, so caught up in her own emotional baggage, that she’d shoved her head straight up her own backside.
The limo glided to a stop and Adam placed the papers next to him and hauled in a breath.
‘Adam?’
He turned to her and her tummy dipped.
‘This event is going to be great,’ she said. ‘You’ll wow them.’
Without letting herself think she slid across the seat, her dress skimming the smoothness of the leather, until they were thigh to thigh. Twisting her upper body, she smiled at him before cupping his jaw in the chalice of her palms. She leant forward and brushed her lips against his cheek. Her heart gave a pang at the realisation he must have shaved specially. Not a trace of the stubble that had grazed her face the previous day remained.
‘Your mum would be proud of you. I know it.’
Before he could react, before she could throw caution to the winds and kiss him properly, she rubbed his cheek to get rid of the light gloss of pink she’d left behind, then shimmied back along towards the limo door, which Jonny had pulled open.
Olivia stretched out her hand to Adam. ‘Let’s go,’ she said.
They emerged from the sleek black car into the swarm of fashionistas who thronged the environs of Somerset House, home to London’s Fashion Week. The crowd of assorted styles and bursts of colour had Olivia swivelling and turning, feeling ideas sparking from the incredible array of combinations and patterns.
But through it all—down the red carpet that led to the enormous domed marquee, even as she smiled the smile and walked the walk for the camera—the thought of Adam filled her mind. His ripple of nerves as he’d practised his speech had moved her, shifted something deep within her.
As they left the crisp cold of the February evening to enter the marquee Olivia caught her breath. ‘It’s spectacular,’ she murmured.
The canvas walls were lit by the bounce and eddy of multi-coloured lights in all different shades of blue that created a magical aquamarine display reminiscent of a fairyland. Garlands looped the ceiling and the ticket-holding guests were being shown to seats that held a complimentary goody bag.
‘I’d better go and make sure everything is going to plan behind the scenes,’ Adam said.
Olivia nodded. ‘I’ll stay here. I don’t want to cause Candice to have a last-minute meltdown.’