Page 50 of Is This Real or Just Pretend?

“I am a heartless ice queen,” she insisted rather stubbornly.

He smiled at that and took another step. “Perhaps an ice queen. But not heartless. Not at all,” he murmured. “There is another reason why I came here today.”

“Oh?” Alex rasped as Lucien tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. It took every ounce of strength not to lean into his hand. “What is it?”

Just as Lucien opened his mouth, the conference door burst open and her father came barreling out.

“Where are they? Where is—oh, there you are!” He came rushing over, his face full of joy.

“You did it! We did it! They voted Chisolm down! We keep control!” He slapped Lucien on the back and the two men gave each other hearty congratulations.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by what felt like every employee in the building, all celebrating, as if the end of some great war had just been declared.

Alex took it in as if at a distance. She was happy for Father, of course.

But she could not muster this level of enthusiasm. Not for this, anyway.

Alex stepped back from the crowd and leaned against a wall, where she was joined by Potts. She gave him a sly smile. “When did Lucien find the time to tell you to put that list together? I thought he only returned last night.”

He looked affronted. “It was my idea. I simply told him about it this morning right before the meeting began.”

Alex smiled even wider. “Very good, Potts.”

“Thank you, ma’am. But I just gathered the figures. You did the work.”

Eventually, the ecstatic celebration became a slightly more subdued one and her father came looking for her. “They’ve voted Chisolm off the board too, which means there is an open seat. I nominated you, and I think we have the votes, but we need to act now.”

It was the kind of recognition Alex had wanted for years. With a board seat, she would have more control over the direction of the company. “I need to speak with Lucien.”

“What, now?”

“Yes,” Alex said and left her father standing there looking agog while she wound through the crowd.

Someone had broken out the bottles of champagne they kept on hand for important clients and the atmosphere had become festive.

She eventually found Lucien backed into a corner by the lobby secretary.

But as soon as he saw Alex, he politely excused himself and rushed over to her.

“Hello,” he said happily. “Did your father tell you the news? They want to give you a seat on the board.”

She gripped his lapels to steady herself as someone bumped her from behind. “Can we go somewhere to talk? It’s too loud here.”

Lucien nodded and Alex led him through the crowd and down the hall into her office.

“Alone at last,” Lucien quipped with a smile as he leaned his hip against her desk.

As he stared at her expectantly, Alex could feel her nerves beginning to buzz and shoved them aside. She needed to get this right.

“I couldn’t see it before,” she blurted out.

Well, so much for that.

She inhaled a calming breath and focused her thoughts.

“That is, I couldn’t see how you would fit into my life,” she tried again.

“I was so scared of changing anything. Because I thought I needed it. Because all I have ever done or have been valued for was work. My sisters are beautiful and charming and talented at a dozen different things. But I am good at business. And for a long time, that was fine. That made me happy. Until you came back and everything changed. Then I thought I could stop it. That I could remain the person I had been before you—” She broke off as her voice cracked.

“But the truth is, I miss you. So terribly. I miss those stupid little outings that we were forced to go on and whispering through a play and going to the British Museum. I want to do more of that. More of everything with you. I’ve done nothing but work for the last week and I realized that I absolutely hate it,” she said with a laugh.

“That I don’t want to fit you into this life. I want to change my life to fit you.”

His hand rested on top of hers. “Alex…”

“What was the other reason?” she demanded. “Why you came here.”

His gaze burned into hers and Alex didn’t think she would ever find the will to look away. “Because I’ve fallen in love with you, Alexandra Atkinson,” he said. Just as Alex’s heart began to soar, Lucien continued: “And I want to court you.”

Alex tilted her head, confused. “But… you already have.”

He gave her an indulgent smile. “I mean properly, this time. For real.”

Alex considered this. Briefly. Then shook her head. “No.”

Lucien’s eyebrows rose. “No?”

“No,” she said firmly. “I don’t care for courtship. It’s a waste of time and there are too many ridiculous rules.”

“Oh.” Lucien looked deflated. “I see. I understand—”

“I think we should marry instead.”

His eyebrows rose again. “Really?”

“Yes. If you’ll have me.”

He pulled her into his arms then, laughing. “You scared me, Alex!”

“I’m sorry.” She smiled against his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to.”

Then he pulled back. “I’ll think of a way for you to make it up to me.”

“Please do.”

And just as they were exchanging a smile far too wicked for a place of business, her father interrupted them. “Come on, Alexandra. The board is waiting!”

“No, thank you,” she said.

Her father tilted his head, as if he had misheard. “What do you mean?”

Then she turned back to Lucien. “I quit. Give the seat to someone else.”

Her father stood there gaping at them. “I… I don’t understand.”

Alex managed to tear herself away from Lucien and took her father’s hands in her own. “I want to thank you for everything you have ever done for me. But it’s time for me to move on and do something else.”

He looked so pitiful in that moment that Alex felt her heart wrench. “Are… are you sure?”

At another time Alex might have been swayed to take back her words, to do whatever it took to make her father happy. But not now. Not any longer. He was a grown man and perfectly capable of running this business without her.

Alex nodded and glanced at Lucien. “Quite a bit more than that.” Then an idea struck her. “What about Potts? No one else knows my job as well as he does, nor the way I think. He would be an excellent replacement.”

“I’ll consider it,” her father said reluctantly, but Alex knew that was just for show.

She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Papa.” Then she looped her arm around Lucien. “There’s one more thing. We need your blessing.”

He looked between the two of them. “You do? You mean… it’s real this time?”

Lucien squeezed her arm and smiled at her. “Yes, sir. Entirely real.”

Alex grinned back at him. “And for the rest of our lives.”

Her father clapped his hands and let out a happy shout. “Oh, but this is wonderful news! Though your Aunt Winifred will be cross that she didn’t have a hand in it.”

“She will recover,” Alex said.

“And your mother will want a double wedding.”

“Absolutely not.” Then she gentled and turned to Lucien. “Unless that is what you want.”

He chuckled. “Heavens no. Something small.”

“And private,” she added.

“Why not the church in Bunbury?” her father suggested. “So that Mr. Taylor might easily attend?”

They both looked at him and then each other, and in that moment it was decided. A small, private ceremony at the church in Bunbury.

“That sounds perfect,” Alex said. And for the first time in her life, she was genuinely excited at the prospect of attending a wedding. How very convenient that it was her own.