Chapter 3
Series 1 Chapter 3
Damian’s message remained on my screen.
I’m downstairs. Don’t leave without me.
I turned to Logan.
“He’s here.”
Logan looked toward the ballroom doors, still smiling.
“Of course he is. Right when everyone realizes you lied.”
“You wanted to meet him.”
“I wanted you to admit—”
The ballroom doors opened.
The hotel manager entered first.
The polite smile he had worn all evening was gone as he stepped aside for the man behind him.
Damian was still wearing his dark travel coat. His tie was loose, and one sleeve was creased from the flight. He ignored the phones and the growing whispers.
He came straight to me.
“I’m sorry, Claire.” His hand settled against my lower back. “The flight was delayed, then traffic cost me another forty minutes.”
“You’re here. That’s enough.”
He studied my face, exhaustion visible in his eyes.
“Happy birthday, Mrs. Reed.”
He didn’t say it loudly, but everyone heard.
Logan stopped smiling.
Damian glanced at the cash beneath Logan’s champagne glass, then at the phones still aimed at us.
“What did I miss?”
“Nothing,” my mother said quickly. “It was a misunderstanding.”
“No,” I said. “It wasn’t.”
I pointed to the money on the table.
“Logan bet on how long it would take me to cry after he rejected me in public. Then he and Sienna announced their engagement at my birthday dinner.”
Damian didn’t look at Logan immediately.
“Do you want to leave?”
The question caught me off guard.
He didn’t offer to handle the situation for me. He didn’t tell me whom to forgive.
He asked what I wanted.
Minutes ago, I had wanted to walk out. If I left now, Logan would still tell everyone I had invented a husband to save face.
“I want to stay.”
“All right.”
Damian handed his coat to the hotel manager and took his place beside me.
Logan finally spoke.
“Claire, who is this?”
“You heard him.”
“I heard him call you his wife.” Logan stared at Damian’s hand on my waist. “I asked who he is.”
Damian turned toward him.
“Damian Reed.”
Sienna reacted first.
“Reed?” She looked at the hotel manager. “As in Reed Hospitality?”
The manager cleared his throat.
“Mr. Reed will officially become the company’s executive chairman next week. That announcement was not supposed to be public yet.”
Several phones were lowered at once.
The hotel—and the regional company where Logan worked—belonged to Reed Hospitality.
Logan had spent weeks talking about the new executive taking over.
He had simply never met him.
Damian picked up the stack of betting money, then placed it back in front of Logan.
“You bet on someone else’s humiliation to celebrate your engagement?”
Logan flushed. “This has nothing to do with work.”
“You’re right.”
Damian’s voice remained calm.
“I’m not standing here as your boss. I’m standing here because you humiliated my wife.”
Sienna released Logan’s hand.
The guests who had praised her kindness minutes earlier were now watching her reaction.
Logan only looked at me.
“Three weeks?” he asked. “You married him three weeks ago?”
“Yes.”
“Three months ago, you had barely started dating someone.”
“That someone was Damian.”
His jaw tightened.
“You didn’t even tell me.”
“Why would I?”
“We’ve known each other for over twenty years.”
“That doesn’t give you access to every part of my life.”
He shook his head.
“This can’t be real. You wouldn’t suddenly marry a man I’ve never met.”
“You’ve never met him because my life stopped revolving around you.”
Logan took half a step back.
Damian’s hand moved to my waist, but he left me room to pull away.
I didn’t.
He leaned down and kissed me.
The kiss was brief. When it ended, all the color had drained from Logan’s face.
He looked from Damian to me.
“You married my boss?”
Damian drew me closer.
“No,” he said. “Your boss married the woman you were stupid enough to lose.”