“Is there something you need help with, RJ? For the wedding perhaps?” Donovan asked in a calm voice.
“I’m here about Rose.”
“Of course you are.” Donovan’s mouth curved up slightly at the corners as he sat back in his large leather chair like a man who didn’t have a care in the world. “You want to talk about that nothing little kiss you shared, don’t you?”
When RJ didn’t mask his surprise quickly enough, Donovan looked even more amused. “Oh yes, she told me about that. I’m glad that she did, in fact, because now that we’ve got that piece of nonsense out of the way, she and I can get on with our lives together. Oh, and I’d suggest you start looking for a new job. Because she was very contrite
about the kiss and I know how much easier it would be on her if you simply did the right thing and walked away. After the wedding, of course. The last thing Rose needs right now is for her handyman to leave her in the lurch before her own big wedding. It needs to be her perfect day.”
RJ’s hands had fisted and he couldn’t hold back a snarl. “It won’t be her perfect day with you there.”
But even that didn’t quite get a reaction out of Donovan, who continued as calmly as if he and RJ were having a business meeting.
“
And who would you have take my place? You? So that you can drag her off to live in a handyman’s shack? Rose deserves more than that. She’s elegant, and perfect, and
—
”
“And you want to make her into a lifeless little doll like the woman who just left,” RJ cut in. “You aren’t interested in the real her, any more than you’re interested in the emotions or feelings of any of the women who come here to hire you to remake their outsides. You probably don’t know the first thing about Rose. Can you even tell me what her favorite flower is?”
Donovan held back for a few seconds, as if he were going to proclaim himself above this question-and-answer session about his fiancée. Clearly, though, he couldn’t help himself from proving just how much he knew about the woman he was about to marry.
“Rose’s favorite flower is the red and yellow bromeliad,” Donovan answered. “I’ve given them to her on several occasions.”
“Then you wasted your money,” RJ said, “because her favorite flowers are roses, just like her name. Don’t you pay attention to her at all?”
“I pay Rose all the attention she requires,” Donovan said, and at last, RJ could hear his voice heating up.
“Then what’s her favorite food?”
“Grilled salmon.”
“Wrong. It’s a hot dog with all the trimmings. And her favorite place in the world is the chalet, closely followed by her mom’s bowling alley, not some pretentious art gallery. And her favorite song isn’t some boring classical piece either, it’s
—
”
“You know,” Donovan said, raising his voice for the first time since RJ barged into his office, “it really is very sad, seeing a grown man behaving like this. Acting out over a crush better suited to a school kid. Not accepting that he hasn’t got a chance with a woman who wants so much more than him.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” RJ growled. “You don’t care about Rose. You don’t love her. You just want to live with the
idea
of her that you’ve created.”
“And yet I have so much more than that,” Donovan snapped back at him. He leaned over his desk. “You say you know Rose so well and that there’s no way I should be with her, but which one of us is Rose marrying? Who is she
choosing
to be with? Not the guy whose life isn’t going anywhere. Not the guy who can only offer her exactly the kind of life she’s worked so hard to get away from. No, she’s choosing to be with me.”
“We’ll see about that,” RJ promised him. “I came here to give you fair warning. Consider yourself warned.”
Donovan glared at RJ, obviously angry now. “Should I pretend to be scared? You’ve barged into my office and told me that you’re planning to take my fiancée, but you’ve forgotten the only thing that matters.” Donovan put his hands flat on the polished desk. “I’m a better man than you, and no amount of your ridiculous posturing will change that. Rose doesn’t want you, or anyone like you. She wants me. Now, please leave my office. I have another appointment in a few minutes, and then later, I have dinner with Rose at a restaurant that does not
sell hot dogs.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” RJ told him. “She doesn’t want fancy restaurants or champagne or art galleries. She wants love. And she’s going to get it from the only man capable of giving it to her:
Me.”
Chapter Thirteen
When Rose arrived at the chalet that day, she was surprised to find Patrick and Tyce turning the Rose chalet into a cross between a fairytale castle and a rose garden by rigging up trellises over every available surface. The guests would have a perfect view of the ceremony, yet it would be as if she and her groom were the only two people in the world.
It wasn’t what she’d asked for. If RJ had been there, she would probably have pointed out that she’d already said no to this plan.
Which made her at least a little bit glad that RJ wasn’t there right then, because every cell in her body told her this was
perfect
. Rose could imagine nothing better than standing there in the dress that Anne had created for her, getting ready to say “I do” with
—
Well, with Donovan, of course.
“Do you have much more to do?” Rose asked Patrick.
He looked up from piecing together some lattice work and smiled. “RJ’s plans were very clear.”
“This is going to take a lot of orchids,” Tyce remarked.
Orchids? Rose shook her head as she remembered that, yes, orchids were what they’d been thinking of for the wedding. That seemed like so long ago now.
“Not orchids,” she said. “Phoebe couldn’t get them. It’s going to have to be…”
She almost said roses, even though she’d already vetoed that idea because roses weren’t “special” enough. Only, all she could see when she looked at this setup were masses of roses in red and white, pink and yellow, blended together to produce something magical and wild all at once.
It wouldn’t be remotely what she’d asked RJ for, but it would be perfect. So utterly perfect for her. And exactly the wedding she’d dreamed of her whole life.
“Where is RJ?” Rose finally asked.
Patrick and Tyce glanced at one another, and then shrugged in unison.
“I’m not sure,” Patrick said. “He said that there was something urgent he had to do.”
Although she was worried about what could have urgently cropped up for RJ so close to her wedding date, Rose made herself concentrate, heading into her office to keep on top of everything. Even without any clients coming in this week, there was still so much to do, finances to keep on top off, and a dozen emails to answer. Plus, when she and Donovan jetted off to Aruba for their honeymoon, there would still be weddings booked at the chalet. Which meant Rose had to make sure that everything was lined up beforehand: lists of suppliers, and schedules, and clients’ special requests carefully outlined for her staff.
Her phone rang, and Rose hurried to answer when she saw Donovan’s number.
“I’m really looking forward to tonight,” she told him as soon as she picked up.
She had decided tonight was the night Donovan would finally look at her with that possessive, slightly dangerous gaze she’d been so desperate to see the evening before. Somehow she’d pull it out of him...and she’d make sure she felt the same thing for him too.
“Actually, that’s why I’m calling. Tonight is going to be a bit of a problem. I have a valued client who has come in for some emergency work. She has a photo shoot the week after next, and if I don’t get the work done at once the inflammation won’t have faded enough.”
Rose could just about understand that, but even so, it wasn’t exactly life-threatening. “Oh,” she said softly, “I see.”
“Of course I’d rather have
dinner with you.” There was just the tiniest hint of reproach in Donovan’s voice. “And I’ve always supported you when you’ve had to work late.”
“I know you have. It’s just that I was looking forward to some time with only the two of us instead of another party.” Time to make sure they had the spark a bride and groom should have.
“And we’ll have that,” Donovan assured her. “Right after the wedding.”
At the moment, it seemed like the whole world was divided into two parts. There was the world before the wedding, full of chaos, confusion and clients dragging Donovan away from romantic dinners. Then there was the world after it, where they were finally married and everything was supposed to be perfect.
At least, that was the way Rose wanted to imagine it, though when she grabbed for the details of what her life would be like after she married Donovan, they slithered through her grasp like fish.
“By the way,” Donovan added, in a faintly amused tone, “you’ll never guess who showed up at my office earlier.”
“Who?” Rose asked. At various points, he’d had movie stars and minor celebrities, business leaders and politicians on his operating table.
“RJ.” Donovan paused a moment, obviously to let the shocking news sink in. “He came to tell me that he intended to ‘fight for you’.” He laughed. “I practically expected him to challenge me to a duel.”
“RJ came to your office?” Rose said, absolutely shocked by what Donovan had just told her.
“He walked straight in and told me that I wasn’t good enough for you, and that because he knew all these silly things about you liking to eat hot dogs and go bowling, I should just step aside and let him have you. Honestly, the man’s a joke.”
Rose couldn’t stand to hear Donovan talk about RJ like that. But at the same time, how could she defend what he’d gone and said to her fiancé?
“I don’t know what to say, Donovan.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” he assured her. “It’s too ludicrous for words. A grown man acting like a schoolboy, all because of a kiss that didn’t mean anything. I just thought that you should know what kind of man you have working for you.”
Even though she couldn’t bring herself to agree with that, she felt she had to say, “I’m sorry he bothered you.”
“A man like that could never bother me. I know you’d never look at anyone like him. I think that confused him, honestly. He seemed to be so convinced that I’d jump up and punch him, yet why should I?”
Because you love me
, Rose thought.
Because you can’t stand the idea of anyone else kissing me.
“He doesn’t understand that real relationships aren’t wild and crazy and full of upheaval,” Donovan continued. “After all, why should I ever feel threatened by him? I really am very sorry about tonight, Rose. I’ll make it up to you in Aruba on our honeymoon.”
She knew she should be completely mortified by the idea of RJ bursting into Donovan’s office, telling her fiancé that he intended to try to win her over. She couldn’t imagine Donovan or his friends ever doing anything that impulsive or reckless.
But she couldn’t stop herself from relishing the knowledge that RJ had put himself completely on the line and confronted Donovan without worrying about the consequences.
It was an incredibly brave thing to do. How many other men would have done that?
At the same time, she knew RJ’s sudden declaration hadn’t actually changed anything. Donovan had simply brushed it off, after all.
Yet if things were that simple, why didn’t they feel simple?
She needed to find RJ. She needed to explain that he couldn’t do something like this three days before her wedding. He’d left all of this too late.
Far too late.
Chapter Fourteen
RJ’s house was close enough to the Rose Chalet that Rose was able to walk to it, even in her heels. When she got there, she stared at it, stunned.
Whatever she’d been expecting his house to look like, it wasn’t this beautiful home with classic lines and a fresh clean exterior. Clearly, his brother Patrick had been involved in designing it, because Rose recognized a handful of signature elements from the house he’d built for her and Donovan. What’s more, the well-tended garden turned what might have been simply a nice place to live into a truly wonderful property.
She went to knock on the door and found it open a crack. She called out his name, but when he didn’t appear she let herself inside. There were family photos on every wall, along with several that must have been taken over the years of the entire crew at the chalet.
This wasn’t the home of a man who was planning to walk away at any moment. RJ’s home was stable. Strong. And full of warmth. Not to mention that in order to afford a place like this, RJ had to be doing a lot better with his finances than she’d thought.
A short while later, she found him in his home office, talking on the phone with a laptop open in front of him. The laptop showed pictures of roses of every color.
“And you can do it for Saturday?” he asked whomever he was speaking with. “Great. Here’s Phoebe’s number so that you can work out her exact requirements.”
He hung up then noticed Rose standing at the door.
“
Rose?” he said, looking a little surprised. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Donovan told me what you did,” Rose said without preamble, because she knew she had to. They needed to
—
finally
—
talk about what was between them, even though it was bound to be difficult and awkward. “He said that you went to his office and told him that he didn’t deserve me; that you were going to fight for me.”
RJ didn’t even hesitate before he nodded. “Yes. That’s exactly what I did, what I said. And I meant it, Rose.”
She knew she should tell him that he shouldn’t have, but how could she when the truth was that RJ putting himself out on the line for her was amazing.
He stood and moved to where she was standing. Close enough that it was hard to think straight, because her brain kept getting stuck on how great he looked. How great he smelled. And how great he kissed.