Adelie clenched her fists at her sides. She crammed energy into her voice in a way she never had before.
“No.” Her lower lip began to tremble, along with her ribcage. She clenched her fists tighter and rammed the words out past her angst. “It is a big deal. I’m not answering anything and you—” Her voice broke. She forced it back. “I’m asking you to leave.”
Ruby quirked a brow. She angled her jaw and folded her arms across her chest. Adelie waited for her to continue arguing, but to her relief, she turned to the news anchor.
“Go on,” she ordered Wendy, who left with her cameraman without a word.
“You too,” Adelie said, keeping her head high.
“So commanding,” Ruby said. “But I’m not blind, sweetheart. I see the rock sparkling on your left hand, which means that beast, Duncan Hawthorne, was telling me the truth.”
Adelie’s arms went rigid. For a minute, she had the urge to hide her hand, but why should she? She had nothing to be ashamed of.
“What does it matter whether I’m wearing a ring or not?”
Ruby seemed to find this amusing. Smirking, she paced, just a few steps, back and forth across the foyer.
In an instant, Adelie got an image of the Red Queen from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland about to pronounce the unfortunate person in closest proximity was set to have his head removed.
Adelie wasn’t sure how to get this woman to leave. She shot Maddox a hasty text before lowering her phone.
Ruby is here. Please come as quick as you can.
“That Maddsy. He played things so well with you.”
“Excuse me?” Adelie didn’t have to add spice to her tone. It was coming naturally now, matching Ruby’s spitfire persona.
She chuckled and folded her arms over her chest, jutting out a single hip. “Oh, don’t you worry. I’m sure you’ll get a share too. After all, it’s thanks to you his profits will triple after this story gets out.”
“What are you talking about?”
Shock washed over her as Ruby’s words became clear. Was she implying Maddox married her for publicity? Though Adelie had once suspected as much, she didn’t believe it now. He couldn’t have faked the emotion they’d shared in Paris. It couldn’t be true.
Ruby tilted forward, took in the sight of Adelie’s ring, and grunted. “Pity. Mine was bigger.”
“Get out,” Adelie snapped through her teeth, clutching her fist to her chest to hide the ring.
Ruby’s perfect brow arched, and another smirk lifted the corners of her red lips.
“Don’t tell me you thought this whole façade was real.”
“Now.”
Ruby cast her glance around before sighing. “Whatever.” She pivoted and strutted out the front door, not bothering to close it behind her.
Tears distorted Adelie’s vision, and while she was tempted to slam the thick door closed with all the energy she had, she closed it carefully, quietly, and returned to her room.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
It was no use. No matter how many times Maddox glanced at the clock, time wasn’t going any faster. He might as well go back home. He was about as useful as a broken watch after his offer to Adelie this morning and the way he could feel her walls crumble.
She was letting him in. They were making progress as a couple; in a way he’d never anticipated when he’d suggested they marry for convenience’s sake. He didn’t want to be here at his stuffy office, no matter how much work he had left to do for the day. He wanted to be with her.
Maddox slipped into his suitcoat and headed for the door, but it opened before he reached it. He half expected a pair of Converse shoes to approach him, to lift his head and find Duncan sneering at him and bugging him for a round of golf to get away from his annoyingly attractive assistant—Duncan’s words, not Maddox’s.
But these shoes were pointed-toe alligators, green as envy and just as scaly. They led up to a form-fitted floral dress, hugging in all the right places and cutting short at the thigh. Ruby’s face turned in a sneer as she folded her arms.
Maddox cursed himself for staring at her so long. Undoubtedly, she’d taken it for attraction rather than the repulsion coursing through him.
“I love it when I can make a man disoriented by my mere presence,” Ruby said.
Her hair was as dark as her demeanor, flowing past her shoulders. Her lips were a rosebud to match her name, and the almond of her dark eyes narrowed further when he didn’t reply.
“What are you doing here?” Had his receptionist allowed her back here? She knew better. Then again, Ruby had a way of getting around barriers, even when they were put up solely to keep her out.
Her shoes clacked on the tile as she strutted over and rested a hip against his desk. The lamp jostled. “Been seeing a lot of you lately. Or your park, anyway.”
“I’m sure you have. I thought I told you on the phone, I’m done with you.”
She examined a fingernail. “If I recall, there was a time you wanted me to see you. You wanted me to invest in your park, and in a life with you.”
“That’s funny,” he said, shoulders hardening. “I seem to recall you telling me I wasn’t worth the dirt Wonderland stood on. That the park would fail, and you didn’t want to be around when it did.”
“Ancient history.” She lifted herself to sit on the desk, dislodging his pen cup in the process. Pens spilled across his papers and his closed laptop. Ruby gave them a fleeting glance as though they were just one more thing that’d been in her way.
“You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.” Maddox folded his arms. He didn’t want to give her the impression she could throw her weight around like she used to. He hadn’t minded then. In fact, he’d found it intriguing and attractive.
