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.Traffic ground to a stop.He'd be late for his eleven o'clock meeting.He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.The difficulty of trying to propose to Delaney without mentioning the love word flashed through his mind, but he'd work that out later.For now, he had to figure out what to do about the ring.She'd have lots of opinions about diamonds, and he suspected his philosophy of "the bigger the better" might not be in line with her upper-crust way of thinking.She'd want something discreet with a perfect cut.Then there was that color crap people talked about.Frankly, one diamond looked pretty much like another to him.The traffic still wasn't moving.Heath thought it over.What the hell.He reached for his cell and made the call.For once, Annabelle answered instead of her voice mail.He kept it brief, but she was in one of her uncooperative moods, and even with horns blaring around him, she shouted so loud he had to hold the phone away from his ear."You want me to do what?"Annabelle stormed around the house, slamming cupboard doors and kicking over her office wastebasket.She couldn't believe she'd let herself fall for such a complete and utter idiot.Heath wanted her to check out engagement rings for Delaney! What a shitty day.And with her family birthday party coming up in a couple of weeks, the future didn't look any cheerier.She grabbed her jacket and headed out for a walk.Maybe the sunny October afternoon would brighten her spirits.The truth was, she should be on top of the world.Mr.Bronicki and Mrs.Valerio were moving in together."We'd like to get married," they'd explained to Annabelle, "but we can't afford it, so we're doing the next best thing." Even more exciting, Annabelle might have made her first permanent match.Janine and Ray Fiedler seemed to be falling in love.She couldn't have been happier for her friend, and she finally smiled.Once Ray had gotten rid of his comb-over, his attitude had also improved, and he'd turned out to be a decent guy.Janine had been afraid he'd be repulsed by her mastectomy, but he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world.Annabelle had other reasons to be happy.Things were looking serious between Ernie Marks, her shy elementary school principal, and Wendy, the bubbly architect.She'd talked Melanie out of her infatuation with John Nager.And thanks to the publicity from Heath's match with Delaney, her business had been growing like crazy.Finally, she had enough money in the bank to start thinking about buying a new car.Instead, she thought about Heath and Delaney.How could he be so blind? Despite everything Annabelle had once believed, Delaney wasn't the right woman for him.She was too contained, too polished.Too perfect.Heath had the ring in his pocket, but his tongue kept sticking to the roof of his mouth.This was stupid.He never let pressure get to him, yet here he was with a bad case of flop sweat.This afternoon he'd sent his secretary to pick up the ring he'd chosen as soon as he'd gotten back from Denver two weeks ago.He and Delaney had just finished a five-hundred-dollar dinner at Charlie Trotter's.The lighting was muted, the music soft, the atmosphere perfect.All he had to do was take her hand and say the magic words.Would you do me the honor of being my wife?He'd decided to dodge the whole "I love you" thing by keeping it specific.He'd tell her he loved her intelligence; he loved the way she looked.He definitely loved playing golf with her.Most of all, he loved her polish, the sense that she'd finish him.If she pressed him on the love thing, he could always tell her he was fairly sure he would love her at some time in the future, after they'd been married for a while and he was certain she'd stick, but somehow he didn't think she'd see his reassurance in the same positive light he did, so best to deflect.He wondered if she'd get teary-eyed when he gave her the ring.Probably not.She wasn't too emotional, which was another positive.Afterward, they'd go back to his place and celebrate their engagement in bed.He'd make sure he took it slow.He sure as hell wouldn't rush her like he'd rushed Annabelle.Damn, that had been fun [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]