She flounced off the bed and stood up in a challenging stance, hands on hips. ‘Those are my terms, Ethan.’
He rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow, the green eyes regarding her with a glint of triumph, as though he had just won something. ‘Then I’ll just tag along, be your chauffeur, take you to lunch somewhere along the way.’
She couldn’t argue with that. Her free time was exclusively his. Besides, having lunch with her out in public was more delightful proof that he didn’t want her kept hidden away. Nevertheless…‘I’d prefer you not to be with me in the boutiques. It’s much more fun for me to surprise you on the day.’
He smiled. ‘I’ll park myself in a coffee shop with the Sunday newspapers.’
Daisy smiled back, bubbling with joy inside. ‘You’d better come and shower with me. We have to get moving. And I warn you this might be a marathon shopping trip. I’m not going to settle for anything less than spectacular.’
Pride insisted she look at least as good as anyone in his party—good enough to be accepted as Ethan’s partner in everyone else’s eyes. She wanted to make him feel proud to have her on his arm, make him feel she could be his partner in every sense. For the first time she thought it could be a real possibility. It wasn’t about just having her in his bed. It was about pursuing his interest in her.
Ethan felt an exhilarating sense of triumphant satisfaction all week, leading up to the Golden Slipper Saturday. Daisy’s response to being with him for the big horse-race proved beyond a doubt that his judgement of her character had not been astray. If she’d been into bartering sex for gain, she would have pounced on his offer to buy her clothes. And he was quite sure now she would walk out of his apartment at the end of the year—the deal done—without any thought of making a claim on it.
His cynical view of her resistance to having an affair with him—a form of manipulation to get him to solve her problems—no longer seemed feasible. There was nothing underhand about Daisy. She played everything straight down the line. Best of all, since the way had been cleared for her to have an open relationship with him, she seemed happy about it. Genuinely happy. Which meant he wasn’t buying her submission to what he wanted of her any more.
He was tempted to remove all force from the situation, free her from the deal, but he liked having her in his apartment, liked having the security of knowing she was his to have. As it stood, she couldn’t walk away from him, not without breaking her word, and Daisy wouldn’t do that. He wanted more time with her. It was stupid to risk not having it.
Mickey called him at work on Friday. ‘Just letting you know Midas Magic had a great trial run on the track this morning,’ he said, his voice brimming with cheerful confidence. ‘And in case you’re not already aware, Serena has attached herself to James Ellicott.’
James Ellicott…Ethan winced at one of his clients being sucked in by Serena. The man had made a fortune in advertising and had already been divorced twice, costing him a lot of money in settlements. He liked beautiful women and was apparently prepared to pay for them.
‘They were both here at dawn watching his horse trial,’ Mickey ran on. ‘No doubt she’ll be included in his party dining in the Winning Post restaurant tomorrow. Thought I’d better warn you.’
‘Thanks, Mickey. No problem. I’m not the least bit troubled about Serena being with someone else.’
It was true. Though Mickey’s news report had instantly incited the cynical thought that Serena was buttering up another billionaire for the kill. She was not a morning person. If James Ellicott married her, she wouldn’t be accompanying him to dawn trials again. He would have to be satisfied with her gracing his arm in the winners’ circle, which Serena would do beautifully.
Ethan suddenly realised that should Midas Magic win tomorrow, he and Daisy would be in the spotlight for the presentation of the Golden Slipper. She’d been delighted with her shopping trip. He hoped her outfit was spectacular enough to shut Serena’s mouth because his ex-fiancée had no grace at all when it came to losing.
When he walked into the apartment the next morning, any worry that Daisy might be put down by anyone disappeared in a flash. She looked absolutely gorgeous. And elegant. And so sexy, desire instantly sizzled through him, making his tailor-made suit feel more snug than it should around the groin area.
Impossible to race her off to bed. It would mess up the image she had created and it was too marvellous to spoil. She twirled around in front of him, the calf-length skirt swirling in a froth of vivid colour. ‘Like it?’ she asked, her big chocolate-brown eyes sparkling with confidence in her fine feathers. ‘It’s called neon butterfly.’
The dress was a brilliant pink, the shiny silk patterned with white and purple and orange and bright green butterflies. Its low V neckline and the wide band from under her breasts to her waist emphasised her beautiful, womanly curves. Her long, dark brown hair was piled on top of her head, and curling from one ear over her crown was a stunning concoction of bright pink flowers and feathers.
‘I’m dazzled,’ he said, shaking his head in bemused appreciation. Gone was the brown sparrow. This butterfly would outshine every other woman at the Rosehill Gardens racetrack.
Her smile wavered. A flash of wary vulnerability took the sparkle from her eyes. ‘Is that good or bad?’
He grinned, warmly assuring her, ‘It’s amazingly good,’ as he walked forward to draw her into his embrace. ‘I’ll have to beat off Mickey from trying to steal you from me, because he’ll definitely see you as the most beautiful fish in the sea today.’
She laughed, relief melting into pleasure. ‘I just didn’t want to let you down, Ethan.’
‘You never let me down.’ He kissed her forehead and smiled into her eyes. ‘And that’s something I really value, Daisy.’
‘You haven’t let me down, either,’ she rushed out somewhat breathlessly, and there was a yearning look in her eyes—a look that did something weird to Ethan’s heart. It was as if a hammer had smashed into the hard shell he’d kept around it since his disillusionment with Serena, and a gush of warmth made his chest swell with waves of emotion.
He wanted to look after this woman.
Protect her.
Give her everything she needed.
The instincts that had driven him to act as he had when he had first met her suddenly made perfect sense. The need to have her, to nail her into a relationship with him…it was because she was uniquely special in his experience…a woman he could trust, a woman he could love, a woman he could share his life with.