Just Like Her

Chapter 49

Tom

Cynthia shook her head at us as she sashayed off, already punching orders into her Blackberry for the legal team to deal with.

Rules of public affection be damned, I thought.

Besides, if Uncle Henry caught word of the arrests a kiss would be the least of my worries.

I allowed Emma to steer us toward the bar, her left hand holding mine while the other clutched her small purse granting anyone she passed a glimpse of her ring.

Her ring she wore on the wrong finger.

I sighed internally, chiding myself for not being there when she'd found it waiting for her on her pillow.

Surely she'd known my intention though, and just as surely she'd given me her response when she slipped it onto that chain of hers:

Not no, but not yet.

I had known when I placed the box on her pillow that it would be her answer, yet it still stung slightly to see her bare left ring finger.  I reminded myself though that her willingness to wear it at all was a positive step.

At least she wasn't in bloody Kerry anymore.

Initially, I was shocked by Emma's insistence on aiding the foundation and even more so when she offered herself up as a distraction for the press. I'd devoted my life to Legacy Works since founding it with my sister, and I couldn't help but feel equal parts humbled and proud that Emma would offer herself so fully to its safeguard.

Emma smiled up at me just then as I squeezed her hand, but her attention was torn away by a tuxedoed man striding toward us.

He was taller than average, though I estimated I still had a few centimeters on him. He had short dark hair—nearly black—and a clean-shaven face.

Emma beamed as he neared.

I immediately hated him.

"Derik?" She laughed.

"Emma!" He greeted her warmly before turning toward me with a curt bow of his head. "Your Royal Highness."

I nodded back at him and began to slowly run my thumb along the back of Emma's.

His eyes shifted back to her as his lips fitted into a coy smile. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Fancy, indeed," she retorted with an edge of irony.

His smile faltered momentarily as he glanced at our hands before returning to his focus to Emma. "I-I meant to call... Tough break with Rufus."

Emma shrugged noncommittally as her eyes traveled behind Derik to the growing crowd of reporters lingering just close enough to hear the edges of our conversation. "I'm doing just fine."

He nodded, seemingly relieved by her answer and its permission to reaffix his grin. "You working on any side projects?"

A playful smirk whipped across her face. "Why?" Emma challenged with a slight tilt of her head. "You looking to scoop me again?"

Derek laughed. "I never—"

"That's rubbish and you know it!" She laughed as she lifted her clutch to point a mockingly indignant finger at him. "We went to uni together," Emma explained to me in a conspiratorial tone, "and we both worked on the student paper. Derik, here, worked features, but I was mainly—"

"Book reviews?" I guessed.

Emma shook her head, still grinning. "Op-eds actually."

"She was quite opinionated," Derik nodded along.

"You don't say..." I retorted, hoping my sarcasm masked my growing sense of jealousy over their increasingly apparent familiarity.

"Anyways," Emma said, gesturing again toward Derik with her purse.

I had to stop myself from shaking my head in amazement. Initially, I had been insulted when Cynthia told me Emma was a natural at working the press, but—true to form—my sister was right.

Already Emma must have flashed her ring half a dozen times since the beginning of our conversation, and the sportive banter between the two of them—though I could barely stand it—was the perfect cover for her heightened gesturing.

"I had a story on misuse of endowment funds and this arse stole it right out from under me!" Emma couldn't stop from giggling during her accusation, and Derik appeared to take it just as seriously.

"You should've run with it while you had the chance!"

"I was waiting for a second source!"

"How honorable of you," he snorted.

Emma raised her chin in faux victory. "I rest my case."

Derik shrugged off her words. "You were an editor by then anyway, you had no business writing your own—"

"And you had no business stealing other people's leads!"

"Well I learned my lesson, didn't I?"

Emma grimaced then. "I was a bit Draconian, wasn't I..."

Derik flicked his gaze to mine for the first time as he dryly told me: "She had me copyediting junior reporters for the rest of the semester."

I smiled at that and his attention swiftly returned to Emma, though his previous facetious air seemed to deflate slightly when their eyes connected.

"You were a good editor though," he nodded in earnest, "and we all respected you for it. Still do."

Emma looked off to her right, squeezing my hand slightly.

I released my hand from her grasp and placed it at the small of her back. "You've clearly done well for yourself," I nodded to Derik. "You're here with the..."

"The Times," he supplied.

"That's a very respectable paper," I offered.

"Thanks..." He bit the side of his cheek, his eyes drifting down to Emma's ring. "Forgive me, but I'm professionally obligate to ask..."

Emma blinked at him in confusion before glancing down at her hand and startling slightly, as if she were just as surprised to find a ring on her own finger.

Frowning, I realized for the first time that I couldn't tell if her reaction was genuine or merely part of the charade...

My hand slid up to her waist, gently tugging her into my side.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, switching her purse to her other hand and extending her right out in front of her. "This, well, this was a... gift."

Her cheeks grew pink as she met my gaze and placed her hand on my chest. "I told him he shouldn't have, but—"

"But I insisted," I smiled down at her as I wrapped my fingers around her hand and pressed it against my heart. "I wanted her to have a reminder of how much I appreciate her."

"Appreciate?" She teased as she nudged me with her hip.

The corner of her mouth quirked upward, causing my heart to skip a beat.

There, I thought. A classic playful Emma smile.

Genuine.

"So would this be an... engagement ring, perhaps?" Derik hesitantly cut in.

Emma's lips thinned as she lifted her eyebrows ever so slightly. She tilted her chin as she considered the reporter's eager expression.

"Off the record?"

He nodded heartily. "Of course!"

Emma opened her mouth to respond, but I beat her to it.

"No comment."  

[A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote & comment on each chapter!]