“I saw the ring on your girlfriend’s finger just now. There’s no question that it’s mine!”
Gary stopped short. What the hell? How could Greene have seen it on Rachel’s finger? Unless he was actually in—
“And quite frankly, I cannot understand what such a lovely woman is doing with someone like yourself. Over dinner last night, she told me all about your so-called proposal and how you had it all planned. Planned my foot.”
Gary was incredulous. Right. That was enough. First the guy accuses of him of stealing, and then he has the audacity to sneak around with his fiancée?
Rachel hadn’t said a word about going out to dinner with anyone last night, and especially not this guy.
Was this his true game at the back of it all? Was all this talk about a ring a mere front for him to get into Rachel’s pants? He wouldn’t put it past him.
“Right, Greene,” he said, his tone steely. “I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t take kindly to strange men sniffing around my girlfriend. So if you know what’s good for you, you stay away from her.”
“For goodness’ sake, all I want is my property back,” Greene said, backing down immediately, much to Gary’s satisfaction.
“Well, good luck with that,” Gary said, hanging up on him.
Stupid prat obviously didn’t know who the hell he was dealing with, and if he thought he could just roll up in Dublin and use some cock-and-bull story to try and swipe his woman from him, he had another think coming.
Gary put the phone back in his inside pocket and revved up the bike again.
He needed to talk to Sean about this, get his take on it.
Granted the ring had appeared out of the blue, but that didn’t mean anything. He was only sorry that he’d admitted as much to Terri and hoped she wouldn’t go blabbing to Rachel.
After all, the ring did belong to him—once it landed in his bags anyway. And although the proposal hadn’t been as well planned as everyone thought, he had asked Rachel to marry him—and in front of half the country on New Year’s Eve.
So surely she couldn’t get too upset about a technicality?
With any luck, he was worrying for nothing. Terri had been pretty drunk herself last night, so maybe she wouldn’t even remember. But in the meantime, just in case she did blab, he supposed he’d better start thinking about his own version of events.
Gary zoomed down the road in the direction of Sean’s place.
He shouldn’t waste time worrying about that plonker.
Rachel would believe him any day over some crackpot toff from London. He knew that much.
Chapter 39
Terri was surprised to see Gary at the bistro again that evening, and even more so when after speaking briefly to Rachel, he came into the kitchen and asked if he could have a private word withher.
“What’s up?” she asked, drying her floury hands on a nearby tea towel. He looked preoccupied and uncomfortable, a notable change from his usual cocky demeanor.
“I…ah…just wanted to talk to you about last night,” he began, his tone cautious.
“Last night. What about it?”
“Well, I had a few in me, and I might have said some things…”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said, feigning innocence. Was he worried she might tell Rachel about their so-called flirting? Or did the concern stem from elsewhere, namely the sorry truth?
“Well, as I said, last night is a bit fuzzy, but you know the way we were talking about the engagement stuff and all?”
Aha! So hewasworried, she realized with some satisfaction. Maybe she’d misjudged him, and he was about to come clean after all.
“Yes, you might have mentioned something about it all being a bit of surprise for both of you.”
“Yeah. It’s just that…” Then he looked at her as if trying to figure out something. “Did Rachel mention to you where she was last night?”
