Billionaire on Board by Dasha G. Logan Page A

mad cow?" 
    "No, tell me!"
    "Because I did not want to upstage you on your wedding day!" 
    "Ha! You already tried! Do you think only because you look like a Baywatch whore, all men will go crazy about you?"
    Ryan giggled. Obviously he had understood the word "Baywatch" and had made the connection.
    "I think the only person who's crazy in this room is you, Corinna! Why don't you get help, for a change?"
    "You'd never accept him! Never!"
    "I already have!" I reached with my hand into Ryan's pocket and found what I was looking for.
    "Never! Never! You want to get to Christian behind my back!"
    "Look!" I jumped up and whipped out my left hand in a movement worthy of Gandalf.
     
    The fat diamond caught the light and sparkled like a thousand stars.
    Corinna looked on in stunned disbelief.
    Ryan looked on in stunned disbelief.
    As a matter of fact, everybody in the entire room looked on in stunned disbelief. 
    Only Mary Lou rose to the occasion. Literally. She used the momentary diversion to crawl out from under my parents' table and to leisurely jog across the dance floor, where the wedding cake waited to be cut at midnight (and now, you will have guessed it, comes the slapstick moment. But what can I say? This is how it really happened). She gulped it down in three bites.
     
    "I hate you!" Corinna shrieked and ran off.
    I stared incredulously at Mary Lou who licked her nose for one last time and raised her head in question as if to say "Anything the matter?"
    "I love you," I whimpered and broke into maniacal laughter. 
    So did everybody else. 
    Except Christian. Or Corinna's parents. 
     
    "I think we should go…" Ryan cackled and I nodded while tears of laughter were streaming over my face.
    "The poor girl!" I wailed. "But I cannot say I'm sorry."
     
     

Fifteen
     
    "No, Mum, it was from a Kinder Egg." I had called her as soon as we had got into the car. "I brought it on purpose. I knew she was going to pull a stunt. But really, Mum, we're not engaged."
    "Oh, how sad! He's such a thoughtful boy."
    "He's not a boy. He's thirty-seven."
    "Really?"
    "Yes."
    I looked at Ryan. He had put on the unfathomable face again. I had not seen it in a while, I supposed it meant he was deeply in thought or somehow in touch with his feelings, you know, the things girls think men do, when they are actually not doing anything at all. He was probably only digesting.
     
    As if my mother had heard my thoughts, she changed the subject.
    "Do you think we should take Mary Lou to the emergency vet? She did not eat the candles."
    "I think if you give her some tummy drops she'll be fine. You can always go to the vet if she gets sick. She has survived more critical situations."
    "Yes. You're probably right."
    "How's Corinna?"
    "She's asleep. Lilly's with her. Nicky pressed some funny point in her shoulder and she went limp. It was really rather dodgy."
    "Oh dear."
    "She only has herself to blame, darling. I've had a serious conversation with Christian. She needs to go into treatment urgently! Sybille was dreadfully embarrassed, she sends her apologies."
    "Mary Lou has avenged me gloriously. All debts are settled."
    "Your father is of the opinion you should—"
    "Mum, we're at the hotel, I have to get out. Let's talk tomorrow?"
    "Sleep tight!"
     
    We walked through the empty lobby. The night manager greeted us with his usual aplomb and kept himself to himself. 
    The lift arrived and we got in.
    I turned towards the mirror.
    I screamed.
    "Ryan! Why didn't you tell me my entire face is covered in eyeliner?"
    "I found it endearing. You're my little sauvage … on her path of war."
    "Did I look like this at the wedding already?"
    "No, it happened when you wiped your tears off in the car."
    "Everybody in the lobby saw me!"
    "There was only the night manager."
    "The porter was there too!"
    "They'll think we fought, you cried and we're about to have mind-blowing make up sex."
    I tried to rub some of the stuff off with my hand." Make up sex… how