A Surprise Proposal in the Rose Garden (The Glenbriar Series Book 8)

Prologue

The world was spinning around Genevieve Harrington.

She rested the back of her hand on her forehead, unable to sit up or even move from the pillow. Her eyes didn’t want to open either.

Hangovers were no strangers in her life, but it had been a while. And this one was bad.

Ugh, the prosecco! Always the prosecco.

The pain in her forehead almost buzzed out loud. No wait. It was buzzing. What was making that noise? It couldn’t actually be her head. She let out a groan as a wave of nausea hit her. If she just breathed, it would pass. Wouldn’t it?

The buzzing stopped – the external one anyway.

Where was she? Something on her left hand was rubbing against her face. It felt jaggy on her skin and not normal.

All she could remember was the prosecco. There had been a lot of that. And roses. Roses that smelt so beautiful. The thought took the edge off the nausea for a second. And what about the kisses? They’d been nice. A bit too nice. He had been nice too. Yes, him.

The buzzing started again. Gradually, Genevieve peeled her eyelids open. Was that her phone? Where was it? Morning light streamed into the room, casting a spotlight across the bedroom. Ow! It hurt her eyes. She squinted in the other direction, her neck stiff as it rolled on the soft pillow. Oh no.

He’s here!

Someone banged on the door and her heart leapt, but her body was frozen and she couldn’t shift it. She tried to shimmy her aching brain into remembering… remembering anything, from what she was doing here to how humans got out of bed every day.

‘Genevieve? Are you awake?’ a woman’s voice said from the corridor.

She didn’t reply. The man beside her stirred. Their eyes met. His irises were grey blue but surrounding them, the whites were slightly bloodshot. Were hers the same?

He stared at her, and she looked back, willing him to speak and explain what was going on. But his expression was as confused as hers.

Slowly, she slid her left hand off her face and held it out in front of them. Winking back from her long slender ring finger was a very unusual and extremely beautiful diamond ring.

‘Oh my god,’ she said. ‘What did we do?’