She didn’t raise her voice or look back at Grant as she set the diamond down on the green blotter.

“My father is waiting in the conservatory,” Sloane said.

“I’m going to tell him the ceremony is canceled.”

She turned the brass door handle and slipped out into the carpeted corridor, leaving the double doors open two inches behind her.

Grant stood by the desk for five seconds without moving.

Then he turned on Caroline, his teeth clenched.

“You ruined a forty-million-dollar land development partnership in four minutes,” Grant said.

“You ruined it ten years ago when you signed that card,” Caroline said.