Not wanting him to know she was hurt by his words, she said flippantly, “Too much partying.”
His lips tightened, but he chose not to comment, knowing if he did it would not be nice words. Again, he was tempted to ask for a report from the bodyguards he had tailing Mairi. But nowadays, it had become a matter of trust and pride.
Esther made constant digs about Mairi in the office and the words inevitably reached him, too. Did her son really know what that American whore was up to when he was away from home?
No. He did not. But he loved and trusted Mairi. He would not let Esther ruin things for him. And if she continued pushing him, one day she would push him too far and she would regret it.
“Are you going to the office?” She wished she could tell Damen that she missed him, but the words were stuck in her throat. More and more, she felt like Damen was withdrawing from her and she had no idea how to stop it.
“Yes. I don’t have any pressing meetings today, but I like to spend a few hours in the office all the same.” He added smoothly, “I like making good use of my time.” The barb hit home. He could see that it did with the way Mairi’s face whitened, but he wasn’t pleased it had.
Was being underpaid for hours of copywriting a good use of her time? Someone like Damen Leventis probably wouldn’t think so. He would think she was being an idiot to enslave herself like this. But what else was there for her to do?
She said hesitantly, “When I’m here at home I normally—” She stopped, seeing Damen take a discreet look at his watch. “You should leave now,” she said instead. “It’s not good for the boss to be late and set a bad example.”
His answering smile was brief. “Thank you for being understanding.” He stood up and went around the breakfast counter to press a perfunctory kiss on her forehead.
“I love you.” She just couldn’t help saying it.
“I love you, too.” He smiled again, but this time it didn’t reach his eyes.
She quickly looked down and concentrated on her toast as Damen walked out, one teardrop falling silently on her plate. He didn’t want to hear how her days went. Mairi took deep breaths, trying to convince herself that it was only because he was being subjected to too much pressure at work.
Thousands of people depended on him for their livelihoods, and yet his ability to pay for wages had been undermined and challenged when he chose to tell the world he loved her. Whatever he did now, she mustn’t forget that. It would excuse…everything. It had to.
****
I love you.
I love you, too.
Damen was still unable to get the words out of his mind even as he made his way to his office.
His employees scurried away at the sight of him. They knew from experience what the Greek billionaire looked like when he was in a black mood, and today was one of those days.
If he closed his eyes, his love for Mairi was pure and beautiful, a miracle that he had a thousand reasons to be thankful for. His chest would tighten up at the mere thought of losing her, and yet when he opened his eyes and saw reality for what it was, why did he feel such anger at himself and her?
Always he could not help but feel that she was hiding something from him, but what was it? And why would she have something to hide?
An hour later, Damen had successfully pushed the thoughts out of his mind by concentrating on his work. There was a knock on his door before his secretary came in. “Sir? Someone is here to see you who’s not on your appointment book. Her name’s Farah Jenkins—”
Damen looked up impatiently from the proposal documents he was perusing.
“—and she says she is an old high school acquaintance of Ms. Tanner.”
About to tell Bart to get rid of his unexpected visitor, Damen’s mouth snapped shut. His eyes narrowing, he said expressionlessly, “Let her in. If I buzz you, it means you should come in and make the necessary excuses to get her out of my office.”
“Understood, sir.” Bart’s head bobbed several times as he retreated. He came back a moment later, opening the door for a petite strawberry blonde with hard china-blue eyes. She was dressed beautifully and expensively, but he knew her type. She was rich but not that rich to rub elbows with his kind, and she would do anything to make that possible.
He sincerely hoped she was indeed a mere acquaintance, and that Mairi had not been fooled into being her friend.
But are you sure they are not the same kind, only Mairi is more adept at hiding her true colors? The tone inside his mind had him stiffening.
“Thank you for allowing me a few moments of your time, Damen.”
The woman’s voice had Damen looking up. Her voice was sweet and husky, but it also had a practiced tone to it, like it was something she had perfected. Her sense of overfamiliarity was repulsive, but his feelings about it did not show on his face as he inclined his head in acknowledgment of her words.
“It is my pleasure to welcome any acquaintance of my fiancée.” Walking around his desk, he gestured towards the living area of his office. “Shall we?”
She walked ahead of him, her h*ps swaying seductively as her perfume wafted towards him.
He became even more repelled. This woman, whoever the f**k she was – Damen had already forgotten her name – was no different from the countless beautiful women who tried to seduce him. Their type believed that their pretty faces were more than enough to enslave men.
“Would you like to drink anything?”
She shook her head, surprising him. “I don’t intend to take too much of your time.”
She took a seat on the couch and he took the leather armchair adjacent to it. “What may I do for you then?”
“Oh, it’s more a matter of what I have come to do for you.” Her smile became brittle. “I flew here as soon as I could upon reading the news about dear little Mairi. Stavros Manolis is your friend, isn’t he?”
He said evenly, “You already know the answer to that.” The sound of her laugh was hollow, and his skin prickled in warning at hearing it. This was not going to end well. He couldn’t yet figure out why, but he was f**king sure of it.
Damen stood up. “If you came here to play games—”
Farah snapped, “I came to prevent you from being conned by a gold digger.”
“You have overstayed your welcome,” he bit out. “Leave before I have security escort you out.” Turning his back on her, Damen stalked back to his desk, intent on buzzing Barry to get the woman out of his sight before his temper exploded.