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She, too, had been about to speak but stopped as well.
Both of them became aware almost simultaneously of a presence that shattered the privacy of their world.
Their heads turned, also in almost-perfect synchrony, towards the library’s entrance.
Mairi’s breath caught.
Damen.
He appeared like an avenging angel, dressed in black and white, his stride powerful and fierce, and an almost battle-like expression on his chiseled face. He did not make a single sound and yet there was something about his presence now, authority and virility leashed in one dangerously beautiful form, causing everyone around him to look up.
Chairs were scraped back, heads looked up, and jaws dropped. Even the librarian was so flustered she had dropped the books she was holding as he came close, apparently too larger-than-life for her to handle.
Damen stopped, and everyone – including Mairi – held their breath.
He bent down and, in a graceful move, scooped up all the books and placed it on the table nearest to the librarian. “These are too heavy for you.” He murmured the words, but the library had become so silent the air carried his voice throughout the place.
The librarian nodded, a dumbstruck expression on her face. Her gaze as well as everyone else’s followed Damen’s progress as he walked past her.
Mairi’s heart beat faster and faster as he came nearer and nearer. She loved him so much, and every day she found herself loving him even more. In her eyes, he became more beautiful and dearer to her every day, and with each step he took towards her, she felt fainter and fainter.
By the time he stood in front of her, he had become her whole world and all she could see was him. It didn’t matter how much she suffered for him and for their love. She would gladly suffer a thousand lifetimes more as long as it meant she would be able to see his face before she slept, his face the first thing she would see when she woke up.
“Damen.” She couldn’t help whispering his name.
He stiffened, but he did not look at her and was instead gazing at Ioniko. In no uncertain terms, he said, “I am taking my woman now.”
Chapter 9
“INEED TO MEET WITHAlina tomorrow.”
Mairi did her best not to look gutted at the first words Damen had spoken since he had whisked her out of the library. Did he reallyneedto meet with his ex-fiancée?
The uncomfortable silence between them persisted. She badly wanted to get rid of the distance separating her and Damen even though they were seated on the same row inside his limousine. But she couldn’t, his aloofness a physical barrier that kept her away, making Mairi feel like she was a virus he didn’t want to be infected with.
Damen did not say anything else, forcing Mairi to ask haltingly, “Why?”