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Chapter 10
“IDID NOT EXPECT YOUto be so graceful about this but I should have, shouldn’t I?”
Alina Kokinos, the woman whom European tabloids described as the poor little rich girl for being dumped by Damen Leventis for an American gold digger, did not reply right away. Her every movement was dainty, precise, and pretty as she cut herself another slice of her steak. She fed herself a morsel and when she was done, she pressed the napkin lightly to her lips.
Damen was used to this. Alina was like him in many ways, raised in accordance with old customs and traditions and expected at all times to be a model of courtesy and propriety. But what he was not used to at all was Alina apparently speaking her mind for the first time with him when she said quietly, “I can afford to be graceful, Damen. I never wanted to marry you.”
Before he could say anything, she continued softly, “And I have always known that you did not want to marry me – not in the real way.”
The restaurant where they dined now had always been where they enjoyed meals together, just as the people around them were also the same people they saw when they attended functions as a couple. It was how it should be, but Alina was so very tired of doing what she should do and not what she wanted.
And yet, if she did not do the right thing now, she would once again find herself backed into the same corner she had been stuck in for years – ever since she had been fifteen and too much of a proper daughter to say no to her parents.
When she raised her gaze to her ex-fiancé, the incredulity she saw in Damen Leventis’ gaze made her smile wryly. “Does my honesty surprise you that much?”
Not mincing words, he said, “Yes.”
For a moment, the old fears assailed her. Damen was a man, and she had been taught all her life to bow to a man’s wishes.
But then her courage reasserted itself, and squaring her shoulders, she told him in a voice that only quivered the slightest bit, “I’ve decided to stop pretending I’m the usual biddable Greek lass with you, Damen.”
His voice was bland when he answered, “I never asked you to.”
Blinking, she said, “I...suppose...not. But I’ve always gotten the feeling that you would have been displeased if I had ever gotten in your way or went against your wishes.”
“Perhaps. But it is water under the bridge now, do you not think?”
Oh! He was so cold, so unreadable!
And though this side of him had always terrified and frustrated her, now it also made Alina smile. She said softly, “You don’t seem to be the same person who dumped an heiress to be with the woman he loves.”
Alina was rewarded by the faintest flush coloring Damen’s cheeks, and she took courage from that. Maybe this could still work. Maybe she had been wrong about him all along. Oh, she hoped so. She dearly hoped so.
Ever since she had been engaged to him, she had found the Leventis heir to be arrogant, too much like her overbearing father for her to like. Although he had been nothing but polite and courteous with her, he had also been forbiddingly formal. The only time he had been open with her was during the time they had been guest speakers at GAYL. His attitude had surprised and confused her, but what followed after had cleared a lot of things up.
He had wanted the other girl – the one he loved – to be jealous.
And until then, never would she have expected someone like Damen Leventis could care so much for a woman to want her to be jealous.
Hopefully, he still cared for that girl, enough for him to agree to what she was about to propose.