her office, the anger making her stomach queasy again. She also had a headache because she hadn’t been able to stomach any coffee yet. She needed the caffeine, but the thought of a cup of coffee only made her more nauseous. With too many feelings hitting her on all sides, she couldn’t take a headache on top of everything else. She hurried down to the drug store to pick up some aspirin. She was desperate by the time she came back to her office but as soon as she walked in, she saw the lists. Picking up the papers, she read through the notes, almost smiling at Dimitri’s bold script. The paper contained a list of several more dinner parties and social activities she was to organize for him. She swallowed the pills quickly, then drank an entire glass of water, hoping the pain killers took hold quickly.
The afternoon went by more quickly than she could have hoped for. She was desperate to get tonight’s dinner party over with so she could escape Dimitri’s presence. She didn’t like the idea of sleeping alone, but she needed time and space to get through the rest of the time with him. Once she was alone, she could formulate a plan, something that would help her defend herself against his actions.
There was another dinner party planned for Friday evening and then they were scheduled to attend some charity ball the next night but she was sure she could beg off from that. And if he refused to let her off the hook, she’d simply refuse to attend with him, arriving separately. The most she’d have to deal with was his presence at dinner, then she could easily slip away.
“Time to go,” Dimitri announced in her doorway.
Helen jumped at the sound of his voice, so absorbed in planning her strategy she hadn’t heard him approach. But she glanced up and then quickly down. His jacket was slung over his shoulder and his tie loosened, the top button of his shirt undone and he looked like every woman’s dream. “I’ll meet you at your place in time for the dinner party,” she said and was proud of her firm tone.
He raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly. “That would be a little odd, wouldn’t it? Since we’re both going to the same place.”
“I told you, my clothes are at the corporate apartment. Besides, I’ve already informed Marie that I won’t be dining at the table tonight, so there’s no need for me to actually change clothes. I’ll just work the party in the background to ensure that everything goes well.”
He shook his head. “Not a good plan. I won’t accept it. And your clothes were brought back to the penthouse so shut down your computer,” he said and pressed the save button on her keyboard, “and let’s go. You will not be working the party in the background. You will be sitting at the head of the table, looking like my fiancée even if you don’t want the position.”
Helen gritted her teeth at his high-handed tactics. She was also angry with herself because she should have anticipated this move. “You’re being completely unreasonable about this,” she said angrily, standing up and facing him with her hands fisted at her sides. “Why can’t you just accept that we’re over? Move on, go find someone who wants to be your wife!”
“I have found someone. You. And I’m perfectly happy with my selection, but thank you very much for the easy out if I change my mind, which I won’t, by the way.” He pulled her around her desk, ignoring her resistance, and picked up her purse. “We need to get moving. You have to change clothes,” was all he would say.
Helen wanted to fight him but she needed to pick her battles.
Chapter 10
The evening was a huge success but she was angry the whole evening. She was sitting at the head of the table, glaring at Dimitri almost all night. She smiled at the appropriate moments and laughed at all the jokes which were light and very political since this group was made up mostly of high level government officials. But she was seething with anger the whole night. Her stomach wasn’t bothering her too much so at least something was going right, she told herself as she led the way through from the dining room to the huge great room for coffee.
Everyone took a seat and she looked around, grateful when Marie arrived immediately with the coffee