avid admirers the other night at the opera,” she said as casually as she could muster with him watching her across the table as if he were going to have her for dessert.
He raised one eyebrow at her opening salvo, playing along with her game even though he was still mulling over various ways to get her back to his place, and into his bed. “Oh really? I wasn’t aware I had any fans, other than you, of course.”
She ignored that comment and tucked her chin on her hand. “The lovely lady didn’t actually introduce herself, but she mentioned you’d ruined her family because her father had crossed you. Are you going to do that to me when you finally realize that I’m not going to marry you? Should I warn my father about your retribution?”
Damon’s entire body stilled and his eyes sharpened. “Describe this woman to me, please.”
Eva was startled. She hadn’t expected this kind of razor-sharp reaction. She sensed that Damon was genuinely incensed, but trying to hide it for some reason. “A little taller than I am, short black hair, irate, glossy eyes.”
She watched in fascination as his mouth firmed to a thin line. “Skinny to the point of being anorexic looking? Bile spilling from every word she spoke?”
“I wouldn’t call her anorexic although she was painfully thin and not very healthy looking,” she countered, but didn’t contradict the other description.
He forced his muscles to relax and glanced around the restaurant. “I’m guessing she wasn’t saying wonderful things about my charming personality, eh?”
Eva was relieved that he’d relaxed. The sudden tension had startled her. She smiled and batted her eyes. “Since you don’t have a charming personality, no, her comments were quite the opposite.”
He pulled his napkin down and laid it on his lap. “What are you having for dinner?”
“Just a salad.” She waited a moment, expecting him to explain but he simply nodded his head at her selection and waved for the waiter to approach. After putting in their orders, he turned to face her once again but Eva stopped whatever subject he was going to bring up and maintained the previous topic despite his obvious contempt for the other woman. “Aren’t you going to explain?”
“No.”
She sat up straighter, not sure she liked his answer. “Why not? Is what she saying true? Did you ruin her family and take all their money just for mercenary reward?”
“Do you believe her?”
Eva watched his expression, which meant she watched his face that showed absolutely no expression. His eyes were blank, his shoulders down and he was relaxing against the back of the chair. Nothing in him revealed what he was thinking with her accusation. “Should I?”
“That’s up to you.”
“Will you tell me what happened?”
“Maybe some day.”
“But not now.” It was a statement and not a question this time. She realized that the subject was closed at this point in their relationship. Not that she would admit they had one, she reminded herself.
“Not now. No.”
Something about his comments made her decide to forgo pursuing the apparently contentious subject during dinner. She wanted to learn more, but she didn’t think he would tell her anything more about the issue. That didn’t mean she was giving up. Just that she wasn’t going to ask him about it. She was a resourceful woman though. When she wanted to know something, she would find out. Since Damon wasn’t going to tell her about the issue, she would dig until she knew what was going on. And his silence told her that this was a subject that was worth investigating.
“I’ll find out on my own then,” she said and swept her napkin onto her lap just as he’d done several moments ago.
He glared at her and shook his head. “You’ll let the matter go. I’ll have my lawyers handle the situation.”
That was a startling tidbit. “Why would your lawyers need to intercede? Was she doing something wrong?”
“Drop it, Eva,” he countered sternly.
She changed the subject, talking about a news article she read in the paper about a company he was about to take over. She knew she couldn’t use any of the information she heard from him about the subject for her own investments, but she was sincerely interested in his interpretation on how the acquisition was going.
Dinner was frustrating as well since so many people wanted to speak with Damon. Their meal was interrupted so often that she barely needed to come up with conversational topics. About an hour into the dinner, Damon growled,