Page 50 of A Diamond Deal
He’d seen her this way too many times. He’d watched her from the doorway of too many rooms when she’d refused to speak, to get dressed.
He’d watched his mother do the same. Refuse to eat, talk—get dressed. He’d gone to his mother and sat at her knee. Waited for her to see him. She never had. No matter what he said—how many times he tried to hold her.
Physical comfort was nothing but a physical display of emotion that helped no one.
Physical comfort would not have helped Poppy. She’d needed the professionals his mother hadn’t had. She had not needed his arms.
But he didn’t want to see Poppy likethatagain.Lost.
But when he’d seen her tonight… She was…calm.At peace. So different from the Poppy he’d been confronted with every day after Isaak’s death.
She wasn’t sad any more.
She wasn’t lost to despair.
She was not like his mother. She had felt her feelings and dealt with them. She had not been consumed by them. They had not killed her.
His eyes travelled over her mask. Her face was in two halves. One half was made of hard gold and crystals, the other… His eyes lingered on her mouth. So soft.So vulnerable.Had she always had two halves? Yes, she was vulnerable—soft—but so strong was she, to have felt her grief—mourned so hard—and yet here she was.Fighting.
‘But I’m sorr—’
‘Do not apologise again.’ Konstantinos placed his glass down on a nearby table. ‘I don’t want or need it. We are here. The night is almost over. Tonight was a success.Thatis all that matters.’ He moved towards the few remaining people leaving.
Fingers, featherlight, caught his wrist.
She shook her head, her eyes flicking to the hosts gathering everyone still lingering, and leading them out into the garden for the night’s finale.
She put her finger to her lips. Her hand moved. Her fingers speared between his, and led him through the arched exit behind them.
And he let her lead him into the dark.
A windowless antechamber.
Her breath quickened as did his.
‘Stay quiet,’ she whispered.
‘Why are we hiding?’ he whispered back.
She held a finger to her lips.
Curiosity assaulted him, so he played along.
He didn’t speak again, nor did she.
They listened.
The baroque music from the string quartet faded in the adjoining room.
The lights dimmed.
And in the dark, he stayed hidden withher.
Konstantinos waited for her to tell him why she wanted to hide withhim, because it didn’t feel sexual. It did not feel like a promise of the delights the dark could give them.
They stood, side by side, in a darkened corner, going nowhere.
And somehow…
