Page 39 of Husband for the Holidays

“Is that why therapy appeals? Because it’s about the individual?”

“Yes, exactly!” She looked up at him, pleased to be understood. “Oh.”

“What’s wrong?” He pivoted her out of her small misstep.

“Nothing. Only that we were under the mistletoe—”

“Were we?” He twirled her back, forcing another couple to make a quick turn to avoid them. When they were directly below the dangling ornament of berries in the middle of the floor, he said, “What do we do now?”

“I think you know,” she said with amusement twitching her lips.

“I do,” he agreed and cupped the side of her face as he dropped his head to press his mouth over hers.

From the outside, it probably looked chaste, but it was a lingering, sensual kiss that subtly claimed her, curling her toes and making her pulse trip. She let her eyelids flutter closed and melted against him.

When a ripple of amusedaahsrose around them, he drew back, obsidian eyes filled with banked heat.

“Shall we switch?” Antoine appeared beside them with her mother. A new song started.

Konstantin’s expression cooled, but he found a warmer look for Lilja.

“I would be honored.” And it would be expected that her fiancé dance with his future mother-in-law while Antoine took Eloise for a spin.

The tempo was a foxtrot and Antoine was a good dancer, leading her expertly through the steps while saying with quiet malice, “You don’t really expect me to believe this charade?”

She didn’t bother playing dumb. “Edoardo wanted to marry me. Why wouldn’t Konstantin?”

“Because I sweetened the pot for Edoardo. What could you possibly offer a man like Konstantin? That you’re not already giving up,” Antoine added scathingly. “Or is that how you got the ring? By holding out on him? That will only work so long, girlie. He won’t go through with marrying you. What could he possibly gain?”

She didn’t want be so withered by his words, but he was giving voice to the insecurity she already felt. Maybe Konstantin was only intrigued by the sex they weren’t yet having. She might not be any good at it, for all she knew. And beyond that, all she offered him was a chance for him to feel he was squaring things with her dead brother. He had already mentioned divorce and turned away from her more times than she cared to count.

Not that she revealed any of that to Antoine. She kept it to a stiff, “I’m not here to prove anything to you. I just wanted to see my mother.”

“You want her ring. And for her to pay for a wedding and all the parties and frills that go with it. I won’t let that happen. Get what you can out of Galanis. That’s no skin off my nose, but don’t come crawling back here when he throws you out.”

Whether it was a newfound boldness that came from knowing Konstantin was in her corner or an old spark of her former self, before life had delivered so many blows, Eloise threw back her head and said, “I haven’t wanted to make my mother choose between her husband and her child, but do you honestly believe she would pick you if I did?”

“She already did,” he said with a cruel tilt to his mouth.

The music stopped and Eloise was close enough to the edge of the dance floor that she melted into the crowd, but her pulse was pounding in her ears and her hair felt as though it would catch fire any second.

“What did he say to you?” Konstantin asked grimly, coming up behind her where she was accepting a glass of wine from a bartender.

“Nothing,” she lied.

“You might hide how you feel about him from your mother, but not from me. What did he say?” he repeated through clenched teeth.

She glanced up and felt incredibly defenseless, not just because he read her so easily, but because of the things Antoine had said.

“He thinks I’m using our engagement to get Mom to go back to paying for my lavish lifestyle. He said she’s already chosen him over me.”

“I’ve had it with him.” Konstantin turned his head to search over the heads of the crowd. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes, but—” She set aside her glass and touched his arm to keep him from walking away. “You’re not going to make a scene, are you?”

“No. I’m going to make a point.” He took her hand and wound her through the crowd to where her mother and Antoine were speaking to another couple. “Lilja. Thank you for inviting us, but we have an early departure for Greece tomorrow. We’re calling it a night. Are you sure we can’t persuade you to spend Christmas with us?”

“I’m tempted. I miss Athens.”

---