Page 30 of Vienna Betrayal

Chapter 5

He wore all gray—steel gray slacks, and a dove-gray shirt. “May I?”

“Oh, I’m hoping you will.” Alena smiled at Alexander as he took a seat on the barstool beside hers.

She’d known he’d wear gray. Well, she’d been relatively certain. Eighty percent at least.

But as he sat, the knot in her stomach eased.

There was only a scattering of people here this early. Lillian, the club’s administrator, was moving briskly around the ballroom/dungeon. Alena had spoken with Lillian when she arrived and changed her checklist restrictions. It was one of the reasons she was so early. In fact, she’d been the first attendee.

“What are you hoping I’ll do?” Alexander’s voice had deepened.

And just like that, Alena’s body started to heat and soften. In the cold light of day she’d wondered if the chemistry between them was real, or if last night had been a fluke.

Now she knew that what was between them was all too real.

“What do you want to do?” she countered.

His brow arched. “Is that carte blanche?”

“And if it was?” Alena leaned toward him, the draped bodice of her silver dress gaping to show the tops of her breasts.

“I would call you a fool.” His tone was serious, killing the playful banter.

Alena sat back in surprise. Needing a minute, she reached for her half-full champagne flute, waiting on the tall cocktail table.

There were four of these cocktail tables, and a few long dinner tables set up to facilitate attendees enjoying a meal. Once the event was in full swing, the food buffet and tables would be removed, while the bar remained open.

At just after eight, it was headed towards dinner time for many Europeans, though her granny would never have served dinner so scandalously late.

Thoughts of Grammaw and home made her shoulders tight. She didn’t know what her grandmother would have thought about who she’d become. She would have been…puzzled, Alena decided.

Puzzled but hopefully pleased because Alena had found her place in the world, a way to thrive, and that would have been the most important fact to the woman who raised her.

Alena turned to look at the bar, wanting a minute to school her features. Now that Alexander was here, she needed to bottle up and put aside the contradictory feelings she’d been fighting all day.

“I’ll go.” Alexander stood, turning away from her.

Alena realized she’d been quiet long enough that he thought she’d taken umbrage at being called a fool. She lunged and grabbed the back of his pants.

Alexander made a noise that might have been called a “yelp” of surprise and looked over his shoulder at her.

“Are you going to make me chase you again?” she asked.

“I scared you.”

“You didn’t.”

“Then you are a fool. Because you should be scared.”

Alena tugged on his pants. “What’s wrong, Alexander? Sit down and talk to me.”

He frowned, looking at her as if she were crazy. “You’re…”

“Amazing?” Alena released his pants and arched a brow. “I can’t wait to hear how this sentence is going to end. I assume you wouldn’t be so rude as to call me a fool for the third time.”

Alexander’s frown disappeared as he huffed out a laugh. “You’re surprising.”

---