Page 32 of Vows of Revenge

Her glance went to the mirror again, confirming it. How could it be otherwise when she was in this incredible gown, with her hair, her face, all telling her that now she was just the kind of woman Damos Kallinikos would want at his side?

She felt wonder course through her, hearing his words again. Could it really be that simple? That she had never believed she could look as she so obviously looked now just because her style of beauty was not her parents’? She had just accepted it—accepted their verdict and never tried to do anything with herself, never seen the point of it.

Realisation speared through her. It had taken Damos to see it—to see what she herself had not been able to and to get her to see herself differently.

And he’s seeing me differently too...

She knew he was. She could see it in his eyes, in his gaze. A little thrill of new awareness went through her. It was telling her that now he was not seeing her simply as a pleasant companion for a day, an evening...but as someone much more. Wonderfully, thrillingly more...

And if having Damos smile at her had been able to make the colour run into her cheeks simply because they were enjoying their day together at Blenheim, or their evening at the Oxford college, now there was a new warmth in his eyes, a different warmth, and it was as if she, too, could have the same warmth in her own eyes. For the same reason.

I don’t have to hide it any longer...conceal it—deny it.

She felt a shimmer deep inside. Felt her breath catch. Delight lit up within her—more than delight, oh, deliciously more. She smiled. She could not help it. The smile played at her mouth and she was dazed with it...dazed with the glorious new knowledge shimmering through her.

Damos was setting down his glass, picking up a flat case lying on the pier table, flicking it open.

‘Sensational though you are, you need just one more adornment,’ he said.

Kassia’s eyes widened. Inside the case was a glittering loop—a single strand diamond necklace—and two equally glittering brooches in distinctive Art Deco style.

‘They’re originals from the period. I hired them for tonight,’ he told her.

He picked up the brooches, holding them out to her, and Kassia took one, turning towards the mirror again to fasten it very carefully at the base of one of the evening dress’s straps, and then do likewise with the other.

‘And now the necklace,’ said Damos.

He was standing behind her and he lifted the glittering strand into his hands, bringing it forward to loop it around her throat, carefully smoothing aside the fall of her hair. The stones felt cold on her skin—but his fingers, deftly fastening the necklace, were warm.

That deep, delicious shimmer inside her came again.

He stood back, his hands resting lightly on her upper arms, his palms warm. She could catch the tang of his aftershave, could feel his hands lying so devastatingly on her bare arms.

The shimmer inside her intensified as they gazed at themselves reflected in the mirror in front of them.

‘How incredibly beautiful you are, Kassia,’ she heard him say.

His voice was a husk, and his eyes...oh, his eyes...were drinking in her reflection. As she was drinking in his.

She felt faintness drum through her. Did she sway? She didn’t know. Knew only that Damos was bending his head towards her, dipping it to the curve of her bared shoulder. The sweep of her hair was heavy around her other shoulder as she felt his mouth graze her skin softly, sensuously. The touch of his hands was so light...

She felt weakness wash through her, her eyelids dipping.

He straightened, and a slow, intimate smile curved his mouth as he held her gaze again in their reflection.

‘My beautiful, beautiful Kassia,’ he said.

And in his voice, warm and husky, was surely all that she could ever have longed to hear and never thought she could.

But she did tonight. Oh, tonight—thanks to the incredible, fantastic transformation that had been wrought upon her—she knew that the reflection of that other woman in the mirror was truly herself...all her...

And it was a wonder beyond all wonders that it should be so...

She held his gaze in the mirror, her eyes twining with his. The breath was stilled in her lungs.

And then Damos was letting his hands fall from her, holding out his arm to her in a stately fashion.

‘Time for our evening to begin,’ he said, and his smile reached to her, warm and inviting.

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