Page 134 of Love Among the Ruins
The woman by his side, someone whose name he couldn’t remember, kept talking even though he barely paid any attention to her words. When he could stand it no longer, he shot up from his chair and excused himself, not caring what she thought.
He searched out Eleni again, his gaze darting back to the table where she had been sitting with Galatis’ wife. Only, Eleni had disappeared.
Frantically scanning the crowd in hopes of finding her, he still couldn’t see her. He summoned his bodyguard who was hovering close by. “Where’s Eleni?”
“She went into the ladies lounge.”
Dominic marched off in that direction, eager to find her and have her by his side again.
Just her and no one else.
* * *
ELENI
The pink and cream marble washroom with white lilies in silver vases, was the prettiest ladies lounge she’d ever been in.
Eleni tidied her hair up then applied a touch of her lipstick.
Admiring her reflection, she smoothed down the front of her dress and stared at her reflection in the mirror.
She smiled because she had managed to look as spectacular as she’d wanted to.
A woman fit to grace Dominic Steele’s arm.
She was on heightened alert, all her senses shiny and new, like that of a baby. The tingle in her body, the shot of adrenalin in her blood, excitement coursing through her veins, all because of one man.
She’d been sitting with Mrs. Galatis for some time when Hector came with his sister, giving Eleni the perfect excuse to leave.
Overcome by a sense of possessiveness, she was determined to go up to Dominic, no matter whether he was deep in conversation with a beautiful woman or ten, and make it be known that he was with her today.
Opening her clutch bag she slipped the lipstick in, then strode out feeling confident and on top of the world when a hand grabbed her arm. Rough and hard.
“I remember you. The waitress, eh?” Hard, glinty eyes stared back at her. The sickly smile brought it all back. It was the man from the party on the yacht, the one she had kicked and who now gripped her wrist like a vise.
She winced. “Let go. You’re hurting me.” She tried to free her hand, but his hold was firm, and painful.
“You’re looking very beautiful and very different.” The man smiled at her again and loosened his fingers a little, but still held her captive. “Are you with the American?”
She ignored his question. “Let go of me.” Her eyes searched for Dominic.
“You don’t like Greek, eh?”
She tried again to wrest her wrist away from him but failed, panic climbing up her throat like a tarantula. Her insides were in freefall, that even now, dressed like she was, this man could treat her in such an appalling manner.
“You are a waitress. What are you doing here, looking likethis?” His greedy gaze devoured her outfit and left her feeling dirty.
“Leave me alone,” she said, willing herself to sound brave, even though she didn’t feel it. What she couldn’t do was show fear. A man like this one would smell it and know he had won.
“You do extra work on the side, eh? Charge by the hour?” He smiled, perfect teeth, cosmetic white and blinding.
“Get. Your. Hand. Off. Me,” she bit out, tempted to kick him again, but refraining, not least because her dress wouldn’t allow that range of movement, and because she couldn’t do that here of all places.
“You are very pretty. I like you.”
“I don’t like you. Let me go!” Her heart rattled inside her ribcage, clamoring to break free. She glanced over the man’s shoulder in vain, desperate for Dominic to find her.
His face turned ugly. His lips a sneer. “You little slut. You are a temptress.”
