Because I’m trying to bring up the subject of hands, Kelly thought wildly, deciding that subtlety wasn’t her strong point. ‘I’m right-handed too.’ She waggled her hand, making sure that the diamond flashed in his face.
‘You’re right-handed.’ He looked at her cautiously. ‘I suppose it’s always useful to know these things. I really am sorry that you were subjected to so much press attention.’
Nowhere near as sorry as she was that he hadn’t said anything about her wearing his ring on her right hand. Kelly put her hand back in her lap, despondent. ‘It’s OK—well, not completely OK, of course. I was very upset. It was jolly humiliating, if
I’m honest. I was pretty angry with you.’
‘Pretty angry? You should have been livid.’
‘All right, I was livid,’ she confessed. ‘I felt like a total idiot ever thinking that someone like you could be interested in someone like me.’ Maybe she was still behaving like an idiot. Maybe it was idiotic to think that this could ever work. ‘Billionaires don’t usually hang around with penniless students. Not in the real world.’
‘Then they ought to,’ Alekos drawled. ‘They might be happier.’
Kelly looked at him, wanting to ask if he was happy—wanting to ask how he was feeling about the baby now that several weeks had passed. But broaching that subject felt like handling a priceless Ming vase: she was too afraid she might smash the whole thing to pieces if she touched it in the first place.
‘If it would help, you can hit me now.’ Alekos studied her across the table, clearly sensing the undercurrents but mistakenly attributing them to the past rather than the present. ‘You might find it cathartic.’
‘I’m non-violent,’ Kelly muttered. ‘I don’t think it would have made me feel any better to bruise your face, then or now.’
‘It might make me feel better.’
She looked up at him, slightly reassured by the fact that he clearly regretted the way he’d treated her. At least he hadn’t tried to hurt her.
‘I understand better now.’ She pushed her fork into piece of spicy local sausage. ‘Things were really intense between us. We barely stopped kissing long enough to have a conversation. Neither of us really thought further than the moment. And I was all over you, saying stuff because I’m useless at holding it all in. I’ve thought about what you said—about waking up that morning and seeing the story in the magazine about me wanting children. It’s no wonder you freaked out.’
Alekos drew in a deep breath. ‘You don’t have to make excuses for me.’
‘I’m not. I’m just saying that I can understand it better now. Maybe if that magazine had come out the day before, or even the day after, we could have talked about it, and who knows?’ Kelly shrugged. ‘The morning of the wedding was just basically very bad timing.’
‘What I did to you was unforgiveable.’
‘It wasn’t unforgiveable. It was hurtful, scary—loads of things, actually.’ Thinking back to that time made her feel slightly sick. ‘But it wasn’t unforgiveable. Especially not now I understand why you reacted that way. I shared some of the blame for just diving into a hot, intense relationship with you without discussing the really important things.’
Alekos studied her for a long moment. ‘You are the most generous person I have ever met,’ he said gruffly, and Kelly blushed.
‘Not that generous. I said a few bad things to Vivien about you, I can promise you that.’ Agonisingly conscious of him, she looked down at her plate. ‘Do you forgive me for selling your ring?’
‘Yes.’ He replied without hesitation. ‘I drove you to that.’
‘If it belonged to your family, why did you let me keep it in the first place?’
‘It was a gift to you.’
‘Well, that was a very generous gift. I had no idea it was worth—’ she lowered her voice to a whisper ‘—four-million dollars.’
‘It is worth a great deal more than that,’ Alekos said calmly. ‘Try this lamb. It’s cooked in herbs and it’s delicious.’
‘More?’ Kelly’s voice was a squeak and Alekos smiled.
‘The ring has been passed down my father’s side of the family for generations.’ He toyed with the stem of his glass. ‘My great-great-great-grandfather was apparently given it as a reward for saving the life of an Indian princess. Or so the legend goes.’ A cynical smile touched his mouth. ‘I suspect the stone may have less romantic origins, but I’ve never explored it further.’
‘I don’t even want to know how much it’s worth,’ Kelly said faintly, glancing cautiously over her shoulder to check the other diners weren’t listening. ‘As soon as we leave this place, I’m giving it back to you. It’s crazy giving anything that valuable to me! I’ll leave it in the fridge or something. You know I’m useless.’
‘It is perfectly safe on your finger.’ Amused, Alekos dismissed her concerns, but Kelly stared down at the sparkling, winking diamond, no longer to able to pretend that he might have forgotten she was wearing it on the finger of her right hand.
He hadn’t forgotten.
So why hadn’t he suggested she move it to her left hand?