First I want to say thanks to Troylives4ever for all your reviews. I appreciate it. As for your question regarding if Desmond really loves Shy…I am trying to imitate the relationship between Menelaus and Helen but with a modern approach…Desmond can't just go around snatching Shy up whenever he wants to so where Menelaus was a doer, Desmond is a thinker. Does that make sense? Well I won't say anymore except read on to see what I mean. Thanks again:o)
She sprays some perfume on one wrist and rubs it against the other before putting the bottle on her vanity stand in front of her. She picks up a dangly earring with fake jewels encrusting it and places it delicately on her earlobe. Her lips were lightly glossed pink and her eyelids were dusted with gray eye shadow to accentuate her blue as the Aegean irises. She wore a coral colored tube top with boot-cut khakis for the unusually warm forJanuary day.
There was a knock at her bedroom door and she stands from her vanity to get her scarf and brown leather jacket on. The door opens slightly and Delia peeks inside.
"Desmond is waiting for you downstairs, Miss." She says with a tinge of fear in her voice.
Shy pulls her hair from beneath the collar of her coat and grabs her purse from the foot of her bed. She breezes by Delia without acknowledging her and heads down the stairs.
Desmond is standing at the bottom of the stairs in his usual dress of a three piece suit and a long wool coat waiting for his young fiancé. He hears the clack of her heeled boots on the marble staircase and glances up to greet her.
Shy reaches the bottom and places a kiss on Desmond's cheek as Delia comes down a few steps behind.
"Hello, my love." Desmond says glancing at Delia whose eyes quickly run away from his stare.
Desmond looks back at the woman he should be talking to and says, "I'm glad you decided to come today."
"I'm interested in seeing the people you are putting out of work, dear." Shy responds snidely.
"It's business, Shy. Not friendships. You'll see. Everything is about business, dear." Desmond places his hand on the brass doorknob of the front door and gestures for Shy to leave.
Shy walks out in front of him to where an old fashioned Rolls Royce is waiting for them.
"Where are we going again?" Shy asks as the driver opens the door for her and she climbs inside.
"Long Island." Desmond says making sure not to elaborate any further.
She hated that about him. Desmond was not a conversationalist. He was not the type of person someone would come home to and be able to describe their day in perfect detail. Instead of hanging on her every detail he would submit subtle "mm-hmms" and nods as his head would be buried in the day's stock reports.
"And then I made wild animal love to the visiting curator from France, on my desktop, in broad daylight." Shy thought of herself saying to him after years of marriage.
"That's nice trophy wife that I don't really love because I am just a horny money hungry older man." Shy imagined him responding to her.
She sighed and glanced at the man on the other side of the car. He was looking out of the window on his side with a stern face. She continued to look out of her window at the bare trees passing swiftly by.
The Rolls Royce pulled into a muddy construction site with large digging machines and trailers in strategically placed areas. Pick-up trucks and jeeps were parked by them and men in heavy jackets or overalls and hardhats remained steady in their work.
The noise of jackhammers and drills hit her ears hard as the driver opened the door for her. Desmond had already stepped out on his side. He came around to her and touched the small of her back to get her moving towards a much older man in his sixties that was in a yellow hardhat and jean jacket. He met them halfway with rolled up blueprints underneath his arm.
The man extended his hand to Desmond, who took it firmly with his to shake it. "Mr. Aurelius, glad you could make it." He took off his hat revealing thick, straight coffee colored hair.
"Sorry for the delay, Zander. You understand." Desmond gestured to Shy.
She did not notice his indirect comment because she was busy looking around the site at some of the men who stopped what they were doing to look at her. Her disgust was interrupted by the old man's gentle voice. She looked at him.
"Desmond said you were a vision." Zander said taking her hand in his. "But he did not do you justice at all. You're an angel."
Shy smiled genuinely at him. His touch was warm as were his hazel eyes. He was being sincere, she could tell. She held his hand a little longer before releasing it and bowed her head slightly to him.
"You are too kind." She said quietly, making the old man smile and his eyes glimmer in the sunlight.
Desmond's eyes darted between them. Zander caught her fiancé's expression and let her hand go gently.
"Evan!" Zander called behind him in a booming voice.
A dark, handsome, rugged man with facial stubble and curly black hair trudged up to them. His appearance was disheveled and his eyes were big and hazel. He was muddy and broad, tall and heavy footed. He was older than her, but still young although the lines beside his eyes would suggest otherwise.
His name means "warrior". Shy thought to herself as he approached.
She had a hobby of memorizing meanings behind names. She thought that people weren't named by accident. Eventually the name that parents chose would dictate the child's life from then on. So far, she hadn't been wrong despite her own name.
Evan took the rugged work gloves from his hands when he reached them.
"My oldest son, Evan." Zander introduced. "This is Desmond Aurelius –"
"The man who intends to take our life from us." Evan said with a hard expression.
He spoke eloquently despite of his appearance of a hard worked ox. Shy grinned at his remark. Desmond did not.
"I come in peace young Nikolias." Desmond extended his hand to Evan, who just looked at it.
Shy's eyes flickered at the name Desmond uttered. It was one of the names she read about while in Greece when she was tracing the lines of Prince Paris and her ancestor. She glanced at one of the trailers that bore the company name of "Nikolias and Son".
"Desmond has come to negotiate, son." Zander said patting his son on the shoulder once. "This is his lovely fiancé, Shy. Take her around and show her what we are accomplishing. Desmond and I have business to attend to."
Evan turned toward his father and lowered his voice, "Father, I don't think that Miss – "
"Angelis." Shy finally spoke up.
"Thank you." Evan said obviously agitated. He turned back to his father. "I don't think Miss Angelis wants to look at dirty men digging. She can sit with you."
"She can walk with you." Zander said sternly looking at his son.
Evan exhaled. "Right."
Zander stepped between Shy and Desmond placing an arm around Desmond's shoulders to lead him away. Evan looked Shy from head to toe and groaned. She attempted to smile at him, but he turned his back on her and walked away. Shy narrowed her eyes at him before following.
"You're father has a nice establishment here." She offered as he sped up in front of her.
"It's dirt and a couple drills. A five-year-old can have an establishment like this." Evan said not turning to look at her. The men who were supposed to be drilling were another story.
"I meant it as a compliment." She was starting to get aggravated with his sarcasm.
At that, Evan stopped and turned making her stop abruptly close to him. "No offense, sweetheart, but I really don't have time to take you around and act like the happy tour guide when you and your fiancé are taking everything my father worked so hard for right beneath his nose."
"Excuse me? I have nothing to do with the merger. If anything, I would like to see your father keep his company. Just because I'm attached to the person you hate, doesn't mean I share the same views as him." Shy's cheeks became red as she rambled on. "And I don't think you should be so rude to me just because you like to pre-judge. I'm still a guest and should be treated like one."
Evan crossed his arms over his broad chest and looked down his nose at her. Shy took a deep breath awaiting the possible wrath he was going to unleash on her, but she stood firm.
"I apologize." He said simply.
Shy was taken back. She didn't realize he would be that easy. "Apology accepted."
Evan nodded. He started to walk away again and, this time, she followed at his side.
"We don't have many women visit us at work. I finally understand why." Evan looked around the site at the men they passed and how they would stop what they were doing to get a glance at Shy.
Shy looked at them all uncomfortably. One of the workers approached them and began to speak.
"Evan there's a problem with the bulldozer by the gate. You have a minute?" The worker said looking past Evan at Shy, licking his lips.
Evan stepped in his line of vision. "I'll be right over."
Shy watched as the worker faced the ground and walked away obediently. Evan turned to her as a jackhammer started running behind them. Evan looked over her shoulder at the man working vigorously. Shy turned to look at the man who was skinnier than the rest pounding at the dirt with the machine. His head was covered in a hardhat and his face was underneath a ski-mask.
She kept staring at him for some reason. He intrigued her. The rest of the site was silent except for his digging and she didn't know why it sparked her interest so much. Maybe it was because he was the only one who was not staring at her.
"This way, Miss Angelis." Evan called to her as he was already a few feet away.
"Call me Shy." She said quietly following him still glancing back at the man in the mask.