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Virginia
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Virginia tapped her finger impatiently on her desk while she listened to a long-winded rant in Italian.
“Yes, I do understand he’s booked more than a year in advance,” she said, taking advantage of the momentary pause when the exclusive tailor’s assistant took a breath. “However, Mr. Kristikos is also a very busy man, and one of your best clients, I might add. If Signore Castavecchio is unable to reschedule, then I’m sure someone else will be able to accommodate . . . Yes, yes, of course . . . Excellent . . . Grazie, Tomas.”
She stabbed the button to disconnect the call and rubbed at a spot between her eyes in an attempt to stem the dull ache that had taken up residence there. Taking a deep, mindful breath, she focused on a butterfly dancing across her small terrace, eventually landing on one of the cascading flower baskets she kept. Maybe she’d take a few extra minutes in the solarium today. Daily yoga and meditation not only alleviated her aches and pains, it also allowed her to re-center and focus on what was really important.
As she made a conscious effort to release some of her irritation, she became aware of another sensation: one of being watched.
She swiveled around in her chair to find Gabriel Michaels looming in her doorway. As it had earlier, the sight nearly took her breath away. Beneath the disciplined exterior, there was something innately alpha male about him, something that had awoken her dormant female hormones.
“Commander! How long have you been standing there?”
“Not long. You were busy. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Please, come in.” He stepped into her office, making it suddenly seem smaller. She glanced at the time on her laptop, surprised to see that it was after six. “I didn’t realize you were still here. Did you complete your interviews?”
“Most of them. No one has any recollection of a package from Greece arriving the day of the dinner.”
“It didn’t go through Sander? That’s odd.”
“How did it get into your hands, again?”
She sat back in her chair, thinking back. “It was delivered to my office along with the rest of the morning’s mail, or at least I think it was.”
“You didn’t see who brought it to your office?”
“No. I went to the kitchen to grab some fruit and a bagel and it was here when I returned.”
“About what time was that?”
“About ten-ish, I suppose.”
“Is that a regular thing?”
“Me going to the kitchen? More or less, unless I’m in a meeting or something. As far as the mail delivery, it varies, depending on how busy people are. Mail is collected from the front gate and run through security before it’s brought into the house. After that, one of Gregory’s minions usually sorts and delivers it. It’s almost always before lunch, though.”
Gabe’s brows furrowed as he scribbled in his notebook. Virginia had the strangest desire to rub her thumb over the creases and ease some of the tension she saw there.
“Have you eaten yet, Commander?”
His eyes snapped up, a startling and intense green. Fred woofed and wagged his tail.
“I’ll take that as a no. I’m about done here for the day. Would you like to raid the kitchen with me?”
He stared at her for several long moments before he said, “Thanks, but we’ll just pick something up on the way back.”
“Of course. All right, then.”
Virginia summoned a smile, hiding her disappointment. She wasn’t sure what had come over her. It had been a spur of the moment thing, thinking that sharing a meal with him was preferable to making herself something to eat and taking it back to her room to eat alone as she did every other night.
Gabe continued to stand there, regarding her with an unreadable expression. The silence quickly degraded into awkwardness. What was he thinking? When they’d parted ways earlier, she’d felt as if they’d formed an alliance of sorts, but now that hint of friendliness was noticeably absent.
Was he back to questioning her motives? He had been talking with others all afternoon. Perhaps he’d gotten an earful of how they thought she’d been leeching off of Chris’s beneficence all these years. As tight-lipped as they were, they’d probably been only too glad to share that with him.
Virginia turned off her monitor and pressed the switch on her desk lamp. “Well, if there’s nothing else . . .”