Were it not for the death grip she had on his hand, he never would have guessed how uncomfortable Alex appeared to be. Her polite smile stayed in place throughout the interminably boring and unavoidable round of introductions. While he bristled inside at the way folks ignored her, talking over her head, she took it on the chin. Then again, this was her job, so why shouldn’t she? Still, a sliver of doubt had planted itself in his chest. The longer he observed her the more that unease grew. He’d have expected her to lap up the attention, but in the unguarded moments, when they were briefly left alone, something about the way her shoulders sagged made him wonder. It was that same flash of hurt he’d glimpsed in her eyes when he’d thrown that off-hand comment at her about loving his money. Fuck only knows what possessed him to do so, but she’d looked so goddamn beautiful. It had felt so right putting his mother’s jewelry around her graceful neck, he’d had to do something to stop himself from acting like a lovesick fool.
