LITMIR.BIZ

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couldn’t have been an easy course of study.”

      “It was actually not that difficult. I read quickly, and have one of those memories that forget nothing.” Her lips quirked. “It’s a blessing and a curse.”

      “So you’ve been out of school a couple years.”

      “Four years end of this month. I started Stanford at sixteen and finished the dual major in three years.”

      Very little surprised Damen, but she’d just caught him completely off guard. “Most Americans don’t start university until they’re what...eighteen?”

      “I tend to do accelerated studies. I can take more classes than most students. The workload isn’t a problem for me.” She grimaced. “More of that blessing and a curse.”

      “Have you ever been tested? Are you considered gifted?”

      “I have, and I am. But I wish I wasn’t. My mother wasn’t particularly intellectual and she used to say that brainy women were objectionable as they tended to challenge the status quo, competing with men rather than allowing the man to feel like the man.”

      “She wasn’t a feminist.”

      “No.”

      “Little wonder your father adored her. Greek men expect to be the center of the world.”

      “Yes, I know.” She hesitated. “It’s why my aunt never married. She was brilliant, and smart, and strong, and her parents were traditional Greeks, and they didn’t know what to do with her.” She tapped the rim of her flute. “I think it’s why she created the trust for me. She recognized a kindred spirit and wanted to be sure I had...options.”

      Her tone, and the bittersweet twist of her lips, made his chest tighten. Kassiani was a constant source of surprise. “What else did your mother teach you?”

      “That beauty is a woman’s greatest strength and virtue, and a socially inept woman was nothing short of a failure.”

      “Oh, dear.”

      “Mmm. In my parents’ eyes, I’ve been a failure my entire life. Not attractive, and a social misfit. How could I be such a blight on the Dukas name?”

      “Did you feel awkward at Stanford?”

      “No. I loved being in school. I enjoy academia. I’m comfortable in certain environments, but hopeless in others. Like parties. I’m not comfortable at parties. I’m not good with chitchat. I’m the least fashionable woman you’ll ever meet—”

      “Oh, now, I’m not sure you can claim that honor. My mother only wears smocks, and these slipper-like shoes, with socks. It’s terrible. Really. So, I think she has you beat.”

      Kassiani gurgled with laughter and Damen was pleased. He’d meant to make her laugh, and was glad he’d succeeded. He’d hated the pain in her voice, her pain making his chest tighten, and his temper stir. How dare her father treat her so shabbily all these years? How dare her parents make her feel less than something when she was the greatest Dukas of them all?

      “Besides,” he added after a moment, “fashion and parties are overrated. I would much rather have a brilliant wife than one who merely looked good in clothes.”

      For a moment there was just silence and Kassiani stared out over the water, toward the island glittering with light. Damen congratulated himself for soothing Kassiani’s fears, and then she turned her head and looked him square in the eye. “Then why did you want Elexis in the first place? Why didn’t you want...me?”

      Her voice was calm, her tone thoughtful. It took him a second to realize she wasn’t accusing him of anything, or trying to guilt him. She genuinely wanted to know.

      Again his chest tightened and he felt a wave of remorse, and pain. She deserved so much better from all of them.

      “You were never presented as an option,” he said at length. “I didn’t know enough about you to think to ask for you.”

      “You didn’t realize there were two Dukas daughters?”

      “Vaguely. You were, how shall I say? Mysterious.”

      “Kassiani, overly fond of math, burdened by a photographic memory.” Her lips lifted in a wide, self-mocking smile. “Most mysterious indeed.”

      The moonlight bathed her in a lovely glow, illuminating her profile with her strong, elegant features. She was wearing a white dress with ruffles and flounces and it crossed his mind that while the white paired well with her dark hair and complexion, the flounces and frills were too much for her petite build, overwhelming her curves, adding to them, making her look bigger than she was. Kassiani was actually quite small physically. She just had exceptional curves, amazing curves, like Hollywood stars of old.

      “You should be proud of your exceptional abilities and talent, not ashamed,” he said.

      “Do you think my father should have hired me?”

      “I do.”

      Her gaze found his again, her expression somber. “Would you hire me?”

      Damen straightened, feeling sucker punched. What a question. How could he answer that without becoming a villain, like her father? “I’ve hired a number of women for management positions. There is also a woman on my board.”

      “Out of what? Twelve?”

      He didn’t answer since they both knew the answer. Kassiani didn’t pull punches, did she? Damen was beginning to understand why Kristopher preferred not to deal with his youngest. “The Greek shipping business is dominated by men, and in general, it isn’t very receptive to women in key positions.”

      Kassiani sipped her champagne thoughtfully. Her silence felt like a condemnation and Damen didn’t enjoy feeling judged.

      “I didn’t say I agreed with the attitude,” he added somewhat defensively, and then felt angry about being made to feel defensive. “Men just want to get things done without all the emotional baggage women bring to the table.”

      She shot him a look of surprise that quickly morphed into one of disappointment and Damen gripped his flute so hard he was certain it would shatter.

      “I had no idea you were one of those,” she said calmly with just a hint of censure. “For some reason I thought you were more...progressive.”

      “Business is business,” he said curtly. “I don’t spend long hours at the office because I enjoy sitting at my desk. I’m there to get things done.”

      “And women don’t get things done at the office?”

      “You’re twisting this, you know. You are deliberately twisting my words. But to answer your last question, this is exactly what I don’t want in my office. I don’t want to spar with a woman over real or perceived slights. I want to execute contracts. I want financial growth. I want to develop markets. What I don’t want is to be challenged on my domain. It’s not conducive to company morale—”

      “Or yours,” she interjected softly.

      He broke off, frustrated, and rather furious, because this entire conversation had flipped. A couple of minutes ago they were having a really good and open conversation and now it was antagonistic. Why? What had happened?

      And before he could answer that question, he had a sudden insight into why Kristopher had chosen to leave Kassiani at home, behind.

      It wasn’t because she was dumpy and dull. It wasn’t because she was the proverbial Ugly Duckling. It was because Kristopher didn’t know how to manage his youngest daughter. Kassiani was too smart for him, and probably talked circles around him, and Kristopher—not the brightest of men—couldn’t cope. The only way he knew how to handle her was by shaming her.

      Marginalizing her.

      Making her feel small and less than.

      Damen

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