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Her tone rang with indignation and those pale, blue eyes seemed to darken to an electric blue that shot sparks of fire at him. He’d never wanted to kiss a woman so badly in his life. Realizing he’d somehow moved closer to her like an angry prosecutor, he took a step back. “You were in so much grief, yet you had the energy to get all dressed and go to a party?”
“I needed the distraction, some time away from this house and the ghost of my father.” Her lips quivered. “He donated to charity all the time. I felt like I was honoring him in a way.”
Unshed tears brightened her eyes and he took another step back. It was the first time in a long while that he felt like the savage that many accused him of being. At thirty-six, his mother would still box his ears if she were to witness him handling a lady in such a manner, especially a lady in mourning. Shoving a hand through his hair, Damian muttered, in a not-so-smooth transition, “Have lunch with me.”
“Excuse me?”
“If you need a distraction and more time away from here, then have lunch with me.”
Abby blinked. “You show up here, interrogate me like a hound-dog detective, insult me, and now you want me to have lunch with you?”
Rubbing the back of his neck, he nodded. “Yes.”
Her laugh was like tiny fingers feathering across his skin. “Do you get many dates with this tactic?”
“Well, as tactics go, this is the first time I’ve ever tried one as peculiar as this.”
She held his gaze, her mouth twitching until a smile broke through. He found himself smiling back. How did she do it? Make him want to smile. He had a plastic smile for business, and a practiced smile for women when he wanted to get between their legs, but since last night he’d squeezed out more than a few genuine smiles in Abby’s presence.
“And if I say no?”
“Then, I’d invite you to dinner instead.”
Abby shook her head. “Interrogation and insult before asking me out ... You have an interesting kind of charm, Damian.”
“Is it working on you?”
“God help me. It is, because I’m about to have lunch with you.”
This time, he gave her a satisfied smirk.
