Not so with this man. He wouldn’t take that kind of standoffishness from her and walked over to stand less than an inch from where she stood her position. “I asked, where have you been all day? Why didn’t you show up in the main room for cocktails? We’ve been looking for you for over an hour!” His eyes surveyed her appearance, taking in her casual shorts and tee-shirt. “I know it’s not a party where you can get all glammed up for your admirers, but a little respect for other peoples’ concerns would be appreciated. Adele and Manuel are worried about you!”
She looked up into his grey eyes, wondering what she’d actually done to rile him so much. This attitude seemed way out of proportion to simply missing drinks on the terrace or being an hour late for a dinner she didn’t even know was about to be served.
“I apologize for missing pre-dinner drinks,” she said with as little sarcasm as she could muster but a great deal seemed to ooze out of her because of the unfairness of the accusation, “but since you didn’t tell me that drinks were to be served, you haven’t had this little tradition for the past several days and didn’t inform me of the change in plans earlier, then I don’t believe this tirade of yours is fair or appropriate.”
Sergei couldn’t believe his eyes or ears. Was this tiny little woman, who was obviously shivering in fear as he glared down at her, taking him to task? Could she really have no idea that he was fighting tooth and nail to not pull her into his arms and make love to her right here?
Obviously, she was some sort of tease, he concluded, pulling his gaze away and walking away. “Get dressed. Dinner is in fifteen minutes and I expect you to be out on the terrace, appropriately dressed, in that amount of time,” he said and walked quickly out the door of the now darkening sun room.
Darcy stared after him, wondering what she was supposed to wear to an evening under the stars with her kidnapper. Was there a guidebook that outlined appropriate forced dinner attire? She almost laughed at the idea but wasn’t sure she was up to challenging him. He was in too much of a fury to deal with and understand right at the moment.
Walking to her room, she chose a soft, cotton dress that had cap sleeves, a fitted bodice and a flaring skirt that made her look and feel very countrified. She loved the way the cotton swirled around her calves and the pretty yellow color looked wonderful against her newfound tan. If one side of her face was a bit more pink than the other, she wasn’t overly concerned. Slipping on a pair of white, flat sandals, she walked back out to the terrace.
The table was now set with candles and covered plates, and yet another absolutely wonderful scent drifted to her as she stepped out onto the patio stones. Looking around, she found Sergei off to the side, staring out to the ocean and sipping some sort of amber liquid from a short glass. When he saw her, his eyes traveled from her unbrushed hair down to her sandals shod feet, complete with pink toenails which she worked very hard not to curl under her feet.
“Pink?” he asked sarcastically.
She glanced down at her toenails, confused by the cynical tone she heard in that one word. “What’s wrong with pink?”
He shook his head. “I just wouldn’t have thought of you preferring pink.”
“What color do you assume I prefer?”
“Red. Bold, bright, attention grabbing red.”
Darcy blushed because she normally wore that color when she went out to a club. She had forgotten to change her toenail color this time around though and was more than a bit embarrassed by the oversight. “Well, you can’t be right about everything, can you?” she asked and took her seat at the table complete with candlelight and soft music.
When Manuel came out of nowhere and lifted the cover for her, she smiled gratefully to him, then looked down and smiled incredulously at the creative display of fish and gorgeously assembled vegetables. “How lovely! Manuel, please convey to Adele that this is exceptionally pretty, if you don’t mind.”
Manuel bowed and nodded that he would pass along the compliment, then disappeared back into the house.
Sergei watched as she charmed his servant, irritated beyond anything he’d previously endured by the jealous reaction. Why the hell could she smile so prettily up at his servant when all he got was glares and anger. Okay, so maybe he was being a bit insensitive there. He had kidnapped her, so she probably didn’t feel very gracious towards him. A justifiable feeling, he supposed. That didn’t stop him from wishing she would smile up at him, though.
Sighing, he sat down across from her and looked down at the food, not really hungry anymore. It did look nice, he thought, but then he only hired the best, and paid them well enough to be creative in their food presentation. This meal looked like all the other meals that were presented to him, although possibly a bit more colorful due to the abundance of native fruits and vegetables on the island. “What did you do today?” he demanded and noticed that she jumped slightly when he spoke. He gritted his teeth at that reaction, not sure what caused it or why she was so jumpy around him.
Darcy took a bite of the fish, savoring the burst of flavor and texture, before she answered him, not really sure she wanted to. “I did some stuff, wandered around. Read, as you well know. What did you do today?” she asked, looking up from her plate and watching him, wondering why he was only sipping his drink when he’d demanded that she show up for the dinner meal and he apparently didn’t feel the need to eat any of it.
“Aren’t you going to tell me about windsurfing?” he asked, one eyebrow raised in question.
She put her fork down carefully and wiped the corners of her mouth. “If you know what I did, why did you bother to ask?”
He shrugged and took another sip of his drink. “Maybe to see if you’d tell me.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t that argument seem a bit lame to you? Perhaps you don’t need to know everything I did today.”
He watched her carefully, another curious detail that didn’t fit with her party girl image. “I thought women like you wanted to regale everyone about the things that they’d done during the day. Don’t you perceive that the things you did to be the most interesting thing anyone might want to know about?”
Darcy leaned back in the chair and watched him. “You’re a very cynical man, aren’t you?” she asked, not bothering to answer his original question, even though he had a very good point. Most party women would be very self-centered and definitely would have discussed their exploits non-stop during the meal, using their foibles or adventures to entertain whoever was present.