Misunderstood: In Love with the Nerd (The Miss Series Book 2) (13 page)

Unsmiling, Daniel nodded, and waited long enough to see the panic creep into her eyes.  “For trusting that life is too short not to believe in our dreams.”

A look of confusion encompassed her lovely features.

“To your singing and my designs.”  He held up his glass.

She held his solemn gaze for a moment then finally released a small sigh and reached for her tumbler.  “To dreams.”

They ate in silence for a little bit longer.  Neither said a word.  Quietly and without fanfare, a sense of ease came over the dinner table.  Sonya consumed her meal and second glass of wine with a flourish.  It wasn’t until she refilled her plate with a second helping, that the wine began to loosen her tongue.  “Audrey is far too gullible.  She has no idea what she has gotten herself into.”

He paused, his fork midway to his mouth.  “You don’t think she knows her own heart?”

She made a face.  “Heart, bah, it has nothing to do with love.  Tristan Manning’s intentions, believe me, are in a vicinity far south of Audrey’s heart.”

Daniel watched the anger dance across her face.  He wanted to tell her that he agreed Tristan Manning was the scum of mankind.  That the man didn’t deserve Sonya’s respect.  But he knew her words were formed in jealousy.  If anything, any assent he may hold would only cause her to become defensive.  Instead, he held his tongue and listened as she vented out her anger and resentment.

“He’s going to hurt her, you know.”  She told him between gulps of her wine.  “Audrey doesn’t know how to handle a man like Tristan.”

“But you do?”  His question was quietly asked.

“Of course I do.” She declared as if insulted.  “I’ve been dealing with men like Tristan Manning all my life.”

He frowned.  “This is the same man that you declared you were going to make your own?”

“And I still intend to.”  Nodding her head in determination.

This stirred some anger in the center of his midriff.  “He’s not good enough for Audrey, but good enough for you?”

“Men like Tristan Manning and me belong together.”  She told him and pushed her now empty plate aside.  “We have no scruples when it comes to the members of the opposite sex.  They have no use in our lives other than the purpose the Almighty intended for us.”

A muscle flexed along his jaw.  “Love?”  But he was being terribly sarcastic.

Sonya did not notice.  “No.  Sex, Daniel.  Like every other living creature on this earth.  Our purpose in life is to eat, breathe and consummate.  No other animal in God’s kingdom demands to love, honor, and obey.  Why, as humans, should we be any different?”

“Because we possess a conscience.”  He told her flatly.

She rolled her eyes.  “You’re just like her.  You have these dreamy perceptions of the world around you.”

“The world isn’t full of people like Tristan Manning.  But you’ll never discover that if you continue to search out his kind only.”  His eyes bore into hers.  “That’s not how to find true happiness.”

“No, Daniel, that’s how you will get hurt.”  She got to her feet and grabbed the bottle of wine.  “Audrey doesn’t deserve to get hurt.  Tristan doesn’t have the right to prey on her.”

He got up and followed her.  “If we’re all supposed to be callous and uncaring as you make us out to be, then why does Audrey deserve better than you?”

She gave a cynical laugh.  “For pity’s sake, look at me.  I’m nearly thirty years old and have spent the majority of my life living an immoral lifestyle.  Christ, the only pure thing in my life is you.”

He frowned and thought that maybe he ought to take the bottle of wine out of her hand.  However, this was the first time he had a glimpse inside her mind and, selfish as it was, he wasn’t quite ready to leave.

“Pure?  Me?”  He gave her a teasing grin.  “What makes you so certain?”

Flopping down into the soft cushions of her sofa, Sonya threw back her head and gulped back a mouthful of wine.  “Where to begin.”

He raised a brow.  This was an interesting tidbit.  He had no idea she found him so moral.  After joining her on the sofa he took the bottle out of her hand and refilled his glass.  Handing it over, he then raised his arm and laid it across the back of the sofa.  “What makes me such a saint in your eyes?”

She turned her head on the back cushions and studied his face.  “You’re smart.”

He raised both brows then brought them down fast pulling them together in a concentrated frown.  “You’re right.  I am.  If my clean record doesn’t get me into the pearly gates of heaven then I’ll be sure to challenge Saint Peter to a calculus equation.”

She gave him a look that said, “smart aleck” then turned her attention back to her wine.  “You don’t drink.”

His eyes shifted to the wine in his hand.

“I mean really drink.  The heavy stuff.”  She told him.  “I think drinking wine is permitted.”

Nodding, he said, “All right, what else?”

Turning in her seat, she sat facing him.  “You don’t swear.  Well, much.”

His eyes locked with hers and he found he was having a hard time breathing.  She was sitting closer than he realized.  Over a sudden frog in his throat, he asked, “What else?”

“You don’t have illicit sex.”  Her eyes devoured his face, examining every inch of his features.  Enough to cause a corresponding response in his chest.  He had to force himself to remain still and hold her gaze.

“Not yet.”  He implied quietly.

Whether she heard or not, he wasn’t sure.  All he knew was that he had a desperate urge to reach out and touch her.  Then she smiled and shook her finger at him.  “I may have consumed too much alcohol and it has distorted my thinking, but I’m clear-minded enough to know better.”

“You do, do you?”

“Yes, Daniel, I do.  You are a man who has urges just like any other.  But you are also very gullible.  There is a nice young and decent woman somewhere out there waiting for you.

She sighed and reached up to push his glasses into place.  “Tristan Manning doesn’t have the decency to spare Audrey, but I do, Daniel.  I couldn’t do that to you.”

He sighed inwardly feeling frustrated.  He couldn’t really argue the point seeing as she believed she had his good intentions in mind.

“Will you help me get Tristan back?”

He blinked.  It felt as if she had thrown a cold bucket of water on him.  While they sat there staring into each other’s eyes, an emotional string drew them closer.  He could feel it.  He was certain she could feel it.  Which explained why she was running.

With effort, he controlled the taste of vile in his mouth and the wrath burning behind his eyes.  That was one thing he had forgotten about Sonya.  She never gave up until she got what she wanted.  It was obvious she wasn’t quite ready to give up Tristan.  He had no idea how to convince her that she deserved better.

“How?”

Her green eyes turned pleading as she drew her legs up under her knees.  “I can’t go alone this weekend.”

He frowned.  “What are you talking about?”

“Tristan has invited us to his cottage for the long weekend.”  She told him.  “Maura will be bringing Patrick and Tristan will be chasing Audrey’s skirt the entire time.”

“What has that got to do with me?”

“Daniel, I can’t go alone.  I would be the fifth wheel.”  She beseeched him with her eyes.  “I cannot be the fifth wheel.  Please?”

Sonya searched his face, looking for the slightest inclining he would relent but only noticed a perturbed expression enter his eyes.

“You want me to come along and protect you from the unjust Tristan Manning?”  Leaping to his feet, he slammed his glass down on the coffee table.  “I don’t think so.  You’ll have to learn to deal with it, since you know, you do work with both of them.”

Angry, she too leaped to her feet.  “I don’t need your protection.  That wasn’t what I was asking.”

He turned to glare down at her.  “Then what?”

Her face softened.  “It’s just so humiliating.  I’ve made no secret of my attraction to Tristan.  Then to have to spend an entire weekend with them and have everyone feel sorry for me is unbearable.”

His dark eyes began to turn a soft grey.  “Then don’t go.”

“That’s like admitting defeat.”  Sonya’s determination grew strong.  “I won’t give them the satisfaction.”

“So what is it you hope to accomplish by dragging me along?”

“If they thought we were an item, then I could escape their pity.  I can’t bear to have anyone’s pity.”

“Yeah, I got that.”  Daniel’s face was as blank as a fresh sheet of paper.  She had no idea what he was thinking.

“I’ll drop hints that you and I have been secret lovers for the past few months.”  She thought of the conversation that she had with her friends that afternoon over coffee.  They had practically accused her of such.  It wouldn’t be too difficult to convince them.  “This way it looks like I wasn’t as interested in Tristan as I made it out to be.”

“Instead, attempting to conceal your true love?”  His voice was flat.

“Something like that?”

Sonya frowned.  Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.  Asking Daniel to be deceitful was like asking the Pope to sneak a piece of red meat into the Vatican during lent.  “Look, Daniel, forget I said anything—”

“I’ll do it.”  He startled her completely by saying.

“What?”  She blinked.  “Really?”

Nodding, he went into the kitchen and placed his empty wineglass in the dishwasher.  Then straightening he looked across at her.  “On one condition.”

She raised a brow in speculation.  “What’s that?”

“You return a similar favor next Friday night.”

Her mind got jumbled as she tried to unravel his words.  “Similar favor?”

He waltzed out of the kitchenette and back towards the sofa where he stopped in front of it.  “I’m expected at a banquet to celebrate this year’s newest engineer innovations.  There will be a man there that I have known for a few years and holds some influence in the profession.  In order to secure my chances, I need to play friendly.”

Her mind was still confused.  Where was he going with this and how did he see that she could help him.  “What is it he wants?”

“It’s more a question of what his daughter wants.”

Ah.  The light came on.  Sonya knew this scenario only far too well.  “And you’re not interested but fear your rejection could affect your opportunity to secure an alliance with Daddy.”

He frowned, as if puzzled, then quickly smirked.  “Something like that.”

She bit her lip.  It sounded simple enough, but “A computer banquet?”  She groaned.  “Oh, Daniel, that sounds dreadfully boring.  Can’t I be of assistance to you in another way?”

He grabbed his leather coat from the sofa prepared to leave.

“This long weekend at Tristan’s doesn’t sound terribly exciting either.”  He shrugged and began to head for the exit.  “I’ll leave it up to you to decide.”

She groaned.  He wasn’t being fair.  She wouldn’t fit into a computer banquet full of technical gurus and intellects any more than he would if—

She was wrong.  Daniel wasn’t such a saint after all.  He knew perfectly well how to use blackmail.  “All right.  You have a deal.  I’ll do your banquet if you do my weekend.”

He simply threw her a grin over his shoulder and kept going.  The swine.  He knew she would agree.  He hadn’t worried in the least.

Left alone in her apartment she turned around and noticed the slow cooker still sitting in the middle of the table.  The aroma still emitted from the stoneware.  She had an odd feeling from that day forward she would associate the smell of beef stew with Daniel Keller.  The man was amazingly surprising.  There didn’t seem a thing he couldn’t do.  Except, apparently, ward off unwanted female attention.

Now that, Sonya told herself, was something she could do.  She had her fair share of unwelcome propositions.  With a grin she covered the stew and thought that the banquet might just be fun after all.

* * *

Daniel closed the door behind him and leaned against it.  What was he doing?  He knew better than this.  The thing he needed least to do was scare Sonya away.  Forcing her to merge to his part of the world was definitely not in his best interest.  She already had some far-fetched notion that their two worlds were realms apart, never to be crossed.

How would she react in a hall full of people she believed were in a higher caliber than her?  She would never admit it, but he read between her lines tonight.  It was Sonya who felt she was unworthy of people whose lives encompassed success and power.  Daniel, on the other hand, saw something entirely different.

He saw a woman of strength and conviction and a belief in herself that anything was possible.  She was a woman of gentle kindness and compassion and would risk her own happiness to ensure those around her were content.  But a woman who shunned relationships in fear of being hurt and used anger to hide her pain.  He had no idea the origin of that fear but would have done anything to amend it.

This was the woman Daniel had come to love.  Almost from the start his heart would do a ridiculous flip whenever he saw her.  Then it grew stronger and tireless, never relinquishing its hold.  Hoping and praying that one day . . .