Ivorie's Surprise [Golden Dolphin] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Skye Michaels

with Ivorie. She’s here as my assistant and nothing more. She had absolutely nothing to do with our breakup. I don’t know how I didn’t see you for who you really are sooner, but I have now. Please just leave and don’t make this situation worse by making a scene.”
    Eugenia looked shocked and hurt, but Drew knew just what a good actress she was. If any of the feelings shining from her eyes were genuine, he’d eat a boat shoe for dinner. As far as he could see, she didn’t have a genuine feeling in her entire body. He turned away to board the Riva and left her standing on the dock with her mouth hanging open.
    When Drew turned to find Ivorie, he saw that Sam had helped her to board, and she was sitting in the front of the tender with her handbag and shopping bags arranged around her. It was obvious by the placement of her belongings and the hurt look in her expressive caramel-brown eyes that she did not want him sitting next to her at the moment. He decided to let things settle down on the trip back to the Dolphin . He would talk to her when they got back and had some privacy. The conversation they needed to have couldn’t be had in public in any event.

Chapter Nineteen
     
    When the Riva tied up to the Dolphin, Sam helped Ivorie gather her packages and board the ship. She hurried away before Drew could stop her. All she wanted to do was get away from him, get to her cabin, and lock the door behind her. Her heart had a major crack running right down the middle, but she was damned if she would let him see how his comments to Eugenia had hurt her. What did I expect? This is Mr. Blessingame after all. Nothing has changed. The last few days were an aberration . He’s just shown his true colors . She had temporarily lost her mind. She shouldn’t be surprised by his callous remarks. She was just an office fixture after all. He had needed a playmate, and she had been convenient.
    Ivorie unlocked the door and slipped into her cabin, dropped her bags on a chair, and collapsed on her bed—the same bed she had not slept in since Saturday night. The steward must be getting a big kick out of that little factoid. What had she been thinking? What the capital H, capital E, capital double hockey sticks had she been thinking? She deserved this for sheer stupidity. It wasn’t like she didn’t know exactly what he was like. It wasn’t like he hadn’t brought her to tears before. She had cried in the ladies’ room at the office more than once.
    As she lay on her bed, the tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes and slide down the sides of her face. I’m not crying. I’m not! Slowly, she rolled over and curled into a ball and began to sob. The pain was physical, not just emotional. She had been stupid enough to fall in love with him. Oh, God. It hurt .
     
    * * * *
     
    Drew stalked into the Master Suite and slammed the door. It was obvious by her quick escape that Ivorie did not want to talk to him. He could tell that her feelings were hurt by what he’d said to Eugenia, but he hadn’t wanted to put Ivorie in that bitch’s crosshairs by admitting that they were in a relationship. Is that what this is? A relationship? Shit! It had snuck up on him, but he guessed that was indeed what it was. She had to talk to him. She had to. He wouldn’t accept anything else. He would fix this. He couldn’t stand the thought of her hurting because of something he’d said to Eugenia, who meant absolutely nothing to him.
    He paced around the suite for a few minutes more while he tried to put his thoughts in order. He poured a short brandy into a crystal snifter and took a deep swallow. It burned on the way down, but in a minute the warmth began to circulate through his system. Liquid courage. That’s what he definitely needed to face Ivorie. He walked out the door, down one flight of the central staircase, and down the corridor to the door of Ivorie’s cabin. He knocked. Waited. Knocked again. He just knew she was in there.