One brow shot up. ‘Chivalry? You think I did it out of chivalry?’ His amusement was unmistakeable.
A damning tide of heat swept up her face. But she couldn’t look away from those mesmerising eyes. ‘Well, I’m sure you had your own reasons... But I thought...’ She huffed. ‘It doesn’t really matter now, does it?’
‘I suggested it because it wouldn’t have been a hardship for me.’
‘I’m sure it wouldn’t, but you don’t have a monopoly on pain and discomfort, Mr Pantelides.’
He stiffened. ‘Excuse me?’
‘I just meant...whatever the circumstances of your past, at least you had a mother who loved you, so it couldn’t have been all bad.’ She couldn’t stem the vein of bitterness from bleeding into her voice, nor could she fail to realise she’d strayed dangerously far from an innocuous subject. But short of blurting out her own past this was the only way she could stop the slippery slope towards believing Sakis cared about her wellbeing.
She’d suffered a childhood hopelessly devoid of love and comfort, and the threat of a life of drugs had been an ever-present reality. Sleeping on a sofa bed was heaven in comparison.
His narrowed eyes speared into her. ‘Don’t mistake guilt for love, Moneypenny. I’ve learned over the years that this so-called love is a convenient blanket that’s thrown over most feelings.’
She sucked in a breath. ‘You don’t think that your mother loves you?’
His jaw tightened. ‘A weak love is worse than no love. When it crumbles under the weight of adversity it might as well not be present.’
Brianna’s fingers tightened around her tablet as shock roiled through her. For the second time in two days, she was glimpsing a whole new facet of Sakis Pantelides.
This was a man who had hidden, painful depths that she’d barely glimpsed in all the time she’d worked for him.
‘What adversity?’
He shrugged. ‘My mother believed the man she loved could do no wrong. When the reality hit her, she chose to give up and leave her children to fend for themselves.’ Casually, he flipped his pen in his hand. ‘I’ve been taking care of myself for a very long time, Moneypenny.’
She believed him. She’d always known he possessed a hardened core of steel beneath that urbane façade, but now she knew how it’d been honed, she felt that wave of sympathy and connection again.
Ruthlessly, she tried to reel back the unravelling happening inside her.
‘Thanks for sharing that with me. But the sofa was really no hardship for me either and, as long as we’re both rested, that should be the end of the subject, surely?’
His eyes remained inscrutable. ‘Indeed. I know when to pick my battles, Moneypenny, and I will let this one go.’
The notion that there would be other heated battles between them disturbed her in an altogether too excited way. Before she could respond, he carried on.
‘You’ll also be happy to know there won’t be any need for me to crowd your personal space any longer. Another room has become available. I’ve taken it.’
Expecting strong relief, she floundered when all she felt was a hard bite of disappointment.