This is ridiculous, thought Lily as she listened in.She may have been rich and beautiful, but the woman had absolutely no manners. Finally when Cybil mentioned something along the lines of her throwing herself at Nikos she swung her head abruptly in her direction ready to blast her, but Max beat her to it.
He answered her in French, but Lily understood every word. ―I‘m finding these petty jealousies annoying Cybil. I told you before Lily is the sister of my best friend.‖ Although his voice 38
The Billionaire‘s Secret Desire was calm and cool it was obvious for people who knew him as well as Luke and Lily did, that he was annoyed.
―She didn‘t even acknowledge her date Max, she was practically swimming all over that man. It was embarrassing.‖
Lily gaped at him. Max obviously didn‘t tell her that Luke was her brother either, so she thought he was her date. Now it made sense why she kept glaring at her all through the meal.
Secondly, she certainly wasn‘t swimming all over him! She sat in between her brother and Max who acted like two sentinels guarding a Vestal Virgin while Nikos and his father sat across from them.
―Lily was very polite and did not indicate she was even interested in the man and that is why he went out of his way to get her attention. Nikos likes a challenge and her reservations toward him were appealing. Not only that, he knows a beautiful woman when he sees one.‖
After a sharp look at him, she snorted in disbelief, ―It sounds like he wasn‘t the only one.‖
What did that mean? Lily could tell Max was irritated, but his voice never indicated even a hint of it. He was as smooth and calm as if he was talking to a small child. Several times his eyes darted past Cybil to her. ―Your presumptions are unwarranted.‖
Cybil crossed her arms under her breasts, ―there‘s no use even talking to you.You are gong to take her side no matter what. I flew halfway around the world to be with you tonight and this is how I‘m treated.‖
―Of course I am. I‘ve known her practically her whole life.
She‘s my best friend‘s sister.I‘ve only known you for several months and you are bringing this on yourself.‖ He replied calmly.
―I told you—―
―—That you invited someone else to go, so naturally I had to intervene.‖ She inclined her head toward Lily without looking at her, ―Of course she found a replacement equally as quick. Not 39
L. R. Wards
only that I thought Luke was your best friend.‖
―He is.‖ Said Max with a raised brow.
So much for her intelligence, thought Lily. She couldn‘t even figure out that Luke was her brother after all of those clues.
Then at the same time something else occurred to her.
Obviously, he never told Cybil that she was Luke‘s sister. So that’s it. He had told Cybil that he was going out with her. No wonder why the woman was angry.Because of that she was being talked about like she didn‘t exist and obviously she was so mad that she hadn‘t heard Max basically say that she was Luke‘s sister. In fact she continued ranting as if she hadn‘t heard him.
―This is just an indication of her reputation.‖ Cybil continued visibly angry,‖ that she has no problem running around with another man when you were no longer available.‖
That was it! One thing Lily wasn‘t was a tramp. Lily saw Max‘s gaze narrow finally showing a sign of anger, but she beat him to it, ―Of all the things to slander my reputation, you…you…‖
Luke fell his face in one of his hands as Lily launched into a string of insults in French.
Lily barely noticed the woman‘s mouth fall open and pale at the words she used because she was too angry and clearly on a roll