Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 302 - 40

Chapter 302: Chapter 40

Neil and Mia sat at their assigned table with their children, who had found their way into the hall holding their little sister’s hands instead of staying in the kid’s section to have fun.

Mia hadn’t had the chance to go look for Rayne again after her children came to join them in the hall. Neil had wanted to take them back to the kid’s section, but after seeing his daughter’s adorable little face and hearing her tiny voice say, "I want to stay with dada," he immediately changed his mind and let them stay.

While the two boys were busy getting along with the adults around their table, Neil was playing with Melissa on Mia’s lap.

"Mr. Thompson is getting along quite well with his grandma," remarked a man who was sitting beside their table, looking at Liam with his grandma. They had recently reunited after it was known that he had nothing to do with his stepbrother’s death.

Neil looked towards Liam and exchanged smiling glances with him as he tried to maneuver his paternal grandma in their direction while she clung to his arm, chattering happily and making him stop every few steps so she could introduce him to someone else.

He was over a foot taller than she, and in order to hear her, he had to tip his head way down.

James, who was sitting with Neil and Mia at their table, walked over to the bar and ordered wine for Liam.

By the time James returned with the drink, Liam was finally arriving with his grandma at their table.

Holding the drink out to him, James said, "Here’s your reward for the successful completion of a long and exhausting journey to our table."

"I needed this, thanks," Liam replied. Lifting the glass to his lips, he glanced up... And he saw Rayne.

He froze, staring, his brows drawn together in disbelief that she was here, and that the woman with curly red hair who’d kissed him on the balcony in Maranta was the glamorous redhead in a sophisticated satin gown strolling casually through the roomful of wealthy socialites, many of whom were drawing her aside to kiss her on the cheek and chat with her.

She had no reason to be here when she wasn’t a part of their class. The invitation was limited to only a few people, and not even Mia could have invited her friend to such an event.

"That’s Rayne Wallace," Liam’s business partner provided, following his gaze, thinking he didn’t know her. "Her father died recently, and I understand she’s going to try to run his business. Have we ever eaten at Wallace’s when you were here?"

"No."

"We’ll have to do that next time you’re here." He added drily, "I never had much luck getting reservations with less than two weeks’ notice when her father was alive. Maybe Rayne will give us a break."

Andrea, Liam’s grandma, happily joined the conversation. "Did you know Rayne just got engaged down in the islands?" she asked Mia and Neil.

"Yes," Mia said, watching as Liam’s gaze briefly strayed to Rayne again. His face was so expressionless that she couldn’t read his emotions or know what he was thinking after what he’d done to Rayne. However, she could tell he didn’t know about her engagement by the flicker of shock that crossed his face. Apart from that, he was good at hiding his emotions.

Andrea nodded emphatically and included Liam in the conversation. "Isn’t that a romantic way to get engaged?"

"I wouldn’t know," he said smoothly, curtly.

"It was officially announced two days ago in the magazine," she added. Peering forward, she saw Rayne leaving the people who’d stopped to talk to her, and Andrea called out cheerfully, "Rayne, dear, come over here!"

Satisfied when Rayne looked up and nodded, Andrea turned to Liam and added, "You’ve met her fiancé, Liam."

"Have I?" He had no idea who the fiancé was.

"Yes. She’s engaged to Max Everett."

Liam stared at the wine in his glass. "Really, to Max Everett?" he said with a cold, ironic smile. Of all the men in the world, her boyfriend was one of the businessmen he didn’t care about. Max Everett was just like Jason, two losers seeking attention in the business world.

Mia’s gaze flew sympathetically to Rayne’s, but Rayne gave an imperceptible nod of assurance that she could handle seeing Liam again.

However, Rayne’s knees shook, and she wished she had more than a few drops of champagne left in her glass to give her courage. But she managed to look calm and composed as she obeyed Andrea Thompson’s summons and prepared to face the man who had used her and left her.

"Hello, my dear," Andrea said. "I hope you and Max will be very happy," she added, then pressed a kiss to Rayne’s cheek.

It was the identical ritual Rayne had been through fifty times that night—a greeting, followed by best wishes, followed by a salutatory kiss on the cheek.

This was some sort of prescribed engagement ritual known to everyone in high social circles. Mentally, she braced herself for Liam to follow the same ritual as Andrea added with quaint formality, "May I present my grandson, Liam—"

Somehow, Rayne managed to execute her plan flawlessly: She looked at Liam’s shuttered eyes as if she knew an amusing little secret. "We’ve already met," she replied, leaning slightly forward and turning her cheek in automatic expectation of his salutatory kiss.

"—and we’ve already kissed," Liam replied coolly, ignoring her cheek.

James and Neil swiftly stepped in front of the startled grandma, each tucking a hand through her arms, and escorted her toward their table with Mia and the children following behind to give Rayne and Liam a private moment to talk.

Stunned but utterly determined to appear lighthearted and calm no matter what he said or did, Rayne tipped her head to the side and gave him a playful smile. "Haven’t you any good wishes for me, Mr. Thompson?" she teased.

"Let me think of the right one." He paused for a moment; then he lifted his glass in a mocking toast and said, "To your continued success in climbing up the social ladder, Rayne."

Liam’s accusation that she was a social climber caused Rayne’s resolve to slip several notches. "Don’t tempt me to throw another drink at you!"

"That would be too middle class," he said scornfully. "and you’re trying to move up into the higher class after your fall. In the upper class, we cheat, lie, and we fuck each other’s brains out in private, but we do not indulge in public displays of temper."

Liam saw the banked emerald fires leaping dangerously into flames in her eyes, and he deliberately threw verbal gasoline at her. "Take some of my advice and remember the rules the next time you pick up another wealthy man in a hotel—"

"Shut up!" Rayne gritted furiously.

"—so that you can cheat again on that pompous asshole you’re marrying!"

Rayne’s temper and anxiety exploded simultaneously, and she silenced him with the only means available—she flung what was left of her champagne at his face. There wasn’t enough liquid to reach her target, but a few drops hit his chest and stained his shirtfront. With a mixture of fright, shame, and satisfaction, she braced for an explosive reaction from him.

"That lacked the impulsiveness it had in Maranta—" he remarked nonchalantly as he began casually flicking droplets off his shirt, "—but this color is an improvement."

Rayne opened her mouth to insult him but remembered they were in a hall filled with guests who might be listening to their conversation. She turned her head to the left, where an anxious waiter was already lowering a tray of champagne to them.

Belatedly desperate to appear normal, Rayne traded glasses with the waiter and picked up a napkin with shaky fingers; then her attention swerved back to Liam as he continued in that same cool, conversational drawl, "Hand me your napkin and paste an apologetic smile on your face—"

Rayne automatically handed him the napkin.

He took it and completed his sentence, his gaze on the spots he was dabbing off his shirt. "—or else Everett may figure out he’s marrying an immoral bitch with an ugly temper."

"I’m warning you—" Rayne said frantically, but she had nothing to threaten him with, so she glanced around to see if they were being observed and tightened her grip on the stem of her champagne glass because it seemed like the only solid reality to cling to in a world gone mad.

When she didn’t complete her threat, Liam slanted a glance at her and noticed her fingers tightening on her champagne glass. Without taking his eyes off his shirtfront, he said in a silky voice, "If you so much as tilt that glass in my direction again, you’ll be sprawled on your ass before the first drops hit the floor."

Mistaking her stillness for indecision, he lifted his head and looked at her with eyes as dark as a bottomless pit filled with death. "Try me, Rayne—" he invited softly. "Go ahead. Try it again and see where you end up."

Rayne’s stricken paralysis gave way to a trembling realization that repelled her so much it reduced her voice to a shaking whisper when she said it aloud. "How could you... Underneath all your fake charm and slick social polish, you’re actually... a monster."

Instead of being insulted or angered, he looked at her in baffled amusement, then he chuckled and shook his head. "What were you expecting to find there, sweetheart—a heartbroken, jilted lover?"

Before Rayne could react to that, he touched his glass to the edge of hers in a mockery of a toast and said in a bored voice, "Goodbye, Miss Wallace."

He left, and Rayne found herself staring into Neil Wayner’s darkened gray eyes from the distance. Without a word, Neil turned on his heels and followed Liam while pulling his reluctant wife and children along with him.