Sarcastic pig! She muttered under her breath, but, fighting down the urge to retaliate, Lexi forced herself to remain calm. She heaved a sigh of relief when the wine waiter returned with the requested bottle and after allowing Jake to taste it filled both their wine-glasses.
Jake raised his glass to her. ‘Well, isn’t this nice? Quite like old times, Lexi. You and I sharing an expensive, intimate meal together.’ And, lifting the glass to his firm mouth, he swallowed the rich red liquid. But the mocking light in his dark eyes belied his innocent comment.
For a moment Lexi had felt a brief regret for the past. When they were first married, and lived in London, they had used to eat out a lot, sampling the meals on offer in some of the best restaurants in the capital. She had been so in love, filled with such hope for the future... Hastily, she picked up her glass and took a gulp of the wine in an attempt to steady her nerves and dismiss the painful memories. She ignored Jake as another waiter placed a plate of pasta in front of him. That will shut him up, she thought thankfully. But what did he mean, ‘especially now’? She banished the irritating thought, and began to get her mind in gear. How did Jake know about Dante? She hadn’t told her solicitor why she wanted the divorce. In fact, she had given her solicitor strict instructions not to tell anyone, especially not Jake, where she was living.
‘How did you know where to find me?’ The question slipped out involuntarily. Her mind was spinning like a windmill and it was all Jake’s fault. She cast him a baleful glance across the table. His dark head was bent and there was no doubt he was enjoying his food; he made love with the same wholehearted enjoyment as he relished fine food, enjoying every taste and... Annoyed, she clamped down on the wayward thought.
‘I asked...’ she began.
‘I heard you.’ His dark head lifted, his blue eyes clashed with hers. ‘I have known for years where you were.’
‘But how?’ she asked, taken back by his revelation.
‘We have a mutual acquaintance. Mr Carl Bradshaw.’
Her brow furrowed in a frown as she searched her memory; the name rang a bell.
‘He was a regular customer at this hotel, before he married. Apparently he was staying here the spring after you arrived. By sheer coincidence I had business dealings with the man. We were sharing lunch when he showed me a photograph of you taken by the swimming-pool here. He was bemoaning the fact he had met a gorgeous girl who had actually said no to him. I recognised you immediately, but I didn’t bother telling him you were my runaway wife,’ he offered cynically. ‘You slipped up there, Lexi; Carl Bradshaw is one of the wealthiest men in Europe.’
Lexi remembered the man, and he had asked her out, but at the time she had been still raw and bleeding from Jake’s betrayal. But what did Jake mean, she had slipped up? She heard the words and assimilated them but it made no sense. All this time Jake had known where to find her and yet only now had he bothered. And what did he mean, she had run away? He had freely admitted he wanted out of the marriage, she had heard him with her own ears declare to his mistress, Lorraine, his intention of breaking their marriage vows. Her nerves stretched to breaking point, she lowered her head to escape his gimlet-like gaze, and, picking up her glass, took a sip of the soothing wine.
Carefully, she placed the glass back down on the table, and, regaining her self-control, she glanced up. ‘So why turn up now?’ she demanded coldly.
For a long moment he just looked at her. A muscle tautened along the edge of his jaw, and his eyes darkened with icy bleakness. ‘I do not appreciate my wife acquiring a permanent boyfriend and suing me for divorce. I decided to put a stop to it,’ he declared arrogantly.
‘Some hope; we’re engaged.’
‘Not any more, you’re not.’ His dark eyes narrowed on her mutinous face. ‘Tell me, Lexi, why do you think your so-called fiancé was called away this evening?’ he questioned with thinly veiled mockery.
‘You—you arranged it.’ She looked at him in horrified amazement. ‘But how? In fact, how did you know about Dante?’
‘I had you investigated, months ago.’
Months ago, but he couldn’t have known then that she was suing for divorce, she hadn’t known herself.
‘As for your friend, as you know better than most—’ contempt lurked in his eyes ‘—people will do anything for the right price. Hence your friend’s manager took conveniently ill, and I did not have to waste time waiting around for you.’
‘Bu...bu...but...’ As she spluttered with rage, Lexi’s violet eyes flashed fire. ‘How dare you?’ she finally cried, rather inanely.
‘I dare anything to get what I want, Lexi, and make no mistake, I want you.’ His steely gaze seemed to sear through to her soul. ‘And now I can afford you.’
‘Afford me...’ she burst out. Of all the hypocritical swine, he took the biscuit. It wasn’t enough that he had married her in the first place simply to take over her family home; he had the audacity to insinuate that she was mercenary. She picked up her knife, longing to stick it in his hateful, mocking face.
His dark head angled towards her. ‘Don’t even think it, Lexi,’ he hissed with sibilant softness. ‘And I suggest, unless you want the whole of the restaurant to know your business, that you shut up and eat up.’
How did he walk into her mind like that? Lexi thought, but before she could form a reply the waiter placed the main course in front of her. She had been so caught up in her own emotional turmoil that she had not noticed the man’s arrival...
Oh, what was the use? she thought wretchedly, her shoulders slumping dejectedly as she picked up her fork and began to push the food around her plate. Jake was a master at getting his own way. If she had any sense at all, it would pay her to spend the rest of the meal ignoring the man and marshalling her thoughts into some kind of order.
Lexi picked at the superb food; it could have been ashes for all she cared. She drank the wine and that helped to restore her confidence a little, but it was false courage and she knew it. She glanced across at Jake, who was eating his steak with every sign of enjoyment. He caught her look and his firm mouth curved in the briefest of smiles.
‘The food is exquisite; I must compliment the chef,’ he offered smoothly.
???Do that,’ Lexi grunted, and looking at her watch she noted it was almost ten. The sooner she could get the confrontation with Jake over and done with, the quicker she could get him out of her life.
‘Shall we adjourn to the lounge for coffee?’ his deep voice queried, meticulously polite.
Not deigning to look at him Lexi shoved back her chair and stood up, determination in every line of her small frame. ‘No, we can have it in my suite. We’ve spent long enough this evening avoiding the real issue. Shall we go?’ And, not waiting for his response, she picked up her bag and walked through the dining-room, a stiff smile plastered on her face for the benefit of the few guests who bade her goodnight, and headed for the lift.