Instantly the pink drained from her cheeks and her skin took on the greenish pallor she’d worn when she battled nausea.
‘That’s a foul thing to say.’ Her eyes looked huge and wounded.
Adoni met her stare unblinking. ‘It’s a cruel world. There are plenty of women who’d barter a rich man’s child for an easy life, or dispose of an inconvenient one.’
Her nostrils flared and her mouth tightened. ‘I’m not one of them. And if that’s the only sort of women you know, I pity you.’
‘It’s not pity I need. Just the truth.’ His jaw clenched and his chest rose as he dragged in a calming breath.
How dare she take that attitude with him? Just because he faced facts. It was true, the women who’d figured largest in his life had been devious and disloyal, but he was the last person to need pity. Especially from this slip of a girl.
‘So tell me,Alice.’ He leaned close, pinioning her with his eyes, daring her to lie barefaced. ‘Didn’t you come hoping I’d give you money?’
She blinked, her gaze dropping for a tell-tale moment. Strangely, Adoni didn’t feel triumphant but disappointed.
Slowly she nodded. ‘Well, yes. I thought you’d probably want to know our child and build a relationship with her or him. And I hoped...’ She swallowed and stared straight back at him. ‘I thought you might contribute later. You know, for school costs and that sort of thing.’
‘Not now?’ His lips curled derisively.
‘Now?’ Fine vertical lines appeared on her forehead. ‘It hasn’t even been born.’
It was Adoni’s turn to be surprised. Was she for real?
‘Surely there are expenses?’ He let the words hang. Given the chance, she’d no doubt fill it with a wish list of comforts.
She shook her head. ‘Not so far.’ She paused. ‘I was going to buy some pregnancy books but the local library had some excellent ones.’
When he remained silent she continued. ‘One of the other waitresses has a pram and cot and other bits and pieces in good condition. She swears three boys are enough and she won’t have more children, so she’ll let me have what I need.’ Alice’s hint of a smile died as she registered his expression. ‘What? What’s wrong?’
What’s wrong?Either Alice was the most convincing actress he’d ever met or his baby was going to grow up in the wilds of Devon, surrounded by second-hand furniture and reliant on the goodwill of others.
There are worse ways to grow up.
What did luxury and money matter when there was no honesty, much less genuine love from those closest to you?
‘Adoni?’
Get a grip, man. You don’t even know if it’s your child.
‘Nothing is wrong. I was just thinking.’
Since when had he been unable to think and speak at the same time? Adoni found himself reacting viscerally to this situation, instead of logically. Betrayal by a woman he’d trusted, however fleetingly, cut too close to the bone.
For a decade he’d guarded his heart. Hell, he probably didn’t have a heart to guard. He liked women physically, but he allowed none close emotionally. Casual and mutually pleasing was how he kept his relationships. He’d learned distrust in a hard school and would have bet his fortune that no woman would ever unsettle him again.
Alice Trehearn did it with just a look.
Yet, unaccountably, he discovered within himself an unexpected yearning for the very thing life had taught him he couldn’t have—an honest, caring woman. A family.
Adoni hated to acknowledge it, but the prospect of fatherhood ignited a firestorm of emotions and memories. Of blissful happiness, trauma and finally abandonment.
Alice eyed him doubtfully. ‘So, I’ll ask my doctor about a paternity test and—’
‘No. I’ll arrange it. You’ll be contacted.’ Adoni had no intention of taking the word of someone Alice lined up to advise on the baby.
She nodded and got to her feet.
Adoni repressed the urge to bar her way. She was pale and he registered smudges of tiredness beneath her fine eyes that he hadn’t noticed before. But she didn’t need him to care for her, even if that was what she was ultimately angling for.
He rose, noting how her chin reflexively notched higher as if she was determined not to let down her guard around him. That made two of them.
‘My PA has your contact details?’
Alice nodded, then paused as if waiting for something. A kiss? An offer of lunch? Or something more? The stormy light in her eyes told him something was going on in that pretty head of hers. It infuriated him that he couldn’t interpret her expression.
‘Goodbye, Adoni.’ Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked straight-backed out of the room.
Adoni noted the finality of her tone. Because he’d called her bluff and he’d never see her again?
He wished it were that simple but, in his experience, life rarely was.