Yet it wasn’t contempt trailing lazily through her body. The realisation scared her.
‘What do you mean, you know more about me?’ Realisation struck and with it her laggard indignation. ‘You had me investigated?’ Her voice rose to a ragged screech. Suddenly the close confines of the car were too claustrophobic. She put her hand to his shoulder and pushed.
Finally he withdrew and Alice stumbled out onto the pavement.
‘You had me investigated.’ She couldn’t quite believe it. It sounded like something in a movie.
Alice shivered at the thought of paid investigators digging into her past, maybe interviewing friends and acquaintances, prying into her personal affairs. Not that there was anything to hide, but the idea made her feel grimy.
Apparently this too was the norm in his world for he shrugged those straight shoulders and spread his hands.
‘Why not? Surely I have a right to know about the woman who claims to be carrying my baby.’ His voice rang out in the quiet street and Alice found herself looking around, but they were alone.
Adoni had no such qualms about being overheard. ‘Before that all I knew for sure was that you can’t hold your liquor and that you have an interesting chat-up line.’ His eyebrows lifted in that superior way of his. ‘About orgasms, as I remember.’
Heat scorched her cheeks and she squirmed inside. His face was solemn as a judge but she knew he was smirking at her. ‘That wasn’t a chat-up line.’ He made her sound like a cross between a lush and a vamp.
Or maybe just a fool for ever thinking she had anything in common with Adoni Petrakis.
‘If you say so.’ That casual shrug was supremely annoying, as if it didn’t really matter what she thought or said.
Alice grabbed the luxuriously warm jacket engulfing her and shoved it against his chest. He was the most infuriating man she’d met. Right up there with David’s nephew, Miles Dawlish. How come the only nice guys were a generation older than her?
‘Thank you for the lift.’ The words shot out. ‘But I’m feeling unwell. I need to rest. If there’s anything else, I suggest we sort it out over the phone.’
It wasn’t gracious of her. She sounded downright waspish, but he deserved it. Besides, it wouldn’t do him any harm to learn the world didn’t dance to his tune.
Without waiting for goodbyes, Alice swung away, grabbing the key from her bag as she stalked up the cracked path to her ground-floor bedsit. Through the front door, then her own door and—
A large form crowded her from behind as she tugged the key from the lock.
‘Hey, I—’
‘Allow me.’ Adoni’s hand covered hers. Before she knew it he had her key and her door had firmly shut behind him.
Alice opened her mouth to blast his impudence, but—
‘Here. You need to sit.’ Quick, deft hands undid her jacket and tugged it from her shoulders as he pushed her into the room’s one ancient armchair. ‘A cup of tea? That’s what you English have as a restorative.’
Without waiting for a response he was investigating the couple of white-painted cupboards in her tiny kitchen corner, pulling out a mug and a canister of tea bags.
‘Leave it. I can do that.’ Alice levered herself up, vaguely surprised at how heavy her arms and legs felt after that marathon shift. But then Adoni loomed over her again.
His brows pinched down. ‘Stop fussing. I’m not going to steal the family silver, I promise.’ He paused and she watched, fascinated, as he drew in a deep breath that hefted that impressive chest high, almost as if he found this situation as difficult as she did.
‘I’m not leaving till we’ve had our chat, Alice, so you might as well make yourself comfortable and rest up. You look like hell.’