He adjusted his jacket and looked round the room. “Busy in here today, isn’t it?”
“I’m calling security, Evie,” Donna yelled as she headed back down the corridor. “And the police.”
“No need for all that drama,” the man said. “I tried asking nicely and that didn’t work, so I thought I’d take a more opportunistic approach. You’re a hard person to get a meeting with.”
Evie’s mouth tightened. “I don’t think...”
“Not you.” He jerked his head at Alexandra. “Her. It’s easier to see the King of England.”
Abby expected her mother to cut him down in a few well-chosen words that would have him backing out of the door as quickly as he’d walked through it.
But she was silent. She looked unusually tired, and Abby felt a stab of guilt. Was she the cause of that? Had her drunken phone call upset her mother so much she’d jumped on a plane and flown here instead of simply calling?
Evie stepped towards him. “You can’t just walk in here.” Her voice was cool and calm. “If you want to make an appointment, I’d ask that you go through the proper channels.”
“I tried the proper channels. I even put in an offer on this damn crumbling hotel in an attempt to force a meeting, but that didn’t work either.” His eyes were on Alexandra. “So now I’m trying the improper channels. How are you, Lexy? It’s been a while. Done okay for yourself, haven’t you?”
Lexy?
Abby couldn’t ever remember anyone calling her mother Lexy before.
And finally her mother spoke. “I have nothing to say to you.” The words were coated in ice. “Leave now.”
“Leave? That’s all you’ve got to say after all these years? You used to be a loving little thing. A real daddy’s girl. So come on—” He held out his arms and winked at her. “Give your old dad a hug.”
18
Alexandra
This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.
Give your dad a hug?
Was he serious or had he said that to throw her off balance?
In the end it didn’t matter.
His arrogance shook her. The fact that he stood here with his chin up when he should have had his head bowed in shame. The fact that he’d forced his way into her place of business, into her life, when he’d walked away without a backward glance.
What was he doing here? What possible reason could he have for pursuing her like this after all this time?
She was so angry she was surprised that the windows didn’t shatter with the force of it.
The past churned inside her, threatening to swamp the control she kept over her emotions.
She was grateful for the years she’d dedicated to learninghow to hide her feelings. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing how deeply his sudden reappearance affected her.
“I didn’t reply to your emails because I had nothing to say to you, and that hasn’t changed.”
“Maybe, but it’s been a while. I thought it was time we reconnected.”
“A while.” She stayed still. Stayed calm. “I last saw you when I was eleven years old. I’d say that’s more than a while.”
“Yeah, so maybe time has slipped past a bit, but all the more reason to fix that now.”
She’d learned the advantage of silence in a conversation and she used it now.
He waited, and when she didn’t respond he frowned slightly, as if he was trying to reconcile this self-contained woman with the sobbing child he’d left behind.
