A Dangerous Solace

She heard him say, ‘Dio, you’re drunk.’

It wasn’t an accusation...more an observation.

She lifted her chin to sling back a clever reply—something along the lines of, I’d have to be to go anywhere with you...

Instead she gazed owlishly up at him.

‘I will drive you back to your hotel,’ he informed her in a tight voice, but somehow he didn’t seem angry any more.

Ava wanted to argue, but she already knew she was in no condition to make a fuss.

* * *

‘Where to, Principe?’

His driver, Bruno, addressed Gianluca calmly over the roof of the limo, as if ferrying drunken sick women around the city nightspots was a regular occurrence.

Good question.

A sensible man would find out where she was staying, do the right thing and not look back.

Si, a sensible man... He’d just bounded out of the car and charged after her, so clearly he didn’t qualify.

He had not behaved sensibly from the moment he’d put the Jota into a screaming U-turn this morning. No, it was long past time to assert his much-vaunted judgement.

He leaned down to find out where she was staying.

To his surprise she appeared to be asleep. He gave her a gentle shake. Her head fell forward.

Bene! Drunk. Blind drunk.

Swearing under his breath, he noticed her right hand was clutching something. When he prised open her fingers he found some crumpled euros and an embossed white card.

She was offering him money?

A cab—of course... It all clicked into place. She’d thought he would just bundle her into a cab? In her condition?

Pulling back on his first thought to wake her up and get this sorted out, he retrieved the card.

The Excelsior.

Nice hotel. Not far from here.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

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