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She got a flashlight and carried it into the public rest room, where she propped it on one of the basins. The small room felt stuffy and airless, so she hurriedly removed her panty hose and immediately felt much cooler. She turned on the cold water and held her wrists under the stream, using the time-proven method of cooling down, then dampened one of the paper towels and blotted her face. There. That was much better.
A few deep breaths, a silent pep talk and she felt ready to hold Tom Quinlan at arm’s length for the duration. With her panty hose in one hand and the flashlight in the other, she returned to the lobby.
He was waiting for her, sprawled negligently in one of the chairs, but those blue eyes watched her as intently as a tiger watches its chosen prey. “Now,” he said, “let’s have our little talk.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Her heart lurched in her chest. It strained her composure to walk over to the chairs and sit down, but she did it, even crossed her legs and leaned back as negligently as he. “All right,” she said calmly.
He gave her that considering look again, as if he were trying to decide how to handle her. Mentally she bristled at the idea of being “handled,” but she forced down her irritation. She knew how relentless Quinlan could be when crossed; she would need to keep her thoughts ordered, not let him trip her up with anger.
He remained silent, watching her, and she knew what he wanted. He had already asked the question; he was simply waiting for the answer.
Despite herself, Elizabeth felt a spurt of anger, even after all these months. She faced him and went straight to the heart of the matter. “I found the file you had on me,” she said, every word clipped short. “You had me investigated.”
“Ah.” He steepled his fingers and studied her over them. “So that’s it.” He paused a few seconds, then said mildly, “Of course I did.”
“There’s no ‘of course’ to it. You invaded my privacy—”
“As you invaded mine,” he interrupted smoothly. “That file wasn’t lying out in the open.”
“No, it wasn’t. I looked in your desk,” she admitted without hesitation.
“Why?”
“I felt uneasy about you. I was looking for some answers.”
“So why didn’t you ask me?” The words were as sharp as a stiletto.
She gave him a wry, humorless smile. “I did. Many times. You’re a master at evasion, though. I’ve been to bed with you, but I don’t know much more about you right now than I did the day we met.”
He neatly sidestepped the charge by asking, “What made you feel uneasy? I never threatened you, never pushed you. You know I own and run my company, that I’m solvent and not on the run.”
“You just did it again,” she pointed out. “Your ability to evade is very good. It took me a while to catch on, but then I noticed that you didn’t answer my questions. You always responded, so it wasn’t obvious, but you’d just ask your own question and ignore mine.”
He surveyed her silently for a moment before saying, “I’m not interested in talking about myself. I already know all the details.”
“I’d say that the same holds true for me, wouldn’t you?” she asked sweetly. “I wanted to know about you, and got nowhere. But I didn’t have you investigated.”
“I wouldn’t have minded if you had.” Not that she would have been able to find out much, he thought. Great chunks of his life after high school graduation weren’t to be found in public records.
“Bully for you. I minded.”
“And that’s it? You walked out on me and broke off our relationship because you were angry that I had you investigated? Why didn’t you just yell at me? Throw things at me? For God’s sake, Elizabeth, don’t you think you took it a little far?”
His tone was both angry and incredulous, making it plain that he considered her reaction to be nothing short of hysteric, far out of proportion to the cause.
She froze inside, momentarily paralyzed by the familiar ploy of being made to feel that she was in the wrong, that no matter what happened it was her fault for not being good enough. But then she fought the memories back; she would never let anyone make her feel that way again. She had gotten herself back, and she knew her own worth. She knew she hadn’t handled the matter well, but only in the way she had done it; the outcome itself had never been in question.
Her voice was cool when she replied. “No, I don’t think I took it too far. I’d been feeling uneasy about you for quite a while. Finding that you had investigated me was the final factor, but certainly not all of it.”
“Because I hadn’t answered a few questions?” That incredulous note was still there.
“Among other things.”
“Such as?”
In for a penny, in for a pound. “Such as your habit of taking over, of ignoring my objections or suggestions as if I hadn’t even said anything.”
