Alex stood in the parking area, watching Adrian's retreating back disappear into the manor, and felt his jaw tighten with controlled irritation.
Interesting.
The word was deliberate understatement for what had just happened.
He'd expected professional courtesy... the kind extended to any guest Victoria Blackwood personally escorted.
Instead, he'd received open contempt, deliberate dismissal, and what amounted to house arrest by a man who clearly viewed him as beneath notice.
Alex registered every tell... the clenched jaw, the brief evaluation, the possessive heat under controlled posture, and the contempt that surfaced the instant Victoria was gone.
'He thinks I'm competition,' Alex observed, a faint smile tugging at his mouth. 'But not a threat. Not a rival. Just a minor inconvenience he assumes he can ignore.'
His finger twitched.
Part of him wanted to end Adrian's delusion in a heartbeat. But then he remembered... this clown was trying to pursue Catherine.
