Andrea Laurence - Seduced At Sea

Leo reined in surging guilt that threatened to spiral into rage and paced two steps to the back of the room.

He sucked in a deep breath, knowing that logically she had a point even though her question was way out of line.

He turned back to face her. ‘Look, Miss Somers—’ he unclenched his jaw ‘—I want to be here about as much as you want me here but I don’t have a choice. Amanda delivered a note to my office advising me that there was no one else to take care of Ty. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.’

‘Are you having custody issues?’

Leo felt his eyes harden. ‘I am not about to discuss my personal business with you.’

She stood firm. ‘And I’m not about to release a child into the care of a man I’ve never met before and who is not on his list of trusted carers.’

Leo rubbed his neck. ‘Try his mother again.’

She looked as if she wouldn’t but then picked up the phone and hit redial.

‘Still no answer.’

Leo swore and saw her eyes widen in silent reprimand. Too bad. The angel didn’t like his language.

Then he returned to the doll’s chair and sprawled in front of her. ‘So what do we do now?’

For the first time since she returned she looked unsure and swivelled around to check the clock behind her.

‘Half an hour to go, angel. Maybe we should find something else to do other than argue to make the time go quicker.’

Her eyes took on the size of the dinner plates his lunch had been served on and he cursed his rampaging libido. What was he doing thinking about sex with this woman at a time like this? ‘Forget I said that.’

‘I most certainly will. It was tacky in the extreme.’

Leo’s eyes wandered over her with insolent abandon. ‘Don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it, angel.’

She gasped and he smiled at her outrage. ‘I most certainly have not! And do not call me angel.’

He smiled. She had. And so had he.

‘I’ll call you whatever I want and you’re a liar.’

‘And you’re incredibly rude.’

He shrugged and checked the clock. ‘Are you seriously going to make me wait until six o’clock before I can take him?’ He’d never come up against such resistance from a woman before.

‘No. I’m going to call the police.’ She reached for the phone and he leaned across the desk and covered her hand with one of his. Sensation shot up his arm at the contact and for a moment all he could do was stare at her.

Time seemed suspended between them and then she wrenched her hand out from under his. ‘Get your hands off me.’

‘Settle down, Miss Somers, before you get hysterical.’

‘I do not get hysterical . But you are crossing the line Mr Aleksandrov, and I want you to leave.’

Leo scrubbed his face. At least she remembered his name this time. ‘I apologise. Call the police if it makes you feel better but it won’t change anything. Amanda Weston has done a runner for the weekend and I’m all the kid’s got.’

The angel rubbed the back of her hand as if she could still feel his touch and Leo’s fingers flexed involuntarily because he could definitely still feel the silk of her skin. ‘That remains to be seen.’

He glanced at the clock. ‘Five minutes to go. Surely Amanda would be here by now if she was coming.’

‘Not necessarily. She’s often late, sometimes even forgetting to turn up at all.’

‘What?’ He was genuinely shocked by her comment and he saw the moment she knew she’d said too much. ‘How many times?’

‘Pardon?’

‘How many times has she forgotten?’

‘I can’t remember.’ She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and he knew she was lying. He stared at her until she grew uncomfortable. ‘A few since her mother passed away.’

He frowned. ‘Her mother died?’

‘She fell and broke her hip two weeks ago. I understand there was a complication with the surgery.’

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t know.’

‘Why am I not surprised.’

It was a statement, not a question, and he scowled, deciding to ignore her disparaging tone. ‘Why should that affect when Amanda picks the boy up?’

‘Because she doesn’t normally do it. As I understand it her mother was Ty’s main carer.’

Leo frowned. Ty’s grandmother had taken care of him? Maybe he should have read those reports after all.

‘You didn’t know that either, did you?’ The angel didn’t look impressed and he wanted to tell her she had no right to judge him.

‘So it would seem,’ he snapped, getting up and stalking the short distance to the rear of the room and back.

Leo noticed that she watched him as if she was trying to read him and he felt uncomfortable under her close scrutiny. He instinctively knew that if he told her he’d never even met his son she’d take umbrage and probably call in the army to deal with him and the truth was—he was a little worried. Danny was organising a nanny to meet him at his apartment to take over from him but … what would he do with a three-year-old until then?

Long suppressed memories of his baby brother spiked in his head—that soft little body, his cheeky grin, the way he had called him ‘Layo.’ Leo swallowed past the bile in his throat and refixed his gaze on Lexi Somers. His eyes dropped to the row of pearl buttons on her blouse and he imagined grabbing the collar and ripping them off. Imagined baring her to his hungry gaze and lifting her onto the desk and burying himself deep inside her. His body hardened, but sex wouldn’t change the inevitable, only delay it, and he knew that was the reason it was on his mind so much since he’d arrived here. He was trying to distract himself. It had nothing to do with the brunette with the tiny waist and golden eyes.

‘Mr Aleksandrov, are you okay?’ He blanked his expression and told himself to stop being an ass and figure out this problem. Give him a stock market crash or a potential hotel site to assess and he’d have the situation under control in minutes. Dealing with the needs of a young child was so far removed from his reality he was struggling to be one step ahead of the issues.

Then it hit him. He’d forgotten to treat this situation like a business transaction. And hadn’t he learned that everything came down to one thing?

‘How much do you need to hand Ty over?’

‘Excuse me?’

His eyes grew flinty. ‘You heard. I’m a wealthy man.’ He raked her with cool eyes. ‘I’m sure your wardrobe could do with an update.’

Her mouth fell open and she stared at him as if he’d just asked her how to build a pipe bomb. ‘Are you seriously trying to bribe me?’

Leo closed his eyes and then glanced at the ceiling before bringing his gaze back to her. He stood up. ‘I already told you I’m short on time and you’ve wasted enough of it. I’m the boy’s father; even you recognised that, so just—’

The phone ringing interrupted him and they both stared at it as if it were a snake. Then the angel leaned over to pick it up. He could tell straight away it was Amanda by the way her eyes flew to his. ‘I see,’ she murmured, before turning her back on him.

Leo’s anger spiked and he lunged for the phone and yanked it out of her hands. ‘Amanda, what do you—’ think you’re doing? he finished silently as the call was disconnected. He stared at the phone and swore viciously before tossing it onto Ty’s file.

He felt confined and edgy in the tiny room. Then the annoying tinkle above the door sounded and a blonde poked her head through and eyed him as one would a dangerous animal. Which was exactly how he felt.

‘Everything okay in here, Lex?’

Lexi’s eyes flashed to his and he waited for her to say no. ‘I think so. But can you hang around for another couple of minutes?’