‘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?’
‘Sure. Ty is the only one left and Tina’s gone.’ The woman glanced in his direction and then dropped her eyes.
‘Okay. I’ll have this sorted in a jiffy,’ Lexi said.
Leo looked at her. ‘What’s a jiffy?’
She seemed momentarily confused and then shook her head. ‘I have no idea. It’s a figure of speech. You’re Russian?’
‘Da. Yes. And you are English?’
‘Yes.’
Something indefinable passed between them and then, thankfully, she shook her head and broke the connection. ‘Okay. It seems that Amanda has gone away for the weekend and she just had enough time to tell me that you are Ty’s father before you wrenched the phone from my hand like a Neanderthal.’
Leo didn’t flinch at the criticism. ‘Good. Then I can go.’
He stood and heard her release a noisy breath before she too rose to her feet.
‘What now?’ he growled, desperate to put this woman with her accusing golden-green eyes behind him.
‘Why are you not on any of his forms?’
‘Amanda has sole custody.’
‘Why?’
‘At the risk of sounding rude, Miss Somers, that’s none of your business.’
‘You’re wrong.’ She rounded her desk and stood in front of him. ‘Ty is in my care and as I don’t have written authority to hand him over to you I could still lose my licence as a childcare provider if I released him to you and something happened to him.’
‘I appreciate your predicament but that is not my fault. Amanda should have made the proper arrangements.’
She considered him for a moment. ‘Promise me you’re not some maniac of a father who is going to do something terrible the moment you have him alone.’
The skin on Leo’s face pulled tight and his mouth went dry as she inadvertently tore a strip off one of the banda
ges concealing his childhood wounds. He was aware that his breathing had become shallow and that his blood was roaring in his ears.
He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from hers and yet looking into her innocently questioning gaze was searing him with pain. ‘I would never intentionally hurt my son,’ he said hoarsely, his accent thicker as he fought to contain memories from the past.
He waited for her to contradict him. To say that she could see the blackness inside him, but she didn’t. Instead she nodded curtly. ‘Follow me.’
He released a harsh breath and followed her out into the main area of the centre, which was eerily neat and quiet. The blonde from before stepped through the opposite doorway. ‘Ty is in the sandpit.’
‘Thanks, Aimee. You go ahead. I’ll be home shortly.’
‘I’ll probably be at Todd’s.’
Lexi smiled and Leo’s stomach did a somersault. ‘I’ll see you next week then.’
‘Have a fun time away if you decide to go.’ She raised her eyebrows and Leo wondered where Lexi Somers was going this weekend and why he cared. Then he forgot about it as the blonde walked away and he was confronted with an empty doorway.
His heart felt like a dead weight in his chest as he stepped through it and gazed at the blond-haired toddler happily making truck sounds as he scooped sand into the digger.
Chort vozmi. God damn it. He couldn’t do this.
He turned to the woman behind him and gripped her arms as a fear he hadn’t felt in years assailed him.
‘You can’t do what?’ Lexi asked, her eyes racing across Leo Aleksandrov’s suddenly pale face. He looked as if he were facing a smoking gun and she had no idea what to do. Her heart hammered in her chest. This close, she could see the blue of his eyes was shot through with silver and the stubble lining his jaw made his face impossibly handsome. ‘Mr Aleksandrov?’
Her soft tone seemed to bring his eyes back into focus because he let her go and stepped backwards as he turned to stare at his son.
She rubbed her arms and glanced at Ty, who was regarding them curiously, no hint of recognition on his face at all. She tried to remember what Amanda Weston had said about Ty’s father when she had first enrolled Ty at the centre but her memory was hazy. Something about him not being interested in Ty and a request that they not ask Ty about him. Obviously, whatever had happened between Amanda and Leo, it had not ended well and Ty had borne the brunt of that.
Lexi felt sick. She hated men who didn’t take responsibility for their actions, who didn’t care enough about their children to spend time with them.
Trying to quell her rising anger for Ty’s sake, Lexi stepped forward. ‘Ty, come on. Your da— Oh!’
Strong fingers bit into her upper arms as the man behind her grabbed her and hauled her back against him. Lexi stumbled in her high heels and fell back against a chest as rock-solid as granite. The breath left her lungs as one of his powerful arms banded her torso just below her breasts to keep her upright.
She instantly caught fire at his touch, unbidden lust tightening her breasts and sending a spiral of heat straight to her pelvis. Shocked by her instant sexual response—a response she’d been trying to deny since she’d first seen him—Lexi turned in the circle of his arms with every intention of pushing him away. Only once her hands flattened against the brick wall of his chest, his heat and his scent had a paralysing effect on her senses. Now she didn’t want to push him away. Now she wanted to rise up onto her toes and kiss him. As if reading her thoughts, his eyes darkened to navy and took on a fierce quality that sent her senses into overdrive.
The faint buzzing of the airconditioning and the gentle sound of the wind chimes receded and Lexi was completely captivated as his head slowly lowered to hers. His hands at her waist tightened, pulling her inexorably closer, and her startled gaze flew to his as she felt the unmistakable edge of his erection brush against her belly.
His eyes held hers, his mouth hovering just out of reach, their breaths mingling, and Lexi couldn’t move. Then his gaze clouded over, registering the shock she felt, and before she could suck in another breath he shoved her back from him and stalked inside.
Lexi followed him to the doorway as if in a daze, her body sending all sorts of mixed messages to her brain. One of which was to follow him inside and press herself up against him and never let go. Which was just crazy! She never behaved like that. Not even with Brandon!
‘He doesn’t know I’m his father.’
The harsh words broke into her personal thoughts and when she realised what he had said she couldn’t hide her horror. ‘How—’
‘We’ve never met.’
What?
Lexi gripped the door frame, shaking her head. ‘That’s not possible.’
Leo’s face as he looked at her was grim, all signs of his earlier arousal gone, while her own body still felt soft and jittery from the shock of all that maleness pressed so intimately against her own. She’d been right in her premonition before. The man was lethal—just not in the way she had expected.
His mouth tightened and she realised she was staring at it, wondering how it would have felt if he hadn’t stopped himself before. If she’d taken matters into her own hands and … whoa, girl, hold the fort. You do not want to kiss this man.
‘I assure you it is,’ he rasped raggedly.
Lexi’s mind retraced their conversation and a thousand questions winged into it. But uppermost in her thinking was Ty’s welfare. He hadn’t been the same since his grandmother had passed away and now, to be taken by a strange man for three days—even if he was his father—could have a huge psychological impact on him.
And could she trust that this dangerous Russian was telling the truth about why he wanted Ty?
She forced herself to meet Leo’s guarded eyes and willed her mind to concentrate on what was important. ‘If that’s true, he’s not going to feel comfortable going with you,’ she informed him shortly.
He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away. ‘I know. I should have thought of that earlier and organised the nanny to meet me here instead of my apartment.’
‘Nanny?’ Lexi frowned and glanced behind her to make sure Ty was still playing happily. ‘Has Ty met this person before?’
‘No.’
‘Then he won’t be happy with her either.’
‘She’ll know what to do.’
‘Not necessarily. Do you even have a proper car seat fitted?’
‘I have a limousine.’
‘That doesn’t answer my question. Listen, if Ty doesn’t know you and you’re taking him to an unfamiliar place, that will be scary for a three-year-old. Not to mention potentially damaging to his psyche.’
‘You let me worry about his psyche,’ he growled impatiently and Lexi could see from the arrogant tilt of his head that his momentary panic from before was over and that he was firmly back in control.
‘It doesn’t seem that you’ve been worried about much at all where your son is concerned,’ she said tartly.
His gaze sharpened. ‘Who do you think pays for this fancy establishment?’
‘I meant emotionally.’
He looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign language and she huffed out a breath. Arguing was not going to solve this situation. ‘He needs something familiar. Do you have his favourite toy? Blanket?’
For a minute he looked utterly lost and despite the fact that she despised his type, her heart went out to him.
He paced away from her and it seemed an age before he answered. Then he turned and her breath stalled at the sight of the bold smile that tilted the corners of his sexy mouth. ‘I have something better.’
She was almost afraid to ask. ‘Like what?’
‘Like you.’
CHAPTER THREE
‘WHY is he crying?’ Leo asked, tugging loose another button on his shirt, which felt suddenly too tight. Ty had been crying on and off for half an hour and the sobs were twisting his gut to the point where he couldn’t concentrate on w
ork.
Lexi Somers, who had reluctantly accompanied him to his apartment two hours ago, reached across and took the distressed toddler from the matronly arms of the nanny, Mrs Parsons, whom Danny had organised. Instantly the boy cuddled into her and started sucking his thumb, huge teardrops clinging to his lower lashes.
Leo was aware that his pulse was racing just looking at his son and turned his attention to the woman holding him. Which wasn’t much better because his mind instantly recalled the feel of her soft body against his and the moment he’d almost kissed her. As if he needed that complication right now. Today, at lunchtime, he would have welcomed the way she made him feel. Now, with his world unravelling at the seams, the last thing he needed to think about was sex. Especially sex with a cute woman who was utterly furious with him.
‘He’s not comfortable with Mrs Parsons yet, but that’s to be expected,’ she answered him briskly, one of her hands rubbing Ty’s back soothingly. ‘This is all very traumatic for him.’ The reproach in her voice was unmistakable.
Not just for him, Leo thought.
‘He seems very comfortable with you,’ he said.
‘I’ve looked after him almost every weekday for two years. It’s only natural he feels comfortable with me.’
Leo felt movement behind him and turned to see Danny standing in the door of his home office. ‘Dmitri is on the phone.’
‘Right.’ Due to the delay in collecting Ty, Leo still had work to wrap up. But first he needed to sort the problem of Ty and the nanny. ‘You take him to bed,’ he instructed Lexi. ‘And then—’
‘Please.’
Leo blinked at her quiet reprimand.
He thought about telling her that if she interrupted him one more time with that gorgeous mouth he’d do something they’d both regret but found himself in the unique position of needing somebody else more than they needed him. A situation he did not like at all. He had to get rid of her and the sooner the better. ‘Please, Miss Somers, would you be so kind as to take my son to his bed?’
He could tell she wasn’t fooled by his mocking tone, but that was okay. He knew she’d do it. Ever since she had told Ty that this ‘nice’ man was taking them on an adventure and had made it sound as if it could rival Disney World he knew she was a soft touch under her no-nonsense exterior—a weakness he was ruthless enough to exploit.
His Last Chance at Redemption Page 3