The Taming of Xander Sterne(28)

                But nice? Xander was much too immediately male to be described with such an insipid word.

                And yet Daisy, who was so often shy in the company of men, seemed totally relaxed in Xander’s company.

                Obviously Daisy saw something in him that Sam didn’t.

                Or, more likely, not...

                Being only five, Daisy wouldn’t be aware of Xander’s immediacy, of how disturbingly male he was. Or recognise that the man possessed a lethal and sensual magnetism. And the naked body of a Norse god—

                ‘Ready?’

                And the stealth of a predator!

                Sam had been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t even been aware of Xander’s return, despite the sound the rubber end of his walking stick must surely have made on the marble floor.

                She straightened her shoulders determinedly. ‘Ready.’ She nodded briskly. ‘If you and Daisy would like to sit here and wait, I’ll go down in the lift to the car park and bring your car round to the front of the building?’ She looked down questioningly at Daisy.

                ‘Good idea.’ Xander nodded. ‘We’ll be okay here together, won’t we, Daisy?’ He hadn’t missed Samantha’s deference to her young daughter over the suggested arrangements.

                Did Samantha somehow sense that inner rage Xander was at such pains to try and keep under his control?

                He and Darius had found plenty of time to chat this morning, once Samantha had dropped him off at his brother’s apartment. Darius had once again been at pains to reassure Xander that the reason for his rage six weeks ago was perfectly understandable, that he would have reacted to that situation in the same way, and that Xander had only responded so strongly to that situation because of their own family history of having an abusive father. That it didn’t mean Xander would ever feel that angry again.

                But what if Darius was wrong? And what if Samantha had sensed that rage inside him?

                Xander gave a jolt of surprise as Daisy smiled up at him shyly as she slipped her warm little hand into his much larger one. ‘I’ll stay here and look after Xander for you, Mummy.’

                Xander was so bemused by having that little hand resting so trustingly in his that it took him a second or two to register exactly what Daisy had said. Causing him to grimace, when he looked up to find himself the focus of the laughing eyes of Daisy’s mother.

                Great; not only was his blasted leg aching like the devil, because he had been on it for most of the day and had stubbornly refused to use his crutches, but now he was the focus of Daisy’s sympathy and the butt of Samantha’s amusement.

                Still, there was some compensation to remaining here with Daisy, Xander decided as the two of them sat down in two of the armchairs in the marble reception area, and so allowing him to watch the sexy sway of Samantha’s hips and bottom as she walked over to the lift that would take her down to the car parked in the underground car park, which he had insisted she use to drive herself and Daisy to the wedding earlier.

                For all that she was only a little over five feet tall, Samantha’s slender legs looked long and silky above the three-inch-heeled shoes she was wearing today.

                Causing Xander to muse as to how it would feel to have those silky legs wrapped about his waist...

                What the...?

                While Xander had been sitting there imagining how he would make love to Samantha, another man had approached her and was now holding tightly to her arm as he talked to her.