But she needn’t have worried about the latter, because Xander obviously regretted that lapse as much as she did. The two of them had barely exchanged half a dozen words as she’d helped him in and then out of the shower yesterday morning. Later he had refused her polite invitation for him to join her and Daisy when they went swimming an hour or so after lunch. And he had been secluded in his study working when the two of them returned to the apartment, assuring Sam he would get himself a snack to eat later in the evening if he felt hungry.
If he had done so then Sam had been fast asleep in her bed when it happened.
The only positive thing about yesterday had been that Daisy had seemed completely unaware that she’d had a nightmare the previous night. Nor had there been a repeat of it last night, thank goodness.
Sam looked at Malcolm warily. ‘I wasn’t even aware you knew where Daisy went to school.’
He gave her a satisfied smile. ‘You might be surprised at what I’ve been able to find out about you and Daisy in the past twenty-four hours.’
She gasped. ‘Have you had someone spying on me?’
That smile faded as he now looked at her with icy eyes through narrowed lids. ‘I had no idea I needed to until I saw you at the Midas Hotel on Saturday evening,’ he dismissed harshly.
Sam’s heart sank at the mention of that meeting and Malcolm’s threats to her.
Malcolm’s mouth thinned. ‘I hired a private investigator, and guess what he’s already found out? My ex-wife and my daughter are currently living with Xander Sterne in his apartment.’ His eyes glittered darkly.
Colour warmed Sam’s previously pale cheeks. ‘It’s none of your business where we live, Malcolm.’
‘I’m making it my business, Sam!’ Malcolm reached out to take a painful grip of her wrist. ‘Xander Sterne!’ He gave a disbelieving shake of his head.
She struggled to free herself. ‘Let go of me!’ she ordered when Malcolm’s fingers tightened more painfully.
He gritted his teeth. ‘You obviously have a thing about rich and powerful men,’ he taunted.
‘If you mean that I despise them, then yes I do.’
‘The fact you’re living with Sterne would seem to contradict that statement.’
Sam gave an inward shiver at the cold fury she could now see in Malcolm’s eyes. ‘I am not romantically involved with Mr Sterne.’
‘My information says you are,’ Malcolm rasped. ‘And you’ve dragged my daughter into your little affair,’ he continued purposefully. ‘I think that might be grounds for bringing your fitness as a mother into question.’
‘How dare you?’ Sam rounded on him furiously, breathing hard in her agitation. ‘How dare you even say that to me after— You’re the one who has always refused to acknowledge her existence! The one who sold his daughter in exchange for my not asking for a divorce settlement, which would have enabled me to stay at home and be a full-time mother to Daisy. How dare you now accuse me of being an unfit mother, when you have never been a father to Daisy, even for a minute?’ She glowered at him.
He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Maybe I’ve changed? Maybe I realise it’s time I got to know my daughter better? I’m sure the courts would lend a sympathetic ear if I were to—’