‘That’s exactly what I’m telling you,’ Sam maintained stubbornly.
‘And there’s no yet about it,’ she added firmly. ‘I’m only staying at his apartment for a couple of weeks,’ she insisted. ‘Just until his brother returns from his honeymoon. You were at the wedding on Saturday, too, so you know I’m telling the truth.’
‘About Darius being away on his honeymoon, at least, yes.’ He nodded. ‘If what you say is true—’
‘It is.’
‘Then it won’t be difficult to find someone else to take care of him while his brother is away so that you can move out in the next few days.’
Not difficult at all, which was why Sam was so grateful to have this job at all; the Sterne family could have employed anyone to care for Xander, but they had chosen her, Andy had chosen her.
‘I can’t do that,’ she insisted, knowing she couldn’t let Andy down, or forget the fact that the money she earned these two weeks would pay her bills.
Malcolm now eyed her thoughtfully. ‘You’ve changed, Sam; once upon a time you wouldn’t have dreamt of answering me back.’
‘Once upon a time I was stupid enough to think myself in love with you, too!’ she replied heatedly, knowing she shouldn’t antagonise Malcolm in the circumstances, but totally unable to stop herself from retaliating to that last jibe.
His mouth twisted into the semblance of a smile. ‘But not any longer.’
‘That’s one of the reasons we’re divorced, remember?’ Sam eyed him warily.
‘I remember only too well.’ Malcolm’s mouth thinned. ‘I have never liked failure, Sam. And I definitely consider my marriage to you to be in that category.’
She gave a pained frown. ‘And whose fault was that? If you had told me you didn’t want children then I would never have married you in the first place.’ Having long been an orphan, Sam had always wanted children of her own. She hadn’t just wanted children, she had ached for a family of her own, to love and care for, and to be loved and cared for in return. Instead she had got Malcolm.
And Daisy...
Daisy made up for all the pain, all the disillusionment of those unhappy years of being married to a man as cold and controlling as her ex-husband.
She would do anything to protect Daisy.
Anything at all.
‘I want you back in my bed, Sam, and I think you know me well enough to know that I’ll use any means at my disposal to achieve that,’ Malcolm informed her confidently.
Almost as if he had been able to read her thoughts.
And maybe he had. Malcolm already knew that Daisy was Sam’s weak spot, her Achilles heel. And now he was once again using that weakness to his advantage, in an effort to force her into resuming a relationship with him. A relationship that horrified Sam so much she felt physically ill.
‘No,’ she answered him woodenly.
He arched mocking brows. ‘No?’
‘No,’ she repeated firmly.
She had thought about this all weekend, finally accepting that she couldn’t allow herself to be browbeaten by Malcolm again, to be forced into becoming his mistress. She just couldn’t!