She grimaced. ‘I would have to be completely heartless to remain immune to what you’ve just told me about your childhood,’ she assured him briskly.
If he was honest with himself, Xander was feeling a little off-kilter now that he had actually spoken to Samantha about his father. He really didn’t discuss his private life with people outside his family. Ever. And yet he had just done so with Samantha.
Admittedly it had been as a way of encouraging Samantha to feel that she could confide in him about her ex-husband, that she could trust him, but even so it was something Xander had never imagined sharing with any woman.
And yet...
He had confided in Samantha as a way of letting her know she could trust him with her own secrets, he had never imagined that by doing so he would somehow feel...free. As if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
And his heart.
CHAPTER EIGHT
XANDER GAVE A humourless smile. ‘Maybe you would feel differently about all that and about me, if I were to tell you that for the past few months I’ve been inwardly fighting the possibility that I might actually be like him?’
‘That’s utterly ridiculous,’ Samantha dismissed without hesitation.
Xander’s eyes widened at the absolute certainty in her voice. ‘What makes you say that?’
She smiled confidently. ‘I may not have known you for very long, Xander, but I do know you well enough to be able to see you are totally incapable of hurting a woman or a child. You obviously didn’t want Daisy and I here, and yet you have been incredibly kind to both of us. So much so that Daisy adores you,’ she added firmly even as she stepped forward to place the palm of her hand on Xander’s chest. ‘There’s a good heart in there, Xander Sterne. A kind heart. One that wants to protect, not destroy.’
Xander looked down at her searchingly, breathing shallowly beneath the warm touch of her hand on his chest. ‘Do you really believe that?’ he finally asked.
‘I know it.’ Sam nodded.
Even after only a few days in his company Sam knew that initial fear she’d had, that he might be selfish and controlling like Malcolm, because he was even richer and more powerful than her ex-husband, wasn’t even a possibility. Xander was arrogant and self-confident, and grumpy—no surprise given his present situation and the pain he was suffering.
But ultimately he had a good heart, a kind heart; his care and consideration of Daisy these past three days had proved that. As did his concern for her now. Sam had absolutely no doubt that Xander was a man who protected, that he was totally incapable of lashing out physically at a woman or child in temper.
‘We may have our parents’ genes, Xander,’ she said quietly. ‘You have your father’s, as Daisy has her father’s, but I have yet to see any of Malcolm in Daisy. Or any of the father that you have just described to me in you.’ Her eyed narrowed. ‘You had your car accident six weeks ago?’
‘Sorry?’ Xander frowned at her sudden change of subject.
‘You said that you’ve been questioning yourself for the past few months as to whether or not you might be like your father,’ Sam reminded him as she stepped back and allowed her hand to fall back to her side. ‘Did your accident have anything to do with that?’