The Taming of Xander Sterne(69)

                ‘Nothing to say?’ Howard challenged.

                ‘I resent even having to breathe the same air as you,’ Xander said icily.

                Howard’s face twisted into an ugly sneer. ‘I’m guessing you conveniently forget that aversion when it comes to you sleeping with my ex-wife?’

                ‘Don’t say another word,’ Xander warned harshly. ‘Not. Another. Word.’ A nerve pulsed rapidly in his tightly clenched jaw.

                How he would like to knock this man unconscious and put an end to this conversation. Just one little punch to that sneering face, that was all it would take for him to silence Howard and his vile mouth.

                But Xander knew he couldn’t let himself do it, no matter what the temptation. That he couldn’t betray the trust, the belief, that Samantha had in him.

                He drew in a deep and controlling breath. ‘I have no intention of saying anything else to you without Samantha being present. She’s waiting for us in my study.’ He didn’t wait to see if the other man followed him as he turned and walked down the hallway, ignoring the jarring pain in his leg as he did so.

                Welcoming that pain if it stopped him from giving in to the anger now consuming him.

                Malcolm Howard was supposed to have loved Samantha and Daisy, protected them both, and instead he’d deliberately hurt them.

                How could Samantha have ever thought she was in love with such a man, let alone married him?

                But Xander knew exactly how. From their conversations he knew she had been very young and completely alone in the world when she and Howard had met.

                No doubt she had been flattered by the attentions of this older and seemingly charming and sophisticated man. The man she had trusted to love and take care of her.

                Xander turned to look at the other man coldly as he paused outside the closed door to his study. ‘Know this, Howard—if you hurt Samantha again, then I would also advise that you keep a watchful eye over your shoulder in the future.’ He showed his teeth in a feral smile.

                Howard’s face flushed angrily. ‘Are you threatening me?’

                ‘That wasn’t a threat, it was a promise,’ Xander assured him softly as he opened the study door before standing back to allow Howard to enter the room ahead of him.

                Xander followed close behind him and saw that Samantha was standing by the window, the sun shining into the room behind her preventing him—and consequently Howard, too—from being able to make out her expression. But Xander could tell by the stiffness of her slender shoulders, and the way her hands were clasped tightly together in front of her, that the next few minutes were going to be an ordeal for her.

                He crossed the room to stand in front of her, deliberately blocking her from Howard’s view, as he took both of her icy-cold hands in his. He was able to see how white her face was now, casting those freckles across her nose and cheeks into sharp relief, and her eyes were dark with unspoken pain as she looked up at him trustingly.

                Xander vowed there and then that he would never, could never, let down or betray this warm and vulnerable woman’s trust in him.

                ‘Ready?’ he asked softly.

                Sam wasn’t sure she would ever be ready for what she knew was going to be a very unpleasant confrontation with her ex-husband. And she still felt guilty, as well as grateful, that Xander had become so deeply involved in her personal problems. Admittedly, he had asked to be involved, but she doubted that when he had he’d realised just how unpleasant this situation was going to get. She had known from his expression earlier that he certainly hadn’t imagined her ex-husband would turn up at his apartment this morning.