The Taming of Xander Sterne(9)

                Sam’s expression immediately softened. ‘I think you owe Mr Sterne an apology for running in his home, don’t you?’

                ‘Yes, Mummy. Do you think he’ll let us stay now?’ Daisy added anxiously.

                It didn’t help that Sam was wondering the same thing.

                She raised her brows. ‘Do you want to stay?’

                ‘Oh, yes,’ Daisy enthused.

                Sam had no doubts that the huge TV was the reason for her daughter’s enthusiasm. It certainly couldn’t be because Daisy liked Xander Sterne, when all he had done so far was growl at them.

                Xander had just been about to enter the kitchen, with the intention of giving the woman a blistering piece of his mind before then ordering her to leave, when he overheard the conversation between mother and daughter.

                At which point his chest gave a tight and unexpected squeeze at how subdued the previously exuberant Daisy now sounded.

                Because he had reacted like a bad-tempered idiot. To a five-year-old.

                Damn it, he was not turning into his father.

                He was not!

                It wasn’t as if the little red-haired tornado had meant to knock him off his feet. It had been a complete accident that she had managed to clip his elbow as she passed.

                But why was he making excuses for her, when he had just been presented with the perfect opportunity—the perfect excuse—to dismiss Ms Smith? Before she’d even had chance to unpack the few belongings in the bags he had instructed Paul to leave out in the hallway before he left.

                And what happened if Xander did dismiss her? He did still need her help and he would mess up Darius and Miranda’s honeymoon plans if he dismissed her now.

                The fact that Sam might be counting on the money she would earn by working for him for the next two weeks was also a consideration.

                Despite his reservations, even Xander wasn’t selfish enough to want to be responsible for causing Ms Smith, or her daughter, unnecessary hardship.





                                      CHAPTER THREE

                SAM HAD HER back turned towards Xander when he finally entered the kitchen, allowing him to enjoy the sight of that gloriously curling red hair as it flowed loosely down the narrow length of her spine, the pertness of her shapely bottom clearly outlined by her skinny jeans.

                Xander veered his scowling gaze sharply up and away from all that femininity, to instead look at the little girl seated at the breakfast bar, and currently watching him with huge and anxious amethyst-coloured eyes over the top of the glass of orange juice she was drinking.

                It was an anxiety Xander remembered from his own childhood.

                An anxiety he was now responsible for causing, as his father once had for him.

                Xander’s knowledge and experience of children was limited, to say the least, but even he could see that the child was a beauty, with her riot of long, red curls. Her features were more rounded than her mother’s, although the promise of the same beauty was definitely there. It was a cherubic face at the moment, dominated by large and serious eyes, and she had a similar endearing smattering of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her tiny nose.

                She now struggled down from the tall bar stool to look up at him from beneath long dark lashes. ‘I’m very sorry for knocking you over, Mr Sterne.’