LITMIR.BIZ

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open and slid into the passenger seat beside him, knowing she had no other choice if she didn’t want to cause a scene. And for Daisy’s sake, she really didn’t.

      Her one defiant gesture was to deliberately slam the car door shut. She knew how it would irritate Malcolm; unlike his behaviour towards his wife and daughter, Malcolm had always been obsessive about the care and treatment of his cars.

      Shut in the confines of the vehicle with him, Sam instantly became aware of the spicy—and expensive—aftershave Malcolm had always worn, and which she had only ever associated with him. To a degree that if she had happened to smell it randomly these past three years, on some other man, it had always made her feel slightly nauseous. As it now caused her to swallow down the bile rising in her throat.

      Goodness knew the rest of her weekend had been awkward enough, without this.

      There had been Malcolm’s horrible threats for her to deal with, and on top of that Sam had been dreading seeing Xander again on Sunday morning after the intimacies of the previous evening.

      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—’

      ‘No!’ Sam protested fiercely at the threat. ‘I won’t allow it. I won’t allow you anywhere near— We had a deal!’ she accused heatedly. ‘No divorce settlement for me in exchange for full custody of Daisy.’

      ‘And as I said to you on Saturday evening, there’s absolutely no reason why that can’t continue,’ he came back softly. ‘Once you’ve ditched Sterne and become my mistress, of course.’

      Sam stared at him in complete horror, feeling as if her feet had been knocked from underneath her. ‘I won’t—I can’t!’

      ‘But you will,’ Malcolm insisted. ‘For Daisy’s sake, you know you will.’

      Sam looked at him searchingly, once again able to see that cruelty in Malcolm’s eyes and in the harsh slashes beside his nose and mouth. She wanted Daisy to have nothing to do with this man. Being her daughter’s biological father didn’t make Malcolm any less the cruel and controlling man he had always been beneath that outward layer of social charm. There was no telling what damage Malcolm might do to Daisy emotionally if he were to obtain weekly visiting rights with her.

      ‘Why are you doing this, Malcolm?’ she prompted emotionally, knowing she was on the verge of tears. And she really didn’t want to give Malcolm the satisfaction of reducing her to tears, when he must already be aware, by the hold he had of her wrist, how badly she was shaking. ‘Why?’

      ‘Obviously because I’ve decided that I want you back in my bed.’ He shrugged.

      Sam stared at him dazedly. ‘I don’t love you, Malcolm. I don’t even like you!’

      ‘What has that got to do with anything?’ He looked at her pityingly. ‘The thing is, Sam, I really don’t like the idea of you belonging to any other man but me. I realised when I saw you again the other night that what’s mine should stay mine.’

      ‘I don’t belong to anyone, Malcolm.’

      ‘Not for the past three years you haven’t, no.’ Malcolm confirmed that he really had had her investigated. ‘And you aren’t going to belong to anyone else now, either. So I suggest that you and Daisy move out of Sterne’s apartment as soon as you’ve told him your little affair is over. Preferably before the end of the week,’ Malcolm bit out.

      Sam frowned. ‘I can’t do that.’

      ‘That’s a pity.’ His tone was deceptively mild.

      And Sam wasn’t deceived for a moment. ‘You don’t understand,’ she came back agitatedly. ‘I don’t live with Xander Sterne, I work for him. As his carer,’ she added impatiently as Malcolm eyed her sceptically. ‘He was involved in a car accident, and now needs help to—to—’ Somehow Sam didn’t think it was a good idea to tell Malcolm that one of the things she did for Xander was to help him in and out of the shower! ‘I cook for him and help him when necessary,’ she substituted.

      Talking of which, it was almost time for her to drive Xander to his physiotherapy session as Paul had the day off.

      ‘And those duties include you sleeping with him too?’

      ‘You’re wrong!’ Embarrassed colour heated her cheeks as she recalled how close she had come to doing exactly that on Saturday night.

      A guilty blush which caused Malcolm’s eyes to narrow dangerously. ‘Even if what you say is true, you aren’t seriously expecting me to believe that Xander Sterne has a beautiful woman living in his apartment

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