The Taming of Xander Sterne by Carole Mortimer

Author:Carole Mortimer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

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?’

Xander gave a rueful grimace at her astuteness. ‘Something had been building inside me for weeks before that night, but that night I witnessed a man in the Midas nightclub verbally berating and humiliating the woman he was with. And I wanted to pulverise him into the ground,’ he acknowledged grimly.

‘A perfectly understandable reaction; I would have wanted to pulverise him too,’ Samantha assured vehemently. ‘Did you do it?’

‘No.’ A nerve pulsed in Xander’s tightly clenched jaw. ‘I wanted to, but somehow managed to keep control long enough to pass the problem off to security.

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