Seduced At Sea. Andrea Laurence

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СКАЧАТЬ feel against her own. Aimee’s words about his sexual prowess popped into her head and her lips were once again bone-dry.

      Oh, Lord, she had to get out of here.

      His eyes returned to hers and she expelled a breath in a rush.

      ‘Doing?’

      ‘I’m going to Paris,’ she declared. Deciding there and then that she’d give Simon a chance. It was time. Past time. And Simon was a saint compared to this man.

      ‘Your friend seemed to think you hadn’t yet made up your mind.’

      Lexi frowned, wondering how he knew that. ‘Aimee doesn’t know everything,’ she said, slightly flustered.

      ‘And whom are you going to the city of light with, hmmm?’

      Lexi felt her jaw clench at his supercilious tone. Simon would never have asked that question! He was well-mannered, polite, civilised, boring …

      No. He was perfect.

      Frustrated with her erratic thoughts, Lexi glanced towards the entrance foyer and wondered if she shouldn’t just head for the door and be done with Leo Aleksandrov.

      As if sensing her intention, his body tensed, his eyes fixed on her as if he would spring if she made the slightest movement to flee.

      ‘You haven’t answered my question.’

      ‘Because it’s none of your business!’ she exclaimed hotly.

      His penetrating gaze held hers but his body relaxed as if her answer had been predictable. Then he made her teeth clench even harder when he smiled knowingly. ‘I’ll send you and your lover first class next weekend.’

      Lexi’s eyebrows hit her hairline. ‘You’ll send?’ she repeated indignantly. Just who did this man think he was?

      ‘Pay. Organise.’ He blew out a frustrated breath. ‘Stop getting caught up on semantics.’

      ‘Mr Aleksandrov, I—’

      ‘I have to go to Greece for the weekend. I need somebody I can trust to take care of Ty.’

      ‘You want me to go to Greece with you? For the long weekend?’

      Lexi wasn’t even prepared to go into the next room with him, let alone another country!

      ‘No. I was taking Mrs Parsons to Greece because she is an unknown entity for both myself and Ty, and I felt it was better to have her close by. You, on the other hand, are not an unknown entity. You have looked after my son for two years and you will be perfectly fine to take care of him here, in London. And, as I said—’ he paused, regarding her calmly ‘—I’ll pay you. Well.’

      ‘Is money your answer to everything?’ Lexi snapped.

      ‘Not everything, no.’

      Her lips compressed at his sensually mocking smile.

      ‘How much?’ he asked with quiet confidence.

      Lexi tried not to be intimidated by his size and understated force of will. Hadn’t he realised that she wasn’t the type of person who could be bought? Or was he the type of person who paid off everyone in order to get his own way? She wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that he was. ‘You mean I can name my price?’ she asked sweetly, as if she might actually be considering his offer.

      ‘What’s the number?’ he demanded curtly, his smile flattening as if her answer had displeased him, though why that should be the case she hadn’t a clue.

      Lexi paused. Would he pay any figure? For a minute she was tempted to find out but she didn’t play these types of games and it would give her more satisfaction to put him—and his open bank account—in their rightful place.

      ‘The number is that there is no number. You don’t deserve my help. Goodbye.’

      Lexi didn’t look at him as she picked up her bag and dropped her mobile phone inside. She was about to stride out of the door with her head held high when Leo’s quiet voice stopped her.

      ‘I might not. But Ty does.’

      Lexi turned and stared at him incredulously. ‘Are you trying to emotionally blackmail me now?’

      ‘If it means you’ll stay, yes.’

      Lexi couldn’t believe the gall of the man. Had he no shame?

      ‘You get a girl pregnant and then don’t even have the decency to get to know your own flesh and blood and now you’ll do whatever it takes to have someone you don’t even know take care of him. What kind of a man are you?’

      He jammed his hands onto his hips and glared at her. ‘Don’t pass judgement on things you don’t understand.’

      ‘Oh, I understand all right,’ Lexi fumed. ‘I understand that your lifestyle is so precious you rejected an innocent child. Well, that’s something you should have thought about before you got Amanda Weston pregnant, not after.’

      ‘This has nothing to do with my lifestyle and everything to do with Ty’s well-being.’

      ‘And just how do you figure that?’

      A muscle ticked in his jaw. ‘I don’t have to explain myself to you but I did not reject my son.’

      ‘Oh? What would you call it?’

      ‘Since he was born I have paid for every single thing he needs and I have six monthly reports carried out to ensure that he is safe and well cared for.’

      ‘Reports that failed to inform you that his mother travels so often that his grandmother was his main carer until her death a fortnight ago.’

      He had the grace to look uncomfortable, pulling at the collar on his shirt in a telling movement.

      ‘And,’ he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken, ‘I fully intend to have a relationship with him when he’s older.’

      Of all the …

      ‘Older and less work?’ she scoffed. ‘He needs you now. A boy looks to his father as he grows up to figure out what it means to be a man. What kind of a man will he grow up to be with an absent father who never cared enough to spend time with him?’ Lexi stopped, aware that her impassioned speech was about to get out of hand. But damn it, that was exactly what had happened to her brother, Joe, who had become lost and angry in his teenage years, even though Lexi and her mother had done their best to shield him from feeling rejected by his father.

      ‘By all means say what you think, Miss Somers.’

      Lexi shook her head. ‘I don’t believe in wasting time on empty words.’

      ‘Rare for your sex, I have to say.’

      ‘Oh—’ Lexi shook her head ‘—I’ll add chauvinist to your list of personal attributes, shall I?’

      ‘I СКАЧАТЬ