and something squeezed painfully around Sienna’s heart.
Daisy had never known Niall—not properly anyway. And she certainly couldn’t remember him. So wasn’t it an obvious mistake for her to imagine that Conan might be her father?
Dropping to his haunches, Conan gazed—transfixed—at the little girl who was studying him so intently, and something ripped through him, taking his breath away.
It was Niall at four years old! Niall with his shock of bright hair and his sturdy little body and his frowning bewilderment at the world as he’d looked to him—his older brother—for answers …
The feeling in his chest was almost suffocating. Somehow, though, he recovered himself enough to respond to her question about being her father. ‘No, Daisy, I’m not,’ he murmured huskily.
Had she imagined that crack in his voice? Sienna wondered, noticing how long and tanned and utterly masculine his hands were as they clasped the tiny arms, although he stopped short of actually catching Daisy to him. But she was his late brother’s child, and for the first time it struck Sienna just how much pain the separation between her and Niall’s family might have caused them—all of them. It was something far too uncomfortable to dwell on.
‘This is Daddy’s brother. Your Uncle Conan. Do you remember me telling you about the little holiday we’re going on today?’ Daisy’s shining curls caught the sunlight as she nodded zealously. ‘He’s come to take us back with him to see your grandmother.’
Daisy looked quickly across at the dog, which hadn’t come running up to this disapproving stranger as he had the last time, but was keeping at a very safe distance today. ‘And Shadow?’
‘And Shadow,’ Sienna echoed firmly, with a challenging lift of her chin towards Niall’s brother. So he didn’t like her dog? Well, too bad! Perhaps if she was lucky she could get Shadow to slobber all over him and shed hairs over the back seat of his stupendously expensive car!
‘What about Hippo? Can I take him too?’
‘Of course you can,’ Sienna said warmly. Slicing a glance down at Conan’s gleaming black hair, she wondered what he was thinking when his interest shifted from his niece to the rather worn and faded toy she was clutching.
Had he remembered he had bought it, for Daisy’s first birthday? she wondered. And that with it he had brought a remarkably expensive bottle of champagne? A gift for her and Niall because it was their second wedding anniversary. Niall had telephoned only minutes before and apologised for not being able to get home early as promised for Daisy’s birthday, without a word about their own celebration. She recalled feeling stupidly hurt, thinking how strange it was that Conan had remembered when his brother hadn’t. But then Niall had had a lot on his mind, had been working hard for his little family. And he’d fallen over himself with remorse when he had come home just after midnight and seen the bottle of champagne that Conan had left. He’d made it up to her the next day with chocolates and flowers, promising never—ever—to forget again …
Battling with the turmoil of emotions going on inside her, she saw Conan’s mouth compress in brief recognition of the gift he had given his niece. But then his hands dropped away from the little girl and, getting to his feet again, towering above them both, he said with a coldness that seemed to leave him untouched, ‘Well? Are we ready to go?’
CHAPTER THREE
FROM luxury saloon to private jet, to the equally luxurious chauffeur-driven car that had been waiting for them at the airport, the journey to Provence had been as smooth and as hassle-free as only the journeys of men as mega-rich as Conan Ryder could be. A discreet cabin crew had catered for their every need while Conan worked on his laptop in a separate compartment of the plane, keeping Sienna topped up with refreshments and occupying Daisy with games and the odd edible treat. Even Shadow had slept most of the way, in the large, comfortable carrier provided for the purpose, oblivious to the fact that he was being whisked thousands of feet up over a glittering body of water, and down across vast swathes of unfenced and sunlit fields.
Now, with the concrete and the crowds of the bustling mainland coast behind them, they were travelling across wild and isolated land jutting out into a sparkling sea.
It was another world, Sienna thought, gazing at the tall pine trees that defined the landscape and concealed exclusive walled mansions from prying eyes. A world far removed from the one she knew. A billionaire’s retreat.
As the car slowed to pass through electrically operated gates into the lush, meandering grounds of Conan’s hideaway, Sienna gulped back a gasp. What she was looking at was no less than magnificent. A huge white modern terracotta-roofed villa built on various levels, with a profusion of flower draped balconies, balustrades and floor to ceiling windows enjoying dramatic views of the rocky coast above which they were perched, of looming mountains and a breath-catching expanse of azure water.
Conan was sitting in the front of the car, conversing with his driver in amazingly fluent French, and had said very little to her since leaving the airport.
Viewing his dark and striking profile with the same mixture of wonder and appreciation with which she would view a classical marble statue as he turned and laughed at something the chauffeur had said, she resolved never to let him see just how overwhelmed she was by his wealth and his dauntingly impressive house—or by him!
Sitting immediately behind him, however, little Daisy had no such qualms.
As the car drew to a standstill at the end of the long drive, she exclaimed excitedly, ‘Is this where we’re going to live?’
‘Yes, Daisy.’ Conan’s voice was decisive, causing Sienna to look at him quickly with a little trickle of unease.
‘For ever and ever?’
Ignoring her mother’s questioning glare—deliberately, Sienna felt—Conan laughed rather menacingly, she thought. ‘I think even you would tire of such delightful surroundings eventually.’
‘No, I wouldn’t,’ the little girl lobbed back, certain of it. And if that conversation wasn’t enough to unsettle Sienna, then her daughter’s continuing enthusiasm made sure of it as Daisy asked her uncle, ‘Are you going to live with us too?’
Trying to reject the unwelcome connotations inspired by that innocent enough question, as Conan’s glance sliced across hers with something mocking in those green-gold eyes, she uttered quickly for his as well as her daughter’s benefit, ‘It’s just a holiday, Daisy. Just for a few weeks. That’s all.’
Something firmed the hard line of that sculpted masculine mouth, but the arrival of a couple of male members of staff to deal with their bags and let a grateful Shadow out of the back of the car precluded whatever he had been about to say.
Out of the car before Conan could come round to assist her, Sienna moved to catch Daisy’s hand to stop her running on ahead. Or perhaps, subconsciously, she needed the little girl’s support as much as her daughter usually needed hers, Sienna thought self-deprecatingly, nervous at suddenly finding herself on this unfamiliar, unfriendly, exclusively Ryder territory.
Surprisingly, though, Daisy made a small protest and tugged away from her, causing something not unlike resentment to rush up inside Sienna as the little girl ran over to grasp Conan’s hand.
This unexpected action caught Conan totally unawares. With a sharp intake of breath that caused his chest to rise beneath
