from his reality he was struggling to be one step ahead of the issues.
Then it hit him. He’d forgotten to treat this situation like a business transaction. And hadn’t he learned that everything came down to one thing?
‘How much do you need to hand Ty over?’
‘Excuse me?’
His eyes grew flinty. ‘You heard. I’m a wealthy man.’ He raked her with cool eyes. ‘I’m sure your wardrobe could do with an update.’
Her mouth fell open and she stared at him as if he’d just asked her how to build a pipe bomb. ‘Are you seriously trying to bribe me?’
Leo closed his eyes and then glanced at the ceiling before bringing his gaze back to her. He stood up. ‘I already told you I’m short on time and you’ve wasted enough of it. I’m the boy’s father; even you recognised that, so just—’
The phone ringing interrupted him and they both stared at it as if it were a snake. Then the angel leaned over to pick it up. He could tell straight away it was Amanda by the way her eyes flew to his. ‘I see,’ she murmured, before turning her back on him.
Leo’s anger spiked and he lunged for the phone and yanked it out of her hands. ‘Amanda, what do you—’ think you’re doing? he finished silently as the call was disconnected. He stared at the phone and swore viciously before tossing it onto Ty’s file.
He felt confined and edgy in the tiny room. Then the annoying tinkle above the door sounded and a blonde poked her head through and eyed him as one would a dangerous animal. Which was exactly how he felt.
‘Everything okay in here, Lex?’
Lexi’s eyes flashed to his and he waited for her to say no. ‘I think so. But can you hang around for another couple of minutes?’
‘Sure. Ty is the only one left and Tina’s gone.’ The woman glanced in his direction and then dropped her eyes.
‘Okay. I’ll have this sorted in a jiffy,’ Lexi said.
Leo looked at her. ‘What’s a jiffy?’
She seemed momentarily confused and then shook her head. ‘I have no idea. It’s a figure of speech. You’re Russian?’
‘Da. Yes. And you are English?’
‘Yes.’
Something indefinable passed between them and then, thankfully, she shook her head and broke the connection. ‘Okay. It seems that Amanda has gone away for the weekend and she just had enough time to tell me that you are Ty’s father before you wrenched the phone from my hand like a Neanderthal.’
Leo didn’t flinch at the criticism. ‘Good. Then I can go.’
He stood and heard her release a noisy breath before she too rose to her feet.
‘What now?’ he growled, desperate to put this woman with her accusing golden-green eyes behind him.
‘Why are you not on any of his forms?’
‘Amanda has sole custody.’
‘Why?’
‘At the risk of sounding rude, Miss Somers, that’s none of your business.’
‘You’re wrong.’ She rounded her desk and stood in front of him. ‘Ty is in my care and as I don’t have written authority to hand him over to you I could still lose my licence as a childcare provider if I released him to you and something happened to him.’
‘I appreciate your predicament but that is not my fault. Amanda should have made the proper arrangements.’
She considered him for a moment. ‘Promise me you’re not some maniac of a father who is going to do something terrible the moment you have him alone.’
The skin on Leo’s face pulled tight and his mouth went dry as she inadvertently tore a strip off one of the bandages concealing his childhood wounds. He was aware that his breathing had become shallow and that his blood was roaring in his ears.
He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from hers and yet looking into her innocently questioning gaze was searing him with pain. ‘I would never intentionally hurt my son,’ he said hoarsely, his accent thicker as he fought to contain memories from the past.
He waited for her to contradict him. To say that she could see the blackness inside him, but she didn’t. Instead she nodded curtly. ‘Follow me.’
He released a harsh breath and followed her out into the main area of the centre, which was eerily neat and quiet. The blonde from before stepped through the opposite doorway. ‘Ty is in the sandpit.’
‘Thanks, Aimee. You go ahead. I’ll be home shortly.’
‘I’ll probably be at Todd’s.’
Lexi smiled and Leo’s stomach did a somersault. ‘I’ll see you next week then.’
‘Have a fun time away if you decide to go.’ She raised her eyebrows and Leo wondered where Lexi Somers was going this weekend and why he cared. Then he forgot about it as the blonde walked away and he was confronted with an empty doorway.
His heart felt like a dead weight in his chest as he stepped through it and gazed at the blond-haired toddler happily making truck sounds as he scooped sand into the digger.
Chort vozmi. God damn it. He couldn’t do this.
He turned to the woman behind him and gripped her arms as a fear he hadn’t felt in years assailed him.
‘You can’t do what?’ Lexi asked, her eyes racing across Leo Aleksandrov’s suddenly pale face. He looked as if he were facing a smoking gun and she had no idea what to do. Her heart hammered in her chest. This close, she could see the blue of his eyes was shot through with silver and the stubble lining his jaw made his face impossibly handsome. ‘Mr Aleksandrov?’
Her soft tone seemed to bring his eyes back into focus because he let her go and stepped backwards as he turned to stare at his son.
She rubbed her arms and glanced at Ty, who was regarding them curiously, no hint of recognition on his face at all. She tried to remember what Amanda Weston had said about Ty’s father when she had first enrolled Ty at the centre but her memory was hazy. Something about him not being interested in Ty and a request that they not ask Ty about him. Obviously, whatever had happened between Amanda and Leo, it had not ended well and Ty had borne the brunt of that.
Lexi felt sick. She hated men who didn’t take responsibility for their actions, who didn’t care enough about their children to spend time with them.
Trying to quell her rising anger for Ty’s sake, Lexi stepped forward. ‘Ty, come on. Your da— Oh!’
Strong fingers bit into her upper arms as the man behind her grabbed her and hauled her back against him. Lexi stumbled in her high heels and fell back against a chest as rock-solid as granite. The breath left her lungs as one of his powerful arms banded her torso just below her breasts to keep her upright.
She
