he’d cared enough to worry about her safety.
In the old days she’d been thrilled by the way he’d looked after her, showing what she’d thought was a strongly protective nature.
Until she’d discovered her mistake. What she’d seen as caring had been his way of keeping her isolated, separate from the rest of his life. It had been a deliberate tactic to ensure she didn’t know how he used her.
The lush melting warmth inside her dissipated as a chill blast of reality struck right to the bone.
‘I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself! I was doing it long before you turned up.’ Carys wrapped her arms around the faux-leather bag on her lap and turned away.
She was proud of what she’d achieved. When she’d arrived in Australia she’d been a mess, her heart in tatters, her confidence shattered. Even her destination of Melbourne was unplanned. She’d been too distraught to do more than turn up at the airport and board the first available flight home.
Now she’d built a new life for herself and Leo. She was working hard to achieve the financial security they needed.
‘Is that so?’ Scepticism dripped from each syllable as he held her with a glacial green stare. ‘You really think that the best neighbourhood to bring up a child?’
Her fingers, busy fiddling with the zipper on her bag, froze. Every muscle tensed.
Now they’d come to the crux of the matter.
She waited for him to accuse her of being a bad mother, to demand his rights and push his case. Yet he remained silent, only his lowered brows hinting at displeasure.
‘The flat is sunny and comfortable. And affordable.’ It went against the grain to hint at her lack of funds, but no doubt he knew about her precarious finances.
Despite working right up till she went into labour, Carys had used all her meagre savings in the months after Leo’s birth. If it hadn’t been for the money her father had sent long-distance, she wouldn’t have been able to support them. When the going had got really tough, she’d even thought of moving to be with her dad. Till she imagined his horror at the idea.
Only now, with her job at the Landford, could she make ends meet, though most of her wages went on childcare and rent and there was precious little for other necessities.
‘And the location? Your neighbourhood is becoming a hub for drug dealing and prostitution.’
He didn’t bother to hide his disapproval. If she hadn’t been wearing a thick coat, his coruscating glare would have scraped off layers of skin.
‘The reports are exaggerated,’ she bluffed, refusing to admit he’d tapped into her own fear. That the cosy nest she’d created for her son grew less desirable by the week.
Only days ago there’d been more syringes found in the park and another bashing in the street. Carys had decided that, despite the friends she’d made locally, she’d look for somewhere else to bring up Leo.
‘If you say so.’ His tone implied boredom.
Carys was puzzled. This was his opportunity to weigh in with comments about her inability to care for Leo. To make a case that she shouldn’t have sole custody.
Yet Alessandro seemed totally uninterested. Had she got it wrong? Hope rose shakily in her breast.
But if he wasn’t here for her little boy, what did he want from her?
Alessandro tamped down the fury he’d felt ever since receiving this morning’s report. Fury that Carys should live in such a neighbourhood. That she’d hooked up with a man who obviously refused to take care of her and her child.
That he, Alessandro, had let her get under his skin enough to be concerned for her!
He cursed himself for a fool. She’d walked out on him, moved on from whatever relationship they’d had. He should do the same. Dignity and pride demanded it.
He would, he vowed, once he knew all he needed to about those blank months.
Yet that sense of intimate connection still hammered at him. It was stronger even than the cool logic around which he built his life.
Despite her antipathy and her child by another man, Alessandro couldn’t banish the possessiveness that swamped him when he was with her. It consumed him.
Never had he experienced such feelings.
His fists tightened as his temples throbbed. Flickers of images taunted him. Whether remnants of last night’s erotic dreams or snippets of memory, he didn’t know.
He wanted to hate her for the unaccustomed weakness she wrought in him. Yet the bruised violet smudges under her eyes snagged his attention. It had taken more than one sleepless night to put them there.
His belly clenched as he took in her pallor and the way her worn coat dwarfed her. Last night he’d seen she was tired, but he’d been too overwhelmed by his own cataclysmic response to register what looked now like utter exhaustion.
He’d been impatient to solve the riddle that had haunted him so long. Too busy losing himself in her lush curves and feminine promise to admit the extent of her vulnerability.
That vulnerability clawed at his conscience. He should never have unleashed the beast of sexual hunger that roared into life when she was near.
‘Where’s this boyfriend of yours? Why doesn’t he help you?’ He snapped the words out, surprising himself. It wasn’t his way to blurt his thoughts.
Wary eyes met his. They darkened like storm clouds and instinctively he knew she concealed something.
Carys blinked and looked away. ‘I’m fine by myself. I don’t need anyone to—’
‘Of course you do. You shouldn’t be living in this area. Not with a baby.’ He spared the run-down neighbourhood the briefest of glances. It was seedy, an area of urban decline. ‘He should help you.’
Her mouth remained mutinously closed.
Alessandro knew a wholly uncharacteristic desire for hotblooded argument. He, who never let anything ruffle his equanimity! Who was a master at sublimating useless emotions and pursuing his goals with single-minded purpose.
How this woman unsettled him. The last twenty-four hours had been a roller coaster of unfamiliar feelings that made a mockery of his habitual control.
He resented that more than anything.
‘Who is he, Carys? Why do you protect him?’
Because she loved him? Alessandro’s mouth flattened. This should be none of his business, yet he couldn’t let go.
‘I’m not protecting anyone!’ she muttered. ‘There’s no one. What I told you—’
‘You said you’d argued. That’s no excuse for him walking out on his child and its mother.’
Alessandro’s nostrils filled with pungent distaste.
