for you right after Thomas has to go back to the kindergarten. In the meantime, why don’t you have a chat with your son, find out how life has been going for him since you’ve been separated?”
Harper thrust out his hand. “This is mighty generous of you, Mr Ramsey.”
“No problem,” Peter assured him, shaking his hand.
“I’m Dave. Dave Harper.”
“Good to know you, Dave.”
It was good—listening to the man reassuring the little boy that Daddy was okay now and they would get to see each other again soon.
Erin was weaving her magic with the kindergarten children, telling them another fairy tale in rhyming verses. Not one of them looked away from her to check on how Thomas was doing with his father. Disturbance over, Peter thought.
Nevertheless, the older woman, Sarah, would undoubtedly feel obliged to report this incident to Thomas’s mother when she came to pick him up later this afternoon. Which could cause Dave more grief. Although the kidnapping had been averted, the threat of it could be used against him. Better to fix that possible problem before it got rolling.
Besides, the fixing would give him the chance to meet Erin properly.
He would have to use the power of his name to get past Sarah’s objections to his interference, but he couldn’t remain incognito with Erin indefinitely anyway. He grimaced over the necessity for his identity to be revealed, knowing it would inevitably be a factor in how much she would want to know him.
It was always a factor.
But right now he didn’t care.
The desire to have her was far too strong to care about any other factors.
CHAPTER TWO
WHAT a man!
Part of Erin’s mind kept buzzing over him even as she carried through his suggestion of concentrating the children’s attention on another story.
A big man in every sense, she decided—strength, compassion, authority, as well as having a fabulous physique emitting so much male power, her female hormones were leaping around in a frenzy of interest. Definitely a prince of a man, and I’d just love to be his princess, she thought dizzily.
She’d caught a glimpse of him strolling through the park earlier and instantly liked what she saw—very impressive. When he’d settled on the bench seat in easy earshot of her story-telling, it had been impossible to resist the impulse to show off to him, pouring much more vitality into her performance than she usually did. Which was really silly because he was an absolute stranger with no chance of their meeting, given that she was caught up with a group of children.
Then had come his amazing intrusion when Thomas’s father had been about to make a terrible mistake. Generally people did not involve themselves in problems that were none of their business. Yet this man had, taking firm control of a very scary situation and producing alternative courses of action right off the top of his head, which demonstrated a mind used to cutting through to the heart of the matter in no time flat.
He’d even flummoxed Sarah with his air of commanding authority and Erin had never known Sarah to surrender her own authority to anyone else. It was good that she had on this occasion, though. Thomas’s father obviously needed help, not a stint in jail, which would defeat any hope of getting visiting rights with his son. Erin felt sorry for him. Having his wife desert him for a richer man and taking their son with her…he was in a bad place right now.
Apparently Sarah had decided they were in a bad place, too. As soon as the story ended, she was urging the children to pick up their lunch-boxes and form a crocodile line, ready for their return to the kindergarten. She picked up the traffic Stop sign herself, and directed Erin to collect Thomas. “And don’t be put off by the guy who took them over,” she instructed emphatically. “The boy’s mother could sue us for negligence.”
“I’m sure he’ll see that the agreement is kept,” Erin replied confidently.
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to trust a stranger?” Sarah grumbled.
By their actions you shall know them, Erin recited to herself as she set off to approach the big man and the father and son he had taken under his protection. This guy was good. In fact, with his tall, muscular build and thick mass of blond hair, he was the perfect image for a splendid Viking warrior, wielding his powerful sword to fix wrongs. She could already see him being the hero in her next story.
He stood up when he saw her coming. Mr Harper remained seated on the park bench, speaking anxiously to Thomas who was on his lap, soaking up being cuddled by his father.
Erin was conscious of her pulse leaping into a gallop as she met the steady gaze of the self-appointed intermediary. There was a riveting quality about his blue eyes, giving her the weird sensation of a laser-probe straight to her heart.
Her skin tingled as though hit by an electric charge. She’d met a lot of different men in her globe-trotting, literary career. Not one of them had made this kind of impact on her. She wanted to say, “Don’t walk out of my life,” but such a plea seemed too embarrassingly presumptuous.
“Time to go,” she said, feeling a sickening irony in having to act on those words instead.
“It’s okay,” he assured her. “Your name is Erin, right?”
“Yes.” She hesitated, wondering if he would recognise her much published author name and all it now stood for, whether it would mean something positive to him, enough to spark an interest in knowing her. In a self-conscious burst, she added, “Erin Lavelle.”
“Lavelle,” he repeated, rolling it off his tongue as though tasting it.
But she could see it hadn’t made any impact on him. He didn’t know of her. He was probably more a man of action than a book person. They were simply passersby, not occupying the same world, only this bit of park on a summer day.
He smiled, the flash of perfect white teeth reminding her of the smile of the BMW driver, but this couldn’t be the same man, could it?
“Sarah is the one in charge of the kindergarten?” he asked.
“Yes. Sarah Deering. She’s my aunt.”
Why she’d given this information, she didn’t know. It was irrelevant.
“I don’t suppose Ms Deering will let this go—not report it to Thomas’s mother,” he probed.
Erin shook her head. “I think Sarah will feel the need to cover herself in case of a repeat occurrence.”
He nodded and handed her a business card. “Tell your aunt I will personally ensure that the right avenues for custody will be pursued.” The blue eyes hardened with intimidating purpose as he added, “She might like to pass that on to Mrs Harper.”
For some reason he was assuming he spoke from a position of power. In fact, power radiated so strongly from him, a little shiver of trepidation ran down Erin’s spine as she glanced at the name on the card.
Peter Ramsey.
It
