The Taming of Xander Sterne

by Carole Mortimer

‘Until tonight.’

  ‘Until tonight.’ She nodded.

  ‘It didn’t look as if it was a joyful reunion?’

  Sam didn’t open her eyes. ‘Not exactly the highlight of my day, no.’

  ‘Well of course not—that was coming into the church earlier and seeing how handsome I looked in my morning suit!’

  Sam opened one eye as she turned her head to look at Xander seated beside her, receiving a cheeky smile for her effort. ‘Your modesty is just overwhelming!’ she drawled as she closed her eye again.

  It didn’t help that Xander had looked gorgeous in his morning suit. Or that Sam’s heart had given a lurch as she had gazed down the aisle on her arrival at the church, and seen him sitting at the front, looking as handsome and golden as that Norse god he so resembled.

  The Sterne twins had made such a contrast as they’d stood up together at the sound of the Wedding March playing to announce Andy’s arrival outside the church, Darius so dark and compelling, Xander all mesmerising light.

  ‘Isn’t it?’ Xander teased lightly, relieved to see the smile now curving the fullness of Samantha’s lips, even if it was being forced for his benefit.

  Full and delectable lips that Xander had wanted to kiss since the moment he saw her in that red dress as she walked into the church earlier today.

  His thoughts drifted back to the hotel earlier, and what he had been able to see of the man he now knew to be Samantha’s ex-husband. He had been tall in an expensively tailored dark suit, his face strong in profile, dark hair peppered with silver at the temples. He must have been some years older than Samantha.

  But what did it matter what he looked like or how old he was, when Samantha claimed the man had been out of the picture, out of her life, for the past three years?

  And out of Daisy’s, too?

  Xander turned on the sofa, his thigh now gently touching the length of hers. ‘How does Daisy visit her father if you haven’t seen your ex-husband for three years?’

  Her mouth twisted. ‘She doesn’t.’

  Xander frowned. ‘But—’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about this any more tonight, Xander, okay?’ Samantha snapped as she sat forward with the obvious intention of standing up.

  ‘No, it’s not okay.’ Xander put his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from standing up. ‘I want to understand, Samantha. I need to understand.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because for some unknown reason I care!’

  She gave a shake of her head. ‘You don’t even know me.’

  ‘But I’m trying to.’

  Samantha looked at him for several long seconds before giving a shake of her head. ‘No. I—I can’t do this.’ Once again she attempted to stand up.

  Unacceptable.

  Totally unacceptable.

  Samantha might not want to answer his questions right now, but that didn’t change the desire Xander had felt all day to take this woman in his arms and kiss her. And now he wanted to keep on kissing her, until Samantha could think of nothing and no one else but him.

  Was that even wise on his part, when the two of them were going to be living here together for the next two weeks?

  After all the upsets Samantha had already been through today?

  Oh, to hell with what was wise!

  Xander needed to kiss Samantha, more than he wanted to breathe, and as much as he wanted to eliminate the sadness from her lips and those deep shadows from her eyes. ‘Let me in, Samantha,’ he groaned achingly as he moved closer to her.

  Sam’s eyes widened as Xander’s face began to lower towards hers, the arm draped across the back of the sofa now dropping lightly down onto her shoulders, as she realised he was about to kiss her.

  ‘Xander—’ Her weak protest was cut short as Xander’s lips claimed hers in a gentle exploratory kiss.

  Her heart leapt in her chest at the first touch of those sensually sculpted lips against her own, her hand seeming to move up of its own volition to cup Xander’s slightly bristly cheek as he deepened the kiss, caressing and tasting, his arms moving about her waist as he pulled her body in close against him.

  Sam had no resistance to those heated kisses, each more passionate than the last, the desire thrumming hotly through her body as she pressed her breasts against Xander’s chest in an effort to try and ease some of the ache in her sensitive nipples.

  Her breath caught in her throat as Xander’s tongue now swept inside the heat of her mouth, with all the assurance of a Viking invader laying claim to his prize.

  Xander gave a groan as he pressed Samantha gently back, until she lay beneath him on the sofa, her breasts warm and soft against the hardness of his chest, his legs becoming entangled with hers as they lay together, the evidence of his arousal a throbbing ache between them.

  He murmured his pleasure as he felt Samantha’s fingers in his hair as his lips now trailed across the warmth of her cheek and down the column of her throat, teeth nipping lightly on the lobe of her ear, causing her to moan huskily.

  His lips moved lower, exploring the shadowed hollows at the base of her silky throat, one of his hands moving beneath her sweater against the heat of her skin. Samantha groaned low in her throat as one of his hands cupped her breast, its fullness filling his palm.

  It was Xander’s turn to groan as he felt the turgid heat of her nipple pressing against the material of her bra. He pushed her sweater up and out of the way as his lips trailed down to kiss the bared slopes of her breasts before unfastening her bra. He raised his head so that he could look down at her deliciously bared breasts.

  Completely bared breasts that revealed the tattoo of an eagle soaring on the upper slope of her left breast.

  ‘I knew it,’ Xander groaned achingly even as he lowered his head and his tongue traced the outline of that utterly sexy tattoo.

  He immediately realised his mistake in having spoken, as he felt Samantha tense and still beneath him, her fingers tightening briefly in his hair before moving down to his chest as she began to push him away.

  ‘Please, Xander,’ she groaned when he didn’t move. ‘You have to stop now!’

  ‘Why do I?’ he murmured distractedly as he continued to gaze down at those perfect breasts, tipped by swollen and aroused nipples. He was too turned on, too lost to the pleasure that was Samantha, to want to stop this just yet.

  ‘Xander, please!’ Her tone was more urgent now. ‘I don’t— We can’t do this.’ A sob caught in her throat as she pushed against his chest in earnest.

  The haze of desire was slow to lift inside Xander’s head, and it took him several seconds to realise that Samantha was pushing against him.

  His head lifted slowly as he looked at her, those perfect rounded breasts quickly rising and falling as she breathed heavily, her cheeks pale, her kiss-swollen lips parted, and her eyes wide pools of anguish.

  Anguish?

  Because Xander had kissed and caressed her?

  Kisses and caresses she had seemed to enjoy?

  Seemed...

  Could Xander be wrong about Samantha’s response? Could he have wanted to kiss and touch her so much that he had mistaken her initial lack of protest as encouragement?

  Was it possible that it had been so long since he last spent any time with a woman, held a woman in his arms, that he had misread the signals? That he was so physically frustrated he was guilty of kissing the first woman who had seemed willing?

  Well, that last bit wasn’t true, at least; the bridesmaid at the wedding had been more than willing to share his bed tonight. Hell, she had been more than willing for them to book into a room at the hotel for the night!

  She just hadn’t been the woman that Xander wanted.

  Because the woman now lying beneath him was the woman he wanted. Samantha Smith. Mother to Daisy Smit
h.

  And the ex-wife of the man who had upset her earlier at the hotel...

  Damn it, of course he had misread the signals!

  Samantha hadn’t been inviting him to kiss her just now. He had seen it himself; she had been in need of comfort after being so suddenly, so unexpectedly, confronted by her ex-husband. And then her daughter had woken screaming from a nightmare. A nightmare that had caused Daisy to turn to him for that same comfort.

  Xander lifted himself up and away from Samantha before standing up, instantly wincing as the aching pain intensified in his leg. ‘I’m sorry.’ He ran an agitated hand through the heavy thickness of his hair.

  The same hair that Samantha had tugged and pulled on a short time ago as she’d returned—when he had thought she’d returned—the heat of his kisses. Hell, maybe she had been trying to push him away even then!

  Xander turned away from the guilt he felt just looking at Samantha as she refastened her bra and straightened her sweater before sitting upright on the sofa, her eyes dark and bruised-looking, her lips puffy from their kisses. ‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated abruptly. ‘That really was inappropriate of me.’

  Sam knew it had been.

  But oh, how she wished she hadn’t needed to stop their kisses but could instead have taken what Xander had so obviously been offering: a night of uncomplicated and passionate sex.

  Except it wouldn’t be uncomplicated, not when Xander was the man she wanted to make love with, rather than her ex-husband who was demanding she go to bed with him again. Just thinking about Malcolm’s threats earlier was enough to give her nightmares!

  But her problems had nothing to do with Xander. The only reason she was staying in his apartment at all was to take care of him.

  This was a job, for goodness’ sake.

  A job that certainly didn’t come with the fringe benefit of sleeping with the boss.

  Thank goodness Xander had spoken to her and broken the sensual spell she had fallen under, reminding her of where she was. Who she was with!

  She was just so aware of his lethal attraction. The desire he had aroused in her that she had thought long dead.

  But it wasn’t only that. She was just as drawn to knowing the reasons behind those dark shadows that she occasionally saw lurking in the depths of his eyes. As if he had his own painful memories he had to deal with on a daily basis. Memories Sam wanted to know, and possibly share with him.

  Which was utterly ridiculous.

  Why on earth would Xander Sterne, billionaire playboy, have any painful memories, let alone want to share them with someone like her?

  Admittedly his father had died when Xander was still quite young, which must have been difficult for him, but other than that he had led a charmed life. He was rich as Croesus, was obviously loved by his twin and his mother and stepfather. And, if the bridesmaid from earlier was any example, then women were obviously falling over themselves just to be with him.

  So why on earth would he ever feel anything more than a fleeting attraction towards her, let alone a need to share any of his private life with the woman hired to take care of him while his brother was away on his honeymoon?

  He wouldn’t, came the unequivocal answer.

  Even if there was something to share. Which there so obviously wasn’t.

  ‘I am sorry, Samantha.’

  She didn’t look at Xander as she nodded abruptly. ‘So am I.’

  ‘What do you have to be sorry about?’

  A desire that had shocked her to her core.

  Acknowledging Xander’s lethal attraction and acting upon it were two distinctly different things, when Sam hadn’t so much as looked at a man with interest since the end of her marriage to Malcolm. Even without Malcolm’s threats earlier this evening, her ex-husband’s unreasonable behaviour during their marriage should have been a stark lesson to her never to be fooled again by a good-looking face and a charming manner.

  Tonight she had definitely returned the hunger of Xander’s kisses. And allowed Xander to touch her more intimately than any other man had but her husband. She’d also been aroused in a way she could never remember being aroused before. Not even at the start of her marriage to Malcolm, the man she had believed herself to be in love with...

  And that knowledge now terrified her!

  She didn’t want to feel anything for Xander Sterne beyond the necessary concern of a carer for her charge. She didn’t want to like him. Or desire him. She certainly didn’t want to ever be stupid enough to fall in love with him!

  ‘Go to bed, Samantha,’ Xander bit out harshly as he saw the way her face had now paled. ‘I’ll manage to undress myself this evening and you can help me shower in the morning,’ he assured her dryly as she looked at him questioningly.

  Her expression was noticeably one of relief. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Very,’ Xander confirmed as Samantha rushed from the room.

  Or a lustful Xander Sterne...

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ‘GET IN THE CAR, SAM!’

  It was such a pleasant sunny Monday morning that Sam had decided to walk Daisy to school, before leaving her daughter safely in her classroom.

  Despite Malcolm’s threats on Saturday night—threats Sam had been trying to forget all weekend—she was completely unprepared, as she left the school grounds, to see Malcolm sitting behind the wheel of the sleek black saloon car, the passenger-seat window lowered so that he could speak to her.

  Sam desperately tried to gather her scattered wits together as she glared into the open window at him. She didn’t fool herself for a moment that this was going to be any more pleasant a meeting than the one on Saturday evening had been.

  Malcolm’s eyes narrowed to blue chips of ice as she made no move to do as he instructed. ‘Get in the damned car, Sam,’ he repeated harshly. ‘Unless you would prefer I get out of the car and we talk right there on the pavement?’ he added challengingly, as several of the other mothers leaving the school gave them obviously curious looks as they walked past them.

  Unsurprisingly, when for the last eight months Sam had always been alone when she delivered and collected Daisy from school.

  ‘What are you even doing here, Malcolm?’ she demanded as she wrenched the car door open and slid into the passenger seat beside him, knowing she had no other choice if she didn’t want to cause a scene. And for Daisy’s sake, she really didn’t.

  Her one defiant gesture was to deliberately slam the car door shut. She knew how it would irritate Malcolm; unlike his behaviour towards his wife and daughter, Malcolm had always been obsessive about the care and treatment of his cars.

  Shut in the confines of the vehicle with him, Sam instantly became aware of the spicy—and expensive—aftershave Malcolm had always worn, and which she had only ever associated with him. To a degree that if she had happened to smell it randomly these past three years, on some other man, it had always made her feel slightly nauseous. As it now caused her to swallow down the bile rising in her throat.

  Goodness knew the rest of her weekend had been awkward enough, without this.

  There had been Malcolm’s horrible threats for her to deal with, and on top of that Sam had been dreading seeing Xander again on Sunday morning after the intimacies of the previous evening.

  But she needn’t have worried about the latter, because Xander obviously regretted that lapse as much as she did. The two of them had barely exchanged half a dozen words as she’d helped him in and then out of the shower yesterday morning. Later he had refused her polite invitation for him to join her and Daisy when they went swimming an hour or so after lunch. And he had been secluded in his study working when the two of them returned to the apartment, assuring Sam he would get himself a snack to eat later in the evening if he felt hungry.

  If he had done so then Sam had been fast asleep i
n her bed when it happened.

  The only positive thing about yesterday had been that Daisy had seemed completely unaware that she’d had a nightmare the previous night. Nor had there been a repeat of it last night, thank goodness.

  Sam looked at Malcolm warily. ‘I wasn’t even aware you knew where Daisy went to school.’

  He gave her a satisfied smile. ‘You might be surprised at what I’ve been able to find out about you and Daisy in the past twenty-four hours.’

  She gasped. ‘Have you had someone spying on me?’

  That smile faded as he now looked at her with icy eyes through narrowed lids. ‘I had no idea I needed to until I saw you at the Midas Hotel on Saturday evening,’ he dismissed harshly.

  Sam’s heart sank at the mention of that meeting and Malcolm’s threats to her.

  Malcolm’s mouth thinned. ‘I hired a private investigator, and guess what he’s already found out? My ex-wife and my daughter are currently living with Xander Sterne in his apartment.’ His eyes glittered darkly.

  Colour warmed Sam’s previously pale cheeks. ‘It’s none of your business where we live, Malcolm.’

  ‘I’m making it my business, Sam!’ Malcolm reached out to take a painful grip of her wrist. ‘Xander Sterne!’ He gave a disbelieving shake of his head.

  She struggled to free herself. ‘Let go of me!’ she ordered when Malcolm’s fingers tightened more painfully.

  He gritted his teeth. ‘You obviously have a thing about rich and powerful men,’ he taunted.

  ‘If you mean that I despise them, then yes I do.’

  ‘The fact you’re living with Sterne would seem to contradict that statement.’

  Sam gave an inward shiver at the cold fury she could now see in Malcolm’s eyes. ‘I am not romantically involved with Mr Sterne.’

  ‘My information says you are,’ Malcolm rasped. ‘And you’ve dragged my daughter into your little affair,’ he continued purposefully. ‘I think that might be grounds for bringing your fitness as a mother into question.’

  ‘How dare you?’ Sam rounded on him furiously, breathing hard in her agitation. ‘How dare you even say that to me after— You’re the one who has always refused to acknowledge her existence! The one who sold his daughter in exchange for my not asking for a divorce settlement, which would have enabled me to stay at home and be a full-time mother to Daisy. How dare you now accuse me of being an unfit mother, when you have never been a father to Daisy, even for a minute?’ She glowered at him.