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Needing Cesare Urquart? ‘I won’t.’
‘Then you’ll do it?’
Anna’s eyes widened in dismay. ‘No, I just meant...Does he...?’ She swallowed, unable to bring herself to say the name of the man. ‘Does your brother know you’re here?’
‘I mentioned it.’
Anna’s lips twisted in a dubious smile. She was not fooled for a second by the casual tone. ‘And he’s willing to run the risk of me contaminating your daughter?’ Anna couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.
Angel laid her hand on Anna’s shoulder. She was smiling but her narrowed green eyes shone with determination. ‘Cesare is my brother and I owe him a lot, but I’m Jas’s mother and where her welfare is concerned I make the decisions.’
‘But if you work, don’t you already have childcare?’
‘Sure, Jas has a nanny, only poor Jenny came off her bike, broke her leg and won’t be out of her plaster for another six weeks. She’d hobble back to work if I let her, but it’s out of the question.’ She gave a sigh. ‘Look, forget it. This isn’t your problem. I shouldn’t have come, and believe me you’re not the only one who is intimidated by my big brother.’ She fastened the button on her jacket and swept a strand of gleaming dark hair from her face.
‘I’m not intimidated by your brother.’
‘Of course you’re not,’ Angel soothed.
Anna’s jaw tightened. ‘I’ll do it.’
Angel’s smile flashed. She was already fishing a mobile phone from her pocket. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Totally.’
Angel made a call on her mobile.
‘Hi, Hamish. Yes. Bring Jas up.’ She looked at the bag on Anna’s bed. ‘Good, you’re packed,’ she approved. ‘You travel light, but no problem—we can stop on the way and pick up some more things. What size are you—six, eight?’
Anna blinked. ‘Your daughter is here? You expect me to come now?’
Angel looked surprised by the question. ‘Anna, I’m catching my flight at midnight and—’
‘You must have been very sure I’d say yes.’
The woman gave an airy shrug. ‘I’m by nature an optimistic person.’
Anna gave the sleek, stylish brunette a long searching look. Before she could challenge Angel, the door burst open and a small dark-haired figure burst in. Jas Urquart had a shy version of her mother’s smile and a front tooth missing. She was the embodiment of heartbreakingly adorable.
CHAPTER FOUR
HAD SHE BEEN down this corridor before? Anna looked around, trying to decide if the tapestry on the wall looked familiar. She shook her head in defeat; she didn’t have a clue. She kicked herself for not paying more attention.
Instead of looking for landmarks, Anna had been listening to Jasmine’s stream of chatter as the lively little girl had skipped along beside her, relaying some gruesome history, or possibly fantasy—the child clearly had a very lively imagination—of the castle that was her home.
The childish confidences had been liberally littered with her uncle’s name. Based on her experience, Anna would have thought he would feature as an ogre in a child’s life, but no, it was clear that for Jas at least he was something of a hero, endowed, if she was to be believed, with superhuman skills.
Oh, well, I’m sure he’d be the first to agree, Anna thought as her stomach muscles reacted to the image that floated into her head. Eyes as hard and cold as polished steel, a mouth that was cruel. A mouth that was...
She lifted a hand to one warm cheek and, sucking in air through flared nostrils, attempted to banish the image.
‘You’ve done what?’
Had she conjured Cesare up from her fevered imagination? This place was huge—how was it that she couldn’t avoid him, ever?
‘I thought we agreed.’ He was heading towards her, arguing furiously with Angel.
Shaking free of the frozen horror that had nailed her to the spot, Anna stepped back into the shadows. It wasn’t just the three sets of stone steps she had jogged up and down that made her heart pound in her chest as she shamelessly eavesdropped...short of covering her ears, what choice did she have?
When she responded, Angel’s voice did not suggest she was intimidated by the outrage in her brother’s voice; she sounded faintly amused. But mingled with the amusement was a hint of steely determination. Anna’s admiration for her employer went even higher. It took someone with guts to stand up to Cesare Urquart.
