His Last Chance at Redemption Read Online Free Page A

list of appointed people permitted to collect him.’
    Chort vozmi!
‘What a load of rubbish,’ he rasped.
    She stood up to face him and gripped the edges of her desk. ‘It’s not rubbish. We have procedures in the centre to ensure the children’s safety and—’
    ‘If you knew who I was you wouldn’t be arguing with me.’
    He blew out a breath. He sounded like a self-important ass and the look on the brunette’s face said she’d come to the same conclusion.
    ‘Why? Because you’re above the law?’ The imperious question didn’t require an answer but he wanted to give her one. He wanted to take the line his Cossack ancestors would have done: press her up against the wall and take what her wide-spaced golden eyes had been offering since she’d first marched into the room. Then he’d take his son and get the hell out of there.
    Pity a couple of centuries had spoiled that option.
    ‘I’m his father,’ he ground out, the words sounding strange to his ears.
    ‘A father whose name is not on any of our forms,’ she reminded him. ‘And why is that?’
    Leo reined in surging guilt that threatened to spiral into rage and paced two steps to the back of the room.
    He sucked in a deep breath, knowing that logically she had a point even though her question was way out of line.
    He turned back to face her. ‘Look, Miss Somers—’ he unclenched his jaw ‘—I want to be here about as much as you want me here but I don’t have a choice. Amanda delivered a note to my office advising me that there was no one else to take care of Ty. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.’
    ‘Are you having custody issues?’
    Leo felt his eyes harden. ‘I am not about to discuss my personal business with you.’
    She stood firm. ‘And I’m not about to release a child into the care of a man I’ve never met before and who is not on his list of trusted carers.’
    Leo rubbed his neck. ‘Try his mother again.’
    She looked as if she wouldn’t but then picked up the phone and hit redial.
    ‘Still no answer.’
    Leo swore and saw her eyes widen in silent reprimand. Too bad. The angel didn’t like his language.
    Then he returned to the doll’s chair and sprawled in front of her. ‘So what do we do now?’
    For the first time since she returned she looked unsure and swivelled around to check the clock behind her.
    ‘Half an hour to go, angel. Maybe we should find something else to do other than argue to make the time go quicker.’
    Her eyes took on the size of the dinner plates his lunch had been served on and he cursed his rampaging libido. What was he doing thinking about sex with this woman at a time like this? ‘Forget I said that.’
    ‘I most certainly will. It was tacky in the extreme.’
    Leo’s eyes wandered over her with insolent abandon. ‘Don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it, angel.’
    She gasped and he smiled at her outrage. ‘I most certainly have not! And do not call me angel.’
    He smiled. She had. And so had he.
    ‘I’ll call you whatever I want and you’re a liar.’
    ‘And you’re incredibly rude.’
    He shrugged and checked the clock. ‘Are you seriously going to make me wait until six o’clock before I can take him?’ He’d never come up against such resistance from a woman before.
    ‘No. I’m going to call the police.’ She reached for the phone and he leaned across the desk and covered her hand with oneof his. Sensation shot up his arm at the contact and for a moment all he could do was stare at her.
    Time seemed suspended between them and then she wrenched her hand out from under his. ‘Get your hands off me.’
    ‘Settle down, Miss Somers, before you get hysterical.’
    ‘I do not get
hysterical
. But you are crossing the line Mr Aleksandrov, and I want you to leave.’
    Leo scrubbed his face. At least she remembered his name this time. ‘I apologise. Call the police if it makes you feel better but it won’t change anything. Amanda Weston has done a runner for the weekend