His Last Chance at Redemption. Michelle Conder

felt like a dead weight in his chest as he stepped through it and gazed at the blond-haired toddler happily making truck sounds as he scooped sand into the digger.

      Chort vozmi. God damn it. He couldn’t do this.

      He turned to the woman behind him and gripped her arms as a fear he hadn’t felt in years assailed him.

      ‘You can’t do what?’ Lexi asked, her eyes racing across Leo Aleksandrov’s suddenly pale face. He looked as if he were facing a smoking gun and she had no idea what to do. Her heart hammered in her chest. This close, she could see the blue of his eyes was shot through with silver and the stubble lining his jaw made his face impossibly handsome. ‘Mr Aleksandrov?’

      Her soft tone seemed to bring his eyes back into focus because he let her go and stepped backwards as he turned to stare at his son.

      She rubbed her arms and glanced at Ty, who was regarding them curiously, no hint of recognition on his face at all. She tried to remember what Amanda Weston had said about Ty’s father when she had first enrolled Ty at the centre but her memory was hazy. Something about him not being interested in Ty and a request that they not ask Ty about him. Obviously, whatever had happened between Amanda and Leo, it had not ended well and Ty had borne the brunt of that.

      Lexi felt sick. She hated men who didn’t take responsibility for their actions, who didn’t care enough about their children to spend time with them.

      Trying to quell her rising anger for Ty’s sake, Lexi stepped forward. ‘Ty, come on. Your da— Oh!’

      Strong fingers bit into her upper arms as the man behind her grabbed her and hauled her back against him. Lexi stumbled in her high heels and fell back against a chest as rock-solid as granite. The breath left her lungs as one of his powerful arms banded her torso just below her breasts to keep her upright.

      She instantly caught fire at his touch, unbidden lust tightening her breasts and sending a spiral of heat straight to her pelvis. Shocked by her instant sexual response—a response she’d been trying to deny since she’d first seen him—Lexi turned in the circle of his arms with every intention of pushing him away. Only once her hands flattened against the brick wall of his chest, his heat and his scent had a paralysing effect on her senses. Now she didn’t want to push him away. Now she wanted to rise up onto her toes and kiss him. As if reading her thoughts, his eyes darkened to navy and took on a fierce quality that sent her senses into overdrive.

      The faint buzzing of the airconditioning and the gentle sound of the wind chimes receded and Lexi was completely captivated as his head slowly lowered to hers. His hands at her waist tightened, pulling her inexorably closer, and her startled gaze flew to his as she felt the unmistakable edge of his erection brush against her belly.

      His eyes held hers, his mouth hovering just out of reach, their breaths mingling, and Lexi couldn’t move. Then his gaze clouded over, registering the shock she felt, and before she could suck in another breath he shoved her back from him and stalked inside.

      Lexi followed him to the doorway as if in a daze, her body sending all sorts of mixed messages to her brain. One of which was to follow him inside and press herself up against him and never let go. Which was just crazy! She never behaved like that. Not even with Brandon!

      ‘He doesn’t know I’m his father.’

      The harsh words broke into her personal thoughts and when she realised what he had said she couldn’t hide her horror. ‘How—’

      ‘We’ve never met.’

      What?

      Lexi gripped the door frame, shaking her head. ‘That’s not possible.’

      Leo’s face as he looked at her was grim, all signs of his earlier arousal gone, while her own body still felt soft and jittery from the shock of all that maleness pressed so intimately against her own. She’d been right in her premonition before. The man was lethal—just not in the way she had expected.

      His mouth tightened and she realised she was staring at it, wondering how it would have felt if he hadn’t stopped himself before. If she’d taken matters into her own hands and … whoa, girl, hold the fort. You do not want to kiss this man.

      ‘I assure you it is,’ he rasped raggedly.

      Lexi’s mind retraced their conversation and a thousand questions winged into it. But uppermost in her thinking was Ty’s welfare. He hadn’t been the same since his grandmother had passed away and now, to be taken by a strange man for three days—even if he was his father—could have a huge psychological impact on him.

      And could she trust that this dangerous Russian was telling the truth about why he wanted Ty?

      She forced herself to meet Leo’s guarded eyes and willed her mind to concentrate on what was important. ‘If that’s true, he’s not going to feel comfortable going with you,’ she informed him shortly.

      He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away. ‘I know. I should have thought of that earlier and organised the nanny to meet me here instead of my apartment.’

      ‘Nanny?’ Lexi frowned and glanced behind her to make sure Ty was still playing happily. ‘Has Ty met this person before?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Then he won’t be happy with her either.’

      ‘She’ll know what to do.’

      ‘Not necessarily. Do you even have a proper car seat fitted?’

      ‘I have a limousine.’

      ‘That doesn’t answer my question. Listen, if Ty doesn’t know you and you’re taking him to an unfamiliar place, that will be scary for a three-year-old. Not to mention potentially damaging to his psyche.’

      ‘You let me worry about his psyche,’ he growled impatiently and Lexi could see from the arrogant tilt of his head that his momentary panic from before was over and that he was firmly back in control.

      ‘It doesn’t seem that you’ve been worried about much at all where your son is concerned,’ she said tartly.

      His gaze sharpened. ‘Who do you think pays for this fancy establishment?’

      ‘I meant emotionally.’

      He looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign language and she huffed out a breath. Arguing was not going to solve this situation. ‘He needs something familiar. Do you have his favourite toy? Blanket?’

      For a minute he looked utterly lost and despite the fact that she despised his type, her heart went out to him.

      He paced away from her and it seemed an age before he answered. Then he turned and her breath stalled at the sight of the bold smile that tilted the corners of his sexy mouth. ‘I have something better.’

      She was almost afraid to ask. ‘Like what?’

      ‘Like you.’

      CHAPTER THREE

      ‘WHY is he crying?’ Leo asked, tugging loose another button on his shirt, which felt suddenly too tight. Ty had been crying on and off for half an hour and the sobs were twisting his gut to the point where he couldn’t concentrate on work.

      Lexi Somers, who had reluctantly accompanied him to his apartment two hours ago, reached across and took the distressed toddler from the matronly arms of the nanny, Mrs Parsons, whom Danny had organised. Instantly the boy cuddled into her and started sucking his thumb, huge teardrops clinging to his lower lashes.

      Leo was aware that his pulse was racing just looking at his son and turned his attention to the woman holding him. Which wasn’t much better because his mind instantly recalled the feel of her soft body against his and the moment he’d almost kissed her. As if he needed that complication right now. Today, at lunchtime, he would have welcomed the way she made him feel. Now, with his world unravelling at the seams, the last thing he needed to think about was sex. Especially sex with a