Page 15 of Magnus
Sapphie opened her eyes to gaze into green ones that appeared equally as shocked that the two of them had been so engrossed in kissing each other, in their responses to each other, that they had both briefly forgotten they had a four-year-old audience.
A wave of guilt instantly washed over Sapphie. Angel was her entire world. Her total focus in life. How could she have forgotten her daughter, even for a second, and the danger of discovery the two of them were in constantly?
At least Magnus had had the foresight to close the door so they weren’t on display to anyone walking by in the hallway!
He kept one arm about her shoulders when she tried to pull away, successfully anchoring her to his side, “Stay where you are,” he growled close to her ear so that only she could hear. “Yes, I am.” His voice had risen and softened when he answered Angel. “Is that okay with you?”
Angel tilted her head as she regarded them both quizzically before answering. The dog sitting at her side mirrored the movement. “I suppose so. But Mummy usually only kisses me.”
Sapphie felt Magnus’s questioning gaze on her, but she stubbornly refused to look at him. This situation was dire enough without her explaining or confirming Angel’s statement.
Except…
It seemed that Magnus’s brother had given him enough information about them to know that the reason she and Angel kept constantly on the move was because Marco’s parents were trying to take Angel from her. If he knew that, then he probably also knew about the state of her marriage when Marco died.
That still didn’t mean Sapphie was about to confirm or deny what Angel had said. “Not that you can remember, darling.” She eased out from beneath Magnus’s arm about her shoulders in order to step forward and go down on one knee beside her daughter. “I used to kiss lots of people before there was just you and me.” She ignored the low growl emanating from the man above her.
“Now there’s Magnus and Angus too,” Angel stated, one of her tiny hands resting on the dog’s head beside her.
“Well, no, not really,” Sapphie dismissed. “Magnus is just visiting for a few hours. He has to go back to London shortly. I’m sure his cousin will be wanting his dog returned to him soon too.” She was pleased with herself for remembering that Angus wasn’t Magnus’s dog.
Angel’s face crumpled and fresh tears began to fall as she once again launched herself across the room at Magnus. “I don’t want you and Angus to go!” she wailed as he lifted her into his arms.
Sapphie totally sympathized with that sentiment as she slowly straightened to her feet. She might have only known Magnus for less than twenty-four hours, but she didn’t want him to go either.
Because he made her feel safe.
Wanted too, when he held her in his arms and kissed her.
Safeandwanted, two things Sapphie hadn’t felt in a very long time.
Yes, she’d felt intimidated by Magnus’s height and muscled body when she first saw him. By howbighe was. But those were the same characteristics that now made her feel protected. As if nothing, and no one, could ever harm her or Angel when he was around to stand between them and that danger.
Which was complete nonsense!
Magnus wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing to stop her extradition from the UK, or having both her and Angel returned to the US, if the Carluccis ever learned where they were. When Sapphie would have to face charges for supposedly having abducted her own daughter.
Sapphie was sure that, in some cases, the safety of a child, whether with a parent or grandparents, should be thoroughly investigated before it was allowed to stand. She was well aware of the monsters there were in the world who would rather harm a child than love them.
But the Carlucci family were not only wealthy but powerful, and most especially so in Washington, DC. They would feel absolutely no qualms in wielding that wealth and power as a weapon against Sapphie in order to take Angel from her.
When she left the States, she’d only had the money that had been left in the bank account she shared with Marco. Luckily, she’d managed to transfer it to an account in the UK before her in-laws were able to freeze it, as they had all of Marco’s other assets. The Carluccis’ money and power at work again.
It hadn’t been a lot of money, Marco not having been in full possession of his trust fund until he reached the age of thirty. But the interest had been paid into their joint account each quarter.
It had been the dollars from the last payment, changed into English pounds, and the odd commission Sapphie had managed to pick up online to illustrate children’s books, that had kept her and Angel off the Carluccis’ radar for the past two years.
That had kept them off everyone’s radar.
With Magnus’s appearance in Edinburgh, that was obviously no longer the case. Which was why Sapphie needed him gone.
“I’m not leaving you, Sapphie. Either of you,” Magnus told her evenly, alerting her to the fact she must have said at least those last three words out loud. “In fact, I intend, with your agreement, to do the complete opposite. I want you to marry me.”
Sapphie could honestly say she had never been more shocked in her life.
Not when she’d learned of Marco’s infidelity.
Not when he’d died so suddenly, and horrifically, after a brief few years of marriage.
