Page 3 of Magnus
He was wearing a perfectly tailored suit and shirt, with a silk tie. But those expensive trappings didn’t detract from the fact that at four inches over six feet tall, with a wide and muscular chest and shoulders, he looked intimidating. He also had a thick dark beard the same color as his hair, and it pretty well covered the lower half of his face.
Which was why it was doubly interesting to him that this cute little girl, out of all the people in the park she could have chosen, decided to speak to him. He accepted the draw of Angus was the reason for her initial conversation, but it wasn’t why she had continued to stay and talk to him.
The woman had the grace to look a little uncomfortable, but she didn’t back down. “I am merely trying to instill in Angelique how dangerous it was for her to run off and then to start speaking to a complete stranger.”
“Of course you are.” Magnus took a step forward to pry the woman’s fingers off Angel’s arm. As he had expected, the skin beneath was already red as an indication it would later bruise. He lifted his narrowed gaze to glare at the woman as he spoke to the child rather than this poor excuse for an adult. “What is the name of your nursery, Angel?”
“Buzzy Bees,” she announced proudly.
“Mm.” Magnus’s cold gaze narrowed on the woman standing beside her. “What are you doing at the park?”
“I and four of my colleagues brought ten of the older children to feed the ducks in the lake over there. We were in charge of two children each,” Miss Francesca explained tartly. “None of us realized until a few minutes ago that Angelique had wandered off,” she accused with another glare at the little girl.
“She prefers to be called Angel.”
“I don’t approve of nicknames,” the woman informed him with a haughty sniff.
Did she just fuckingsniffat him?
Magnus had only met this woman a few seconds ago, but he already knew there would be a whole slew of things Miss Francesca “didn’t approve of.” Including him.
Unfortunately for her, Magnus didn’t approve ofhereither. “And was it you or one of your colleagues who was put in charge of keeping Angel safe?”
Angry color darkened those thin cheeks. “I wasn’tputanywhere.”
“But she was under your protection?”
“Yes, but?—”
“I’m sure you are as aware as I am that there are no acceptable buts where the safety and well-being of a child is concerned,” Magnus bit out before turning to the little girl. “It has been a privilege and a pleasure to meet you, little Angel,” he told her warmly as he drew out his wallet from the breast pocket of his jacket to take out one of his private cards. It had the address of his London apartment and his cell phone number on it. “Would you please give this to your mummy and ask her to call me?” He crouched down to hand the card to the little girl. “There are a few things I would like to discuss with her.” He gave Miss Francesca a pointed glance as he straightened back to his full height.
The woman’s scowl told him there was very little possibility of that business card getting into the hands of Angel’s mummy. Or anyone else in a position of authority who might demand answers for her behavior. But Magnus wasn’t concerned, because he now had the name of the nursery.
How many Buzzy Bees nurseries could there be?
A whole damn lot, as it happened, Magnus discovered when he returned to his office and started looking online. Bees were apparently a thing right now, and Buzzy, the lady in charge of the second nursery he’d called wanting to know if a Miss Francesca worked there had explained, was a play on the word busy.
Magnus had decided before making the calls that it would be more prudent to ask if a Miss Francesca was an employee rather than if Angelique Jones was one of the children in their care. He doubted the name of a child, or confirmation she was one of their charges, was the sort of information any self-respecting person running a nursery would be willing to share.
At least he sincerely hoped that not everyone who worked at a children’s nursery was as careless with the safety and privacy of their young charges as this Francesca woman had been earlier today.
Magnus struck lucky at the fifth nursery when he spoke to a very pleasant-sounding young lady who confirmed that yes, they had a Miss Francesca in their employ. She happily introduced herself as Allison Fairbody, but refused to give out any other details about one of her employees.
Luckily, Magnus didn’t need to know anything more than he did to feel justified in making an appointment to see Allison Fairbody at five thirty that evening. When she’d asked what it was in connection to, he’d told her the truth. He wanted to talk about Miss Francesca, but it was also in relation to Angelique Jones. At the mention of Angel, Ms. Fairbody had become even more guarded in her manner.
Magnus knew it was none of his fucking business if this Francesca woman was incompetent at her job. But he didn’t like cruelty or bullying in any shape or form. Plus, he’d witnessed the woman’s physical cruelty toward Angel today. Angel had also told him of how the woman denied her the comfort of her cuddly toy and the pleasure of desserts. The first for no good reason Magnus could see, and the second for the minor infringement of not having eaten enough to earn the dessert.
As far as he was concerned, Francesca sounded like an all-round nasty piece of work. She certainly shouldn’t have any authority over small children, but especially a cute little girl like Angel.
There he went again with thecute, when he had never called anyone that in his entire life before.
Put that together with his appointment to visit the nursery this evening, and Magnus knew he was well and truly fucked.
Sapphie desperately triedto remain outwardly calm. Which wasn’t all that easy to do when inside, she was already frantically making plans for as quick and quiet a getaway from London for herself and Angel as she could in the next couple of hours.
All because Allison Fairbody had been waiting for Sapphie when she arrived at the nursery a few minutes ago. She had wanted her to know that a man called Magnus Wynter, a man Sapphie had assured the other woman she didn’t know and had never heard of, was due to arrive any minute after telephoning to make inquiries about Angel earlier today.
“I did ask for you to call me if something like this happened so that I could take Angel out of school as quickly as possible.” She winced at hearing the accusation in her tone. “I’m sorry, that was unfair of me when you kindly agreed to take Angel in the first place, even knowing of our…family circumstances.”
