Page 9 of Magnus
Magnus thought about that feeling of being hit by a four-by-four to the chest the first time he looked at Sapphie, and his cock’s reaction to her, and answered truthfully. “I believe she’s going to be. Very much so.”
“Okay.” Linus nodded briskly. “So, it took a while to get through all the bullshit. But I won’t bother you with the details of that,” he added after obviously seeing the same impatience in Magnus’s expression that he was feeling inside. “By a process of elimination, I finally tracked down her details and now know your woman’s birth name is Sapphire Walker.”
“She isn’tmywoman, and she prefers to be called Sapphie.” Although Sapphire was a beautiful name. It also indicated that when she was born, her parents hadn’t known the blue eyes she’d had at birth would become the beautiful violet color they were now.
“Whatever.” His brother gave a disinterested shrug. “She was born in Devon almost twenty-five years ago. Her parents died in a house fire when she was eight. There were no grandparents or other relatives to take her in, and so she spent the next ten years in care. She has a four-year-old daughter named Angelique.”
“Who prefers to be called Angel.”
“Fair enough.”
Magnus frowned. “Is she married? Divorced?” He knew Angel had said her mother wasn’t marriednow,but that didn’t mean Sapphire hadn’t been married and was now divorced, and the reason she was running was because of contention as to which parent had custody of Angel. The fact Angel notably hadn’t mentioned having a daddy would imply it had to be something like that.
“She’s very much a widow.” Linus’s revelation blew any further supposition on that subject out of the water.
Magnus grimaced his dissatisfaction with the answer. His eyes narrowed. “When and how did her husband die?”
“Two years ago. As for the how, this is where the ‘very much’ part of her widowhood comes in,” Linus announced cheerfully. “The death certificate states her husband’s cause of death as being ‘multiple fatal injuries.’ Which is a polite way of saying they couldn’t decide which injury had killed him after his body was broken beyond repair when the helicopter he was a passenger in hit the ground with enough force to mangle it and the people inside beyond recognition.”
Ah. Magnus knew instinctively there was more. Much more. “And who was he?”
“Marco Carlucci.”
“Jesus Christ!” Magnus recoiled back to stare across at his brother. “TheMarco Carlucci?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
Linus looked suitably irritated by the question. They all knew he didn’t make mistakes. Ever. “Very.”
Marco Carlucci had been the only son and heir of Roman and Patrice Carlucci. He had also been a newcomer to American politics, not yet old enough to run for the Senate but very visible as a future contender. His charm and charisma had been likened to the Kennedys. He had even met his death, in a helicopter crash just outside Washington, DC, two years ago, in a similar way to a couple of members of that famous family.
The senior Carlucci, Roman, was very rich and even more powerful.
The media had been full of the family tragedy for weeks after the helicopter crash. Magnus vaguely recalled those reports mentioning the other man had been married, and that he had a young daughter. But as there hadn’t been any pictures of the two of them, that Magnus remembered, at least, he’d had no idea what that wife or child looked like.
He knew now.
Angels.
They both looked like angels.
And yesterday, Sapphie, after learning of Angel’s unauthorized visit to the park and her daughter’s conversation with Magnus, had looked absolutely terrified.
He released a slow breath. “I’m taking a guess that when their only son died, the Carlucci seniors wanted to spend more time with their granddaughter.”
“A lot more,” Linus confirmed grimly. “In fact, they went for full custody of Angel, claiming their daughter-in-law is an unfit mother. A warrant for Sapphie’s arrest for abducting the Carluccis’ granddaughter was issued.”
“She’s Sapphie’s daughter!”
Linus grimaced. “The Carluccis lost their son. They now want custody of the last person to carry their DNA.”
Andthiswas what Sapphie was running from? Had been running from for the past two years?
All of Magnus’s protective instincts were now tuned fully toward Sapphie and Angel.
He might have only met the little girl for a few minutes, and Sapphie for even less time, but even so, it had been long enough for him to know that Angel was an adorable and outgoing little girl. Maybe not so wise in her choice of a pet spider, but otherwise, yes, Angel was obviously well-adjusted and happy to be with her mother. Magnus had no doubt those traits had been instilled in her by the unconditional love given to her by the protective and very loving Sapphie.
