Page 20 of Bound By Her Shocking Secret

Daniel wanted to usher a modern era into the Devilliers brand but announcing a secret child, an ex-lover and a potential legal battle for custody, while certainly very modern, was not going in the right direction.

As if sensing that she’d got through to him, Mia said, ‘I’m fully prepared to go through mediation so we can both be satisfied. I’ll sign anything you want once it’s reasonable. I want what’s best for Lexi.’

Daniel’s body tightened at the wordsatisfied.It reminded him that he’d never felt as satisfied as he had with this woman. Every time. She’d been like a sorceress. And it hadn’t even been down to experience. She was probably the most inexperienced lover he’d ever slept with. Not a virgin, but not far off. And, inexplicably for such a beautiful sexy woman, seriously lacking in confidence.

The first time they’d slept together she’d been so nervous, and when he’d made her come... The look on her face had been one of wonder, gratitude, relief, and a very carnal awakening. It had blasted apart any notion he might have had that conducting an affair with Mia Forde was going to be like every other relationship he’d had. Short and satisfying but ultimately fleeting.

He still woke sometimes in the middle of the night amongst sweat-soaked sheets, his body pulsing with desire for that moment all over again. It definitely hadn’t been fleeting and forgettable...

Daniel focused on the other word she’d mentioned:mediation. The thought of sitting around a table with a bunch of men and women in suits made something curdle in his gut. He might not have ever set out to have a family, but seeing Lexi had awoken something long dormant inside him: the desire to protect. And seeing Mia again had revived something far more potent and adult: a desire tohaveher again.

Everything Mia was suggesting was eminently reasonable, but Daniel knew thatreasonablewas not good enough. Not by a long shot. Last time they’d been together Mia had resolutely refused to enter his world, but now things were very different and she really didn’t have a choice. He wouldn’t accept anything less.

Mia didn’t like the look on Daniel’s face. His gaze was narrowed on her and it was far too calculating. She should have known this wouldn’t be easy.

‘Daniel, look—’

He cut her off. ‘It’s getting late. You should probably return to Lexi. We can continue this discussion another time. After all, there’s no rush, is there? Unless you’re planning on leaving Paris again?’

Mia shook her head, immediately suspicious at Daniel’s volte face. ‘No, that’s why I came back. To tell you about Lexi. To be here so that we could make an arrangement that works for all of us.’

Daniel picked up her bag again and held it out. ‘I’m sure we can do that. I’ll have my driver take you home.’

Mia walked forward and took her bag, a little winded at the speed with which Daniel was despatching her. Her little finger touched Daniel’s hand and a crackle of electricity sparked up her arm. She looked at him, but he seemed oblivious.

He must have sent a telepathic message to his butler because the man appeared in the doorway with Mia’s jacket.

Daniel took it and held it up. ‘Here, let me.’

Mia turned around and let Daniel help her put the jacket on. Did his fingers linger at the back of her neck? Or maybe she was craving his touch so much that she was just imagining it. It sent a shiver of awareness down her spine anyway.

She turned around again quickly, mortified that she couldn’t control her reactions around him. He walked her to the door and opened it.

She said, ‘When will—?’

‘I’ll call you. We’ll make a plan.’

He sounded positively benign, which Mia didn’t trust for a second. This was the man who had managed to pick away at all of her very strong defences to seduce her, and then, even when she’d given in on her terms—or so she’d believed—had still managed to prove that any defence she’d thought she had left was an illusion, by making her fall for him.

It was only when she was almost at her apartment that she had a thought and went cold inside. Perhaps Daniel had been so eager to get rid of her not because he had some nefarious plan, but because of something much more prosaic. He had a date.

It was all too easy for Mia to imagine some sleek blonde or sultry brunette being welcomed into his apartment. Daniel smiling, helping her to take off a coat, revealing a clinging silky dress. Smiling at her the way he’d used to smile at her. Full of wicked sensual promise.

Maybe he’d be considering the fact that even though he hadn’t ever wanted a family, he now had the best of both words; the freedom to pursue his pleasures and an heir to pass on the Devilliers legacy to—which had to be a seductive prospect, no matter what he’d told Mia about the brand enduring with or without a bloodline.

It should be of some comfort to Mia that he seemed to be giving up his fight to convince her to marry him. Clearly he’d decided it was a mistake. But, much to her irritation, relief wasn’t her predominant emotion. It was something far more ambiguous and harder to decipher.

About an hour later, Mia was changed and in soft comfy pyjamas. Lexi had woken, crying, and Mia had given her some milk, and now she was falling asleep again on Mia’s shoulder.

The solid and surprisingly heavy form of her daughter was curled so trustingly into Mia that it almost broke her heart, thinking of her own mother and grieving her loss all over again.

She allowed herself to feel some measure of relief that Daniel knew now. Lexi deserved to know who her father was. To have some kind of relationship with him, hopefully. And Mia hadn’t wanted history to repeat itself.

She’d never had the option of knowing her father. It had been the one subject that had been guaranteed to wind her normally mild-mannered mother up—any mention of who Mia’s father was and she’d say,‘You don’t need to know. It’s better that you don’t.’

Mia sighed and moved from the window, taking Lexi into the bedroom and placing her back into her cot, before crawling into her own bed.

The fact that Daniel appeared to want to engage in getting to know Lexi was more than Mia had hoped for, based on how he’d reacted when she’d lost Lexi’s twin. She’d never forget the stony look on his face. The way he’d been so cold.

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