‘I moved in because I want you to get to know Daisy,’ she said, utterly appalled by his arrogance, ‘and I cooked us dinner because we both have to eat. Believe me, given the choice, the last place I’d want to live is with you and I wouldn’t marry you if you paid me.’

Alex yawned. ‘Is that right?’

He didn’t believe her.

She looked at him in genuine amazement. ‘Frankly, l can’t understand why so many women are desperate to marry you.’ She stabbed a piece of chicken. ‘They must be mad.’

Her last comment was muttered under her breath but he heard her and he shot her a look that she couldn’t interpret.

‘You really wouldn’t want to marry me?’ There was a strange light in his eyes and she looked at him and shook her head, her shyness temporarily forgotten.

‘Absolutely not. You lead a totally selfish lifestyle, you’re insufferably arrogant and you’ve obviously been getting your own way since the day you were born. As a husband you’d be a nightmare.’

There was a silence and then Alex threw his head back and laughed in genuine amusement.

‘Oh Jenny, Jenny.’ He was still chuckling as he reached forward for his drink. ‘Aren’t you worried about my poor ego?’

She shot him a look of contempt. ‘Your ego is so inflated that I could chip away at it for weeks and not make any impression.’

His eyes were still brimming with humour. ‘I’m beginning to think you might be my type after all. Where have you been all my life?’

Jenny felt more and more unsettled. Why didn’t his reactions ever match her expectations?

Surely he should have been offended that she didn’t want to marry him, not amused.

‘I’ve been avoiding men like you.’

He ran a hand over his rough jaw and she found herself noticing the way the sides of his firm mouth creased when he smiled.

‘What I want to know,’ he said in that lazy upper-class drawl that was doubtless the product of a vastly expensive education, ‘is why, if you find my lifestyle so distasteful, you want me to be Daisy’s father. Aren’t you worried about my pernicious influence?’

‘I don’t want you to be Daisy’s father,’ she delivered coolly, giving up on her dinner and placing her fork carefully on the plate. ‘I didn’t choose you, but apparently my sister did and we have to live with that fact.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘You really do believe I’m her father, don’t you?’

She stared at him, thinking that it was an odd question.

‘Absolutely. Why else would I be here?’ She held his gaze. ‘Why would my sister lie?’

‘I have absolutely no idea,’ he replied thoughtfully, ‘but I have every intention of finding out.’

With that he stood up and walked away from her, indicating that the conversation was over.

He was like a tiger, she reflected helplessly, watching as he prowled back into his enormous living room and fiddled with the stereo. A solitary male, moving through life on his own, careful never to form a relationship with anyone. Even from her short acquaintance with the man she could see that he never allowed anyone close to him.