‘You don’t have to do anything,’ Alex drawled. ‘You can bath Daisy in an old T-shirt and I still want you. You can wear that ridiculous outfit that buttons from neck to hem and all I want to do is rip it off. The truth is that I have absolutely no interest in what you’re wearing because all I want to do is rip it off, spread you on my bed and introduce you to the pleasures of sex. And now I’ve told you the truth, you’d better run.’

She stared at him, her breathing rapid, two spots of colour on her cheekbones.

He wanted to introduce her to the pleasures of sex?

No one had ever spoken to her in such a—such an explicit way before, and it did strange things to her insides.

‘Alex—’

‘Am I shocking you, Red Riding Hood?’ His voice was silky smooth. ‘Because I should be.’

Finally she found her voice. ‘You’re not shocking me. But you won’t convince me that you’re so wicked either. I know you now, Alex. I know you have a caring side.’

‘Not in my relationships,’ he said bluntly, and suddenly she realised her problem.

She’d come after him for Daisy, but now she’d got to know him she wanted him for her.

She was in love with Alex Westerling.

Appalled by the sudden revelation, she froze.

‘You’re right, of course,’ she said finally, her lips stiff as she formed the words. ‘You’re not the right sort of man for me.’

And in a way she was telling the truth. For Alex a relationship was something purely physical. He didn’t do the emotional stuff. How many times had he told her that?

There was a brief pause and his eyes burned into hers. ‘Jenny—’

The soft chime of the doorbell interrupted whatever it was he’d intended to say and his darkened jaw tensed.

‘Who the hell is that at this time of the morning?’

‘Do you want me to go?’ She looked at him anxiously. ‘If it’s a journalist I could tell them that you are out.’

He laughed out loud and flipped her cheek with a gentle finger. ‘You are so damned innocent. What do you think a journalist would make of a pretty girl opening my door, holding a baby?’

Her eyes widened and she stared at him. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’

‘But fortunately I had.’ He rose to his feet and walked towards the kitchen door. ‘Better stay in here. Just in case.’

With that he closed the door firmly behind him, leaving her alone.

Jenny stared at Daisy helplessly. ‘Oh, Daisy. What have I done? What on earth possessed me to fall in love with a man like him? I thought I had more sense than that.’

But the truth was that her emotions were outside her control for the first time in her life.

She hadn’t chosen to fall in love with Alex Westerling but it had happened.

And who could blame her?