Consequently, it had been the early hours of the morning before she had managed to drift off to sleep, resulting in her oversleeping this morning.
Sam was more than a little surprised by how relaxed Daisy seemed to be in Xander’s company; usually her daughter was extremely shy around men. Big men like him especially.
No doubt yet another result of Malcolm’s complete indifference to his daughter. Malcolm wasn’t as big as Xander, but no doubt he would appear so to a small child. A small child who knew to leave a room if Malcolm came into it.
And yet Daisy seemed perfectly happy in Xander’s company.
‘I have to be at Darius’s apartment by ten-thirty this morning, if you could drive me over there? I’ll shower there before I dress for the wedding.’
‘Of course.’ Sam breathed an inward sigh of relief that he seemed to have tired—for the moment!—of teasing her. And that she didn’t have the ordeal of accompanying him to the shower to get through either this morning.
‘Although quite how helpful I’m going to be as best man is anyone’s guess,’ he added bitterly.
‘I’m sure that, if nothing else, Darius will welcome your moral support today.’ Sam still found Darius a little intimidating, but Andy loved him very much, and surely even a man that arrogantly self-confident must be feeling a little nervous on his wedding day?
‘I won’t be back until late this evening,’ Xander continued dismissively, ‘so it’s up to you what you and Daisy do with the rest of your day.’
Sam gave him a startled look. ‘Er—’
‘As long as you’re back here in time this evening to help me shower—’
‘Mr Sterne.’
‘It shouldn’t be a problem—’
‘Xander!’
‘Sorry?’ He gave an irritated frown.
Sam gave an uncomfortable grimace. ‘Daisy and I are invited to the wedding.’
Well, of course they were, Xander realised.
If Samantha was a good enough friend for Miranda to recommend her for this job, then she was obviously going to invite her to the wedding too...
‘LEAVING ALREADY?’
Sam turned from where she was helping Daisy into her coat, looking across to where Xander stood watching her, the three of them in the gold and black marble entrance hall of the fabulously exclusive London Midas Hotel, where Andy and Darius’s wedding reception was still taking place. ‘It’s almost nine o’clock, and Daisy’s tired.’ She gave a rueful smile as her daughter gave a yawn.
It had been a beautiful wedding; Andy had made a beautiful bride, Darius a handsome and distinguished bridegroom. Xander’s best-man speech at the reception had caused much hilarity as he’d related—as was the custom—some of Darius’s more embarrassing teenage adventures. He had wisely refrained from mentioning any of his twin’s more risqué adult exploits; both the Sterne brothers had been making headlines in the newspapers for the past twelve years regarding those!
After the delicious wedding breakfast there had been dancing, and Andy and Darius had made an absolutely stunning couple as they danced that first dance alone, one so dark and handsome the other very fair and beautiful. The two of them had eyes only for each other as they moved gracefully about the dance floor.
They were joined by Darius’s mother and stepfather for the second dance of the evening, a time when Xander should have also stood up with the chief bridesmaid, but obviously couldn’t. Instead Andy’s sister Kim had danced with her husband, Colin.
Sam had noted that Xander remained at the top table talking to one of the other two bridesmaids.
As a friend of the bride rather than a relative, Sam and Daisy had been seated at a table towards the back of the huge ballroom, but close enough to be able to watch and enjoy all of the wedding party. She had even been asked to dance by a couple of the single male guests. Invitations she had refused, using the excuse of not wanting to leave Daisy sitting on her own.
Yes, it had been a beautiful wedding, but it had made for a long day, and at nine o’clock in the evening it really was time for her to take her sleepy daughter back to Xander’s apartment.
Sam had thought she had said her goodbyes to Andy and Darius without anyone noticing, before slipping quietly out of the ballroom. Obviously she had been wrong.
She straightened. ‘Darius assured me it would be no problem for you to take a taxi home later.’
‘Did he?’ Xander enquired mildly.
‘Yes.’ Sam frowned at that mildness. ‘Please don’t let me keep you any longer from enjoying the rest of the wedding reception. I think the bridesmaid might be missing you,’ she dismissed teasingly.
In all honesty Xander was more than a little tired of the company of the bridesmaid, a young woman who seemed bound and determined on achieving the tradition of one of the bridesmaids going to bed with the best man the night of the wedding. A tradition Xander would normally have been only too happy to satisfy! But not tonight. And the excuse that his broken leg was still healing didn’t seem to have deterred the woman in the slightest from succeeding in her mission!
Oh, she was attractive enough with her blonde hair, limpid blue eyes and curvaceous figure, and usually Xander wouldn’t have hesitated in taking her up on the obviously blatant offer.
But instead of responding to that overt flirtation, he had found himself constantly seeking out a head of fiery red curls, both during the wedding ceremony at the church, and later during the reception.
Samantha was wearing a figure-hugging red gown that should have clashed with those red curls, but somehow only deepened the colour of her hair to a vibrant copper, adding a creamy glow to her cheeks and the tops of her breasts visible above the scooped neckline of the gown.
Something Xander had noted several other men admiring during the wedding reception, a couple of them having approached her table and asked her to dance. Invitations she had refused with a smiling shake of her head.
Refusals that had caused Xander to smile in satisfaction.
And warning him that he was taking altogether too close an interest in the woman temporarily employed to drive and take care of him, and currently staying at his apartment.
A warning he had taken absolutely no notice of, when he saw Samantha quietly making her excuses to Miranda and Darius, before slipping from the ballroom with the obvious intention of leaving.
‘You aren’t,’ he clipped abruptly in answer to her comment regarding the persistent bridesmaid. ‘I’ve actually had enough for one day too, so if you wouldn’t mind waiting a few minutes, while I make my own goodbyes, I’m ready to come home with you and Daisy now.’
Sam felt a little uncomfortable hearing Xander describe his apartment as home for all of them. Because they all knew, as far as she and Daisy were concerned, it was only a very temporary accommodation.
Looking at Xander a little more closely, though, she could see that he did indeed look a little pale under his tan, and there were also dark bruises of tiredness and strain beneath his eyes. He was leaning rather heavily on the walking stick he had insisted was going to be his only walking aid at his brother’s wedding.
Was it so surprising, when Xander had barely been out of his apartment for weeks, but had now spent the whole day and part of the evening socialising with his brother and Andy’s wedding guests, that he was now feeling the effects of such a busy day?
‘Of course.’ Sam nodded. ‘We’ll wait out here for you.’
‘Thanks.’