‘I’m sorry, but I’m not following you.’
‘In which case, I’ll give you a few moments to digest what I’ve just said. I think, once you’ve done that, you’ll know precisely where I’m going with this.’
‘You think that I...that I...’
‘I’m not a man who takes chances. I’ve always found that it pays to take what people tell me with a generous pinch of salt.’ Luca shrugged. ‘For all I know, you could have lured the boy out with the bait of those three hounds frolicking in my back garden.’
‘Lured him out? Why on earth would I do that?’
‘Now, Miss Edwards, you must surely realise that anyone living in a place like this would be able to pay whatever money you might ask for in return for the safe return of his charge? I won’t go so far as to say that you kidnapped the boy. Perhaps it was an opportunity that presented itself, one you decided to take advantage of. Maybe you saw Jake out with the nanny at some point? Noticed where he lived? Temptation and opportunity often have a way of finding one another.’
‘That is the most outrageous thing I have ever heard in my entire life!’ Cheeks flaming, Ellie sprang to her feet and then stopped dead when he commanded her to sit back down.
‘When you’re sitting on a fortune, you find that people will do anything to try and get their hands on some of it. Had the police been called, trust me when I tell you that the line of questioning would have been far more intrusive.’
‘Perhaps in your world, Mr Ross, people will do anything to try and steal your money—maybe you’re surrounded by people who have no scruples—but I can assure you that I’m not interested in getting my hands on any fortune of yours! I had no idea that Jake lived in a place like this. Thank goodness,’ she added sarcastically, ‘that he was wearing a convenient dog tag so that I knew his address.’
Luca had the grace to flush. ‘He’s six years old and he’s only been in the country for a few months. It was important that he carried some form of identification on him, just in case he ended up lost for some reason. His nanny was instructed never to let him out of her sight, but as you can see for yourself my instructions were lamentably ignored. Jake is a bright boy, but he can’t be expected to remember an address he is not familiar with.’
‘Do you believe me when I tell you that I just happened to find him in the park, Mr Ross?’ Ellie said tightly. ‘Because I don’t have to stay here and be accused of...being a criminal!’
‘Yes.’ Luca sighed and twirled the pen on his desk between his fingers before fixing his riveting dark eyes on her. ‘I had a word with my godson and it would seem that he got bored. Alicia, the nanny, was on her phone—doubtless on a personal call, which is clearly against the rules—and he thought he’d go and do a little exploring.’
Luca preferred not to dwell on that conversation which, as with most of the conversations with his godson, had been monosyllabic and unsatisfactory.
He had sat on the bed, while Jake had conspicuously refused eye contact, and had done his best to elicit information from him.
‘What did you think you were doing, leaving the house without the nanny?’ Luca had asked, tempering an inclination to be impatient and critical.
Jake had shrugged.
‘Not a good enough answer,’ Luca had gritted, which had met with another shrug.
In the end, he had managed to drag a ‘I hate it here and I was bored so I went outside to play’ from Jake and that had been the sum total of words exchanged.
‘It’s what six-year-old boys do, unfortunately. They explore, especially when outside looks like more fun than inside.’ Her voice was cold. She was still bristling at his insulting insinuation that she might have had something to do with his godson’s absconding from the less-than-happy home sweet home. Whatever world Luca Ross inhabited, did he honestly think that everyone around him had some sort of underhand motive and had nothing better to do than to try and access his bank account?
That there wasn’t a person out there who wouldn’t do what it took to get their hands on what he had?
Except...
She, of all people, was uneasily aware that she should have known what power money and wealth could exert.
She had grown up with the disastrous consequences of a beautiful mother who had been one of those people Luca had talked about; one of those people who would have done anything for money.
Her mother had yearned for that very thing Luca Ross accepted so casually, and that yearning had created a war zone within the Edwards household. Andrea had, as she had made patently clear over the years, married beneath her. She had married a lowly clerk who had failed to rise to the heights she had initially hoped when they had both been young and hopeful. Riven with bitterness and disappointment, she had focused all her energies on ensuring that her youngest daughter, Lily, a beauty like her, could make good on the dreams and aspirations she had had to watch wither away.
And the casualty had been Ellie, studious, hardworking and a sparrow to her little sister’s shimmering peacock.
Oh, Ellie knew just how damaging the quest for money could be. She had grown up loathing the way people were prepared to behave to get it. Her father had been the one with the strong moral compass and she had adhered to him from a very young age.
The arrogant billionaire sitting in front of her was just the sort of guy she loathed.
The fact that he could sit there and casually accuse her of deliberately trying to con him out of money by snatching his nephew and then returning him in the guise of a Good Samaritan said it all.
‘If that’s all, Mr Ross...? I have to return the dogs to their owners. I’ve texted to tell them that there’s been a bit of a situation but I can’t afford to antagonise any of them.’
‘Let me have the addresses of these people. I will ensure that their pets are returned to them.’
‘I’ve already been here for nearly an hour and a half. I have things to do. You said you wanted to talk to me and I’m thinking that you wanted to establish whether you had to bring the police in to arrest me. Now that you’ve seen I’m not a criminal, I shall leave and take the dogs back to their owners myself. They’re tired and they need to be fed.’
‘There are a couple of things I still want to straighten out. I can assure you that the dogs will be delivered safely back.’
‘By your housekeeper?’ Ellie smiled at him without warmth. ‘I think she blew the bonding bit when she chucked them out into the pouring rain and locked the door behind them.’
‘My orders. I had no intention of letting those dogs drag any more mud into my house than they already had. They’re dogs. Enjoying the great outdoors is what they do. My driver has two dogs. He will deliver them, unless you want to hang onto them for another hour or so. Your choice.’
‘What else is there to say, Mr Ross? I’ve told you everything that happened. I saw Jake playing with the dogs and, when I went over, he let slip that there was no adult with him. At first I didn’t believe him, because kids are clever when it comes to twisting the truth to get what they want, and I thought that perhaps he wanted to have a bit more time with the dogs, but I very quickly realised that he was telling the truth. He was in that park on his own. Naturally, I was horrified.’
‘Naturally.’
‘And I got him back here as fast as I could. And, no, I don’t want any money for returning your nephew. I’m just relieved that—’
‘Yes, got the drift. As for the money element to your statement, why don’t we return to that later?’
‘There’s nothing to return to, Mr Ross.’
‘You rescued my godson. I feel we can step away from