Her dog rushed toward Franck
, showing her teeth with a growl...
Daisy lifted her knee up, hard and sharp, against Franck’s groin, causing him to give a choked grunt, and release her...
And—
“Get the hell away from her!”
Leonidas’s enraged, deep voice boomed behind her. As Franck was stumbling back from her blow, her husband was suddenly there, vengeful in his black shirt and trousers, his powerful body stepping in front of her. Daisy’s mouth parted in shock as Leonidas punched the other man hard in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.
“Don’t you dare touch her!”
“Leo,” she whispered, wondering if she was dreaming.
His tall, muscular form turned anxiously. “Are you all right, agape mou? He did not hurt you?”
Rubbing her shoulders a little, she shook her head, her eyes wide. “I’m all right.”
Leonidas exhaled with relief. He scooped up their crying baby, who immediately quieted, comforted in her father’s arms. Then he drew Daisy close, searching her gaze intently with his own.
“I’m so sorry,” he said in a low voice. “Can you ever forgive me?”
Daisy stared up at Leonidas’s handsome face. His jaw was dark with five o’clock shadow, as if he hadn’t had time to shave. His usually immaculate clothes were rumpled, as if he’d rushed straight from the airport. His black eyes were vulnerable, stricken.
“Can I forgive you?” she repeated, bewildered.
“Very touching,” Franck snarled at them from the grass.
“Shut up,” Daisy told him, at the same moment Leonidas said pleasantly, without looking at the man, “Another word, and I’ll set the dog on you.”
Their normally goofy, people-loving dog was, indeed, growling at the man threateningly.
As Sunny approached, Franck Bain scrambled back, flinging himself over the white picket fence into a tangle of rose bushes. Daisy heard his sharp yelp followed by swift footsteps. His car engine started with a roar, then he peeled off down the road.
“Sunny!” Daisy’s blood was still up as she called her pet back into the middle of the garden. Kneeling into the soft grass, she petted her dog again and again, crooning, “Good girl!” as the dog’s tail wagged happily.
“I couldn’t understand why you got involved.” Behind her, Leonidas’s voice was low. “The first time you heard crying in an alley, I didn’t know why you insisted on going to see what it was. It seemed better to ignore it.”
Still kneeling beside her dog, Daisy turned her head. Her husband stood behind her, tall and broad shouldered. His handsome face was full of emotion.
“You insisted on taking care of the puppy, when you barely had enough money to take care of yourself. It was foolish.” He took a deep breath, his dark hair gleaming in the sun. “Why try to save something abandoned? Something so unloved and broken?”
She saw sudden tears in his black eyes.
“Now I understand,” he whispered. “Because you did the same with me.”
Daisy’s lips parted. Rising to her feet, she reached for him. He pulled her into his powerful arms.
“Oh, my darling,” Leonidas breathed into her hair, holding her close against his hard-muscled chest. “How can you ever forgive me for leaving you? I thought I could never be the man you needed me to be, and I couldn’t bear to let you down. But I never should have run away like a coward...”
“Stop.” Daisy put her hand on his rough cheek. “I was wrong about so much. All that time I blamed you for putting an innocent man in prison... Franck admitted that my father was guilty, all along. And I refused to see it. Because I needed my dad to be perfect.” She lifted her gaze to his. “Just like I needed my husband to be perfect. I’m so sorry.”
“I would give anything to be perfect for you.” Holding their precious baby in the crook of one arm, he looked intently into her eyes. “You deserve it, Daisy. But I knew I could never be. I could never be good enough to deserve your love.”
She clung to him in her cottage’s flower-filled garden, overlooking the wide blue Pacific. “But you can—you are—”
“I convinced myself that you and Livvy would be better off without me. But after you left, my soul was empty. Nothing mattered. Even when I finally acquired the Picasso—thanks to you—”