He pushed his sympathy deep down in his gut. He didn’t want to feel it for this woman. He couldn’t forget, no matter how enchanting her stories were, that she was a danger to him, for she was a danger to his sister.
“And your father?” He enquired silkily.
Sophie shrugged. “We never knew him.”
“Never? He chose not to be in your lives?”
“Apparently.” She bit down on her lip, a habit of hers he found distracting to the extreme.
“You’ve never contacted him?”
“No.”
“You don’t want him in your life.” A statement, not a question.
“I don’t know how to contact him,” she corrected, careful to keep emotion flattened from her tone.
“What do you mean?” His eyes narrowed as he studied her.
“Whoever he is, he wanted no part of mum when she told him she was pregnant. From what we know, which isn’t a lot, he paid her off to stay out of his life and keep quiet.”
Something like anger rolled through Alex. Anger at this man? At his lack of integrity? “How old was your mother?”
“Twenty four. My age.”
“A baby.”
“Hardly. How old are you?”
His laugh was a rich sound. “Thirty four.”
“A decade between us.” She reclined in her chair and studied his face. He had an ageless quality to him. Skin that was flawlessly tanned and eyes that were mysterious and loaded with emotion. “You are older than Helena,” Sophie said, moving her hands to her lap and clasping them there.
At the mention of his sister, Alex seemed to stiffen momentarily. “Ne.”
Her pulse fired in response to his sexy utterance. It reminded her of the way he’d whispered foreign words into her mouth while they made love. She dipped her eyes away.
“Helena is only a few years older than you.”
“And yet you’re very close.”
“On what do you base this conclusion?”
“I’ve seen you together. I have two sisters, remember? Sisters I’m close to. I understand the dynamic. The dependence. The silent ability we have of communicating to one another that baffles outsiders.” Her smile was richly enigmatic and his desire kicked up a notch.
“Is this how it is between us?”
“Between us?”
“Between Helena and me,” he clarified with a tight smile.
“Oh.” Her cheeks burned and she rolled her eyes, embarrassed by her own wishful stupidity. “Yes. She looks at you and it’s as though she’s spoken. You get her.”
“In a way her husband doesn’t?” He prompted silkily.
“Oh.” Sophie was stricken. “That’s not really my place to say.” Her words all rushed together, and though Alex’s English was impeccable, he had to concentrate to decipher them through her accent and haste.
“You are uniquely placed to say,” he corrected.