Madeline

Prologue

Prologue

"Where is Mr. Paxton?"

"Excuse me?"

"Where is Marc Paxton?"

"If you'll tell me what the problem is I'm sure I will be able to help you." The stocky old woman disappeared and returned.

"Tell Marc Paxton to come and get his brat! I quit!"

"What?" She pushed the toddler into my arms and walked away. Blue eyes stared up at me wondering if I was friend or foe. He was too cute. So this was Zayden Paxton. I've seen pictures, but he was way more adorable in person. I couldn't resist. "Look at you. You're a handsome little fellow aren't you? Yes, you are." He opened his mouth and smiled. I noticed he had four teeth. "That must have been painful for you." Teething is always a horrible time for children.

He wiggled around in my arms trying to slide down my body. "Da Da." I tried to hold him more securely but he only wiggled some more. "Da Da."

"Okay, okay. Let's go find your daddy." He stopped wiggling long enough for me to carry him without drawing attention to myself. Marc Paxton jr. wasn't hard to find. He was at the bar where he'd been most of the night. I had advised Kaitlyn against having a bar at her engagement party, but she insisted it would be good for the guests. I guess Marc Paxton was enjoying it a little too much.

"Excuse me, Mr. Paxton." My voice sounded tiny to my own ears. Imagine how it sounds to him. Luckily for me I didn't have to repeat myself. A similar pair of blue eyes focused on me. I tried not to wither and die under his stare. His gaze moved to the toddler in my arms. "The nanny brought him," I stuttered. "She," I paused. "Well it appears that she um," again I paused. How do you tell a man like this that his nanny quit?

"She quit, didn't she?"

I exhaled heavily unaware that I'd been holding my breath. "Yes."

He sighed and looked at his son. "Z, what did you do this time?" The toddler started to reach for him. "I can't take him. I'm afraid I'm a little intoxicated at the moment." He turned his back on me obviously expecting me to listen to his command. I kept Zayden with me away from people until Marc Paxton finally found his way to us.

"I'll take him."

I handed him over a little hesitantly. "You're not thinking of driving in that condition, are you?"

"I'm fine."

"I beg to differ. You are in no condition to drive with a toddler. I'm calling you a taxi." I didn't wait for him to agree or disagree. The child was the top priority here. The taxi arrived in less than fifteen minutes, but I still didn't trust him to take care of the child in his current state. He was obviously tipsy. "Give him to me," I said. "I'm not going to send you off with a child in a taxi in New York City in the middle of the night in your condition." He didn't complain when I took his son from him or when I got in the taxi with him. This wasn't about him. This was about the safety of the child.
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"Is he asleep?"

"Yes."

"Good." His fingers closed around my wrist and he dragged me from the nursery into another room. It was the master bedroom. "Who sent you here?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I asked who sent you here. Darling, women only want two things from me, sex or money. Some of them even want both. Which one did you come here for?"

"Are you crazy?" I didn't come here for any of that, and I wouldn't have sex with an arrogant jerk like you even if you were the last man on earth." The audacity of this man was something I've never encountered before.

His face transformed into an angry scowl and I was pulled against him and kissed hard. Everything happened so fast that my brain had trouble keeping up with the activities. I was flung roughly on a bed and my dress ripped from my body. It was then that my brain seemed to finally have caught up. This man had only one thing on his mind. He was going to have sex with me to prove a point and there was nothing I could do about it.

Hello darlings!
So many of you have been asking if there will be another book. Although I won't be starting this book anytime soon I wanted to at least put it out there so you'll know. I wanted to break away from the "handcuffed" name. I thought three books along that line was enough. I'm not sure when I will actually start writing this book or what direction it will go in yet. So please be patient.