Page 24 of Innocent Salvation

“Snow.”

Fleur jumped from her chair and ran to the woman who was dressed in skin-tight ripped jeans and a pale green top with yellow flowers on it. White chucks on her feet gave her a girlish look that was betrayed by the sexy curves that wouldn’t let up. Her ice blonde hair was pulled into a simple ponytail and her face had minimal make-up. She was breathtaking and if he was another man, he’d go on bended knee and beg her to stay with them, but he wasn’t. He was Judge Alexander, and he didn’t beg for anything.

He watched Fleur bouncing with excitement as Snow crouched to her level, which wasn’t far considering she was so small herself. “Hey, sweet pea, what has you so excited?”

“Uncy Seb is taking me to see the lions and the sloths.”

Her eyes moved to his and he saw hesitation and caution there as well as approval. He’d never sought approval from anyone, not since he was a child trying to please a father who’d never care enough to give it, yet he found himself feeling ten feet tall at hers.

“That sounds fun.”

“Will you come? Pleeeeease?”

Sebastian smiled as Fleur drew out the word as if doing so would give it more impetus.

Snow glanced at him in question, and he saw the hesitation again and knew this was his doing. He’d fucked up and needed to fix this, for his niece’s sake if nothing else.

“We’d really like it if you could join us.”

He could still see her wavering, so he implored Fleur’s tactics.

“Pleeeeeease?”

Snow burst out laughing and it lightened the room and made the ice around his cold heart thaw just a fraction more.

“Well, how can I ignore such heartfelt invitations? I’d love to come with you.”

“Yes!” Fleur punched the air in delight making them both laugh as their eyes caught on the shared moment.

“We should get going.”

Sebastian stood and grabbed his keys from the counter. Allen and McCullum were coming first thing to upgrade his security and he reminded himself to tell Snow later. He didn’t want to ruin their day by telling her now and reminding her of the danger he’d dragged her into.

London Zoo was heaving with people, from young couples on romantic dates to families and busloads of tourists. It was his usual idea of a living hell, but as he held Fleur’s hand in his with Snow holding the other, swinging her between them, he found he was enjoying himself.

They’d seen the lions and the sloths and were headed toward the reptile house when he saw a woman walking toward him with a barely concealed look of rage on her face, which she quickly masked. Sebastian wanted to groan at his bad luck. Of all the people and all the places, he had to run into Julianne Talbot.

She looked immaculate as always, her dark hair in loose artful waves around her shoulders, her make-up flawless. Even her clothes screamed money, with her designer black trousers and cream cashmere Bardot top that was completely out of place on a trip to the zoo.

“Sebastian, fancy seeing you here of all places.”

“Julianne.”

He saw her eyes flash to Snow with such hate that he wanted to step between them and shield the smaller woman from the harsh, razor-sharp tongue he knew Julianne had.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Seb?”

Seb? Since when had he allowed her to call him that? Even when he fucked her, he’d been Sebastian. The only two people who called him that were Fleur and Lucinda. He bit his tongue wanting to get this over with and made the introductions. “Snow, this is Julianne. Julianne, this is Snow.” He left out who Snow was to him. He knew in his heart it was way more complex than her just being the nanny at this point, just not how and he wasn’t prepared to explain it to this parasitic woman.

“Nice to meet you.”

Julianne gave a weak smile and Snow the once over. He knew she was finding flaws where there were none. Julianne was a snob and bitch, and it was only seeing her there now that he saw what a climbing, conniving bitch she was, which she proved with her next statement.

In flawless French she addressed him without a glance to Fleur, further confirming his lowering opinion of her. “Really, Sebastian, you threw me away for this piece of trash?”

An ice-cold rage fell over him at the way she was trying to exclude Snow from the conversation. He was so livid at her words he could barely get any words past his lips. It turned out he didn’t have to, because Snow, who he’d forgotten was French, so used to her slight accent now that it had ceased to exist, replied in her own flawless French.

“Oh, honey, he didn’t throw you away. I told him to take out the garbage if he wanted in my pants, and it turns out I’m that good at deep throating him he doesn’t even care that I’m using him for his money.” Snow looked Julianne up and down. “And let’s face it, you can’t polish a turd and call it a diamond no matter how hard you try.”