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‘But do you play with her? Talk to her? Hold her?’

Aristandros winced at those blunt questions ‘I’uy That’s what you’re here for’

Ella breathed in deep and stood up ‘I don’t want to offend you, but I have to be frank At the moment, all you seem to do is wave at her from the doorway of her nursery once or twice a day’

Aristandros frowned and threw up his hands in objection at her censorious tone ‘It’s a little game we play What harm does it do?’

Ella was hanging on to her temper only by a hair’s breadth He was not that obtuse He could hardly believe that he was playing father of the year with a long-distance wave ‘Callie needs to be touched and talked to and played with The reason she didn’t rush to greet you today is because you’ve got her accusto you at a distance—and that’s how you like it, isn’t it? Hands-off parenting? But she needs real contact with you—’

‘What a face hard with iround out that demand, clearly offended by her criticis my best’

‘I know you are You just need a little direction,’ Ella ot to his own dysfunctional parents was a breezy, noncommittal wave from the nursery door ‘And then you’d be brilliant, because you always do well at anything you set out to do’

His dark eyes glea set you nowhere, glikia mou’

‘Will you think again about flying to Paris—for Callie’s sake?’ Ella pressed softly

‘You don’t do sweet and submissive well’

Mortified by the derisive tone that let her know that he had seen straight through her atte, Ella stood straight as a blade, colour burnishing her cheeks ‘I was trying to be tactful’