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talk?”
    “What about it?” Molly rasped out the words, her focus frayed. The intensity in his eyes pulled at her like magnets. It took all her strength to resist. And she wasn’t even sure what, exactly, she was resisting.
    “You have been demanding a private appointment with me, haven’t you?”
    Had she? Oh. Right. Of course she had. Why did that suddenly seem such a not-so-good idea?
    She nodded, trying to rake her wits back together. “Yes, but—”
    “Well, I’m giving you one. Are you coming with me or not?”
    He would use words like coming , wouldn’t he? Probably did it on purpose, too. Oh yeah, he knew just what he was doing.
    And I don’t.
    Molly floundered for an answer. The question really wasn’t that difficult. She had wanted to confront the lion in his den. She’d been planning on giving him a very large piece of her mind – and had hoped he’d choke on it.
    Only now she was tempted to offer him a piece of something else, which wasn’t like her at all. A “private appointment” had lost its appeal. Or, rather, it had gained too much appeal. A different appeal. Dangerous. Before, she hadn’t trusted him. Now she didn’t trust herself.
    Besides, the twins were still plastered against her like wallpaper!
    She cleared her throat, willing her voice to sound normal. “I’m sorry, but I can’t leave the boys right now. They’re keyed up from the flight and…um, nervous about all this. They need me near.”
    Tyler’s mouth pressed into a hard line at mention of the kids. He’d shown no signs of trying to talk to them since they’d rebuffed him. Molly suspected he was afraid to. None of the boys would even look at him.
    Unwanted but inescapable, a new twinge of sympathy stung her. True, this was all his fault. He’d brought on their reaction by his own callous behavior, by the dictatorial way he’d brought them here. The man was obviously a tyrant.
    But even tyrants must have feelings. This situation was as difficult for him as it was for the rest of them. That was obvious, too.
    If only she could decide what to do about it…
    They did need to talk. She couldn’t put off the coming confrontation forever. Even after it, even if she was successful, there’d still be details to discuss. She hadn’t figured on just waltzing in and out with the kids. She’d probably be stuck here for at least another day, maybe several.
    Molly heaved an inner sigh. “Um, why don’t we set aside tonight for our meeting? After the boys have calmed down. We can do it after I put them to bed.”
    Tyler’s mouth relaxed into a small grin, rather devilish. Definitely disconcerting. That counter-offer hadn’t come out sounding quite the way Molly had intended.
    “ Doing it with you tonight sounds very enticing, Ms. Leigh. I’m sure we can manage something along those lines. However, I want to get certain…preliminaries settled between us this afternoon. As in now.”
    Of all the…
    Her jaw dropped open, then snapped shut. The man did realize there were children present, didn’t he? Jeremy and Josh were too young to understand his implication, but Stevie was old for his years and a little too good at spotting innuendos.
    She glanced at the boy to see him scowling at Tyler, his small hands balled into fists at his sides. Stevie was rather territorial about his family, and about her in particular. Molly knew he’d outgrow it eventually, but in the meantime it made any inclination she might have toward playing the dating game more hassle than it was worth.
    Not that she did have any inclination in that direction. And especially not with someone like the arrogant ass in front of her – and she didn’t care how attractive he was. Well…maybe she did, but she was trying extremely hard not to.
    Groan.
    Before she could think of a cutting response, Barry stepped into the fray.
    “I’ll be happy to watch the boys for you.”
    Thanks a heap, Mr. Baker.
    Tyler shot him a look. “You wouldn’t watch them