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‘I really hope Robbie’s managed to convince your fiancée that Dominic should do some football out of school. Don’t you?’ Her voice was cool and tight. ‘It must be hard for him. I think that boys need a father figure—a role model they can look up to.’
‘Is that some kind of veiled criticism?’
Because he had moved beyond criticism. That had been a lifetime ago, if it had ever existed at all. Now he occupied that sacred realm of men who were surrounded by sycophants, telling them everything they wanted to hear. He had buried the demons of his past and created a life of unsurpassed ease—a life he controlled. He had become untouchable. If only his parents could see him now—could see what riches could be born out of hardship.
‘No, it’s not. Dominic is a superbright boy, but being superbright can be as much a curse as a blessing. He’s prone to boredom, and boredom makes him destructive. Football would enable him to expend all his energy.’
‘And your boyfriend’s just the guy to help him do that?’
‘Stop calling him my boyfriend!’
‘Okay, then. What about lover?’
‘To answer your question—yes, Robbie would be just the guy to take Dominic in hand. He’s great with kids.’
As far as answers went, that wasn’t what Alessandro had been looking for, but they were already entering the café, and continuing the conversation was impossible.
There was a smile on Megan’s face as she spotted the three of them sitting at the far end—two in front of mugs of coffee and Dominic with his chin cupped in his hand, staring in fascination at the blond-haired, blue-eyed do-gooder, who was smiling and talking with a lot of hand gestures and body language.
Just her type, Alessandro thought dismissively. She had said that he could charm the birds from the trees, and Victoria certainly seemed to be in a good mood, cutting an elegant figure among the crowd in the café like a…like a…
He couldn’t help it. His eyes were drawn to the small blonde with her back to him as she strolled across to her boyfriend, who was now grinning at her.
Like a rose among thorns, he thought, hastily refocusing on Victoria.
‘Have you been sold on the football lessons?’ he asked, breaking up the trio at the table as he walked across.
‘All sorted.’
Mother and son smiled at one another. Alessandro hadn’t been around the two of them together much, but he was sensing that this was something of a rare occurrence, and he forced himself to smile at the man who was now standing up, reaching out with an open, good-natured expression, asking him if he wanted anything to eat and then joking about the quality of the coffee while telling him that the egg and chips were second to none.
He was ruffling Megan’s pigtails, yanking them playfully, abstractedly, as though the gesture was a familiar one.
And Dominic was still staring at him, his mouth half open and his eyes wide.
From ruffling Megan’s hair, he moved to ruffle Dominic’s.
‘So,’ he said, still grinning, ‘it’s a date, then, is it? You? Me? The next Chelsea football match?’ He turned to Victoria, now rising to her feet too, after, it would seem, eating egg and chips. ‘You’ll have to come too, of course. All of us should go together—have a bit of an evening out!’
Frankly, Alessandro couldn’t think of anything worse, but he was very much aware that the loser was drawing Megan against him, and that both of them were laughing and saying something about the Chelsea football team. He wasn’t sure what.
‘See you before then, anyway!’
‘How’s that?’ Alessandro looked at Robbie with a cool frown.
‘Christmas? Christmas Day?’
‘What are you talking about, Robbie?’ Megan asked. She was thrilled to see her little tyrannical pupil hanging on to every word Robbie was saying. She suspected that a humble football might well be finding its way to his Christmas list, as a last-minute request.
‘Hope you don’t mind…’ Robbie gave her waist an affectionate little squeeze, and Megan just knew that she wasn’t going to like what was coming next. ‘I’ve asked this disreputable rabble to come along on Christmas morning for a drink, if they’re not doing anything special!’
‘Come along for a drink?’
‘You know our dispossessed little crowd…!’ He winked at Dominic’s mother. ‘Nanny, I gather, is missing in action on Christmas Day…tut, tut, tut…and so Vicky here has pretty much promised that she would like nothing better than to fling a turkey in the oven and head to where it’s all happening! Your house!’
