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He grimaced.
‘You might have to warn him of my impending arrival, though. Like you say, the shock of an unexpected visit might spark another stroke...’
‘I will. Okay...’
‘Tell him that I phoned you to find out how he was because I’d heard on the grapevine that there might be problems with his company. The world of business can be small, and I am exceptionally high-profile. A lot of people know who I am and who my father is. It would only have taken one concerned voice to propel me to Harrogate... Feel free to tell him that I bullied the truth out of you about his stroke. He’ll buy that easily enough.’
‘Because he thinks you’re a bully?’ Sophie asked.
‘Like I said,’ Alessio drawled, ‘we’ve had our differences over the years. He can be stubborn, and sometimes the only way to trump stubborn is to go one step further and be even more stubborn. My father may think he’s tough as old boots, but he ain’t seen nothing yet. I have some things to finalise here, but first thing tomorrow I’ll get my people to start going through my father’s accounts. I’ll be up on Saturday, which will give you two days to brace him for the inevitable. If you don’t think that you’re up to the task, you can always give me a call...you have my number. I can always think of something to absolve you of the duty. Because you might find that mypussycatfather can turn very easily into a roaring lion if he thinks you haven’t done what he’s asked you to do.’
Sophie met his gaze steadily. ‘It may not be a great job, breaking the news to your dad that I’ve told you about his health issues, but you don’t have to worry that I’m going to run scared. I won’t.’ She set her jaw at a stubborn angle, remembering a past stuffed with doing uncomfortable things. ‘Believe me, I’ve dealt with my fair share of uncomfortable and unpleasant tasks.’
She blinked, smiled, smoothing away the sharp edges of what she had just said. because confiding in anyone about her past wasn’t something she usually did.
‘It’ll be fine. Deep down, I’m sure he’ll be really thrilled to see you.’
Alessio gave nothing away as he looked at her for a few seconds, digesting what she had just said. He thought absently that there was no way he would bet a buck on, that because the last thing his father was going to be thrilled by was his son’s arrival on the scene with a suitcase packed for more than just a brief overnight stay.
You couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks, and that particular old dog had learnt the trick of making sure that he, Alessio, knew just where his place was in the grand scheme of things.
Mostly, though, his mind was preoccupied with those ‘uncomfortable and unpleasant’ tasks Sophie had mentioned. Had she known how transparent her face had been when she’d said that? Whatever had been flitting through her head had cast a shadow over her features. Maybe things to do with work? Nursing would have brought her into close contact with a lot of uncomfortable and unpleasant tasks... But somehow he’d got the impression that that passing remark harked back to something that was a lot more personal.
What?Never one to delve into the quagmire of other people’s psychological motivations—because what was the point of that?—Alessio couldn’t stop another sudden flare of curiosity about the woman sitting opposite him, so calm on the surface. And yet beneath that surface the promise of turbulence swirled...
Turbulence and passion. Didn’t the two go hand in hand?
He banked down whatever obscure wild imaginings were trying to worm their way to the surface of his thoughts, but he couldn’t resist a second look at her face. Alessio was accustomed to women who kept nothing hidden from him. They flung themselves at him. They wanted him to be curious about them...to want to get to know them. They were specialists in the art of using their womanly wiles to get what they wanted. They pouted and flirted, ever keen to engage his attention and hold it.
But this woman...
She had spent so long fading into the background, or else being completely missing in action, that he had somehow failed to notice just how flawlessly smooth her skin was and how alluring the depth of her cool, intelligent brown eyes.
‘At any rate,’ he said smoothly, ‘you know where to find me. You have my personal number—the one I gave you some time ago for emergency use. Use it.’
Bill paid, he stood up, and she hurriedly followed suit. His eyes drifted over her once again in casual inspection.
She was very slender. Tall and willowy. That much he could make out under the formidably dull clothes. She was wearing workmanlike flat shoes, and in them she was only a few inches shorter than him. He usually went out with small, voluptuous blondes, so it made a change to be with a woman almost at eye level with him.
But then he quickly reminded himself that this wasn’t a date and he wasn’t going out with the woman.
‘How are you getting back to your motel?’ asked Alessio.
‘It’s ahotel,’ Sophie corrected, as their coats were brought and she manoeuvred herself into hers. ‘Motels...motels are things in horror movies.’
She said this in an attempt to squash her previous unguarded remark about not being able to afford anything pricey. Her personal life wasn’t open for perusal, so why should he know about her money issues?
Alessio shot her a curling smile. ‘A sense of humour? I like it. That’s a side of you that’s been kept under wraps... Feel free to bring it out of hiding whenever you want while I’m around.’
Sophie blushed, momentarily lost for words. Because this man and being light-hearted weren’t things that went together in her head.
Before she could come up with a suitable response, he said, with a return to cool gravity, ‘I’ll probably be there for a week, depending on how things go. You’ll need to put whatever issues you have with me on the back burner.’
‘I have no issues with you.’
‘Whether you do or don’t is immaterial.’ Alessio shrugged his response. ‘The key thing at this stage is my father’s recovery and sorting out his business problems. When those two things are dealt with...well, life will return to normal and you can...’ he raised his brows and met her eyes steadily ‘...return to hiding from me whenever I show up. In the meanwhile, for the sake of my father, we pretend that everything is as it should be between the two of us. Agreed?’
Sophie hesitated, but only for a split-second. Alessio in close proximity for a week? But he would be occupied in dealing with all manner of things, and she would be as well. Their paths would probably cross for the barest amount of time. Could she deal with that for the sake of Leonard? Of course she could. Like Alessio said, once things were sorted he’d be off, and her life would resume where it had left off.
