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Alessio smiled and relaxed. He was beginning to think that he really quite enjoyed looking at her. He also really quite enjoyed the way she didn’t try to tiptoe around him or suck up to him.
Of course she was perfectly right. She had been totally out of order in saying what she had. But for the moment he decided that he was happy to park that particular irritation to one side.
‘So...’ he purred. ‘Moving on from the topic of my father and his financial woes just for the moment...’
‘Okay...’
‘Like I said, I feel immensely fortunate that you take such interest in him—but don’t you have other things to occupy your time? Other things to worry about? I know we’ve briefly covered this, but is there no one in your life who takes issue with the amount of time you dedicate to my father?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You know what I mean, Sophie. Much as I like the fact that you’re devoted to my father, I wouldn’t want to think that you’re denying yourself the things you should be doing or feel you want to be doing.’
‘I’m not.’
‘I know very little about you aside from the details of your nursing qualifications.’
‘Isn’t that all that’s relevant?’
Sophie had no idea how they had managed to get to a place where he was quizzing her about her personal life, but perhaps he had a point. Up till now she had been largely invisible, but that time was over.
The situation with Leonard meant that his son was bound to zero in on her, to take more of an interest in the role she played—especially now. Because, whether she liked it or not, he was picking up the tab for her very generous salary.
She had had no idea that Alessio was responsible for her being paid and, that being the case...yes, he might consider it his right to know more about her circumstances than he currently did.
‘When my father hired you I of course made sure your qualifications were all in order, but it was up to him to decide who he wanted looking after him.’
‘And what’s changed now?’ Sophie asked quietly.
‘When you took on this role, I don’t expect you ever thought it would get as complicated as it has, did you? Yes, you signed up for a time-consuming post, but was it supposed to be a full-time residential situation from the start?’
‘Less than it’s become recently.’
‘And then there’s the business of having to do all the additional duties which you’ve undertaken without any increase in pay to compensate. Working around the house...doing chores you weren’t hired to do. I’m assuming that was not something you’d factored in when you accepted the position, however generously it paid?’
‘I suppose not.’
‘In which case I feel it’s only fair that I reassure you straight away that if this mess is impacting in any way, shape or form on your personal life, I will immediately compensate you in whatever manner I deem necessary.’
Alessio knew that he was shamelessly fishing for information without asking any direct questions.
‘Does that mean I will have to answer to you?’ Sophie queried stiffly.
‘It means that I want to make sure that you’re still happy with what you do and that all these extra responsibilities aren’t being borne with hidden resentment. For instance, the situation regarding a housekeeper should have been brought to my attention a long time ago.’
‘It was difficult...’
‘I get that. You were under strict instructions to keep me in the dark.’
Because my father thinks I hate him.
Alessio gritted his teeth, but banked down all emotion, focusing instead of the woman sitting opposite him.
In truth, every question he’d asked was a pertinent one, even though his original point of curiosity had been to find out more about the woman behind the profession.
‘None of that work should have been part of your job,’ he pointed out. ‘But I understand that it’s difficult to disentangle one thing from another when you get involved on a personal level.’
‘I’ve enjoyed it,’ Sophie admitted. ‘I haven’t been secretly resentful. If I were unhappy, I would have said something. Maybe not to you, but to your father. I’m not some kind of shrinking violet who’s content to put up with something she doesn’t find acceptable.’
