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‘Yes, but—’
‘There aren’t really a whole lot ofbutsabout it,’ Alessio interrupted, before any of her objections could be raised. ‘If I’m honest, part of my father’s agreement to this—aside from accepting the inevitability of having the house renovated—is based on the assumption that you will provide the continuity of care he needs by being there with him.’
He paused and delivered her a searching look that brought a flame of bright colour to her cheeks.
‘Aside from which, what obligations do you have that might be a spoke in the wheel? Naturally, you will be richly compensated for the inconvenience, but it’s hardly as though you have compelling personal duties that require your presence here, is it?’
CHAPTER SIX
ALESSIO’SPRIVATEJETlanded four days later at a small airport near Milan. During those four days, Sophie’s life had accelerated at supersonic speed.
Alessio had moved three of his top people into Leonard’s offices in Harrogate, and taken himself back to London so that he could co-ordinate a crew to—as he had told both Sophie and Leonard before he disappeared—‘throw everything at the estate with no expense spared’.
He had also arranged for a team of highly experienced house-movers to transfer whatever needed taking from one part of the house to another.
‘Leave all the big items,’ he had instructed. ‘They’ll be covered over and protected and it’ll be a waste of time to shift them. Just move what you deem necessary.’
Predictably, Leonard had grumbled.
‘One minute the boy’s barely speaking to me,’ he had complained on the evening before the movers had been due to arrive, ‘and the next he’s giving orders as though he’s the master of the house!’
‘You’ve been talking together,’ Sophie had pointed out. ‘He took you out for lunch before he left for London and you seemed to have a good time.’
‘Of course I’m going to be suitably polite when someone invites me somewhere,’ he had huffed. ‘Such a thing as good manners, my girl! Not that you’d think they still existed when you look around you nowadays!’
She had done a rapid tour of the house, pushing Leonard in the wheelchair to spare him walking from one room to another, and in the end only very personal possessions had been moved. His computer, his memoirs, and the entire collection of newspaper clippings he had collected over the years, along with photo albums and other mementoes.
She had managed to persuade him that large-scale breakages weren’t going to happen. ‘These people are experienced,’ she had told him, gently but firmly, ‘and they’ll have Alessio to answer to if they make any mistakes.’
‘I suppose the boy does have his head screwed on when it comes to taking charge,’ Leonard had said with grudging admiration. ‘Gets that from me—not that you’d know it, seeing me in this state now. Isabella, his mother...well, that was a different matter. Depended on me for just about every decision! Could never lose patience with her, though—not with that smile of hers. Could move mountains, that smile.’
Sarah had been asked to check at the end of each day to see what had been done and to make sure that Alessio’s rules of tidiness were being strictly obeyed.
Alessio had summoned her before he left, and Sophie had felt sorry for the poor kid, who was so clearly in awe of Alessio that she could barely string a sentence together.
But he had been kind, and patient, and had politely overlooked her beetroot-red face and her self-conscious stammering and gently told her to get in touch with his PA. Her pay would be reviewed and increased accordingly, because of the extra responsibility of keeping an eye on the builders.
‘Are they trustworthy? Will they need supervision?’ Sophie had asked in alarm, when Sarah had left the room.
At a little after four in the afternoon, Leonard had been in his sitting room, relaxing, and she had been alone with Alessio, who had wanted to fill her in on arrangements before he returned briefly to London.
They’d been on opposite sofas in one of the sitting rooms. Between them on a small, old-fashioned wooden table had been a pot of tea and some biscuits Sarah had baked earlier.
‘Utterly trustworthy and they won’t need supervision.’
‘But...’
‘Sarah’s nineteen, a hard worker, and she wants to save money. But I think she would be embarrassed if I were to offer to pay her while we’re away for doing nothing. This way, she’s doing something, and she’ll get compensated for the fact that she’s going to have to come here at six every evening and spend an hour or so doing the rounds.’
‘That’s very...thoughtful,’ Sophie had conceded.
And then she had reddened when he had looked at her in silence for a few seconds before saying, with cool amusement, ‘I occasionally can be...despite the reputation that seems to have preceded me.’
She had been relieved when he had left for London, and had thrown herself into getting everything in order before they left.
And now here they were.
Travelling on Alessio’s private jet had taken Sophie into the realms of ridiculous wealth. Sleek and black, it had waited for them on the tarmac of the airfield like a giant bird of prey, throwing all the other small little hoppers into pitiful shade. People had stared as they had been ushered inside, and she had sucked in her breath and paused just for a moment as she’d glanced around at an interior of cream and beige and dove-grey and walnut.
