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She nodded. ‘Agreed.’
CHAPTER THREE
‘YOU’RELATE.’
That wasn’t what Sophie had meant to say. What she had meant to say was:You’re a little later than expected and your father has retired to bed. He tires easily these days.
Unfortunately, she had had an hour and a half to stew in her own frazzled nerves, and by the time the doorbell had rung, she’d been wired. She’d been wired since her trip to London.
Nothing had prepared her for meeting Alessio face to face. Yes, she’d been in his presence before, when he’d blown in from London on one of his whirlwind visits, bringing with him a sense of high-voltage energy, restless impatience and those critical dark eyes that had made her cringe. On such occasions, before she’d resorted to taking her days off in advance of his arrivals, it had been easy to mumble some pleasantries and fade into the background. As he had remorselessly pointed out when she had gone to see him.
But up close and personal with him, she had felt her nerves go into free fall. He was so much more compelling than she had given him credit for. So much more devastatingly impressive. So much more downright scary.
Those fabulous dark eyes had mesmerised her. His deep, velvety voice had wrapped around her in a stranglehold that had turned her brain to mush and left her feeling hot and bothered. By nature, she was cool, calm and collected. She had learned from a young age that common sense trumped emotion when it came to getting things done, and those lessons had stayed with her...had become part of her DNA. So it had been alarming to discover how easily all her cool could be shot to smithereens by a guy she had successfully managed to avoid for over two years.
Even more alarming had been the way her heart had beat faster in his presence, and the way her mind had started playing tricks on her, conjuring up all sorts of thoughts of Alessio as a man and not just as someone objectionable she was being forced to do business with.
There was no place in her life for such foolishness. Really, Sophie had no time for flights of fancy. Until now, they hadn’t even been on her radar. Her teenage years had passed by in a fog of duty and obligation and responsibility. When all her friends had been having their adolescent flights of fancy, she had been way too focused on the nitty-gritty of taking care of her mother to follow their lead.
It had never bothered her.
In fact, hadn’t she felt just a tiny bit smug when those flights of fancy had so often ended up crashing and burning?
So her meeting with Alessio had left her feeling on edge, and more so as the time of his arrival had got closer and closer.
‘Damn boy could at least have the common decency to show up on time if he’s to lecture to me about my business problems!’ Leonard had bellowed, as he’d made his way up to his bedroom on the stairlift which had been installed two years previously.
‘Traffic...’ Sophie had murmured soothingly.
Which had met with a predictable,‘Pah! Traffic, schmaffic.’
She hadn’t ventured further into dangerous terrain by prolonging the conversation. The less stress Leonard had the better, and he had been on tenterhooks ever since she had broached the conversation about Alessio coming to discuss his financial situation.
It had been a blessing that he hadn’t been more incandescent when she’d told him that his son had found out about his money woes and had informed her that he would be visiting so that he could discuss the situation.
She had tiptoed around the issue with the agility of someone avoiding landmines, and she had shrewdly guessed that Leonard might be privately relieved to have everything out in the open, pride or no pride.
But since Leonard had been settled in bed, tablets taken and hot drink duly brought up, Sophie had had plenty of time to fulminate.
Now, staring at Alessio, she felt all the dispassionate responses she had rehearsed vanish under a blizzard of anger.
Against the bitter wintry darkness outside, with the raw cold of Yorkshire at its most brutal and a freezing blast of ice-cold wind tousling his hair, the man still managed to look unfairly sexy.
He was wearing a beige cashmere coat and a black scarf and, from what she could see as she blinked into the grim black night outside, dark jeans and some kind of dark jumper.
‘It’s only a little after nine-thirty.’ Alessio brushed past her, divesting himself of his coat and scarf before turning to look at her as she slammed the front door shut against the freezing cold. ‘I had no idea lights went out here at sunset.’
Sophie folded her arms, her whole body rigid with pent-up tension, already frustrated with herself for the way she was reacting to him.
‘Your father retires early to bed now.’
‘How early?’
‘By eight he’s flagging.’
‘I spoke to his consultant and got a briefing on all his health issues,’ Alessio said, heading towards the kitchen.
Sophie pelted behind him.
