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Sophie reddened and looked away, leaving Alessio to move into faultless conversational mode.
‘Good, good, good...very nice.’
They ended up in the kitchen, and Leonard turned to them to say, with satisfaction, that it was time for them to return to England.
‘Getting a little bored here,’ he said, and beamed. ‘Might be old, but the brain needs stimulation and there’s not much to be had in these parts. Need to get back to my routine! And you kids...your future ahead of you...you’ll be wanting to get back to the hustle and bustle...’
‘What about the renovations, Leonard?’ Sophie frowned. ‘The chaos of the builders...?’
Leonard flapped his hand dismissively. ‘I can cope. Besides, I have things to do...’
‘What things?’
He tapped the side of his nose and winked at her.
‘Things.No need to trouble yourself, my dear. You just enjoy having fun with this son of mine!’
CHAPTER NINE
ITWASAWRENCH, leaving the villa behind. But Leonard, mind made up, would hear nothing from either of them about staying a minute longer, thus leaving the building work more time to reach completion so that he could be spared the nuisance of returning to renovations still in progress.
He was champing at the bit to get going, and within thirty-six hours Alessio was locking the front door and giving instructions to his housekeeper.
‘I don’t get it,’ Sophie said, when finally they were in a chauffeured limousine, heading from the airfield where Alessio’s private jet had landed to Leonard’s house in Harrogate. ‘He made such a fuss about the work being done, and the inconvenience of having people tramping through his house and ripping it apart...’
This was said in low, whispered tones, while in the front seat, which Leonard had demanded, because his stomach was feeling a little sensitive, he slumbered.
‘New lease of life,’ Alessio murmured wryly, although there was a hint of an edge to his voice that revealed he wasn’t quite as laid-back as he wanted her to think.
His hand was resting lightly on hers. Sophie’s eyes drifted to it, and she wondered whether he was already regretting the lie he had told. Was it now dawning on him how problematic it might be to extricate himself from an arrangement he hadn’t banked on lasting more than a couple of weeks?
Had reality reasserted itself now that they were back on home soil? It was one thing living in a bubble for a while, but bubbles always burst, and she wondered whether Alessio was now getting to grips with that reality.
‘Don’t say that,’ Sophie said, dismayed.
‘Why pretend otherwise?’
‘If Leonard has a new lease of life because of this...this lie we’ve told him, then it’s going to be so much more difficult untangling the whole mess.’
‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’
‘That’s just a platitude,’ Sophie muttered under her breath.
‘Platitudes are a bit like homilies and clichés...they’re irritating, but often contain an element of truth.’
‘When do you plan on returning to London?’
‘I haven’t given it much thought.’
‘I think it should be sooner rather than later.’
‘Explain.’
Sophie turned to look at him and their eyes tangled. For a few breathless moments she succumbed to an unsteady drowning sensation that she knew she had to resist.
‘If I need to start working on a way out of this...’ she broke eye contact with Alessio and stared ahead to where Leonard’s head was lolling as he slept ‘...then it’s going to be easier if you aren’t around.’
Tempting me...thrilling me...making me want to keep touching you and seeing you and hearing your voice...
