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It was the mantra she had repeated to herself so many times through the years, as her adolescence had slipped away between her fingers, lost in the business of growing up too fast.
She repeated it now, as she perched on the edge of the plush leather sofa, but even so she still tensed when he leaned towards her from his chair opposite, dwarfing the thin glass table separating them, and said in a low, driven undertone, ‘So, Miss Court, here we are. Time to talk to me about everything that’s been going on with my father. You have my undivided attention...’
CHAPTER TWO
UPCLOSETOHER, as he was now, Alessio absently noted that she had the most unusual eyes—almond-shaped and nut-brown and fringed with very long, dark lashes, dramatic against the smooth pallor of her skin. His eyes drifted to the stern, no-nonsense cropped hair. He was so accustomed to women advertising their assets that this particular woman’s strenuous efforts to disguise what she had under her drab, unrevealing clothes roused a flare of curiosity.
Just briefly.
‘Well?’ he prompted. ‘You’ve decided that a character assassination is in order, so the very least you could do now is tell me what exactly I’ve been assassinated for. You’ve told me that my father’s stroke may have been caused by stress, and you’ve followed that up with hints about money problems he’s been having. Money problems I know nothing about because, of course, I am the son who doesn’t give a damn. So I think a little more enlightenment is in order, don’t you?’
He sat back when a waiter approached, but instead of taking the menus extended he ordered tapas, leaving the selection up to the chef, and a bottle of Chablis. Not once did his eyes leave her face.
‘Or,’ he drawled, as she chewed her lip and met his unwavering dark gaze with silence, ‘have you got more criticisms of me stashed up your sleeve before you cut to the chase and get down to providing me with a little proof to back up what you’re saying? Please...’ he waved his arms expansively ‘...don’t let good manners stand in the way of home truths.’
Sophie was sorely tempted to tell him that, yes, she had lots more criticism stashed up her sleeve, but instead she snapped out of her dazed silence and pursed her lips.
‘The two things are connected,’ she said quietly. ‘Your father’s health and the fact that he has financial problems. He didn’t want you to know about either of them, but I felt I had no choice but to tell you because his bank manager paid a visit to the house while he was in hospital and confided in me that most of the company holdings are in the red. I don’t know the exact details, but I gather a loan was taken out against the company some years ago and repayment is now being demanded—except there’s nothing to pay it back with because the company has been losing money for years. I think Mr Ellis would have contacted you directly, but he’s always been under strict instructions that all financial matters are to be kept private and under no circumstances are you to be asked to intervene. I think the only reason he spoke to me was because he felt he had no choice.’
‘He felt he hadno choice? I don’t believe I’m hearing this...’ Alessio muttered under his breath. ‘What the hell has the old fool been getting up to up to behind my back?’
‘Don’t say that,’ Sophie returned, stricken. ‘He’s proud. Many people his age are. He admires you so much and he doesn’t want you to find out that he’s made mistakes and... I don’t know...trusted people to do a job which they haven’t done...’
Alessio laughed humourlessly. ‘I suggest you stick to the script, Miss Court, and not go off-piste with yet more personal observations that bear no resemblance to reality. It’s outrageous that Ellis didn’t come to me first.’
‘I suppose client confidentiality...’
‘And yet you’re here, despite my father forbidding you to get in touch with me.’
‘I care about him very much, and I don’t think he can survive the collapse of his company.’
‘I’ll need to get full details of whatever mess my father has got himself into. And Ellis should start scouring the job columns, because when I’m through with him he’ll realise just how misjudged his loyalties have been.’
‘How can you be so unsympathetic?’ Sophie gasped, as impulse got the better of common sense.
‘If you think this is the sound of me being unsympathetic, then stick around and you’ll find out what itreallysounds like when my patience snaps,’ Alessio grated. ‘I’m being practical. Ellis is a bank manager. He’s in charge of money matters. He’s not there for hand-wringing and misplaced loyalties. When it comes to bankruptcy, all’s fair in love and war. The man should not have thought twice about coming to me. Who else can sort out my father’s financial problems? Magic fairies with chequebooks? If I’d known about these money problems earlier, they would have been sorted by now.’
They were interrupted by the arrival of food, but for a couple of seconds Sophie was barely aware of the dishes being placed on the table in front of them because she was one hundred per cent mesmerised by the eyes pinned to her face. The man was hypnotic and terrifying in equal measure.
‘I don’t know all the ins and outs...’
‘You know enough, and I’m guessing that if you think it’s drastic enough to bring yourself out of hiding to confront me here, then chances are it’s even worse than you imagine.’
‘I haven’t beenin hiding.’
‘I can’t think of the last time I set eyes on you when I was at my father’s house.’
‘I... I like to leave you both to...to bond. You don’t need me hovering in the background, dishing out Leonard’s tablets and telling him what he can and can’t eat...’
‘You’d be surprised. It might make a refreshing variation on our usual line of conversation, which would appear to be even more superficial than I thought possible if he’s been keeping all of this from me. But enough of that. First and foremost, doyouneed help.’
‘Help...?’
‘On a practical level. Someone to assist with my father’s recovery now he’s at home. I realise you’re a qualified nurse, but there might be issues with physically helping my father to move around that you might find tricky on your own.’
Sophie was impressed by his immediate grasp of what might be necessary. He was being practical, and she realised that in a strange way that was just what she needed, because her emotions had been running wild for the past few days. Focusing on the more pedestrian stuff would calm her, and having someone else alongside her in doing that would be even more calming, even if the ‘someone’ in question was Alessio.
There was also concern in his voice. She couldsenseit. And yet on the surface anyone would think that he was dealing with a business matter, without the intrusion of any emotions muddying the water. She’d presented him with a problem and he was finding ways to deal with it, because he was solution-orientated.
