‘You’re not?’ She beamed. ‘That’ssuch a relief. I can’t tell you how much this cleaning job means to me and I absolutelyswearthat you won’t regret that decision.’ She made a zipping gesture across her mouth. ‘Also, Iwon’t breathe a wordabout what happened here.’ She sucked in a deep breath. ‘So shall I head up and start clearing my stuff out? I don’t mind forking out for somewhere cheap to stay for a few days now that I know I’ll still have my job here.’
‘No need.’
‘Really? No need? Are you sure?’ She handed him some fresh coffee without realising that she’d actually made some.
‘Sit.’
She didn’t. ‘If you’re sure I can stay for a couple more days, then I should really be heading off to work now. Pierre was a little put out when I told him that I might not make it in. He’s already having to deal with Alison out of action.’
‘You seem to think that I care about Pierre and his work schedules. I don’t.’
‘Well, actually,Ido, considering it’s my pay cheque at the end of the month and, like I said, I really need the money so that I can carry on saving… Signor Barbieri. Sir.’
‘We’ve gone past thesirstage. Whatever you’re being paid there, I’ll triple it because you’re going to be taking a little more time off than you probably expect.’
‘I’m not following you.’
‘Maybe those croissants might be a good idea. And more coffee. Whisky would definitely work better than both but is probably not wise at this hour in the day.’
‘I want to know what’s going on, Signor Barbieri.’
‘Notsirand notSignor Barbierieither. Alessandro.’
‘We don’t have to be pally now that we’re no longer pretending to be some kind of item.’
‘Sit down and listen to me without interrupting. When I’m finished talking, you can ask questions.’
Georgie opened her mouth to tell him that he couldn’t order her around but then stopped because, right at this very moment, he actually could. She was in his house and, whether she liked it or not, she was indebted to him for not chucking her out when she had nowhere to go while Alison was still contagious. Also, for allowing her to hang onto her cleaning job.
‘Shall I get the croissants first? Or does the sitting still and listening come first?’
‘I need to make a call. I’ll be back in twenty minutes and I’ll…do my best to explain what’s going on when I get back. You can do whatever you need to do to the croissants in my absence.’
Georgie didn’t have time to answer because he stood up without glancing in her direction and stalked out of the kitchen, leaving her more confused than she had been before.
She chucked the croissants into the oven, grabbed crockery and cutlery, and retrieved some jam from the fridge.
Why had he said that some whisky would work better than coffee?
How could she possibly be involved in whatever was going on with Alessandro and his ex-wife when she’d never met either of them in her life before?
Pondering this conundrum, she only snapped out of her thoughts when the door was pushed open and she looked up to see him standing in the doorway, a vision of crazy sexiness in his black, long-sleeved tee shirt and black jeans. Her heart picked up speed.
The fact that they were now alone in his splendid chalet suddenly made her redden with a rush of illicit thoughts.
‘Is everything okay? Hang on, I’ll get the croissants from the oven. They’ll be ready.’
‘I’ll get the croissants. You may clean my house but you don’t have to serve me.’
‘Are you sure? I do realise that I’m probably not your favourite person at the moment and I want to thank you again for—’
‘Remember what I said about keeping quiet while I do the talking? Question-and-answer session to follow? Let’s say the silence begins right about now.’
Alessandro looked at her while grappling with how to expand on his explanation of why she had been roped into playing a part she hadn’t anticipated playing.
He hadn’t given her much of an explanation in the first place because he hadn’t seen the need. But now?
He hadn’t predicted this. A simple charade would be over and done with in a matter of hours and then he and Georgie would go their separate ways.Thatwas what he had predicted.
