On no level did this sexy guy staring at her now fit into that category.
The way he was looking at her, with humour in his dark gaze, a smile tugging the corners of his mouth…
Her heart picked up speed and she found herself leaning forward, hanging onto the conversation.
‘So,’ she said breathlessly, ‘you were telling me that you have a child. A boy? Girl? How old?’
‘Six and a girl. Flora is her name.’
The harsh lines of his face softened when he said that.
‘So what does this…? I mean, I’m still confused, if I’m honest. Why am I involved in this at all?’ She tilted her head to one side and nodded. ‘Is it to do with custody?’
‘Very good. How did you guess?’
Georgie thought back to the scenario into which she had inadvertently found herself.
The awkwardness…an ex-wife who had looked at her with open hatred…the lawyers, there to do a job whatever the atmosphere. Alessandro, hard as nails and cold as ice, a man on a mission.
‘She still fancies you, I guess.’
‘You’re jumping to all sorts of conclusions.’
Georgie noted his dark flush and shrugged. ‘None of my business, I know. I’m just saying what I felt and saw when it came to body language. Maybe she still thinks she has a chance with you and using your daughter as a pawn is something she does to keep you dangling on the end of a hook. Maybe she hasn’t really wanted to let go.’ She paused. ‘Actually, I had a friend whose mum was a bit like that. Gail. She was always caught in a tug of war. Her mother was always fighting for more money, always cancelling visits with her dad without warning. Twice, she showed up at school when she wasn’t meant to be there and caused an almighty scene, saying that Gail couldn’t spend the weekend with her dad because of plans her mum said she’d forgotten about. It happens.’
‘Duly noted.’
‘But I still don’t get what the whole charade was all about when you found me here. You didn’t want to make your ex jealous, so…’
‘You’re right. Sophia has been playing fast and loose with my visiting rights, which, until now, have been informally agreed at her request. You’re also right, there have been attempts to—how shall I put it?—engineer a reconciliation of sorts. Attempts that I have ignored. With each woman I’ve dated, Sophia has become more and more vocal that I’m not the sort of guy who is responsible enough to see my own daughter. I work too much; I play too hard. Several times, she’s contrived to inform the paparazzi of her thoughts on the matter, which, naturally, has resulted in them snapping me on a more and more consistent basis. I brought her out here, far from all reporters, so that I could pin her down into signing everything I should have made her sign years ago but didn’t.’
‘I see…’
‘The minute she saw you, I knew what she would have been thinking. She would have jumped to the conclusion that you were yet another one of my women, that I was again proving myself to be the sort of philanderer who could never be seen as a role model for a young child. Having her lawyer there would have led to a major headache for me.’
‘Yes.’ Georgie winced. ‘I’m sorry. Again.’
‘Hence the charade. I thought it was going to be something temporary, just until she returned to New York on the helicopter, but unfortunately…’
There was a long silence during which Georgie tried and failed to work out where that enigmatic statement was going.
Judging from the angry thinning of his lips, she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to like the direction of travel.
‘Unfortunately?’ she prompted uneasily.
‘Sophia has been making noises for some time about a holiday with Flora. Various very expensive places have been suggested, most of which would have held little or no interest for a six-year-old child. The only reason she’s run any of the options past me is because she wants an extraordinary injection of extra cash to cover all sorts of ridiculous costs and because she wants to rub home that she’s willing to put the time in taking Flora on holiday while I either work too much or play too hard.’
‘Ridiculous costs?’
‘Private island, fully crewed yacht, sufficient bedrooms to accommodate at least a dozen adults and perhaps a child or two—chefs on tap. I wouldn’t give a damn about any of that if I knew that it wasn’t motivated by spite.’
‘You don’t need all of that to have a wonderful holiday. I remember my family holidays—little rentals on the coast and board games. I always lost, now I think back to it.’
‘Your family holidays couldn’t have been further from mine.’ He frowned, impatient with himself for going off-piste.
‘I guess, with money to burn, board games and rentals by the coast weren’t your thing.’
‘I wasn’t born a billionaire, Georgie. I had to fight tooth and nail to make it to the top.’
