‘My normal day stretches to a great deal more than catching up on stuff,’ he said wryly. ‘Do you have any questions about the timetable?’
‘Er…’
‘You have the email I sent you?’
‘Of course.’
‘You can look at it for guidance. It details all the suitable rides and my PA has helpfully calculated timings getting between them, allowing for occasional pit stops.’
‘That’s very efficient. Wow.’
‘Now, your clothes.’
‘Yes? My clothes?’
‘Have you managed to buy more suitable gear for the weather? It’s not going to be scorching hot but you won’t feel comfortable in thick joggers or sweatshirts. It doesn’t have to be designer if that doesn’t take your fancy.’
‘I’ve bought suitable clothing, yes, and thank you for sending me money to cover the expenditure.’
After that rush of personal information exchanged between them, Georgie felt as though she had been brought back down to earth with an almighty bump.
He’d made it very clear that she wasn’t to infringe the boundaries he had in place.
Yet, somehow, she had ended up confiding in him in a way she never did and certainly never with a guy.
Even when it had come to Hans, theirs had been a relationship built on outdoor activities and having fun.
He’d told her about what he wanted to do as a career. She’d told him about her love for teaching kids.
But she had never felt tempted to share anything really personal with him. No wonder he hadn’t taken her seriously.
There had been laughter and fun and hanging out, but the element of seriousness had been missing. She could appreciate that, now that she was staring at Alessandro and wondering how he had managed to draw so much information out of her.
Who could blame him if he was pulling back at speed?
Did he think that this was the first step to her thinking that there was something more to this than an arrangement she had been forced into?
One minute she’d read the message and got the memo.
The next minute she’d flung both in the bin and was trying to infiltrate her way in via confidences?
‘I should think about getting something to eat,’ she mumbled.
‘Out of interest, what did you tell your friends about the sudden holiday here?’
‘I didn’t say anything about going on a holiday.’ Georgie was caught off balance by the sudden change in subject.
Maybe this was all about fact-checking. Getting stories straight. She couldn’t see the relevance. Hadn’t she been under orders to breathe nothing?
‘Naturally, I didn’t breathe a word about you.’
‘That’s a given.’
‘Then I don’t know why it matters what I said,’ Georgie told him honestly.
‘It doesn’t. I was curious.’
‘I said something about a family emergency. Not one that involved me travelling all the way back to England, of course. I told them a distant relative was having a few problems.’
