He allowed the silence to swirl around them for a few minutes as he stared at her, eyes narrowed, restless and edgy and not knowing how to tackle those unusual feelings. Eventually he asked whether Flora was asleep.
‘Out like a light. It was a big day for her. Shall I get you something from room service? Have you thought about what you’d like to eat? I might…venture down and have something in the restaurant…’
‘Why are you hovering by the door? Come in. You can close it. Not fully, but I don’t want Flora to wake up.’
Georgie hesitated.
She sensed the atmosphere and she knew why it was there, but was it her fault that she’d had Flora for the day? Was it her fault that she’d completely stampeded throughRule Number One…make sure you keep a distance from my daughter?
She took a step into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.
‘I know exactly what’s going through your head, Alessandro!’
‘Do you? Isn’t that the second time you’ve said something like that to me? You must have been a mind-reader in another life.’
She was relieved that he was wearing a tee shirt and that the covers were pulled up to his waist, nicely concealing anything that might get her blood pressure soaring, but it was still suffocatingly intimate in his bedroom. This even though he’d opened the windows and pulled back the curtains so that a nice cool breeze blew through the room.
Self-righteous anger built the closer she got to the bed and she was fuming by the time she’d pulled a chair over so that she was sitting next to him.
‘It’s not my fault that I spent the day with Flora. I know what you said about making sure I kept my distance and, believe me, I understand completely why you said that, but what was I supposed to do? You were bedridden and you still are! Whatever bug you’ve picked up is probably going to take days to clear. These things can linger and if you try and get out there too soon, they just come back with a vengeance! So go right ahead and start preaching to me about those ground rules of yours, but Istillwon’t have a choice because Flora’s having a ball and I don’t see why she should pay the price of having her fun curtailed because you don’t want me taking her out!’
She looked at him with narrow-eyed, thin-lipped defiance.
Alessandro had never seen any sight so riveting. Her hair was all over the place, long and blonde and unruly, and her face was scrubbed clean of all make-up.
He had a fierce desire to reach out and touch and kiss the stubborn, pouting mouth.
What the heck was happening to him?
He ran a distracted hand over his forehead and then felt her own small hand push his away so that she could feel him.
‘You still have that fever and I’m worried now. I think I’ll call Reception and ask them to send up a doctor.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ He missed the feel of her cool hand when she removed it.
‘I’m not being ridiculous, Alessandro! You’re still in bed and I’m betting that’s a one-off for you and you’re not bothering to look after yourself. You can’t even tell me when you last took any medication!’
‘I’m not sure I took any after you left.’
‘And you want to get better?’ She clicked her tongue and softened. ‘You’re worse than some of the kids I look after when they get ill.’
She popped two tabs from the packet and handed them to him with the glass of water by the bed and watched with a bemused expression while he swallowed them.
He appeared so strong, so powerful, soinvinciblethat it was disorienting to see him like this and she liked it. Why? That made no sense. But…
It wasendearing, which wasn’t something she’d thought she’d ever associate with him.
Her thoughts blurred over and she blinked away a crazy weakness to run the back of her hand across his cheek, to caress him.
‘What do you want me to do tomorrow if you still can’t make it out?’ she asked gruffly.
‘Of course I want you to take my daughter out. I…when you got back here, I could see that she’d had…a wonderful time…’
‘It was an amazing day and it wasn’t just Flora who had a great time. I did as well. I’m afraid I ignored your schedule of events. We just went where the urge took us. Honestly, Alessandro, you wouldn’t believe what you were missing. The rides! Of course, we just went on the small ones suitable for Flora, but she’s tall enough to go on bigger ones so we’ll see what happens tomorrow. If, that is, you’re still bedridden.’
‘Have dinner with me.’
‘Sorry?’
