But, right now, ill health was in charge and he’d been forced into having some downtime and he was bored.
Hence, he was having a little fun at her expense because the devil played on idle hands.
‘Food should be here in a minute,’ she told him politely. ‘Do you good to eat.’
‘Yes, I think I’ve had your bracing advice about keeping my strength up by eating.’
‘It’s actually not my job to give you bracing advice about anything and I honestly don’t care whether you eat or don’t eat, but I do care that Flora would like to have your company and the longer you’re cooped up in here, the less time she’s going to have to spend with you.’
In receipt of this flatly delivered snub, Alessandro looked at her with a guarded expression.
He should have been turned off. Actually, he should have been livid. He was neither. He was intrigued.
Was that because this relationship was very different from anything he’d ever had with a woman before? Not exactly an employee but definitely not a love interest.
Was it the utter novelty aspect of her that made him want to get under her skin? Was she someone who had come along without warning, like a creature from another planet, managing to rouse the curiosity of his jaded palate because she was everything he wasn’t used to?
He could appreciate her without feeling the threat of someone who might want more than he was prepared to give. He could talk to her without thinking that any confidence shared would be stored and used against him at a later date.
He enjoyed the thought of getting inside her head, finding out a bit more about her for the duration of their time here.
He liked the way she blushed and looked discomfited by the tiniest foray into her personal life when, compared to him, she was as pure as the driven snow and as transparent as an open book.
Everything about her intrigued him and if he felt a feathery whisper of alarm at this, he swept it aside before it could even begin to register. He was the master of self-control and he was unshaken in his belief that no one could get past his defences if he didn’t allow them to.
There was a buzz at the door and he watched as she scuttled off to open it. She was so much at painsnotto look at him as the food was brought in and the table laid with so much pomp and ceremony that he wanted to burst out laughing.
‘Shall I tell you what Flora and I got up to today?’
Georgie finally looked at him as they both sat at the table, which had been set to Michelin standards.
‘I would very much like to hear.’
She told him. In detail. It was called time filling and a welcome distraction from his amused, scorching dark gaze on her.
She ate and got lost in the retelling of the day.
‘Hence why I’m so tired,’ she finished, after her barely interrupted monologue.
‘Sounds like you both had a lot of fun.’
‘What do you do with her when you…take her out? Can I ask?’
‘What do we do?’
‘Where do you go? I guess you have houses all over the place? Do you do lots of travelling between them with her? I mean, during the school holidays.’
‘I…’ Alessandro frowned. ‘It’s been haphazard. And time isn’t always my friend when it comes to completely relaxing.’
‘I have no idea what that means.’
He pushed his plate to one side. He’d eaten but not much. Now he stared at her, giving her question consideration.
‘It means it’s been a game of chance trying to pin my ex-wife down to honouring dates that have been set in advance and when I have had Flora…no… I haven’t travelled with her.’
‘That’s a shame. Does she get to see your mother often? My parents can’t wait to be grandparents. If my mum could knit, she would have already started. She’s shameless.’
‘I don’t…no… I don’t see my mother as much as I’d like. She lives in Italy now. First thing I did after I made my first million was to set her up close to family there. I try and get her across at least twice a year but it’s always a matter of fitting it in. Time has a habit of taking over and suddenly you find you’re in deficit.’
