‘On that note,’ he said with a grin, utterly unfazed, ‘I’ll go get some beauty sleep.’
And with a brief nod and a mocking little salute, off he disappeared into his bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘DAD! DAD!Look at this! Look!’
Alessandro looked. Flora had run off to a touch-sensitive screen and waspretend wiping awaygolden, dripping honey on the screen to reveal characters fromWinnie the Pooh.
It was hot. The queue snaked pleasantly through an attractively designed wooded area with rustic wooden fences and storybook signposts and lots of honeypots and barrels everywhere.
‘Don’t fast-track to the rides even though you can,’ Georgie had warned him two days previously, when he’d surfaced from whatever bug had kept him bedbound for two days. ‘The best bit is walking in the sun enjoying the sights.’
He’d acquiesced with good humour.
Things had changed between them. She was determined not to confront that fact and the more she’d stuck out her chin, daring him to push past her barriers, the more temptation had beckoned.
The temptation to knock down every single barrier and do what he’d wanted to do, do whatshewanted to do as well, if she could allow herself to relax and accept that.
She would.
If the sexual tension between them was getting to him, then it was getting to her. Alessandro knew women. He might not have delved deep into their psyches in an attempt to analyse what they thought, but he knew their sexual responses to him with instinct born from experience.
She mightsaythat what she wanted was herserious fun, whatever the hell that wasbut her sidelong glances and the tremble of her body when he was near her told a different story.
‘Magical, Flora.’ He went to stoop next to her and obligingly swiped the screen.
‘I know! Shall we go and see Rabbit’s Garden?’ She was hopping from one foot to the other, pointing to a patch of giant vegetables.
There were kids everywhere. Ice creams were being eaten, babies were dozing in pushchairs and parents were laughing. Alessandro laughed.
‘I think we should stick to the queue,’ he advised gravely. ‘We don’t want to lose our place.’
‘No.’ Flora looked wistfully at a batch of oversized fake carrots. ‘Dad.’ She slipped her hand into his and looked at him seriously. ‘Can we live here?’
Alessandro stifled a laugh. ‘I don’t think that would work out.’
‘Okay, but then can we stay longer?Please? Please, please, please?’
Alessandro met his daughter’s dark eyes and his heart flipped over. She’d been like a normal little six-year-old girl for the past few days and now he could see how much of a contrast that habitual seriousness he had got accustomed to really was.
For a second now, the worry was back as she chewed her lip and gazed at him with huge, imploring eyes.
The line was moving but they weren’t in it.
Georgie would be moving with the line. They’d find their place but for the minute…
‘That’s not going to be possible,’ he said quietly. ‘But, Flora, things have changed. Daddy’s going to be seeing you regularly now and you’ll get to do whatever you want when we’re together. Have fun. Who knows? We may even come back here.’
‘But can I come and live with you? Mummy’s no fun.’
‘I’m going to make sure that she’s a lot more fun now, darling. You wait and see.’ He stood up and swept her into his arms and held her still for a few seconds before depositing her on the ground and then leading her to where Georgie had made progress in the queue.
Bitterness and regret left a sour taste in his mouth.
He’d placed so much emphasis on the importance of a mother figure, because his own mother was so important to him, that for too long he’d chosen to overlook the very simple fact that his daughter had not been having a good time with Sophia.
She’d been left too much with nannies. She hadn’t beenmistreatedin any way. She’d just been left to her own devices and that had shaped her personality, had made her cautious and self-contained. Sophia, self-absorbed, vengeful and narcissistic, had been an inconsistent and indifferent parent. Nothing at all like his own mother.
