Page 42 of Hired By The Forbidden Italian
He was frowning. Of course he was. Did he imagine that he had been abruptly stuck in the awkward position of having to remind her of the laws they had laid down at the start of this situation?
She had just given herself to him in the most intimate way imaginable and now everything had suddenly changed.
She could feel it.
She blamed herself for being badly prepared for the inevitable, for being a coward and kidding herself that the bubble they were in was something that would pop but not just yet, and so why think too hard about it?
He, certainly, wasn’t torn because she hadn’t heard him launch into any speeches about continuing what they had, and just the thought of him mentally trying to work out how to tell her that their time was up without her making a fuss was enough to bring her out in a humiliating cold sweat. Maybe he thought that she might be clingy...might want things to carry on. He was rich, he was good-looking and he had the charm of the devil. Those were attributes that would keep many women hanging on for dear life until he prised them away from him and scarpered. Oh, God.
‘That’s wonderful.’ Sophie tried to inject some warmth into her voice but her heart was breaking in two, even though she knew that she was successfully replicating something of a smile. ‘Wonderful that your dad is well enough to contemplate going away. It’ll do him a world of good. Both your parents. Do you know how long they’ll be gone for?’
‘How...long?’
‘A month? Longer? Where will they be going? My parents always planned on going on a cruise, but they never got there. Perhaps somewhere along the line, they realised that they would have to count their pennies. I know in the couple of years before...before...well...there were a lot more staycations...’ She was babbling, words pouring out of her while her brain furiously computed the road that lay ahead and the direction her life would now be taking her.
‘And,’ she continued into the lengthening, awkward silence, ‘it’s brilliant that Evalina will be returning. Annalise will be over the moon.’
‘You think?’ Niccolo murmured, still frowning and ill at ease in himself. ‘She seems to have become very accustomed to having you around...’
‘There won’t be any point in my staying on, Niccolo,’ Sophie said briskly. ‘Annalise has got accustomed to me, of course, but there’s no job for me with Evalina returning. Of course, I’ll see Annalise at the allotment...’ Her voice faded away and the smile felt forced. Her jaw was beginning to ache.
‘You’ll be wondering about the financial side of things, I imagine...’
Was that all he could think about?
Sophie was relieved and offended at the same time. Relieved that he hadn’t seen through her over-bright voice yet offended that, after everything between them, he could actually think that she was mercenary enough to focus on the money when...when her world felt as though it was collapsing.
‘Of course not. I’ve already been more than generously paid for looking after your daughter. I’m not concerned that I won’t have an extra fortnight to earn a bit more.’
‘I’m not asking you to leave, Sophie,’ Niccolo said gruffly.
He looked at her.
Of course, they were ships passing in the night. This was never going to last beyond their brief time on the yacht. They both knew that. He had been very clear on that point and yet he was taken aback at the alacrity with which she was already, it seemed, mentally packing her bags ready for departure.
More than taken aback.
‘What are you asking, in that case?’
For once, faced with a direct question, Niccolo found that he couldn’t come up with an equally direct answer.
‘My house is big,’ he prevaricated, annoyed with himself for not taking the way out that had been handed to him, for not liking the fact that she was just serenely adhering to the ground rules he had laid down. ‘Annalise might benefit from your staying on for the allotted time you were hired for. It’s hardly your fault that my parents have decided to disappear on a cruise, leaving my aunt no choice but to return to London.’
‘I don’t think,’ Sophie said carefully, ‘that my staying on would be a good idea.’
‘Why not? Of course, far be it from me to stop you from leaving, but I’m curious.’
‘If I were to hang around for the remainder of my time...well, yes, of course things would revert back to where they were before we came here.’ Her eyes on him were clear and direct. ‘We’ve been very discreet in front of Annalise but she’s a child. If Evalina were around...well, she’s astute and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that she would suspect something. And what if she does? Bearing in mind that there’s a chance she might have had some matchmaking in her sights?’
‘I admit that hadn’t occurred to me.’
Niccolo scowled.
So what if she got a whiff that he and Sophie were somehow involved? Would it really be the end of the world?
In fact, would it be so horrific if they continued what had been started? They were both adults! And if Evalina caught on, then she was an adult as well and more than capable of dealing with the fact that he and Sophie were having a fling.
Yes, the very idea went against what they had both signed up to, but all things in life were organic.
