Page 10 of Hired By The Forbidden Italian
It had been a relief when he had finally excused himself to leave for the office.
Annalise, a beautiful child with long dark hair, was a joy. Having only seen her at the allotment when she had been there with Evalina, Sophie now relished the chance to get to know her better.
She had numerous activities lined up, but in the end it was a bright day, warm and cloud-free, and so they took a picnic to the allotment and spent much of the day there, peacefully weeding and planting and going through some of the gardening books Sophie stored in her little shed.
They brought out two deckchairs at lunchtime and chatted, and she was glad for the easy tranquillity, which soothed her troubled mind.
Annalise reminded Sophie of herself as a child: quiet, thoughtful, curious.
How had her mother’s death, she wondered, affected the little girl? She would have been young at the time, but of course Evalina would have been there for her. And her father.
The minute Sophie began thinking about Niccolo, her mind went off at a tangent and it was next to impossible to rein it in.
And yet...for all that...for the first time in a very long time, she feltalive, capable of thoughts that weren’t depressing and inward turned.
Even when she had been fool enough to be persuaded into a relationship with Scott, she hadn’t felt so...alert, so stimulated...so aware that there was life happening out there still...
It puzzled her how one perfect stranger should have kickstarted such a fundamental change in her, but perhaps she’d lived for so many months dealing with everything on her own that just coming into contact with someone else, someone disassociated with what she was going through, accounted for her reaction.
That and the fact that the man is impossibly good-looking, a little voice whispered inside her head.
Disillusioned though she’d been after Scott, and determined as she had been to give men a wide berth for the foreseeable future, she was still, it would seem—against all odds—a woman capable of feeling things even if those things happened to be things she didn’t want to feel.
Having convinced herself that the mansion he lived in was plenty big enough for them to co-exist without too much crossover—and besides, he would be hard at work until who knew what time of the night—she was taken aback when, after a day at the allotment and part of the afternoon at the park near by, she opened the door to find that her employer was not conveniently holed up wherever he worked. He greeted them, larger than life, emerging from one of the doors that led out of the spectacular highly polished marble hallway, where two small Picasso paintings sat alongside a more substantial Hockney.
‘You’re here.’ Sophie walked slowly towards him while Annalise flew ahead before screeching to a stop as though suddenly aware that she shouldn’t fling herself into her dad’s arms but perhaps shake his hand instead.
From what Sophie had seen, there was certainly love and affection in abundance there, but it didn’t seem to transmit into hugs and kisses.
Had those hugs and kisses been the domain of his wife—Annalise’s mother?
Their eyes met over Annalise’s dark head and Sophie blushed.
‘I thought I’d return early as you’re still finding your feet and we haven’t had a chance to chat about the arrangements.’ He ruffled his daughter’s hair and smiled down at her before once again looking at Sophie, moving slowly towards her while Annalise fell into step alongside him.
‘Good!’ Sophie said brightly. She wondered whether he was checking up on her and thought that that was to be expected and a good thing, in a way.
‘It’s after five-thirty.’ Still in his work clothes, he glanced at his Rolex then back to her. ‘Why don’t you go and freshen up? I will sort out my daughter’s dinner and have some time with her, then I’ll order some dinner for us and you can debrief me on how your day today has been, fill me in on anything you feel I should know.’
Sophie hovered. Dinner together? When she’d thought about their infrequent meetings to discuss Annalise, she’d imagined something more formal. Not requiring a suit, a briefcase and a PowerPoint presentation, but not a million miles off.
She opened her mouth to tell him that she would be more than happy to settle Annalise but then, looking at the rapt expression on the little girl’s face, she realised that her father taking time out to spend with her was not an everyday occurrence. It was something to get excited about.
‘You look like a rabbit caught in the headlights,’ he murmured, standing directly in front of her now, and looking down into her upturned face. ‘No need to panic. It won’t be the Spanish Inquisition.’
‘Of course not,’ Sophie returned in the same bright voice, her expression glazed. ‘But my feet haven’t had a chance to really touch the ground, and of course I’m nervous at the thought that you might want to quiz me because you don’t trust me.’
She started when he leaned close to her, close enough for her to feel his warm breath when he whispered, lazily, ‘I trust you, Sophie. If I didn’t, I would have had you followed. You come recommended by my aunt, though, and to do such a thing would have gone against the grain. So relax. We’re going to be in one another’s company for the next few weeks. You’re going to have to learn not to look at me as though I might bite.’
He drew back but his dark eyes were still pinned to her face and he was smiling, eyebrows raised, his expression amused but watchful.
Was he playing games with her? No, he was being utterly serious. He reallywouldhave had her followed, and the thought of that sent a shiver down her spine.
He might be the perfect gentleman and together they might have worked out their boundary lines, but he was leaving her in no doubt that he called the shots.
She was pretty sure he would have checked up on her references. Had he also checked up onher? Unearthed her past? How much of her life was still private?
The questions pinged in her head for the next hour and a half as she roamed around her suite of rooms, too anxious to appreciate her luxurious surroundings.
