they’re back.’
‘Which would be at what time...?’
‘This evening. Six sharp.’
‘Unusual sightseeing activities that can be planned with such precision,’ Alessandro said with stinging sarcasm, and he received a shocked and surprised look from the blonde in response.
‘Can I ask whether you’re related to George and Karen?’
Alessandro raised his eyebrows expressively. Cosy relationship with the girl at Reception? he thought. Bit odd... Admittedly the hotel was only the size of a bed and breakfast. For all he knew that was exactly what it was, despite its grandiose name: the Ruskin Hotel. But still...
‘I’m his boss, and I’m here to see him on a business-related matter.’
‘If you’re his boss then I’m surprised... Didn’t he mention...?’
‘Mention what?’ Kate asked gently, reading sudden confusion in the receptionist’s blue eyes.
‘They go to the hospital every day. They’re allowed some leeway with the visiting hours, but they tend to stay there pretty much for the whole day, so that they can be there for Gavin and Caroline.’
‘Caroline’s their daughter...’ Kate turned to Alessandro, her mind a whirl. ‘Gavin’s their son-in-law. I know that because there’s a family photo on his desk...’
‘Right. Hospital. Perhaps you could tell us which hospital this is...?’
They arrived at the hospital in under an hour. It had been a largely silent journey. For the first time Alessandro had been caught on the back foot—handed information he had not been expecting...information that altered the straightforward situation he’d thought he would be dealing with.
Despite the fact that George and his wife had chosen to stay outside the city, the hospital was actually in downtown Toronto. Kate guessed that either the little hotel was very reasonably priced, or else they had some experience of being there before. Or maybe they just needed to be outside the main drag of a city to clear their heads at the end of the day.
A long day.
Because the days would be long. In the back of the car Alessandro had looked up the hospital on the internet, so they both knew that it was a centre for the treatment of sick children.
Now, as they approached the white-fronted building visible through a bank of trees, Alessandro turned to her and spoke for the first time.
‘This is not what I expected,’ he said roughly, raking fingers through his dark hair. ‘And you won’t be accompanying me into the hospital.’
‘Perhaps we should wait until they’re back at the hotel this evening. And I will be accompanying you, by the way.’
‘It wasn’t a suggestion, Kate. It was an order.’
‘And my answer wasn’t a suggestion either. It was a statement of fact.’ She sighed. ‘I’m very fond of George. He’s been good to me, and I want him to know that I’m here for him and his wife. Whatever the outcome of your...talk with him.’ She paused and looked at Alessandro’s averted profile. His beautiful eyes were veiled.
He turned to her before opening his door. ‘Stubborn.’
‘Yes, I can be.’ She stuck her chin out defiantly, prepared to go all the way into an argument, but there was no argument as he shrugged and stepped out of the car, waited for her to join him.
She wished she could reach into his head and see what he was thinking. She had the strangest urge to rest her hand on his forearm in a gesture of comfort, although she had no idea what she would be comforting him for—unless it was just for getting something wrong, for showing himself to be fallible like the rest of the human race.
She didn’t imagine that he liked being wrong. She thought that he had probably never been wrong about anything in his entire life—at least not when it came to business. In business—and this was a business matter after all—his judgement would always have been faultless.
‘Stubborn can sometimes be a good thing,’ he mused, glancing down at her.
‘What...what do you intend to do?’ she ventured, half running to keep up with him and longing for a bit of cool, because she was beginning to overheat in her outfit.
‘I intend to play it by ear...’
‘Can that sometimes be a good thing?’
‘I’ll let you know later. Can’t say it’s something I’ve ever done before.’
They entered the cool foyer of the hospital, and after that everything seemed to happen very quickly.
Alessandro commanded attention. How did that work when he wasn’t Canadian, wasn’t a doctor and had no connections to the hospital? It just did.
Within half an hour they knew where they could locate George, and after an hour and a half—during which time they sat in a very modern, very nice restaurant in front of cups of coffee, with Alessandro working via his smartphone and Kate pretending to be hard at it in front of her tablet—George came to meet them.
A wearily resigned George, who had obviously sussed why they had landed up in Toronto and at the hospital.
Kate’s heart went out to the older man. He was in one of his usual trademark brightly coloured outfits. She had always smiled at that. Even when he was in a suit his shirt was always jolly, his tie was always patterned, his hankies were always ridiculously gimmicky. He had told her once, laughing, that his wife chose his shirts, his daughter chose his handkerchiefs and his grandchildren chose his socks. So what chance did he ever have of looking debonair?
He seemed to have shrunk—or maybe she was only noticing that now because he looked so weary.
‘I know why you’ve come,’ were his opening words as he sat opposite them with a cup of coffee. He looked at Alessandro with resignation. ‘Of course I was going to be found out. I’d hoped that somehow I would have managed to start repaying what I... I want to say what I borrowed, but I realize, Mr Preda, that you probably won’t see it that way...’
‘You have no idea how I’m going to see it, George. So why don’t you start from the beginning and leave nothing out...?’
* * *
It was after six by the time their day was done. And every second of it had been spent at a high-voltage pace that had left Kate breathless, barely able to keep up.
Now, as she tripped along in Alessandro’s wake, she ran her fingers through her hair, which had unravelled, been scooped back up again, and then unravelled again—so heaven only knew what she looked like now. Not the consummate professional, she was betting.
‘Alessandro...’ she breathed, only realizing afterwards that it was the first time she had addressed him by his Christian name without feeling awkward.
Alessandro stopped en route to his very patient driver, who had been on call throughout the day and was probably as exhausted as she was.
He
