He cringed inwardly as Sophia sent him a brief look. It wasn’t how he wanted to be; it was how he had to be. You didn’t get to run a billion-pound company taking it easy. You didn’t get to provide a financially stable home without putting in the hours. Lily had so much more than he’d ever had, and his work saw to it she always would.
‘Well, you see this big building—this hotel?’ Lily nodded at her. ‘If I don’t work, then this place doesn’t work. I make sure important guests like you are taken care of and have a good time.’
‘You’re the boss lady?’
Sophia laughed, the sound reaching all the way inside him and teasing at the edges of his mouth.
‘Yes, I’m the boss lady.’
‘One day I want to be the big boss lady...on the moon.’
Sophia laughed again, her hand reaching out to stroke Lily’s cheek. ‘Then remember what I said about your maths and your reading.’
‘Maths and reading?’
Sophia nodded and Lily looked up at him. He was waiting for the eye roll; instead she hooked her tiny hand through his and looked back to Sophia with a firm nod. ‘Okay.’
‘Good girl.’ She ruffled Lily’s hair before rising up, her eyes finally coming back to his. They were still bright, but her cheeks had calmed, only a hint of pink remaining beneath the delicate sprinkling of freckles.
‘I trust you have everything you need in your room,’ she said smoothly, the difference in her marked. She was in work mode now and he found himself wanting the other version back, the version that had just spoken so kindly to his daughter.
‘But if there is anything at all that you require, please don’t hesitate to call down.’ She gestured for them to leave the room. ‘Shall we, Mr McGregor?’
‘Jack, please.’ Normally formal terms of address didn’t bother him; he was used to it. In her case, though, it seemed he couldn’t let it go.
He was treated to another flush of colour in her cheeks, something he was fast becoming attached to, and she cleared her throat. ‘Jack.’
Better. Much better.
Her eyes evaded him now as she sought out her assistant manager. ‘Andrew, could you see Jack and Lily to their room, please, and relieve Marie.’
‘Of course.’
Jack looked to the elderly gentleman and knew who he’d rather be escorted by. Perhaps his lack of interest in the dating scene was taking its toll. It wasn’t as if opportunities didn’t present themselves but what had first been an avoidance of women, especially in the months following Elena’s death, had now become a habit. Life was far less complicated when it was just him and Lily to think about. Him, Lily and work.
‘It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr—Jack, and Lily. I hope you enjoy your stay.’ She turned and swept from the room, no backward glance. And he wanted one.
‘Daddy?’ Lily tugged on his hand and he looked down at her.
‘Yes?’
‘I think you should change her mind.’
He laughed, but inside he completely agreed with his little girl.
And what was that about?
He had no idea.
But the desire was there, all the same.
CHAPTER TWO
SOPHIA RUBBED THE back of her neck and stifled a yawn. Before her, the computer screen started to blur, facts and figures forming indistinct lines and making her squint. It was gone ten and she should have left work long ago but all that waited for her was an empty apartment and her thoughts. Neither of which she could bring herself to cope with.
Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow it would be February, marking the end of another anniversary. Ten years since the death of her sister. A decade of guilt and grief. Time
was supposed to heal. Make it easier. Soothe the horrors of the past. Whoever said that was either an idealist or a liar.