Alessandro wasn’t interested in hearing a long speech on the moral values of Fitzsimmons. ‘Wonderful,’ he said neutrally. ‘But this particular decision won’t require involvement from anyone else in your firm.’
‘Okay.’
‘Nor is it illegal.’ Alessandro read the suspicion in her eyes and looked at her with wry amusement. ‘However, yes, it will involve the house remaining in your friend’s possession. More than that, what if I told you that I would be prepared to pay off all her debts and inject sufficient cash to make sure she can keep the shelter going for a very long time to come?’
Chase gaped at him. For a few seconds, she honestly believed that she had misheard what he had said. Then she thoughtfully closed her knife and fork, wiped her mouth with her linen serviette and searched his face to see whether this was some way of making a fool of her.
‘So Beth...’ she said slowly, giving him ample time to cut her short and rubbish what she thought he had said, ‘gets to keep the house, plus you pay off her debts, plus you put money into renovating and updating the place...am I getting it right?’
‘That would be about the size of it.’
‘And you would do this because...?’ Brow furrowed, she suddenly smiled at him with genuine delight. ‘I know why. You were impressed with what you found at the shelter, weren’t you? I don’t suppose you were expecting it to be as well run as it was. Beth spares no effort when it comes to doing good for those girls. It’s hard to go there and not be moved by what you find. I’m so pleased, Alessandro.’ She reached out impulsively and covered his hand with hers.
Alessandro looked at the shining glow on her face and was extremely pleased with himself for being the one to put it there.
‘Can I call and tell her?’ Chase asked excitedly. ‘No, perhaps I’d better not do that.’ She flashed him an apologetic smile. ‘You’ll have to forgive the lawyer in me, but we’ll have to get this all signed on the dotted line. But, once she knows, she’ll be over the moon. Between you and me, I don’t honestly think she was looking forward to a quiet retirement by the seaside.’
‘So you agree with me that this is a good idea?’
‘Of course I do! I’d be a fool not to.’ Even with her defences up, knowing how he felt about her after what she had done to him, she knew that there was a blazingly good streak in him. Those lectures he had given had been given for free, and he had taken considerable time out to individually help some of the students, had actually offered internships to a couple of them. He hadn’t just been as sexy as hell, he had shown her a glimpse of humanity that she had never seen before and that, amongst other things, had roped her in and kept her tethered in a place she had known was desperately dangerous.
‘Naturally, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in life.’ Alessandro shook his head ruefully, the very picture of a man who regrets that there wasn’t. ‘I wish I could say that I was the perfect philanthropist, but you have to understand that all this will cost me a small fortune.’
The smile died on her face. The bill was brought to them and she automatically reached for her bag but it had been settled before she could rummage out her wallet and pay her fair share. ‘Of course it will,’ she agreed coolly. ‘And you’ll want to be repaid for your largesse. Will your rates be competitive?’
‘Shall we go?’
Chase could feel disappointment rising inside her as he waited for her to gather her things, standing aside so that she could precede him out of the restaurant. Once outside, she didn’t bother with her stupid jacket. He had been right when he had remarked that it was impractical for the weather.
What had he been playing at? Stringing her along with all manner of empty promises only to yank them all back at the last minute? Didn’t he realise that, if Beth had wanted to borrow money so that she could clear her debts and get the shelter really going, she would have gone to the bank? Of course, Chase thought uncomfortably, she had tried that some time ago but to no avail. She simply hadn’t had the collateral to get a loan of the size she required, even though the bank manager had known her parents. Money was just not being lent, not to ventures that had nothing to gain. Had Alessandro checked that out himself and come to the conclusion that he could provide her with the money but jack up the interest rates?
‘I really believed you for a minute,’ she simmered, barely noticing that she was being ushered into the back seat of his car. ‘I really thought that you had been so impressed by what you saw that you decided to do the right thing. I really thought that there was a part of you that was the same guy who gave internships to those girls years ago, and the same guy who put in extra time helping that little group of Asian students through their language barriers with some of their papers.’