Wish Upon a Star (16 page)

‘Two. Christy will show you which cannula.’

Christy pushed forward the trolley that she’d already prepared and handed the other doctor a tourniquet.

‘I want a full blood count, a clotting screen, U and Es, blood glucose and group and cross-match. Christy…’ he lifted his head from his examination ‘… what are his sats?’

‘Ninety-six per cent,’ she said immediately, and he gave a nod.

‘Did you bleep the physicians?’

‘As the ambulance arrived.’ Seeing that Katya had successfully cannulated the patient, Christy handed her the right bottles for the various tests and labelled the necessary forms. ‘They said that they were on their way.’

‘I want him to have 50 grams ranitidine, diluted in saline.’ Alessandro’s eyes rested on the monitor. ‘Let’s give him some oxygen, Christy.’

Murmuring words of reassurance to her patient, Christy slipped a mask over his face and adjusted the flow.

‘I’m so thirsty,’ he mumbled. ‘Can I have a drink?’

‘Nothing at the moment,’ Christy said, and at that moment the physicians arrived.

Having made their examination and listened to Alessandro’s handover, they decided that the patient needed an endoscopy and made arrangements to take him to Theatre.

Christy arranged the transfer, accompanied the patient and then returned to Resus to tidy up the mess she’d left.

Pushing open the door, she was surprised to find Alessandro and Katya still in there, talking.

Katya was standing quite close to him, closer than was strictly necessary, her eyes fixed on Alessandro’s face.

‘So you’re saying that the differential diagnosis could have been a Mallory-Weiss tear, oesophageal varices, some sort of mucosal inflammation, gastric carcinoma or a coagulation disorder.’

‘It could also have been a simple peptic ulcer,’ Alessandro said dryly, dropping his gloves into the nearest bin. ‘Not everything we see in this department is rare or out of the ordinary. Remember that.’

‘Of course,’ Katya breathed. ‘I hope you don’t mind me taking the opportunity to ask questions.’

‘Not at all.’ Watching Alessandro’s encouraging smile, Christy ground her teeth.

He was
so
patient with her. Why was that? Patience wasn’t one of his virtues.

‘Do you fancy a drink tonight, Alessandro? I could really do with your help on a few issues,’ Katya murmured, and Christy watched as her husband gave the younger girl a thoughtful look.

‘Unfortunately tonight isn’t possible,’ he said, his Spanish accent very pronounced as he reached for a pen to sign a request form that one of the nurses was holding out to him. ‘Some other time maybe.’

Some other time?

The hairs on the back of Christy’s neck prickled with outrage. What did he mean by that? Why some other time? And exactly what sort of help was Katya looking for?

Ready to hit him for the second time in twenty-four hours, Christy cleared the trolley noisily and slammed her foot on the bar that opened the bin. It gaped open and she stuffed in the rubbish and let it slam shut with a crash.

Not
very mature, she thought to herself, but at least it made her feel better and it reminded the pair of them that she was in the room.

He had such a nerve!

First he had hit Jake for kissing her and now he was flirting with Katya.

Aware that Alessandro was looking at her with astonishment,
she gave him an innocent smile. ‘Well, that’s just about finished with the clearing up. I’ll be off, then, and leave you to it.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘Leave us to what?’

Despite her clenched jaw, she managed to beam at him. ‘To whatever it is you have to do, Alessandro,’ she replied in perfect Spanish, and then turned and left the room.

By the time she arrived home, she’d made up her mind that Alessandro was going to be staying at the hospital so what was the point of changing for dinner? Still seething about the sheer front of the feline Katya, she stepped into the shower, wondering how Alessandro had dealt with her.

Were they together at this precise moment?

Was he giving her personal instruction?

Still simmering, Christy wrapped herself in a large towel and padded into the bedroom, only to find him standing there holding a huge bunch of red roses.

She stared. ‘What are those for?’

‘They’re for you.’

‘Me?’ He was giving her flowers? Alessandro never gave her flowers. It just wasn’t something he thought to do. So why was he thinking of it now?

Her heart plummeted and she wondered again just what sort of help he’d been giving the seductive Katya. ‘Feeling guilty about something, Alessandro?’ Her frosty tone brought a wary look to his eyes.

He muttered something under his breath in Spanish and she glared at him.

‘You
never
bring me flowers.’

‘An omission which I’m trying to rectify,’ he announced in a tone that reflected no small degree of exasperation and bemusement. ‘You wanted me to be more romantic,
gatita
.’

She clutched at the towel, her hair trailing over her shoulders like flames. ‘You think it’s romantic to see my husband flirting under my nose?’

His eyes narrowed.
‘When
was I flirting?’

‘You really need to ask?’ She flung her head back and her eyes sparked. ‘She’s all over you like a rash.’

‘Who is?’

‘Katya.’ Christy hated her waspish tone and Alessandro lifted an eyebrow.

‘Are you accusing me of having an affair with Katya?’ His slow, masculine drawl was laced with amusement and she glared at the flowers and then at him, furious that he dared to laugh at her!

‘Why is that funny?’

‘She works for me, it is my job to train her,’ Alessandro said smoothly, and Christy clenched her fists.

‘And you have to be in close physical contact to achieve that objective?’ She knew she was behaving childishly but she just couldn’t help it.

‘You are being ridiculous.’

‘Am I?’ Christy tilted her head in challenge. ‘Last night you punched Jake.’

‘That was entirely different,’ Alessandro growled, the amusement in his eyes vanishing in a flash. ‘He was kissing you.’

‘And Katya was rubbing herself against you like a cat.’ She broke off and Alessandro sucked in a breath, his gaze suddenly thoughtful.

‘And you minded about that,’ he said softly, ‘so that’s good, is it not?’

‘Why would that
possibly
be good?’

‘Jealousy shows that feeling exists.’

Did it? Did he still have feelings for her? Or were his
feelings all linked with his traditional, Mediterranean man’s view of family?

‘You didn’t think it was such a good thing last night when you split Jake’s lip,’ she pointed out, and Alessandro gave a wry smile.

‘Good point. OK.’ He gave a shrug of his broad shoulders that reflected his Latin heritage. ‘So we both admit we are hot-tempered and foolish and then you put my flowers in water and we go out to dinner.’ His sudden unexpected smile was so sexy and charismatic that she felt her stomach flip.

It had always been the same, she reflected weakly. One moment he was all seething, masculine volatility and the next all indolent, simmering sexuality.

‘Are you trying to talk me round?’

‘Perhaps.’ His voice was a lazy drawl as he slipped a firm hand round the back of her neck and trailed his fingers slowly through her hair. ‘Or perhaps we have done enough talking for one evening,
querida
. What do you think?’

She couldn’t think at all with him looking down at her with that slightly teasing, sexy gleam in his dark eyes.

‘I—We—’ She didn’t finish her sentence because he brought his mouth down on hers with passionate force, drugging her with the intensity of his kiss. She felt the strength in her knees dissolve and clutched at his broad shoulders for support.

And then he lifted his head, his gaze slumberous as he studied her face. ‘On second thoughts, let’s go out to dinner.’

She stared at him dizzily, her vision slightly hazy. ‘Sorry?’

‘If we stay here, I will seduce you,’ he declared without a trace of apology, ‘and then you might accuse me of being possessive or not being interested in you as a person. I hate the thought that Jake knows more about you than I do so I’m
going to take you out and you are going to tell me everything.’

She almost laughed. It was typical of Alessandro to try and command a conversation. But at least he was trying. ‘All right,’ she said softly, basking in the masculine appreciation she saw in his eyes. ‘Let’s go out and I’ll tell you everything.’

He took her to a tiny restaurant by the side of the lake and they sat at a secluded table festively decorated with bunches of holly.

Alessandro picked up a menu and ordered and then looked at her with a wary expression on his handsome face. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

‘Do you realise that you never let me order my own food?’ ‘All right.’ He leaned back in his chair and gave a shrug. ‘What would you have ordered?’ ‘Smoked salmon and duck.’

He gave an arrogant smile. ‘So—I ordered you smoked salmon and duck. That makes me a genius, no?’ ‘It makes you controlling, Alessandro.’ He frowned. ‘It means I know you well.’ ‘It means you don’t even give me the choice.’ He let out a long breath and reached for his wine. ‘OK.’ Suddenly his Spanish accent sounded very pronounced. ‘So from now on, you want to order your own food. No problem.’

She hesitated. ‘It’s not just my food, Alessandro, it’s everything. I want to know that you care about my opinion. About me as a person.’

‘Of course I care about you as a person.’

‘And yet you didn’t want me to work in A and E.’

‘I was wrong in that,’ he conceded. ‘You have proved
that you are still an excellent A and E nurse. Obviously you should be working in that area, not wasting your talents as a practice nurse. We will sort out a contract that allows you to be home for the children and work in the department.’

‘You’re doing it again!’ She stared at him in exasperation. ‘You’re telling me what I should do. Try
asking
me, Alessandro. Try
asking
me what I want. Believe it or not, I have an opinion, too.’

He muttered something in Spanish and sat back as their first course arrived. ‘All right.’ He paused while the waiter placed the plates in front of him and then gave her a smile. ‘I am asking you what you want. Tell me.’

‘I want to make my own choices,’ she said softly. ‘I want to decide what’s right for me as well as for the family. Yes, I want to be there for the children, of course I do. If anything, it’s even more important now they’re getting older and they have homework to do and friends to play with, but I can easily combine that with work and the mountain rescue team.’

Alessandro picked up his fork. ‘I want to know why you find Jake easy to talk to and not me.’ A strange expression flickered in his dark eyes. ‘Am I that intimidating?’

‘Not to me,’ she said quietly, ‘but you’re very self-confident and sure of yourself. And sometimes your confidence drives everything else along in its path. You’re very strong and you make decisions for people.’

He studied her through narrowed eyes. ‘But I have always been the same, I think.’

She gave a soft smile. ‘Yes, you have.’

‘You remember the first time we met?’

Colour flooded into her cheeks. ‘I’m not likely to forget.’

‘You were talking to Jake in the students’ bar,’ Alessandro
said softly, ‘and I took one look at you and knew then that you were going to be mine.’

‘You grabbed me by the hand and dragged me across the road to that little restaurant—’

‘And then you came back to my place,’ Alessandro said in a deep, sexy drawl. ‘And we didn’t get out of bed for three days.’

Her colour deepened. ‘I got pregnant that weekend.’

‘And I was so pleased,’ Alessandro confessed with a complete lack of remorse. ‘It gave me a reason to marry you without having to suffer a long engagement.’

She stared down at the simple gold band on the finger of her left hand. At the time, getting engaged hadn’t seemed to matter. She’d been swept away by the force of his passion and the intensity of her love for him.

And that love had deepened over the years as she’d discovered what an amazing man he was.

But how had he felt about her? Had the novelty worn off? ‘All the women were after you.’

‘But I wanted only you.’

And how about now? she wanted to ask.
How about now?
Had he grown bored with the person she was? But she didn’t want to risk spoiling a nice evening by hearing something she didn’t want to hear and he was so obviously trying hard to listen to and understand her that she didn’t want to threaten the atmosphere.

‘It is true I am a strong person and that characteristic isn’t helped by the job I do,’ Alessandro confessed, disarmingly honest. ‘In A and E, I don’t operate by consensus. I am not going to stand there with an injured patient and ask everyone for an opinion on the correct treatment protocol. I am used to making snap decisions.’

And those snap decisions saved lives on a daily basis,
Christy knew that. He was an incredibly skilled and talented doctor and his decisiveness and confidence was an important contributing factor in his success.

‘When people have a tricky patient, they always want you there,’ she said quietly, knowing that it was true. ‘You never panic.’

‘Panicking helps no one.’ Alessandro reached for a bread roll. ‘And confidence is important to everyone.’

Christy knew that to be true also. It was important to have someone competent in control. ‘If I had an accident, there’s no one I’d rather leading the trauma team,’ she said quietly, and he frowned.

‘You are
not
going to have an accident, but thank you for the compliment. But I have to learn to be less controlling with you, I can see that, and I will try.’

And he did.

Over the next few days he asked her opinion on everything and listened carefully, and Christy saw a whole new side to him.

Surely he couldn’t be making this much effort just for the children, she thought to herself. Surely his behaviour was an indication that he still had feelings for her?