‘Oh!’ she gasped as he deftly caught her.
‘Wow!’ he said with a devilish grin. ‘I haven’t lost my touch after all. And here I was thinking that no woman was ever going to fall for me again.’
Amelia hastily pushed what was left of her skirt over her bare thighs, her face aflame. ‘Please put me down,’ she said as stiffly as she could, considering the sudden escalation of her pulse rate and breathing.
His face was so close she could see the black pupils of his eyes which were almost as dark as his irises. It looked as if his leanly chiselled jaw hadn’t been anywhere near a razor for at least a day or two, but in spite of his lack of grooming she could smell the citrus fragrance of his aftershave mingled in-toxicatingly with the muskiness of a man’s body warmed by the hot spring sunshine.
He placed her on the ground in front of him, taking his time about it, she noted crossly.
‘There, now turn around and let’s see the damage,’ he said.
Amelia stood completely frozen; she could feel air where she shouldn’t be feeling air, and to make matters even worse—she was certain she was wearing her oldest pair of knickers.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, but then, noticing the worried flick of her hazel gaze towards the fence, he whistled through his teeth and said, ‘Uh oh.’
Amelia inwardly groaned as he walked up to the fence and removed what appeared to be the back half of her skirt from the nail. He came back and handed it to her, his mouth twitching at the corners. ‘It might need a stitch or two, I’m afraid.’
‘It’s fine,’ she said, backing away, doing her best to tuck the hapless bit of fabric into the elastic of the waistband of her skirt.
‘Would you like me to give you a leg up over the fence?’ he offered.
‘No, thank you. I’ll take the long way around.’ She took a deep breath and picked up her bag with her free hand, the other one holding her skirt in place as she stalked back the way she had come with the precious little dignity she had left.
‘Hey, you didn’t tell me your name,’ he called out after her, his mouth still tilted in a smile. ‘Let me guess—is it Tinkerbell?’
She turned around and gave him one last cutting look. ‘You do not need to know my name as I will not be coming this way again.’
‘Pity,’ he said, his eyes twinkling again. ‘I kind of like the idea of having my very own pixie to play with.’
She stomped off muttering under her breath but the sound of his deep chuckle of laughter followed her all the way to Signora Gravano’s house.
‘You look like you have been through a hedge backwards,’ the elderly woman said as she ushered Amelia into her neat little cottage.
‘I have,’ Amelia said, grimacing as she looked down at her tattered skirt, although she was relieved to find it had so far stayed in place.
‘Did you take the short cut again?’
‘Yes, unfortunately.’ She gave the old woman a speaking glance and added, ‘I met the new tenant.’
‘Ah, yes, the associate professor. He just moved in this morning.’
Amelia’s head jerked up. ‘The associate what?’
‘The Australian doctor,’ Signora Gravano explained. ‘I thought you knew about it. Dr Alex Hunter was summoned to Niroli to see the king about his heart. He very generously decided to use his sabbatical period to work with the Free Hospital staff to set up some sort of new heart procedure.’
‘But he’s not due until the end of next week,’ Amelia said, her own heart suddenly feeling as if it needed an ECG. She turned to wash her hands to disguise her shock, taking her time with the soap and towel before she turned back round.
‘I expect he has come early to enjoy the spring sunshine before he starts work,’ the old woman said as she put her leg up on a foot stool for Amelia to inspect. ‘It is quite a coincidence, don’t you think?’
‘Coincidence?’ Amelia frowned in puzzlement. ‘What do you mean?’
‘He looks so Italian you could almost swear he was born and bred on the island.’
She frowned again as she turned back to her bag. ‘I couldn’t quite work out the accent,’ she said as she opened her bag to retrieve the dressings she’d brought with her. ‘I thought he sounded more British than anything.’
‘He is very highly educated, of course. I believe he has spoken at conferences all over the world on this new technique. Perhaps his accent has become a little diluted by now.’
‘So why is he renting that run-down cottage behind yours?’ Amelia asked. ‘If he’s such a hot-shot doctor surely he would want to stay at Santa Fiera where the casino and all the resort hotels and restaurants are.’
‘I suppose he wants to be close to the hospital and the older part of the island. Besides, he is only here for a month so a rustic working holiday might hold more appeal. The cottage is not that bad—it just needs a bit of a clean-up in the garden.’
There was no arguing with that, Amelia thought wryly, but somehow she couldn’t see the highly regarded cardiac surgeon getting down and dirty with a fork, spade and wheelbarrow.
‘So what did you think of him?’ Signora Gravano asked.
Amelia pursed her mouth as she unwrapped the old dressing on the old woman’s leg. ‘I thought he was…er…’
The old woman chuckled at her hesitation. ‘He is very handsome, enough to make a woman’s heart race, eh, Amelia? Good thing he is a cardiac specialist. He probably leaves a trail of broken hearts wherever he goes.’
‘Yes, well, I am sure I will not be affected in such a way,’ Amelia said firmly, doing her level best to block the memory of his strong arms around her.
‘You have spent too long with the nuns,’ Signora Gravano said. ‘I always thought it would do more harm than good when you went to that convent after your mother passed away. You are too young to devote yourself to the sick without having a life of your own.’
‘I do have a life of my own.’
The old woman grunted. ‘You call that a life, living so far away in the foothills of the mountains like a peasant, cleaning up after your father and your brothers? You should be out dancing and enjoying yourself like other people your age. You work too hard, Amelia, far too hard.’
‘I won’t have to work so hard for ever. I’ve got a new job. I’m starting tomorrow.’ Amelia straightened and added, ‘The king needs a private nurse two days a week and I’ve landed the job. It fits in beautifully with my community work and my shifts at the Free Hospital.’
The old woman’s grey brows rose over her black button eyes. ‘What does your father think of you working for King Giorgio?’
‘I haven’t told him…yet.’
‘Wise
