attempt at an Australian accent. ‘No, he sounds…’ she suppressed a tiny shiver as she recalled that deep velvet voice ‘…well educated and…’
‘And?’ Lucia prompted eagerly.
‘He’s…very strong.’
‘Strong?’
‘As in big muscles,’ she explained with heightened colour.
Lucia’s brows rose slightly. ‘So how did you get to see the size of his muscles?’
Amelia gave her a wry look. ‘Believe me, you don’t want to know.’
‘Oh, but I do!’ Lucia called after her as Amelia left the nurses’ station. ‘You’ll have to fill me in sooner or later!’
Amelia opened her mouth to politely tell her to mind her own business when she caught sight of a tall figure striding down the corridor towards them with Vincenzo Morani, the senior cardiac surgeon, by his side.
‘Ah, this is the nurse I was speaking to you about,’ Dr Morani said as they drew closer. ‘Amelia, this is Dr Alex Hunter from Australia. I have been telling him you are our most experienced cardiac nurse, one of our most valuable assets in post-operative care.’
Amelia stretched her mouth into what could loosely be described as a smile. ‘Buongiorno, Dr Hunter.’
‘We’ve already met, haven’t we?’ Alex said with a cheeky grin that crinkled the corners of his dark-as-night eyes.
‘Oh?’ Dr Morani looked faintly relieved. ‘Well, then…I’ll leave you two to have a chat while I get organised for Theatre.’ He turned back to Amelia. ‘You don’t mind showing Dr Hunter around the rest of the department, do you? I have an urgent matter to see to in ICU.’
‘But I—’ She stopped when she saw the look Alex Hunter gave her.
‘Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed about our meeting the other day?’ he asked in a gravelly undertone once the other surgeon had left.
‘Of course not,’ she lied. ‘It could have happened to anyone.’
‘Anyone wearing a dress that is.’
She turned from his teasing look and began quickly striding up the corridor reciting mechanically, ‘This is the nurses’ station and over there is the tea room and over there is the storeroom for the—’
‘What are you doing tonight?’ he asked.
Amelia stopped in her tracks and gaped up at him. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘I’ve seen so many hospitals in my time I’m sure I’ll be able to find my way around this one without a guided tour. What I would prefer is if you would show me around the island.’ He gave her a little wink. ‘How about it?’
She struggled to get her voice into gear. ‘I—I don’t think that is such a good idea.’
‘I’m sure your boyfriend won’t mind if you tell him it’s work-related,’ he said.
‘I do not have a boyfriend.’
His eyes lit up. ‘Great, then it’s a date. I’ll pick you up. Where do you live?’
She glanced up at him in alarm. ‘I am not going anywhere with you.’
He gave her a mock-forlorn look. ‘Hey, just because I saw your knickers the other day doesn’t mean I want my wicked way with you. I just want you to show me around.’
‘Find someone else,’ she bit out frostily, her colour at an all-time high as she resumed stalking down the corridor. ‘I’m not interested.’
Alex smiled to himself as she disappeared around the corner.
He had a month to change her mind.
Amelia had arranged for Rico to pick her up after her shift was finished, and he was in another of his foul moods.
‘Hurry up. I’ve been waiting for twenty minutes,’ he growled as she got in the car.
‘Sorry, I had to spend some time with the relatives of a patient,’ she said. ‘Is Papà all right?’
His mouth twisted as he put the car into gear. ‘You’re not going to believe this but he wants to see a doctor.’
She swivelled in her seat to gape at him. ‘Really?’
He flicked a quick glance her way. ‘I couldn’t believe it myself but he insists he wants to see the new doctor.’
Amelia felt her stomach drop. ‘The Australian one?’
‘Yes. He thinks he of all people will not be biased against him.’
She let out a prickly breath. ‘Dr Hunter is a cardiac surgeon, Rico, not an oncologist. There’s no cure for lung cancer, or at least certainly not for the stage Papà is at. He’s coughing blood every day and the original cat-scan showed the rapid expansion of the tumours and—’
‘He wants to see him and he wants you to arrange it as soon as you can.’
She sat back in her seat, a hollow feeling settling in her stomach. Her father needed palliative care, not a social call from a visiting heart specialist who was the biggest flirt she had ever met. Well, maybe not quite the biggest flirt, she thought bitterly. Even now, eleven years on, she still couldn’t help that empty sinking feeling whenever she brought Benito Rossini’s features to mind. She had been a fool to fall for his easygoing charm, not for a moment stopping to think if the handsome businessman visiting Niroli from Milan was already taken. It had devastated her to find he had a wife and two children at home. She had given him her innocence and he had betrayed her in the worst possible way.
‘Have you heard from Silvio?’ Rico disturbed her painful reverie.
‘No. I just hope he’s not doing anything illegal,’ she said, looking out at the grey-green of the olive groves they were passing. ‘I couldn’t bear it if we had something else to live down.’
Her brother gave a rough grunt. ‘As soon as I get some money together I’m going to leave the island. I am tired of living with the shame of the past.’
Amelia turned to look at him. ‘But what about Papà? Surely you’re not thinking of leaving before he.’ she hesitated over the word ‘.goes.’
He lifted one shoulder dismissively. ‘It’s his fault we have been forced to live this way.’
‘That’s not true!’
Rico sent her a cynical glance. ‘You are just like Mamma was, too innocent to see the truth until it was too late.’
She frowned at his tone. ‘What do you mean?’
‘There are things about Papà you should know.’
Amelia felt her throat tighten. ‘W-what
