might have heard that one of the local hotels has apparently had an outbreak of food poisoning. Some patients were coming to us so sick that they were already dehydrated, but as fast as we found beds for them and put fluids into them, more people arrived.’
He shook his head with a soft groan and dropped it back against the headrest but instead of releasing her hand, he tightened his fingers around hers, almost as if he needed the contact.
‘I was still trying to organise the last group and waiting for the victims of a car crash to arrive,’ he continued with the suspicion of a smile at the corner of his mouth, ‘when a bossy woman in a swimming costume carried my unconscious son into the hospital and started to tell me my job.’
‘I didn’t!’ she objected automatically, not sure that she liked the idea that he thought she was bossy.
The fact that he’d noticed what she’d been wearing was a different matter and his mention of it brought a swift wash of heat to her cheeks.
At least he couldn’t still see her costume. It was well hidden under the oversized white coat he’d found for her. For all that it was summer in Italy, by this time of night she could have been feeling rather chilly, not to say embarrassed, running around in beachwear.
‘Well…thank you for giving me a lift.’ She hurried into speech, suddenly realising that he was probably waiting for her to remember her manners. She tried to pull her hand away but he was apparently as reluctant to release her as she was to be released.
‘I would like to see you again,’ he said in a husky voice, and her heart gave a silly skip. Had he been affected by the same feeling of attraction, unwelcome though it was?
‘Of course, it will depend on the situation at the hospital,’ he continued apologetically. ‘We are really far too small to deal with large outbreaks of anything major. In spite of the holidaymakers, for half of the year this is just a quiet little town, but I would like the chance to thank you for taking care of Taddeo.’
She was still lecturing herself for her presumption as she let herself into her room.
‘Of course he was only suggesting taking you out as a thank you for helping his son,’ she scolded as she stripped off the baggy white coat and made her way to the shower. ‘Do you really think a man like that would be hard up for company? He’s hardly the type to be interested in short-term relationships with summer visitors—not like those lads on the beach.’
She’d tried to save face by telling him that thanks weren’t necessary but he’d been adamant. In the end, they’d left it that he would contact her when his work permitted.
Silently, she had decided that she would be ‘too busy’ to take him up on the invitation. He was an attractive and clearly very intelligent man and she would probably have thoroughly enjoyed spending an evening with him. Except…her reaction to the idea that he might be interested in her was ringing warning bells inside her head, reminding her that the last thing she wanted while she was in Italy was to get involved in a relationship…even a very short-term one.
She’d intended staying under the shower until she was utterly waterlogged but a few minutes later she was out and towelling her hair dry, too restless to unwind even under the steaming spray.
The evening was still relatively young by Italian standards, but she didn’t really know what she wanted to do.
The idea of going out to a restaurant by herself didn’t appeal somehow, and neither did dancing at the disco at the hotel at the other end of the parade. She’d stuck her head around the door last night and realised that she would probably be one of the oldest women in the room. Their average age seemed to be little more than eighteen, and as for the music…
Lissa sighed then grimaced, remembering the days when her parents used to complain about her own choice of music. Did this mean that she was rapidly becoming middle-aged at only twenty-eight years of age?
She pulled on some lightweight trousers and a cotton top then reached for the phone, resigned to the idea of room service and a book. It wouldn’t do her any harm to have an early night after all the excitement of the day. She could start her holiday afresh tomorrow and hopefully be in a better frame of mind for it.
‘Here we are again,’ Lissa muttered as she flopped back on her towel, her sunglasses firmly in position.
It was actually two days since Taddeo’s accident, but everything around her looked and sounded exactly the same…even the ice-cream van playing ‘Greensleeves’.
It wasn’t that the accident had put her off the idea of spending time on the beach; she hadn’t been particularly keen in the first place. In fact, she’d picked up some of the literature supplied in her room that detailed the various local attractions, and had spent the intervening time exploring a little.
The trouble was, finding the village where her grandmother had grown up wasn’t nearly as satisfying without someone to share it with. Nor was her enjoyment of a particularly stunning view or the series of ancient frescos she’d discovered in a tiny church.
If all had gone as she’d expected, there should have been two of them spending their days, and their nights, together.
‘Sightseeing on my own was a bit of a washout,’ she muttered under her breath as she put the bottle of sunscreen away in her bag. ‘Perhaps I’ll have a bit more luck getting into the holiday mood with all these happy people all around me.’
She rolled over onto her stomach and propped her chin on her folded arms while she gazed around.
‘It’s uncanny,’ she murmured as her eyes went from one group to another. ‘It’s almost as if the world has stood still since I was here the first time. Absolutely nothing has changed while I’ve been away.’
There were the same family groups, the same honeymooners still besotted with each other, the same group of predatory young men eyeing the scantily clad girls giggling their way across the beach.
‘No. Something has changed!’ she exclaimed under her breath in mock surprise when she heard the accents of the target of the young men’s comments. ‘They’re after new prey today—Scandinavian, perhaps?’
She wondered idly what had happened to the group of English girls being pursued last time she was here. Had they succumbed to the false smiles and well-practised lines, or had they seen through them in time?
‘Signorina?’ said a voice nearby. ‘Mi scusi. Sei medica?’
Lissa groaned silently as she rolled over and sat up. That was all she needed…another medical problem on a beach this far from proper hospital facilities. It must be someone who had recognised her from the other day.
She looked up at the young woman standing in front of her and suddenly realised that she recognised her.
‘Maddelena!’ she exclaimed, rising to her feet and finding herself wrapped in a fervent hug. ‘How is Taddeo? Is he well?’
‘Si. He is well. We have brought him back to the beach with the whole family so that he will have good memories. Come and see.’ She grabbed Lissa’s hand and gestured towards the other side of the beach. ‘He is over there with my mother. Come. You must join us.’
Lissa paused just long enough to grab her belongings then threaded her way through the various groups of holidaymakers
