Loe raamatut: «The Sicilian Doctor's Proposal»

CONTENTS

Cover

MEDITERRANEAN DOCTORS

About the Author

Title Page

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Copyright

PROLOGUE

‘I DON’T believe in love. And neither do you.’ Alice put her pen down and stared in bemusement at her colleague of five years. Had he gone mad?

‘That was before I met Trish.’ His expression was soft and far-away, his smile bordering on the idiotic. ‘It’s finally happened. Just like the fairy-tales.’

She wanted to ask if he’d been drinking, but didn’t want to offend him. ‘This isn’t like you at all, David. You’re an intelligent, hard-working doctor and at the moment you’re talking like a—like a…’ A seven-year-old girl? No, she couldn’t possibly say that. ‘You’re not sounding like yourself,’ she finished lamely.

‘I don’t care. She’s the one. And I have to be with her. Nothing else matters.’

‘Nothing else matters?’ On the desk next to her the phone suddenly rang, but for once Alice ignored it. ‘It’s the start of the summer season, the village is already filling with tourists, most of the locals are struck down by that horrid virus, you’re telling me you’re leaving and you don’t think it matters? Please, tell me this is a joke, David, please tell me that.’

Even with David working alongside her she was working flat out to cope with the demand for medical care at the moment. It wasn’t that she didn’t like hard work. Work was her life. Work had saved her. But she knew her limits.

David dragged both hands through his already untidy hair. ‘Not leaving exactly, Alice. I just need the summer off. To be with Trish. We need to decide on our future. We’re in love!’

Love. Alice stifled a sigh of exasperation. Behind every stupid action was a relationship, she mused silently. She should know that by now. She’d seen it often enough. Why should David be different? Just because he’d appeared to be a sane, rational human being—

‘You’ll hate London.’

‘Actually, I find London unbelievably exciting,’ David confessed. ‘I love the craziness of it all, the crowds of people all intent on getting somewhere yesterday, no one interested in the person next to them—’ He broke off with an apologetic wave of his hand. ‘I’m getting carried away. But don’t you ever feel trapped here, Alice? Don’t you ever wish you could do something in this village without the whole place knowing?’

Alice sat back in her chair and studied him carefully. She’d never known David so emotional. ‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘I like knowing people and I like people knowing me. It helps when it comes to understanding their medical needs. They’re our responsibility and I take that seriously.’

It was what had drawn her to the little fishing village in the first place. And now it felt like home. And the people felt like family. More than her own ever had. Here, she fitted. She’d found her place and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. She loved the narrow cobbled streets, the busy harbour, the tiny shops selling shells and the trendy store selling surfboards and wetsuits. She loved the summer when the streets were crowded with tourists and she loved the winter when the beaches were empty and lashed by rain. For a moment she thought of London with its muggy, traffic-clogged streets and then she thought of her beautiful house. The house overlooking the broad sweep of the sea. The house she’d lovingly restored in every spare moment she’d had over the past five years.

It had given her sanctuary and a life that suited her. A life that was under her control.

‘Since we’re being honest here…’ David took a deep breath and straightened, his eyes slightly wary. ‘I think you should consider leaving, too. You’re an attractive, intelligent woman but you’re never going to find someone special buried in a place like this. You never meet anyone remotely eligible. All you think about is work, work and work.’

‘David, I don’t want to meet anyone.’ She spoke slowly and clearly so that there could be no misunderstanding. ‘I love my life the way it is.’

‘Work shouldn’t be your life, Alice. You need love.’ David stopped pacing and placed a hand on his chest. ‘Everyone needs love.’

Something inside her snapped. ‘Love is a word used to justify impulsive, irrational and emotional behaviour,’ she said tartly, ‘and I prefer to take a logical, scientific approach to life.’

David looked a little shocked. ‘So, you’re basically saying that I’m impulsive, irrational and emotional?’

She sighed. It was unlike her to be so honest. To reveal so much about herself. And unlike her to risk hurting someone’s feelings. On the other hand, he was behaving very oddly. ‘You’re giving up a great job on the basis of a feeling that is indefinable, notoriously unpredictable and invariably short-lived so yes, I suppose I am saying that.’ She nibbled her lip. ‘It’s the truth, so you can hardly be offended. You’ve said it yourself often enough.’

‘That was before I met Trish and discovered how wrong I was.’ He shook his head and gave a wry smile. ‘You just haven’t met the right person. When you do, everything will make sense.’

‘Everything already makes perfect sense, thank you.’ She reached for a piece of paper and a pen. ‘If I draft an advert now, I just might find a locum for August.’

If she was lucky.

And if she wasn’t lucky, she was in for a busy summer, she thought, her logical brain already involved in making lists. The village with its pretty harbour and quaint shops might not attract the medical profession but it attracted tourists by the busload and her work increased accordingly, especially during the summer months.

David frowned. ‘Locum?’ His brow cleared. ‘You don’t need to worry about a locum. I’ve sorted that out.’

Her pen stilled. ‘You’ve sorted it out?’

‘Of course.’ He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out several crumpled sheets of paper. ‘Did you really think I’d leave you without arranging a replacement?’

Yes, she’d thought exactly that. All the people she’d ever known who’d claimed to be ‘in love’ had immediately ceased to give any thought or show any care to those around them.

‘Who?’

‘I have a friend who is eager to work in England. His qualifications are fantastic—he trained as a plastic surgeon but had to switch because he had an accident. Tragedy, actually.’ David frowned slightly. ‘He was brilliant, by all accounts.’

A plastic surgeon?

Alice reached for the papers and scanned the CV. ‘Giovanni Moretti.’ She looked up. ‘He’s Italian?’

‘Sicilian.’ David grinned. ‘Never accuse him of being Italian. He’s very proud of his heritage.’

‘This man is well qualified.’ She put the papers down on her desk. ‘Why would he want to come here?’

‘You want to work here,’ David pointed out logically, ‘so perhaps you’re just about to meet your soulmate.’ He caught her reproving look and shrugged. ‘Just joking. Everyone is entitled to a change of pace. He was working in Milan, which might explain it but, to be honest, I don’t really know why he wants to come here. You know us men. We don’t delve into details.’

Alice sighed and glanced at the CV on her desk. He’d probably only last five minutes, but at least he might fill the gap while she looked for someone to cover the rest of the summer.

‘Well, at least you’ve sorted out a replacement. Thanks for that. And what happens at the end of the summer? Are you coming back?’

David hesitated. ‘Can we see how it goes? Trish and I have some big decisions to make.’ His eyes gleamed at the prospect. ‘But I promise not to leave you in the lurch.’

He looked so happy, Alice couldn’t help but smile. ‘I wish you luck.’

‘But you don’t understand, do you?’

She shrugged. ‘If you ask me, the ability to be ruled by emotion is the only serious flaw in the human make-up.’

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake.’ Unexpectedly, David reached out and dragged her to her feet. ‘It’s out there, Alice. Love. You just have to look for it.’

‘Why would I want to? If you want my honest opinion, I’d say that love is just a temporary psychiatric condition that passes given sufficient time. Hence the high divorce rate.’ She pulled her hands away from his, aware that he was gaping at her.

‘A temporary psychiatric condition?’ He gave a choked laugh and his hands fell to his sides. ‘Oh, Alice, you have to be joking. That can’t really be what you believe.’

Alice tilted her head to one side and mentally reviewed all the people she knew who’d behaved oddly in the name of love. There were all too many of them. Her parents and her sister included. ‘Yes, actually.’ Her tone was flat as she struggled with feelings that she’d managed to suppress for years. Feeling suddenly agitated, she picked up a medical journal and scanned the contents, trying to focus her mind on fact. Facts were safe and comfortable. Emotions were dangerous and uncomfortable. ‘It’s exactly what I believe.’

Her heart started to beat faster and she gripped the journal more tightly and reminded herself that her life was under her control now. She was no longer a child at the mercy of other people’s emotional transgressions.

David watched her. ‘So you still don’t believe love exists? Even seeing how happy I am?’

She turned. ‘If you’re talking about some fuzzy, indefinable emotion that links two people together then, no, I don’t think that exists. I don’t believe in the existence of an indefinable emotional bond any more than I believe in Father Christmas and the tooth fairy.’

David shook his head in disbelief. ‘But I do feel a powerful emotion.’

She couldn’t bring herself to put a dent in his happiness by saying more, so she stepped towards him and took his face in her hands. ‘I’m pleased for you. Really I am.’ She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. ‘But it isn’t “love”. She sat back down and David studied her with a knowing, slightly superior smile on his face.

‘It’s going to happen to you, Alice.’ He folded his arms across his chest and his tone rang with conviction. ‘One of these days you’re going to be swept off your feet.’

‘I’m a scientist,’ she reminded him, amusement sparkling in her blue eyes as they met the challenge in his. ‘I have a logical brain. I don’t believe in being swept off my feet.’

He stared at her for a long moment. ‘No. Which is why it’s likely to happen. Love strikes when you’re not looking for it.’

‘That’s measles,’ Alice said dryly, reaching for a pile of results that needed her attention. ‘Talking of which, little Fiona Ellis has been terribly poorly since her bout of measles last winter. I’m going to check up on her today. See if there’s anything else we can do. And I’m going to speak to Gina, the health visitor, about our MMR rates.’

‘They dipped slightly after the last newspaper scare but I thought they were up again. The hospital has been keeping an eye on Fiona’s hearing,’ David observed, and Alice nodded.

‘Yes, and I gather there’s been some improvement. All the same, the family need support and we need to make sure that no one else in our practice suffers unnecessarily.’ She rose to her feet and smiled at her partner. ‘And that’s what we give in a small community. Support and individual care. Don’t you think you’ll miss that? In London you’ll end up working in one of those huge health centres with thousands of doctors and you probably won’t get to see the same patient twice. You won’t know them and they won’t know you. It will be completely impersonal. Like seeing medical cases on a production line.’

She knew all the arguments, of course. She understood that a large group of GPs working together could afford a wider variety of services for their patients—psychologists, chiropodists—but she still believed that a good family doctor who knew his patients intimately was able to provide a superior level of care.

‘You’ll like Gio,’ David said, strolling towards the door. ‘Women always do.’

‘As long as he does his job,’ Alice said crisply, ‘I’ll like him.’

‘He’s generally considered a heartthrob.’ There was a speculative look on his face as he glanced towards her. ‘Women go weak at the knees when he walks into a room.’

Great. The last thing she needed was a Romeo who was distracted by everything female.

‘Some women are foolish like that.’ Alice stood up and reached for her jacket. ‘Just as long as he doesn’t break more hearts than he heals, then I really don’t mind what he does when he isn’t working here.’

‘There’s more to life than work, Alice.’

‘Then go out there and enjoy it,’ she advised, a smile on her face. ‘And leave me to enjoy mine.’

CHAPTER ONE

GIOVANNI MORETTI stood at the top of the narrow cobbled street, flexed his broad shoulders to try and ease the tension from the journey and breathed in the fresh, clean sea air. Above him, seagulls shrieked and swooped in the hope of benefiting from the early morning catch.

Sounds of the sea.

He paused for a moment, his fingers tucked into the pockets of his faded jeans, his dark eyes slightly narrowed as he scanned the pretty painted cottages that led down to the busy harbour. Window-boxes and terracotta pots were crammed full with brightly coloured geraniums and tumbling lobelia and a smile touched his handsome face. Before today he’d thought that places like this existed only in the imagination of artists. It was as far from the dusty, traffic-clogged streets of Milan as it was possible to be, and he felt a welcome feeling of calm wash over him.

He’d been right to agree to take this job, he mused silently, remembering all the arguments he’d been presented with. Right to choose this moment to slow the pace of his life and leave Italy.

It was early in the morning but warm, tempting smells of baking flavoured the air and already the street seemed alive with activity.

A few people in flip-flops and shorts, who he took to be tourists, meandered down towards the harbour in search of early morning entertainment while others jostled each other in their eagerness to join the queue in the bakery and emerged clutching bags of hot, fragrant croissants and rolls.

His own stomach rumbled and he reminded himself that he hadn’t eaten anything since he’d left Milan the night before. Fast food had never interested him. He preferred to wait for the real thing. And the bakery looked like the real thing.

He needed a shower and a shave but there was no chance of that until he’d picked up the key to his accommodation and he doubted his new partner was even in the surgery yet. He glanced at his watch and decided that he just about had time to eat something and still time his arrival to see her just before she started work.

He strolled into the bakery and smiled at the pretty girl behind the counter. ‘Buongiorno—good morning.’

She glanced up and caught the smile. Her blue eyes widened in feminine appreciation. ‘Hello. What can I offer you?’

It was obvious from the look in those eyes that she was prepared to offer him the moon but Gio ignored the mute invitation he saw in her eyes and studied the pastries on offer, accustomed to keeping women at a polite distance. He’d always been choosy when it came to women. Too choosy, some might say. ‘What’s good?’

‘Oh—well…’ The girl lifted a hand to her face, her cheeks suddenly pink. ‘The pain au chocolat is my favourite but the almond croissant is our biggest seller. Take away or eat in?’

For the first time Gio noticed the small round tables covered in cheerful blue gingham, positioned by the window at the back of the shop. ‘Eat in.’ It was still so early he doubted that his partner had even reached the surgery yet. ‘I’ll take an almond croissant and a double espresso. Grazie.’

He selected the table with the best view over the harbour. The coffee turned out to be exceptionally good, the croissant wickedly sweet, and by the time he’d finished the last of his breakfast he’d decided that spending the summer in this quaint little village was going to be no hardship at all.

‘Are you on holiday?’ The girl on the till was putting croissants into bags faster than the chef could take them from the oven and still the queue didn’t seem to diminish.

Gio dug his hand into his pocket and paid the bill. ‘Not on holiday.’ Although a holiday would have been welcome, he mused, his eyes still on the boats bobbing in the harbour. ‘I’m working.’

‘Working?’ She handed him change. ‘Where?’

‘Here. I’m a doctor. A GP, to be precise.’ It still felt strange to him to call himself that. For years he’d been a surgeon and he still considered himself to be a surgeon. But fate had decreed otherwise.

‘You’re our new doctor?’

He nodded, aware that after driving through the night he didn’t exactly look the part. He could have been evasive, of course, but his new role in the community was hardly likely to remain a secret for long in a place this small. And, anyway, he didn’t believe in being evasive. What was the harm in announcing himself? ‘Having told you that, I might as well take advantage of your local knowledge. How does Dr Anderson take her coffee?’

All that he knew about his new partner was what David had shared in their brief phone conversation. He knew that she was married to her job, very academic and extremely serious. Already he’d formed an image of her in his mind. Tweed skirt, flat heels, horn-rimmed glasses—he knew the type. Had met plenty like her in medical school.

‘Dr Anderson? That’s easy.’ The girl smiled, her eyes fixed on his face in a kind of trance. ‘Same as you. Strong and black.’

‘Ah.’ His new partner was obviously a woman of taste. ‘And what does she eat?’

The girl continued to gaze at him and then seemed to shake herself. ‘Eat? Actually, I’ve never seen her eat anything.’ She shrugged. ‘Between the tourists and the locals, we probably keep her too busy to give her time to eat. Or maybe she isn’t that interested in food.’

Gio winced and hoped it was the former. He couldn’t imagine developing a good working partnership with someone who wasn’t interested in food. ‘In that case, I’ll play it safe and take her a large Americano.’ Time enough to persuade her of the benefits of eating. ‘So the next thing you can do is direct me to the surgery. Or maybe Dr Anderson won’t be there yet.’

It wasn’t even eight o’clock.

Perhaps she slept late, or maybe—

‘Follow the street right down to the harbour and it’s straight in front of you. Blue door. And she’ll be there.’ The girl pressed a cap onto the coffee-cup. ‘She was up half the night with the Bennetts’ six-year-old. Asthma attack.’

Gio lifted an eyebrow. ‘You know that?’

The girl shrugged and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. ‘Around here, everyone knows everything.’ She handed him the coffee and his change. ‘Word gets around.’

‘So maybe she’s having a lie-in.’

The girl looked at the clock. ‘I doubt it. Dr Anderson doesn’t sleep much and, anyway, surgery starts soon.’

Gio digested that piece of information with interest. If she worked that hard, no wonder she took her coffee strong and black.

With a parting smile at the girl he left the bakery and followed her instructions, enjoying the brief walk down the steep cobbled street, glancing into shop windows as he passed.

The harbour was bigger than he’d expected, crowded with boats that bobbed and danced under the soft seduction of the sea. Tall masts clinked in the soft breeze and across the harbour he saw a row of shops and a blue door with a brass nameplate. The surgery.

A few minutes later he pushed open the surgery door and blinked in surprise. What had promised to be a small, cramped building proved to be light, airy and spacious. Somehow he’d expected something entirely different—somewhere dark and tired, like some of the surgeries he’d visited in London. What he hadn’t expected was this bright, calming environment designed to soothe and relax.

Above his head glass panels threw light across a neat waiting room and on the far side of the room a children’s corner overflowed with an abundance of toys in bright primary colours. A table in a glaring, cheerful red was laid with pens and sheets of paper to occupy busy hands.

On the walls posters encouraged patients to give up smoking and have their blood pressure checked and there were leaflets on first aid and adverts for various local clinics.

It seemed that nothing had been forgotten.

Gio was just studying a poster in greater depth when he noticed the receptionist.

She was bent over the curved desk, half-hidden from view as she sifted through a pile of results. Her honey blonde hair fell to her shoulders and her skin was creamy smooth and untouched by sun. She was impossibly slim, wore no make-up and the shadows under her eyes suggested that she worked harder than she should. She looked fragile, tired and very young.

Gio’s eyes narrowed in an instinctively masculine assessment.

She was beautiful, he decided, and as English as scones and cream. His eyes rested on her cheekbones and then dropped to her perfectly shaped, soft mouth. He found himself thinking of summer fruit—strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants…

Something flickered to life inside him.

The girl was so absorbed in what she was reading that she hadn’t even noticed him and he was just about to step forward and introduce himself when the surgery door swung open again and a group of teenage boys stumbled in, swearing and laughing.

They didn’t notice him. In fact, they seemed incapable of noticing anyone, they were so drunk.

Gio stood still, sensing trouble. His dark eyes were suddenly watchful and he set the coffee down on the nearest table just in case he was going to need his hands.

One of them swore fluently as he crashed into a low table and sent magazines flying across the floor. ‘Where the hell’s the doctor in this place? Matt’s bleeding.’

The friend in question lurched forward, blood streaming from a cut on his head. His chest was bare and he wore a pair of surf shorts, damp from the sea and bloodstained. ‘Went surfing.’ He gave a hiccup and tried to stand up without support but failed. Instead he slumped against his friend with a groan, his eyes closed. ‘Feel sick.’

‘Surfing when you’re drunk is never the best idea.’ The girl behind the desk straightened and looked them over with weary acceptance. Clearly it wasn’t the first time she’d had drunks in the surgery. ‘Sit him down over there and I’ll take a look at it.’

‘You?’ The third teenager swaggered across the room, fingers tucked into the pockets of his jeans. He gave a suggestive wink. ‘I’m Jack. How about taking a look at me while you’re at it?’ He leaned across the desk, leering. ‘There are bits of me you might be interested in. You a nurse? You ever wear one of those blue outfits with a short skirt and stockings?’

‘I’m the doctor.’ The girl’s eyes were cool as she pulled on a pair of disposable gloves and walked round the desk without giving Jack a second glance. ‘Sit your friend down before he falls down and does himself more damage. I’ll take a quick look at him before I start surgery.’

Gio didn’t know who was more surprised—him or the teenagers.

She was the doctor?

She was Alice Anderson?

He ran a hand over the back of his neck and wondered why David had omitted to mention that his new partner was stunning. He tried to match up David’s description of a serious, academic woman with this slender, delicate beauty standing in front of him, and failed dismally. He realised suddenly that he’d taken ‘single’ to mean ‘mature’. And ‘academic’ to mean ‘dowdy’.

‘You’re the doctor?’ Jack lurched towards her, his gait so unsteady that he could barely stand. ‘Well, that’s good news. I love a woman with brains and looks. You and I could make a perfect team, babe.’

She didn’t spare him a glance, refusing to respond to the banter. ‘Sit your friend down.’ Her tone was firm and the injured boy collapsed onto the nearest chair with a groan.

‘I’ll sit myself down. Oh, man, my head is killing me.’

‘That’s what happens when you drink all night and then bang your head.’ Efficient and businesslike, she pushed up the sleeves of her plain blue top, tilted his head and took a look at the cut. She parted the boy’s hair gently and probed with her fingers. Her mouth tightened. ‘Well, you’ve done a good job of that. Were you knocked out?’

Gio cast a professional eye over the cut and saw immediately that it wasn’t going to be straightforward. Surely she wasn’t planning to stitch that herself? He could see ragged edges and knew it was going to be difficult to get a good cosmetic result, even for someone skilled in that area.

‘I wasn’t knocked out.’ The teenager tried to shake his head and instantly winced at the pain. ‘I swallowed half the ocean, though. Got any aspirin?’

‘In a minute. That’s a nasty cut you’ve got there and it’s near your eye and down your cheek. It’s beyond my skills, I’m afraid.’ She ripped off the gloves and took a few steps backwards, a slight frown on her face as she considered the options. ‘You need to go to the accident and emergency department up the coast. They’ll get a surgeon to stitch you up. I’ll call them and let them know that you’re coming.’

‘No way. We haven’t got time for that.’ The third teenager, who hadn’t spoken up until now, stepped up to her, his expression threatening. ‘You’re going to do it. And you’re going to do it here. Right now.’

She dropped the gloves into a bin and washed her hands. ‘I’ll put a dressing on it for you, but you need to go to the hospital to get it stitched. They’ll do a better job than I ever could. Stitching faces is an art.’

She turned to walk back across the reception area but the teenager called Jack blocked her path.

‘I’ve got news for you, babe.’ His tone was low and insulting. ‘We’re not going anywhere until you’ve fixed Matt’s face. I’m not wasting a whole day of my holiday sitting in some hospital with a load of sickos. He doesn’t mind a scar. Scars are sexy. Hard. You know?’

‘Whoever does it, he’ll be left with a scar,’ she said calmly, ‘but he’ll get a better result at the hospital.’

‘No hospital.’ The boy took a step closer and stabbed a finger into her chest. ‘Are you listening to me?’

‘I’m listening to you but I don’t think you’re listening to me.’ The girl didn’t flinch. ‘Unless he wants to have a significant scar, that cut needs to be stitched by someone with specific skills. It’s for his own good.’

It happened so quickly that no one could have anticipated it. The teenager backed her against the wall and put a hand round her throat. ‘I don’t think you’re listening to me, babe. It’s your bloody job, Doc. Stitch him up! Do it.’

Gio crossed the room in two strides, just as the teenager uttered a howl of pain and collapsed onto the floor in a foetal position, clutching his groin.

She’d kneed him.

‘Don’t try and tell me my job.’ She lifted her hand to her reddened throat. Her tone was chilly and composed and then she glanced up, noticed Gio for the first time and her face visibly paled. For a moment she just stared at him and then her gaze flickered towards the door, measuring the distance. Gio winced inwardly. It was obvious that she thought he was trouble and he felt slightly miffed by her reaction.

He liked women. Women liked him. And they usually responded to him. They chatted, they flirted, they sent him long looks. The look in Dr Anderson’s eyes suggested that she was calculating ways to injure him. All right, so he hadn’t had time to shave and change, but did he really look that scary?