This story is partly set in an English hospital. To aid your enjoyment, here is a guide to some of the terms and expressions used:

A&E (Accident & Emergency)—Emergency Room

Community Midwife—a registered general nurse with specialist training in midwifery, or the delivery of infants.

Health visitor—a nurse trained in preventative medicine and midwifery, who educates people caring for dependants, e.g babies or the elderly.

House officer—a hospital-based trainee doctor; also known as an intern or resident.

ITU—Intensive Therapy Unit; a hospital department where intensive care is given to those patients in a critical condition or after major operations.

Locum—a doctor who temporarily stands in for another, due to absence or illness.

NHS—National Health Service; the U.K. public health system, which offers medical and surgical care, and is funded by taxpayers.

Obstetrician—a medical professional specializing in the care of women during pregnancy, labor and the period immediately after the birth.

Consultant—a senior medical professional specializing in an area of medicine.

Senior registrar—a specialist surgeon or doctor who is subordinate to a consultant, but senior to the house officers.

SHO—senior house officer—after registration, a doctor who continues working in a hospital can be appointed to this full-time, training position.

They’re guaranteed to raise your pulse!

Meet the most eligible medical men of the world, in a new series of stories by popular authors that will make your heart race!

Whether they’re saving lives or curing your desire, our doctors have got bedside manners that send temperatures soaring….

Look for more heart-stopping titles in this ongoing new series.

Available only from Harlequin Presents®.

The Doctor’s Runaway Bride

Sarah Morgan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Suzy

For your encouragement, expertise and humor, and for being the best editor a girl could have.

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

Copyright

PROLOGUE

‘I CAN’T marry him.’

Pale and shaking, Tia Franklin struggled with the zip of her sleek white wedding dress, sobbing with frustration when it stubbornly refused to budge.

‘Tia, wait—you’ll tear it—’ Sharon, her best friend and bridesmaid, tried frantically to calm her down but Tia wasn’t taking any notice.

‘I don’t care.’ As if to prove her point, Tia jerked at the zip again, her sobs increasing as it jammed and the material ripped. ‘What does it matter? I’m not getting married now, so I certainly don’t need a dress.’

Sharon stood still, frozen with horror. ‘Tia, the wedding starts in half an hour and there are one hundred and forty guests waiting in the church—’

‘I don’t care about that, either.’ Tia finally managed to wriggle out of the dress and stumbled across the hotel room to her suitcase, which was already packed for her honeymoon.

She released the catch and grabbed the first outfit that came to hand, tears falling steadily down her cheeks as she struggled into a pair of silk trousers and matching jacket.

Sharon was still staring at her, open-mouthed with disbelief. ‘What’s happened? You were so happy—and no wonder. Luca Zattoni is every woman’s fantasy. Rich, cool-headed, Italian, body to die for…’

Despite her tears, Tia lifted an eyebrow. ‘I thought you were a happily married woman?’

‘I am.’ Sharon looked unrepentant. ‘But there isn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t look twice at Luca. He’s sex on legs, Tia.’

Sex on legs.

Tia felt her heart beat faster. And that was the reason for the current mess. She hadn’t been able to resist the man.

Sharon sighed. ‘Tia, the entire female population is green with envy. You’re the one that he’s marrying.’

Tia lifted her chin. ‘Not any more.’

Thoroughly alarmed, Sharon bustled across to her friend and took her by the shoulders. ‘OK, calm down. Take a deep breath. Copy me…’ She breathed slowly, trying to set an example. ‘Right. That’s better. Now, then, tell me slowly, has something happened or is this just bridal nerves? I was nervous before I married Richard, you know. It’s normal to be nervous. Especially for someone with your background.’

‘It’s not nerves.’ Tia pulled away from her friend and rammed her feet into the first pair of shoes that came to hand.

Totally at a loss, Sharon backed away and turned towards the door. ‘I’ll fetch Luca.’

Dear God, no! That was the last thing she wanted.

‘I don’t want to see Luca!’ Tia’s head jerked up and the desperation in her voice stopped Sharon in her tracks. ‘I can’t. I just want to get out of here as fast as possible.’

‘Tia…’ Sharon let go of the doorhandle and tried to reason with her, her voice soothing. ‘Just because things didn’t work out for your parents, it doesn’t mean—’

‘What?’ Tia slammed the suitcase shut and stared at her, tendrils of blonde hair escaping from what had once been an elegant chignon. ‘What doesn’t it mean? That it will all go wrong for me, too? My mother drank herself into the grave because she discovered that the man she loved—the man she trusted—had betrayed her. Kept secrets from her. Do you really think I intend to put myself in the same position?’

Clamping her teeth onto her lower lip, Tia walked back across the room and swept her make-up off the dressing-table into her handbag.

‘I don’t understand.’ Sharon looked blank. ‘I know that your father had affairs, but—’ She broke off, her eyes widening as she registered what Tia had just said. ‘Are you saying that you think Luca is having an affair?’

Tia felt the pain, hot and fluid, pour along her veins.

‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly. ‘I think so. Maybe. He’s certainly having a serious relationship with another woman.’

‘No.’ Sharon shook her head and gave an incredulous laugh. ‘No! I don’t believe it. I never saw a man more in love with a woman than Luca is with you. He’s crazy about you.’

Tia closed her eyes and took steadying breaths.

If only…

‘Trust me on this one, Sharon,’ she said finally. ‘Luca is not in love with me.’

‘So, if he doesn’t love you, why are there one hundred and forty people waiting for you to marry him, and why am I dressed like a green blancmange?’

There was a long silence and when Tia finally spoke her voice was little more than a hoarse croak.

‘Because I’m pregnant.’

The room was suddenly deadly quiet. ‘Tia?’

‘That’s the reason he’s marrying me.’ Tia gave a wobbly smile and blushed deeply. ‘And before you say it, yes, I’m a midwife and I should know the facts of life, but somehow I forgot them when I met Luca.’

In fact, she’d forgotten pretty much everything the moment she’d set eyes on Luca.

Fundamental things like how to walk away from a man before things became serious.

The truth was that Luca Zattoni was the most overwhelmingly attractive male she’d ever met. Cool and confident and stunningly good-looking, the chemistry between them had stopped her brain from functioning from the moment they’d met.

And that moment was etched in her memory for ever.

She’d been backpacking around Europe and she’d arrived in Venice late at night. As she’d left the bus station, a group of young lads had started to bother her and she’d felt a rush of relief when a car had suddenly pulled up.

Luca had stepped out of the driver’s seat, broad-shouldered and menacing as he’d strode towards the youths who had surrounded her, his glossy hair shining blue-black under the streetlamps. He was clearly a man who could handle himself in any situation and her tormenters had melted rapidly into the darkness, leaving the two of them alone.

So she’d been left standing next to an empty bus station, awkwardly muttering her thanks to this handsome Italian stranger whose dark-eyed scrutiny had made her feel decidedly light headed.

‘It’s late to be wandering the streets of Venice,’ he observed, his gaze flickering over her backpack and resting on her sturdy walking boots. ‘Can I give you a lift somewhere?’

He spoke in English and he had the sexiest voice she’d ever heard. Smooth, masculine tones tinged with enough of an Italian accent to make the blood heat in her veins.

Tia’s heart was thumping so hard she thought it might burst through her ribcage. ‘H-how did you guess that I’m English?’

‘Not difficult.’ His eyes rested briefly on her silver blonde hair and he gave her a smile that made her breathing stop. ‘Hair the colour of yours is very unusual in Italy. As you will discover if you continue to walk the streets at this time of night.’

She was still staring at him like an idiot. ‘I haven’t found anywhere to stay yet…’

‘Venice is generally a very safe city,’ he told her, ‘but a woman like you shouldn’t be walking around on her own this late.’

A woman like her…

Her eyes locked with his and something passed between them. A feeling so powerful that her knees weakened alarmingly.

His eyes held hers captive, drawing her in. ‘I would be happy to show you around and help you find somewhere to stay…’

She knew that getting into a car with a stranger was foolish in the extreme, but this man didn’t seem like a stranger and their relationship progressed so fast she barely had time to reason.

And then Tia discovered that she was pregnant.

She dragged herself back to the present, aware that Sharon was still staring at her, clearly taken aback by her announcement.

‘And you think that’s why he’s marrying you?’

‘I didn’t at first.’ Tia’s voice shook as she told Sharon what had happened. ‘I believed what I wanted to believe—that he loved me and that was why he was marrying me.’

Sharon bit her lip. ‘So…’

Tia took a deep breath. ‘But I’ve found out that he was just using me as therapy. It seems he was getting over another relationship.’ She shook her head slowly as she thought back over the past few weeks. ‘He only proposed because I told him I was pregnant.’

Sharon looked horrified. ‘How—? What makes you think he’s involved with someone else?’

‘Because I just met her.’ Tia dropped the bag and stared into the mirror. Her reflection stared back, her skin pale and streaked with tears. ‘I nipped along the corridor to talk to Luca’s mother half an hour ago, when you were in the bathroom. She was deep in conversation with a very stunning woman. Someone I’d never seen before.’

Sharon sank onto the nearest chair and stared at her with trepidation. ‘And?’

Tia fiddled with the silk of her jacket. ‘His mother was saying what a sad day it was. That he should have been marrying Luisa—that’s her name, by the way.’ She sniffed slightly. ‘And that he was marrying totally the wrong woman for totally the wrong reasons and it would never last.’

Sharon gave a soft gasp and lifted a hand to her throat. ‘And what did this Luisa woman say?’

‘That she and Luca had been so close for so long that things had just become confused. And that she’d seen him and spoken to him and he’d said he would always love her…’

‘No!’ Sharon groaned and shook her head. ‘I don’t believe it. Not Luca.’

Tia gave her a watery smile. ‘Why not Luca? Let’s be honest for a moment. This has been one of the fastest romances on record. I met him ten weeks ago. We barely know him, Shaz.’ Tia’s voice cracked and Sharon squeezed her arm.

‘Luca’s not a teenager, Tia. He’s an adult male who knows exactly what he wants out of life. I can’t see him marrying someone unless he wanted to. Maybe he finished it—’

‘No.’ Tia rummaged in her bag for a tissue and blew her nose hard. ‘No way would any red-blooded male finish with a woman like this one. You didn’t see her. She was seriously gorgeous. And elegant. Nothing like me. When Luca met me I was backpacking, for goodness’ sake! I’m so far removed from his usual style of woman that it’s laughable. I’m a homeless, rootless waif who’s terrified of commitment. Believe me, there’s no contest.’

Sharon frowned. ‘You forgot to add that you’re also warm, funny and irresistibly pretty. Tia, men have been falling over themselves to get to you for years and you don’t even see it. Trust me, Luca is crazy about you—’

‘Novelty value.’ Tia blew her nose again and tucked the tissue up her sleeve. ‘There’s obviously a shortage of blonde women in Italy. But I’ve come to my senses now, and I’m relieving him of his responsibilities. He can go back to the woman he loves. Come to think of it, he’s probably never been away from her. Maybe that’s why he was spending all that time at the hospital.’

‘He’s an obstetrician.’ Sharon reasoned. ‘You know they work hideous hours.’

‘Do I?’

What evidence did she have that he’d been working? Only his word, and he seemed to be very selective about what he disclosed.

And she could never marry a man who wasn’t completely honest with her.

She stood up, slipped on her coat and picked up her bags.

‘Tia, wait!’ Sharon hastily followed her across the room and caught her arm. ‘At least talk to Luca about it before you leave. There might be a simple explanation.’

Tia shook her head. ‘For telling another woman that he would always love her? I don’t think so.’

‘But—’

‘He doesn’t love me, Shaz. He was just doing the honourable thing by offering to marry me and I was really stupid to believe otherwise.’

Luca had never once said he loved her. Not even when she’d told him about the baby and he’d proposed.

Sometimes, just sometimes, from the way he’d behaved, she’d thought that maybe—

But she’d just been kidding herself.

‘He doesn’t love me.’ Tia moved towards the door and Sharon grabbed her again.

‘He’s going to be furious, Tia.’

Tia shook her head slowly. ‘I don’t think so.’ She gave a painful smile. ‘I think he’ll be relieved that I’ve let him off the hook.’

Sharon looked at her anxiously. ‘So what are you going to do?’

Tia checked that her passport was in her handbag. ‘Take the first available flight back to England. With any luck you’ll give me my old job back and I’ll find somewhere to live…’

Sharon frowned. ‘Of course you can have your job back, and you can stay with Richard and me, but—’

‘No. I need to be on my own.’

Sharon bit her lip. ‘But, Tia, Luca is a very traditional Italian male. Do you really think he’s going to let you leave, knowing you’re pregnant? He’ll follow you—’

‘No.’ Tia gave a sad smile and shook her head. ‘If we were already married, then maybe, but Luca is still a single man and he’s free to lead his own life.’

Free to marry Luisa.

‘It’s over, Shaz, and I need to build a new life for myself.’

Without Luca.

CHAPTER ONE

SHE wasn’t going to cry.

Tia clamped her teeth firmly on her lower lip and wondered if the day would ever come when she no longer felt like sobbing the whole time.

A soft sigh from the newly delivered mother by her side brought her to her senses and she stared down at the tiny bundle in her arms.

The child was beautiful.

Barely two hours old, dark lashes feathered her cheeks which were still slightly blotched from the rigours of birth. Lying passively in Tia’s arms, she gazed placidly up at the world, her blue eyes slightly unfocused.

Tia felt her throat close.

‘Isn’t she perfect?’ The proud mother gave a wide, self-satisfied smile and waited to be handed her daughter. ‘I can’t believe how beautiful she is. I mean, I always thought babies were supposed to be ugly.’

Ugly?

Tia stared down at the sleeping cherub, marvelling at the way nature had managed to produce everything in miniature.

No—the baby definitely wasn’t ugly.

‘She’s beautiful, Mrs Adams.’ Tia’s heart beat faster as the baby made little snuffly noises and turned her head searchingly. ‘And she’s hungry.’

Work. Thank goodness for work. It was the only thing that distracted her from her own problems.

She tightened the blanket around the baby and looked quizzically at Fiona Adams. ‘Are you ready to give it a try?’

‘I suppose so, although I have to admit that I’m really nervous,’ the young woman admitted as she settled herself more comfortably on the chair. ‘Everyone says I’m mad, wanting to breastfeed.’

‘You’re not mad at all,’ Tia said calmly. ‘Breast milk is designed for babies and you’re giving her the very best start in life.’

Fiona looked worried. ‘I bet I won’t have enough milk.’

‘Well, your milk often doesn’t come in for a few days after delivery,’ Tia told her, ‘but what you do produce is something called colostrum.’

‘And that’s good for her?’

Tia nodded. ‘Very good for her. Packed full of protein and antibodies. Very high in calories, too. Are you comfortable like that?’

She’d settled Fiona in a chair with her back and her feet supported.

Fiona wriggled again and held out her arms. ‘Yes. I really wanted to put her straight on the breast after she was delivered, but she was totally out for the count.’

Tia nodded. ‘You had pethidine during your labour, and it can make the baby sleepy.’ She placed the baby in Fiona’s arms, positioning her carefully. ‘That’s right. We want her mouth to be opposite the nipple, just like that—perfect.’

Fiona stared down at her baby daughter. ‘Does the position really matter?’

‘Oh, yes. It’s vital if you’re not going to get sore and disheartened by the whole thing. Everyone thinks that breastfeeding is instinctive, but it isn’t, you know.’ Her voice was soft as she tucked the baby into a good position, moving Fiona’s arm so that she supported the baby’s shoulders. ‘It’s a skill that has to be learned like any other. That’s great, Fiona. You can use your fingers to support her head—like that. Brilliant.’

She slipped a hand behind the baby’s downy head and gently moved the baby’s mouth against the nipple, encouraging her to suck. ‘Come on, sweetheart, take a nice big mouthful for me…’

‘Oh!’ Fiona breathed in sharply and then looked up, her eyes misty. ‘She’s doing it! I can feel it.’

‘That’s great.’ Tia watched the baby closely, checking that she was sucking properly. ‘You’re both doing really well.’

‘So is that it? I expected it to be more complicated than that.’

Tia smiled. ‘Well, sometimes it is. And for the first few days it’s a good idea to let someone help you put her on the breast so that we can check that she’s feeding properly.’

Fiona stared down at her daughter with an awed expression in her eyes. ‘I can’t believe that it doesn’t hurt. I always expected it to.’

Tia shook her head. ‘It shouldn’t hurt. Not if she’s latched on properly.’

‘And how do I know that?’

‘Well, for a start there shouldn’t be any pain,’ Tia said, ‘and also if you look down you can see that she’s taken the whole of the nipple and some of the breast into her mouth. That’s how it works, you see. The nipple goes right back as far as the soft palate and that’s what makes her suck. Her lower jaw closes on the actual breast tissue and she uses suction to strip the breast of milk. You’ll feel her feeding but it should never be painful.’

‘And what if I can’t make enough milk?’

Tia gave a lopsided smile. ‘Well, that’s where nature is very clever. It’s all about supply and demand. The more you put the baby to the breast, the more milk you produce.’

Fiona gave a contented sigh and settled down to enjoy feeding her daughter.

‘You have a very unusual name.’ She glanced up at Tia with a curious smile. ‘What’s its origin?’

Tia pulled a face. ‘It’s short for Portia.’

Fiona lifted her eyebrows. ‘As in The Merchant of Venice?’

Tia gave a nod and a rueful smile. ‘My parents were actors.’

‘It’s a pretty name,’ Fiona commented, breaking off as her husband walked into the room, a bag of coins and a sheet of paper clasped in his hand.

‘Mike, look!’ Fiona spoke softly so that she didn’t disturb the baby. ‘She’s feeding!’

Mike Adams flopped onto the bed and grinned soppily at his wife. ‘Clever girl. I knew you could do it.’

‘It’s her that’s doing it, not me.’ Fiona touched her daughter’s downy head with her fingers. ‘She’s brilliant.’

‘She knows what’s good for her,’ Mike said stoutly, and Fiona gave him a wry look.

‘And you, too, of course. You can’t get up in the night if I’m breastfeeding.’

‘Oops. Caught out!’ Mike smiled sheepishly. ‘I’ll do the nappies.’

Fiona smiled placidly. ‘Too right you will. And the winding.’ She frowned at her husband. ‘You look really rumpled. As if you slept in your clothes.’

Mike gave a short laugh. ‘Sleep? Just remind me what that is again. You may have been the one who had the baby, but I’m exhausted!’

‘Poor thing!’ Fiona laughed. ‘So, who did you phone?’

Mike gave a groan and ticked them off on his fingers. ‘Your mother, my mother, your sister, Pam and Rick, Sue and Simon and Nick Whiteshaw.’

‘Oh, great, well done.’ Fiona turned her attention back to the baby and then glanced at Tia. ‘How long do I keep going for?’

‘Until she stops feeding.’ Tia gazed down at the baby, noticing that she was still swallowing. ‘She’s still guzzling away at the moment.’

‘Do I have to give her both sides?’

‘Always offer both sides,’ Tia advised. ‘But let her take all that she wants to from the first breast. When your milk comes in it’s important that she stays on the breast for as long as she wants to because the milk changes during the feed.’

Fiona’s eyes widened. ‘Really?’

‘Really.’ Tia smiled. ‘What the baby gets first is what we call foremilk—it’s lower in calories and thirst-quenching. After that they drink hind milk which is much more filling. If you take them off the breast too soon then they miss out on the milk that fills them up.’

Mike blinked. ‘Clever.’

‘Very.’ Tia nodded and helped Fiona remove the sleepy baby from her breast and wind her carefully. ‘Have you decided on a name yet?’

‘We’ve narrowed it down to three,’ Fiona said with a chuckle. ‘Mike’s first choice is Georgia, mine is Isabelle and we both quite like Megan.’

‘Megan Adams.’ Tia tried it out, nodded her approval and took the baby from Fiona, snuggling her against her shoulder with an easy confidence that brought an envious sigh from the mother.

‘You’re so natural with her. Do you have children?’

‘No.’

Not yet…

Suddenly Tia needed some air. She placed the baby carefully in the cot and drew the curtains back round the bed. ‘Give me a shout next time she’s ready to feed and I’ll help you, Fiona.’

Forcing a smile, she hurried out of the four-bedded bay and back to the nurses’ station, taking a long, steadying breath as she tentatively touched her still flat stomach.

Her heart stumbled and panic swamped her.

This wasn’t the way things should have turned out.

She’d never wanted to bring a baby into the world on her own. After her own experiences it was the last thing she would have wished on a child.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to think rationally. She’d cope, of course she would. Plenty of people did. Not everyone was like her own mother and there was no reason why she should be, but still…

Dragging her mind back to her work, she settled herself at the computer and updated Fiona’s notes, glancing up as Sharon, in full professional mode as the unit sister, bustled up to the nurses’ station.

‘Are you still here, Tia?’ She frowned and checked the clock on the wall. ‘You should have gone home hours ago.’

Tia ignored her.

She didn’t want to go home. She liked being at work. It took her mind off her problems.

‘Baby Adams has taken her first feed nicely,’ she told Sharon, her smile overly bright. ‘I’m just updating the notes and then I’ll go and check on Mrs Dodd if you like.’

‘What I’d like is for you to stop pretending nothing is wrong.’ Sharon lowered her voice and glanced up the corridor to check that no one was within earshot. ‘Have you called him?’

‘No.’ Tia turned back to the computer, vaguely registering that Sharon looked slightly agitated about something. ‘And I don’t intend to.’

‘But if he comes to you, you’d talk to him?’

‘Sharon, I left the man standing at the altar,’ Tia reminded her patiently, wondering why her friend was looking so nervous, ‘and he’s in love with another woman. There’s no earthly reason why he would possibly want to see me ever again.’

‘Except, maybe, that you’re carrying his child,’ Sharon pointed out quietly, her eyes flickering briefly down to Tia’s flat stomach. ‘Talking of which, how are you?’

Tia pulled a face. ‘Oh, you know, sick, exhausted—apart from that, fine.’

Sharon didn’t smile. ‘You need to register with a doctor, Tia.’

Tia nodded and didn’t meet her eyes. ‘Plenty of time for that.’ Not wanting to pursue the topic, she stood up and tucked her notebook into her pocket. ‘Maybe you’re right about it being time to go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

Sharon looked suddenly flustered. ‘Tia, wait, there’s something I—’

‘Not now, Sharon.’ Tia interrupted her with a weary smile. ‘I really don’t want to analyse my love life any more tonight.’

She just wanted to go home and be on her own.

She walked through to the staffroom, changed her clothes and made her way down the stairs to the car park. The battered old bicycle that she’d found in the garage of her rented cottage was exactly where she’d left it.

By the time she’d cycled home she was exhausted, but the minute she saw the red Italian sports car parked outside the cottage her exhaustion vanished.

No!

Surely he couldn’t be…

Opening the front door slowly, Tia walked through to the kitchen and pushed open the door, stopping dead as she saw the man lounging there, one powerful thigh resting on the kitchen table, his cool, dark eyes steady on her shocked face. ‘Luca…’ One hand reached out blindly for the wall as she sought support.

She really, truly hadn’t expected to see him again. Certainly not now. It had been two weeks.

Two weeks, and somehow she’d managed to diminish him in her mind. She’d blanked out just how much his physical presence affected her, forgotten how his blatant masculinity and unshakable self-confidence made her weak at the knees.

‘Tia.’ Thick, dark lashes swept down over his eyes, concealing his expression. He looked remote and unapproachable and she was suddenly totally unable to speak. Luca always did that to her. He was the only man in the world who rendered her completely tongue-tied.

She said the first thing that came into her head. ‘How did you know where to find me?’

‘I called Sharon.’ His eyes lingered on her pale face. ‘She gave me your address.’

Sharon?

‘No.’ Tia shook her head in disbelief but Luca’s expression didn’t change.

‘Don’t blame her. I didn’t give her much choice. Let’s just say I was…’ he paused and searched for the right word ‘…persuasive.’

And Tia knew only too well just how persuasive Luca Zattoni could be when he wanted to be.

That explained why Sharon had looked so uncomfortable and guilty.

She glanced back towards the front door, still feeling shell-shocked by his unexpected presence. ‘But presumably Sharon didn’t provide you with a key?’

Luca lifted one broad shoulder dismissively. ‘The sign was still outside and the letting agent was very helpful once I told him who I was. He seemed concerned about you living on your own here. This cottage is extremely isolated and you obviously aroused his protective instincts.’

It took a few moments for his words to sink in.

‘The letting agent gave you a key?’ She looked at him incredulously. ‘Is there anyone you can’t charm, Luca?’

‘Apparently.’ A ghost of a smile touched his firm mouth. ‘Or presumably you wouldn’t have left me standing at the altar two weeks ago,’ he drawled, resting one lean brown hand on his muscular thigh. ‘We have a great deal to talk about, cara mia.’

Her heart rate suddenly increased dramatically. ‘We have nothing to talk about, Luca.’

Certainly not now, after a long day at the hospital. Tia hadn’t been expecting this conversation and she had no idea how she was going to handle it. Was she going to confront him with what she’d discovered? Or was she going to wait for him to tell her the truth about his past, which he should have done right from the start? She needed to be prepared before she spoke to him. She needed to feel strong and in control.

As it was, all she felt was…vulnerable.

‘Nothing to talk about?’ He straightened in a fluid movement and strolled across the kitchen towards her. ‘First you take flight on our wedding day without the slightest explanation, and next you leave the country, go back to your old job and rent a cottage in the middle of nowhere. We could talk for a week and not cover even half of what we have to discuss.’

Tia’s throat was uncomfortably dry. ‘I left you a note.’

‘Ah, yes…’ Thick lashes lowered slightly to shield his stunning dark eyes. ‘The note that Sharon delivered, saying that you had changed your mind about marrying me.’

Her heart gave a little flip. She hadn’t expected him to follow her and she wasn’t prepared for this confrontation.

‘It wouldn’t have worked, Luca.’ Her knees trembled slightly but she forced herself to hold his gaze. ‘We were getting married for the wrong reasons. We—we didn’t know each other properly.’

She hadn’t known that he was involved in a serious, long-term relationship with another woman.

There was a long silence while he studied her face, the expression in his dark eyes unreadable. ‘So, just like that, you leave?’ His tone was even. ‘You decide this by yourself, with no consultation with me? No attempt to discuss whatever problem you think exists? Dio, is that normal behaviour for two people who were planning to marry?’

Tia’s breathing quickened and anger gripped her. He was criticising her? This was the time to confront him about what she’d heard, but she wasn’t ready to do that yet. She didn’t want to say something she’d regret. She needed time to think through the best way of tackling the subject.

Anyway, it was his responsibility to tell her about his past, to open up and tell her the truth.

‘When would we have had this discussion, Luca?’ She took refuge in attack. ‘You were always at the hospital.’

His black brows met in a frown. ‘Is that what this is all about? My working hours? I’m an obstetrician, Tia. You should understand the demands of the job better than most women.’

Suddenly she didn’t feel at all well. She’d woken early that morning, been sick repeatedly and now he was expecting her to dissect their relationship. It was too much.

Her eyes closed briefly and she took a deep breath. ‘Do we have to talk about this now?’

‘Yes.’ His voice was a deep growl and she flinched slightly. She’d always thought that Luca was very controlled, but suddenly he seemed like a stranger.

Which was part of the problem.

They didn’t really know each other. That fact had been brought home to her with shocking clarity on the day of her wedding. She should never have agreed to marry him, but she’d been so swept away by the way he’d made her feel…

‘We can meet up tomorrow or something,’ she suggested, hoping that she wasn’t going to embarrass herself by being sick in front of him. ‘Where are you staying tonight?’

‘Staying?’ One dark eyebrow lifted as if her question was wholly irrelevant. ‘Here, of course.’

‘No way, Luca.’ She shook her head vigorously. ‘This is my cottage.’

Luca straightened in a fluid movement and moved purposefully towards her. ‘And you’re expecting our child, Tia.’ He said the words with careful emphasis. ‘Your place is with me.’

‘With you?’ Her heart started to gallop. With him? Surely he wasn’t serious—not after everything that had happened. ‘You’re not seriously suggesting that we should still get married?’

‘Hardly.’ His tone was dry. ‘You’ve made your feelings on that subject very clear.’

Tia blushed slightly and looked away. Leaving him at the altar had been a lousy thing to do, but at the time she hadn’t been able to see an alternative. She’d just needed to get away as fast as possible.

‘So what exactly do you want, Luca?’

There was a slight pause. ‘You,’ he said softly. ‘You and our baby.’

‘Luca, no!’ Her voice was suddenly hoarse and her heart was beating faster than she would have thought possible. ‘It’s time we were honest with each other. Our whole relationship was a mistake. We were just—very carried away…this baby wasn’t planned.’ Tia decided that it was time to voice at least some of her concerns. ‘A month ago when I told you I was pregnant, you couldn’t escape to the hospital fast enough!’

He tensed and his mouth tightened. ‘That’s not true.’

‘It is true, Luca, and you know it.’ Despite her best intentions, she felt her voice wobble slightly and forced herself to stay calm. The last thing she wanted was for him to know how badly his reaction had hurt her. She had too much pride. ‘You were horrified to learn that I was pregnant and don’t try and deny it because I’m excellent at reading body language and yours was shouting at me!’

His dark eyes were suddenly wary and for the first time since she’d met him he seemed slightly uncomfortable.

‘You misunderstood me. It’s true that the news of the baby came as a shock at first,’ he admitted finally, his voice quiet. ‘I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit that I would have preferred us to have more time together before we considered having children, but—’

‘You don’t need to make excuses. I know that you weren’t pleased, and nothing can change that.’ Suddenly Tia felt hideously sick and she took several deep breaths to try and settle her stomach.

An ominous frown touched his forehead. ‘Tia, when you first told me that you were pregnant, I hadn’t been to bed for almost forty hours,’ he said, his dark eyes intent on hers as he paused only inches away from her. ‘I was called to one difficult delivery after another. By the time I saw you I was dead on my feet. The news that you were pregnant came as a shock, I admit that, and I probably didn’t react the way I should have, but…’

Her eyes challenged him and she tried to ignore the effect that his closeness had on her. ‘So you’re saying that had you had a good night’s sleep you would have been delighted?’

His dark gaze swept over her. ‘You need to calm down, cara mia. You’re very emotional.’

‘Emotional?’ Her jaw dropped and she gaped at him. ‘Of course I’m emotional. We had three blissful weeks together in Venice, but when we moved back to your home in Milan you changed, Luca. I barely saw you. You spent every available minute at the hospital. When I finally found time to tell you that I was pregnant, you reacted as though it was the worst news I could have given you and vanished to the hospital again. Then you came home and proposed. But obviously for all the wrong reasons. I think I have every right to be emotional.’

Especially in view of what she’d found out since.

He muttered something under his breath in Italian and raked long fingers thought his glossy dark hair. ‘Tia, I have already admitted that my reaction was less than perfect—’

‘Understatement,’ Tia muttered. ‘Major understatement.’

A muscle worked in his jaw. ‘I think we both need to calm down and then start this conversation again.’

‘No.’ She shook her head vigorously, desperate to get rid of him. Being so close to him eroded her will-power. ‘There’s nothing more to be said. This isn’t about the baby, Luca, it’s about us. You and I. And the fact that our hormones got tangled with our common sense.’

Nausea washed over her and she lifted a hand to her mouth. Oh, help! She was going to be sick again. She was sure of it.

Luca frowned sharply and his long, strong fingers curled into her shoulders. ‘What’s the matter? Are you ill?’

‘No,’ she lied, steadying her stomach with a few deep breaths. ‘I’m just not enjoying this conversation. I want you to acknowledge that we both made a mistake so that we can move on.’

His hands dropped from her shoulders and his face might have been carved from stone. ‘We’re having a baby, Tia. It’s too late to talk about making mistakes. We need to plan for the future.’

‘Luca, we don’t have a future,’ she said firmly, genuinely amazed that he’d even suggest such a thing. But it was because of the baby, of course. Whatever his initial reaction had been, he’d clearly decided that responsibility should come before personal happiness. ‘If a relationship isn’t right without a baby then it certainly won’t be right with a baby. We’re totally wrong for each other. Discovering that I’m pregnant doesn’t change that. I understand that you’re upset because I left you at the altar, but—’

‘I don’t care about that,’ Luca said dismissively. ‘That is in the past, but the baby is in the future and our future is together.’

Tia stared at him. Sharon was obviously right. Luca Zattoni was a traditional Italian male to the core.

He might have been shocked originally, but the concept of family and children was so important to Italians that she should have guessed that, once he’d had time to think about it, there was no way that Luca would just dismiss the fact that she was pregnant.

‘I am not going back to Italy with you, Luca.’

‘You still haven’t told me why you left Italy in the first place,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘I can’t believe that you changed your mind at the last minute. If you had doubts, why didn’t you discuss them with me? Dio, I went up to your room and found everything gone. How did you think I felt?’

Remembering just what had made her leave in such a hurry, she looked at him without sympathy. ‘I expect it damaged your ego.’

He muttered under his breath and gave her an impatient glance. ‘Tia, I left the need to protect my ego behind in childhood, but I would be less than human if the unexplained disappearance of my bride-to-be—my pregnant bride to be—didn’t disconcert me somewhat.’

‘I thought you’d be pleased that I’d gone,’ she mumbled, rubbing her toe on the kitchen floor and refusing to look at him. Having him so close was unsettling to say the least. She couldn’t look at the man without remembering how they’d been together…

‘I wasn’t pleased,’ he said softly, his Italian accent suddenly very pronounced as he accentuated every syllable.

She lifted her chin, her expression defiant. ‘If you missed me so badly, if you were really that worried, why didn’t you follow me straight away?’

He tensed and hesitated for only the briefest moment. ‘There were complications,’ he muttered finally. ‘Things I needed to sort out.’

Luisa.

Tia turned away, hiding her hurt, but knowing that she’d done the right thing not to marry him. She didn’t want to be anyone’s second choice.

‘You haven’t told me why you changed your mind.’

‘I—I had second thoughts,’ she said honestly, flicking her hair back and looking him straight in the eye. ‘I suddenly realised that there were so many things I didn’t know about you.’

Luca frowned. ‘Like what?’

Flustered, Tia avoided his question. ‘I don’t know, but it was all so fast and I don’t think you should get married without knowing everything there is to know about the person you’re marrying—’

‘Tia there are always things about another person that stays hidden,’ he said, and she shook her head.

‘Not when you’ve known each other for a long time. When people have known each other for a long time they’re as familiar as old socks.’

He lifted an eyebrow and looked at her incredulously. ‘Dio. That is your idea of a stimulating relationship? To live with someone who is like a sock?’

‘I’m just trying to say—’

‘It’s all right—I think know what you’re trying to say.’ He let out a long breath and shook his head slowly. ‘Tia, the length of a relationship is not always an indication of its depth.’

His voice was suddenly quiet and her heart suddenly missed a beat.

Was he going to tell her about Luisa?

Luca’s jaw clenched. ‘It’s true that our relationship moved quickly and was very intense—’

Intense?

That had to be the understatement of the year.

She’d been so totally overwhelmed by what had been happening between them that she hadn’t bothered to think about the future.

‘But we weren’t suited, Luca.’

‘No? If my memory serves me correctly, we were never able to look at each other without needing to rip each other’s clothes off,’ he drawled softly. ‘I wouldn’t exactly describe that as “not suited”, would you? You were in my bed the same night we met.’

His blunt reminder of just how quickly they’d become intimate brought a flood of colour to her cheeks and Tia closed her eyes. He was right, of course. The physical chemistry between them had been frighteningly powerful. It had completely swamped her common sense, what little she’d had, and it had clearly taken his mind off his troubles with Luisa.

‘There’s more to a relationship than good sex, Luca,’ she said quietly, dragging her eyes away from his penetrating gaze and trying to regain some semblance of control.

The mere brush of those long, strong fingers against her flesh made her tremble and she struggled to hide it from him.

Dear God, why couldn’t she just tell him the truth? That she knew he’d met her when his other relationship had been in trouble. That she knew he was in love with another woman.

He was watching her closely. ‘You think our relationship was just about sex?’

For her, no, but for him?

‘We’re different, Luca,’ she said finally. ‘I—I didn’t realise how different until we lived together in Milan. Perhaps if I’d had a job…’

The temperature in the room dropped below zero.

‘There was no reason for you to work.’ His jaw tightened and his expression was grim. ‘I gave you credit cards—you weren’t short of money.’

That was true enough. The Zattoni family were obviously extremely wealthy. She’d never had access to so much money in her life. But she didn’t really care about money.

‘It isn’t about money, Luca,’ Tia declared emphatically, trying to make him understand something of what she’d felt when they were in Italy. ‘When we met in Venice it was beautiful—romantic. But Milan…’

‘Milan is not Venice,’ he agreed quietly, his eyes fixed on her pale face. ‘Milan is more of a business city than a tourist one. It’s foggy in winter and muggy in the summer and the pollution is grim.’

‘I felt suffocated there,’ Tia admitted, ‘but it wasn’t really the place. It was us. You spent all your time at the hospital and I was lonely.’

‘Lonely?’ He frowned sharply. ‘You had the support of my family. How could you have been lonely?’

Tia’s eyes slid away from his. ‘They hate me, Luca,’ she told him. ‘They think I’m the wrong sort of woman for you, and do you know what?’ She forced herself to meet that unsettling dark gaze head on. ‘They’re right. I am the wrong sort of woman. You should have married someone sleek and elegant, someone who’d know how to spend your money…’

It was the nearest she’d got to telling him that she knew about Luisa but not by the flicker of an eyelid did he betray himself.

‘My family do not hate you.’ His expression was suddenly ominous. ‘What possible grounds do you have for making such a statement?’

She caught the look of disbelief in his eyes and decided to tell the truth.

‘Luca, I never saw them,’ she told him quietly, ‘apart from the weekends when you and I visited them together.’

He muttered something under his breath in Italian. ‘You spent most weekdays with them. Shopping, lunching.’

Tia gave a wry smile. ‘No, Luca. Check your credit-card bill. I never once shopped or lunched. They never invited me and, anyway, I wouldn’t have wanted to. I don’t like spending money that way. That isn’t the sort of life I’m used to and they knew that, which is presumably why they never invited me.’

Anger flashed in his black eyes and Tia winced. ‘They’re very traditional,’ she said quickly, wishing she’d never said anything. She certainly didn’t want to turn him against his family. ‘They knew I wouldn’t have been comfortable spending days with them.’

Luca’s jaw was tight. ‘So how did you spend your days?’

Tia gave a sad smile. They’d been together for three months and only now was he asking that question.

‘I stayed in the flat and read books,’ she told him, ‘or I went for walks.’

He was suddenly tense. ‘Milan is not a great city for walking. Where did you walk?’

She shrugged. ‘Wherever took my fancy.’

‘And you wouldn’t have had the first clue where was safe and where wasn’t.’ He closed his eyes briefly. ‘That evening we met in Venice, you were pacing the streets at night on your own. Do you have a death wish?’

‘No, but I like to live my own life, and—’

‘Tia, you are a stunningly beautiful woman,’ he ground out angrily, ‘and your blonde head shines like a beacon. It is very unusual to see a woman of your colouring in Italy and you attract no little amount of attention. You were putting yourself at risk.’

Without any warning her heart turned over. He thought she was beautiful?

No, that just didn’t make sense. She was as unlike Luisa as it was possible to be.

Before she had a chance to digest this piece of information, his hands closed over her shoulders like a vice. ‘I will talk to my family about their behaviour and you will promise me that you won’t walk around on your own at night again.’

‘I can’t promise and I don’t want you to talk to your family. There’s no reason to. It’s in the past now.’ Suddenly Tia felt exhausted. Too exhausted to talk any further. ‘It was all my fault, anyway. I am so far removed from a perfect Italian wife it’s laughable. Your family did what they thought was best and they were right. I’m the sort of person who needs space and independence. I’m not the sort of person who enjoys shopping, lunching and beauty salons.’

She swayed slightly and Luca’s grip on her shoulders tightened.

‘We shouldn’t be talking about this now.’ He scooped her up as if she weighed nothing, holding her firmly against his chest. ‘You’re not well. You look pale and worn out. You need to go to bed.’

Bed.

Just thinking about bed when she was held this close to him made her body start to tremble. She could feel the hard muscle of his chest through the fabric of his shirt and her fingers itched to touch him.

No.

‘Put me down, Luca.’ She wriggled in his arms and then groaned and buried her head in his shoulder as everything swam.

He ignored her efforts to escape, his expression grim as he negotiated the narrow staircase that led upstairs.

‘Where’s your bedroom?’

‘It’s none of your business,’ she protested weakly, wishing that being in his arms didn’t feel quite so good. But she fancied him so much that her whole body melted if he so much as looked at her. It wasn’t just that he was stunningly good-looking. There was something about him, an air of confidence and power, that was incredibly sexy.

Dear God, did she have no sense of self-preservation?

How could she still feel this way about someone who didn’t want her? How could her body still respond to him?

Luca shouldered open the few doors upstairs until he found what was obviously her bedroom and laid her gently on the bed.

‘Our problem is that we are both too alike, you and I,’ he told her, stroking the hair out of her eyes with gentle fingers and then checking her pulse. ‘We are hot-tempered and stubborn. Why didn’t you tell me that you felt ill? How long have you been in this state?’

Tia closed her eyes and fought back the waves of nausea. ‘I’m not in a state. I’m just pregnant,’ she mumbled, feeling drowsiness wash over her. She’d never felt so tired in her life. It was as if her body had turned off a switch and everything had shut down. She just had to sleep.

‘Go away, Luca,’ she murmured, fighting to stop her eyelids drooping. ‘I want you to go home to Italy and leave me alone.’

She saw his eyes darken, knew she ought to finish the conversation but her body betrayed her, slowly drifting into sleep mode before she could resolve the situation. Her eyelids closed and she was dimly aware of Luca standing up and of having blankets tucked around her. Then darkness claimed her.

CHAPTER TWO

TIA awoke to the sound of rain thundering on the windows.

Remembering the evening before, she closed her eyes and gave a groan of mortification.

Luca.

She’d virtually passed out cold on the man. He’d carried her to her bed and…

Her eyes drifted to the clothes piled neatly on the chair in the corner of the room.

Her clothes.

Pushing back the duvet, she glanced down and saw that she was wearing one of Luca’s old T-shirts. She ran her fingers over the soft fabric, her sensitive nose picking up his elusive male scent, the same scent that had wrapped itself around her on all those hot, steamy nights together.

The mere thought of his lean, brown hands touching her made her heart flip against her chest and a devastating weakness spread through her body.

Luca…

She’d never felt about anybody the way she felt about him.

And he must have undressed her last night.

Where had he stayed? Here? In the cottage? Was he still here now?

Tia sat up suddenly and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, anger bringing her to life.

How dared he?

How could Luca expect to stroll back into her life as if nothing had happened when he was in love with another woman? How dared he put her to bed and undress her? He was in no position to play happy families.

Her feet hit the floor and the sudden movement made her stomach churn.

She made it to the toilet just in time and retched miserably, wondering dully why any woman chose to get pregnant.

‘You got up too quickly.’ Luca’s deep voice came from behind her and his long fingers lifted her hair away from her face.

‘Go away, Luca.’ She closed her eyes tightly, utterly humiliated that he should see her like this. Being ill was bad enough without having him witness it. ‘I want some privacy.’

‘I’m a doctor, cara mia,’ he pointed out, his voice surprisingly gentle as he handed her a cool flannel. ‘I see sick people every day.’

‘I’m not people,’ she said, wishing her stomach would settle. ‘Leave me alone so I can die in peace.’

He murmured something in Italian and lifted her easily to her feet. ‘You’re not going to die. You have morning sickness. It should go by the fourteenth week.’

Tia slumped against the wall and looked at him with dull eyes. She was already twelve weeks pregnant. ‘Another two weeks of this?’

He gave a faint smile, his dark eyes surprisingly sympathetic. ‘Have you been sick much?’

‘All the time,’ Tia mumbled, and his smile faded as he switched into doctor mode.

‘Do you have any pain when you are sick?’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘Relax, Luca. I’m fine. Just pregnant.’

‘You’ve lost weight.’ His dark gaze raked over her slender frame and she looked at him, exhausted.

‘Of course I’ve lost weight. The last few weeks haven’t exactly been a picnic for me either, you know.’

‘What has the doctor said about you?’

‘What doctor?’

He frowned sharply. ‘You haven’t seen a doctor yet?’

She sighed. ‘It’s hardly been on the top of my list of priorities, Luca.’

‘You should have had blood tests and a scan.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘When did you start your last period?’

‘For goodness’ sake!’ She coloured, embarrassed by his question, and he muttered something under his breath and cupped her face in his hands.

‘Tia, you are having my baby and I am a doctor,’ he reminded her gently. ‘You have no need to feel awkward. I need to ask you these things because I need to know that you are OK. Indulge me and answer the question. Please?’

‘Twenty-fourth of July,’ she muttered, feeling her cheeks heat again. They might have made the baby together but there was something about him that made her feel impossibly shy. ‘Or, at least, that’s what I think. I had some spotting a month later but not a real period. I worked out that I must be due on the 30th April.’

He nodded slowly. ‘We need to get you booked in at the hospital and I want to send a urine specimen to check that you have no infection. It could be a reason for the vomiting.’

‘Luca, I have morning sickness,’ she said gruffly, strangely touched by his concern despite her mixed feelings towards him. ‘It isn’t hyperemesis.’

Hyperemesis gravidarum was a rare condition of pregnancy where nausea and vomiting were severe and could cause serious problems for the mother.

His expression was serious. ‘Just how often have you been sick?’

‘Quite a bit,’ Tia confessed as she reached for her toothbrush. ‘Usually whenever I’m tired. I suspect that you had a narrow escape last night. It’s probably just as well you put me to bed early.’

He didn’t laugh. ‘Then you have to make sure that you don’t get tired. It’s your body telling you something.’

She brushed her teeth on autopilot and slowly sipped some water. ‘Stop giving me orders, Luca.’

She put her toothbrush back in the cupboard and leaned her burning forehead against the cool glass of the bathroom cabinet. She felt terrible. She had to be at work in an hour and at the moment she could barely drag her body out of the bathroom. How did people get through nine months of this?

He held open the bathroom door and stood to one side. ‘Go back to bed and I’ll make you some breakfast.’

‘Breakfast?’ She shot him an incredulous look and put a protective hand on her abdomen. ‘Are you some sort of sadist? Do you really think I’m hungry?’

‘Food will help,’ he reminded her gently, a glimmer of a smile touching his hard mouth. ‘You’re a midwife, Tia. You should know that eating something before you move in the morning can sometimes alleviate morning sickness. I’ll fetch you some crackers.’

‘There aren’t any crackers,’ she muttered, sliding past him, careful not to catch his eye. ‘And stop ordering me around. You’re not responsible for me. And while we’re at it, you’ve got a nerve, undressing me while I’m asleep. And you had no right to stay the night.’

‘You fell asleep in all your clothes,’ he pointed out dryly. ‘Hardly the most effective way of guaranteeing a good night’s rest. And your prudishness is rather misplaced in the circumstances.’

Hot colour flooded Tia’s cheeks. She knew what he was implying. That he knew her body better than she did. And it was all too true. The things that he could make her feel were scary.

‘That was the past.’ She said it to herself as much as him and started to walk down the stairs, holding tight to the bannisters to help support her wobbly knees. ‘You no longer have the right to undress me.’

‘I refuse to discuss this with you now.’ His tone was even as he followed her into the kitchen. ‘Sit down and I’ll make you some breakfast.’

She gaped at him, sure that she’d misheard.

Luca was offering to make her breakfast?

Well, that really was a first!

As far as she could recall, Luca couldn’t so much as boil a kettle. He certainly hadn’t done so in the three months that she’d known him.

‘I thought Italian men were totally undomesticated,’ she commented, watching with fascination as he yanked open cupboard after cupboard and finally tried the fridge. This was not a man who knew his way around a kitchen.

‘Dio, there is nothing here! What were you planning to eat?’ His tone was incredulous as he stared into the empty fridge. ‘Thin air?’

‘At least that won’t upset my stomach,’ she joked weakly, shrinking slightly at the black expression on his face. ‘OK, there’s no need to scowl. I haven’t had time to shop yet. I was going to do it on my way home from work this evening.’

The minute she said it she could have bitten her tongue off. Bother. She hadn’t intended to tell him about the job yet.

There was an ominous silence and Luca straightened up from his exploration of the empty fridge, his smooth dark brows locked in a frown.

‘Work?’ His eyes were suddenly cool. ‘What do you mean, you were going to shop on the way home from work?’

She gave a long sigh. ‘Luca, I’m going to be a single mother. I need a job—’

The fridge door closed with a muted thud. ‘You are not going to be a single mother.’

‘Luca…’

He walked towards her, his eyes flaming with anger and his broad shoulders tense. ‘And you do not need a job.’

‘I need to support myself, Luca.’

‘You do not need to support yourself,’ he said with icy cold clarity. ‘That is my responsibility.’

She took a deep breath. ‘But, you see, I don’t want to be your responsibility. I need to work.’

‘No,’ he contradicted her fiercely. ‘You do not need to work.’

Tia looked at him sadly. ‘Which just goes to prove my point that we don’t really know each other. If you knew me, you’d understand. But the truth is that our relationship is nothing more than a wild affair that got out of hand. And now we need to move on. I’ve been offered my old job back, Luca, and I intend to take it. In fact, I’ve already taken it. I’ve been working at the Infirmary for the past ten days. I’m surprised Sharon didn’t mention it when you had your little chat.’

‘Well, she didn’t.’ Luca stared at her, a muscle working in his dark jaw. ‘Now that I am here to support you, give me one good reason why you need to work.’

His arrogance made her defiant. ‘I don’t have to give you a reason for anything I do. You can’t bully me, Luca.’

A flush touched his tanned cheekbones and he had the grace to look uncomfortable. ‘It was not my intention to bully you, merely to try and understand—’

‘It’s too late for that now,’ she said stiffly, and his mouth tightened.

‘It is not too late,’ he ground out. ‘We are having a baby and we stay together. And you will not work while you’re pregnant.’

Tia stared at him, fascinated that he seemed so totally unashamed of blatantly expressing such chauvinistic opinions. Hadn’t the man ever heard of equality or political correctness?

‘Plenty of women work when they’re pregnant.’

‘But not you,’ he growled, raking long fingers through his hair, clearly hanging onto control by a thread. ‘I refuse to allow you to risk your health and our baby’s health when you don’t need to.’

Tia had always known that Luca was very traditional, but his flat dismissal of her new job was starting to make her blood boil.

‘Stop trying to run my life,’ she said angrily, wrapping her arms around her body in a gesture of self-protection. ‘I have to work, Luca. For all sorts of reasons that you wouldn’t begin to understand. Except for the few months I spent in Italy with you, I’ve always worked and fended for myself ever since I was young. I don’t need or want to be supported. Especially now I’m back in England.’

Glittering dark eyes rested on her pink cheeks. ‘But now you’re pregnant,’ he pointed out, his voice lethally soft, ‘and I assume the reason that you were ill last night was because you were working all day. Am I right?’

Tia flinched at his tone but nodded slowly. ‘Perhaps, but—’

‘And then came home and virtually passed out,’ Luca pointed out, sarcasm evident in his smooth tones as he cut through her attempts to justify herself. ‘Working is obviously going to do you and the baby a world of good.’

‘I just don’t understand you.’ Tia stared at him, baffled by the strength of his reaction. ‘All of a sudden you’re thinking about nothing but the baby. But when I first told you, you barely reacted. What’s changed, Luca? Is this baby really so special to you, or is it just that you’re such a primitive, unreconstructed male that you can’t bear other people to see the mother of your child working?’

‘Other people’s opinion is of no interest to me whatsoever,’ he responded grimly. ‘But to answer your question, yes, of course the baby is special to me. And if you’d given me time to get used to the idea and not run off like a child in a tantrum, you would know that already. We could have discussed it.’ His gaze was distinctly cool. ‘But talking about things isn’t something you’re very good at, is it? You prefer to run and hide.’

Because all her life she’d had no one to rely on but herself.

It was obvious now that the baby was the reason he’d followed her. Luca was Italian through and through, with all the family values of his ancestors. There was no way a man like him would let his pregnant wife leave. Even if he did regret marrying her.

She tried hard to pull herself together. She’d known that he didn’t love her so why did it hurt so much that he wanted their marriage to work because of the baby?

‘Like I said last night, the baby isn’t the issue here,’ she said stiffly. ‘It’s our relationship, Luca. We—we don’t really know each other.’

His eyes locked with hers, his expression impossible to read. ‘Then we will get to know each other.’

She looked at him with exasperation. ‘Luca, this is ridiculous. We’re completely wrong for each other.’

Not least because he was still in love with someone else. All right, he might be here with her at the moment but that was clearly because of the baby, not because he was in love with her. Had the man once mentioned the word ‘love’? No.

‘If we don’t know each other,’ he said smoothly, ‘then how can you possibly know that we are wrong for each other?’

She bit her lip. ‘I just do.’

‘You’re talking nonsense. One of the reasons we haven’t talked much is because we spent the whole time making love,’ he reminded her gently, and Tia’s cheeks coloured at the look in his eyes.

It was absolutely true.

They’d been unable to spend time together without ending up in bed. Even when they’d returned from Venice and Luca had been working all hours, their physical relationship had sizzled with passion. Tired or not, where sex was concerned the man was one hundred per cent hot Italian.

There was a long silence and Luca’s gaze roved slowly over her flushed cheeks and rested on her mouth. She knew that he was remembering those nights, too, and heat pooled in the pit of her stomach.

‘There is a simple solution to all this,’ he said softly, dragging his eyes back to hers. ‘If you think we don’t know each other, then we get to know each other.’

Tia shook her head. ‘It’s too late for that, Luca. You want someone to stay at home and keep house, someone who will happily spend your money and rely on you. I’m not like that. I’ve never relied on anyone in my life. I can’t do it. I’m not the right woman for you.’

‘You are having my baby,’ he said steadily, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘That makes you the right woman.’

Tia opened her mouth to argue and then noticed the clock on the wall and gave a gasp of horror. She was going to be late. Was that his plan? To make her so late they wouldn’t want her working for them?

‘I don’t have time for this, Luca,’ she muttered, standing up and making for the kitchen door. ‘I’m going to have a shower and then I’m going to work. I don’t know what time your flight back to Italy is but you can stay in the cottage until you go. Just post the keys through the door when you leave.’

Without waiting to hear his reply, she left the room, trying not to look at the grim set of his firm mouth.

It was obvious that Luca still had plenty to say on the subject but it was going to have to wait. She didn’t intend to jeopardise her job for anyone.

She needed to work and she wanted to work, and no chauvinistic Italian was going to stop her. However much he made her knees knock.

Despite her worries about the time, Tia arrived early and the first person she saw was Sharon.

‘Are you mad at me?’

Tia slung her bag into her locker and changed into her uniform. ‘I should be.’

‘But you’re not?’ Sharon looked at her hopefully. ‘What happened? What did he say about Luisa?’

Tia turned the key in her locker. ‘I didn’t mention Luisa.’

‘Why?’ Sharon looked horrified and Tia stopped dead and let out a long breath.

‘Because I want him to tell me himself, not just because he thinks he’s been found out.’ Her chin lifted. ‘I don’t want a relationship where we have secrets. Remember my parents? When my mother found out about my father’s affairs she was devastated. She’d always trusted him.’ Tia felt the familiar feeling of anger swell inside her. Anger towards the man who’d ruined her mother’s life. ‘I will not have a relationship with someone who keeps secrets.’

Sharon’s expression was cautious. ‘But what did he say? Did he just want to yell at you for leaving him at the altar?’

Tia frowned. ‘Funnily enough, that hardly figured in the conversation. I’ll say this for the man, he’s a very cool customer. He seemed almost indifferent to the chaos I caused. He was more concerned with discussing the future.’

Sharon’s eyes widened. ‘So there is a future?’

Tia shook her head. ‘Not as far as I’m concerned. He obviously wants to be around for the baby, but that’s not enough for me.’

Sharon looked puzzled. ‘Are you sure that’s really the reason?’

‘Of course.’ Tia pulled herself together, dropped the locker key in her pocket and made for the door. ‘I need to get on. Mrs Adams was about to feed the baby when I walked past so I said I’d help her. I’ll do her check afterwards.’

‘OK, thanks.’ Sharon followed her out of the staffroom and Tia made her way to the four-bedded side ward.

‘Hello, Fiona. How’s the feeding going?’

‘Really well.’ Fiona looked up with a smile. ‘Someone’s helped me put her on the breast every time, but she seems to latch on really well and she only fed three times in the night. I thought that was pretty good.’

‘Absolutely.’ Tia leaned over the cot and stroked the downy head with a gentle finger. ‘Were you a good girl for Mummy? Did you agree on a name?’

Fiona nodded. ‘She’s going to be Megan.’

‘Nice. Well, in that case, Megan, it’s time for breakfast.’ She scooped the baby up firmly and handed her to Fiona, watching carefully as Fiona tried to put the baby on the breast herself.

‘That’s great, Fiona. You’ve both really got the hang of it.’

Tia stayed with Fiona until she was happy that the baby was feeding nicely and then moved on to help another new mother.

Before she’d even pulled the curtains around the bed, Sharon called her.

‘Sorry, Tia, would you mind going up to labour ward to give them a hand? They’ve had six admissions in the last two hours.’ Sharon rolled her eyes and walked up the corridor with Tia. ‘Chaos. And, of course, they’ll all end up down here.’

So Tia hurried to the labour ward and introduced herself to Nina, the midwife in charge.

‘Would you mind looking after Mrs Henson for the time being?’ Nina checked her notebook. ‘She’s only four centimetres and not coping well at all. We’ve bleeped the anaesthetist and he’s coming to do an epidural. And do you mind having one of the student midwives in with you? She needs to get a few more deliveries.’

Tia nodded. Student midwives had to deliver a certain number of babies under supervision before they were allowed to qualify.

Dawn Henson was a twenty-two-year-old woman, having her first baby, and one look at her face was enough for Tia to realise that she was terrified.

‘The pain is so much worse than I imagined,’ she gasped, her knuckles white as she grasped her husband’s hand. ‘I really, really wanted to have a natural birth but I don’t think I can stand it. I feel such a failure.’

‘You’re not a failure, Dawn,’ Tia said firmly. ‘Labour isn’t a competition. The pain is different for each individual and everyone copes in different ways. I think you’ve made a wise decision to have an epidural.’

Dawn bit her lip. ‘But I didn’t really want to have one. I’m terrified of having a needle in my spine. What if it goes wrong?’

‘It won’t go wrong.’ Tia looked up as Duncan Fraser, one of the anaesthetic consultants, walked into the room. ‘Here’s the person to talk to. Dr Fraser will explain everything to you.’

Signalling with her eyes that Dawn was more than a little anxious, Tia busied herself getting things ready for the anaesthetist.

Duncan talked quietly to the couple for a few minutes, explaining the procedure and the risks involved, pausing while Dawn had another contraction.

‘OK, I need to start by putting a drip in your arm.’

Tia handed him a wide-bore cannula and Kim, the student midwife, checked Dawn’s blood pressure.

‘All right, Dawn, I want you to sit on the edge of the trolley for me—that’s it.’ Tia helped her to adjust her position until she was as comfortable as possible and waited while Duncan scrubbed up.

He put on a sterile gown and gloves and positioned himself behind Dawn. ‘All right, I want you to tell me if you feel a contraction coming so that I can stop,’ he said quietly as he gave the local anaesthetic into the skin.

Duncan nicked the skin with the scalpel and introduced the Tuohy needle, advancing it cautiously towards the epidural space. He checked that the needle was in the right place and Tia watched Dawn carefully, knowing that even the slightest movement at this stage could result in a dural puncture with unpleasant consequences for the patient.

Fortunately Dawn remained still and Duncan quickly threaded the epidural catheter through the needle and withdrew the needle.

‘All right Dawn.’ Duncan glanced up briefly and then returned to his task. ‘I’m going to inject a small dose of anaesthetic now.’

He gave a test dose and then taped the epidural catheter in place and attached an antibacterial filter to the end. Tia timed five minutes and then checked the blood pressure.

Satisfied with the reading, Duncan gave the remainder of the anaesthetic dose.

‘All right, Dawn, Tia is going to need to check your blood pressure every five minutes for the first twenty minutes just to check that it doesn’t drop.’

Dawn gave him a grateful smile. ‘I can feel it working already—the pain is nowhere near as bad.’

‘Good.’ Duncan gave her a warm smile, talked to Tia about giving top-ups and then left the room.

Now that the pain had gone, Dawn’s face regained some of its colour and she was a great deal happier.

‘Will I still be able to push the baby out?’

‘We’ll certainly aim for that,’ Tia told her, checking her blood pressure again and recording it on the chart. ‘As you progress towards the end of the first stage of your labour, we’ll let the epidural wear off so that you can feel to push.’

It was towards the end of her shift when Dawn started pushing and the baby was delivered normally, with the minimum of fuss. Tia quietly praised Kim who had performed a textbook delivery.

‘I can’t believe it’s all over.’ Dawn collapsed, exhausted, her face pale. ‘I can’t believe we’ve got a little girl. We’ve only thought of boys’ names, haven’t we, Ken?’

Her husband gave a shaky laugh. ‘We’d better start thinking fast.’

Tia gave an absent smile, her eyes on the student midwife. The placenta wasn’t coming away as quickly as it should and Kim was obviously concerned. Tia knew that with the use of oxytocic drugs and controlled cord traction, the third stage of labour—the delivery of the placenta—was usually completed in ten minutes in the majority of labours.

In Dawn’s case they were well past ten minutes and Tia was well aware that there was a danger of bleeding if the placenta was retained.

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