The Doctor's Runaway Bride

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?’