St Piran's: Prince on the Children's Ward

‘Tasha—’

‘Just do it, Josh. Please. If I’m wrong, I’ll give up and get a job in a garden centre.’

With a sigh, Josh picked up his phone and called the doctor responsible for seeing the child.

While he talked, Tasha stood staring out of the window, wishing she didn’t always get so upset about everything. Why couldn’t she be emotionally detached, like so many of her colleagues? Why couldn’t she just switch off and do the job?

‘She’s going to do a full examination, although she thinks it’s asthma and allergy combined. We’ll see. And now you need to relax.’ Josh’s voice was soft. ‘You’re in a state, Tasha.’

‘I’m fine.’ It was a lie. She’d desperately wanted a hug but was afraid that if someone touched her she’d start crying and never stop. ‘But I do find myself with a lot of free time on my hands. I thought …’ She hesitated, hating having to crawl to her brother. ‘You’re important. Can you pull a few strings here? Get me a job? The paediatric department has a good reputation.’

‘Tasha—’

‘Paediatrics is my life. My career. I’m good, Josh. I’m good at what I do.’

‘I’m not debating that, but—’

‘Yes, you are. You’re worrying I’ll mess things up for you here.’

‘That isn’t true.’ Josh stood up and walked over to her. ‘Calm down, will you? You’re totally stressed out. Maybe what you need is a break from hospitals for a while.’

‘What I need is a job. I love working with kids. I love being a doctor. And then there’s the practical side. I was living in a hospital flat so now I’m homeless as well as jobless.’

Tasha felt as though she had an enormous mountain to climb. ‘Resigning seemed like the only option at the time. Now I realise why more people don’t resign on principle. It’s too expensive.’

‘I can’t pull strings to get you a job at the hospital, Tasha. Not at the moment. We’ve spent a fortune opening a new paediatric burns unit. There’s a head-count freeze.’

‘Oh.’ Her stomach swooped and fell as another door slammed shut in her face. ‘No worries. I’ll sort something out.’ She tried to subdue the niggling worry that her last consultant wouldn’t give her a decent reference. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you. I shouldn’t have just shown up here.’ The list of things she shouldn’t have done was growing.

‘I’m glad you did. It’s been too long since I saw you. All you’ve done for the past three years is work. Since things ended with Hugo, in fact.’

Hugo? Shrinking, Tasha wondered why her brother had chosen that particular moment to bring up her disastrous love life. Could the day get any worse? ‘I love my work.’ Why was he looking at her like that? ‘What’s wrong with loving my work?’

‘No need to get defensive. Maybe it’s time to take a break. Rediscover a social life.’

‘Social life? What’s that?’

‘It’s part of work-life balance. You were going to get married once.’

The reminder scraped like sandpaper over sensitive skin. ‘A moment of madness.’ Tasha spoke through her teeth. ‘Do you mind if we don’t talk about it? Just thinking about Hugo makes me want to put my fist through something and at the moment I can’t afford to pay for the damage. Anyway, you’re a fine one to talk. You’re a total workaholic.’ But he’d spent the night with a woman.

Tasha wondered if he’d confide in her, but Josh was flicking through some papers on his desk.

‘How flexible are you?’

‘I can touch my toes and do a back flip.’ Her joke earned her an ironic glance.

‘The job,’ he drawled. ‘How would you feel about a break from paediatrics?’

‘I love paediatrics, but …’ But she was desperate. She needed something. Not just for the money but to stop herself thinking and going slowly mad. She needed to be active. ‘What do you have in mind?’

‘I happen to know a man in desperate need of twenty-four-hour nursing care for the next month or so. He’s asked me to sort something out for him.’

Tasha instinctively recoiled. ‘You want me to give bed baths to some dirty old man who’s going to pinch my bottom?’ She frowned at the laughter in her brother’s eyes. ‘What’s so funny about that? You have a sick sense of humour.’

‘What if I tell you the guy in question happens to be seriously rich.’

‘Who cares?’ Tasha thrust her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, wondering what Josh was finding so funny. Her brother was clearly enjoying a joke at her expense and she felt a flash of irritation that he could laugh when she was in such a mess. ‘What’s the relevance of his financial status? You think I’ll nurse him, he’ll fall in love and marry me, then I’ll kill him off and inherit his millions? When you suggested a job change, I didn’t realise you were talking about a sugar daddy.’

‘He’s too young to be your sugar daddy.’

‘And I’m not interested in marriage. I’m a cold-hearted career-woman, remember? I’m dedicating my life to my patients. So far my longest and most successful relationship has been with my stethoscope.’

‘This guy isn’t interested in marriage either, so you’ll make a good pair. Strictly speaking, he should be in hospital for at least another week but he’s creating hell so they’re happy to discharge him providing he arranges professional help. He needs someone medical to deliver quality care at home and he’s willing to pay premium rates.’ He named a figure that made Tasha’s jaw drop.

‘He obviously has more money than sense. What’s the catch?’

‘The catch is that he’s an athletic, super-fit guy who isn’t used to being stuck in bed. As a result his temper is somewhat volatile and he’s terrifying everyone who comes within a metre of him. But I’m sure you’ll cope with that. I’m guessing it will take you about—oh—five minutes before you point out his shortcomings.’

‘As jobs go it doesn’t sound appealing …’ But it was a job. And it was just for a couple of weeks. ‘I suppose it would give me something to do while I look for a more progressive paediatric department. A place where the patient takes priority over paperwork and protocol.’ Tasha frowned as she weighed up the pros and cons. ‘So basically I have to help Mr Grumpy Guy with his physio, say There, there when he’s cranky, feed him antibiotics and check he’s not weight bearing. Anything else I need to know? Like his name?’

Josh smiled. ‘His name, little sister, is Alessandro Cavalieri.’

Tasha felt the strength drain from her legs. Her heart pounded with a rhythm that would have concerned her had she not been too busy staring at her brother. ‘Alessandro? The Alessandro?’

‘The very same. His Royal Highness.’

She hadn’t thought it was possible for the whole body to blush. Suddenly she was a teenager again and sobbing her heart out. ‘The answer is no.’ The words stumbled out of her mouth, disjointed, shaky. ‘No! And don’t look at me like that.’

‘I thought you’d jump at the chance. You were crazy about him. He was all you ever talked about—Alessandro, Alessandro, Alessandro.’ Josh mimicked her tone and Tasha felt the flush of mortification spread from her neck to her ears.

‘I was seventeen,’ she snapped. ‘It may have escaped your notice but I’ve grown up since then.’ But not enough. Not enough to be cool and detached. Not Alessandro. No, no, no. The humiliation crawled over her skin.

‘I know you’ve grown up. That’s why I’m offering you the job. If you still felt the same way you felt about him back then, you wouldn’t be safe.’ Josh’s eyes teased her. ‘Oh, boy, were you dangerous. Teenage hormones on legs. You threw yourself at him. Being royalty, he travelled everywhere with an armed guard but the person he really needed protection from was you. Every time he turned round, there you were in another minuscule bikini. I seem to remember he told you to come back when you’d grown a chest.’

Tasha relived humiliation and discovered it was no better the second time around. Dying inside, she folded her arms and gave her brother a mocking smile. ‘Laugh it up, why don’t you?’

‘My little sister and the prince. You used to scribble his name all over your school books. I particularly liked the Princess Tasha you carved on the apple tree in the garden, although the heart was a weird shape.’ Josh was clearly enjoying himself hugely and Tasha tapped her foot on the floor, irritated on the outside and squirming on the inside as she remembered those horrible, hideous months.

She’d been a little girl with very big dreams. And when those dreams had burst … ‘Have you quite finished?’

‘For now. Good job you were a late developer or he might have taken you up on your offer. Alessandro has always had a wicked reputation with women.’

And her brother clearly had no idea just how well deserved that reputation was, Tasha thought desperately, trying to block out images she just couldn’t face.

Josh was still smiling. ‘Anyway, he’s been nagging me to find him someone to nurse him but it’s been a nightmare because of the security clearance. And I have to be careful who I give him because if they’re pretty he’ll seduce them.

It’s unbelievably complicated. You have no idea how much red tape we’re trying to cut through. If we wait for the palace to approve someone, the guy will be in hospital for at least six months and that can’t happen because the press are disrupting the place.’

‘Why is security a problem?’

‘He’s the crown prince. Don’t you watch the news? His older brother was killed in an accident. All very tragic.’ Josh rummaged through the papers on his desk and pulled out a newspaper. ‘Here. Your teenage crush is now officially Europe’s most eligible bachelor.’

Tasha snatched the newspaper from him. Her head was filled with unsettling images of Alessandro playing in the garden with her brothers. Alessandro stripped to the waist, a sheen of sweat on his bronzed chest as he kicked a ball into the goal with lethal accuracy. ‘I read about his brother. It was completely awful.’ She tried to imagine bad boy Alessandro as Crown Prince. Nothing about the way he’d treated her had been princely. ‘He was the black sheep of the family.’

‘Alessandro always had a difficult relationship with his parents but he was close to his brother. It’s been hard for him. And he’s now heir to a throne he doesn’t really want. He prefers his freedom.’

Freedom to break hearts all over the world. ‘I can’t imagine Alessandro in a position of responsibility.’ And that was the attraction. Restless, edgy, a danger-seeker. The devil in him had drawn her.

‘He wasn’t given any choice. It’s a matter of succession. He’s the heir, whether he likes it or not. So what do you think? I’d say it’s the perfect job for you.’ Josh was looking pleased with himself. ‘You idolised him.’

‘I did not idolise him. And the last thing I want to do is act as nurse to Alessandro Cavalieri,’ she snapped. ‘He’s arrogant, full of himself …’ Super-bright, scorching hot and sexy as hell.

He’d—and she’d—

Oh, God.

Feeling the blood rush into her cheeks, Tasha turned to look out of the window. She couldn’t face him.

Sexual awareness shot through her, as unexpected as it was unwelcome. The man wasn’t even in the room, she thought angrily, so why did she feel hot all over?

It was just her memory playing tricks.

What you found sexy at seventeen just made you angry at twenty-eight.

This was the man who had destroyed her dreams. He could have treated her kindly and let her down gently, but instead he’d been brutal. Cruel.

She should thank him, Tasha thought numbly. He’d screwed up her confidence and her relationships with men, but he’d done wonders for her career. When she’d finally emerged from under the rubble of her fantasies she’d given up on relationships and focused on her studies. Instead of parties, she’d spent her evenings with books. And her family hadn’t questioned it. Her brothers had just been relieved that wild Tasha had finally settled down to study. They had no idea what had happened that night.

Thank goodness.

Josh would have killed him.

Her brother was idly flicking through correspondence, apparently unaware of her trauma. ‘He was pretty arrogant, I suppose …’ Josh signed a letter. ‘But that was hardly surprising. When we were at university, women couldn’t leave him alone.’

Tasha stood stiff as a board. ‘Really?’

‘You were crazy about him.’ Josh dropped the letter in his in tray. ‘Are you embarrassed to face him again?’

‘No! Of course not! I just—have better things to do with my time, that’s all. I’m a paediatrician. I need a job in paediatrics. I need to think of my CV.’

‘Because it’s just that it occurred to me that you did flirt with him a lot.’

I want it to be you, Alessandro. I want you to be the first.

Tasha felt as though she’d been plunged head first into a furnace. ‘I was a teenage girl. I flirted with everyone.’ Why was she reacting like this when it had happened almost ten years ago? Get over it, Tasha.

But humiliation wasn’t so easily forgotten. Neither was Alessandro, which was crazy because she probably wouldn’t even find him attractive any more. It had just been the whole prince thing and her impressionable, romantic teenage brain.

She knew better now.

Tasha leaned against the wall, forcing herself to breathe slowly. Unfinished business, she thought. He’d walked away and left her wounded. She’d never had the opportunity to defend herself, to tell him how much he’d hurt her.

Anger flashed through her, sharp and bright.

There was no way she could nurse him through a broken ankle. She was more likely to break the other one for him.

Tasha opened her mouth to turn her brother down and then a thought flitted into her brain. Shocked, she shook her head. No. She couldn’t do that. It would be juvenile. Shallow. It would be …

Fun?

Satisfying?

It would teach him a lesson.

‘This nursing job …’ Her lips moved and she heard herself speaking. ‘Does it involve moving in with him?’

‘Yes, of course. He needs someone there day and night for a month or so. Maybe a bit longer.’

Day and night.

That was plenty of time to drive a man out of his mind.

To make him sorry.

She’d show him that he no longer had any effect on her and at the same time she’d finally purge him from her mind. The spectacular man in her head was the product of a teenage fantasy. Living with the reality would cure her of that once and for all. And it would give her a chance to restore her dignity.

Josh put his pen down slowly. ‘You’re thinking about it? A moment ago you were telling me he was arrogant and full of himself.’

‘He was young. He’s probably changed.’ She didn’t believe it for a minute. A man like Alessandro would never change. Looks, wealth and influence were welded together. ‘It would be great to see him again. I’d like to help him.’ Tasha tapped her foot on the floor as she considered the various forms that ‘help’ could take.

‘You’re sure you won’t find it awkward? You were crazy about him.’

‘Awkward? Gosh, no.’ She told herself that whatever awkwardness she was going to feel would be eclipsed by his. And she’d be so dignified and mature about the whole thing, that would make him feel even worse. The plan grew in her head. ‘I have to warn you, I’m not much of a nurse, Josh. I’m good with kids but moaning adults with man-flu drive me up the wall. I just want to tell them to pull themselves together.’

‘It isn’t man-flu. His ankle shattered and so far he’s been back to Theatre four times. On top of that he has a couple of broken ribs and countless bruises.’

‘So you’re saying he’s pretty much helpless?’

Better and better …

‘Completely helpless. That’s why it’s important that we find the right person. He doesn’t want to find himself trapped with someone who doesn’t understand him.’

‘Right. Well, that’s good because I do understand him.’ She understood him perfectly. He was a rich, handsome playboy who treated women like flashy accessories. His idea of permanency was two dates.

‘It’s important that whoever looks after him knows what he needs.’

Tasha looked sympathetic. ‘I know exactly what he needs.’

A wake-up call. A lesson in how to treat women properly. He was used to fawning women treating him with deference. And she needed to finally prove to herself that Alessandro Cavalieri was well and truly in her past. ‘I’m very good at persuading patients to take their medicine, so I think I’m just the woman for the job.’

‘I’m sure you are. You have good instincts and you’re not scared of him. The staff here are intimidated by his status and afraid to tell him what he needs to do. He’s walking all over them.’

‘That can’t be good for his broken ankle,’ Tasha said lightly. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t let him walk over me.’ Not this time. This time she was going to be the one doing the walking.

She looked down at her trainers and wished she was wearing heels.

Josh was watching her. ‘You’re not going to fall for him again, are you?’

Tasha’s laugh was genuine. ‘Absolutely no chance of that.’ She wasn’t that stupid, was she? ‘The only thing on my mind is my next job.’

‘Ok. Good—so you’ll do it? Nag him about his physio and make sure he doesn’t sneak women into his bed when he’s supposed to be resting? Take care of him? That’s great. Why don’t you pop and see him right now? He’s in a private room. I can give you directions.’

Right now?

Tasha’s smile faltered. Her heart trebled its rhythm. No, not right now. She’d just lost her job. Well, not exactly lost it as such—she’d thrown it away. The last thing she needed was to heap on the humiliation. Facing Alessandro took serious preparation. She needed to get her head together. She needed to look her best.

Aware that Josh was looking at her, Tasha breathed slowly and tried to slow her pulse rate. If she said no, her brother would ask questions. And the longer she waited, the more the anticipation would eat into her. And the advantage of doing it right away was that Alessandro wasn’t forewarned. He wasn’t expecting to see her.

Tasha strolled to the mirror in the corner of the office and stared at her reflection. Green eyes stared back at her. Green eyes that showed lack of sleep and stress. Doctor’s eyes.

Apart from the shadows and the obvious exhaustion, she didn’t look that bad, did she?

Mouth too big, she thought. Freckles. Dark hair that twisted and curled over her shoulders. All wrong. As a teenager, she’d been horribly conscious of her gypsy looks. She’d envied the girls with sleek blonde hair and china-blue eyes.

Insecurity crawled through her belly and she glared at her reflection, refusing to allow herself to think like that. At least she had a brain, which was more than could be said for most of Alessandro’s women.

But there was no doubt that there was work to be done before she faced her past. Alessandro Cavalieri spent his time with the most beautiful women in the world. Facing him with confidence required more than an emergency repair job, but it would have to do.

With a sense of purpose, Tasha pulled her make-up case out of her bag.

‘Poor Alessandro.’ She darkened her lashes and added blusher to her cheeks. Not much. Just enough to help the ‘natural’ look. ‘He must be going crazy, stuck in bed. You’re right. What he needs is personal attention.’

And she was going to give him personal attention.

By the time she’d finished with him, a shattered ankle was going to be the least of his worries.

She was going to make him writhe with guilt for crushing her dreams so brutally. It was time he realised that women had feelings.

Josh was watching her in bemusement. ‘Why are you putting on make-up?’

‘Because I care how I look and because I want to look professional.’ Staring into her bag, she selected a subtle gloss lipstick. ‘Last time we met, I was a teenager. That’s how he’s going to remember me. I need to look like an adult—like someone capable of taking care of him.’

‘You look very happy all of a sudden for someone who has just lost their job. A few moments ago I thought you were going to cry.’

‘Me? Cry? Don’t be ridiculous. Don’t worry, Josh. I’ll take good care of your friend.’ Tasha tugged at the clip and her hair tumbled long and loose around her shoulders. Smiling to herself, she gave her head a shake. ‘I’ll take extremely good care of him.’

Alessandro Cavalieri had taken her fragile teenage heart and ground it under his feet.

Payback time, she thought as she added the high-shine gloss to her lips.

It was going to be her pleasure to give him exactly what he deserved.

And maybe, just maybe, once he’d given her a big, fat grovelling apology, she’d be able to put the whole episode behind her.

CHAPTER TWO

‘YOUR Highness, you can’t use your phone in the hospital.’

Alessandro turned frustrated dark eyes onto the nervous nurse, his temper reaching combustion point. ‘Then get me out of hospital,’ he said silkily, and watched as she bit her lip nervously.

‘I’m really sorry but I don’t have the authority to do that. You have an infection, Your Highness, and—’

‘Stop calling me Your Highness.’ The snap of the words was accompanied by a rush of guilt. She was just a kid. It wasn’t her fault that he wanted the rank and title about as much as he wanted a badly smashed ankle and bruised ribs. ‘I apologise,’ he growled. ‘Being stuck in here hasn’t done much for my mood. I’m used to being active.’ And lying in bed gave him too much time to think about things he spent his life trying to forget.

The darkness licked at the edges of his mind threatening to engulf him. With a huge effort of will, he pushed it back.

Not now.

The nurse stood rigid, clearly overawed by her royal patient. ‘The Chief Executive of the hospital called while you were with the consultant and asked me to tell you that he’s increased security so that there’s no repeat of yesterday’s fiasco—he apologised profusely, Your Highness. We have no idea how that journalist managed to climb up the drainpipe to your room.’ She all but curtseyed but this time Alessandro kept his temper on a tight leash. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to be able to behave naturally with him, and he’d encountered that all too often in his life to be surprised. No one behaved naturally with him. Everyone had an agenda.

‘I’m used to journalists climbing drainpipes and crawling through the windows. It’s a fact of life.’ He reached for a glass of water, gritting his teeth against the agonising pain that shot through his body.

‘Let me help you, sir.’

‘I can manage.’ Alessandro growled the words just as his shaking hand deposited most of the water over his chest. He switched to Italian, his native tongue, and swore long and fluently while the flustered nurse quietly removed the glass from his white fingers, refilled it and handed it to him.

She stared at his T-shirt, now clinging to his chest. ‘Do you want me to—?’

‘No. I’m fine.’

Dragging her eyes away from his muscles, the girl swallowed. ‘Your senior adviser called, sir. He wanted you to call him urgently.’

Alessandro leaned his head back against the pillow and suppressed the urge to laugh out loud. That was the one good thing about this mess—his advisers were climbing the walls. The wicked side of him revelled in the chaos his accident had caused. ‘I can’t call him,’ he drawled. ‘You’ve just told me I’m not allowed to use my phone.’

‘There’s a phone by your bed, sir—Your Highness.’

For God’s sake—'You can call me Alessandro. And I think we’ve both just established that I can’t reach anything that’s by my bed.’

‘There were a few other calls, Your Highness.’ She gave him a nervous glance. ‘Five journalists and four—er—women. None of them left their names. And Her Highness Princess Eleanor called when you were in the bathroom. She said not to bother calling her back but she left you a message.’