Baby Surprise For The Doctor Prince
“Okay.” He eyed them doubtfully. “How can you make them fit? They are huge.”
“Ah, I have many talents, young man. You just wait. Can you stand up without it hurting too much?”
She helped him from the table and held the pants up to his waist. They draped a good foot and a half onto the floor, and she made a pencil mark. Then she took scissors from the drawer, cut off the bottom half of the legs, then cut into the elastic waistband. Removing a big chunk of fabric, she then stitched it back together as the boy patiently watched.
“Eccoli!” she said, feeling pretty satisfied with her work and her ability to come up with a good Italian word to boot. “Step into them and see if they’ll stay on you now.”
Once he’d pulled them on, he stared down at the pants, then up at her with a big smile. “They are okay! I didn’t think you could. Thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome. Here’s that tube of antibiotic Dr. Affini wants put at the front desk for your dad or your nonna to pick up. Now, let’s go see how he’s doing with your bike.”
She tried hard to ratchet back the way her heart squished as they stepped out to the piazza, trying to shore up her negative feelings about the man currently crouched on the stone pavement. His head was bent over the bicycle wheel as he used some kind of wrench on it. He’d taken off his lab coat, and his necktie was askew and tucked inside the buttons of his shirt. Midmorning sunshine gleamed in his hair, and his eyes were narrowed as he concentrated on his task.
“Can you fix it, Dr. Affini?” Benedetto sounded both worried and hopeful.
“Good...as...new. You’re going to ride like the wind.” One last turn of the wrench, then he stood to pump a little more air into the tire. Obviously pleased, he brushed his hands together, beaming a smile at the boy. “How’s your leg feel?”
“Okay. Thank you so much. I’m going to get the things my nonna wanted, then go straight home.”
“Here are the instructions for your nonna and papà on when to come back, and later, for changing the bandage again and using the antibiotic ointment.” He pulled a folded paper from his pocket, and his eyes met Aubrey’s. “You did put the ointment at the desk?”
“I gave it to Nora after we set him up with new pants.”
“Bene. They—” He stopped short as he looked at the child’s pants, then, after a long pause, laughed out loud.
“What?” she asked, bristling that he obviously thought her sewing job was amusing. Or bad. Or something. “There wasn’t anything that would fit, so I made a bigger pair fit at least a little.”
“I see that. They look very good on you, Benedetto. Very good.” He reached to give the child a quick hug. “Now you go run your errands. Come back tomorrow to let us take another look and change the dressing, and ask your nonna or papà to call me before that if they have questions.”
“Okay. I don’t think Papà will be as mad now that my bike is fixed. Thank you again!”
Aubrey watched the boy mount the bike and ride it slowly and carefully away, and she smiled. “He’s being very cautious now, I see.”
“Not for long, I’m sure.” Enzo’s amused gaze met hers. “Good thing you made the pants fit so the legs wouldn’t get caught in the chain and make him fall again.”
“Yes, good thing. So why were you laughing at my sewing job?”
“I wasn’t laughing at your sewing job. I was laughing because those are—were—my pants.”
Her mouth fell open. “What? They were in the cupboard you told me to look in! With some shorts and T-shirts and...and...” The vision of the neatly folded shorts and manly T-shirts in that cupboard made her voice fade away. Why hadn’t she realized those items were all the same size, when the ones in the other cupboard had been a total mishmash? Heat washed into her face. So much for showing she was indispensable around here. “I’m so sorry. Really sorry. I thought—”
“Aubrey.” He pressed his fingertip to her lips. “It’s fine. Sometimes I run when the clinic’s slow, and I keep clothes here for that. Obviously, they served Benedetto well. Between you and me, his father is very old-school and can be hard on him when he makes mistakes. Not having to show up in bloody, torn pants with a broken bike is a good thing.”
“What about his mother?”
“She died a few years ago.”
Her heart squeezed for the little boy who had lost his mother far too soon. Having her own mother for twenty-seven years hadn’t been nearly long enough. She looked into Enzo’s eyes and could see they’d shadowed with sadness for the boy, too. Probably for the child’s whole family, since he obviously knew them fairly well, and seeing how much he cared melted her heart. Just a little, though. “Poor little thing,” she said softly. “It’s good that you fixed his bike for him, then.”
“And I thank you for making the pants work. We Venetians take care of our own.”
Not being a Venetian, she knew he wasn’t talking about her, but somehow it felt absurdly nice to be included in the thought. Which reminded her how much she wanted to stay here for the next few months, and how Enzo Affini had implied just a bit ago that he didn’t want to work with her in the clinic at all.
“So.” She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. “We were having an important conversation about my job and future here, and you need to know I’m not leaving.”
“No?” His lips quirked at the same time that suspicious frown dipped between his eyes again. “And if the director of the clinic, who would be me, says you have to? That he’ll find you employment somewhere else in Italy?”
“I’ve already worked two months in Rome. And I’ve come to Venice now because this is where I want to be. Didn’t taking care of Benedetto prove we can work together just fine?”
“Aubrey, I cannot promise that I wouldn’t allow myself to be seduced by you again.”
Her mouth fell open. “I didn’t seduce you! I believe it was you who seduced me. And I can promise that it won’t happen again. I don’t even find you attractive anymore.” Which was kind of true. For good reason. And yes, her nose was growing a little, but she’d stick with that half-truth if it killed her.
A slight smile softened the hard lines on his face. “That I know is a lie. Shall we agree that the seduction was on both sides? And that’s the problem, because I can’t have an affair with someone who works at the clinic.”
“Listen. I know we only got together at first that night because you wanted to ask me questions about Shay.” Knowing that hadn’t kept her from jumping into bed with him, though, had it? “It was just a one-night thing. I have zero desire to...to co-seduce you again.”
“And if I can’t say the same thing?”
She wondered if he knew he spoke the words in the same low, sexy rumble he’d used when they’d kissed and made love, and she sucked in a breath as memories of all that shimmered between them. “Then that’s your problem, not mine. Though you clearly didn’t want to anyway, since you never called me in Rome.”
Oh, hell. Did those words really fall out of her mouth? Implying she’d wanted him to, and wondered if he would, and hadn’t liked that he hadn’t? Lord, that was the last thing she’d wanted to admit.
“Aubrey. It wasn’t—”
“Skip it.” She held up her hand, desperate to stop him from giving her some lame excuse he didn’t really mean. “We’ll just have to figure out how to work together. I have no doubt we can act like mere acquaintances and pretend that night never happened.”
“That would be extremely difficult. For me, at least.”
“Uh-huh. And since we’re going to have a professional relationship, please stop with that tone of voice and...and those kinds of comments.”
“I thought you no longer find me attractive, so why is that a problem?”
The way her heart fluttered and her breath caught at his physical beauty and sexiness and utter male appeal, she knew it would be tough going to learn to be immune to it.
“It’s not. Now, I’d appreciate it if you’d give me a tour of the facility, so I’ll know where everything is when a patient arrives, Dr. Affini.” She moved past him to the clinic door and paused there. “Shall we?”
CHAPTER TWO
ENZO STUDIED THE woman standing there by the door, looking expectantly at him. Coolly, her pretty chin tipped up as her eyes challenged him. Those eyes had seduced him the second he’d met her two months ago, at the same time he’d wondered what her story was, and her friend Shay’s, too, who’d shown up in his brother’s life pregnant.
He still had no idea if the two women had an agenda that included snagging two doctors who also happened to be princes, and whose problems with their inheritance had been well-documented in the press. He’d planned to just talk with Aubrey the night they’d spent together, but talking and laughing had led to kissing, then touching, which had led to other, more than pleasurable and memorable things he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about ever since.
But getting involved with a woman—a woman he wasn’t sure he could trust—at the same time he was trying to save his heritage had seemed like a bad idea.
And now here she was, in his clinic, in all her beautiful glory. Stunned would be the only word that could describe how he’d felt when he’d seen her standing there, looking sexier than anyone should be able to look in a nurse’s uniform. How coincidental was it that she’d just happened to be signed up for employment there?
Too coincidental, as far as he was concerned.
“You working somewhere else makes more sense. I’ll make a few phone calls to the hospital and the other clinic. I can’t promise to find you a position there but can also look at Verona or Padua for temporary nursing opportunities.”
“This is ridiculous.” She folded her arms across her chest and stared him down with such laser intensity, a lesser man might have caved right then and there. “You need a nurse here, obviously, or I wouldn’t have been hired. I want the job, I’m qualified for the job, and I’m here now ready to work. Did I do well helping with Benedetto?”
“Yes. But that’s irrelevant to the problem.”
“Are you saying that you’re so chauvinistic and weak around women that you wouldn’t be able to behave professionally around me?”
“What? Of course not.” He couldn’t decide whether to laugh, or be irritated, or both. And admit that their night together had happened because he’d been unable to resist being with her then, so yeah, maybe he was weak. “You’re pretty sassy for a woman who wants her boss to keep her around.”
“And you’re pretty insulting, implying I hunted you down in coming to work here.” She stepped closer and poked her finger into his chest, her eyes flashing blue-gray fire. “I can show you the letter from the UWWHA confirming my employment here, which is dated long before we met. And I’m not going to let a mistake from two months ago keep me from having this job now. So you’re stuck with me, and I’m stuck with you.”
He grasped her hand in his, planning to move her finger from his sternum, but found himself curling it against his chest instead. “A mistake, was it? You didn’t seem to think so that night.”
“That night, I didn’t know what I know now.” She yanked her hand from his. “And neither did you. So we act like adults and work together like adults. Professional relationship, pure and simple. Now, let’s get on with you showing me around here, before more patients show up.”
He felt his lips curve, despite knowing that if he agreed to keep her here, it might well be a disaster waiting to happen. He’d been attracted to her smarts and beauty and sense of humor before. Add to that her spunk and tough attitude?
Irresistible.
Dio. He sighed and stepped around her to open the door. “I have a bad feeling the next few months are going to challenge me at a time I have too many challenges already,” he said. “Lead on, Aubrey Henderson. I’ll show you the ropes if you promise not to hang me with them.”
“I never make promises I’m not sure I can keep,” she said in the sweetest of tones, smiling up at him, her eyes filled with victory, flashes of exasperation, and a touch of the teasing look he’d fallen for before. “But I’ll do my best, Dr. Affini. That I can promise.”
* * *
Several days working at the clinic hadn’t dimmed Aubrey’s enthusiasm for the job, it had made her even more excited about it. Seeing the clinic sign up ahead had her stepping up her pace the same way it had the first day she was there. She was so glad she’d embarked on this adventure, in spite of Enzo Affini’s insulting attitude and the uncomfortable tension between them.
Why in the world had she decided to sleep with him that first night she’d met him? What a mistake that had turned out to be! It was so obvious now that she never should have gotten involved with him, especially since she’d known all along that the main reason he’d offered to show her around Venice was because he’d wanted to pick her brain about Shay.
Except she just hadn’t been able to resist, fool that she was.
Now, though, she was going to concentrate on work and only work. Thank goodness Enzo hadn’t made her go somewhere else, since taking care of mostly tourists was so interesting. In some ways completely different than what she’d done back at home, and in other ways it was exactly the same. And the locals she’d seen so far in the clinic had been a fascinating mix of characters, from charming and sweet to gruff to downright cranky. Though she supposed that would describe all the people in the world—when it came down to it, everyone was much more alike than they were different, weren’t they?
She changed into her crisp white dress and glanced in the locker-room mirror. Caught herself thinking about how surprisingly well it fit and how flattering it was and how Enzo just might think so, too, and why did even her simple uniform make her think about the man? Pathetic. What was wrong with her that she still caught herself feeling doe-eyed over a guy who’d wondered if she was trying to trap him or something?
Cool, professional relationship only. No fighting or kissing allowed. They’d done pretty well with that the past couple days. Surely after a few more it would feel as if their time together before had never happened?
Yeah, right. Whenever they were alone in a room, the low sizzle humming between them was very hard to ignore.
Nora poked her head into the locker room. “I have a British couple here to see the doctor. A Mr. and Mrs. Conway. You want to get started with them first?”
“Of course.” She ushered the middle-aged couple to one of the exam rooms. “Hello, I’m Aubrey Henderson, the nurse on staff today. Can you tell me what you’re here for?”
“I’ve been pecked by a bird,” the woman exclaimed. “By an awful dirty bird, and it hurts!”
“All right. Let’s have a look.” Aubrey was about to shut the door for privacy when Enzo appeared, filling the doorway with his big, irritating, masculine presence.
“Mind if I stay?” he asked. His face was impassive, but she could see a glint of amusement in the depths of his dark eyes at the woman’s dramatic statement. “I need to evaluate how our American nurse is doing.”
“Of course,” Aubrey said before the patient could answer. And was that what he really wanted, or was he there to just rattle her again, knowing this was probably not a serious situation? “This is Dr. Affini.”
“I’d like to see what the doctor thinks about this!” the woman exclaimed. “I’ve probably got some disgusting disease.”
“Mrs. Conway, why don’t you sit on the table here and show me where it hurts? Sir, you can sit in one of these chairs.”
“Right on the top of my head, that’s where it hurts! Bleeding, too.” She held up a tissue with some specks of blood on it, waving it first at Aubrey, then Enzo. “What if I’ve been exposed to some terrible bird infection?”
Aubrey donned gloves and gently pushed the woman’s hair aside to find a small, reddened indentation. “I can see this probably hurts. But I don’t think it’s too serious. Let me get some antiseptic to clean it with.”
“Not too serious? You’ll change your mind when I tell you the story.” The woman sat straighter and waved her hands. “I’m minding my own business on a park bench in that big main square where the basilica is. Pigeons were walking around, and I pulled a little treat from my purse to give to one. Then this great, giant black bird dive-bombs me from the sky and grabs the treat from the pigeon!”
Aubrey pulled the cotton and antiseptic from the cupboard, and, when she turned, saw Enzo’s eyes dancing and his lips obviously working to not smile at the dramatic recitation. Feeling her own mouth dangerously quiver, she quickly turned back to her patient to keep from looking at him. “And then? How did your head get pecked?”
“So I pull another treat from my purse, and the nasty black bird takes it, drops it, then scares me to death when he suddenly flies up, flapping his great wings in my face as he does. Lands there, right on my head! I shrieked, of course, and jumped up, and it pecked me. Hard! Why, I’m lucky it wasn’t my eye he put out.”
Aubrey glanced at Enzo. Fatal mistake, as his expression clearly showed he wanted to laugh, and a chuckle bubbled in her own chest when she saw how he was struggling.
Turn away. Do. Not. Look. At. Him.
She quickly turned to the woman’s husband, who appeared more weary than worried. “Did you see what kind of bird it was?”
“Some black bird. Don’t know what kind, I’m not a birdman. Especially Italian birds. Medium sized. Yellow beak, I think.” He turned to his wife. “You brought it on yourself, you know. Who gives a pigeon mints to eat? The bird that pecked you was probably so shocked and ticked off, it felt it had a right to attack.”
“Well, I never!” The woman looked beyond insulted as she flung her hand toward her husband. “And this is the kind of support I get after giving him thirty years of my life!”
Oh, Lord. Aubrey held her breath. Dang it, she would have been fine if not for Enzo’s unholy grin. She would.
“I...I think I’ve cleaned it well, Mrs. Conway,” she said.
“What do you think, Doctor? Don’t you think I may get some nasty infection or disease? A filthy bird in a filthy square full of filthy people is bound to have given me something awful. Don’t I need an antibiotic or something?”
Aubrey was impressed at how carefully he looked at the tiny wound, since he knew as well as she did that it was nothing. “Nurse Henderson has done a good job of cleaning it, Mrs. Conway. I’m sure you’ll be fine, but if you have any problems with it, be sure to stop back and we’ll take another look.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow anyway. Thank heavens for that. And what a waste of time to come here for help.” Looking miffed and completely unsatisfied, she slid off the table, and Aubrey led her back out to the lobby, making sure to not look at Enzo as they passed. The woman’s parting words before she walked out the door had Aubrey holding her breath hard again when she went back to the room to be sure it was clean for the next patient.
Enzo appeared again in the doorway. “Ah, she’s the kind of patient that makes this job worthwhile. A pick-me-up from the more serious stuff we deal with, don’t you think?”
Aubrey couldn’t hold it in another second, and she pressed her hands against her mouth to subdue the laugh that spilled out. “That’s for sure. You know what she said when she left?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “What?”
“She said, ‘What does that doctor know about birds? He’s obviously a quack.’”
His sexy laughter joined hers, and she quickly pulled him into the room and shut the door behind them. “Shh! They might have come back for something! What if they hear us?”
“Hear us what?”
She looked up into his eyes, still filled with mirth, but something else, too. That dangerous glint that made her heart flutter and her skin tingle.
She drew in a deep breath. “What is it with you? One minute you’re unpleasant, and the next you’re throwing out sexual innuendos. Didn’t we agree we had to be professional with one another? I think I’m holding up my end here.”
“I also said I didn’t think we should work together because I knew I’d have problems with that.”
Oh, my gosh. Why did he keep saying things he shouldn’t in that deep, rumbly voice that sent a warm flush across her skin, reminding her of their first day and night together?
“Enzo.” After his name, words seemed to dry up on her tongue and she just stared at him.
“Yes?” He took a step closer. He smelled wonderful, and his body heat seemed to envelop her. He obviously knew what unwelcome thoughts had suddenly crowded her brain, because his gaze settled on her lips.
Which parted involuntarily, and her own small movement toward him that brought her nearly against his chest was completely involuntary, too, and when his arms wrapped around her and his head lowered toward hers all protest and common sense left her mind as her eyes drifted closed in breathless anticipation.
“Dr. Affini? Aubrey?”
Her eyes snapped open to see his, dark and dangerous and full of heat, staring right back at her. Time seemed to halt for several heartbeats until they both managed to gather their wits at the same time. She stepped back as he let her go, his chest lifting in a deep breath.
“Saved by Nora.” He stared at her for one more second before turning to open the door.
She watched him disappear into the hallway, and the air she’d been holding in her lungs whooshed out. She was in so much trouble here. No matter how many times she remembered his suspicions, no matter how often she reminded herself they had to keep a professional distance, she just kept forgetting.
And it clearly wasn’t her imagination that he kept forgetting, too.
CHAPTER THREE
ENZO WAS MORE than glad the Restore Venice Association meeting was about to start. That people were finally wandering off to find seats instead of asking him endless questions about the house that was no longer his, talking about how it was going to be ruined if he didn’t get it back, and grilling him on what he was going to do to save it.
He sat toward the back of the room, resisting the urge to slouch in his seat to become semi-invisible. And yes, that probably made him a coward. But since he had no real answers yet, having endless conversations about the house that represented the past seven hundred years of his mother’s family history, and his own, and how he had to keep it from going under the wrecking ball, made his gut churn.
He pulled the program from the pocket of his jacket and just as he was about to look at the meeting schedule, a flash of something bright blue or green in the aisle near him caught his eye. He looked up to see that the flash of color was a dress on what looked to be a very attractive body, at least from the back. The fabric skimmed the curves of a sexy feminine derriere that swayed slightly as she walked.
Who was she? He knew most of the people who attended these meetings and definitely would have remembered that body. The woman turned her head to smile at the person standing to let her sit next to him, and Enzo’s lungs froze in his chest.
Aubrey.
What the hell was she doing here?
Her silky golden-brown hair skimmed her cheek as she sat, and a slender hand shoved it behind one ear as she dug into her purse for something, coming up with the same program he held in his hand.
He and Aubrey had managed to work together without fighting, or, worse, kissing, if he didn’t count that one near miss yesterday. But now the suspicions about her that had stayed on a low simmer—along with the sexual attraction between them—came bubbling into full boil. First she showed up at his clinic to work, and now she’d decided to come to an art and architecture meeting attended only by Venetians and academics from universities in other countries?
Tourists never came. Neither did many Italians from other areas, because they had their own preservation concerns. And yet here she was, and how was he to believe it was about anything other than her ingratiating herself into his life even more? Doubtless knowing all about his family’s problems and the house he loved that she happened to be currently living in.