The Italian Surgeon

by Meredith Webber

  ‘Then could you now focus on food,’ he suggested. ‘I know I had a good lunch, but my stomach is thinking seriously of dinner.’

  Keep it light, Luca’s head warned, and he smiled at her.

  ‘If we’re to check out if it worries you that people think there is something going on, what better way to get started than to eat together? We can talk about the papers or computer program we will prepare. Besides, when Kurt left he said he was going to visit some friends, so he’ll not be waiting for you at home.’

  He paused, then, sensing hesitation, pressed on.

  ‘Think of it as colleagues sharing a work-related meal.’

  She looked startled and he realised he’d kept it too light.

  ‘Is that all you want us to be? Colleagues?’

  His heart seized with something that felt very like panic, then he saw the little smile playing on her lips and was able to breathe again. But he still took a few seconds to slow his pulse before answering.

  ‘No, it is not,’ he said, and he leaned towards her and kissed her on the lips. ‘And you know that very well, my lovely Rachel. But I have promised not to rush you.’

  Was one more very gentle kiss rushing things?

  Perhaps not for she kissed him back, tentatively at first, but soon her lips firmed as if they wanted to take equal responsibility for the pleasure they were sharing.

  Then she drew away.

  ‘It’s about trust,’ she said, and he’d learned enough about her to know what she meant.

  ‘I can understand trust is hard for you when your first husband left you the way he did,’ Luca said. ‘But it’s also about attraction, surely. The attraction is there for both of us—a strong attraction, Rachel. Can we not just follow our instincts with it and see where they lead us?’

  ‘Straight to bed,’ she teased, smiling at him, though her eyes were still wary. ‘But then what happens? In four weeks’ time you fly back to Italy and that’s it?’

  She smoothed her fingers across his jaw-line, a tentative exploration, then tried to explain.

  ‘I know I can’t expect commitment—who could in such a short time?—but…’

  ‘But you are afraid you will be hurt again.’

  Luca put his arms around her and drew her close, kissing her cheek, her temple, pressing his lips against her forehead.

  ‘Believe me when I say I wouldn’t hurt you for the world. Trust me on that, Rachel. If, in four weeks’ time, our relationship has developed to the stage where we believe it has a future, that will be a cause for happiness, not pain. And if it hasn’t developed that way, then there’d be no pain.’

  She drew away, studied him for a moment, then this time she initiated the kiss, whispering, ‘I guess not,’ as her lips closed on his.

  ‘Uncomfortable,’ she said at last, drawing away from him again. ‘Not an ideal kissing position, sitting side by side on office chairs.’

  ‘I can think of an ideal position back at my place,’ Luca said, pushing her hair back from her face and tucking stray bits of it behind her ears so he could better see her clear skin and fine features.

  ‘I can guess where,’ she said, smiling as she touched a finger to his lips. ‘But I think you mentioned being hungry. Perhaps we should eat first and discuss positions afterwards.’

  Excitement pulsed through Luca’s blood, certain of the promise in Rachel’s words.

  ‘Let me take you somewhere special,’ he said. ‘You have been in Sydney for, what, five months? You must know the best places where we can have a sumptuous meal.’

  Her smile slipped a little, and she shook her head.

  ‘I don’t need fancy courting, Luca,’ she said. ‘And I’m not much good in “the best” restaurants.’ She used her fingers to make inverted commas. ‘I like the local places, where I feel at home.’

  He understood what she was saying, but not why it made her look sad. He wanted to ask, but one thing he’d learned about Rachel was that if he asked, she’d probably tell him, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

  ‘We shall go to the Italian place again?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Half the team will be there, and the other half will probably be at the Thai place on the other side of the park. But there’s a Spanish restaurant not far down the road from where we live. It’s further from the hospital so the others haven’t discovered it—or maybe they don’t like Spanish food. Kurt and I go there sometimes—or I go on my own if he’s busy. It’s run by a lovely family—they make you feel as if you’re a guest in their house, rather than someone visiting a restaurant.’

  An anxious look, then she added, ‘Do you like Spanish food?’

  ‘I love it,’ Luca assured her. ‘We shall go there, then after eating we can walk back to our temporary homes.’

  He stood up, and held her chair while she, too, stood, then, because she was so close he touched her, and they kissed again. But this time, their bodies touching, the kiss grew more impassioned. Luca drew her even closer, fitting her soft, slim litheness hard against his body, knowing she’d feel his arousal—wondering how she might react.

  With encouraging fervour, he realised, and, as lust banished hunger from his mind, the practical Italian he claimed he was wondered what there was to eat in his refrigerator.

  Nothing Spanish, that’s for sure.

  ‘You’re buzzing.’

  The words, whispered against his lips, were, coming from Rachel, totally unexpected, but he met the challenge.

  ‘In every cell,’ he told her, smiling as he kissed her once again.

  Rachel chuckled but drew away from him.

  ‘Not your body, your pager. It’s in your pocket. I could feel it vibrating.’

  ‘ Dio! I should have turned it off.’

  His fingers fumbled as he dragged the demanding little machine from his pocket.

  ‘Could you do that?’ Rachel asked. ‘Turn it off?’

  He looked at her and hesitated, then went for the truth, though he’d lost one woman from his life by his commitment to his job and his refusal to be out of touch with his workplace.

  ‘No. I never have been able to,’ he admitted, and was relieved to see her smile.

  ‘I can’t either,’ she said, ‘and I can hear mine buzzing in my handbag.’

  Luca was already dialling the number when Rachel looked at her own pager and confirmed it was Alex wanting them.

  ‘Hospital, a.s.a.p.,’ he said when he answered. ‘The Archers have changed their minds but they want the op done now. Mr Archer spoke to me. He says his wife can’t stand the strain of waiting any longer, and if we leave it until tomorrow, Bobbie would have to go into the queue after the other operations.’

  ‘I understand,’ Luca told him. ‘Rachel and I are still at the hospital. I’ll get her something to eat while she prepares the theatre and we’ll both be ready when you wish to start.’

  ‘Good. Maggie’s on her way to do the pre-op stuff so she’ll be there before too long. I have to round up Kurt and some theatre staff. See you shortly.’

  ‘You’ll get me some food?’ Rachel said.

  ‘You are surprised I would do that? Because I’m practical, or that I care enough to make sure you have something to eat before you have to stand in Theatre for many hours?’

  Her soft chuckle rippled in the air between them.

  ‘Both, I guess. I’m not used to someone looking after me. Apart from Kurt, and though he cooks because he loves it, he’d go without food for days if he was thinking of other things.’

  Luca looked pleased with her answer, and as Rachel followed him out of the room, she sensed their relationship had shifted more in that small interchange than it had in the heated kisses they’d exchanged.

  Relationship? Where had that word come from? OK, she was coming to terms with the attraction, but relationships were a whole other ball game…

  And the conversation they’d had earlier—when he’d asked her where they should eat—had
reminded her of the huge gap between their lives.

  No, for all Luca’s talk of trust there was no way whatever happened between them could be anything but a brief affair.

  She walked into the theatre, turning on lights, her mind switching from personal matters to work, but, in spite of her common-sense reading of the situation, there was a warm fuzzy feeling inside her that she hadn’t felt for a long time. As if the ice around her heart might finally be melting.

  Now, that was a dangerous thought.

  ‘Work!’ she told herself, and set about checking the preparations that had been done earlier, and not disturbed because much the same things would have been needed for their morning list.

  Blood. Maggie would see to that. Fluids, drugs, spare drapes, spare swabs…

  CHAPTER SIX

  ‘I JUST love working with you guys.’ Ned had arrived. ‘Halfway through a delicate negotiation with a chick from A and E, and the pager buzzes. It’s enough to give a man a heart attack, and I think, well, all’s lost now with this woman, but, no, she thinks I’m just the greatest—having a pager and being on call for paediatric heart surgery. I tell you, Rachel, I’ve gone up so far in her estimation, it’ll be straight to bed next date.’

  ‘Men!’ Rachel said. ‘You shouldn’t talk like that—not about any woman.’

  ‘Hey, I was joking. I’ve been taking Katie out for ages now, and we were cooking dinner, not really having sex.’

  ‘Who was not having sex?’

  Luca came in at the exact moment Rachel was wondering if she’d scolded Ned because her own passionate kiss-fest had been interrupted.

  ‘None of us tonight,’ Ned said gloomily. ‘I don’t know about you, Rachel, but I come out of these operations seriously whacked.’

  ‘It’s the emotional strain on top of physical tiredness,’ Rachel told him, in softer tones. ‘Much as we try to pretend it isn’t a tiny infant on the operating table, we can’t entirely divorce ourselves from the facts. And it’s human nature that babies and children grab our hearts in ways older people don’t.’

  ‘Because they are so helpless,’ Luca said, then he changed the subject. ‘I brought a meal for you. It is in the lounge. Will you have coffee?’

  Rachel glanced around the theatre, checking again that all was in readiness.

  ‘Yes, please,’ she said, then crossed to check the trolley that held spares of everything the surgeons could possibly need.

  ‘That’s pretty nice, a doctor getting food for a theatre nurse,’ Ned said. ‘The guy sweet on you?’

  Sweet on me, or looking for a pleasant sexual liaison for the four weeks he’s in Sydney? For all Luca’s talk of trust, Rachel still didn’t know, but the big problem was that she wasn’t sure she cared…

  In fact, an affair without emotional entanglements might be just what she needed to finally get over Jake and his defection.

  With an affair, there’d be no need to worry about the future—no question of having children…

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she said to Ned, but he’d obviously decided she wasn’t going to answer and had left the theatre.

  She followed him out, but to the lounge not the changing rooms. Luca was right—she needed something to eat before the operation started. During lengthy daytime ops, they always had extra staff on hand to take over so the main staff could take a coffee-break, but not tonight. Tonight the team was on its own.

  ‘It’s not Spanish food, but I hope it will be good,’ Luca said, putting a steaming cup of coffee beside the plate of food. He looked anxiously at Rachel then added, ‘I can’t stay and talk while you eat. Alex has asked me to do the opening with Scott so I’d better change.’

  ‘You’re excused, then,’ Rachel joked, but she wasn’t sure she should be joking, for his face, as he walked away, was very serious. It had been an odd thing for Luca to do. Mind you, it had been odd for a man to even think of getting a meal for her, but to apologise for not sitting with her while she ate?

  Maybe it was Italian politeness—not letting someone eat alone.

  Once again she felt the gulf that stretched between them—not only the difference in their financial status she’d felt earlier when he’d talked of fancy restaurants, but the cultural differences between them.

  Though that shouldn’t matter. Not if all that happened between them was a pleasurable affair.

  Now she felt unaccountably serious…

  Bobbie Archer came through the op like a little champ. So often, when Alex switched a baby from the pump to fending for itself, there was a time when the heart had to be operated manually, either the surgeon’s or Rachel’s fingers squeezing it gently to simulate its normal action and remind the little organ what it was supposed to do. But this time, while the team held their collective breath, the heart began to pump immediately and a cheer went up from the tired men and women who were present in the quiet theatre.

  ‘He’ll do well,’ Luca said, as he, Kurt and Rachel walked home together a little later. Phil and Maggie would remain at the hospital overnight, but all the signs were good, and there was a feeling of contentment among the medical staff who had worked to save Bobbie’s life.

  ‘He will,’ Kurt agreed, ‘but in such a short time he’ll need another op then, in a couple of years, the third. It must put a tremendous strain on the family, to be getting him better, then having to see him go downhill again with each op.’

  ‘I would like to help those parents,’ Luca said. ‘Do they get help from the government? From church organisations? I know their worry was the cost to the other members of their family—do they have in Australia financial support for people like the Archers?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Rachel said. ‘I know there are support groups similar to the ones we have in the States, but I’ve never enquired about financial support.’

  ‘We should look into it,’ Luca said, and again she felt the warmth she’d experienced earlier, as if Luca including her in this project was special in some way.

  ‘But you can’t help all the families who are financially strapped,’ Kurt pointed out. ‘No one person could.’

  ‘No,’ Luca agreed, ‘but do you ever read the stock-market reports? Which companies are among those making the most profits? Pharmaceutical companies, that’s who. We use their products, we help make them their huge profits, so why should they not give back more to the patients we serve?’

  ‘I think most of them donate to research,’ Rachel suggested, although she wasn’t entirely sure.

  Luca gave a snort of derision.

  ‘And take the money back as contributions to their own research scientists in some cases. But you are right, they do give in some areas. What we need is to wheedle some money out of them to go into a fund to provide financial support where it is needed.’

  He nodded decisively and Rachel realised he was no longer thinking of the Archers.

  Something he confirmed when he said, ‘I must see if I can set it up in conjunction with my own clinic.’

  My own clinic? The guy owned a clinic? And as he was into hearts, then it would undoubtedly do cardiac surgery—the highest income-earner for hospitals in the US.

  No wonder Alex knew the man was wealthy.

  Again the difference in their status struck home and Rachel was glad Kurt was with them. In spite of the physical attraction between them—or perhaps because of it—she needed to think things through a bit more thoroughly before getting deeper into a relationship with Luca.

  What if she fell in love with him?

  Truly and deeply in love?

  It was one more thing to worry about on top of her unwillingness to get involved because of the past…

  She’d known from other things he’d said that he was from a different world to hers—different in more ways than language and culture—and while Cinderella had married her prince, Rachel doubted her foot would fit Luca’s glass slipper.

  They had reached the building where she and Kurt lived, and she echoed Kurt’s goodnight, p
utting out her hand to shake Luca’s. In the glow cast by the streetlight she saw his disappointment, but he took her hand, shook it politely and added his own goodnight.

  ‘I thought you guys had advanced at least as far as goodnight kisses,’ Kurt said as Luca walked away. ‘I was going to do a “vanishing quickly into the building” act so you’d have some privacy.’

  ‘Don’t bother on my account,’ Rachel snapped at him, though Kurt wasn’t to blame for the situation.

  He must have sensed her mood, for he put his arm around her as they climbed the stairs to the third floor.

  ‘Love’s a bitch, isn’t it?’ he said gently, and Rachel nodded.

  ‘Not that I’m in love with him,’ she hurried to point out.

  ‘Yet!’ Kurt said, echoing her own unhappy thoughts. ‘Tell me at least you’re attracted to him. How could you not be? He’s a seriously attractive man.’

  ‘And a seriously wealthy one. He owns a clinic! And from the way he spoke, that’s the equivalent of a small, private, specialist hospital back home. You know how much money those places make. And to set it up would have cost a bomb!’

  They reached their landing and Kurt unlocked the door of their flat.

  ‘Can’t see yourself in the role of Cinderella?’ he teased, though his eyes were full of sympathetic understanding.

  ‘With these feet?’ Rachel said, lifting one of her normally sized feet for his inspection.

  ‘Maybe glass slippers come in larger sizes,’ Kurt suggested, heading for the kitchen to fill the kettle.

  ‘Then the ugly stepsisters would have fitted their feet in,’ Rachel reminded him, then she said no to his offer of a coffee, wished him goodnight and headed for bed. It had been a long and stressful day, made more stressful, not less, by what had been, until recently, a peaceful walk home.

  Bobbie Archie continued to do well. Rachel knew this from personal experience, as she’d been drawn, for the first time in years, to the PICU so she could see the baby for herself. Her visits there became so regular Mrs Archer now treated her as a friend, showing her photos of her other children and chatting on about them.