Dawn just shook her head. “I thought you macho special ops types knew better than to get on the wrong side of a bullet.”
“We do, most of the time. How did you two get here so quickly?”
“Carlo drove us. Carlo and Joe. Carlo had a night flight this evening, so they were just getting ready to head back to the base when Kate called.”
“They’ll be up in a minute,” Callie related. “Joe’s parking the car, and Carlo detoured to speak to your surgeon.”
The prince and his bodyguard arrived within moments of each other. Both were in flight suits, Carlo’s with his velcroed name tag, wings and distinctive patches, Joe’s with no markings at all. The prince repeated Signore Gallo’s assurances that Saint Ursula’s surgical unit was one of the top three in Italy and added that he’d personally verified Dr. Bennati’s credentials.
“She is chairman of the department as well as surgeon in chief,” he informed Travis. “You’re lucky she was in the operating theater when they brought you in. And lucky, too,” he added with a wiggle of his brows, “to have such a beautiful woman cutting on you, yes?”
His chauvinism was as cheerful as it was unabashed, although he attempted a quick recovery.
“But not as beautiful as the so lovely Dawn and Callie and Caterina.”
“It’s getting thick in here,” Dawn commented drily. “And crowded. So these two so lovely ladies will wait in the lounge.”
“It’s a coffee bar,” Callie told Kate. “Shall I bring you a cup?”
“No, I’ll come down in a bit and get some.”
She waited until she was sure Travis was comfortable with his visitors before slipping out to join her friends.
“What’d you do with Tommy?” she asked Dawn between much-needed sips.
“I called Brian right after you called us. He was already at the base but made immediate arrangements for one of the hotel staff to stay with Tom until he got back. He said they’d drive down to Bologna, too.”
Kate wasn’t sure Travis was up to a visit from both father and son. She also wondered what kind of memories of Italy Tommy would take home after so many visits to hospitals.
She needn’t have worried on either count. By the time the Ellises arrived, Travis had improved enough to give a wide-eyed Tommy a much-expunged version of the shooting.
Carlo, thankfully, remained present when the police returned to take Travis’s statement. Callie, Dawn, Joe and the Ellises retreated to the lounge during the process, which Kate guessed was considerably sped up by the prince’s presence. When she tried later to express her appreciation for all Carlo had done, however, the prince merely shrugged.
“No thanks are necessary, Caterina. As I told you, I would be monkey bait were it not for your husband. Joe and I must go now, but we will return tomorrow. Also, I’ve reserved a hotel room for you and Callie, as she tells me she will stay in Bologna with you. And Dawn, if she...”
“Hold on.” Brian strode into the room, trailed by Joe, Callie and Dawn, who had a close hold on Tommy. “I just got a call from our on-site rep. The NATO Evaluation Committee completed their review of the last three sortie results. They agree we’ve exceeded all test parameters. We’ve been green-lighted.”
Carlo whooped and thumped his thigh with a fist. Travis’s reaction was every bit as jubilant, if not quite as physical. Even Joe’s habitually stony face broke into a satisfied grin.
“What does ‘green-lighted’ mean?” Dawn wanted to know.
“It means the mod Carlo and Travis and their crews have been testing did everything we advertised it would and more. EAS will go into full-scale development as soon as I get home.”
“So you’re finished at Aviano?”
“Pretty much.” Brian gave his son’s head a happy knuckle. “We’ll fly back to the States next week, bud.”
“But first we’ll go to Rome ’n’ see the Coliseum, right?”
“Right.
Tommy’s whoop was much louder than the prince’s and brought a nurse scurrying to check out the disturbance. After Carlo explained the situation in fluid Italian, she checked Travis’s monitors and left with a gentle reminder that this was a hospital.
“The test crews will now disperse, as well,” Carlo informed Dawn. “Mine will return to our base at Furbara, outside Rome. You must extend your stay and allow me to show you that most beautiful of all cities. You and Callie, of course.”
“Of course,” Callie murmured with a wry smile, but Dawn’s glance went to Tommy before she answered.
“You’re such a sweetie, Carlo, but I’m not sure what my plans are at this point. How about I contact you when I work them out?”
“Of course.” The prince’s dark eyes turned to Joe. “Our contract was for the duration of this special project, so I suppose you and your team will leave now, too.”
“As soon as we get you back to Furbara and your own security detail takes over,” he confirmed.
Kate couldn’t help wondering why Carlo’s personal security detail needed reactivating but knew better than to ask. The reason was no doubt shrouded by the same veil that had been draped over the rest of their highly classified project.
“Well, then,” the prince proclaimed, “we must get together a last time in Rome. All of us, yes? Assuming Travis is well enough to travel before we go our separate ways.”
“I’ll be well enough.”
* * *
After everyone departed and the hospital had settled into the half-light of night, Kate shook out the sheets and blanket the nursing staff had thoughtfully provided. Frowning, Travis watched her tuck the sheets around the cushions of the reclining chair in the corner of his room.
“I still think you should have taken Carlo up on his offer of a hotel room for you and Callie.”
“No way that was going to happen. Besides, Callie needed to drive back to Venice with Brian and Dawn to pack her things. We’ll talk about a hotel room when she comes back down on the train tomorrow.”
The chair made up, she edged it closer to his bed. Travis looked as though he wanted to continue arguing the point until she kicked off her shoes, curled up on the chair and slid her hand through the bed rails. His fingers twined with hers. For some moments the only sounds were the beep of the monitors and the occasional squeak of rubber soles in the hall.
Kate knew he had to be hurting, but he’d refused anything stronger than a mild painkiller. He’d also insisted the charge nurse use her handy-dandy portable computer to show him his electronic hospital record. He could read and interpret most of the numbers—temperature, pulse and respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, oxygen saturation—but the surgical and postoperative notes required translation.
He rested more easily now, confident the wound wasn’t disabling. She didn’t want to burst his bubble but had to be honest.
“Dr. Bennati said the bullet went through your brachial...um...”
“Brachial plexus.”
“Right. You could have nerve damage.”
“I could. Don’t think so, though.”
She bit back a protest as he raised his injured arm a few cautious inches and lowered it just as carefully.
“Still have some range of motion. That’s a good sign.”
Maybe, but the effort had carved deep grooves at the corners of his mouth.
“Don’t push it, okay? Dr. Bennati ordered a neurological consult. Let the experts do their thing.”
“Nag, nag, nag.”
“Ha! You want nagging, flyboy, you try getting out of bed before the docs and I say you can.”
“I wouldn’t have to, if you’d get in with me.” His teasing grin faded, and he blew out a disgusted breath. “Helluva second honeymoon. I’d intended to do much better by you, Katydid.”
“Are you kidding? Touring Ital
y in a red Ferrari? Gliding through Venetian canals in the moonlight? Curling up next to you in Saint Ursula’s surgical ward? How much better can it get?”
“Oh, hell, the Ferrari. It’s still parked at the bank.”
“No, it’s here. I gave Signore Gallo the keys and he had it delivered to the hospital.”
“Gallo was here?”
“With Maximo. They showed up while you were still in surgery, both really devastated by the shooting. Evidently Signore Gallo’s been trying to help the young thug you took down.”
Kate shared what she knew, starting with the brief encounter with Gabriella in the ladies’ room and ending with her son’s failed attempts at rehab. Travis listened and made the appropriate noises at various points, but Kate could see the sad family tragedy didn’t really engage him. What had, apparently, was Signore Gallo’s interest in her career.
“He’s taken quite a shine to you, Kate. Two meetings in less than a week. An elegant lunch. Putting you up for membership in that international association.” The pillows whooshed air as he rested against them. His head angled, he looked at her through half-closed lids with eyes gone cool. “That should give your career a real boost.”
Kate thought at first the pain had got to him. Just as quickly, she realized the problem wasn’t physical.
Travis had jettisoned his military career for her. Correction, for them. Yet he’d walked out of the Cassa di Molino thinking she might take an appointment that would put her on a different continent at least once a quarter, possibly more often.
“Membership in the International Bankers’ Association could give my career a boost,” she agreed, “if I had any desire to accept it.”
“You sounded pretty hyped about it this afternoon.”
“I was surprised. And flattered,” she admitted. “But as soon as I thought about it, I knew I wouldn’t accept.”
“Yet you told Gallo you’d think about it.”
Whoa! Kate hadn’t realized her starry-eyed reaction to the proposed nomination had cut so deep.
“The only reason I said I’d consider it was that I didn’t want to throw what he considers a great honor back in his face.”
She leaned against the bed rail, her hand still caught in Travis’s.
“In fact, I’ve been thinking maybe I need to cut back on my hours at the World Bank. Now that my husband’s going to be hanging around the house a little more, I want some time with him. And with the baby I think we should start trying to make.”
His lids lifted. The coolness melted, but the question that remained put a hurt in her heart.
“You sure about that, Kate? We’ve got a big change coming in our lives as it is. Think this is the right time to add another variable to the equation?”
“To hell with the equation. I’m done trying to calculate and assess and factor in every possibility in every situation.”
“Good Lord! Did you feel that? I think the tectonic plates just shifted.”
“I’m serious, dammit.”
And she was. She was done with the uncertainty, the annoyance, the sheer stupidity of trying to reduce the unknown to a predetermined set of possibilities.
“No more spreadsheets,” she promised fiercely. “No more eight-page itineraries or long lists of pros and cons. From now on we take every moment as it comes.”
The smile was back, crinkling the tan lines at the corners of his eyes. “Oh, sweetheart, when we make a baby, we’re going to need those spreadsheets and long lists. Especially if we have a Tommy the Terrible.”
“Or a Tomasina the Terrible.”
The prospect seemed to unman him, but he quickly recovered.
“Okay, I’m game. Let’s go for it. But you’d better check and see if there’s a lock on that door first.”
“You idiot. I didn’t mean we have to start working on the baby now.”
“Why not?”
“Travis! You’ve been shot. And you’re hooked up to all those monitors.”
“So we give the nurses a thrill.”
“Absolutely not.” Her eyes misted, and a smile filled her heart. “But when we get you out of this bed, you’re in for one helluva ride, flyboy!”
Chapter Fifteen
Kate, Travis, Callie and Dawn made the trip down from Bologna in comfort and luxury, courtesy of Carlo. Travis had his arm in a sling but had regained as much range of motion as he could manage without pulling stitches. The prognosis was for a full recovery, thank God.
The Ellises came in from Venice later that same afternoon. The prince had arranged accommodations for all of them at a five-star hotel on the Via Veneto, although all parties concerned insisted on paying for their rooms. That first evening they gathered for dinner at an outdoor restaurant highly recommended by the prince.
The following day was their last in Rome, and a surprised Kate was informed that Travis, Dawn and Callie had conspired to set the agenda. None of them would divulge all the details; they just told her to be ready to kick things off at 10:00 a.m. with a girls-only shopping expedition. She was ready as instructed but hated to leave Travis alone on the final day of their Roman holiday.
“Go,” he insisted, his feet stretched out on a plush ottoman and the TV remote in hand. “ESPN is going to rebroadcast the UMass/UConn opening game of the season. I’ll be fine.”
“Fine, my ass,” Dawn huffed. “You won’t blink for the next three hours.”
Which was pretty much what the doctor had ordered, Kate reminded herself. Still, she felt a little let down by his preference for football over a leisurely stroll through the gardens of the Villa Borghese or sitting in the sun on the Spanish Steps with a shared gelato.
“What about the others?” she asked as her friends shepherded her into a cab. “What’s everyone doing today?”
“Brian’s taking Tom to the Coliseum, Carlo’s checking in at Furbara and Joe disappeared to take care of unspecified matters,” Dawn related.
“I thought you wanted to take Tommy to the Coliseum.”
“I did, but decided it would be better for them to have some guy time. I’ll see enough of the kid when we get home.”
“Come again?” Wedged in the cab’s backseat between her two friends, Kate had to angle sideways to gape at a smug, smiling Dawn. “You’re going to do it. Move in with the Ellises?”
“Just until Mrs. Wells is back on her feet.”
“But...what about your job? Your apartment?”
“I emailed my boss and told him I’d be working from a remote location for a while. My apartment...” Her shoulders lifted in a careless shrug. “It’ll still be there when I get back to Boston.”
Kate slewed in the other direction. “Did you know about this?”
“Dawn discussed it with me this morning.”
“And you think it’s a good idea?”
A smile tugged at Callie’s lips. “Better than jetting off to a resort in Marrakech for an indeterminate period, which is what Carlo is pressing her to do.”
“Wow! Talk about choices.”
Kate wanted to probe further, but the cab swerved onto a side street and rattled to a stop. She climbed out, then waited while Dawn paid the driver and Callie compared a handwritten address to that of the tiny boutique squeezed between a drugstore and a flower shop.
“This is the place,” Callie confirmed.
Kate eyed the mannequin in the shop’s narrow window dubiously. Bald and bent into a back-breaking contortion, it was draped in layers of violent color.
“You want to shop here?”
“We do,” Dawn confirmed. “Carlo’s cousin owns the shop.”
“Of course.”
“He says Stefania will have exactly what we’re looking for.”
“I’m not really looking for anything.”
<
br /> “Yes, you are. No way you’re leaving Rome without one Italian designer original. Travis’s orders,” she added sternly when Kate started to protest. “Now come on and let Stefania show us her stuff.”
Despite the tortured mannequin in the window, Stefania’s stuff ran the gamut from ultra sleek to gorgeously soft and feminine. The elegant henna-haired shop owner had obviously been advised to expect them and had a selection waiting, all in Kate’s size and chosen to match her coloring. Callie and Dawn settled into chairs while Kate performed a scene straight from Pretty Woman. Silks, linens, spandex, lace-trimmed leather... She modeled combinations in every color and fabric.
Cups of cappuccino appeared. Biscotti and almond fudge cookies disappeared. Eyes narrowed, Stefania tapped a crimson-tipped nail against her cheek as her assistant adjusted the drape of a feather-trimmed tunic or repositioned a belt to ride lower on her customer’s hips.
An hour later Kate had settled on a cloud-soft white silk dress with spaghetti straps and swirly hem cut on a sharp slant. A wide red leather belt, suitably adjusted to mirror the hem’s angle, cost more than either the dress or the red-and-white polka-dot stilettos that Dawn insisted completed the look.
“Not quite,” Callie said, smiling as she caught one side of Kate’s hair back with a jaunty white fascinator à la the Duchess of Cambridge. “There. Perfect.”
Kate twirled in the three-way mirror and had to agree. “Okay, I’m set. Now it’s your turn.”
“I don’t need anything,” Callie protested.
“Ha! That’s what I said. But need it or not, I intend to buy something for you and Dawn. You’ve helped Travis and me so much these past few days. I...” She had to stop and swallow the lump that formed suddenly in her throat. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Dawn replied a little gruffly. “But if you insist on buying, I’ve been lusting after these wide-legged palazzo pants. And this blouse, Callie, is exactly the same shade of purple as your eyes.”
''I Do''...Take Two! Page 18
