by Sarah Morgan
‘Don’t say that.’ She sounded shocked and then her forehead creased into a tiny frown. ‘The other night when we were talking—you said it was your fault …’
Had he said that to her? ‘Forget it.’
‘But—’
‘If you want to help me, you can fetch that big fat file from the table in the living room.’ Alessandro gave a humourless laugh. ‘I have to go through it and pick out which duties I’m up to performing. I need to kiss some babies in public.’
And he needed to finally announce his engagement.
‘Kiss babies? Sounds like a recipe for disease transmission to me. I’ll warn infection control. Now, lie back and let me take a look at your ribs to see how quickly you’re healing. It will give me some idea of what you’re capable of doing. It’s no good opening a hospital and then finding yourself as a patient.’
Remembering what had happened the last time she’d touched him, Alessandro’s eyes narrowed warily. ‘No need. I’m fine.’
‘I’m the one who’s going to tell you if you’re fine.’ She pushed him back with the palm of her hand. ‘And wipe that look off your face. I’m in doctor mode. I don’t think about sex when I’m in doctor mode. And, anyway, I told you I’m not interested.’ Ignoring his protests, she unbuttoned his shirt with brisk fingers. The fact that there was nothing lover-like about her expression did nothing to lessen his libido.
‘What about the patient?’ Alessandro gritted his teeth. ‘What if the patient starts thinking about sex?’
‘That would be seriously perverted. After all, I’m hurting you. The bruising is better.’ Frowning, she trailed her fingers lightly over his chest. ‘Does this hurt?’
‘It depends which part of me you’re asking about.’
‘Don’t be disgusting. This is why I chose to be a children’s doctor.’ But her voice was mild as she slid her fingers up to his shoulders and pressed. ‘Does this hurt?’
‘If I say yes, will you stop?’
‘It obviously doesn’t hurt as much as before because you’re not doing that clenched-teeth thing. I think you’re definitely on the mend.’
‘Good, then can we—?’
‘I just want to listen to your breath sounds.’ She’d left her stethoscope on the table by his bed and as she reached for it her hair tumbled forward, brushing over his arm. ‘I’m just going to—’
‘So am I.’ Driven past the point of control, Alessandro cupped her face in his hands and brought her mouth down on his. Her lips opened under his and he tasted shock mingled with sweetness. For a moment he thought she was going to pull away, but as his tongue slid against hers he felt her moan and tighten her grip on his shoulders. There was a delicious inevitability to the kiss that simply added to the excitement. It was the culmination of the tension and anticipation that had been building between them since the morning she’d walked into his hospital room.
Apparently forgetting all her protests about not wanting him to touch her, Tasha ripped at his shirt, hesitating as he gave a grunt of pain when her fingers made contact with bruised flesh. ‘Sorry …’ She panted the word against his mouth and pulled back but he grabbed her, his fingers hard on her arms.
‘Don’t stop. For God’s sake, don’t stop,’ he groaned, his mind at war with his senses. ‘Do you want to stop? You didn’t want to do this—’
‘Changed my mind—’ Their mouths clashed, the kiss exciting and erotic, and he rolled her onto her back and then swore fluently as pain overtook him.
‘This is—’
‘A challenge. I have a better idea.’ Desperate, she pushed him back gently and straddled him, her hair falling forward, brushing his bare chest. Her eyes were like dark, dangerous pools. ‘I’m the one in charge. If I hurt you, tell me.’
‘I think that’s supposed to be my line.’ Alessandro pulled her head down to his and took her mouth with explicit intent, tasting sweetness and a desperation that matched his.
‘God, you’re beautiful.’ He groaned the words against her lips. ‘How did I keep my hands off you all those years ago?’
‘You didn’t.’ Frantic, she tore at his clothes and he tore at hers until only flimsy underwear separated them.
Panting, breathless, they kissed like two crazy people. They were so wrapped up in each other that they were oblivious to anything but the heat they were creating. Which was why they didn’t hear the sound in the distance.
‘Tasha? Alessandro? Anyone there?’ Josh’s voice came from the living room of the house and Tasha froze as if she’d been shot. Her eyes flew open and she dragged her mouth from the seductive pressure of his.
‘Ohmigod!’
‘Oops.’ Hiding his frustration, Alessandro gave her a crooked smile and stroked her hair back from her face. ‘It’s your brother. That’s not great timing. You might want to put your clothes on, tesoro. I don’t want him to see you naked.’
CHAPTER SIX
‘THIS is all your fault! I told you not to kiss me.’ Tasha yanked her top back over her head and freed her hair. ‘Stay there. You’re not safe to be around. I was in doctor mode. How the hell did we end up naked?’
‘Because the chemistry doesn’t go away just because you’re clutching a stethoscope. I want you, Tasha. Make no mistake about that.’ His smooth, possessive declaration stopped her breathing. For an injured man he was far too threatening.
‘I …’ confused, she tumbled off the bed, grabbing her clothes. Glancing briefly at him, she collided with dark, burning eyes and felt her insides melt. ‘No.’ It was both a plea and a protest. ‘Just—no.’
She’d promised herself that she wasn’t going to do this. That she wasn’t going to fall under his spell again.
She was a career-woman. She had a five-year plan and it didn’t include falling for a wicked, sexy prince. She’d had herself under control. She’d been doing really well.
Until he’d kissed her …
‘Damn you, Sandro. I need to get dressed before he comes looking for us.’ Her face burning, Tasha grabbed the rest of her clothes, desperately conscious of those coal-black eyes following her every move. The heat was still in the room, simmering between them like a blast from the sun.
If he was bothered by the fact that her brother was in his house, he didn’t show it. But Alessandro wasn’t the sort to run from anything, she knew that. In fact, that was part of the problem. He had too much of the devil in him.
And that devil had drawn her just as it had when she was a teenager.
In her haste to drag on her clothes, Tasha couldn’t untangle her jeans and they were halfway up her legs when her brother tapped on the door and opened it.
Tasha gave a whimper of horror. She didn’t know which was worse—her brother seeing her semi-naked, or her brother seeing her semi-naked with Alessandro.
‘Hey, you guys—I thought I’d drop by and see if you’ve killed each other yet …’ His voice faded as he saw them and for a moment Tasha stared like a rabbit at oncoming headlights.
Oh, dear …
‘Hi, Josh.’ Hands shaking, she finally managed to zip her jeans. She felt as mortified as she had when Josh had caught her kissing the captain of the football team when she was sixteen. ‘We weren’t expecting you.’ She tried to sound casual, as if dressing in Alessandro’s room was an everyday occurrence. With any luck Josh would decide to turn a blind eye.
But one look at the flat, disapproving line of her brother’s mouth told her this wasn’t going to be her lucky day.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ Josh’s voice was tight and the shock in his eyes turned dark as approaching storm clouds as he turned his gaze on Alessandro, who stared right back at him.
‘Seducing your sister. If you have a problem with that, take it out on me, not her.’
‘You—’ Josh was across the room in a flash and Tasha hastily planted herself in front of Alessandro.
‘No!’ Her legs were shaking and she was mortified at being caught kissing, but most of all she was mortified t
hat she’d been kissing Alessandro in the first place.
That definitely hadn’t been part of the master plan.
‘Josh, calm down! It’s nothing to get into a sweat over.’ Actually, it was, but the sweating was going to have to wait for another time because at the moment her brother looked dangerous and she felt a twinge of real fear.
‘Calm down? Calm down?’ Josh closed his hands over her arms and moved her bodily to one side, his voice thick with anger as he confronted his friend. ‘I arrange for my sister to nurse you and this is how you repay me?’
Tasha bristled. ‘Excuse me! I do have a mind of my own, you know. You might have been the one who suggested it, but—’
‘Shut up, Tasha.’ Josh growled the words. ‘This isn’t your business.’
Alessandro shifted his leg. ‘It certainly isn’t yours, my friend.’
He should have looked vulnerable, but he didn’t. In fact, somehow he managed to look physically intimidating, even with broken bones and bruised ribs, Tasha thought absently. She wondered whether his natural air of command was something to do with being royalty or whether it was just the man.
Warrior Prince.
Josh was red in the face. ‘It has everything to do with me. She’s my sister!’
Tasha opened her mouth to protest again and realised that neither man was taking any notice of her.
Their eyes were fixed on each other in full combat mode. Alessandro stared Josh straight in the eye, the challenge blatant. ‘And this time she’s way above the age of consent. I repeat—it has nothing to do with you.’
This time? Tasha frowned at that remark but she didn’t have time to dwell on it because the two men were squaring up for a fight.
Josh stepped forward, his expression ugly, his hands clenched. ‘And that’s all it takes for you, is it? She’s old enough so that makes it OK? Well, I’ve got news for you, Alessandro, it doesn’t make it OK. And she’s leaving here right now.’ Without turning his head, Josh pointed his finger at the door. ‘Pack your bags, Tasha.’
Tasha raised her eyebrows, assuming he was joking. When she realised he wasn’t, she put her hands on her hips and threw her head back. ‘I will not pack my bags! Are you deranged? Listen to you!’ Her own temper spilled over. ‘I’m not six years old, Josh. I’m a grown woman, and if I want to kiss a man, I’ll kiss him and I don’t have to ask your permission first.’ She vented her anger on Josh, even though she knew deep down that most of it should be directed at herself.
She’d been stupid, stupid, stupid …
‘You’re my sister.’ His tone was raw and angry. ‘Don’t argue with me. Go and pack. This is between Allesandro and I.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, will you listen to yourself? “This is between Allessandro and I,”’ Tasha mimicked his tone. ‘What are you going to do, Josh? Challenge him to a duel? Pistols at dawn? This is the twenty-first century. Get over yourself.’
‘This isn’t your business, Natasha.’
‘Well, excuse me—’ she emphasised each word ‘—but I was the one naked with him, not you. I think that makes it my business, not yours.’
Josh gave a low growl. ‘You were naked with him?’
Yes, and she had no idea how it had happened. Clearly at some point during the burn of chemistry, her brain had disconnected itself from her body. But she didn’t want to think about that right now. ‘So what if I was? What is your problem? You do not just barge in here and tell me what to do. Do I ask you what’s happening in your love life? Do I lecture you or ask you who you got naked with last night? When I saw you coming out of that on-call room a couple of weeks ago, having had a night of hot sex, did I demand to know who was in the room with you?’
Alessandro raised an eyebrow. ‘Hey, Josh, you had a night of hot sex? Good man.’
‘Shut up!’ Brother and sister spoke simultaneously and Tasha stabbed Josh in the chest with her finger.
‘I wanted to ask who she was, but I didn’t because I respect your privacy and your ability to make your own decisions. I understand that you’re an adult. If you want to have a onenight stand in the on-call room, that’s up to you.’
There was a tense, frozen silence.
Josh’s face had turned from scarlet to grey. ‘It wasn’t a one-night stand. And this isn’t about me, it’s about you.’
‘Precisely.’ Tasha folded her arms and pursed her lips. ‘Which makes it my business, not yours. If I want to sleep with a man, I’ll sleep with him. I don’t need your permission.’
Josh’s shoulders sagged and suddenly he looked exhausted. ‘Fine.’ His voice was brittle. ‘You’re right, of course. I apologise.’
Startled by the sudden change in him, Tasha frowned. One minute he was yelling at her and the next he looked as though his brain was on another planet. ‘So—when I need a knight in shining armour, I’ll text you.’
Alessandro started to laugh. ‘I hate to break it to you, Josh, but I think your baby sister is all grown up and slaying her own dragons.’
Josh was still looking at Tasha. A tiny muscle flickered in his cheek and he shook his head slightly, as if trying to focus. ‘Just as long as you know he will break your heart,’ he said shakily. ‘You’ll fall in love, because that’s what you do, and he’ll smash you to pieces. I don’t want that for you. I don’t want you loving someone you can’t be with. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.’ There was an anguished note to his tone that killed Tasha’s anger like water on flame.
Instinct told her there was more to her brother’s words than a throw-away comment.
I don’t want you loving someone you can’t be with.
Suddenly she knew that his explosion of emotion was driven by something deeper than her own indiscretion. Something much more personal.
‘Josh …’ Her voice faltered. ‘I—’
‘I’m just telling you to be careful, that’s all.’ Cutting her dead, he blanked the emotion and walked to the door. ‘I’ll leave the two of you alone. I’m sorry I interrupted. And who am I to give advice on relationships? It’s a subject I know nothing about.’
His departure was more painful than his arrival.
Tasha felt her heart clench. Her brother was suffering and she sensed that his anguish went much deeper than concern about her.
Was this about the woman in the on-call room?
‘Wait!’ Tasha sprinted after him. ‘Don’t just walk off—for crying out loud, Josh, will you wait?’
He kept walking, talking over his shoulder as he strode through Alessandro’s double-height living room. ‘I need breakfast. I’ve been working all night. I have to get back to the hospital.’
‘I’ll make you breakfast.’ Catching up with him, she caught his arm. ‘The kitchen here is like a spaceship and I can do amazing things with eggs. Please.’
‘I need to be on my own.’ He shook her off and she saw the emptiness in his eyes as he detached from her. ‘I’m sorry I disturbed you.’
Tasha felt a flash of exasperation but this time it was fuelled by real concern for her brother. ‘It wasn’t like that, Josh—honestly, it was nothing.’ She didn’t know what it was and she hadn’t had time to work it out, but at the moment her priority was Josh. ‘I want you to stay. I haven’t seen you properly since I arrived. Let’s chat. Catch up.’
‘Sit down, Josh.’ Alessandro’s slightly accented drawl came from behind them. Tasha realised that while she and Josh had been arguing Alessandro had hauled himself from the bed and was now gripping the doorframe. His shirt—the shirt she’d ripped—hung loose around his body, exposing his bronzed muscled chest. ‘I’m going mad trapped in this place. I need male conversation.’
Tasha gave a faint smile. ‘Men don’t have conversations. They just exchange sporting results.’ But she was relieved that Alessandro had added his voice to hers.
Josh looked undecided and the look he gave Alessandro was cold. ‘I should go—’
‘There’s a wealth of difference between what one should do and what one
chooses to do,’ Alessandro drawled. ‘Sit down. Your sister isn’t a bad cook, providing you keep her away from chilli.’
Tasha opened her mouth and closed it again. This wasn’t the time to give him a lecture on the emancipation of women.
Josh relaxed slightly. ‘Are you going to promise not to touch my sister again?’
‘No.’ Alessandro’s tone was calm and he lifted his hand as Josh’s eyes flared. ‘But I promise to stop if she asks me to. Fair enough?’
Josh’s mouth was a tight line. ‘I don’t think—’
‘Hello? I’m over here!’ Exasperated, Tasha waved at both of them. ‘You don’t need to talk about me as if I don’t exist. In fact, you don’t need to talk about me at all. Let’s just drop the whole subject.’ She was relieved to see her brother sprawl on the deep leather sofa.
As he ran his hand over his face she realised that he hadn’t slept in a long time.
The sunlight pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows simply accentuated the shadows under his eyes and the pallor of his skin. Why had it taken her so long to notice how awful he looked?
Because she’d been too busy getting her clothes on.
‘So …’ She sank down on the sofa next to him and curled her legs underneath her. ‘You look wrecked.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Have you been working nights or something?’ Even as she asked the question, she dismissed it. Josh never had any trouble coping with work volume, so it couldn’t be that. Which meant it must be a woman. But the split with Rebecca had been mutual …
Using a process of elimination, she mentally ticked off the options and decided that it had to be something to do with the woman he’d had in the on-call room.
She’d thought at the time that he was behaving oddly.
Suddenly she wished she could send Alessandro into the kitchen so that she could question her brother in private.
‘So how’s the leg?’ His expression slightly less black, Josh looked at his oldest friend. ‘Are you healing?’
‘Yes, but not fast enough.’ Alessandro limped over to the other sofa and sat down. He’d mastered the art of keeping his movements as smooth as possible to reduce jarring. ‘I’m hoping this cast will be off soon, then I can get back to normal duties.’