‘I’ll think about it.’
‘It’s an open offer.’ He finished his espresso. ‘Would you like another coffee—well, a fat-laden excuse for coffee, in your case?’
She laughed. ‘Another lattè would be lovely. Thank you.’ Her eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘Grazie, Orlando.’
Lord, he loved it when she spoke his language. And how he’d like to hear her say—
No. He really shouldn’t rush her. Especially because she was so vulnerable right now. She’d already been hurt badly. He wasn’t going to make it worse by pushing her into something she wasn’t ready for. ‘I’ll go and order it.’
He paid the bill at the same time. And just as he’d expected, Eleanor was annoyed about it when she found out.
‘You’re not under any obligation to me,’ he reminded her. ‘Lunch was my idea.’
She folded her arms. ‘You know how I feel about paying my way.’
‘If it makes you feel better, you can buy me lunch some other time.’ He kept the suggestion very light, very casual. ‘I have a clinic this evening, so I’d better drive us back.’ He opened the passenger door for her. What he really wanted to do was to kiss her. But if he pushed her too hard, too fast, he knew she’d walk away. She needed time to think. And he wanted her to stay in Italy for a while.
‘Are you seeing Bartolomeo tomorrow?’ he asked when he parked outside the hotel.
‘We haven’t made any arrangements.’
‘Then, unless you have anything pressing to do, you’re very welcome to shadow me for the day. See how our practice works. And if you like what you see, and your boss will let you have a sabbatical out here, I can help you sort out the paperwork later in the week.’
Again, he waited, knowing that it had to be her decision.
Finally, she nodded. ‘Thank you, Orlando. I’d like that.’
‘Then I will see you tomorrow,’ he said. ‘Unless you call me to tell me you’re busy, I’ll pick you up at eight. Will that give you enough time for breakfast?’
She nodded. ‘It doesn’t take that long to drink coffee and eat toast.’
He’d missed an opportunity there: he should’ve suggested taking her to a caffè overlooking the sea for breakfast—coffee and brioches, maybe some fruit. But maybe he was being greedy. At least she’d agreed to spend the day with him. ‘A domani. See you tomorrow.’
‘See you tomorrow,’ she echoed.
On impulse, he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. His lips actually tingled at the contact, and it took all his self-control not to yank her into his arms and kiss her properly. On the mouth.
CHAPTER SIX
THE next morning, Orlando was already waiting for Eleanor in the hotel foyer. He was dressed formally in a suit and tie, and he was the subject of more than a few nudges and glances and whispers. Again, he seemed oblivious of the female interest in him; he merely stood up when he saw Eleanor and gave her a tiny bow.
She noticed the disappointment on the faces around them when they realised he was indeed waiting for someone. Ha. They’d be even more disappointed if they found out he didn’t believe in love. Whereas it suited her fine.
‘Sorry—am I late?’ she asked.
‘No.’ His eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘I’m early. Ready?’
‘Yes. And thank you for doing this, Orlando. I appreciate it.’
‘Believe me, we’ll appreciate you just as much if you decide to join us for the summer,’ he told her. ‘We’re a busy practice.’
They took the metro to his consulting rooms. ‘Right. I’ll introduce you to everyone and show you where everything is,’ he said.
‘You’re sure your partner in the practice doesn’t mind?’
‘Partners,’ he said. ‘They’re looking forward to meeting you. Though they’ll drive you mad because they’ll try to practise their English on you.’
‘You’re the senior partner?’ she asked.
‘No. We’re all equals. Actually, we’re more or less the same age. Alessandro’s married to Serafina, our practice nurse, and Giacomo’s getting married in September.’ He grimaced. ‘So they will also drive you mad, trying to pair you off with me.’
‘Why would they try to do that?’
He rubbed a hand across his face. ‘Because they’re a little pazzo. Crazy. They’re in love and think everyone else should be, too.’
She laughed. ‘You mean, you haven’t told them your theory?’
‘They don’t believe me. They can’t pair me off with a patient because it’s unethical, our receptionist Chiara is old enough to be my mother, and I’ve resisted every single one of the little dinner parties they hold to introduce me to a suitable woman who will reform me.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘You’re in the right age group—so in their eyes you’ll be a suitable woman.’
‘All cats being grey in the dark, you mean?’
He looked quizzically at her. ‘That’s not a phrase I’m familiar with.’
‘Any port in a storm.’
‘Ha.’ He smiled and ruffled her hair. ‘I’m almost tempted to tease them and … No. That wouldn’t be fair to you. But if they go on about it, I’ll kiss you in front of them and you can pretend to faint. Then they’ll leave us alone and we can get on with our work.’
She coughed. ‘Orlando, you’re something else.’
‘I think I’ll take that as a compliment.’ He smiled. ‘Welcome to our practice, Dottoressa Forrest.’
Alessandro and Giacomo were both charming. Serafina looked as angelic as her name; she glanced at Eleanor and then Orlando, and broke into a wide smile before whispering something to her husband. And Chiara rolled her eyes, shooed them all away and gave Eleanor a cup of coffee before showing her around the building and making sure that she was comfortable.
It felt, Eleanor thought with a pang, like being part of a big, noisy family. They were clearly close to each other—behind the banter and the teasing she could tell that they all cared deeply about each other.
Orlando shepherded her through to his consulting room for the beginning of morning surgery; when each patient arrived, he introduced them to Eleanor and asked their permission for her to remain during the consultation, explaining that she might be staying to join the practice. And although Eleanor couldn’t follow all the conversations, she picked up odd words during the consultation that, coupled with the kind of tests he did, made her realise exactly what each medical problem was.
She noticed that Orlando was particularly good with the children who came to see him. He was careful in the way he conducted the hearing test and then checked inside one little boy’s ears with the otoscope: a case of glue ear, she guessed, because Orlando’s gestures when he spoke to the mother showed that the little boy’s hearing was slightly better on the right side and it’d be easier for the little boy if people who talked to him came down to his level and kept sentences short and simple. He made the little boy laugh by doing magic tricks and making a coin appear from behind his ear, followed up with a sticker with a smiley face saying ‘Coraggioso’—the equivalent of the ‘I was this brave’ stickers she gave out at the emergency department.
She’d just bet he’d been the most popular doctor on his ward when he’d worked in paediatrics, charming the parents as well as the patients. The little girl who came in wheezing left with a smile as well as an inhaler to help her asthma. And Eleanor could just imagine him with a little girl of his own, cuddling her on his lap and telling her stories. A little girl with long curly hair, just as Eleanor herself had once been.
Oh, lord. Now, there was a fantasy she really ought to stop right now. Constance Firth had fallen in love with a Neapolitan man and it had all gone pear-shaped. Eleanor wasn’t about to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She and Orlando were friends. Nothing more. And marriage and children really weren’t on the agenda for her anyway.
During a coffee-break, Serafina made a point of looking at Eleanor’s left hand. She said something in Italian to Alessandro, who smiled and
agreed.
Orlando groaned. ‘Apart from the fact that it’s really rude to speak only Italian when Eleanor can’t follow, will you two, please, stop it? We’re just friends.’
‘I’ve heard that one before,’ Giacomo said with a grin. ‘Just good friends, is it?’
‘Right. That’s it.’ Orlando marched over to Eleanor, grabbed her hand, yanked her into his arms, bent her over backwards and kissed her.
It was meant to be a kiss for show. They’d even discussed it beforehand.
But he hadn’t expected this.
Time stopped and the room dissolved. There was nobody else there, just the two of them. Kissing. For real. Because her hands had slid into his hair, and as he nibbled at her lower lip her mouth opened, letting him deepen the kiss. He could hear the blood roaring in his ears and he felt as if he were falling very slowly from a very great height.
When Orlando broke the kiss, he was disorientated at first. All he could focus on was Eleanor. Her pupils were huge and her mouth looked as if she’d just been very thoroughly kissed.
Well, she had.
Oh, hell. That wasn’t meant to happen. She’d run a mile if she had any idea of the crazy thoughts whirling through his mind. Crazy thoughts, like picking her up, carrying her into his office, locking the door behind them and continuing from where they’d just left off.
And heaven only knew what his colleagues were thinking after witnessing that.
His colleagues.
Um.
Head still swimming, he lifted his chin and raised an eyebrow at Alessandro, Giacomo and Serafina, who were staring at them in apparent disbelief. ‘Let that,’ he said in a voice that didn’t really sound to him like his own, ‘be an end to the gossip.’
‘Porca miseria!’ Serafina fanned herself. ‘No more questions. I promise. Alessandro, why don’t you kiss me like that?’ she demanded.
‘In public, you mean? Because, mia innamorata, it would not be good for the blood pressure of our patients. Or our colleagues,’ Alessandro teased, taking her hand and kissing the backs of her fingers.
Giacomo assumed an angelic posture. ‘I’m saying nothing.’ But his smile said it all for him. You’ve found The One.
Ridiculous. It was a myth Orlando didn’t subscribe to.
So why was adrenaline racing round his system like this?
Eleanor didn’t remember anything more from the coffee-break, even though there was an empty cup of coffee in her hand, which she’d presumably drunk. The kiss had been for show—Orlando had even warned her before they’d left the car that his colleagues would drive them crazy and he’d probably have to kiss her to shut them up—but when he’d been supporting her, she hadn’t been acting. At all. Her knees really had gone weak.
And she’d never reacted like that to anyone before. Not even Jeremy, and she’d thought she’d loved him. Now she knew it hadn’t been love at all. Because what she felt for Orlando was so much stronger. One kiss, and her head was spinning.
This was mad. Completely mad. It couldn’t possibly work out between them. Orlando was as damaged as she was—more so, in fact, because he didn’t believe that love even existed. But, lord, the man could kiss.
‘Are you all right, Eleanor?’ Orlando asked when they were back in his consulting room. ‘Sorry. Was I too rough with you?’
‘No, it’s not a problem.’ Not quite the truth. But her brain wasn’t quite working in synch with her mouth after that kiss. Worse, she wanted him to do it again. This time in private. When they wouldn’t have to stop.
‘You look a bit.’
Stunned? Shocked? Yeah, that was exactly how she felt. She hadn’t expected that surge of emotion when he’d kissed her. Hadn’t expected the world to melt away. Hadn’t expected to find herself kissing him back.
‘Maybe working together isn’t such a good idea,’ she said carefully.
Orlando’s eyes widened. ‘No, no, no.’ He crossed his hands rapidly in front of him. ‘That kiss was just to shut them up. For show. I did warn you it was the only way.’
Mmm. But she hadn’t expected a kiss for show to be so—well—mind-blowing.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to pounce on you. You’re perfectly safe.’
She should have been relieved. Instead, she felt disappointed. When the last patient from the morning’s surgery had left, Orlando finished writing up his notes. ‘Time for lunch,’ he said.
‘Only if I pay. Seeing as you were sneaky about yesterday.’
He folded his arms. ‘Hmm. You’ve been shadowing me today. Either I have to pay you for your work today—or you let me buy you lunch.’
‘I haven’t exactly done any work,’ she protested.
‘You will, this afternoon—we have house calls. And I’m starving.’
So am I, Eleanor thought. Though not for food. ‘So, Dottoressa Forrest, are you going to let me buy you a ham and fontina panini and one of your touristy lattès?’ She could only nod.
Orlando led her through the maze of tiny streets, pointing out buildings of interest and the best gelati shop in Naples. They ended up at a little caffè where he ordered their lunch.
‘So, what do you think of family medicine? Is it the sort of thing you’d like to practise?’
‘Maybe. I can see why you enjoy it. And you’re good with children.’
He smiled. ‘I like children.’
So did he want any of his own? Was he looking to settle down and get married—to someone he considered a friend? And why should the idea of it make jealousy flicker in her stomach?
She concentrated on her coffee and the panini. But it didn’t help. She kept finding herself glancing at Orlando—and catching him glancing at her.
The attraction was definitely mutual. But she was also aware that if she gave in to the impulse to suggest a mad affair and get it out of their systems, it would make life impossible. There was no way she could spend a summer here, working with him, when their affair ended—which it would. Because Orlando didn’t believe in love or commitment.
After lunch, he took a detour to a florist’s shop and purchased a bunch of bright summery flowers.
At her questioning look, he said, ‘I’ve known our next patient, Vittoria Moretti, since I was a child. She was my teacher at primary school.’ He shrugged. ‘Her family has moved to Rome. She’s lonely. So when I call on her, I like to brighten her day a little.’
How typical of Orlando. A little kindness to make an old lady happy: he cared. He was a good man, whatever he claimed to think about love. Because he really did care.
‘So tell me about our house calls. About Vittoria.’
‘As I said, she taught me when I was tiny. She has an ulcerated leg.’
‘Venous?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘She had a clot in her leg.’
Typical presentation, Eleanor thought. She’d come across a few of them in the emergency department, when an elderly patient hadn’t wanted to make a fuss and left it until the ulcer actually became painful or spread so much that someone noticed.
They took one of the funicular railways up one of the steeper hills, then he led them into a quiet street, rang the bell and then opened the front door. ‘Signora Moretti? Vittoria?’
‘Orlando! Come va?’ She hobbled over to meet them, then hugged him when he gave her the flowers and rattled off something in Italian that Eleanor couldn’t follow before putting the flowers immediately in water.
‘Vittoria, this is Eleanor Forrest. She’s an English doctor who might join our practice for the summer,’ Orlando explained in Italian.
‘Elenora.’ Vittoria pronounced the name the Italian way. ‘My English … very little.’
‘I’ll translate,’ Orlando said with a smile. He looked at Vittoria. ‘May Eleanor examine your leg and treat you?’
‘Si.’
Gently, Eleanor removed the dressing and looked at the ulcer. The skin was darker and thicker around the area just above her ankle, and there was some swelling. ‘Does it
hurt at all?’ she asked.
‘She says it aches a bit and it’s worse when she’s been standing. But she hates sitting around and doing nothing,’ Orlando translated.
Eleanor knew the type. The kind of elderly lady who liked to keep busy and tended to look about twenty years younger than she really was, because she kept active. ‘Tell her it’s a good idea to keep up gentle exercise,’ she said, ‘but emphasise the “gentle”. Definitely no climbing these hills. And she needs to rest every so often and put her leg up on a cushion—if she keeps her leg higher than her hip, gravity will help pull the blood in the right direction, towards the heart. That will reduce the pressure of blood in her leg veins, and ease the swelling.’
Orlando translated, then laughed. ‘She says she’s not going to sit with her leg up on a cushion all day. She’s far too busy.’
Eleanor smiled. ‘Three or four times a day,’ she said, ‘for half an hour at a time. Tell her to lie on the sofa and put her foot on a couple of pillows.’ She glanced at the bookshelves. ‘It’s a good excuse to read. Doctor’s orders. But, yes, if she keeps moving about the rest of the time, it will help her leg heal.’
‘Bene,’ Vittoria said when Orlando had explained.
Eleanor gently cleaned the ulcer; it was at the earliest stage, when it was still moist and there was a lot of pus, so she took a non-adhesive absorbent dressing from Orlando’s bag. ‘We need to change the dressing daily until the ulcer has healed and dried.’
Vittoria clearly caught the word ‘daily’, and indicated that she didn’t want a fuss.
‘Tell her if we don’t do that, the ulcer will take a lot longer to heal. But if we change the dressing daily and she wears elastic bandages, it will speed the healing.’
‘You’ve done this before, haven’t you?’ Orlando asked.
‘My speciality when I was a house officer,’ she said. ‘Geriatric medicine. I’m good at checking for diabetic foot, too.’
Latin Lovers: Italian Playboys Page 24