Free The Valtieri Marriage Deal by Caroline Anderson Page B

was right, of course. There was no time for a lunch break, so she was glad Luca had fed her a pastry with her coffee. She stole time for a cup of tea and a bar of chocolate in the ward kitchen at five, but apart from that she’d had nothing all day.
    That didn’t mean she hadn’t seen Luca. Far from it. He’d been haunting the ward, and now Sarah had a patient who hadbeen in established labour for ages and was getting nowhere fast, and she was assisting her.
    ‘I’m going to have to call Luca,’ she said eventually, and Isabelle nodded.
    ‘I agree. Want me to page him?’
    ‘Could you?’
    ‘Sure.’
    She went out to the workstation and dialled his number, and he walked out of Richard’s office and cocked an eyebrow at her. ‘Are you calling me?’
    ‘Yes—Sarah’s got a problem that needs you. She’s in three. I’ll be back in a second, I’ve got to get something. I won’t be long.’
    He nodded and went into the delivery room and found the other midwife there with a woman and her husband. ‘Right—we have a problem?’ he murmured, and Sarah nodded.
    ‘Yes—she’s just exhausted. I’m sorry to call you but we’ve tried everything and the baby’s beginning to struggle.’
    He nodded. ‘OK. Let’s see if we can’t give her a hand.’
    Isabelle walked in just in time to see the slickest Ventouse delivery she’d ever seen, and in seven years she’d seen a few. And Sarah, of course, was all over him. Well, she was welcome, she told herself, and tried not to feel jealous when he smiled at her friend.
    It was nothing personal. He smiled like that at everyone, but it had the same effect on them all. Us all, she thought, wishing she was unmoved by it, but she wasn’t, not even slightly.
    Then he lifted his head and smiled at her, and her heart skidded into hyperdrive. He was checking the baby, chatting to the mother and father, and he excused himself, stripped off his gloves and came over to her.
    ‘I love the Ventouse. It’s my party trick,’ he said with a grin. ‘Like pulling a rabbit from a hat.’
    ‘The Great Valtieri? Maybe you should get your own magic show—not that you’re blowing your own trumpet or anything…’
    ‘Of course not,’ he said, managing to look mischievous and affronted all at once, and so sexy that her tongue dried instantly and stuck to the roof of her mouth. She swallowed hard to free it and wiped her hands down the sides of her scrubs.
    ‘Right, I need to get on,’ she said to break the silence, and then Sarah came over to them.
    ‘Um—we usually leave the proud parents alone and have a cup of tea at this point,’ she said. ‘Want to join us?’
    ‘Thank you,’ he murmured, and his grin turned to a smile that brought colour to Sarah’s cheeks and made Isabelle’s heart flutter. ‘I could murder a cup of tea—and any chance of some toast?’
    ‘I’m sure there will be, we can’t have our resident magician fading away,’ Isabelle said briskly. ‘I’ll just finish off in here and make sure everything’s OK. You two go ahead, I’ll join you in a minute,’ she said, and, turning on her heel, she went to check on the mother and baby, and all the time that smile of Luca’s was still echoing through the far reaches of Isabelle’s body and making her heart pitter-patter.
    So stupid. So many if onlys. She wished for the millionth time that she could dare to trust him, but his charm came so easily to him she wasn’t sure she could. And there was still the problem of her own reluctance to commit…
     
    ‘That man is incredible!’
    Tell me about it, she thought, and rolled her eyes. ‘If you say so. Where is he?’
    ‘Oh, he had something to do, he’ll be here in a minute. Buthe is just—that was so slick. You know, that baby’s head was just tipped back the tiniest bit, and she was so tired she just couldn’t get it to shift—and as you know, we’d tried everything, Izzie. Then he just strolled in, grinned at her, attached the cup and pop!