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‘You’d better give ht be going too far’ Elene reached for the wriggling bundle he was holding

As irl, he handed Aimee over Elene had a point ‘You realise everyone thinks you’re her mum’

‘They’re not far off thesmiles that warmed him to the tips of his toes

This was all wrong He should not be feeling any war in his belly, the increased speed of his heart The sa careful was parauy doing that to her

Taking her elbow, he led her towards the ed ht kids ‘Gino, I heard you wanted to see me This is Elene, a friend from New Zealand’

Under Mattia’s fingers Elene’s soft skin felt like velvet,him want more of her About to whip his hand away, he paused This astute woo abruptly No, nothing was up, but he couldn’t deny there was so on beyond his belt

Gino was giving Elene the once-over ‘Ciao, Elene Nice to ood work he does for people like me’

‘That’s enough, Gino Shohere this pain is’

Elene was s his attempt to divert the conversation to s for lots of people’

‘So you’re the doctor’s wife Your daughter is the spitting ie of him’

The colour fled Elene’s cheeks ‘No, not his wife’

‘Excuse et down to business?’ I’e Not that these tere taking the slightest bit of notice of him About to step away from Elene, Mattia hesitated Support her, man Don’t leave her to deal with this ‘Like I said, we’re friends Now, Gino, what’s the probleery?’

Either Elene hadn’t heard hi to talk to Dr Ricco about putting in some hours here while I’m in town’

‘You want to work here?’ Mattia asked before putting his brain in gear It shouldn’t surprise hi was in her blood She wouldn’t be able to walk away from patients in need What’s more, they’d love her in here

‘Why not? I’m sure you can always use an extra pair of hands I have a current licence to nurse in Italy I don’t need a visa since I’ve got dual citizenship’ Her set the answer she was holding out for

‘You have?’

She nodded ‘Muood idea in case I decided to return to her roots’

‘That could work out for everyone’ Things were beginning to fall into place Elene could al difficulties But did he want her working here? It was one thing to show her what drove hi in his space Or was it? He wanted her to iven Keep your eneled to think of her as anything but a friend Um, make that a wo and didn’t take hiet beyond liking—if he hadn’t already started down that track ‘We’ll talk about it later’

The expectation in her eyes didn’t falter ‘I’ll hold you to that’

‘Thought you ive Gino soreat nurse; his patients in Wellington always had nothing but good words for her Nothing would be any different here, so as he hesitating? Because I feel vulnerable around her And that was so alien it floored him

‘Dr Ricco?’ Gino spoke loudly

Vulnerable to a woman? To Elene? Hoas that possible?

‘Doctor?’ Louder still