‘English.’
‘Ah.’ She sighed. ‘I had the hugest crush on my high-school English teacher.’
Ron laughed. ‘I see you’re a woman of very good taste.’
Alessandro’s irritation needled at him as he pulled Ron’s shirt down but, oblivious, Nat continued. ‘He used to quote poetry all the time. I think I was a little in love with him.’
‘Poetry? I can quote you poetry. Who’s your favourite? Shakespeare? Shelley? Browning? Wordsworth?’
She tapped Ron’s wedding ring. ‘Oh, and what would your darling wife say to that?’
‘Ah, well as long as it was Shelley she’d probably forgive me. She’s a sucker for Shelley.’
Alessandro blinked as Nat laughed and patted her patient’s hand. A surge of something dark and dangerous spiked his bloodstream and he suppressed the urge to pick up Nat’s hand and move it away from Ron’s vicinity.
He didn’t succumb but he did interrupt the conversation.
‘We’ll get an X-ray.’
He must have said it more harshly than he’d planned because they both looked at him a little startled and Nat’s brow crinkled as if puzzled.
‘I’ll get that organised.’ He nodded at Ron briskly before addressing Nat. ‘And I believe you have Ellie’s pre-med to give for her scheduled appendectomy, Nurse Davies.’
There was nothing sexy about the way he used her full title this time and her narrowed eyes searched his for an explanation. But Alessandro wasn’t hanging around to be psychoanalysed. He was already hating himself for such a blatant display of possession; he didn’t need her silent rebuke. What he needed was to get far enough away so he could kick his ass in private.
Seriously – what the hell was that?
‘I’ll be back shortly,’ he said, then left the cubicle, a squall of irrational feelings fighting for supremacy in his gut.
An hour passed before Alessandro spotted Nat again and the emotions he’d thought he’d flushed from his system simmered again. Just looking at her was making him crazy. She was at one end of the corridor that fed several stock rooms. His powerfulthighs made short work of the distance from the other direction and he met her at the halfway point.
As they drew level she frowned at him. ‘What the hell was that? Are you okay?’
Okay? He was definitely not okay. A cold fist was lodged under his diaphragm as a primal emotion he couldn’t put his finger on dripped icy poison into his bloodstream. He felt edgy and… tense. Like he needed to prowl. Or maybe go and hunt something…
Alessandro looked around the corridor. Satisfied no one was watching, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the nearby room – a very small linen closet – and shut the door.
Yanking her arm out of his grasp, she glared at him as the stuffy air, heavy with the smell of starch, tickled his nostrils. The room wasn’t really big enough for both of them.
‘What are you doing?’ she demanded.
Alessandro cut to the chase. ‘You like to flirt with other men?’ he rasped.
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind and, rationally, Alessandro knew it was an entirely unfair question but he was feeling far from rational right now.
‘He’sseventy-two,’ she snapped. ‘He’s worried, scared the cancer has come back. He needs someone to look at him as a person, not a chart number or a medical condition.’
Alessandro understood what she was saying. Hell, he even empathised. With any other person he would have applauded it. But not her. When she did it the caveman deep inside him had roared to life.
Not something that had ever happened before and he didn’t care how crazy it sounded.
Without hesitation he backed her against the shelves, hands imprisoning her shoulders, and swooped. Their lips met with a sizzle and his mouth opened wide, his tongue thrusting inside.She didn’t respond for a beat or two but then she moaned and melted and, triumphantly, he pressed his body against hers harder.
He wanted her to feel his desire, feel this raging beating thing inside he couldn’t explain.
Pulling away as abruptly as he’d pounced, Alessandro took a step back, which was as far as the confines of the room would allow. His ragged breathing mingled with hers and filled the space as they stared at each other and caught their breath.
‘Don’t flirt with anyone,bella.’ His voice was a low growl. ‘I don’t like it.’
