ONCE SHE’D SETTLED the frightened friend with a nursing assistant and a hot drink, Giada sidled back to the corridor to watch Lucas in action. Truth was, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He commanded the space and the staff who had come running, stopped and listened and then did as he asked.
He was gentle yet affirmative. Completely in control and yet listening to input. Decisive and yet compassionate and totally in his element.
How could she even entertain the thought he might want to come and live in the palace and play at being consort when he could work miracles like this? The man was more at home elbow deep in blood than with Da Vinci paintings and public receptions.
He directed the CPR effort. He took control of the count to lift the man onto the gurney. He slid the IV bore into a vein. He did something to help the man breathe—a tube into his throat she thought she saw—and attached him to a portable oxygen tube. He gave the briefest satisfied nod when they got a trace on the ECG.
He sent someone to get a portable X-ray, asked another to arrange a CT scan, then told yet another to page the general surgeons as they all filed into the ER department with the trolley and the equipment and a sense of being in total control. The last thing she saw as the resuscitation room door swung closed was his gaze on her. Just for a moment.
Even from here she could see the buzz in his eyes.
And something else...something that simmered when his guard was down. Something that made her hot all over. Power, control, authority, command. He was in his element and it suited him. Very much.
Then she was locked out of the room and quite right too. No one needed a silly princess messing things up in there.
And, unfortunately, everyone was very aware that she was here. She had to make polite small talk with the staff and the patients and pretend she hadn’t just seen a man almost die. The hospital chief had heard she was here and came to talk to her about budgets. There was an invitation to a hospital bed push charity event in the new year. Then the one thing she’d been avoiding...a question about her father.
‘He’s...he’s stable.’ She reiterated the words her brother told her every day, twice a day, when they spoke.
‘Bring him home, Your Highness,’ one of the senior nurses said as Giada sat down at the nurses’ station and waited for Lucas to be finished. ‘We’ll look after him here. Where is he?’
‘In very good hands.’ With his son. The future King. Across the world. Her heart twisted and she suddenly understood how it felt to be her brother, torn between duty and wanting to be somewhere else entirely.
‘That is good.’ The nurse exhaled. ‘I am praying for him. For you all.’
‘Thank you, Bianca.’
After dropping a curtsey, the nurse’s eyes flicked over Giada’s body and she could have sworn Bianca’s gaze stopped at her breasts and then went down to her belly. ‘And can I say how well you look, Your Highness.’
Oh.
Was her pregnancy so obvious? Was she showing? Giada’s cheeks burned and she fisted her hands to stop herself running them across her abdomen. Smiling as sweetly as she could, she nodded to Bianca. ‘Isola Verde always makes me feel better.’
She heard laughter and was grateful for the distraction, but when she turned to see where it was coming from she was surprised to see Lucas, his head tipped back, laughing at something Alberto, the head of ER, had said. Laughing?
She watched as the two men chatted. Alberto did an action as if he was kicking a ball, then his eyes widened and he hid his head in his hands... Missing a goal? She didn’t know. Sport didn’t interest her. Lucas shook his head and raised his hands at Alberto, then laughed again.
She was surprised to feel a jab of hurt. Was Lucas only a stuffed shirt with her? She noticed he’d changed into the hospital scrubs, a bag saying ‘Hospital Property’ in his hand, which no doubt contained his stained clothes.
At the palace, in her territory, he was out of his comfort zone and probably felt as if he needed to be polite and formal. With the baby business he was reserved and trying to do the right thing. As was she. All of which amounted to stiff conversation and frustration, because they were both trying to be things they were not.
But she’d helped him relax before... And she was going to do it again.
Yes. She decided at that moment she would find the Lucas she’d fallen for.
Wait. Fallen for?
Didn’t she mean fallen pregnant with?
Yes. That was what she’d meant.
He shook hands with Alberto then made his way over to her. ‘Hello, I didn’t realise you’d waited for me.’
‘I didn’t know how long you’d be, so I thought I’d hang around. As it is, I managed to see a couple of the managers and we arranged some meetings.’ She stood up. ‘You look relaxed. I’m assuming everything’s okay?’
‘Yes, and you were great, thank you, Gigi. Um...’ His eyes flickered to the nurses who were watching them and he corrected himself. ‘I mean Your Highness.’
‘Gigi is more than fine. How is he?’
Lucas gently took her elbow and walked her towards the ER department exit. ‘He’s gone to Theatre. He’s actually very lucky, apart from the huge blood loss which would have killed him. The spike missed most of his internal organs. We’ll have to remove his spleen and possibly fix a laceration to his kidney, but he’s going to recover well.’
She looked up at him, glad he was holding her arm, glad he was steady and capable and not like the friend who hadn’t been able to cope. Not like her, who had been initially too shocked to move. ‘You were magnificent, Lucas.’
He raised a shoulder. ‘Just doing what I’ve been trained to do.’
‘You do it well. You’re buzzing. Glowing.’
He looked thoughtful for a minute and stretched his fingers out in front of him, his eyes glittering. ‘I guess I am...er, buzzy. You get such an adrenalin hit and it takes a while to wear off. I thought I’d got used to it, but here...it’s a new environment. I didn’t speak the language or know the staff, but we still saved him.’
‘You did.’
‘It was very definitely a group effort.’ He seemed so relaxed and freed up now. It had been a genius idea to bring him here, to this familiar environment.
They made their way to the front desk and out into the glare of the early afternoon sun. He stopped and turned to her. ‘You once said to me it feels good to do good, and you’re right.’
‘I said that?’ She laughed, putting her hand to her heart. ‘I am so profound.’
‘Sometimes you really are surprising, Gigi.’ He smiled then and she loved the way his face relaxed, his whole body leaning into her.
She couldn’t help but lean into him, too. Just the simple act of his hand on her arm strengthened the connection. But she ached for more. For him to touch her face, to run her hair though his fingers, to slide his mouth over hers.
But he wasn’t going to, not here anyway.
And Gigi. It came naturally to him now. Such a small step, but he wasn’t putting up that barrier quite as high as he had been. When he laughed, when he was relaxed, when he looked at her with glittering eyes her whole body leaned towards him, wanting more, wanting him. ‘You had everyone doing what you told them to do.’
He shrugged again. ‘I hope I didn’t step on anyone’s toes.’
‘Not at all. I explained who you are and told them to let you do your stuff.’
‘Even so, I wouldn’t like someone coming into my department and telling me what to do.’
They reached their car, which was idling in the visitors’ car park out front. She paused and wondered how he was going to take her next comment. ‘They were grateful. In fact, they asked if you could stay on for a few hours.’
He turned to look back at the hospital, eyes wistful. ‘To work? Here? Now?’
‘They’re short-staffed and, yes, I know they are in Seattle too. But you’re here and it would do more good. And you’d get to feel even better.’ She bit her lip. ‘I said yes.’
‘Without discussing it with me?’ But he didn’t look angry, he looked energised. ‘Without paperwork? I’m not registered to work in this country.’
‘I have fast-tracked the paperwork with the hospital administrator. The last few days have been boring and frustrating for you, I know. I can’t entertain you all the time. I’m needed at the palace for briefings and meetings.’
‘I don’t need to be entertained, Giada.’ His eyebrows rose in mock offence but he didn’t say it was the most stupid idea she’d ever had.
‘Seeing as you won’t engage in the kind of entertaining that will soothe both mind and body, you might as well get out from under my feet.’
Luckily, he understood what she was trying to say. ‘Wait.’ He glanced around, checking to see if anyone was listening. ‘You’re telling me to go to work so we don’t...’
‘Get carried away,’ she whispered, doing air quotes over her words. ‘Like at the lake. Like in August. It’s a good plan, sì? When we’re together we either argue or can’t keep our hands off each other. There’s no middle ground. And I can’t spend all day, every day with you either arguing or dying of sexual frustration. Personally, I think you’re grumpy because you don’t have enough sex.’ She held up her hand at his attempts to stop her speaking. ‘Your mind is too active and your body is too pent up with excess energy, or too much buzz from saving all those lives. Sex would relieve all of that and make you feel even better. Imagine that. Remember how good it felt?’
A corner of his mouth twitched and the glittering in his eyes intensified. Oh, yes, he remembered. But he shook his head. ‘I never read about that remedy in any science journal. Who’s the doctor here?’
‘I know, I know. But I’m right? Sì? And, seeing as you don’t think sex with me is a good idea, we need to have another plan.’
‘Gigi...’ He looked as if he would either devour her right now or explode with frustration.
‘Unless you do think sex with me is a good idea?’
He couldn’t lie. His eyes told her that he thought sex would be a very good idea. But he growled, ‘This isn’t helping. I’m trying to do the right thing.’
‘Avoiding the subject won’t make it go away, so maybe we should face it head on. For the record, I think sex with you would be fantastic. I’m just not sure about what happens after that.’
He frowned. ‘That’s exactly the problem.’
‘It’s not a problem.’ She leaned closer, close enough for her to breathe in his freshly showered scent, close enough to look deep into his eyes, but not so close as to arouse suspicions from any onlookers. ‘A conundrum, maybe. A puzzle.’ She put her hand on his chest and gave a very gentle push. ‘Now...go back to work.’
‘Are you sure?’ Just one glance at his eyes told her she had him. He was interested and he wasn’t hiding it. ‘You don’t need me?’
‘No. Go do your thing. I don’t need you this afternoon.’
Funny thing was, she almost did, as much as she’d needed anyone. She liked his logical thinking. He listened to her and that was something new in her life when it came to the people close to her. Usually, she was told she was too young, too inexperienced or just a distraction. Or someone who could be used as a stepping stone to the monarchy’s inner circle and influencers. Someone to trample all over her. But Lucas was different; he didn’t want to use her. ‘The minute you saw that kid your whole demeanour changed. You were born to be a doctor, Lucas, anyone could see that. I could never get in the way of you doing what you’re called to do. Just...’
‘Just what?’
‘I’d like to see you after work and hear all about it.’ She waved her hand to dismiss him, as if she didn’t need him or want him, when every cell in her body strained for him. She took the paper bag from his hand. ‘Now, get back to work. I’ll get your clothes laundered and bring some fresh ones. I’m going to make a reservation for dinner. I’ll be here at six o’clock.’