Italian Doctor, Sleigh-Bell Bride. Sarah Morgan

examined her fingers ‘…what is your favourite pizza?’

      ‘Margarita, but not too cheesy and no lumps of tomatoes.’

      ‘Obviously you are a woman who knows what she wants.’ Amused, Stefano turned the child’s hand over. ‘Show me how you fell on your hand.’

      ‘I fell all on one finger, like this…’ The little girl pretended to stab the ground and Stefano pulled a face.

      ‘Well, that is why your finger is hurting. You are supposed to walk on your feet, not your finger.’ Gently he manipulated the finger. ‘Does this hurt? This? Can you squeeze—make a fist?’

      As he examined the dark bruising over the back of the finger, he was acutely conscious of Liv next to him. He allowed himself one sideways glance, but she wasn’t even looking at him. All her attention was still focused on her little patient.

      ‘I thought it was probably a volar plate injury,’ she murmured and Stefano silently compared her calm efficiency with Greg’s ineffectual arrogance.

      ‘I agree.’ Impressed, he gave her a rare smile but she didn’t even seem to notice.

      She didn’t blush, stare or send him a subtly flirtatious look. In fact she didn’t look at him at all. Instead, she rose to her feet, her eyes still on the little girl. ‘You’ll have to be careful with that finger for a few weeks, Bella.’

      Stefano was so accustomed to being cautious in his interaction with women that for a moment he was taken aback by her apparent indifference to him.

      For a brief moment in Resus yesterday he’d felt a powerful explosion of chemistry and he was sure that she’d felt it too. But clearly it had been his imagination.

      He almost laughed at himself. Had he really grown so arrogant that he expected every woman to look at him?

      Unfortunately the child’s mother was looking at him with what she obviously believed to be feminine allure.

      ‘You’re the consultant?’ She scanned Stefano’s face and her eyes widened slightly. ‘What’s a volar plate? I’ve never heard of it.’

      Stefano ignored the look in her eyes and kept his response cool and professional. ‘Your finger joints are like a hinge, yes? They must bend and straighten. The bones are connected together by tough bands of tissue called ligaments. In this joint—we call it the PIP—the strongest ligament is the volar plate.’

      The mother studied his face a little more intently than was necessary. ‘So she’s pulled a ligament? Like a sprain, you mean?’

      Instinctively adjusting his body language to create distance, Stefano stepped back. ‘This particular ligament connects the proximal phalanx to the middle phalanx on the palm side of the joint.’

      ‘These two joints,’ Liv said quickly, demonstrating on her own hand and Stefano gave a faint smile because he realised that he’d made his explanation far too complicated, which was unlike him.

      But he’d been extricating himself from the flirtatious glances of the mother.

      Forcing his mind back onto his work, he tried again. ‘The ligament tightens as the joint is straightened and keeps the joint from hyper-extending—bending too far back, in other words. But if you do overextend this joint, the volar plate can be damaged.’

      The little girl’s face drooped with disappointment. ‘So does that mean I can’t be a star in the nativity?’

      Unusually for him, Stefano found himself at a loss. ‘What exactly does a star do?’

      ‘I dance a bit and then I stand still while the shepherds walk towards me.’

      ‘That will be fine,’ Stefano assured her. ‘Just be careful not to fall over any more sheep.’

      ‘Is it broken?’

      ‘Not exactly broken, just damaged. And we’re going to have to give it some help to make it better.’

      ‘Will I have a plaster that everyone in my class can sign?’

      ‘No. We’re going to give it a buddy to hold onto. This finger next to it—it will support your bad finger until it is healed. Your good finger will help your injured finger. Like a friend.’ Stefano glanced at Liv. ‘Can you arrange that for me?’

      ‘Of course. And I expect you want her to go back to the hand clinic in ten days, to check that Bella has full movement in that finger.’ She scribbled on a form and signed it. ‘Now, if you just wait there, I’ll strap that finger for you.’

      ‘I know who you are.’ The little girl’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re Max’s mum, aren’t you? You’re called Liv.’

      In the process of writing the notes, Stefano’s hand stilled. She had a child?

      He didn’t know which surprised him most, the fact that she was some child’s mother when she really didn’t look old enough, or his own thunderous disappointment that she belonged to another man.

      If she was married, why had Anna been offering to buy her hot sex for Christmas?

      Seriously concerned by the alarming direction of his own thoughts, he scrawled in the notes and strode to the door. ‘If you need anything else, call me,’ he said in a cool tone but Liv didn’t appear any more disconcerted by the chill than she’d been impressed by the smile. Instead she simply concentrated on applying Elastoplast strapping to the child’s finger.

      As they walked out of the door, Greg cleared his throat. ‘Is everything all right, Mr Lucarelli?’

      ‘That nurse is obviously very experienced,’ Stefano said smoothly. ‘My advice is to watch and learn. Next time you run into trouble with a child, ask for her help.’

      Why did he care whether she was married?

       What difference did it make to him?

      He glanced over his shoulder just as Liv lifted her left hand to remove a piece of strapping. And Stefano noticed one more thing about her.

      Her finger was bare. She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.