‘Well, so we’ll be work buddies, eh?’ His dark eyes danced with merriment.
‘It looks like it,’ she said coldly.
He smiled down at her. ‘So are you going to tell me your name or am I going to have to address you as Nurse Pixie for the rest of my stay?’
‘Amelia Vialli,’ she mumbled, but didn’t offer him her hand.
‘Alex Hunter,’ he said and, reaching for her hand, held it in the huge warmth of his. ‘How do you do?’
Amelia tugged at her hand but he didn’t release it. She gave him a pointed glare but he just laughed. ‘You can hardly rip half your arm off, now can you?’
‘Are all Australians this rude or have you taken a special course in offending people?’ she asked, wrenching her hand from his and rubbing at it with exaggeration. ‘No doubt you passed it with flying colours.’
‘And are all Niroli natives so unfriendly or is it just you?’ he returned.
She scowled at him darkly. ‘I am not being unfriendly.’
He grinned again. ‘I’d hate to see you being hostile.’
‘Excuse me,’ she said and made to brush past. ‘I have someone waiting for me.’
He stalled her with a hand on her arm. ‘Would you like a lift?’
She sent him a haughty look as she brushed off his arm as if it were a particularly nasty insect. ‘I don’t think so.’
He raised his dark brows. ‘You’re going to walk all that way in that dress?’
She gave her head a defiant little toss. ‘Yes.’
‘What are you doing—moonlighting as a street sweeper or something?’
She rolled her eyes and swung away, and, picking up the voluminous skirt of her borrowed outfit, began to walk purposefully towards town, the fabric swishing around her ankles making her look like a small, angry black cloud.
Alex stood watching her, a little smile playing about his mouth. ‘How cute is that?’ he said out loud.
A light breeze carried the sweet fragrance of orange blossom and he closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, relishing the fresh spring air after the long-haul flight from Sydney.
A whole month on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Niroli, by royal invitation no less.
Sure, there was a lot of work to do in a short time, but he would hopefully have enough free time available to explore the beaches and the nightlife, perhaps even do a hike up to the volcanoes.
Thinking of the volcanoes made him open his eyes to look back at the stiff little figure who was now almost at the end of the street.
He watched as a beaten-up car pulled up at the T-junction, a swarthy and scruffy-looking man in his early thirties opening the door from the inside so she could get in.
Alex blew out a long breath as the car rumbled on its way, finally disappearing out of sight, although he could still hear it rattling and spluttering in the distance.
‘Look’s like she’s already taken, mate,’ he said as he turned back to his own vehicle and got back behind the wheel. He fired up the engine, giving it a few extra revs, and put it into gear. ‘Now isn’t that just the story of your sorry life?’
CHAPTER TWO
‘HOW was your time at the palace with the king?’ Lucia Salvati, the nurse on Amelia’s afternoon roster, asked three days later.
‘It was better than I feared,’ she answered as she glanced at the patient list in the nurses’ station.
‘Why? Did he give you a hard time being a Vialli and all?’
Amelia shook her head. ‘No. I don’t think his bodyguards even mentioned my name to him. I just had to help him into bed and be on call in case he needed anything during the night. He barely addressed a single word to me the whole time I was there.’
‘No wonder you look so tired,’ Lucia said. ‘Do you really have to take on this extra job? You already have enough on your plate with this place, not to mention the community work you insist on doing.’
‘I’ve got nothing better to do. Besides, I need the money.’
‘Don’t we all?’ Lucia groaned in agreement. ‘Just wait until you’re married with a couple of kids—that’s when you’ll be needing money and lots of it.’
‘Yes, well, I’m not planning on getting married,’ Amelia said with determination.
‘Why? You’re not still thinking of going back to the convent, are you? I thought you gave up on that idea—what was it…five or six years ago?’
‘No, I’m not planning on going back. I just don’t want the complication of a relationship, ‘Amelia said. ‘I saw what it did to my mother—loving a man too much, losing her sense of self, her self-respect. I’ve decided I’d much rather be alone.’
‘Your parents’ situation was a little unusual,’ Lucia pointed out. ‘Besides, your mother wasn’t to know what was going on in the background—hardly anyone did until it was over.’
Amelia released a heavy sigh. ‘I know, but sometimes it seems as if the whole island would be happier if every one of us Viallis were dead and buried.’
Lucia gave her an empathetic look. ‘Have your brothers been in trouble again?’
Amelia lifted her gaze to meet her colleague’s. ‘Rico lost his job at the vineyard. He got into a fight with one of the other workers. He wouldn’t tell me what it was about but I can guess. It’s always the same.’
‘What about Silvio? Is he still employed down at the port?’
‘I haven’t heard from him for two weeks,’ Amelia said. ‘It might be because he has a new girlfriend or it might be because he’s doing some underhand deal like the last time, which will no doubt bring even more disgrace to our family.’
‘So you are working three jobs to keep food on the table,’ Lucia said.
‘What else can I do?’
Lucia gave her arm a little squeeze. ‘You’re right, there’s nothing else you can do. I would do the very same but it seems a shame you are the one paying the biggest price.’
‘My mother paid the biggest price, Lucia,’ Amelia said as she got to her feet. ‘She died because she fell in love with the wrong man at the wrong time.’
‘How is your father?’
‘As difficult as ever.’
‘You still can’t convince him to have treatment?’ Lucia asked.
‘He hates doctors. Ever since he was diagnosed with cancer he won’t have anything to do with anyone medical, apart from me, of course, but even with me he’s becoming increasingly uncooperative.’
‘Speaking of doctors, have you run into the Australian yet? Word has it he’s come a few days early to get a feel for the island before he meets the king. Apparently this new technique could be the answer to the king’s heart problem. At ninety years of age a triple bypass is terribly risky, but Dr Hunter has pioneered this off-pump bypass procedure. It’s apparently much less traumatic than being cooled on bypass and having your heart stopped, especially for older patients.’
‘I can’t see it ever happening at this hospital,’ Amelia said, carefully avoiding answering Lucia’s original question. ‘We haven’t got the beds for one thing, and we’re constantly short-staffed.’
‘The king