Wish Upon a Star (12 page)

He stared down at her thoughtfully. ‘You’re a beautiful, sexy woman, Christy,’ he said quietly. ‘If I’d seen you first, you would have been mine. But Alessandro fell in love with you on sight and there was no contest. You never even noticed me.’

She stood in stunned silence, her eyes wide. She’d never realised that he felt that way. She didn’t know what to say. How was she supposed to respond? ‘Jake, I—’

‘Fight for him, Christianna,’ Jake said quietly, a lopsided smile on his face. ‘I stepped aside because I could see the strength of what you shared. I’ve always seen it. Always envied it. Why do you think I haven’t married before now? Because I’ve seen what love can be and I won’t settle for anything less. Fight for it, babe.’

She stared up at him. ‘But if I’m right that Alessandro doesn’t love me any more then…’

Jake shrugged. ‘Then all you’ll be left with is damaged pride, and what’s pride when the love of your life is at stake? Live up to the promise of your furious, angry hair, sweetheart, and fight.’

She stood in silence with the snow falling all around her and the temperature dropping to well below freezing. There was a shriek of a siren as the ambulance took off towards the hospital and the slamming of car doors as the various members of the mountain rescue team sorted out their equipment.

He was right, of course, she thought, feeling the snow
flutter past her cheeks. Instead of playing these silly games, she should be fighting for her man. Trying to win him back. She’d never been one to give up when things got tough. That wasn’t how she was.

Alessandro was the only man she’d ever loved.
The only man she ever could love.

A smile spread across her face and, on impulse, she stood on tiptoe and kissed Jake on the cheek.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘For being the very best friend to both of us.’

Then she turned and walked back to the car and didn’t notice Alessandro staring after her, the expression in his dark eyes bordering on the dangerous.

CHAPTER SIX

‘M
UM
, can we go to the forest to choose our tree tomorrow?’

Christy looked up from injecting brandy into the Christmas cake. ‘I—Yes, why not? We usually get it the week before Christmas.’

‘And is Dad coming, too?’

Christy inhaled sharply.
How was she supposed to know?
Alessandro had hardly spoken to her since they’d returned from the mountain rescue the day before. At work he’d been cold and distant and he’d arrived home late and come to bed long after her.

‘Well…’

‘Of course I’m coming.’ Alessandro strolled into the room, still bare-chested after his shower, his jaw dark with stubble. ‘Family ritual—choosing the biggest tree in the forest.’

Christy felt her insides drop with longing. She wanted to slide her hands over his bronzed, muscular body—wanted to feel his hands on her. Suddenly she had a disturbingly vivid mental picture of his hard body coming down on hers and—

‘Christy?’

She snapped out of her erotic daydream and realised that he was watching her with a slumberous expression on his handsome face.
Did he know?
she wondered.
Did he know that she’d been imagining the two of them together?

‘Sorry.’ The croak in her voice betrayed her. ‘Did you say something?’

‘I said that we are both going to the Snow Ball tomorrow night,’ he said in that slightly accented drawl that always sent her pulse racing. ‘Your mother has offered to babysit.’

‘Oh…’ Her heart fluttered. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d gone out together, let alone to the Snow Ball. It was held every Christmas for all the hospital staff but usually Alessandro was working.

Her heart lifted at the prospect of a proper evening out.

It would be her chance to dress up.

To remind him that the mother of his children was also a living, breathing sexual woman.

If she was going to follow Jake’s advice and fight, then what better place to start than at a party?

Ben frowned. ‘But if you go out then it means you can’t read my story.’

‘I’ll read your story.’ Katy elbowed her brother hard and beamed at both of them. ‘Sounds great! A lovely, family day. Christmas tree followed by Snow Ball. Can’t wait.’

Alessandro’s dark gaze slid towards his daughter. ‘You don’t mind having a babysitter again?’

‘Mind? Why would we mind?’

Ben opened his mouth but closed it again in response to his sister’s quelling look.

Why was he suggesting the party? Christy wondered. Was Alessandro suddenly keen to mend fences, too?

But then she remembered that, apart from that one passionate kiss at the hospital, he hadn’t once laid a finger on
her. It was so unlike him that the only possible explanation was that he just didn’t find her attractive any more.

But Jake was right and she wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

She bit her lip and mentally ran through the contents of her wardrobe.

The situation merited something new. Something sexy and feminine. There was a little boutique not far from the hospital. If she spoke to Nicky and skipped food, she should just about have time at lunchtime.

Alessandro poured himself a coffee and ran a hand over his rough jaw. ‘I need to go and shave,’ he said gruffly, ‘I’ll see you at work.’

The heavy snow had played havoc with the roads and pavements and A and E was crowded with people who had slipped on the ice.

‘Show me another Colles’ fracture and I’m resigning,’ Nicky groaned as she carried a pile of X-rays towards fracture clinic. ‘I wish people would just stay at home and watch television. I can’t remember when I last ate and I am
starving
. ‘

At that moment the ambulance hotline rang and Nicky scooped up the phone, tucking the X-rays under her arm as she listened and asked questions.

‘Child swallowed mother’s iron tablets,’ she called out as she replaced the phone, ‘ETA five minutes. Will you and Alessandro take this one because I must get round to fracture clinic.’

Christy nodded and Alessandro came striding down the corridor in a dark suit that emphasised the width of his shoulders.

‘He’s been upstairs with the powers that be, arguing for
more staff,’ Nicky muttered as he strode towards them, ‘and judging from the black look on his face, he didn’t win. Can’t imagine why. He always intimidates me when he’s in one of his cold moods.’

‘Two sides to a coin,’ Christy muttered, and Nicky frowned.

‘Sorry?’

Christy shook her head. ‘Nothing.’ But she knew that underneath his sometimes remote, chilly exterior was a boiling, red-hot passion capable of erupting with volcanic force.

‘Despite having lived in this country for the past twelve years, sometimes I still think there is a language barrier,’ Alessandro growled, and then switched into a flow of rapid Spanish that was incomprehensible to all except Christy.

Nicky blinked and turned to Christy. ‘All right, you’re married to the guy—translation, please.’

Christy smiled. She knew enough Spanish to have picked up the gist of his tirade and most of it wasn’t polite. ‘He’s basically saying that they weren’t that sympathetic but he told them that we need more staff or the unit will have to close,’ she said smoothly, choosing to leave out the blunter aspects of Alessandro’s invective.

Alessandro lifted an eyebrow in mockery. ‘Selective translation,
querida
?’

‘My Spanish isn’t good enough,’ Christy lied, but her eyes twinkled. ‘There were several words that I didn’t recognise.’

Alessandro stared at her for a long moment and her heart rate started to increase.

Nicky cleared her throat. ‘I hate to interrupt this little multi-cultural interlude but if you’d stop gibbering in a foreign language for a moment, I might be able to hand over the details of this child and get to X-Ray before some sad patient complains about the level of service in this
place. I don’t want to be tomorrow’s headlines in the tabloids, if it’s all the same to you. Call me fussy, but “Patients Abandoned by Killer Nurse” wouldn’t make my mum’s day.’

Alessandro dragged his gaze away from Christy’s. ‘What child?’

‘They’re bringing in a child who has ingested iron,’ Christy said, and Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.

‘How much?’

‘Don’t know that,’ Nicky muttered, checking her notes, ‘just that he’s six years old and he’s swallowed his mother’s tablets. Big panic. On their way in as we speak. Off you go, guys. Save lives. But do it in English or no one will have a clue what you’re talking about.’

And with that she stalked down the corridor, still juggling the X-rays and muttering about her grumbling stomach as the sound of an ambulance siren grew louder.

‘I’ll bleep the paediatricians and an anaesthetist,’ Christy said, and Alessandro gave a nod.

‘I’ll meet the ambulance and see you in Paediatric Resus.’

The child was crying miserably and Christy felt her heart twist. He reminded her so much of Ben. Instinctively she stepped towards the little boy but Alessandro was there before her.

‘There, now,’ he said softly, squatting down so that he was at the same level as the boy. ‘Today is my lucky day because you have come to visit me in my special wizard’s laboratory.’

The little boy’s lip continued to wobble but he stared at Alessandro with wide eyes. ‘Wizard?’

‘Of course.’ He waved a hand around the room. ‘This is where I do all my experiments.’ He reached into the pocket of his trousers, removed a coin and promptly made it disappear.
The boy gasped in delight when it was ‘retrieved’ from his ear.

Christy grinned. That was Ben’s favourite trick, too.

‘Hide something else,’ the little boy said in a small voice, and the mother gave a wobbly smile.

‘Luke’s always hiding things. You should see what I find in his pockets.’ She bit her lip and looked at Christy, her expression full of guilt. ‘I can’t believe this has happened. I didn’t even know those tablets were dangerous,’ she whispered as she moved closer to the trolley. ‘You can buy iron over the counter so I didn’t really think it was too bad, but I had a friend with me and she said that iron can be lethal.’ She covered her hand with her mouth and Alessandro gave Christy a sharp frown.

Interpreting his look, Christy took the mother to one side. Alessandro was successfully calming the child down—he didn’t need the mother upsetting him again. ‘The important thing right now is to find out how much he has taken and treat him,’ she said gently. ‘Did you bring the bottle?’

‘Oh, yes…’ The woman stuck her hand into her coat pocket and pulled out a bottle. ‘It’s supposed to have a childproof cap.’

‘Some children are born dexterous and inquisitive,’ Christy said dryly, thinking of Ben’s antics.

The mother reached for a tissue and blew her nose. ‘I can’t believe he took them,’ she whispered, her face blotched with tears. ‘Or that I was stupid enough to leave them on the kitchen table. He said they looked like sweets. I only turned my back for a moment—’

‘All drugs, even vitamins, should be kept well out of reach of children, but the important thing now is to assess how many he’s taken,’ Christy said. ‘Let’s just concentrate on
sorting him out. Try not to be upset because your distress will make him worse.’

Alessandro took the bottle and examined it. ‘Do you know how many were in here?’

The mother shook her head. ‘It was a full bottle last week and I haven’t missed a dose, so quite a few.’

‘And has he been sick?’

Again the mother shook her head and Christy held out her hand. ‘I’ll count the tablets,’ she suggested, ‘and that will give us an idea how many he’s swallowed.’

At that moment, Billy hurried into the room to help, closely followed by the paediatric registrar.

‘The important thing is the amount of elemental iron that has been ingested,’ Alessandro told Billy in response to his question about iron poisoning.

Christy counted the tablets. ‘Eight missing.’ It was a lot, but Alessandro’s expression didn’t change.

‘All right,’ he said calmly, removing his jacket. ‘We need to check his serum iron, glucose, do a full blood count. And let’s get a plain, abdominal X-ray.’

Billy looked at him. ‘X-ray?’

‘Iron is radio-opaque,’ Christy said quickly, ‘the iron will show up on X-ray.’ But as she studied the child, a thought flickered to life in the back of her mind. ‘Luke, what did the tablets taste like?’

Alessandro frowned at her, clearly anxious to progress, but she lifted a hand and waited for Luke to answer.

‘Sweets.’ But he didn’t quite meet her eyes and an instinct made her step closer to the trolley.

‘Luke.’ She kept her voice gentle. ‘Did you swallow the sweets or did you hide them?’ She saw something in his eyes and her conviction grew. ‘No one is going to be angry with
you, sweetheart,’ she said softly. ‘But we need to know the truth. Are they in your pockets?’

There was a long silence and then Luke nodded, his eyes huge. ‘I was keeping them for later.’

Ignoring the gasp that came from his mother, Christy held out her hand to the little boy. ‘Show me.’

After a moment’s hesitation, Luke dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of tablets, now covered in fluff and bits of sweet paper. He dropped them into Christy’s palm and she counted them quickly.

‘Eight,’ she said in a calm voice. ‘They’re all here, Alessandro. If Mrs Kennet hasn’t missed a single tablet, that makes this a full bottle.’

The paediatrician breathed a sigh of relief and backed out of the room and the mother started to scold Luke, but Christy interrupted her quickly.

‘Good boy, Luke,’ she said firmly. ‘Good boy for telling the truth.’

‘But why didn’t he tell us sooner?’ Mrs Kennet asked, a baffled expression on her face, and Luke dipped his head.

‘You were yelling and screaming and then the ambulance came and that was really cool with the light and the bell thing…’

Christy glanced at Alessandro and saw the gleam of amusement in his eyes. And relief. He was thinking of Ben, too, she thought, and her stomach twisted with love. He was a wonderful father.