The Doctor's Runaway Bride

Tia shook her head. ‘That’s not true. That woman in clinic today. Karen. She was so excited about it she made me feel ill. I don’t feel like that, Luca. When I think about the baby I just feel panic.’

He said something in Italian and then switched to English. ‘That is why you were so upset today. I guessed as much.’ His grip on her tightened reassuringly. ‘It’s early days, Tia. Karen had been planning a family for ages. That isn’t what happened with us. Our baby has come before we planned it and the baby isn’t real to you yet. Stop worrying and trust me, Tia. Everything will be all right.’

She lifted her face and her eyes met his. The intensity in his gaze made her heart beat steadily against her ribs and he reached out and stroked a hand down her soft cheek.

He was going to kiss her.

She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to kiss her so badly.

His mouth hovered only a breath away from hers and she closed her eyes, her lips parting in readiness for his kiss.

Luca…

She waited in an agony of anticipation and then gave a whimper of surprise and disappointment when he lifted her firmly off his lap and tucked her back under the duvet.

‘No touching,’ he reminded her, his voice deep. ‘We are getting to know each other, Tia, and I want that to continue. For the time being, we talk and nothing else.’

Without another word he walked out of her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him and leaving her breathless with frustration.

How?

How could he have been so close to kissing her and resisted?

She groaned at the unfairness of it all. When she’d made the no-touching rule she’d had no idea that it would be this difficult to carry through…

Tia was working in clinic again the next morning when Luca found her.

His dark hair gleamed under the lights of the antenatal clinic and he looked strikingly handsome.

‘I have arranged for you to have a scan,’ he told her, coming straight to the point. ‘You need to ask for an hour off.’

Tia gaped at him, outraged by his high-handedness. ‘And what am I supposed to tell Sharon? We’re rushed off our feet.’

‘I want you to see our baby,’ he said calmly, clearly unfazed by her anger. ‘You are pregnant, Tia, and you can’t carry on denying it.’

See the baby? What difference would seeing it make?

And was she really denying it?

Maybe she was.

Tia swallowed, her brain suddenly jumbled. Maybe that was exactly what she was doing.

‘All right.’ She ignored the sudden fluttering of nerves in her stomach. ‘What time is the scan?’

‘Twelve o’clock,’ he said immediately. ‘I’ll meet you there.’

She nodded and watched him go with mixed feelings. She knew that the hospital policy was to scan women at about twelve weeks, both to estimate gestational age and to detect any signs of foetal abnormality, but somehow she’d managed to avoid thinking about it.

Until now.

Suddenly feeling very nervous, she went looking for Sharon and asked her if she could take her lunch at twelve and then went back to her patients.

Clinic was incredibly busy but she managed to get away at twelve and made her way to meet Luca.

Most routine scanning was carried out by a radiographer trained in all aspects of ultrasound, so Tia was surprised to see Justin Lee, the professor of foetal medicine, waiting with Luca.

She knew that Professor Lee usually only scanned high-risk pregnancies and she looked at Luca with alarm in her eyes.