‘Hard to say,’ Luca said honestly, his shrug making him seem more Italian than ever. ‘Do you have problems at home?’
‘Not at home.’ Mary pulled a face. ‘At work. I’m a lawyer and taking time off for something like this is frowned on. In fact, my whole pregnancy is frowned on, to be honest. It’s just a massive inconvenience to them.’
‘And to you?’ Luca’s voice was soft. ‘How do you feel about the baby, Mary?’
Mary paused. ‘I thought I could have it all,’ she admitted at last. ‘I was determined to carry on as I always have, working fourteen hour days until the day the baby arrives, but I never imagined that I’d feel so awful.’
Luca was very still. ‘And is your job so important to you?’
Mary seemed to think for a minute. ‘Well, I always thought it was,’ she said slowly, ‘but when they’re so unsympathetic, it makes you wonder what it’s all for.’
‘Pregnancy is a very special time,’ Luca said quietly. ‘You should take care of yourself.’
‘Yes.’ Mary nodded and gave him a wan smile. ‘Perhaps you ought to have a word with my employers.’
‘Willingly.’ Luca was totally serious and Mary gave a sigh.
‘Only joking. I’ll have to face the music myself and tell them I need some time off.’
Tia compared Mary’s story with Sharon’s reaction to her own pregnancy. She was lucky that the people she worked with were so sympathetic and supportive. Obviously it wasn’t the case for everyone.
Luca turned to Dr Ford and issued a stream of orders which left Tia’s head reeling. ‘Call the ward and admit her, please, and then get a line in and take blood for PCV, U and Es, TFTs. Make sure that the nurses know to chart all the losses and send a urine sample so that we can exclude a UTI.’
Dr Ford scribbled frantically on her pad. ‘And shall I arrange a scan?’
Luca nodded. ‘Please.’
He stood up and smiled at Mary. ‘I hope that a good rest might be enough to sort this problem out. I’ll pop and see you later tonight but stop worrying about work.’
Tia tried not to look at his broad shoulders or the powerful muscles of his thighs. Maybe if he’d never made love to her it wouldn’t be so bad, but knowing just exactly what Luca could make her feel was starting to drive her to distraction. They’d come so close to kissing the night before, and if she hadn’t made the silly no-touching rule she knew that they would have ended up in bed.
As far as she was concerned, the no-touching rule could finish at any time.
She was sure of her feelings and touching wasn’t going to change them.
She was totally, utterly, crazily in love with Luca.
But he still hadn’t told her about his past.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE weeks leading up to Christmas were busy and Tia barely saw Luca at home. There was a nasty flu bug going round the hospital and consequently they were very short-staffed.
‘You look exhausted,’ she muttered one morning as she made them both a quick breakfast before they left for the hospital. ‘Can’t you take today off?’
‘Unless I catch flu, there’s no chance.’ Luca curved a lean brown hand around his coffee-mug and gave a mocking smile. ‘Dan’s away this morning and I’m covering his theatre list as well as my own workload. Still, tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we have two whole days to ourselves.’
Tia’s eyes widened and she shook her head, puzzled. ‘But I’m working.’
‘Not any more. Sharon and Dan put their heads together and decided that we need Christmas off,’ Luca told her with a smile. ‘So tomorrow we’re going to buy a tree and do some shopping. We’re having a proper family Christmas.’
A family Christmas?
Tia looked at him and swallowed hard. Normally she hated Christmas because she was either on her own or working.
‘I—I don’t usually bother with a tree,’ she confessed, and he gave her a slow smile that made her insides churn.
‘Well, this year you’re bothering. We’re buying the biggest tree in the forest.’