Chapter 3
The emergency lighting flicked on just as Nat said, ‘You know’ – she removed her elbow out of his grasp, super conscious of their closeness – ‘when they teach you a foreign language it’s always the swear words you learn first?’
He chuckled. ‘Guilty.’
Coming from a man who had thus far looked incapable of anything remotely joyous, his low laughter took Nat by surprise. And yet, it enveloped her in the close confines, making her feel curiously safe. Their gazes met for a moment and held for a beat until he took a step back.
Halle-freaking-lujah.
‘I’ll call and see what’s happened,’ he announced as his hand reached for the phone behind the metallic panel beneath the buttons.
Nat nodded absently, also backing up, pleased to feel the solidness of the wall behind her.
For a moment there, maybe it had been the half-light, his eyes had darkened even further and she swore she’d seen the flare of desire sparking in their black depth.
Suddenly the air was heavy, cloying, oppressive, and she took some calming breaths.
She wasn’t the hysterical type and now was not the time to become one.
Listening absently to Alessandro’s conversation with whoever it was on the other end of the line it became apparent they weren’t getting out any time soon.
‘There’s a problem with the city grid,’ he said as he hung up the phone and turned to face her. ‘Something to do with the heatwave. The emergency power has kicked in but two lifts have failed to start. They’re working on it.’
Nat licked her lips, the thought of spending time with him in a confined space rather unsettling. Did he also feel the buzz between them or was it all one-sided? Had she imagined that spark in his eyes? ‘Do they have any idea how long it might take?’
‘No.’
‘Porca vacca,’ she muttered, figuring Alessandro’s instinctive expletive was as good as any. In either language.
He chuckled again, and again she was taken aback at the rich earthy delight of it washing over her body as warm as the air inside the lift. ‘You’re not claustrophobic, I hope?’
Nat shook her head. ‘No. I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed if you’re waiting for me to turn into a hysterical female.’
‘Good.’
Nat glanced at him briefly and quickly looked away. He loomed in the dim light and with each passing second, he seemed to take up more room. ‘Well, no point in standing. Might as well get comfortable for the long haul.’
She sat then, cross-legged on the floor, her back pressed to the wall.
She looked up at him looking down at her and was reminded of their first meeting when she’d had the bean-bag disadvantage.
He was looking at her with that now familiar coolness in his eyes and she couldn’t stand it for a moment longer.
‘Sit down, for God’s sake,’ she grouched.
‘Are you always this disagreeable?’ he asked as he slid down the wall, planting his feet evenly in front of him, his knees bent.
Nat, who was excruciatingly aware of his encroaching masculinity, shot him a startled look.
She opened her mouth to protest. No, she wasn’t.
Despite her father’s desertion and the recent ending of a long-term messy relationship that would have caused the most congenial woman to become bitter and twisted, she was essentially a very agreeable person.
Perennially happy. Everyone said so. She almost told him so too. But then a quick review of the twice she’d spoken to him had her conceding that his comment was probably fair.
She raised her gaze from the fascinating way his trousers pulled across his thigh muscles. ‘I owe you an apology. For the other day. After Ernie. I was out of line. It was none of my business.’
Her apology seemed to surprise him but he didn’t comment on that, just nodded and said, ‘You did overstep a little.’
Nat wanted to protest again, justify her reaction as being in Julian’s interests, but he was right. ‘I get too involved. I always have. My first nurse unit manager said I was a hopeless case.’
He smiled grudgingly as he removed his stethoscope and loosened his tie. ‘There are worse human flaws.’
Nat stared at how even a small lift to his beautiful mouth transformed his face.
Combined with the now skewed tie and the undone top button, revealing a tantalising glimpse of very male throat, he really was a sight to behold.
She wished she could loosen something because it was starting to get hot and stuffy without the benefit of the air conditioning.
‘She didn’t think so.’
Straightening his legs, he stretched them out in front of him as he shrugged and lifted his eyes to skewer her with a direct look. ‘We’d just lost a patient. Death affects everyone in different ways.’
The teasing light she’d glimpsed briefly snuffed out and he seemed bleak and serious again.
An older version of Julian. She hesitated briefly before voicing the question that entered her head.
But they had to talk about something. And maybe he was looking for an opening? ‘How long ago did your wife die?’
She realised it was a mistake immediately as every muscle in his body seemed to tense in unison and he drew his legs up again. His withdrawal clawed at her and she was startled by a twist of empathy deep inside.
Oh, no. No. No. No.
Alessandro Lombardi was a big boy. He didn’t need her empathy. It was bad enough that she was sexually attracted to him. He didn’t need her to comfort him and fix things too. His wife was dead – she couldn’t fix that. Only time could fix that.
‘I’m sorry. There I go again. None of my business.’
Alessandro grunted. She was right, it wasn’t.
But her admission took him by surprise. It was refreshing to be with a woman who could apologise.
Refreshing to be with one who could be calm about their current situation.
Certainly, Camilla would have thrown her first tantrum by now, demanding to speak to someone in authority.
Nat Davies dented his guard and perhaps that was why a fragment of a memory had slipped unbidden from the steel trap in his brain. Opening his door on the other side of the world to two grim-looking policemen…
A memory he didn’t seem to be able to stuff back in again thanks to the confounding Nat Davies.
It was the first time he’d been close to her since her outburst after their MI patient had died but he’d certainly heard her name frequently enough.
Julian had spoken of little else. He’d heard it so often he’d started to dream about her and that perky blonde ponytail his gaze had been glued to as the lift had made its descent.
And now her fresh orchard-in-bloom scent wafted towards him causing the kind of distraction he couldn’t afford. Damn it all. The draw he felt to this woman was a complication he didn’t need. But he found himself opening up anyway.
‘Nine months.’
‘Oh.’
She was clearly surprised at the information. Had she thought it sooner, or later? But she recovered quickly, murmuring, ‘I’m so very sorry.’
Alessandro watched as her gaze filled with pity, the blue of her irises turning soft and glassy in the gentle light and he couldn’t bear to see it.
A sudden black fury streaked through him fast and hot like a lightning bolt from the deep well of self-hatred that bubbled too close to the surface.
He didn’t deserve her pity. He wasn’t worthy of it.
All he deserved was her contempt.
This was why he’d left England. To get far away from other people’s pity. Their well-meaning words and greeting-card platitudes. Knowing that he had driven Camilla to her death, that he alone was responsible… the hypocrisy had eaten him up inside.
Looking into Julian’s face every day was more than he could stand. Which was why it was much easier to just not.
It took Alessandro all of his willpower to drag himself back from the storm of broiling emotions squeezing his gut. ‘Nat,’ he said, desperate to change the subject now, wishing he hadn’t gone there in the first place. ‘Is that short for something?’
‘Natalie,’ she said after a beat, allowing the change in subject even though it was a little stilted, as if he’d trespassed into one of her no-go zones. ‘My father… I was supposed to be a boy.’
‘Ah.’ Okay, he’d definitely trespassed.
‘Nathaniel. Nat for short.’
She said it with brisk disinterest, like she wasn’t bothered, but Alessandro could spot a fake at ten paces. It took one to know one. Underneath her clipped words he sensed a deeper turmoil. As if maybe she felt inadequate because she wasn’t the boy her father had wanted.
‘My parents had kind of got used to thinking of me as Nat so they decided on Natalie.’
Yep. The slight huskiness to her voice betrayed an emotional minefield. ‘Nathalie.’ Alessandro took his time rolling it around his tongue, giving it an Italian inflection, softening the t, liking the way it sounded. ‘It’s pretty. Much prettier than Nat.’
‘I prefer Nat,’ she dismissed lightly, brushing at imaginary fluff on her skirt.
Alessandro lowered his eyes, watching the nervous gesture. It was preferable to the emotion he could see and hear. Her emotional vulnerability was far too close to his own.
‘Ah, yes, Nat. Nat, Nat, Nat.’ Alessandro lightened his voice, steering them back to neutral ground. ‘I hear that name so often at home these days I’m beginning to think you’ve hypnotised my son.’
She laughed and a well of relief flushed through his system as her eyes sparkled. ‘Julian talks about me?’
Despite not wanting to, Alessandro noticed the way her uniform pulled across her chest. The way the zipper tab nestled in her cleavage. It had been such a long time since he’d noticed anything much about a woman at all but it was becoming a habit with this bossy Australian nurse.
He sent her a tight smile. ‘Non-stop.’
She grinned. ‘Sorry.’
But she didn’t sound remotely sorry. In fact, she looked damned pleased with herself. Alessandro shrugged. ‘I’m pleased he… has someone.’
Even if hearing her name incessantly meant she was never far from his thoughts.
Even if that transferred into the rare moments of sleep he managed to snatch during nights that seemed to last an eternity.
Those few precious hours were suddenly full of her.
Bizarre erotic snapshots the likes of which he hadn’t experienced since puberty.
Just another reason to despise himself a little bit more. Camilla hadn’t even been dead a year and he was fantasising about some… lookalike-but-not Australian bossy-boots, like a horny teenager.
‘He’s a great kid, Alessandro.’
Her voice had softened and he could tell she held genuine affection for Julian. He wished his own relationship with his son was as uncomplicated. When he looked at Julian he saw Camilla and his guilt ratcheted up another notch. ‘I know.’
And he did know. But he didn’t know how to reach a child who was a stranger to him. He didn’t know how to look at his son, love his son and pretend that he wasn’t the reason Julian’s world had been torn apart.
Perhaps if they’d been closer before Camilla had died…
They looked at each other for a long moment, the air thick between them and not just from stuffiness. A phone ringing broke the compelling eye contact and it took a few seconds for him to realise it wasn’t the lift emergency phone but Nat’s mobile.
She pulled it out of her pocket and gave an inward groan at the name flashing on the screen. ‘Perfect,’ she muttered as she tapped the answer button.
It was difficult for Alessandro not to eavesdrop.
It was impossible to even pretend he wasn’t.
There was him and her in a tiny metal box, not much light and nothing else to do.
He did try to feign disinterest, pulling his phone out and checking his emails, but it was obvious she was having problems with her lease.
When she pushed the end button on her phone with a grimace, Alessandro said, ‘Problema?’
She stuffed the phone back in her pocket. ‘You could say that.’
‘Landlord issues?’
‘That’s an understatement.’ She gave a deep sigh. ‘I’ve been given two weeks to move out.’
Alessandro dropped both of his legs, stretching them out in front as he crossed his arms across his chest. ‘Because you have lots of loud parties and are behind on your rent?’
She flicked him a quelling look. ‘The owners want to move back in.’
‘Can they do that?’
‘Yep.’ She shrugged. ‘The lease is up.’
‘Ah.’
‘Yes. Ah.’
‘Have you thought of buying? It’s not exactly a buyers’ market but if you can afford it, better to pay your mortgage off than your landlord’s.’
‘I have bought a place. A unit not far from St Auburn’s. I bought it off-plan. It was supposed to be finished two months ago but with all that winter rain we had it’s behind schedule.’
‘I see.’
She moved her legs until they were stretched out in front next to his, her uniform riding up a little to reveal two very well-defined kneecaps and a hint of thigh, and Alessandro’s gaze dropped to the bare flesh before he realised what he was doing.
‘I only took a six-month lease because the project manager assured me the project would be on time. Damn man is as slippery as an oily snake.’
Discombobulated by an impulse to stroke his fingers along the exposed area of leg, Alessandro dragged his attention back to her frowning face, giving little thought to his next words.
‘Do you not have a man? A husband or boyfriend, who can deal with these things for you?’