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For the longest time, he said nothing
Demanded no explanations.
Toni simply held her and let her cry, and if Pip hadn’t realized before that she was in love with this man, she could have no doubt about it now. He had no idea what she was so upset about, but he was still prepared to hold and comfort her. It was like the way he accepted Alice as part of her life. Whoever she was and whatever baggage she brought with her, she was made to feel acceptable.
And when Pip was finally ready to talk, Toni listened with the same attentiveness he’d shown when he’d heard the story of her past. He held her as she spoke, and every subtle movement of his body and hands implied willingness to be there. To support her.
Pip turned her face and received his kiss, this time on her lips. It was a kiss that carried all the strength of his passion and yet there was nothing overtly sexual about it. It was like nothing Pip had ever experienced. More than sex, more than friendship, it conveyed hope—the possibility that Toni had fallen in love with her to the same degree she had with him.
Exploring the complexities of relationships is not just fascinating, it provides the heart and soul of any story worth reading.
Adding an extra dimension, like a parent or a child, to the developing relationship between the central characters of a romance always provides exciting possibilities, but I wanted more this time.
A parent and a child. Three generations of a family in a complex, tightly knit family circle. I knew it would take a very special hero to enter that circle. One with reasons of his own to go the extra distance. A hero who was passionate and sensitive enough to understand, even when tested, that the journey was more than worthwhile.
And who better than a gorgeous Italian?
Enjoy!
Alison
The Italian Doctor’s Perfect Family
Alison Roberts
CONTENTS
THE nudge from a small elbow demanded attention.
‘Pip?’
Philippa Murdoch turned her head swiftly. ‘Sorry, hon—I was miles away.’
In the emergency department, no less, where she’d had to leave a patient who hadn’t been overly impressed by the disappearance of his albeit junior doctor.
‘I think they’re calling me.’
‘Alice Murdoch?’
Everyone in the packed waiting room of the paediatric outpatient department was looking at each other with a vaguely accusatory air. Maybe they’d all had the same kind of hassle as Pip in fitting in their appointments and they didn’t appreciate the possibility of further delay due to a less than co-operative patient.
‘Here!’ Pip stood up hurriedly, wishing she’d left her white coat downstairs. The woman who’d been trying to negotiate a truce between three small children fighting over the same toy in the corner gave her a suspicious look that made her feel as though she was somehow jumping the queue by means of professional privilege.
As if! They’d probably waited as long as anybody here for an appointment with the most popular paediatrician in the city. Which was why Pip had been forced to abandon her own duties to make sure the consultation wasn’t lost.
Had she missed something in that initial assessment of her last patient? The symptoms had been non-specific and unimpressive and too numerous to find one that seemed significant, but maybe she should have taken more notice of that toothache he’d mentioned? What if Pip had left him under observation while he was busy having a heart attack? She should have ordered a twelve-lead ECG and some bloods rather than more routine vital sign observations.
She and Alice were ushered into a small room with three chairs in a triangle on one side of a desk and a couch against the opposite wall. The nurse deposited a plain manila folder with Alice’s name on the front onto the desk.
‘Have a seat,’ she invited. ‘Dr Costa won’t be long.’
Alice raised her eyebrows. ‘Funny name, isn’t it?’
‘It’s Italian.’
‘Why can’t I just go back to Dr Gillies?’
‘Dr Gillies is our family doctor. Part of his job is to get someone else to see his patients if he’s not sure what’s wrong. It’s called referral.’
Alice absorbed the information with a small frown. Then her face brightened.
‘Knock, knock,’ she said.
‘Who’s there?’ Pip responded obligingly.
‘Dr Costa.’
‘Dr Costa who?’
‘Dr Costa lotta money.’
Pip’s grin faded with astonishing rapidity as she realised she wasn’t the only one to have heard Alice’s joke, but the tall, dark man, whose sudden presence seemed overwhelming in the small consulting room, was smiling.
‘I don’t really cost much at all,’ he said to Alice as he eased his long frame