applied traction to the leg, gently pulling the ankle with one hand and supporting the knee with the other.
Katya stood closer to him than was strictly necessary and Christy tried not to mind and concentrated instead on helping Donna.
‘You can see that he’s correcting the abduction and the external rotation,’ she explained as she helped manoeuvre the splint onto the leg until it was in the right position.
She and Alessandro worked together smoothly, closely observed by both Katya and Donna.
Once the cords were tied and twisted, Christy put wool roll padding under the thigh. ‘Now we just need to bandage the whole splint from thigh to lower calf,’ she said to Donna, ‘lift and support the leg on a pillow and check the distal pulses.’
‘Great.’ Alessandro turned to Katya. ‘Can you arrange for X-rays and then we’ll refer him to the orthopaedic team? I want X-rays of the pelvis, hip and knee.’
Katya gave a feline smile. ‘Of course, Alessandro.’
Donna shot a questioning glance at Christy, who dragged her gaze away from her scrutiny of Katya and volunteered the information she knew was needed.
‘For the femoral shaft to fracture, there must have been a violent high-energy impact and that is associated with other injures.’ He wouldn’t be sleeping with Katya, she told herself firmly. Alessandro wouldn’t do that. He might be the archetypal alpha male, but he was an honourable man with strong principles. ‘So when we’re X-raying, it’s important to check pelvis, hip and knee.’
But if he considered their marriage to be over, would he do that?
CHAPTER THREE
CHRISTY started to clear up some of the debris that had accumulated while Katya and Donna arranged the X-rays. She knew how important it was to keep Resus tidy and well stocked, and she thought that the comfort of routine might relieve the sick feeling building in her stomach.
Forcing herself to be rational and mature, she hung a fresh bag of IV fluid from the drip stand and then started to replenish the drugs that they’d used.
Eventually the patient was transferred to Theatre and she was left alone in the room. She picked up a laryngoscope from the intubation tray and snapped it open, testing that the bulb worked. She stared down at the curved, silver blade in her hand and didn’t hear the door open behind her.
‘So—working in A and E is obviously like riding a bike.’ Alessandro’s deep, masculine drawl came from directly behind her and she turned, her stomach jumping. There was no reason to feel nervous, she told herself firmly. They’d worked together as a smooth, efficient team. She hadn’t done anything wrong.
‘It came back to me.’
‘Obviously.’ His dark eyes lingered on her face. ‘You’ve missed it, haven’t you?’
She caught her breath. It had been years since she’d stopped working in A and E and yet that was the first time he’d ever asked her that question. ‘Yes,’ she breathed. ‘I missed it terribly.’
Something flickered in his eyes. ‘You never said.’
‘You never asked.’
Their eyes met and held and Christy felt the heat flicker and stir in her pelvis.
Why did she have to find him so completely irresistible? The attraction between them was so powerful that it blinded her to every other aspect of their relationship, which was probably the reason they hadn’t sorted their problems out earlier.
‘We should talk more,’ he said roughly, and she gave a wan smile.
‘You’re not always that easy to talk to, Alessandro.’
‘Am I really scary?’ There was a frown in his eyes and she realised that her earlier comment had genuinely bothered him.
‘You can be intimidating,’ she said honestly. ‘But that’s partly because of your skills and experience. You can’t expect a newly qualified nurse to respond to an emergency situation with your confidence.’
‘If she can’t cope with the situation, she shouldn’t be in Resus,’ Alessandro growled, and Christy sighed.
‘You’re so hard on people. In an ideal world, I suppose you’re right. But we don’t live or work in an ideal world. And the best way to learn is by the patient’s bedside, gaining hands-on experience with the appropriate supervision.’ She scanned the trolley, checking that she’d replaced all the drugs they’d used. ‘All the studying in the world doesn’t prepare you for the pressure and demands of Resus when a patient is bleeding before your eyes.’
Alessandro looked at her thoughtfully. ‘You were good with her,’ he conceded. ‘The nurse, I mean.’
It was so unlike him to offer praise that she blinked in astonishment and then felt the warmth spread inside her.
‘Thank you.’
‘Do I scare you?’ His direct question made her catch her breath.
She wondered whether she ought to admit that the only thing that scared her was the thought of losing him.
She opened her mouth to tell him, but pride trapped the words in her throat before she could utter them. She was sleeping in the spare room, she reminded herself. He hadn’t come after her.
It was the wrong time to be honest about her feelings when she was so unsure about his.
‘No,’ she said finally, her voice quiet. ‘You don’t scare me, but you can be difficult to reach and sometimes I just give up rather than keep trying.’
He muttered something in Spanish and ran a hand over his jaw, a jaw that was already showing signs of stubble. Then he reached out and slid a hand behind her head and pulled her face to within inches of his in a gesture that was both male and possessive. ‘I don’t want a divorce, Christy. Be clear about that.’
She stared up at him, hypnotised by the look in his dark, brooding eyes. They were the words she’d waited to hear for two long months and he’d chosen to say them in Resus under harsh, fluorescent lights with the likelihood that they’d be disturbed at any moment. She wanted to ask why he’d let her go. She wanted to ask about Katya. Suddenly, she wanted to know how he’d spent the last six weeks. ‘And what if I want a divorce?’
She said the words to goad him and remembered too late that goading Alessandro, with his volatile, Latin temperament, was not a good idea.
‘You don’t.’ He slid his other arm and around her and jerked her against him in a decisive gesture that was so much a part of him.
She felt the strength and power of his body and the breath trapped in her throat. ‘Alessandro…’ she couldn’t concentrate on anything when he was this close. Couldn’t think…
‘Need me to prove it to you?’ He breathed the words against her mouth, his tone silky smooth and dangerous, and she gave a whimper, knowing what was coming and willing herself to reject him. ‘Need me to prove that you still want me?’
‘No, I don’t, I—’
His mouth came down on hers with seductive intent and immediately she sank against him because no one kissed like Alessandro and resisting him was impossible. His hand was buried in her hair, the skilful slide of his tongue erotic and demanding as he took her to the edge of sanity with a speed that shocked her.
His kiss was hungry and primitive and she clutched at him, pressing against him, her need so intense that she forgot everything except her desire for him.
Kissing him gave her the reassurance she needed and then he released her and stepped back, his expression cold. ‘The children need both their parents. We’re a family, Christy, and that isn’t going to change.’
The