The Italian Doctor's Bride by Margaret McDonagh

Author:Margaret McDonagh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘OUCH!’ Nic complained as Wallace used his leg for climbing practice, sharp little claws digging through the denim of his jeans and into his thigh. ‘Play fair, uomo piccolo.’

Gently he lifted Wallace off his leg, amazed how much the kitten had grown since the day he had found him so bedraggled and on the point of death. Stroking him, he set him on the bed, encouraging him to play with a little ball that had a bell inside it. Wallace swiped it with his paw and then pounced, rolling on his back with his prize. Laughing, Nic tickled his tummy.

Sobering, he glanced out of the window into the darkness. Not that he could have seen much had it been daytime as November was ending as wet and windy as it had begun, the ridge of the hills masked by low, grey cloud. The only sunshine had come, symbolically, on the day of Jimmy’s funeral. With a frown Nic checked his watch. After six. He’d expected Hannah back by now. He hoped she was all right but she had been so sure she wanted to go alone to Jimmy’s to meet his sister and collect some books that the kindly man had left to her.

Trying to concentrate, he turned his attention back to his research. He made some notes but all the time part of him was listening out for the sound of a car in the drive and the front door closing. When it finally came, half an hour later, a sigh of relief whispered from him.

‘Hannah?’ he called, hearing her footsteps on the stairs a few moments later.

‘Hi,’ she greeted him, hesitating just inside the door, a package tucked under her arm.

He scanned her face. ‘You OK, cara?’

‘I’m fine.’ She moved across towards him, a wary look back in her eyes as she approached the bed, holding out the package. ‘Here.’

‘From you?’ he questioned in surprise, setting his medical book aside.

‘No, from Jimmy. Alice said he left instructions that you were to have it.’

Nic swallowed the lump in his throat and took the package, too overwhelmed to speak when he discovered the man he had known for far too short a time had left him his precious antique chess set. He glanced up at Hannah, knowing his feelings were reflected in his eyes, seeing her sad smile of understanding.

He cleared his throat. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘You don’t have to say anything,’ she assured softly. ‘We both know why Jimmy did it, what it meant to him.’

‘And to me.’

‘Yes.’

Nic watched as she crossed to the window and drew the curtains, his breath catching as his gaze ran over her. He almost wished she’d kept to the power suits. The sight of her legs and the curve of her rear in those jeans that moulded themselves like a second skin was driving him mad. And she’d left her hair loose for once. His fingers itched to feel it again.

* * *

Touched by how moved Nic was to receive

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