Baby Surprise For The Doctor Prince

“Not for long, I’m sure.” Enzo’s amused gaze met hers. “Good thing you made the pants fit so the legs wouldn’t get caught in the chain and make him fall again.”

“Yes, good thing. So why were you laughing at my sewing job?”

“I wasn’t laughing at your sewing job. I was laughing because those are—were—my pants.”

Her mouth fell open. “What? They were in the cupboard you told me to look in! With some shorts and T-shirts and...and...” The vision of the neatly folded shorts and manly T-shirts in that cupboard made her voice fade away. Why hadn’t she realized those items were all the same size, when the ones in the other cupboard had been a total mishmash? Heat washed into her face. So much for showing she was indispensable around here. “I’m so sorry. Really sorry. I thought—”

“Aubrey.” He pressed his fingertip to her lips. “It’s fine. Sometimes I run when the clinic’s slow, and I keep clothes here for that. Obviously, they served Benedetto well. Between you and me, his father is very old-school and can be hard on him when he makes mistakes. Not having to show up in bloody, torn pants with a broken bike is a good thing.”

“What about his mother?”

“She died a few years ago.”

Her heart squeezed for the little boy who had lost his mother far too soon. Having her own mother for twenty-seven years hadn’t been nearly long enough. She looked into Enzo’s eyes and could see they’d shadowed with sadness for the boy, too. Probably for the child’s whole family, since he obviously knew them fairly well, and seeing how much he cared melted her heart. Just a little, though. “Poor little thing,” she said softly. “It’s good that you fixed his bike for him, then.”

“And I thank you for making the pants work. We Venetians take care of our own.”

Not being a Venetian, she knew he wasn’t talking about her, but somehow it felt absurdly nice to be included in the thought. Which reminded her how much she wanted to stay here for the next few months, and how Enzo Affini had implied just a bit ago that he didn’t want to work with her in the clinic at all.

“So.” She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. “We were having an important conversation about my job and future here, and you need to know I’m not leaving.”

“No?” His lips quirked at the same time that suspicious frown dipped between his eyes again. “And if the director of the clinic, who would be me, says you have to? That he’ll find you employment somewhere else in Italy?”

“I’ve already worked two months in Rome. And I’ve come to Venice now because this is where I want to be. Didn’t taking care of Benedetto prove we can work together just fine?”

“Aubrey, I cannot promise that I wouldn’t allow myself to be seduced by you again.”

Her mouth fell open. “I didn’t seduce you! I believe it was you who seduced me. And I can promise that it won’t happen again. I don’t even find you attractive anymore.” Which was kind of true. For good reason. And yes, her nose was growing a little, but she’d stick with that half-truth if it killed her.

A slight smile softened the hard lines on his face. “That I know is a lie. Shall we agree that the seduction was on both sides? And that’s the problem, because I can’t have an affair with someone who works at the clinic.”

“Listen. I know we only got together at first that night because you wanted to ask me questions about Shay.” Knowing that hadn’t kept her from jumping into bed with him, though, had it? “It was just a one-night thing. I have zero desire to...to co-seduce you again.”

“And if I can’t say the same thing?”

She wondered if he knew he spoke the words in the same low, sexy rumble he’d used when they’d kissed and made love, and she sucked in a breath as memories of all that shimmered between them. “Then that’s your problem, not mine. Though you clearly didn’t want to anyway, since you never called me in Rome.”

Oh, hell. Did those words really fall out of her mouth? Implying she’d wanted him to, and wondered if he would, and hadn’t liked that he hadn’t? Lord, that was the last thing she’d wanted to admit.

“Aubrey. It wasn’t—”

“Skip it.” She held up her hand, desperate to stop him from giving her some lame excuse he didn’t really mean. “We’ll just have to figure out how to work together. I have no doubt we can act like mere acquaintances and pretend that night never happened.”

“That would be extremely difficult. For me, at least.”

“Uh-huh. And since we’re going to have a professional relationship, please stop with that tone of voice and...and those kinds of comments.”

“I thought you no longer find me attractive, so why is that a problem?”

The way her heart fluttered and her breath caught at his physical beauty and sexiness and utter male appeal, she knew it would be tough going to learn to be immune to it.

“It’s not. Now, I’d appreciate it if you’d give me a tour of the facility, so I’ll know where everything is when a patient arrives, Dr. Affini.” She moved past him to the clinic door and paused there. “Shall we?”

CHAPTER TWO (#ue4a2fbfe-8321-5630-a55c-8885595e4872)

ENZO STUDIED THE woman standing there by the door, looking expectantly at him. Coolly, her pretty chin tipped up as her eyes challenged him. Those eyes had seduced him the second he’d met her two months ago, at the same time he’d wondered what her story was, and her friend Shay’s, too, who’d shown up in his brother’s life pregnant.

He still had no idea if the two women had an agenda that included snagging two doctors who also happened to be princes, and whose problems with their inheritance had been well-documented in the press. He’d planned to just talk with Aubrey the night they’d spent together, but talking and laughing had led to kissing, then touching, which had led to other, more than pleasurable and memorable things he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about ever since.

But getting involved with a woman—a woman he wasn’t sure he could trust—at the same time he was trying to save his heritage had seemed like a bad idea.

And now here she was, in his clinic, in all her beautiful glory. Stunned would be the only word that could describe how he’d felt when he’d seen her standing there, looking sexier than anyone should be able to look in a nurse’s uniform. How coincidental was it that she’d just happened to be signed up for employment there?

Too coincidental, as far as he was concerned.

“You working somewhere else makes more sense. I’ll make a few phone calls to the hospital and the other clinic. I can’t promise to find you a position there but can also look at Verona or Padua for temporary nursing opportunities.”

“This is ridiculous.” She folded her arms across her chest and stared him down with such laser intensity, a lesser man might have caved right then and there. “You need a nurse here, obviously, or I wouldn’t have been hired. I want the job, I’m qualified for the job, and I’m here now ready to work. Did I do well helping with Benedetto?”

“Yes. But that’s irrelevant to the problem.”

“Are you saying that you’re so chauvinistic and weak around women that you wouldn’t be able to behave professionally around me?”

“What? Of course not.” He couldn’t decide whether to laugh, or be irritated, or both. And admit that their night together had happened because he’d been unable to resist being with her then, so yeah, maybe he was weak. “You’re pretty sassy for a woman who wants her boss to keep her around.”

“And you’re pretty insulting, implying I hunted you down in coming to work here.” She stepped closer and poked her finger into his chest, her eyes flashing blue-gray fire. “I can show you the letter from the UWWHA confirming my employment here, which is dated long before we met. And I’m not going to let a mistake from two months ago keep me from having this job now. So you’re stuck with me, and I’m stuck with you.”

He grasped her hand in his, planning to move her finger from his sternum, but found himself curling it against his chest instead. “A mistake, was it? You didn’t seem to think so that night.”

“That night, I didn’t know what I know now.” She yanked her hand from his. “And neither did you. So we act like adults and work together like adults. Professional relationship, pure and simple. Now, let’s get on with you showing me around here, before more patients show up.”

He felt his lips curve, despite knowing that if he agreed to keep her here, it might well be a disaster waiting to happen. He’d been attracted to her smarts and beauty and sense of humor before. Add to that her spunk and tough attitude?

Irresistible.

Dio. He sighed and stepped around her to open the door. “I have a bad feeling the next few months are going to challenge me at a time I have too many challenges already,” he said. “Lead on, Aubrey Henderson. I’ll show you the ropes if you promise not to hang me with them.”

“I never make promises I’m not sure I can keep,” she said in the sweetest of tones, smiling up at him, her eyes filled with victory, flashes of exasperation, and a touch of the teasing look he’d fallen for before. “But I’ll do my best, Dr. Affini. That I can promise.”

* * *

Several days working at the clinic hadn’t dimmed Aubrey’s enthusiasm for the job, it had made her even more excited about it. Seeing the clinic sign up ahead had her stepping up her pace the same way it had the first day she was there. She was so glad she’d embarked on this adventure, in spite of Enzo Affini’s insulting attitude and the uncomfortable tension between them.

Why in the world had she decided to sleep with him that first night she’d met him? What a mistake that had turned out to be! It was so obvious now that she never should have gotten involved with him, especially since she’d known all along that the main reason he’d offered to show her around Venice was because he’d wanted to pick her brain about Shay.

Except she just hadn’t been able to resist, fool that she was.

Now, though, she was going to concentrate on work and only work. Thank goodness Enzo hadn’t made her go somewhere else, since taking care of mostly tourists was so interesting. In some ways completely different than what she’d done back at home, and in other ways it was exactly the same. And the locals she’d seen so far in the clinic had been a fascinating mix of characters, from charming and sweet to gruff to downright cranky. Though she supposed that would describe all the people in the world—when it came down to it, everyone was much more alike than they were different, weren’t they?