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Mistletoe Brides: Italian Doctor, Sleigh-Bell Bride / Christmas Angel for the Billionaire / His Vienna Christmas Bride

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2019
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It was just as well she’d happened to notice the table of women near to them. Made up and dressed up, they’d obviously spent half the day getting ready for their night out and they had gazed at Stefano as though they’d wanted him for their main course.

At that point she’d remembered just who she was with and she’d returned to earth quickly, reminding herself that it wasn’t a date.

He’d been with her because he was polite, not because he’d been attracted to her. For a moment in the car the atmosphere had been stretched and tight and she’d thought—she’d really thought that it was caused by mutual attraction and then she’d realised that the tension had simply been caused by him trying to find a tactful way of extracting her from his car.

Why would a man like him be interested in someone as ordinary as her? He just had well-developed social skills, that was all.

He’d only invited her to dinner because he’d been hungry and he’d been forced to give her a lift. It must have been a horribly awkward situation for him.

No wonder he’d suddenly asked for the bill, instead of lingering over dessert and coffee.

He’d obviously been desperate to escape as fast as possible.

And for her own sanity, she needed to remember that.

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_42ec171e-b9bd-5e4e-93e2-cc3f55ab8742)

‘LIV, you’re needed in Resus. We’ve just admitted a woman with chest pains. She had a Caesarean section seven days ago.’ Anna removed the keys to the drug cupboard from her pocket. ‘By the way, why was your car iced over in the car park this morning?’

‘It didn’t start last night. Did you say she has just had a baby?’

‘That’s right. Second baby, six-hour discharge, no problems. How did you get home if your car died?’

‘I grabbed a lift.’ Without elaborating, Liv hurried into Resus just as the paramedics left the room, pushing the empty stretcher.

‘We’re going to give you some oxygen to help you breathe, Michelle,’ Stefano was saying and he glanced up as Liv joined him by the side of the trolley. For a brief moment his dark eyes lingered on hers and that one look was sufficient to trigger memories of the explicit dreams that had disturbed her sleep the night before.

Remembering just what he’d been doing to her in those dreams, colour flooded into her cheeks and he noted her response with a slight narrowing of his sexy eyes before shifting his gaze back to the radiographer who was hovering. ‘We’ll do a chest X-ray, although I’m not sure it’s going to tell us much.’

‘I can’t breathe—I’m so worried…’ The woman’s lips were blue and Liv took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, trying to ignore the increase in her own heart rate.

It had just been a dream, for goodness’ sake. A dream he knew nothing about. Unless he could read minds, he was never going to find out that she’d been having totally inappropriate fantasies about him.

Angry with herself, Liv checked the monitor. ‘Pulse is a hundred and fifteen.’

It was totally ridiculous to feel like this. He’d given her a lift home, that was all. Trying to forget about the previous evening, she concentrated her attention on the patient. ‘How are those pains, Michelle?’

Michelle closed her eyes. ‘Worse when I breathe.’

Liv’s immediate thought was that the woman had suffered a pulmonary embolus, a clot in her lung. She looked at Stefano and he gave a brief nod of agreement, clearly reading her mind.

At least in the emergency department they were completely in tune.

‘You’re in hospital now, so try to leave the worrying to us, Michelle.’ Liv glanced over her shoulder to one of the other nurses. ‘Alice? Can you call the obstetric unit and see if they can track down her notes, please?’

‘I’ve left my husband with the kids.’ Gasping for breath, the woman was clearly frantic with worry. ‘The baby’s only a week old and I’m breastfeeding. He’s never going to cope.’

‘Is he coming to the hospital?’ Liv watched as Stefano prepared to take blood from the radial artery, his fingers swift and confident.

Michelle coughed feebly. ‘He’s supposed to be following in the car.’

‘I’m just going to take some blood from your wrist, Michelle,’ Stefano murmured. ‘This might hurt a bit.’

‘I’m worried that the baby is going to be starving.’ Tears welled up in Michelle’s eyes. ‘She has no idea how to take a bottle. Ow.’ She screwed up her face. ‘You’re right, that does hurt.’

‘Mi dispiace. I’m sorry. I know it’s uncomfortable.’ Stefano straightened. ‘I want her catheterised so that we can monitor her fluid output. Let’s give her some high-flow oxygen and we need to get a line in. Phil, I want FBC, ESR and U&Es. She has pleuritic chest pain and a pleural rub.’ He delivered a string of commands, his instructions succinct and fluent and Liv stood back for a moment so that the radiographer could do her job.

‘We’re just going to run a few tests on you, Michelle, and then I promise I’ll go and talk to your husband. If necessary I can fetch someone from the obstetric unit to help with the baby.’

Michelle pressed a hand to her chest, her breath coming in shallow pants. ‘I’ve never felt anything like this before. It feels as though I’m being stabbed.’

‘The chest X-ray looks completely normal,’ Phil muttered and Stefano’s dark eyes flickered to the screen. For a brief moment all his attention was focused on the image and everyone in the room looked at him expectantly.

Liv glanced at the monitor again. ‘Sats are dropping,’ she murmured and reached for the ECG machine.

‘The clinical signs are all consistent with a diagnosis of PE,’ Stefano reached out a hand to take a set of results that one of the nurses was flourishing in his direction. He scanned them quickly and then put them on top of the notes. ‘She’s seven days post-Caesarean section, which is a major risk factor. Let’s give her a dose of tinzaparin.’

Liv checked Michelle’s blood pressure again. ‘Her pulse is a hundred and ten and she’s hypotensive.’ She turned back to the patient. ‘Michelle, I just want to do a trace of your heart so I’m going to undo your shirt and attach some wires to your chest.’

‘Has my husband arrived?’ Michelle’s breathing was shallow and rapid. ‘Could you find out? It’s really worrying me.’

‘Rachel?’ Liv spoke over her shoulder. ‘Can you go to the desk and ask them to tell us as soon as Michelle’s family arrive? Put them in the relatives’ room and make sure they have everything they need. I’ll be with them as soon as I can.’

Michelle gave a strangled laugh. ‘I can’t be in hospital. I have a new baby and it’s Christmas in a couple of weeks.’

‘Don’t worry about that, now,’ Liv soothed, her eyes on the ECG. ‘Stefano?’

‘Sì, I am looking.’ His eyes narrowed, he studied the trace. ‘Get ICU on the phone for me. And I want 10 milligrams of alteplase as a starting dose. Let’s arrange for a CT scan.’

It was another hour before Michelle was finally transferred to ICU and only then did Liv and Stefano go and talk to her husband.

They found him pacing the relatives’ room, holding a bawling baby against his shoulder while a toddler clung to his leg.

‘How is she? The other nurse said she was being transferred.’ White-faced with anxiety, he stepped towards Stefano and the baby’s screams intensified, as if the infant sensed that something important was happening. The father rubbed her back helplessly. ‘Sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to do with her. I think she’s hungry and I can’t get her to take the bottle. Michelle expressed some milk last night and left it in the fridge, so it isn’t that it tastes different but I think she just isn’t used to the teat, or something.’

‘Why don’t I have a try?’ Liv held out her arms. ‘Then you can have a proper conversation with Mr Lucarelli. I’m sure there are lots of things you want to ask him.’

‘Would you mind?’ Gently and slightly clumsily he lifted the baby from his shoulder and handed her to Liv. ‘You forget how tiny they are when they’re first born. It’s terrifying.’

Liv expertly snuggled the baby against her and reached for the bottle, leaving Stefano to update Nick on his wife’s condition.

She sat down in the chair, settled the baby in the crook of her arm and drew the teat across her lips. ‘You poor little thing,’ she murmured softly. ‘Are you starving?’

The baby was red-faced from crying and gave a little hiccough. Then she played with the teat for a moment before turning her head away in disgust.

‘I know it feels a bit weird, but it tastes just the same. Trust me.’ Liv squeezed a tiny bit of the milk onto the baby’s lips and watched as her mouth moved hungrily. ‘See? It tastes nice. We just need to teach you to suck.’ She skilfully manoeuvred the teat into the baby’s mouth and the infant lay still for a moment, and then gave a gulp and swallowed. Liv smiled. ‘Good girl.’

‘Oh thank goodness,’ Nick muttered, watching from across the room. ‘She’s been crying for hours. I was at my wits’ end. You are utterly, utterly amazing.’
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