The Italian Surgeon's Secret Baby

From top surgeon...

To single dad?

Before nurse Elene Lowe’s best friend died, Elene agreed to raise her baby daughter, Aimee, and is now traveling to Italy to find Aimee’s dad—sexy surgeon Mattia Ricco. Mattia is shocked to discover he’s a father, but the sparks flying between him and Elene soon ignite an irresistible attraction. With Elene and Aimee’s life back in New Zealand, they’re worlds apart, unless Mattia can give them both a reason to stay.

SUE MACKAY lives with her husband in New Zealand’s beautiful Marlborough Sounds, with the water on her doorstep and the birds and the trees at her back door. It is the perfect setting to indulge her passions of entertaining friends by cooking them sumptuous meals, drinking fabulous wine, going for hill walks or kayaking around the bay—and, of course, writing stories.

Also by Sue MacKay

Breaking All Their Rules

Dr White’s Baby Wish

The Army Doc’s Baby Bombshell

Resisting Her Army Doc Rival

Pregnant with the Boss’s Baby

Falling for Her Fake Fiancé

Her New Year Baby Surprise

Baby Miracle in the ER

Surprise Twins for the Surgeon

ER Doc’s Forever Gift

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Italian Surgeon’s Secret Baby

Sue MacKay

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08983-8

THE ITALIAN SURGEON’S SECRET BABY

© 2019 Sue MacKay

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Extract

About the Publisher

PROLOGUE

‘THAT WAS TOO CLOSE.’ Nurse Elene Lowe shuddered and wiped the back of her glove-covered hand across her brow as she stepped back from the theatre table where five-year-old Joe Crawford lay, cast in so much plaster he wouldn’t be moving for the foreseeable future.

‘Too damned close.’ Mattia Ricco, the surgeon, scowled. ‘Can everyone ask their favourite child-whisperer or whatever to watch over this kid? He’s going to need all the help going and some.’

‘Sure will.’ One of the other nurses grimaced over her shoulder as she left the theatre, closely followed by most of the team.

Beep. Once again the heart monitor was telling them Joe had gone into arrest.

Mattia swore as he snatched up the paddles. ‘Stand back.’

Elene’s own heart stalled. ‘So not fair.’ The little guy had arrested twice during the hours of surgery he’d just undergone to deal with two fractured legs and one smashed arm, and to wire his jaw back together.

His little body jerked upwards as Mattia applied an electric jolt.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

‘I’ll tell you what’s not fair,’ Mattia growled. ‘A mother driving through the city on a busy Friday night with her son lying down on the back seat asleep instead of belted securely into a car seat.’

He was right. Why would any loving parent do that? The drunk driver who took out the car at speed might not be Joe’s mother’s fault, but surely not protecting her child was? Elene swallowed the sour taste in her mouth. She understood Mattia’s need to let rip, and as there was only her and the anaesthetist to hear him he was safe from condemnation. ‘I’ll take Joe through to Recovery and bring them up to speed on what’s been happening.’

‘I’m coming with you,’ Mattia muttered. ‘Not because I think you need me to fill in the gaps as you report everything, but I’m reluctant to hand him over until I know his heart’s not going to stop again.’

Exactly her feelings. ‘It’s hard, but he’ll be monitored and looked after as well as he was in here. No one’s going to take their eyes off him for a long while.’

Forty minutes later Mattia said. ‘The obs are the best they’ve been, though not how I’d like them.’ He turned to Elene. ‘Coffee? I want to be within calling distance in case...’

No surprise there. The Italian specialist on contract for a year had won the admiration of all Wellington’s orthopaedic department’s staff for his dedication and high standards. He’d also won the heart of every female in the whole hospital with his good looks and charisma, including hers. ‘Tea for me.’ She followed him into the cramped space that was the staff tea room beside the theatre. In her head she could still see Joe’s little face smothered in the mask supplying him with oxygen and the small body being gently put back together. The heart failures. She wasn’t ready to be alone with her thoughts. ‘Who’d be a parent?’

‘It’s enough to put you off, I’ll agree.

‘But hell.’ Mattia rammed his fingers through his thick, wavy hair. ‘A five-year-old having cardiac arrest is beyond description. How was I going to tell his parents if we hadn’t brought him back?’ His Italian accent had thickened, making his words harder to decipher.

Elene’s stomach turned to acid. ‘This is when I wonder if I’ve chosen the right job. I hate having to be a part of so much agony and distress.’ She’d spoken in Italian without thought. Reverting to English, her native tongue, she continued, ‘Not even saving Joe takes away the nightmare of what we witnessed tonight.’ Quickly spooning coffee granules into one mug and dropping a teabag into another, Elene tried to find something good to think about.

‘Don’t believe that. You’re an exceptional nurse. We all have those doubts at times like this.’ Mattia reached around her with the milk.

‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘I guess.’ A hint of the wild tickled her nose. Aftershave? Nope, there was light stubble on that sexy chin behind her. She tried to step away to put a gap between them and bumped against Mattia’s chest. A solid, muscular wall that filled his scrubs top to perfection. Jerking away, she moved again, only to find him standing rock-solid in front of her, those intense dark eyes locked on hers—with something like lust spiralling through them. Did he need to blot out the last two hours too? In an instant common sense deserted her as excitement rose, filling her lungs, her stomach, her centre—tipping her forwards, towards that body she’d eyed more than once with a sense of wonder. Shutting down everything but the need to press close and feel—feel his strength, the tone of his worked-out muscles, his sex, to forget the horrendous scenes imprinted on her brain.

Hands were on her waist, bringing her closer to her goal. Firm, warm, sensual hands. Then she forgot the hands as Mattia’s head descended until his lips were close, so close, teasing, flirting—waking her up as she hadn’t been in all the years since she’d left her ex. As she hadn’t wanted to be for fear she’d repeat the same mistakes. But this was Mattia, the man she’d lusted after, and therefore argued with often to keep him at arm’s length, for the eleven months he’d been working here.

This is the man your best friend’s currently having a fling with.

Elene jerked out of those hands, away from that provocative mouth that could start her on a path to somewhere she must not go, and cursed the day he’d left Italy to work in New Zealand.

* * *

Mattia breathed deep, filling his depleted lungs and tightening his gut. Not for a nanosecond did his gaze leave Elene’s face. She was swallowing as if her life depended on getting fluid down her throat. Her eyes were wide and filled with guilt. Guilt that was now creeping into his mind. While technically it wasn’t a full-on relationship that would lead to something permanent, he was in the midst of a fling with another nurse, Danielle. Despite the casualness of their liaison he would not seek out another woman until it was over—probably at the end of his contract in four weeks.

But he’d come so close to kissing Elene. Too damned close. Driven by the need to blank out images of young Joe on the table, his heart stopping, his smashed bones, his innocence—yeah, damn it, falling into a kiss with a beautiful woman, even an out-of-bounds one, seemed the perfect distraction. Except it wasn’t. She was right to pull away.

‘Forget the coffee. I’m heading to PICU.’ Hopefully the lad who had his mind going off track was now in there.

‘No problem,’ Elene answered in a tone that suggested it very much was.

He paused at the door. ‘I apologise for my actions. I’m involved with your friend. It was wrong of me.’ Playing the field didn’t mean being callous and uncaring. He understood too well how that hurt others. Not that his ex-fiancée had done that to him. No, she’d found another way to decimate him, but despite the anger he’d never taken up deliberately hurting other women to ease his own pain. At the moment, Danielle was his latest conquest so other women were off-limits. Unfortunately. Because that near kiss—He’d never know. Yet now he understood why Elene had subconsciously been plaguing him on and off over the past months. She was hot, therefore dangerous to his equilibrium. But he was not about to change his thinking on women and relationships, not because this one set his heart racing as if it were being chased by a greyhound.

‘I—’ Her throat rose around another swallow. ‘If you’re apologising then I owe you one too. That shouldn’t have happened. It certainly won’t again. I can’t believe I nearly let you kiss me.’ She paused, drew a breath. ‘I can only put it down to wanting to get as far away from the last two hours as possible.’

The two women were close, probably had an agreement not to look at each other’s men, let alone kiss them. He stepped through the door, keen to get away and put this behind him. ‘Elene, it’s okay. Best we forget it ever happened though.’ Like how? ‘Believe it or not, I don’t want to hurt Danielle any more than you do.’

Her head dipped. ‘So we’ll go back to being thoroughly professional around each other and no one will be any the wiser.’

He couldn’t tell if that was relief or disappointment flooding her eyes, and he wasn’t hanging around to find out. They had to work together for another month. The idea of maintaining their usual aloof, sometimes argumentative façade was curdling in his stomach, despite being the right thing to do. Because it was a façade. On his part anyway. He wanted to know Elene—intimately.

But that’s the last thing you’re going to do, man.

CHAPTER ONE

‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN? Double-booked my room?’ Only the twelve-month-old in Elene Lowe’s arms kept her from crumpling to a heap on the garish red carpet. Landing in a tangle of arms and legs would only exacerbate their distraught mood, and give the receptionist reason to be happy she had missed out on a room. Missed out? Elene slapped the printout of her confirmation lying on the counter. ‘Booked and paid for. Six weeks ago. I am not going anywhere else.’ If only her voice held the conviction required to back that statement, but she was all out of strength and energy. ‘I need this room.’

‘I understand, signora.’ A quick glance at Elene’s ring finger had the receptionist changing tack. ‘Signorina, I’m sorry, sometimes mistakes are made. The other people who booked and paid for the room arrived three hours ago and have signed in. We cannot ask them to leave now.’

‘Yet you can ask me to go away.’ Elene’s hand tightened around her cherished bundle. All she wanted was to get Aimee settled so they both could fall asleep for hours. ‘What am I supposed to do?’

Aimee began kicking her feet, a precursor to waking up. Long overdue. She’d woken when they’d disembarked at Naples International Airport, and instantly fell asleep again once in the taxi that brought them down to Sorrento, an expense well worth the money after more than thirty-four hours travelling from Wellington.

The receptionist seemed particularly interested in her fingernails as she muttered, ‘There are no hotel rooms available in town. I know this from other people coming here looking for accommodation.’

Full of good news, wasn’t she? ‘I have to find somewhere.’ Careful. Don’t let the anger out. ‘Can you suggest somewhere close by? Another town? My d-daughter.’ She still tripped over that word. ‘She’s tired after a long journey and I need to settle her.’

‘Sì, I understand, signorina. I will try the hostels, though you might have to share a room with other women.’ The girl was already picking up the phone.

Hostels? As in backpackers’ accommodation? With a toddler? Oh, that would be absolutely wonderful for everyone. Then again, what choice did she have? Sleeping outside the train station wouldn’t be a good look; it’d probably scar Aimee for ever, and it would be a negative addition to the pros and cons list a certain doctor would no doubt draw up when he learned why they were here.

A high-pitched shriek reverberated in Elene’s ear. Little legs kicked and hands pummelled her back and chest. Aimee had had enough.

‘Shh.’ Elene kissed her forehead. ‘Shh, we’re nearly there, sweetheart.’ Lying to her girl was not good, but some people out there reckoned positive thoughts brought positive results. Lifting the writhing body above her head, she stared up and found a smile. ‘Aimee, Aimee, wee, wee, wee.’ Wonderful, even her singsong voice was off-key.

Another shriek bounced off the walls. Tears dripped down Aimee’s red, scrunched-up face.

‘Oh, baby, I know.’ It was hard not to join in the crying. Digging into the backpack lying at her feet, she found the bottle of milk and tried to placate Aimee, but it was cold, and only achieved raising the noise level to extreme. Anyone would think she was murdering her little girl. Elene’s heart swelled for this trusting little soul. None of this was her fault.

The receptionist had turned her back on them and was talking rapidly into the phone. Finding a bed in a hostel wasn’t sounding promising either.

A bitter gust of breath crossed Elene’s bottom lip. There was no avoiding it. She was going to have to front up early, unprepared, and on the back foot right from the start. Face it—she would never be prepared, didn’t possess the elegance and sophistication required to look Mattia Ricco squarely in the eye as an equal, but she did have right on her side. And the backing of a loving, caring family in New Zealand. If only they were here. Except she had herself to blame for that one, having turned down every offer from both sisters and her mother to accompany her on this life-changing trip.

She tapped the counter. ‘Mi scusi—taxi?’

No, be strong.

‘Please call me a taxi.’ This time her voice wasn’t a whisper.

The receptionist turned to point outside the front entrance. ‘Dietro l’angolo.’

‘Grazie.’ If only she had the energy to get around the corner.

‘Ma-ma-ma-ma.’ Aimee’s tiny fist banged Elene’s shoulder and the bottle went flying, spraying a stream of white droplets over Elene’s crumpled shirt and down to the carpet.

‘Yes, baby girl, you’re right. I need to get a grip.’ She looked across to the receptionist with an apology. ‘Excuse me.’ Why hadn’t she booked a hotel room in Naples for the night? Back in New Zealand, it had seemed such a good idea to get to Sorrento and settle in, catch up on sleep before tracking down her adversary. They hadn’t stopped any longer in the places they’d landed on this endless journey than it took to catch the next flight because, back in the comfort of her cottage in Wellington, getting to the end and holing up until fit and ready for the upcoming confrontation had seemed the best way to go.

The receptionist came around the desk and picked up the bottle. ‘Come on. I’ll help you get a taxi. Where do you want to go?’

‘The hospital.’

The young woman’s eyes widened as she glanced at Aimee, remorse instantly filling her expression. ‘I’m sorry we made a mistake with your booking. I’ll heat the milk for your bambino.’

Elene couldn’t lie. ‘It’s all right. Aimee’s not sick. I know someone who works there who will help me out.’ He’d have no choice. ‘But if you can heat the milk I’d be very grateful.’ Thank goodness Italian was her second language. How she’d manage otherwise didn’t bear thinking about.

‘My sister has a baby too.’

Aimee’s not really mine. Make that not only mine. Because Aimee was hers in a complex kind of way. There was paperwork to prove it. Elene managed to keep the words behind closed lips. Having to explain was too complicated and time-consuming—and irrelevant. ‘Aimee’s had to put up with a lot of flying. She’s been a champ.’

Finally settling into a taxi, she clicked the seatbelt into place, relieved there was a child’s seat since she hadn’t brought one with them, being too bulky and heavy with their other luggage. ‘Don’t go to sleep now, baby girl. Drink your milk instead. We’re nearly there.’ With every turn the taxi took her heart rate quickened. Should’ve stayed at home. Too late now. Or was it? Mattia had no idea she was in Italy, let alone about to knock on his door and burst his over-inflated bubble. She could still run away and forget all about keeping her promise to her best friend.

Aimee’s little chest fell on a sigh as she scoffed the milk.

Elene’s heart squeezed. ‘Love you, baby girl. We’re doing the right thing coming here.’ What if Mattia—?

Don’t go there. Take this one step at a time. This was what Danielle wanted, and what she’d promised to do for her. But she didn’t plan on getting her heart broken. She was thinking about Aimee here, not Mattia’s sexiness, which she’d not managed to forget as she should’ve.

So fight hard for Aimee, for both of you.

It could be a costly battle. Her family had money, but Mattia’s was loaded to the point of being obscene. The smart thing would have been to stay in Wellington and pretend she hadn’t made the promise of her lifetime. The smart thing, also amoral. Being abandoned by her biological father before she’d been born had skewed her thinking until she’d finally met him as a teenager. That was when she’d totally accepted as her father the man who’d raised her after marrying her mother and knew how lucky she’d been. Everyone needed, was entitled to, the unconditional love of good parents. ‘Everyone, baby girl.’

The taxi stopped outside Sorrento’s hospital all too soon. After settling Aimee into her stroller, Elene moved towards the lift that would take them up to Mattia’s office, tugging their bag behind her. Despite the spring heat, her skin lifted in cold bumps. The time had come. Her hand tightened around the stroller handle. ‘Please say I’m doing the right thing. It’s what your mother wanted but I can’t deny the fear of losing you to him blocking my throat.’ She had to trust all the kind things Danielle said about him.

The lift must have been boosted by a rocket launcher. Ping, floor three. Then the doors slid open so fast she was spilling out into a corridor bustling with medical staff, orderlies pushing beds and patients on crutches. Sucking in her stomach, lifting her chin, she stepped into the office with the sign declaring ‘Dottore Mattia Ricco’ and up to the woman behind the desk and said, ‘My name is Elene Lowe. I am here to see Dr Ricco.’

‘You don’t have an appointment,’ responded the woman in a don’t-fool-with-me voice.

‘I don’t, but I can wait until he is finished for the day.’ Any time soon, surely? The clock outside the door had read eighteen-oh-five.

‘The doctor doesn’t see people without an appointment. He’s a very busy man.’

‘Please tell him I am here and let him decide if he’ll see me.’ Because if he refused she had his home address on her phone, and right about now she’d do whatever it took to find a bed for Aimee.

The woman glanced at the closed door to the side. ‘I can’t do that.’

Just then Aimee let out a shriek and began pummelling her thighs, pushing her little body against the stroller restraints.

‘I think my baby needs changing.’

‘There are public toilets on this floor.’

Elene’s eyes suddenly stung. It was all too much. ‘Please.’

‘Sorry.’

Typical of Mattia to have a heartless lioness guarding his patch. Not that she had any right to complain, but there was no accounting for exhaustion and worry. ‘I am going in to see the doctor now, and taking my child with me.’

The woman rose. ‘You can’t. He’s unavailable right this moment.’

Of course. He’d be with a patient. She lifted Aimee out of the stroller. ‘Then I’ll sit here and wait. I am not going anywhere until I’ve talked to Mattia.’ She wasn’t risking him leaving while she was in a bathroom.

‘I’ll call Security.’

‘That won’t be necessary, Sonia,’ came an annoyed command from behind Elene. ‘I will see to this lady. You can go home. It is late for you to be here.’