Under a Siena Sun (Escape to Tuscany #1) - T.A. Williams Page 0,17
bit more confident that she wouldn’t be betraying her principles. She sent an email to Professor Gualtieri, telling him she was very interested indeed, giving him the email address of her boss in London for a reference, and offering to come in for interview. She was booked onto the car ferry next morning and it was only a two-hour drive from Porto Santo Stefano back to Siena, so she told them she could be there after lunch. The reply came back almost immediately and they arranged that she would drive up to the clinic at three o’clock the following afternoon.
* * *
This time her arrival at the clinic was a lot slower than on the previous occasion and she had time to take in the scale and the beauty of the hospital and its scenic location on the hillside looking down on the red roofs of Siena. Beyond the city were the Tuscan hills where Daniela’s mother’s house at Poggio San Marco was clearly visible near the top of the first of these. A steel and glass sign at the gate indicated the name of the hospital simply as the Villa delle Ginestre, with the discreet strapline beneath it in English: The Siena Clinic. The villa was built in the classic Tuscan style and was probably several hundred years old, although a large ultramodern extension had been built at the back. The walls of the villa were white, the louvred shutters a tasteful pale blue-grey, and the surrounding park with its specimen trees a delight. As a place to work, it definitely beat the hell out of the clinic in Mabenta.
Inside, she found Bruno waiting for her with a welcoming smile on his face. He accompanied her along a series of corridors to the office of Virginia’s father, Professor Michelangelo Gualtieri Della Torre, the founder and owner of the Siena Clinic.
He was probably well into his seventies, but he still had a healthy head of hair, albeit steel grey, and his eyes were bright and shrewd. He greeted Lucy with a broad smile and soon put her at her ease as he asked her a number of insightful questions about her background and her recent experience with MSF. It turned out he knew Dr Brown in London very well and he had been impressed by the glowing reference she had provided this morning. As Lucy relaxed in his company, she took a distinct liking to him. This came as a relief as, in spite of Dr Brown’s words, she had been fearful that he might have turned out to be just a money-grabbing ogre. Such was quite evidently not the case.
They talked for the best part of an hour before she shook hands with him and told him she would be very happy to accept the position, starting in two weeks’ time so she could complete her prescribed course of R&R first. After joining them in a cup of Twinings English Afternoon Tea and a little piece of super-sweet panforte to celebrate her appointment, she turned the conversation to her recent patient.
‘And how’s our tennis player? Has he got over his gunshot wound?’
Professor Gualtieri nodded. ‘It’s all healing very well. Between Bruno and yourself, you did a great job. Thank you again for your help with that, Doctor Young. We appreciated it massively. He was up and walking the very next day. He discharged himself and went back to his home and he’s been off any form of painkillers for almost a week now.’
‘That’s excellent news. Do please give him my best wishes next time he comes in.’
Bruno checked something on his clipboard. ‘If you like, you can tell him yourself and take a look at the wound. He comes in three times a week for physio sessions and he’s upstairs now.’
Lucy shook hands with Professor Gualtieri and followed Bruno to the lift. As they reached it, he gave her an apologetic smile. ‘Virginia’s away today so I’m afraid I have to get back to something urgent, but if you take the lift up to the third floor, you’ll find the physio department. I’ll call to tell them you’re coming to see David.’
The huge stainless-steel lift, built to accommodate a patient in a bed, took its time getting up to the third floor and when the doors hissed open, there was a woman in a stylish blue tunic already waiting to greet Lucy. She had evidently been well primed by Bruno.
‘Good afternoon, Doctor Young. My name’s Louisa Verdi. I work