Under a Siena Sun (Escape to Tuscany #1) - T.A. Williams Page 0,59

she saw that he was looking unusually troubled today. Had it been anybody else, she would have asked what the trouble was and offered to help, but seeing as it was her ex, she just carried on sipping her ginseng and waited for him to speak.

She didn’t have long to wait. After draining his little cup of coffee in one, he set it back down again and looked across the table towards her.

‘Lucy, I’ve got a problem.’ He sounded unusually worried.

‘If it’s professional, I’m happy to help. If you’ve got some little nurse pregnant, you’re on your own.’

‘Nobody’s pregnant.’

‘Right, well, what is it, then?’

‘It’s this woman, you see.’

‘Which woman?’

‘A woman I’ve been seeing. Well, to be honest, we only slept together once, but the problem is I think I’ve fallen in love with her.’

In spite of her impassive exterior, this did in fact arouse more than a spark of interest in Lucy. Doing her best to sound disinterested, or at least neutral, she prompted him. ‘So why’s that a problem?’

‘Because she doesn’t feel the same way about me.’

‘And why are you telling me this?’

‘I thought you could help me, advise me…’

‘Why on earth would I want to help you after the way you behaved?’ She could hear her voice rising in tone and volume and she struggled to contain herself. The irony that her former lover, the man who had broken her heart, now found himself suffering in the same way as she had done, was not lost on her. Karma, she told herself, was definitely a thing. Very conscious she only had a few minutes before she had to return to the operating theatre, she swilled the last of her ginseng around the cup and swallowed before continuing in a calmer tone. ‘Seriously, what do you expect me to do? Get on with it. I have to go.’

‘Maybe give me some advice. It’s complicated, you see.’

‘Complicated?’ She gave a hiss of frustration and then looked up as a glimmer of comprehension dawned. ‘Don’t tell me – she’s married, am I right?’ It didn’t need the slight nod of his head for her to realise her guess had been correct. ‘So you’ve fallen in love with a married woman and she doesn’t love you back – at least, not enough to leave her husband for you? Is that the situation?’

‘Not exactly married, but that’s about the size of it, but it’s more complicated than that…’ His voice tailed off helplessly.

‘More complicated, how?’

‘I can’t say.’

He hung his head and looked miserable but she was rapidly losing patience – and running out of time. ‘Well, if you won’t go into more detail, the only help I can offer is to advise you to sit down and talk it through with this woman, whoever she is.’ She glanced at her watch once more and stood up. ‘I’m due back in theatre right now. Just talk to her, okay?’

* * *

It was lunchtime before she was able to do anything more about Daniela’s news and she had been fretting about it all morning. As soon as she came out of theatre, she went out into the gardens, now once again bathed in sunshine, but she barely registered the delightful display of roses in the big bed around the fountain. The important thing was that nobody else had chosen to come out into the burning midday sun, so nobody was here to overhear her conversation. The temperature was rising steadily as the overnight rain disappeared like magic into the parched ground, but, ignoring any thoughts of mad dogs and Englishmen, she called Armando and was greatly relieved to hear him answer the phone this time. She asked him if he could get David to ring her about a very urgent matter and the call came through less than a minute later.

‘Lucy, hi. It’s David. Is something up?’

‘Hi, David. Yes, I’m afraid we’ve got a problem, a big problem, and it’s my fault.’ She went on to tell him about Tommy and his job as a journalist. ‘It’s my fault he came round last night and spotted you. I was out on Sunday and he saw me, but I didn’t want to talk to him so I told him I wasn’t feeling well. I should have guessed he might come to check up on me, but it never occurred to me, I’m afraid. I’m so, so sorry.’

There was silence at the other end of the line for a few moments. ‘If he’s your boyfriend, couldn’t you