Under a Siena Sun (Escape to Tuscany #1) - T.A. Williams Page 0,6

stop gawping enough to address her again.

‘I would have recognised you, Lucy, I’m sure. Pietro told me you’d changed, but it’s still you underneath. Your hair’s the same and your blue eyes are the same. Yes, you look terrific.’ He released his hold on her, kissed the tips of his fingers and fanned them outwards in true Italian style, murmuring an awe-struck, ‘Bellissima.’

She gave him a grin and then went over to kiss Pietro. He and Daniela had started dating way back when they were teenagers and had been living together now for the best part of ten years. Lucy was delighted they had decided to tie the knot and she had no doubt they would spend the rest of their lives together. As ever, she felt a little twinge of jealousy at their luck in finding each other. She rather liked the idea of having a Pietro of her own. Still, she told herself, one thing was for sure: she was much more likely to find somebody suitable here in Siena than in a little jungle encampment in the middle of a war zone. Thought of the war zone brought its own disturbing memories and she had to make a conscious effort to brush them away.

‘So, tell me all about you, Lucy.’ Bruno waved her into a seat next to him, so that she had a view of the square and of the crowds of tourists milling around. It was still only May and it was already busy. She knew from experience just how much more crowded it would become here as the season progressed. Still, crowds or no crowds, the view across the square to the medieval buildings in front of them was as stunning as ever.

‘Well, Daniela and Pietro may have told you I’m a doctor now.’

To her surprise, she saw him nod enthusiastically. ‘Me too.’

‘Really? You a doctor?’ She was genuinely surprised. The last time she had met him he had been much more interested in sticking lizards into unsuspecting ladies’ handbags or worms down girls’ necks – hers included. ‘When did you decide to go into medicine?’

‘To be totally honest, it was when Daniela told me that’s what you were going to do. I thought if that’s what you’d chosen as a career, I’d better do the same.’

Lucy was touched. ‘And where are you practising these days? Here in Siena?’

‘Yes, well almost. It’s a private hospital just outside of town.’

‘It’s terribly exclusive and astronomically expensive.’ Pietro cut in with a few words of clarification. ‘And he gets to treat all kinds of celebrities, but he refuses to tell us who they are.’

‘I’m not allowed to tell you who they are, Pietro.’ Bruno glanced back at Lucy. ‘But I imagine they’re a bit different from the average patient you’ve been treating in Africa. Pietro told me all about you working for MSF. Complimenti. That’s impressive, especially in a war zone. It can’t have been easy.’

As they chatted about their jobs, Lucy’s eyes ranged over the square, alighting upon the famous Torre del Mangia, rising like a finger pointing into the sky from the side of the imposing Palazzo Pubblico. At the top, the red brick shaft gave way to a white stone section that flared out into an observation platform with a slim belfry sitting on it. The tower was over a hundred metres high and Lucy had only climbed the four hundred steps to the top once in her life and had no intention of repeating the experience. The view from up there had been spectacular, but the steep, narrow staircase hadn’t been much fun. Chatting to Bruno here this evening, on the other hand, was bringing back a lot of memories and proving to be a lot of fun.

As the sun sank lower behind them and the shadows lengthened, she studied him more closely from behind the anonymity of her sunglasses. She noticed that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and there was no mention of a wife. Apart from his being taller than she remembered, he now had a rather alluring stubbly chin and impeccably styled wavy black hair that really suited him. He was wearing a pristine blue short-sleeved shirt and his tanned arms were strong and his shoulders broad. There was no doubt about it; Bruno was a handsome man who looked after himself but, somehow, the attraction she had felt for him as a teenager hadn’t carried through into adulthood. He was a very nice guy but, for whatever reason,