Her Brooding Italian Surgeon Read Online Free Page A

tried very hard to avoid. But everyone made mistakes and thankfully no real harm had been done.
    â€˜Were you a blockie?’ Lisa used the local term to describe people who grew fruit on land with irrigation rights.
    â€˜My grandfather was.’
    â€˜Oh, are you related to the Italians out by Wadjera billabong?’
    The name plunged into Leo like a knife to the heart and he stiffened. Thankfully, Justin’s return ended the conversation.
    â€˜Leo, I’d like to introduce you to our SMO.’
    Leo turned with a welcoming smile on his face. A pair of questioning moss-green eyes hit him with a clear and uncompromising gaze. Eyes that slanted seductively at the corners. A burst of unexpected heat fired low in his belly, disconcerting him for a second before reality crashed in, wiping out all other feeling. Our SMO. Damn it, how could she possibly be the senior doctor?
    You’ve forgotten Bandarra isn’t Melbourne . His father’s voice rang loud in his head and the full ramifications of what he’d done last night hit him like a king punch. He’d let the Bandarra demons get to him and had made an ill-judged call.
    He pulled himself together and, with aching cheeks, smiled. ‘Abbie.’
    Her mouth flattened. ‘Leo.’
    A startled expression crossed Justin’s face. ‘So you two have met before?’
    â€˜We met last night.’ Abbie tugged at the edges of a clean starched white coat which covered a plain round-neck T-shirt and a straight no-frills navy skirt. The hiking boots had been replaced by flat utilitarian sandals of nondescript brown.
    Not a trace of make-up touched her face but, despite that, her lips had a luminous sheen that pulled Leo’s gaze and held it fast. What the hell was wrong with him? But he didn’t have time to second-guess his reaction—the moment had come for damage control. He forced a self-deprecating quirk to his lips and gave a European shrug of his shoulders. ‘I didn’t realise Abbie was the SMO. A major error on my part.’
    Justin laughed, giving his boss a cheeky grin. ‘Poor Abs, if you were a bloke you could grow a beard to look older.’ He winked at Leo. ‘She might forgive you in time.’
    Going by the implacable set of her face and the tight pull of skin over her cheekbones, Leo wasn’t so sure. Still, that didn’tmatter because he’d pull in a favour and ask the doctor from Naroopna to take over. ‘May we speak in private?’
    She matched his shrug and rolled her hands palm up. ‘Is there anything left to say? You made your position quite clear last night.’ Turning on her heel, she headed towards the perspex doors and thumped them open.
    Ignoring the intrigued looks of the other staff, he walked with her. ‘I do have something to say.’
    â€˜You surprise me.’ Her sarcasm radiated from her like heat haze. She unexpectedly turned left into an empty ward and then spun back, crossing her arms hard against her chest, pushing her breasts upward. ‘Look, Leo, I don’t have time for this; I have patients waiting. Are you flying in a private doctor or transferring Maria to Mildura or Melbourne?’
    He found it hard to resist sneaking a look at her surprising cleavage. ‘Neither one of those options is my choice.’ No matter how persuasive he knew he could be, there was no way he’d be able to convince Nonna to leave Bandarra. She’d lived here since arriving as a bride from Italy back in the fifties. Perhaps there’d been times in the past when she might have toyed with the idea of leaving but, since the accident, she’d refused even visits to Melbourne. She wouldn’t leave Dominico. Leo alone had been the one to run.
    He rubbed his chin and hauled his thoughts back to the here and now. ‘You can hand over her care to David Martin.’
    A deep V formed at the bridge of her nose. ‘So you’re transferring her