The Consultant's Italian Knight. Maggie Kingsley

      “I’m going back to work this afternoon, and you’ll have to clap me in irons to stop me.”

      “And you think that can’t be arranged?” he declared, every bit as angry now as she was. For a moment he thought she was going to argue with him, then her lips twisted slightly.

      “Mario, I know you’re just trying to protect me, but I have to go back to work. You’ve been a doctor. People need me, and I can’t let them down. I simply can’t.”

      “I appreciate that, Kate, I do. But this isn’t a game,” he protested.

      “The risk is worth taking.”

      Not for him, he thought, as his eyes met hers. If anything should happen to her…If he never saw her laugh again, or smelled her perfume or saw her chew her lip when she was thinking…But he couldn’t tell her that. He hated admitting it even to himself.

      “Okay,” he said slowly, “if you want to go back to work, then I’ll let you. But,” he continued as her large grey eyes lit up with clear delight, “there are conditions. You have to let me come back and work in your department—”

      “Not a problem.”

      “—and you have to let me move in with you.”

      Dear Reader,

      Before I started writing this book I asked my editor if I could try something a little bit different. “Great,” she said. Trouble was, I couldn’t come up with anything different. I considered forensic medicine, but it didn’t light my fire. And then I thought, “How about a woman-in-jeopardy mystery story set in a hospital?”

      As soon as I’d decided that, I was off and running, and the character of Kate followed just as fast. But my hero was a lot tougher to crack. Zach—yup, he was Zach right up until I was halfway through this book—just wouldn’t speak to me. I kept wondering what was wrong, and then one day, right out of the blue, he said, “I’m Italian.” I tried to keep him quiet, to tell him I was the writer and I would decide what nationality he was, but he kept on saying it, so I went back to the beginning of the book and began rewriting it. The minute Mario hustled Kate into that cupboard I knew he’d been right and I’d been wrong. He was suddenly infuriating and intriguing and absolutely everything a hero should be. In short, I fell in love with him, and I hope you do, too!

      Maggie Kingsley

      The Consultant’s Italian Knight

      Maggie Kingsley

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      CONTENTS

       Cover

       Dear Reader

       Title Page

       CHAPTER ONE

       CHAPTER TWO

       CHAPTER THREE

       CHAPTER FOUR

       CHAPTER FIVE

       CHAPTER SIX

       CHAPTER SEVEN

       CHAPTER EIGHT

       Copyright

       CHAPTER ONE

      ‘BE CAREFUL what you wish for.’

      That’s what her mother had always said to her when she was a little girl, Kate Kennedy remembered.

      ‘Be careful what you wish for because it might actually come true.’

      Well, it had come true, Kate thought, as she gazed out over the crowded waiting room of the A and E department of the General Infirmary in Aberdeen. Three years ago, at the age of thirty-two, she’d become one of the youngest A and E consultants in the country. She’d got the job she’d always wanted, a husband who had loved her, and the perfect home, but now…

      ‘Broken arm in cubicle 4, Kate. Stomach pains in 6, a wheezer in 1, and a seven-year-old with a cut leg in 3.’

      Kate turned to see Terri Campbell, the blonde-haired, middle-aged sister in charge of the nursing staff of the A and E department regarding her expectantly, and managed a smile.

      ‘Business as usual, then,’ she replied, glancing back at the waiting room in time to see a fight break out between the two young men who had been drinking steadily ever since they’d arrived.

      ‘You OK, Kate?’

      Concern had replaced the expectant look on Terri’s face, and Kate forced her smile back into place.

      ‘Bad attack of Saturday night blues,’ she lied. ‘Everyone else is out there enjoying themselves, and I’m stuck in here, on a hot August evening, tending to the ungrateful, the ungracious and the just plain stupid.’

      ‘Yes, but you wouldn’t want it any other way, would you?’ The sister laughed.

      Once upon a time she wouldn’t have, Kate thought, but now she was beginning to wonder whether the price she’d had to pay for achieving her dream had been too high. Way too high.

      ‘Are you sure you’re OK, Kate?’

      Terri was frowning at her now and, for a second, Kate hesitated, but she and the unit sister had been friends for the past three years and she knew she’d have to tell her eventually.

      ‘It came this morning,’ she said with an effort. ‘My decree nisi.’

      ‘Oh, Kate—’

      ‘It’s not like it was unexpected,’ Kate interrupted, not wanting the sister’s sympathy, knowing she couldn’t deal with it right now. ‘We both knew there was no way back when John left me last year, but I sort of thought…’ She sighed and shook her head. ‘I don’t know what I thought. Maybe that the decree nisi would be bigger, more impressive, but it was just an ordinary piece of paper. Not much to show for six years of marriage. Five years if you don’t count the year John and I were separated, and I don’t suppose I should.’

      Terri stared at her helplessly. ‘Kate, I’m so sorry. I hoped there might be a chance of you and John getting back together again.’

      ‘He’s found somebody else,’ Kate said. ‘He told me last week. Her name’s Sandy. She weighs seven stone including her hair extensions, and she’s a fashion buyer.’

      ‘Oh. Right.’ Terri bit her lip, then pushed her glasses firmly up the bridge of her nose. ‘Well, at least some good might come out of this.’

      ‘Some good?’ Kate repeated faintly, and Terri nodded.

      ‘If