Her Brooding Italian Surgeon. Fiona Lowe

told her how worried I was about your grandmother and she put up with all of Nonna’s tricks and made home visits until Nonna finally let her examine her.’

      Anna laughed. ‘True, but not even Nonna has been able to teach Abbie to cook—she’s hopeless.’

      Leo frowned against the recurring and unwanted image of tangled and tumbling cinnamon-sprinkled caramel curls framing rainforest-green eyes. Eyes that hadn’t flickered with the keen appreciation he was used to seeing when he met women’s gazes. The vision had interrupted his sleep and increased his irritation. Women like Abbie McFarlane never got picked up by his radar, let alone landed a starring role in his dreams. With the exception of his ill-conceived marriage, where he’d been faithful to Christina, he’d always had his pick of women, and all his choices came with statuesque height, haute couture and heavenly features.

       Name one that has really interested you in the last year.

      Not wanting to go there, he pulled his mind back to the conversation. ‘Well, I don’t care about her cooking, or the fact she doesn’t even look like a doctor. I wasn’t impressed by her medicine.’

      Anna raised both of her neatly shaped brows, taking in his crisp outfit of navy knee-length shorts teamed with a shortsleeved chambray shirt. ‘Big brother, you’ve turned into a big city fashion snob. Abbie might dress like a female version of a crocodile hunter but her medicine’s spot on. She’s done more for this community in twelve months than old Doctor Renton did in his twelve years.’

      Annoyance fizzed in his veins. ‘That isn’t saying much then, is it?’

      His father, Stefano, who’d been silent behind the most recent edition of Vintners’ Monthly, lowered the magazine. Wise molasses-coloured eyes stared back at Leo from behind rimless lenses. ‘Your mistake is you’ve forgotten Bandarra isn’t Melbourne and the choice of doctors here is seriously limited.’

      Rosa sighed. ‘Your nonna’s getting old, figlio mio.’

      No. He wanted to put his hands over his ears like he’d done as a little child when he didn’t want to hear. Right now he didn’t want to hear or think about Nonna and death. Nonna was such a special part of his life. She featured in every childhood memory—always there giving hugs while his parents had been busy establishing the vineyard, clipping him around the ear when he got too cheeky and always feeding him like he was a king.

       Holding him so tightly after the accident.

      Right then his exasperation with his family peaked. Enough! He’d let everyone have their say and now it was his turn. ‘I’m the qualified medical practitioner in this conversation and I’ve made a decision which I intend to follow through on.’ He pushed back his chair, the red-gum scraping loud against the polished boards.

      ‘You go and be the doctor but Nonna doesn’t just need that.’ Stefano rose to his feet and his quiet but determined voice stalled Leo’s departure. ‘Most of all she needs you to be a grandson and to give of your time. In fact, all of your family needs your time.’

      Leo’s throat tightened and every part of him tensed, all primed and ready to flee. For years he’d flown in and flown out of Bandarra, only ever staying forty-eight hours, often less. ‘Papà, I can’t. Work is busy.’

      ‘Work is always busy.’His father downed the last of his coffee. ‘You managed to arrange things so you could be here for Nonna. I’m certain you can arrange to stay longer if you choose. You haven’t been home for a vintage since you were eighteen and we’ve never asked you to come, but you’re here now. This time you need to stay for Nonna, your mother and the rest of us.’ His hand settled on Rosa’s shoulder and he gave her a gentle squeeze.

      Leo’s breath stuck in his chest as he tried to think of a way out, a way to avoid having to stay. Excuses rose to his lips but his father’s implacable stance and knowing expression silenced them. His father would see them for what they were—excuses. The ties of family tightened around him, pulling him back to a place he didn’t want to be.

      Anna winked at him. ‘Come on, big brother, stay a while. It’ll be just like the old days, lots of fun.’

      But fun was the last thing a holiday in Bandarra could ever be.

      

      Bubbling frustration tinged with fury ate at Leo as he shifted in the car seat, unable to get comfortable. Bandarra Car Rentals didn’t run to a Ferrari Spider and he was stuck in a small car which wasn’t designed for men who were five foot six, let alone six foot one.

      Although not even nine a.m., heat poured through the untinted windows, declaring that the day would be a scorcher. He pulled on his aviator sunglasses and slammed down the visor. His father hadn’t pulled rank like that in seventeen years. On top of that, he couldn’t get over his family’s attitude towards Nonna’s medical care. Didn’t they want the best for her?

      Perhaps she already has the best with Abbie McFarlane.

      No, he couldn’t believe that. The woman had disaster written all over her, from the rent in her khaki trousers to the burnt-red ochre smear on her freckle-dusted cheeks. Smooth, soft cheeks. He shook away the image and focused on his concerns. She looked about twenty-one, although he knew she had to be older than that, but still, she had the chaotic look of someone who could hardly look after herself, let alone patients. Nonna needed someone with solid experience—years and years of experience. Not someone with the bare basics of a couple of intern years, who still held a textbook in one hand and a prayer in the other.

      It was well known that the further a person lived from a major capital city the more their health was compromised by their lack of access to state-of-the-art health care. That was a given in Bandarra, but at least it still had a small hospital which meant it attracted more doctors than other outback towns. He intended to talk to the senior practice partner—that was the doctor who should be looking after Nonna, not the trainee GP.

      Vineyards and orchards flashed past as he headed into town, the rich red loamy river soil contrasting intensely with the grape-green foliage of the ‘close-to-harvest’ vines. The familiar clutch of unease tightened another notch and his chest hurt the way it always did when he found himself back under Bandarra’s endless outback sky. His fingers whitened as he gripped the steering wheel overly hard and he concentrated on forcing away the demons that threatened to suffocate him. Pulling hard left, he deliberately avoided the river road, taking a longer route, a route that he could navigate with his eyes closed despite the fact he’d lived in Melbourne a very long time. Avoiding the river was the only way he was going to survive three to four weeks in Bandarra.

      Visitors to the district were always amazed at how the pioneers had harnessed the power of the great Murray River and turned what should have been an arid and harsh land into the luxuriant and premier fruit basket of Australia. But back then the river had run with a lot more water and the current irrigators now faced a new set of problems that the pioneers had probably never envisaged.

      Ten minutes later, Leo walked into the hospital and caught sight of the broad back of a male standing at the nurses’ station. He was wearing a white coat. Leo smiled—now that was more like it.

      ‘Excuse me.’

      The doctor raised his head from the chart and turned his shirt-and-tie-covered torso towards him. ‘May I help you?’

      The English accent surprised Leo but this doctor had a gravitas that Abbie McFarlane lacked, despite the Star Trek tie. He extended his hand. ‘Leo Costa, surgeon. Are you the Senior Medical Officer?’

      ‘No, but I’d be happy to introduce you.’ He shot out his hand. ‘Justin Willoughby. It’s brilliant that you’re going to be working here.’

      ‘No!’ Hell would freeze over before he’d work in Bandarra.

      Justin started with surprise at his emphatic tone and Leo sucked in a calming breath. In Melbourne he was known for high standards but with an easy-going approach. He wouldn’t let a short time in Bandarra