LITMIR.BIZ

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a comb through her long blonde hair and added a quick dash of lip gloss and some blusher before racing out of the maternity unit and hailing a taxi. As she sat in the back seat she realised that she was slightly out of breath—she hadn’t yet come down from the wonderful birth she had just witnessed.

      Elated.

      That was how she felt as she climbed the stairs and then stepped into the Rooftop Bar.

      And that was how she looked when Alessi first saw her. Tall, blonde and with endless brown legs, she walked into the bar with absolute confidence. She looked vaguely familiar, he thought, though he couldn’t place her. At first he didn’t even know if she was a part of the small party that was gathered.

      He knew, though, that, whoever she was, he would be making an effort to speak with her tonight. He watched as she gave a small wave and made her way over and he found out her name as the group greeted her.

      ‘Isla!’

      So this was Isla.

      Alessi knew who she was then. Not just that she was head midwife at The Victoria. Not just that she must be Charles Delamere’s younger daughter, which would explain why she was in such a high-up role at such a young age. No, it was more than that. Though he could not remember her from all those years ago, he knew the name—they had attended the same school.

      ‘I’m sorry that I’m so late.’ Isla smiled.

      ‘How did it go?’ Emily, one of the midwives, asked, referring to Cathy’s delivery.

      ‘It was completely amazing,’ Isla said. ‘I’m so lucky to have been there.’

      ‘And I’m so jealous that you were!’ Emily teased, and then made the introductions. ‘Isla, this is Alessandro Manos, the new neonatologist.’

      Isla only properly saw him then and as she turned her slight breathlessness increased.

      He was seriously gorgeous with black, tousled curly hair and he was very unshaven. The moment she first met his black eyes all Isla could think was that she wished Rupert were here tonight.

      Isla and Rupert were seemingly the golden couple. They had been together since school, where Isla had been head girl and Rupert had been head of the debating team. One night they had gone to a party and it had been there, after a very awkward kiss, that Rupert had confessed to her that he was gay.

      Rupert had no idea how his parents would take the news and he was also upset at some of the rumours that were going around the school.

      Isla had covered for him then and she still did to this very day.

      Rupert’s career had progressed over the years and his agent had strongly advised him that the roles that were being offered would be far harder to come by if the world knew the truth. He was nothing more than a wonderful friend who, in recent years, had questioned why Isla chose to keep up the ruse that they were going out.

      It suited Isla, too.

      Despite her apparent confidence, despite her ease in social situations, despite the questions raised by magazines about her morals, because she put up with Rupert’s supposed unfaithfulness after all, no one had ever come close to the truth—Isla was a virgin.

      Her entire sexual history could be written on the back of a postage stamp. She’d had one schoolgirl kiss with Rupert that hadn’t gone well at all. Now she’d had several more practised kisses with Rupert but they had been for appearances’ sake only.

      Often Isla felt a complete fraud when she spoke with women about birth control and pelvic floor exercises, or offered advice about lovemaking during and after pregnancy, when she had never even come close to making love with anyone herself.

      Yes, how she would have loved Rupert to be here tonight, to hold her friend’s hand and to lean just a little on him as the introductions were made and she stared into the black eyes of a man who actually had the usually very cool Isla feeling just a little bit dizzy.

      ‘Call me Alessi,’ he said.

      ‘Sorry, Alessi, I keep forgetting,’ Emily said. ‘Isla is Head of Midwifery at MMU.’

      ‘It is very nice to meet you,’ Alessi said. He held out his hand and Isla offered hers and gave him a smile. His hand was warm as it briefly closed around the ends of her fingers and so, too, were Isla’s cheeks. ‘Can I get you a drink?’ he offered.

      ‘No, thanks.’ Isla was about to say that she would get this round but for some reason, even as she shook her head, she changed her mind. ‘Actually, yes, please, I’d love a drink. I just promised Cathy, my patient, that I was going to have a glass of champagne for her tonight.’

      Alessi headed off to the bar and Emily took the opportunity to have a quick word. ‘Isla, thank you for getting here, I know you were held back, but I’m really going to have to get home.’

      ‘Of course,’ Isla said. ‘I know how hard it is for you to get away and I really appreciate you coming out tonight. The numbers were just so low I didn’t want Alessandro, I mean Alessi, to think that nobody could be bothered to greet him. Go home to your babies.’

      As Emily said her goodbyes, another colleague nudged Isla. ‘Gorgeous, isn’t he?’

      ‘I guess.’ Isla shrugged her shoulders. She could get away with such a dismissive comment purely because she had Rupert standing in the wings of her carefully stage-managed social life. Isla glanced over to the bar and looked at Alessi, whose back was to her as he ordered her drink. He was wearing black trousers and had a white fitted shirt on that showed off his olive skin. Isla felt a flutter in her stomach as it dawned on her that she was actually checking him out. She took in the toned torso and the long length of his legs but as he turned around she flicked her gaze away and spoke with her colleagues.

      ‘Thank you for that,’ Isla said when he handed her her drink. She was a little taken aback when he came and sat on the low sofa beside her, and she took a sip.

      Oh!

      With all the functions that Isla attended she knew her wines and this was French champagne at its best! ‘When I said champagne …’ Isla winced because here in Melbourne champagne usually meant sparkling wine. ‘You must think me terribly rude.’

      ‘Far from it,’ Alessi said. ‘It’s nice to see someone celebrating.’

      Isla nodded. ‘I’ve just been at the most amazing birth,’ she admitted, and then, to her complete surprise, she was off—telling Alessi all about Cathy and Dan’s long journey and just how wonderful the birth had been. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said when she realised that they had been talking about it for a good ten minutes. ‘I’m going on a bit.’

      ‘I don’t blame you,’ Alessi said. ‘I think there is no greater reward than seeing a family make it against the odds. It is those moments that we treasure and hold onto, to get us through the dark times in our jobs.’

      Isla nodded, glad that he seemed to understand just how priceless this evening’s birth had been.

      They chatted incredibly easily, having to tear themselves away from their conversation to say goodbye to colleagues who were starting to drift off.

      ‘I can’t believe that we went to the same school!’ Isla said when Alessi brought it to her attention. ‘How old are you?’

      ‘Thirty.’

      ‘So you would have been two years above me …’ Isla tried to place him but couldn’t—they would, given their age difference, for the most part, have been on separate campuses. ‘You might know my older sister Isabel,’ Isla said. ‘She would have been a couple of years ahead of you.’

      ‘I vaguely remember her. She was head girl when I went to the senior campus. Though I didn’t really get involved in the social side—I was there on scholarship so if I wanted to stay there I really had to concentrate on making the grades. Were you head girl, too?’

      Isla nodded and

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