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Suspicion grew that someone at some time had taken a sledgehammer to her self-esteem and as a result she hid behind her work. She was a superb doctor and he guessed she felt safe and assured in that role, but take that façade away and her confidence ebbed. He wanted to know who had done that to her…and when. And then he wanted to cut away the invisible bonds that held her back from all she could be and watch her bloom and grow and live life to the full. With him.
In the last few years, work had taken precedence in his life. He’d had fun in his youth and as a medical student, knowing full well that most of the women who’d come on to him were interested more in the Linardi name and family money than they were in him as a person. It hadn’t mattered because he had always kept everything light-hearted. Unlike his cousin Seb Adriani, he’d never been burned and hurt by a woman. And he had made sure that he never left any broken hearts behind him, either. But he had never lived with a woman, or been involved in a serious relationship and, in his thirty-four years, he had never met a woman who had made him want to embark on one.
Until now. Until Ruth…who had tilted his world on its axis and changed his life.
Both his father and Seb—who was more a brother to him than a cousin—talked of how they had known the moment they had met the right woman. It was something Rico teased them about but which he respected and envied, knowing that it had never happened to him. Today that thunderbolt of knowledge and desire had hit him full on when he had seen Ruth. Now, for the first time, Rico believed that he, too, could know that loving togetherness.
The food was excellent, but Rico was too wrapped up in Ruth to give much thought to his meal. ‘What other hobbies and interests do you have away from work?’ he asked, eager to know every little detail about her.
‘I don’t have a lot of free time,’ she admitted, nearly giving him heart failure as her tongue-tip peeped out to wipe a spot of sauce from her lower lip. Dio! He tried to clear the sudden restriction in his throat and struggled to concentrate on what she was saying. Not easy given the rush of desire and his body’s inevitable response. ‘I volunteer a few hours each month at a local clinic for homeless people and others, such as migrants, who are without access to regular health care. And, when my hours allow, I volunteer at the animal rescue centre.’
Doing things for others rather than herself, Rico noted, not at all surprised. ‘What about time just for you?’
‘My friends and I go out to the cinema or for a meal, and we’ll often have a girls’ night in, relaxing with a bottle of wine, all talking at once, and eating far too much chocolate,’ she added with a bewitching chuckle. ‘I’m not very sporty, but I like to swim…and go for long walks. Most of all, I enjoy learning new things.’
‘Do you have pets of your own?’ Rico asked, captivated by her, and barely tasting his meal of fresh local fish.
‘No. Although I’ve always wanted to.’ She took a sip of her wine, then set down her glass, her slender fingers toying with the stem. ‘I was never allowed pets when I was young, I…’
Rico watched her, silently urging her to continue, sensing a moment of inner turmoil as a shadow clouded her eyes. Her words concerned him and made him wonder about her childhood. Had it not been a happy one? Before he could find a way to ask that would not have her retreating from him even further, she gave an imperceptible shake of her head and the moment was gone.
‘With the hours I work, it isn’t practical at the moment, but hopefully that will change one day. Until then I get to babysit my friends’ animals when they are away, and enjoy the ones at the rescue centre. I sometimes wonder if maybe I should have been a vet.’
There was humour in her words but also the edge of something else. Something dark and sad. There was so much more to learn about her and her life, and they had not yet begun to talk about work and whether she would be interested in a change of direction in her career. He had asked her to come here because he had wanted to offer her a job…having met her, he wanted so much more.
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