Page 54 of Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

He couldn’t let this go.

Okay, he’d said he wasn’t going to force himself on her and he’d had no intention of pushing her at a pace she wasn’t comfortable with.

But this was important.

No...it was morethan that. Matteo’s instincts were finely honed for signs and symptoms in patients that could mean that their condition was becoming critical.

Thisfelt critical.

He followed Georgia into the sitting room. Already, she had picked up a sheaf of papers from work and seemed to be focused on reading them.

Shutting him out.

He sat beside her on the couch. Silently, for a long moment, as he triedto think of what to say that wasn’t going to make that barrier even more solid.

‘If you want to watch television, that’s fine.’ Georgia’s voice was tight. ‘I can go and work in my room.’

‘I don’t want to watch television,’ Matteo said quietly. ‘I want to talk to you.’

She was silent.

‘You don’t have to tell me,’ he added. ‘But I’d really like you to. I care about you,cara—you know that. Iget the feeling that that scar on your arm is more than just physical and... I want to know you better. To understand...’

It was that last word that seemed to find a chink in her armour. The papers drifted onto her lap as she closed her eyes.

‘My arm got broken when I was five years old. A compound fracture. I’ve always told people that it happened when I fell off a pony but...it didn’t. Itcame from having it slammed in a car door.’

‘Dio mio...’Matteo’s stomach churned at the thought of that pain. ‘How did that happen?’

‘My father did it.’

Now he felt sick. He’d been right, hadn’t he, when he’d wondered if someone had abused Georgia to make her fearful of men in some way.

And that meant that the violence had been deliberate, not accidental.

‘Right before he pushed my motherout of the way. So hard that she fell and hit her head on the pavement. She was still trying to get up as we drove away. I saw her out of the back window...’

Georgia Bennett never cried on the outside, but Matteo could hear the sobs of a terrified child behind her words.

He had to gather Georgia into his arms. To hold her. The papers slid from her lap onto the floor but she didn’t seem to notice.She rested her head in the hollow beneath his shoulder and, slowly, started speaking again.

‘He took me to a hospital, of course. The police came and I got taken home to my mother eventually but it was the start of fear for both of us. My father had become very religious and he made it his life’s mission to make amends for the shame of the one-night stand that had brought me into the world, eventhough he’d wanted nothing to do with me when I was born. We had to keep moving. Trying to hide...’

It was an effort to keep the anger from his voice. ‘Where is he now—this monster who was no father to you?’

‘He’s dead. He was killed in a fight. Stabbed by someone who disagreed with his lay preaching on a street corner.’ He could feel the movement of Georgia’s chest as she let her breath outin a sigh. ‘My mum said it was karma.’

‘It was certainly a good thing. You were safe...’

‘I was still afraid. My mother developed epilepsy. The doctors thought it could have had something to do with a head injury that was never investigated properly that day I broke my arm. It was a petit mal seizure that probably caused her to step out onto a road...in front of a bus. I had just started workon the road after graduating from university.’

‘Oh, no...you didn’t find out by arriving on scene, did you?’ Matteo’s heart was breaking. He couldn’t bear the thought of this story getting even worse.

‘No...’ Georgia tilted her head to look up at him. A hint of a smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. ‘You’re right... I hadn’t actually ever thought of that. Itcouldhave been worse...’

No,it couldn’t. Matteo tightened his hold on Georgia as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He’d guessed that there was something important about that scar. That it represented much more than simply a physical injury.

But this...

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