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The GP's Marriage Wish
Judy Campbell


Enter into the world of high-flying Doctors as they navigate the pressures of modern medicine and find escape, passion, comfort and love – in each other’s arms!A woman worth waiting for… If there’s anything recently reunited colleagues Victoria and Connor agree on it’s that they disagree – and that they’re hiding the sizzling chemistry between them! But work together they must, and, though sparks fly professionally and personally, each is impressed with the other’s talent. And while Victoria should hate Connor, for spurning her all those years ago, annoyingly she’s just as drawn to him as ever!Connor knows he let Victoria down in the past. And now he’s realising what he missed – a gentle beauty, a talented doctor, and a woman worth loving. He won’t let her slip through his fingers again…







Connor gave a short laugh.‘It’s obvious, my dear Victoria, that you’re not too keen aboutworking with me.’

He looked at her steadily. ‘Perhaps you’ve good reason… I know I was a brat at school.’

Victoria was startled. That was something, she supposed—a kind of apology.

‘It was a long time ago,’ she murmured.

His clear blue eyes held hers questioningly, and Victoria suddenly felt rather flustered, as if a switch had been thrown to register a mixture of excitement and danger. She looked at him in confusion. She looked at his strong, intelligent face and firm, uncompromising lips and swallowed hard. How extraordinary was that? She was beginning to admit to herself that she found Connor Saunders just as sexy now as she had when she was a schoolgirl!


Judy Campbell is from Cheshire. As a teenager she spent a great year at high school in Oregon, USA, as an exchange student. She has worked in a variety of jobs, including teaching young children, being a secretary and running a small family business. Her husband comes from a medical family, and one of their three grown-up children is a GP. Any spare time—when she’s not writing romantic fiction—is spent playing golf, especially in the Highlands of Scotland.

Recent titles by the same author:

THE DOCTOR’S LONGED-FOR BRIDE



Dear Reader

I am so thrilled that THE GP’S MARRIAGE WISH is being published in the Mills & Boon centenary year—it is such an exciting time, and I feel it is a real privilege to write for a great publishing empire and be a small part of its history. Happy Birthday, Mills & Boon, and may you continue to put romance to the fore for many, many years to come!

I love writing medical romances, and exploring the relationships that develop between patients and the people who care for them. The world of hospitals and surgeries provides a wonderful background for a romantic story between two people who love each other and have to deal with all the myriad dramas, both heartrending and humorous, that occur in the medical world. I really feel part of that world as I write and watch my characters unfold.

The idea of writing THE GP’S MARRIAGE WISH arose from meeting some old schoolfriends at a reunion, amongst whom was the drop-dead gorgeous boy (now a man!) we’d all fallen madly in love with in the sixth form! The last I saw of him at the reunion he was getting very friendly again with one of my contemporaries! Immediately the thought of Connor, my hero, sprang into my mind—the guy who’d been the centre of attention at school and, with maturity, was even more delectable many years later! In my imagination Victoria seemed just the girl to tame his macho manner when she re-enters his life!

I do hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Best wishes

Judy




THE GP’s MARRIAGE WISH


BY

JUDY CAMPBELL




www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)




PROLOGUE


HE LOUNGED confidently against the wall in the assembly hall, a thick quiff of hair swept over cool dark blue eyes, watching the excited crowd of teenagers milling around him. Nobody could do attitude better than Connor Saunders—and he was arrogant enough to know that he made all the other youths at the Braithwaite Sixth Form College Ball look like wimps. He also had to be the hunkiest and sexiest guy in the room, thought Victoria Sorensen wistfully.

Victoria twitched her dress nervously and flicked a look at herself in the mirror next to the honours board—not a reassuring sight. She wasn’t sure about the blue colour against her auburn hair, she felt her glasses made her look geekish and she was horribly aware of the wretched bands over her front teeth. If only she looked more sophisticated, stood out from the crowd a bit more, Connor just might ask her to dance… After today he was going to take a year out, going round the world, before studying medicine, and she’d be working at her mother’s surgery before going to university, also to study medicine. She might never see him again.

A familiar mixture of resentment and jealousy jolted Victoria for a second—how easily everything came to Connor Saunders! Girls, scholarships, medals—they all dropped into his lap like ripe apples. There’d been an unspoken rivalry between them for some time: she was just as bright as him, but because he had the loudest voice, the cocksure personality that almost assumed he would get every prize going, she was left in the shadows.

A group of boys was round him now, laughing at something he’d said, and he was grinning back at them, flicking back his hair, used to being the centre of attention. That was the trouble, of course—he had such charisma. When he was around there was a sense of fun and adventure—perhaps even danger—and even though she resented the way he’d always pipped her at the post in so many ways, of course Victoria had been hopelessly attracted to him while they’d been students together at sixth form college.

Her friend Jean Martin sidled up to her. ‘Our hero’s looking good, isn’t he?’ She grinned, looking at Connor. ‘And he knows it,’ she added.

‘I can’t believe I might not see him again for years…’ said Victoria bleakly.

‘’Course you will! Don’t your mum and his dad work together at the medical centre? There’s bound to be occasions you’ll meet through them in the future.’ Jean looked at Victoria’s gloomy face and sighed. ‘Look, kiddo, you’re mad about him—why don’t you ask him to dance before you go your separate ways?’

‘That’s ridiculous—I don’t want to demean myself by pleading for a dance…’

Jean groaned. ‘Come on, Vic, women have been emancipated for nearly a century—why should we hang about waiting for the men to get round to asking us? Don’t be a wimp—what have you got to lose? If you don’t dance with him now, you’ll never know what it’s like to be held in those strong manly arms…’

An unwilling smile lifted Victoria’s lips for a second. ‘I’ll just have to imagine it, then, I suppose…’

‘Oh, to hell with it! This is your last chance. Go on, I dare you! He’ll admire you for it!’

Victoria looked across at Connor doubtfully and just as she did so, their eyes met for a second, a flash of amusement flickering across his face as if he knew exactly what she thought of him. She flushed in embarrassment, then her mood became more combatant. Jean was right—why should she play the quiet little flower, frightened to approach him because of what he might think of her? Women didn’t have to play a passive role nowadays.

She took a deep breath and walked up to him, ignoring the lads around him.

‘Connor, I don’t suppose we’ll be seeing each other for a while. How about a dance before we go?’

Connor looked down at her lazily. ‘Ah, Freckles…the last goodbye, eh?’ He glanced around at his friends. ‘Quite an honour to be asked to dance by the head girl, isn’t it?’ Then he lowered his voice slightly, his blue eyes dancing with laughter. ‘It’s been sparky competition between us for the last two years, Vic—I’ll miss it.’

Victoria stood for a second, waiting for him to accept her invitation, and the little crowd around him watched them both with interest. Connor grinned at her, then nodded his head towards his friends. ‘Sorry, darlin’—can’t keep the lads waiting. We’re off for a few beers before the pubs close, so the dance routine will have to wait for now. Some other time, eh?’

A ripple of laughter went round the boys and Connor lifted a careless hand to her and strolled out of the room, followed by his sniggering cohorts, leaving Victoria standing alone. She stared after them, her cheeks burning and a horrible suspicion of hot tears of humiliation in her eyes. It was as if she had been slapped in the face. How dared he embarrass her like that in front of everyone—how could he be so cruel?

In a second Jean was at her side, her arm round Victoria’s shoulders. ‘What a rat!’ she whispered. ‘Take no notice of him—that was all done to show off to that bunch of morons around him. Forget it ever happened.’

Victoria drew herself up with dignity, trying to disguise her bitter feeling of rejection, hardly able to believe that someone she’d thought had admired her, even though he might not have fancied her, could have snubbed her so publicly. Then that steely stubbornness of spirit that had rescued her so many times before when competing with Connor came to her rescue.

She turned with a bright smile to Jean, lifted her chin and said lightly, ‘Manners maketh man… You’re quite right, Jean. Connor Saunders is a complete rat and I don’t care if I never see him again in my life.’

His tall figure disappeared out of the door, and despite her feisty words Victoria felt a hollow sense of betrayal. She’d been made a figure of fun—the girl who’d dared to ask Connor Saunders for a dance and been turned down for a few pints of beer! That was it, then. She would never think of the man again—from now on it was if he had never existed!


CHAPTER ONE

‘VICTORIA CURTIS to see Dr Saunders, please.’

The receptionist looked over the counter at the tall girl with glossy auburn hair facing her, then peered at the screen of her computer, frowning slightly.

‘You don’t seem to have an appointment to see him. I’m afraid he’s absolutely booked up this afternoon unless it’s very urgent.’

Victoria smiled. ‘But I’m not a patient—I’m joining the practice. I’m a doctor and he’s expecting me.’

The receptionist’s plump face looked startled. ‘Oh. I’m sorry—I didn’t realise there were two of you. Dr Saunders didn’t mention anything.’

‘Two of us?’ questioned Victoria, puzzled. She had come to help her mother because Dr Saunders, the senior partner, was retiring and now she was here to go over some practice details, and her mother was joining them later. She wasn’t aware that anyone else would be needed in the practice.

‘I’ve probably got my wires crossed,’ said the woman, smiling. ‘I’ll tell him you’re here…’ She pressed a switch. ‘I’ve a Dr Curtis here to see you, Dr Saunders…’

‘Ah—I’ll be ready in one minute, if she could just take a seat in Reception,’ said a deep male voice.

Morning surgery was evidently finished and Victoria sat waiting for him alone, sipping a cup of coffee that the receptionist brought for her. She looked around the room and smiled. It hadn’t changed over the years—rather tatty-looking decor and a faded busily patterned carpet. Perhaps now she was going to be part of the practice, she could tactfully persuade her mother that the place needed a make-over.

She was sure her mother would be relieved that John Saunders was retiring. Victoria remembered him as an opinionated man, with a confidence that bordered on arrogance…very like his son, she thought suddenly. A picture flashed into her mind of the farewell sixth form dance all those years ago and the way Connor had made a fool of her. She hadn’t thought about that episode for a long time, but she was surprised at how vividly the memory of her humiliation at his hands came flooding back to her—how it had shaken her confidence in herself for a long time.

Then she gave an inward shrug. No good thinking about that now. So much had happened to her in the intervening years, much worse than the teenage angst she’d suffered because of Connor. She’d been through a rough patch in the past year, but now for the first time in many months she felt excited and optimistic about the future—and it was lovely to be back in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.

A few years ago she’d made a new life for herself in Australia, full of hopes and dreams that had been dashed, and the irony was that now she’d returned to Braithwaite again and put the fast-paced life she’d enjoyed in Sydney behind her to kick-start her life again.

‘Dr Saunders asks if you’d go through to him now,’ said the receptionist, breaking into her thoughts. ‘It’s the room at the end of the corridor.’

Victoria made her way to the room, tapped at the door and walked in. A man was standing by the window against the light, and it was only as he strode forward to meet her that Victoria realised with a shock that it wasn’t John Saunders at all. She gazed in astonishment at the broad-shouldered man who stood in front of her, looking as if he did a marathon workout daily in the gym, his body a sinewy combination of muscle and power, thick tousled fair hair flipping over blue eyes. It took her a second or two to recognise that he was Connor Saunders—no longer the lanky schoolboy she’d last seen at the leaving ball but a mature, eye-catching man with a commanding presence.

She drew in her breath, astonished at the coincidence that she’d only been thinking about him a few seconds before, the man who’d once humiliated her so cruelly in front of her friends. And like the automatic response of so long ago, for a split second she felt the faintest shiver of attraction flutter through her—an echo of what she had felt for him when they’d been teenagers.

‘Wh-what on earth are you doing here?’ she stuttered. ‘I was expecting to see your father.’

There was surprise as well in the blue eyes that swept over her appraisingly, then Connor grinned. ‘Well, well, well, I didn’t realise that Freckles Sorensen had become Dr Curtis! We meet again after how many years?’

He held out his hand and shook hers. Victoria pulled herself together and removed her hand from his firm grip. She must have imagined that feeling of attraction a second ago—he was just an ordinary man who’d once been rude to her.

‘Nobody calls me Freckles now,’ she said coldly. ‘Have you come back here for a holiday?’

‘I’ve left the practice I was with in Glasgow and come to take over from my father,’ he said simply, then raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘And where have you come from?’

‘I…I’ve been living in Australia…’

‘Ah—you’ve come back to see your mother, then?’

Victoria gave a short laugh. ‘Actually, I’ve come to help my mother in the practice because your father retires this week—I rather thought I was taking his place.’ She looked at Connor in a puzzled way. ‘What the hell’s going on?’

‘There’s been a change of plan apparently,’ he said laconically.

‘What do you mean—a change of plan?’

He shrugged. ‘Obviously I’m going to be working here as well.’

Victoria frowned. ‘I don’t understand… Mum never said she was taking on an extra doctor. When was it agreed that you should come?’

Connor sat on the edge of the desk, long legs crossed casually at the ankles. ‘Only in the last day or two,’ he admitted. He looked at her rather wryly. ‘As a matter of fact, I’m as much in the dark as you are. Like you, I thought I was the only replacement.’

This is quite bizarre, thought Victoria crossly. Everyone seemed to have got their wires crossed. She hadn’t come from Australia to end up working anywhere near Connor Saunders. Now she was standing opposite him the emotions he’d engendered that evening all those years ago came flooding back to her—the way she’d yearned to be in his arms, the pain she’d felt when he’d made fun of her. He was probably still as arrogant and insensitive as he had been then, and she would bet on it that he had never given a thought to that incident since it had happened.

She folded her arms and looked at him belligerently. ‘I hope I haven’t come all this way on a fool’s errand—I was looking forward to working with my mother,’ she said pointedly. ‘I’d like an explanation as soon as possible.’

‘So would I,’ he agreed drily. ‘They’re both out on home visits now but I hope they’ll be here soon to sort this out. I thought I’d be taking over from my father and then, when your mother retired, getting a junior partner in.’

There was the slightest emphasis on the word ‘junior’ as if to make it clear that he was ultimately going to be the senior partner, whoever he was working with. Victoria looked stonily at Connor—he might find that she had changed a lot since the days of Braithwaite Sixth Form College. What had happened to her in Australia had been horrible, made her doubt that she could trust any man again or feel that she could indeed be attractive to any other man. But it had also toughened her in many ways, and she wasn’t about to be pushed around by anybody. She sat down by the desk and drummed her fingers impatiently on the surface.

‘I suppose we’ll have to wait until they come, then, for things to be clarified,’ she said.

Connor flicked a look at her. Annoyance had made her cheeks quite pink, and her tawny eyes that had once been hidden behind spectacles seemed to reflect the colour of her glossy auburn hair. Victoria Sorensen had become quite a beauty since her school days—the unsophisticated teenager with the gauche manner had blossomed into a confident no-nonsense woman now, he thought with surprise. She’d been a bright girl at school—there’d been quite a lot of competition between them, and he remembered that he’d rather enjoyed stretching himself, always trying to outdo her in exams.

He had to admit he was quite shaken to meet her again. Perhaps deep down he still felt guilty about the way he’d treated her at that school dance—a picture of her stricken face as he’d refused to dance with her floated into his mind, and he recalled the inane laughter of the lads around him on the dance floor. He’d known he’d been cruel even as he’d done it, but he’d been an arrogant twerp then, enjoying the admiration of his mates at his rejection of Victoria, imagining what an alpha male it had made him seem. He felt contempt now for the youth he’d been and hoped against hope that Victoria would have forgotten all about it, although he suspected that she still remembered the incident. Perhaps that was why she so obviously didn’t relish the idea of working with him.

Victoria was oblivious to his inspection as she pondered how unlike her mother it was not to mention that John’s son was coming to work at The Cedars as well. If Victoria had known that, she wouldn’t have come all these thousands of miles to work alongside a man she’d vowed never to speak to again! If only her travel arrangements hadn’t gone so awry she’d have seen her mother the day before and perhaps all this could have been explained.

The sound of voices floated down the corridor, and then the door opened and Betty Sorensen and John Saunders came in. Betty ran over to Victoria and threw her arms round her daughter, hugging her tightly, then held her at arm’s length as she looked lovingly at her.

‘Vicky, darling! I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to meet you. It’s been such a hell of a week with one thing and another—and John and I have been run off our feet, dealing with the consequences of a gastrointestinal virus among the old folk.’ She appraised her daughter beamingly. ‘You look wonderful! I can’t believe you’re finally back in Yorkshire after five years…’

Victoria hugged her mother back—she had missed her so much over the past awful year when having her near to talk to would have been such a comfort.

‘It’s so good to see you, too, Mum. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here last night, but with the plane so delayed I had to stay in London for the night and then get a train up here.’

‘You must be absolutely jet-lagged, but never mind. You’re here now…’

John Saunders stepped forward and took her hand. ‘Welcome back, Victoria,’ he said. ‘I’m sure you’ve made a good move, coming back here.’

He was thinner than she remembered but nevertheless quite distinguished with a head of thick white hair and that air of slight self-satisfaction that she’d always found so irritating.

‘Why don’t we all sit down and have some coffee,’ said Betty. She looked around at the others and smiled. ‘We’ve so much to discuss…’

Victoria and Connor’s eyes met for a second. ‘So it would seem,’ said Victoria lightly. ‘I didn’t realise that Connor would be working here as well.’

Betty gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. ‘Well, things have been moving pretty fast here in the last week, haven’t they, John?’

‘They certainly have.’ He smiled—rather smugly, Victoria thought. ‘But now we can relax, knowing that you and Connor will be holding the fort!’

Connor looked from his father to Betty. ‘I wish you’d tell us what you mean,’ he said impatiently. ‘Have both of us been offered jobs? And what’s this about holding the fort?”

John gave a short chuckle and turned to Victoria’s mother. ‘Forget the coffee, Betty—lets get the bubbly out. We ought to toast Victoria’s return—and we’ve got a little announcement to make ourselves.’

This is extraordinary, thought Victoria as her mother produced a bottle of champagne from a chiller bag. The pompous John Saunders seemed to be turning quite mellow in his old age—she never remembered him being so affable—and what on earth was he going to announce? She flicked a glance at Connor and wondered if he felt the sudden premonition of foreboding she was experiencing.

Betty handed round the glasses and John looked round at them all, raising his glass. ‘I’m not going to beat about the bush,’ he began ‘The fact is, Betty and I have been working together for thirty years now and suddenly we’ve realised there’s more to life than medicine…it’s about time we had some fun.’ He smiled broadly. ‘We want to make up for lost time—and both being single and both realising that we’ve grown rather fond of each other, we’ve decided to get married and take off round the world when we’ve tied the knot!’

There was a stunned silence, the younger couple looking at their respective parents as incredulously as if they’d both divulged they were going to do a bungee-jump in tandem. At last Victoria managed to get out, ‘You’re getting married—after all this time?’

‘And why not? Better late than never—the big day is this Friday. The practice—surely set in the most beautiful part of the country—is there for you two to take over immediately, with no strings attached! And we’re starting on our cruise next week!’

‘Next week?’ squeaked Victoria. ‘You can’t throw us in at the deep end like that!’

‘For heaven’s sake, why the rush?’ asked Connor, folding his arms and looking furiously at his father.

Betty stepped forward and took John’s arm. ‘I know this has come as a great shock to you both…’

‘You can say that again,’ muttered Connor.

‘To be honest, at our age we may not have time on our side—that’s why we want to get going. I know John didn’t want me to mention this, but I feel you ought to know that he’s been having treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma…’

A shocked silence followed and then Connor gave a sharp intake of breath, looking stricken and concerned. ‘Oh, Dad… why didn’t you tell me?’

His father shook his head dismissively. ‘I’m in remission now—and I feel fine, so we’re seizing the moment, aren’t we, Betty?’

‘You should have let me know,’ said Connor reproachfully. ‘I could have helped you out—taken time out from the job in Glasgow…’

John shook his head impatiently and put his arm round Betty. ‘You’ve had your own problems, Connor. Frankly, my illness came as a wake-up call to us both—we realised how much we meant to each other and it was time to move in a different direction.’

Betty smiled at the two stunned people in front of her. ‘You’ll be fine, you know—it’ll be a challenge. We know that both of you have had a rough time recently, and so we thought it was an ideal opportunity for you to make a fresh start—and help us out at the same time. I’m sure you’ll work well together and bring fresh ideas into the practice. Frankly, it’s beginning to get too much for me now.’

Victoria looked at her mother, whose cheeks were pink with excitement, a kind of glow about her that made her seem almost girlish. Betty hadn’t had much fun in her life—it had been all hard work and responsibility. Suddenly Victoria felt a wave of guilt when she thought how happily she’d taken off to Australia five years ago after her mother had seen her through medical school, leaving Betty to carry on by herself, her only child on the other side of the world. She couldn’t spoil her mother’s happiness by telling her that the thought of working with Connor was anathema to her and the fresh start she’d thought she was making in Braithwaite suddenly seemed a very unattractive prospect. She glanced at Connor’s sombre expression. It was plain that his feelings mirrored hers, she thought wryly, but there didn’t seem to be much choice but to get on with things. She swallowed hard and raised her glass towards the older couple.

‘I’m sure we both wish you every happiness—and a wonderful and healthy retirement,’ she said with forced enthusiasm.

‘Of course,’ added Connor. ‘And we’ll do our best to make sure The Cedars goes from strength to strength. It’ll be quite like our old school days—working at the same projects. We should be used to each other’s ways!’

Was that a broad hint that Connor expected to have the upper hand in their working life as he had done when they were students? Victoria took a deep sip of champagne and looked balefully at him over the rim of the glass—she wasn’t going to let there be a rerun of their life at sixth form college. He might have a great physique and good looks, but if he thought he was going to get his own way when they worked together, he was in for a very nasty surprise!


CHAPTER TWO

‘SO IT’S all change, then, is it?’ Karen Lightfoot, the practice nurse, stared with round, rather bulging eyes at Victoria and Connor. ‘Talk about gob-smacked! I can’t believe Betty and John are getting married after all these years! And now you two are taking over?’ She shook her head dolefully. ‘Any minute now I’ll wake up and find it’s been a dream.’

‘As long as it’s not a nightmare, Karen,’ said Connor drily. ‘We’re going to try and make it work, but we can only do it with your, Maggie’s and Pete’s help. As a receptionist for some years, Maggie knows every patient in the practice, and although Pete’s only been practice manager for a few months, I’m sure we’ll be able to manage the finances as well as my father and Betty did.’

A week after her return to England, Victoria and the rest of the surgery staff were sitting in the office behind the frosted window of the reception area before surgery started. Betty and John had told them the week before of their departure and it was plain that they all felt as shocked as Victoria and Connor.

Victoria took a sip of strong black coffee, feeling rather like a condemned prisoner. The cold realisation that she was committed to share the running of The Cedars Medical Centre with someone she would never had chosen to work with was starting to sink in.

She looked across at Connor. She may have spent two years with him at school, but in many ways he felt like a stranger. She was still amazed that anyone could change so much physically—the callow youth with attitude had become a man with an air of authority about him, still undeniably attractive—but not to her, she thought fiercely. She’d learnt what he was really like—how could one feel anything kindly for someone like him? She bit her lip and doodled absently on a piece of paper. She was still raw from the sadness of breaking up with Andy so recently and that had made her more sensitive perhaps.

The thought of Andy reminded Victoria of the depressing news she’d received in the post that morning. It had been all she could do to force down a few cornflakes when she’d read it, reviving painful memories of her time in Australia. Its effect on her mood was going to make it a very long day indeed.

She was dragged back from her reverie to the present by the loud voice of Maggie Brown, the receptionist. She was a round-faced, pleasant woman with a wild bun of hair, which was escaping from numerous large hairpins.

‘If we’re making a fresh start, I want to put in a plea for another receptionist to help soon. I know we have Lucy, but she’s only part time, and sometimes I’m run off my feet—I really do need some more backup. I’ve been telling John for ages that we’re understaffed, but he never took any notice.’ She gave a half-laugh to soften her words. ‘If I have a breakdown soon, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

‘We’ll bear that in mind, Maggie,’ said Connor gravely. ‘Do you have any comments, Pete?’

Pete Becket, bespectacled and burly, nodded emphatically. ‘We urgently need to run over the number of domiciliary visits and dermatology reports the practice has been racking up—we’re going to be well over budget this year if we aren’t careful. Of course it’s been difficult to pin John down in the last few months,’ he said, putting a large folder on the table. ‘But we don’t want to start off on the wrong foot.’

‘And while we’re on the subject,’ broke in Karen, ‘John did mention that we should think about getting a phlobotomy nurse—it would save so much time when we need blood samples, instead of sending patients all the way into Sethfield.’

‘That’s something that will have to be discussed with the other practices in our cluster,’ said Pete. ‘Now we’re involved in practice-based commissioning it’s important we put these points forward at the next meeting. And, of course, the biggest issue is the closure of the local community hospital, St Hilda’s, to make way for commercial building in the town. Some of them are for it, others not.’

Connor and Victoria glanced at each other and he put up a hand. ‘Hey! Give us a chance to take breath—we’ve only just got here! We’ll certainly look into your concerns—I’ve been making notes so that Victoria and I can study them and then we’ll have a proper meeting.’

‘Asap, I hope,’ said Maggie, ‘otherwise I may come to a full stop!’

Karen stood up, her blue nurse’s uniform straining over her plump body. ‘Right—if that’s all, I’d better get going and start doing the BP tests on the oldies now. I can hear the waiting room filling up.’ She went to the door and then turned back to say brightly, ‘Oh, and by the way, we need more coffee and biscuits, we’re right out. Can someone get them before our break?’

‘Well, I’ve no time to get any,’ said Maggie firmly, as everyone began to leave the room. ‘I’m just about to load the morning lists onto Connor and Victoria’s computers—and I’ve got to switch the phones through now.’

Connor and Victoria were left alone. They stared bleakly at each other for a second as if the reality of working together had begun to sink in. Then Connor pulled forward the pad he’d been making notes on and said tersely, ‘They don’t seem very happy!’

‘I’m afraid your father seems to have left a few problems behind him,’ observed Victoria. ‘As senior partner he had the final say in all the decisions. He should have ironed some of them out before asking us to take over.’

‘Excuse me? What do you mean?’ Connor frowned at her, his voice sharp. ‘There were two of them here, you know. My father has probably been off work quite a bit with his treatment. Betty knew what the position was.’

‘She was run off her feet—it’s not easy to cope being the only GP in the practice,’ Victoria pointed out forcefully. ‘They should have got a locum in. It seems to me John was trying to save money.’

‘That would have been a joint decision—and anyway perhaps some of things that have been mentioned aren’t cost effective. No good splashing money around.’

He stood up and stared down at her frowningly, his eyes a steely blue. It made her feel a little…well, unsettled, as if he was looking right into her mind and didn’t like what he saw there.

‘I’m not blaming anyone—just stating facts,’ she said.

‘No, you’re making suppositions, Victoria, jumping to conclusions about my father.’ He glowered at her again, his strong face a study in anger. ‘As I remember it from school, you do have a tendency to blurt out opinions without backing them up with evidence.’

Victoria laughed—it was such a preposterous statement. ‘What the hell are you talking about? For goodness’ sake, dragging up school days!’ She looked at him scornfully. ‘Perhaps it would be as well not to go back there.’

For a second he looked slightly abashed—perhaps he was remembering that night when he’d been so insulting to her, and she pressed home her point. ‘To be honest, I don’t know how we’re going to work together if you’re going to be so rude—in fact, I give our partnership a week or two at the most if this goes on.’

His strong face relaxed into a grin, making him look quite boyish, and he raised his hands in contrition. ‘OK, OK, so I spoke slightly out of turn. But it’s no good looking back at how the place was run and apportioning blame.’

Those blue eyes revealed a twinkle of laughter in them, holding Victoria’s with a teasing charm, and to her continued annoyance she felt a treacherous and brief flicker of response to the sexy aura he exuded. Something about his eyes and the amused quirk of his mouth, she supposed. He had a point about looking back, though—the only way they could work together was to deal with the present problems and not point a finger at either John or Betty for causing them. Connor shot a look at his watch.

‘Well, it’s time to take the plunge now. We’d better thrash over these problems later—in the pub after work tonight suit you?’

Victoria shrugged unenthusiastically. She knew she wanted this particular day to finish early, to digest the news she’d received in the post that morning and wallow in a bit of nostalgia for things past. Discussing the troubles of the practice at the end of the day sounded very unappealing. ‘OK, I suppose so…’ She sighed.

‘Don’t sound so keen.’ Connor put his hands on the desk and looked at her appraisingly with those startling blue eyes. ‘Look, I can tell you aren’t over the moon about working with me, but we’ve said we’ll give it a go, so in the circumstances we’ll have to make the best of things.’

‘I agree with you,’ she said coldly. ‘We need to pull together to make a success of the practice, and I’m quite prepared to do that. I’ll meet you tonight to discuss things, even though it’s not actually very convenient.’

‘Good,’ he said briskly, gathering up some papers and making for the door. He looked back at her before he went out. ‘By the way, if you need any help, let me know.’

Victoria’s face burned with irritation. He might have been trying to be helpful, but she interpreted his offer as slightly patronising. She controlled her voice with an effort.

‘I think I can manage quite well, thank you—after all, I’m just as experienced as you.’

He raised an eyebrow and gave a low chuckle. Victoria had become much more assertive than he remembered! ‘Just a suggestion, Freckles—lighten up a bit. No need to be so deadly serious!’

He’d gone before she could think of a timely retort and indignantly she snatched up her bag. This was a fine start to the first day of work at The Cedars!

Her heart was thumping angrily as she stalked out and made her way to her room. She was cross with herself for allowing him to get under her skin—but she was a grown up now and in future she would maintain a dignified and professional approach, however much he irritated her, she told herself sternly.

Her first patient that morning was Janet Loxton, middle-aged and immaculately dressed in a tan suit with a black scarf draped elegantly round her neck. She sat down on the edge of the chair and Victoria took a deep breath and tried to calm down while she listened to the woman. Mrs Loxton’s look was unnervingly hostile.

‘I wanted to see your mother—she’s my usual doctor,’ was the unpromising start. ‘I must say I’m shocked to hear she’s left the practice.’

‘She felt it was time to retire,’ explained Victoria. ‘She’s now married to Dr Saunders and they plan to go away for a rest.’

‘She might have given us more notice.’ A deep sigh. ‘Anyway, I suppose we’ll have to get used to you.’

I seem to be surrounded by rude people, thought Victoria wryly, but she fixed a smile on her face and said soothingly, ‘I’m sure when you get to know us better, things will be easier.’

Janet gave a cynical grunt, then said abruptly, ‘I need sleeping pills. I’m awake all night and I’m run off my feet all day, looking after my father…’

Victoria groaned inwardly. It was Sod’s Law that her first patient would start off with what she called a ‘heart-sink consultation’. Giving sleeping tablets was something she was very reluctant to do, feeling it was a fob-off for a quick result, and didn’t tackle the underlying causes—but in her experience the patient was usually adamant about having some!

‘And is this insomnia something new?’ asked Victoria.

‘Oh, no, I’ve had it before. I suppose it’s worry… Anyway, you’ll see that Dr Sorensen always gave me something for it. Just give me the same things, please.’

The woman’s tone was peremptory, trying to hurry the consultation along. Victoria peered at the patient’s notes on the computer and saw that her mother had indeed prescribed sleeping tablets in the past, but she was damned if she was going to just hand them out like sweets on demand.

‘Do you work as well as look after your father?’ she asked.

‘I have a part-time job at the dress shop in the village. It saves my sanity. The rest of my time is spent running after an old man who needs professional help.’

‘I take it he lives with you?’

‘Yes…has done for the last five years. He needs to go in a home, though, but that’s absolutely out as far as he’s concerned.’

Victoria leant forward and looked at the woman sympathetically. ‘It can’t be an easy situation for you…’

‘Of course it’s not!’ snapped Janet. For a second her mouth trembled, revealing very briefly the strain she was under. ‘That’s why I need these pills—I’ve got to get some rest.’

‘Have you spoken to Social Services about getting help?’

Janet gave a humourless laugh. ‘Oh, they’ve sent people in to give him baths, tidy him up a bit, but he’s just sent them packing—he can be very rude when he wants to. Refuses to have anything to do with them. Do you wonder that I can’t sleep?’

‘Mrs Loxton,’ said Victoria gently, ‘you can’t keep on these tablets for ever, and anyway the effect begins to wear off when you have them continually. You can develop a tolerance for them and need a higher dose to have the same effect.’

The patient leant forward and said intensely, ‘I know all the pitfalls—you don’t have to tell me. Your mother gave them to me, and I don’t see why you just can’t give me some without all these questions.’

‘I can’t just hand out prescriptions because my mother gave them to you,’ said Victoria firmly. ‘Your circumstances and health may have changed since you last saw her. However, I will give you a low dose of Triazolone—a ten-day course to try and get you back on an organised sleep pattern. But sleep disorders can be caused by a number of factors and I want you to try what we call sleep hygiene.’

Janet looked puzzled and Victoria smiled. ‘Nothing to do with being clean! It’s a kind of routine—wind down at the end of the day, don’t stimulate your brain with television or exciting reading, and obviously cut out caffeine, and have a warm drink before you go to bed.’

‘Yes, yes, I’ll do all that,’ said the woman impatiently.

Victoria looked at her patient reflectively. ‘You know, what you could do with is some respite care for your father. Perhaps he’d be amenable to going into a home for a few days. It would give you a break.’

‘I doubt he would—he’s as stubborn as a mule. He’s ninety-six and has always been like that, so I don’t think he’ll change now.’

‘Why don’t I come and see him and give him a general check-up? I could broach the subject to him then.’

Victoria printed off the prescription from the computer and gave it to Mrs Loxton, who put it in her handbag and rose from her chair.

‘I don’t think he’d want to see you—he doesn’t hold with doctors and I don’t want him upset because I have to deal with the consequences,’ she said abruptly. ‘Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with him as far as I can see, except arthritis, poor eyesight and a beastly temper. Thank you for the prescription anyway.’

She disappeared and Victoria frowned as she updated the woman’s notes. She wished she knew more of the background to Mrs Loxton’s domestic affairs—was she married, and did she get any help for her father from her family? This was where her mother’s knowledge would have been invaluable. She tapped her teeth with her pen thoughtfully, then pressed the intercom to the office.

‘Maggie, could you spare a second?’

‘Sure—I’ll be with you in one second. I’m just sorting out some appointments.’

‘I just need a bit of background information…I won’t keep you.’

Maggie’s face, surrounded by her wild hairstyle, peered round the door. ‘How can I help?’

‘I’ve just seen a patient called Janet Loxton—can you tell me her father’s name?’

‘Of course. He’s Bernard Lamont. You may have heard of him.’

‘The name sounds familiar—isn’t he an artist?’

Maggie nodded. ‘Oh, yes—he’s one of Braithwaite’s celebrities. He exhibits at the Royal Academy, I believe.’

‘Ah, I knew you’d know about all the patients,’ said Victoria. ‘Can you tell me anything else about him?’

Maggie smiled—she looked quite pleased to be asked. ‘He’s a right curmudgeon, though of course he’s very old now. I believe he can’t paint any more, so that’s hard for him. He and his daughter don’t get on.’

‘He lives with his daughter?’

Maggie nodded. ‘Well, she moved into his house when her marriage collapsed—that was a few years ago when Bernard Lamont was OK. Now she’s got a new boyfriend and it can’t be easy to carry on a romance with a demanding parent in the background.’

‘Has she any family or siblings?’

‘Not that I know of. She used to work in London when she was married.’

‘Right. Thanks, Maggie, that’s very helpful. It’s good to get the background on patients’ lives—gives me a fuller picture. I’ll make a note to visit Mr Lamont.’

Maggie laughed. ‘You’ll be lucky—he won’t see anyone.’ She turned to go. ‘I’ll get back, then. Can’t leave the desk too long at this time of day—it’s like a jungle out there sometimes!’

They smiled at each other and Victoria pressed the intercom to summon the next patient with a sudden upsurge of spirits. She could see that Maggie had a sense of humour—someone she hoped she could have some fun with. Getting to know the patients and the day-to-day doctoring was part of being a GP, and if Maggie could help her fill in the backgrounds of these people, so much the better.

The morning spun by with a succession of patients with fairly mundane complaints from sore throats to bad backs, and by the time the last patient came in it was nearly eleven o’clock and Victoria could smell an enticing aroma of freshly brewed coffee drifting across from the little kitchen. She glanced at the clock—hopefully she’d be able to grab a cup in about five minutes.

A large, ruddy-faced man entered the room, leaning heavily on a stick, followed by an anxious-looking woman.

‘Please, sit down, both of you.’ Victoria smiled.

The man sat down heavily, his chest heaving in and out and a wheezing sound coming with every breath.

His wife started speaking quickly before he could say anything. ‘I’m so glad we were given this appointment, Dr Curtis, because I’m really anxious about Dan. He’s not been well for the last few weeks, but he wouldn’t come and see you. Today he seems really ill, and I’ve said if he didn’t come now, while he was in Braithwaite at the market, I’d throw his cigarettes away—and I meant it!’

Dan Wetherby shook his head, unable to speak, and Victoria got up and warmed her stethoscope in her hands. ‘I think I’d better examine you, although I can hear your breathing’s not good even before I look at you. Let’s undo your shirt.’

‘Susan’s just fussing—there’s nowt to worry about,’ he wheezed, and was convulsed by a racking cough.

‘I’m not fussing,’ protested his wife. ‘I knew your mother, Doctor—she’s such a lovely woman—and she said months ago he was to come for a check-up. She even came round to see him, but he’s that stubborn…’

Victoria waited until Dan stopped coughing and then put her stethoscope on his chest, front and back, listening intently. It sounded bad, as she had known it would, crackles and wheezes in all zones, and his heartbeat was very fast. The couple watched her face anxiously, trying to read from her expression what the diagnosis would be.

She put the stethoscope on the desk and folded her hands in front of her. ‘You know yourself you’ve got a very bad chest, Mr Wetherby. How long have you been like this?’

‘Weeks,’ said his wife. ‘I begged him to come and see you, but he wouldn’t—the obstinate old fool.’

‘Can’t leave the farm,’ wheezed Dan.

Victoria took a deep breath—she knew he wouldn’t like what she was going to say next. ‘You aren’t well, Mr Wetherby,’ she said gently. ‘Your lungs aren’t working as they should and I can hear all sorts of crackles. You need immediate hospitalisation to relieve your symptoms.’

‘Can’t you give me an antibiotic?’ he whispered. ‘That’s what I had last time I had an infection.’

Victoria nodded. ‘You certainly need antibiotics, but the hospital will give them intravenously to make them work more effectively, and in any case until you have a CT scan and a sputum test, we don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with…and we can’t give you those procedures here.’

‘I can’t go to bloody hospital… I won’t…’

Susan clasped her hands together and looked across at Victoria. ‘It’s bad, isn’t it?’ she said quietly.

‘As I say, I can’t tell exactly what’s going on until tests have been done—and that has to be done quickly, and in hospital.’

Dan struck his stick on the floor. ‘I’m not going—not without another opinion. Think of all the stuff I’ve got to do at the farm…’

Victoria looked at Dan’s stubborn expression and sighed. Perhaps he felt he was giving in to his illness if he did what she advised. ‘Look,’ she said with an encouraging smile, ‘what about if I asked Dr Saunders to look at you? If he confirms what I think, would you go then?’

‘Might do,’ he muttered.

‘Oh, yes, you will, Dan Wetherby.’ His wife looked at her husband fiercely. ‘I’m not having another night like last night, with you hardly able to breathe for that cough. We’ll see Dr Saunders as well, just to hammer home that he needs to go to hospital.’

‘I won’t be a minute, then. I’ll just see if he’s still here.’

Victoria went to the office to find out if Connor had started on his home visits or was still in surgery. He was sitting in front of the computer, peering earnestly at the screen and making notes.

‘Connor, can I have a word?’

He swung round. ‘Ah, Freckles…I mean Victoria. Don’t tell me you need help already?’

Victoria looked at him coldly. ‘Ha, ha. Very funny. Yes, I would like your help—and not because I don’t know what’s wrong with the patient,’ she said defensively.

‘I’m sure you do,’ Connor remarked lightly.

She ignored his remark and continued. ‘Mr Wetherby has chronic airway disease, very tachypnoeaic with widespread respiratory wheeze. I believe he should be admitted immediately for tests and therapy, but he’s adamant he won’t go until he has a second opinion, so…’

‘You’d like me to come and look at him?’

‘That’s it.’

‘Only too happy to oblige a colleague. Lead me to him.’

They went into Victoria’s room and she introduced Connor to the anxious-looking couple. ‘Dr Saunders will examine you, Mr Wetherby, and I know he’ll give an unbiased opinion on what should be the course of action,’ she explained.

‘Good morning, Mr and Mrs Wetherby.’ Connor gave them a charming smile and shook Dan’s hand, then drew up a chair to sit in front of them. ‘I believe you’ve been having some chest trouble. Dr Curtis tells me this has been worrying you for quite a while—am I right?’

His voice was kind and gentle, and the elderly couple, who had tensed noticeably as he’d come into the room, relaxed again. Victoria looked at him cynically. He could turn on the charm if he wanted to—his sympathetic manner showed a sensitivity she’d never experienced from him herself, she reflected.

Connor sat down in front of Dan, bending his head forward as he concentrated on the sounds coming through the stethoscope on the man’s chest. After a minute or two he looked up at Victoria.

‘Tachycardic and definite signs of consolidation at the left base,’ he murmured to her. Then added, ‘What was your advice?’

‘I think Mr Wetherby needs to go to hospital for immediate tests, nebulisers and intravenous antibiotics.’

Connor nodded and stood up, folding his arms judiciously. ‘I completely agree—no good pussyfooting around here.’ He looked at the old man and his wife. ‘Your chest is bad, and I can only see it getting worse, whatever we give you here. I think Dr Curtis has no alternative but to get you to St Hilda’s immediately.’ He added gently, to take the sting from his words, ‘You’ll feel so much better when you’ve had some treatment, believe me.’

Dan looked from one doctor to the other, then gave a sigh. ‘Well, nowt for it, then. If you both think I should go, I’ll have to do it. Mother, you’ll have to get our Barry down from his place to give us a hand with the milking.’

‘I’ll do that,’ promised his wife, ‘when I’ve got you to the hospital.’

‘I’m sending for an ambulance, Mrs Wetherby,’ said Victoria. ‘I want him to be started on oxygen as soon as possible, and the paramedics will give him that. Perhaps you’d like to follow him in your car.’ She picked up the phone. ‘I’ll also speak to the registrar on the chest ward—we want things to get moving as soon as possible.’

Suddenly the Wetherbys looked very vulnerable and bewildered—events had moved too quickly for them and they were in shock, gazing blankly at each other. Connor started to explain to them what was likely to happen in the hospital, his voice a low reassuring murmur. The phone calls over, Victoria looked at the trio for a minute. Connor was bending forward as he talked earnestly to them, encouraging them to ask any questions and giving them time to adjust to the situation. Quite an eye-opener, she thought. Connor had matured into the doctor with the perfect bedside manner!

‘The ambulance is on its way,’ she said. ‘I’ll go and meet them and fill in the paramedics on your condition, Mr Wetherby.’

In ten minutes the patient was on his way to St Hilda’s. Susan started crying as he was taken out to the ambulance and turned to the two doctors waiting by her side.

‘He’s very ill, isn’t he?’ she said softly. ‘I’ve known it for some time now—and I think he has, too—but we were both too frightened of the truth to do anything about it. How stupid we’ve been.’

‘No, you haven’t,’ soothed Victoria. ‘Lots of people find it hard to admit they need help. Look,’ she added, ‘let me give you a lift to the hospital—I don’t think you should be driving after a shock like this.’

Susan shook her head and dried her eyes. ‘No, no. I’ll be all right. I’ll go round by my son’s place and he can come with me—he works from home so I know he’ll be there.’

She got in the car and then wound down the window, looking up at Victoria and Connor. ‘Thank you, you’ve both been very kind and I’m so grateful.’ She smiled at them. ‘You know it’s like seeing a young Dr Sorensen and Dr Saunders when I look at the two of you—you’re both so like your parents. They were lovely doctors in the community, and it’s so comforting to know that you’re carrying on now they’ve retired.’

They watched as she drove out of the car park and Victoria murmured, ‘A nice woman… She must have been so worried about her husband. It’s amazing how some people have the capacity to carry on and ignore what’s happening to them. He must have felt terrible for a long time.’ She turned towards Connor and said with an effort at courtesy, ‘Thanks for backing me up there—he’s quite a stubborn old boy.’

‘No question about it—he needs immediate treatment.’

They turned and went back towards the surgery, the autumn sun warm on their backs. Connor stopped for a moment and looked back at the valley in front of the house, the ploughed fields reflecting the shadows of the clouds as they drifted across the sky.

‘It’s a beautiful part of the world,’ he said. ‘I’d forgotten how lovely it was. My father was right about the surgery being in such an idyllic place.’

‘Yes, and it all looks much the same as it did before I left some years ago. The stable block of Mum’s house had just been converted into the medical centre then…’ Almost absently Victoria added, ‘Hard to believe such a lot has happened since.’

He looked at her with raised brows. ‘Such as?’

She gave a short dismissive laugh. ‘Oh, it’s water under the bridge now.’

‘Quite right, Freckles. Look forward.’

She frowned. ‘I’ve told you, don’t call me that.’

‘Sorry…can’t get out of the habit somehow.’ He kicked a stone away from under his foot and glanced at her with a wry smile. ‘Funny that we should end up together in this practice, isn’t it? There was always a bit of rivalry between us in the old days—you probably never dreamt that our paths would cross again.’

‘No,’ agreed Victoria shortly. ‘It certainly wasn’t in my life plan.’

‘We’ll have to learn to work in harness together now.’

‘I suppose so…’

‘Perhaps,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘we could put on an act.’

‘What do you mean, an act?’

He gave a short laugh. ‘It’s obvious, my dear Victoria, that you’re not too keen about working with me.’ He looked at her steadily. ‘Perhaps you’ve good reason… I know I was a brat at school.’

Victoria was startled—he’d actually admitted he’d treated her badly! That was something, she supposed—a kind of apology.

‘It was a long time ago,’ she murmured.

‘What I mean is that if we pretend that we rub along OK, we might actually find we do! After all, we could have quite a nice life here. We each have good homes to live in that our parents have vacated, even if it is short term—it just needs a bit of give and take on both sides, I reckon.’

His clear blue eyes held hers questioningly and Victoria suddenly felt rather flustered, as if a switch had been thrown to register a mixture of excitement and danger. She looked at him in confusion. For so long she’d thought of him with dislike, the memory of that dance assuming more importance than it warranted, she supposed. Now he’d acknowledged that incident, shown that he’d matured, and it seemed silly to hark back to how he’d treated her then. She looked at his strong, intelligent face and firm uncompromising lips and swallowed hard. How extraordinary was that? She was beginning to admit to herself that she found Connor Saunders just as sexy now as she had when she’d been a schoolgirl!

She stepped hastily away from him. She must be going mad or perhaps she was sex starved, but how could Connor Saunders, whom she’d vowed to put out of her mind, kick-start feelings she thought had vanished for ever? He looked at her enquiringly, obviously expecting some reaction to his remarks.

With an effort she collected her thoughts. ‘I’m perfectly willing to work amicably with you, Connor, but it’s got to be a two-way thing. For instance, your remarks this morning weren’t very helpful.’

He held his hands up in submission. ‘OK, so I’ll try not to shoot my mouth off in future—and perhaps in return you can loosen up a bit.’ Then he grinned and put his hand under her chin, lifting her face towards his as he inspected her face. ‘How about it, Freckles? Think you can put on an act?’

She pulled her face away from his hand and said loftily, ‘I shall act in a dignified way, Connor. We’re both mature people—I’m sure we can manage to work together without bickering the whole time.’

‘Hallelujah to that!’ he remarked.

Karen, the practice nurse, ran towards them. ‘Oh, Victoria, you wouldn’t see one last patient this morning, would you? She’s only about ten and has come in by herself—I don’t think she’s even registered with the practice, but she looks really poorly. Connor’s still got another patient so he can’t see her.’

Connor had started to walk back towards the surgery, his feet making a scrunching noise on the path. Victoria watched him go before she went with Karen to see the patient and sighed. Would Connor and she ever be able to get on normally with each other? Having to ‘put on an act’might get rather wearing!

* * *

The young girl looked down at the floor, twisting her hands together.

‘What’s your name?’ Victoria asked her gently.

‘Evie Gelevska,’ was the whispered reply after a long pause. ‘I’m eighteen.’

‘Can you tell me what’s wrong, Evie?’ Victoria probed, while doing a quick visual assessment of the young patient, a thin pale little figure dressed in a ragtag collection of old pullovers with holes in them and a skimpy skirt. There was an unkempt air about her, as if she hadn’t bathed or washed for some time.

Evie looked up at Victoria timidly. ‘My throat’s sore. I thought you could give me something to make it better.’

There was just the hint of an accent in the girl’s voice, a trace of a European inflection perhaps. She smiled kindly at her. ‘I’m sure I can, Evie. Let me have a look at it. Open your mouth, pet, and I’ll shine this torch on it to let me see better.’ Victoria bent down and peered into her mouth. No wonder the poor girl was in pain: both tonsils were inflamed and there were white spots of pus on the periphery. She looked up at Evie’s scared face.

‘Poor you,’ she said. ‘It does look painful—but I can give you some medicine that will make it feel a lot better in a few days. Now I’ll have to take some details about you first—you aren’t registered with us, are you?’

She went round to her desk and opened up a new file on the computer for Evie Gelevska. ‘What’s your address?’

‘I live at the bottom of Smithy Lane in one of the cottages there.’

Victoria nodded; she knew it well as the lane was behind her house. ‘Right—and where’s your mum? Couldn’t she come with you?’

There was silence for a second, then the girl muttered, ‘She’s not well herself…but she’s sort of used to it.’

Victoria looked puzzled. ‘Has she got a sore throat, too?’

Evie hesitated, then said slowly, ‘No—it’s not that sort of illness. I mean she’s OK really. Just finds it hard to get about.’

‘I see. Have you just come to this area then?’

‘Yes. We’ve only been here a little while.’

‘Well, I do need your mum to come in because we’ll have to ask her some questions about you and your general health—and she will need to register with us, too. Will you ask her to come when she feels up to it?’

Victoria printed off a prescription for antibiotics and handed it to Evie. ‘Now, it’s very important that you take this medicine properly—the instructions will be printed on the side by the chemist and you must finish them all. What school do you go to, Evie?’

‘Braithwaite Comprehensive.’

‘Well, I should take today and tomorrow off—after that, if you feel well enough, go back to school. And one more thing. I’d like to see you next week and just check that everything’s all right. Make an appointment at Reception. Perhaps your mum would come with you next time—really it’s better if I see her as well.’

The girl nodded, unsmiling. ‘I’ll come.’

‘You know, if your mother’s not well enough to come here, perhaps I could see her on a home visit…’

Evie’s head jerked up and she said sharply, ‘No! No, she wouldn’t like that—I mean, she’s not all that ill.’

Victoria frowned and looked gravely at Evie. ‘She does know you’ve come to see me, doesn’t she?’

A slight flush spread over Evie’s cheeks, and there was a moment’s hesitation before she spoke. ‘Yes…yes, of course… but she trusts me to do things myself.’ Then she added abruptly, ‘Thank you for seeing me,’ and almost ran from the room.

Victoria followed her and then went into the office to look out of the window as she retrieved her bike and disappeared down the road. There was something odd about this situation, something that didn’t add up, she thought uneasily. Why hadn’t the mother rung the surgery to say that her daughter was coming in, especially as they weren’t registered or known to the practice?

She started to pour herself a coffee from the percolator, then looked again through the window—she could just see Evie cycling down the hill to the village. Connor came into the room behind her.

‘That coffee smells good,’ he said, joining her at the window. ‘What are you looking at?’

‘Can you see that girl on the bike?’ she asked. ‘I feel worried about her… She came by herself and I’m sure the mother’s unaware that she’s been here.’

‘What’s the matter with her?’

‘She’s got a badly infected throat,’ Victoria replied as she handed a cup of coffee to him, then added pensively, ‘And she wasn’t very forthcoming with information about her mother—didn’t want me to contact her.’

‘Why should she want to come secretly?’

Victoria shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea—but I think I ought to pay the mother a visit—make sure things are OK.’

He nodded and sipped his coffee. ‘Good idea. When in doubt, best to find out. By the way, don’t forget we’ve a meeting at the pub tonight—about seven o’clock?’

‘I haven’t forgotten.’ She sighed, her eyes following the vanishing figure of Evie Gelevska.


CHAPTER THREE

THE sunny weather of the morning had changed and now rain was lashing down. By the time Victoria had dashed across the road from where she’d parked her car to the Swinging Gate, she was soaked, her hair lying in bedraggled rats’ tails against her collar. She stepped into the dark cosy bar of the pub and looked across the room, dabbing her neck dry with her scarf.

Connor was standing by the bar, talking to the landlord, but at that moment he turned round and saw her, surprised again when he looked across the room at the tall slender girl with the damp russet hair dripping onto her collar—nothing like the rather plump, bookish-looking schoolgirl he had known. The years had changed Victoria into a stunning, stylish woman.

He pushed his way through a knot of people and looked at her with concern. ‘You look a bit wet… Go and get a table by the fire and dry out. What are you having, before we get started?’

‘White wine, please.’

Victoria subsided into a chair and took off her coat, hanging it on the back of the chair. She watched as Connor made his way back with the drinks and sighed. He had a tough, no-nonsense look about him as he shouldered his large frame through the crowded bar, and she guessed he wouldn’t give way if there were any contentious issues to be discussed that night. She pressed her lips together—she could be just as stubborn as he could if she wanted, but she did so hope they could get through the evening without bickering.

He sat down, passing a glass to Victoria and having a slow sip of wine from his. ‘God, that feels good,’ he remarked. ‘I seem to have dealt with half the patients in the practice today. How was your first day?’

‘Interesting, but I feel exhausted.’

‘That’s natural in a new job.’

It wasn’t just the work, thought Victoria bleakly. The letter she’d received that morning had been hard to put out of her mind all day—her emotions felt as if they’d been through a shredder. She glanced at herself in dismay in the murky mirror on the wall opposite—her eyes had dark circles under them and her hair was wet through.

‘Heaven’s, what do I look like?’ She sighed. ‘I’m a complete wreck—I look as if I’ve just dived into a swimming pool.’

He looked at her damp hair clinging to her head as sleek as a seal’s, and her glowing, flushed cheeks and said shortly after a second’s perusal, ‘You look OK to me. Have some wine—that’ll make you feel better.’

‘I could do with it,’ Victoria admitted. ‘It took me ages to do the visits, even with an A - Z. I haven’t been back long.’

‘Perhaps you could do with a satnav,’ Connor suggested. He leant back in his chair and regarded her through narrowed eyes. ‘You know, you’ve changed quite a bit since we were at school. I hardly recognised you.’

‘Well, I don’t have braces on my teeth or glasses now, but if it comes to that, you’ve changed physically as well,’ she retorted.

His mouth twitched, eyes amused. ‘What are you trying to say?’

‘Just that…you’ve filled out, you’re not so skinny. Still pretty opinionated, though,’ she added boldly.

‘I’d say you have a mind of your own, too. Your freckles are still there, of course—and your hair’s the same auburn.’ His gaze flickered over her and he took another sip from his glass. ‘I suppose you got your tan in Australia. What happened to bring you back from there?’

Victoria said tersely, ‘I got married, but it didn’t work out. Enough said.’

He raised his brows slightly. ‘Snap! I’m afraid my marriage has come to grief, too.’ There was a flippancy in his tone, as if he thought the whole thing was of no account. No doubt he was a tough nut and someone who wouldn’t give his heart easily, she thought. He probably thought of his collapsed marriage as a blip in his life, a setback rather than a disaster. If only she could be as detached as that, Victoria reflected. She wasn’t really over Andy and perhaps never would be. She’d been desperately hurt over his betrayal, coupled with a cold anger that she had wasted five years of her life.

Her throat constricted suddenly. She’d tried not to think about Andy over the past few days, but today, of course, it had been impossible to block him out of her mind. For a second his handsome face danced in front of her and she was back in Australia, enjoying the thrill of surfing on the white rollers, laughing across at him as he crashed into the water with his board flying. They’d had such fun together, she thought, been so happy decorating their little house. And yet all the time she’d been completely blind as to what had been happening, stupid girl that she was… And now it was all over, and she had been left feeling destroyed, every confidence in her ability to attract a man shattered.

A sudden cackle of laughter in the pub brought her back to the present and she realised that Connor was looking at her with a quizzical expression.

‘You were miles away, weren’t you?’ he observed.

‘Sorry, just thought about something. I…I’m sorry about your marriage.’

He shrugged. ‘Don’t be—it was for the best. Carol and I had completely different outlooks on life.’

‘So did my husband and I,’ remarked Victoria.

‘Then perhaps we have something in common after all,’ observed Connor lightly, although perhaps there was something in his eyes that belied his flippant tone.

‘I’m sure that the reasons for your splitting up and mine couldn’t have been more different,’ Victoria said stiffly. She wasn’t about to open her heart about her past to a man like Connor Saunders. She got up and looked down at him. ‘Another one before we get onto the subject of the practice?’

Connor’s eyes followed her as she went to the bar, noticing how the men gazed at her in admiration. There were a few people in the room who remembered Victoria and came up to say hello and he noticed how the rather wistful expression on her face lit up in a warm sparkling smile when she greeted them. He could still hardly believe that the schoolgirl he’d called Freckles had turned into such a swan—she’d always had an attractive face, but the round National Health glasses and steel braces on her teeth had disguised her looks.

He remembered how he’d enjoyed competing with Victoria, but how stubborn she could be when they’d argued, always convinced that she was right! Oh, yes, sometimes she’d seemed the most annoying and irritating female on the planet! Had she changed her character as well as her looks? If she hadn’t, he thought glumly, then she’d be damned difficult to work with.

He sighed to himself. It was going to be a terrific gamble, the two of them working together—he hoped it wouldn’t be a hideous disaster. If there was one thing he’d learned from the wreckage of his marriage it was that he would never kowtow to a woman again. Years of having to placate a spoilt and demanding wife had taught him the folly of losing the upper hand, he thought grimly. No way would he take a back seat in any working partnership, and he would certainly make Victoria aware that he would do the leading in the practice. She was probably a good enough doctor, but when it came to decisions he would be the one to make them.




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