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.With his spoon.She’d felt herself melting faster than the ice cream.‘Sorry—what?’‘I said, was it local ice cream?’Local—? ‘Um—I’m not sure.It could have been.Why?’‘Oh, the person at book group said something about that.You can buy it in farm shops round here, apparently, if it’s the one she thought.So, did your friend walk you home? I didn’t hear a car stop.’OK.It hadn’t taken long, and she’d known it was coming, could almost see the antenna twirling slowly in the background.She nearly laughed at her mother’s predictability.‘No, we walked.He was going this way.He lives near here.’Which might not be a lie, but since he hadn’t actually told her where he lived, it was hard to know.But she wasn’t telling her mother about borrowing his jacket, or the almost-kiss that wasn’t.Using the word he was more than enough information.‘Cup of tea?’ she asked, heading for the kitchen, and her mother followed her.‘That would be nice.So, was this anyone I know of?’‘The new guy,’ she said, busying herself with the mugs and teapot so she didn’t have to look her mother in the eye.‘Ed.We were working on the patient together, and they gave us the tickets.It would have been hard to refuse—and, anyway, I never go out.I thought it might be fun.And it was.’‘Well, it was nice of you to go with him.I expect he’s a bit lonely if he’s new to the area.’‘Oh, he’s not, he knows it well.His family all live in the area and I think he was brought up here.That’s why he’s here—his grandfather’s not well.He helps his grandmother with him.’‘Oh, that’s kind of him.He was lucky there was a job available.’‘I think we were luckier to get him.He’s a great doctor, but he has plans for his future, and they don’t involve sleepy old Yoxburgh, so it’s definitely temporary,’ she said firmly, cutting her mother off at the pass.‘Here, your tea.I think I might take mine to bed and read for a while.My legs are aching, it’s been a busy day.Thanks for babysitting for me.You’re a star.’She kissed her mother goodnight and escaped, closing the door of her tiny bedroom with a sigh of relief, but if she imagined she’d shut Ed out, she was wrong.He followed her in, his laugh, his warm, spontaneous personality, his wicked sense of fun all tormenting her.Wasn’t that the first thing always in the personal column adverts? GSOH? Well, he certainly had a good sense of humour, topped off with a lethal dose of masculine charm and looks to die for.It was a good job he hadn’t kissed her.Really.If he’d kissed her, it would have been a disaster.Made it impossible to work together.It was hard enough as it was, and she didn’t need to fall into the trap of succumbing to a colleague.Or anyone.She was rubbish at relationships, rubbish at men in general and good-looking men with smiling bedroom eyes in particular.She needed to remember that.She plonked down on the edge of the single bed and sighed.She was going to have to get a serious grip on herself before tomorrow.* * *‘So how did it go last night?’He groaned inwardly.He’d spent the entire night thinking about Annie, and discussing it with Kate was the last thing he needed.‘Fine.Very funny.It was worth going.’‘I meant with Annie.Little Dr Prim, with her sweet little girls and her “don’t touch me” attitude.’He ground his teeth.‘Not that it’s any of your business, but we had a good time, thank you.’‘Oh, come on, tell all.’That was another of the nurses chipping in, grinning and propping her elbows on the high desk, her chin in her hands, her eyes alight with mischief.‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, we went to the theatre!’ he said, totally exasperated.‘How is this such a big deal?’‘But you went with Annie, and Annie doesn’t go anywhere with anyone.’So now the receptionist was getting in on the act.Where the hell were the patients when you needed them?He sighed and rammed a hand through his hair.‘Look,’ he said, hanging on to his temper with difficulty, ‘we were given two tickets by a patient and her husband, tickets they couldn’t use, for a light-hearted slapstick comedy.Annie and I were both there, they offered the tickets to us, we accepted.It would have been churlish not to.And as we were both free, we went.End of.’‘And?’‘And what?’ he growled.‘Did you kiss her goodnight?’No, he hadn’t, and he’d spent the entire night regretting it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]