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
