A Wedding in the Village Read Online Free Page B

should,’ she told him, and as they did the rest of the house calls neither of them had any further comments to make.
    When they’d finished and were driving back to the surgery, Megan broke the silence to ask, ‘Do you want to stop off somewhere for a quick sandwich and a drink? There’s The Badger in the village and a tearoom not far away.’
    ‘I suggest we call in at the tearoom,’ he replied. ‘Doctors propping up the bar in the lunch-hour doesn’t seem quite right, even if we are only drinking coffee.’
    ‘Fine by me,’ she said dismissively.
    They ate in silence and when they’d finished and were back at the practice he said levelly, ‘I’m ready to take my share of the afternoon surgery. If there’s anything I’m not sure about regarding the way things are done, I’ll ask.’
    ‘Yes, do that,’ she told him, and went in and closed her door.
    This is dreadful, she thought. We haven’t even got through Luke’s first day at the practice and we’re at loggerheads. No one was more sorry for Sue and the boys than herself, but was her friend being fair to him?
    When she’d known Luke before it had been his looks and status that had attracted her, but since he’d arrived in the village she was seeing another side to him. He was compassionate and caring, and in consequence thought her to be only interested in her own affairs. He hadn’t said it, yet she knew it was what he was thinking. But she was relying on him to help her run the practice. Would he always be there when he was needed if Sue went ahead with her plans?
    * * *
    ‘How did it go?’ she asked when the late surgery was over.
    ‘Just a couple of hitches,’ he said calmly, ‘but the receptionists sorted me out. There was no need to disturb you.’
    She could feel herself getting rattled again at the display of cool competence. It would be interesting to see how alert the new doctor at the practice was when he’d been up half the night mothing, she thought as she drove homewards.
    * * *
    She made a meal of sorts, but left most of it uneaten as the day’s events took over her mind. Luke was going to be a liability, she thought sombrely. He’d admitted that he’d taken the position in the practice to be near Sue and the boys and she’d seen nothing wrong in that.
    But at that time she hadn’t expected he was going to be left in sole charge of Owen, Oliver and the garden centre at the back of Woodcote House. Somebody was going to have to keep an eye on the business and he was the obvious choice, being family and already on the premises.
    Where on his list of priorities was the Riverside Practice going to come? she wondered dismally. And where would she come? In spite of her annoyance at what she saw as being let down by him, the old attraction was still there and it wasn’t going to go away.
    But it wasn’t sexual chemistry that was her main concern at that moment. Her parents had left with an easy mind, believing that between them the practice would be in safe hands, and today had made her doubt if that was going to be the case.
    * * *
    Megan wasn’t the only one thinking sombre thoughts about the day that was past. When she’d left for home Luke had told the staff that he would lock up, and when the place was empty he went into his room and stood gazing thoughtfully out of the window.
    It was a fantastic view in anybody’s book. The peaks rising ruggedly in the distance, and closer the quaint village street with shops that made the uniformity of supermarkets seem soulless and synthetic.
    He could see Megan’s point of view. Understood that she felt he was going to be a loose cannon instead of a reliable partner. Sue going away for a prolonged holiday on her own was something he hadn’t bargained for, yet he could see the wisdom of it. As well as support, the boys needed a firm hand at the moment and she was not in a fit state to provide it, but he was.
    As to the business, he would concern himself about that when he had to. At