The Brooding Doc's Redemption. Kate Hardy

like Marc had expected. She was in her early thirties, a couple of years younger than himself, he’d guess, but what he really noticed were the dark corkscrew curls she’d pulled back in a scrunchie, her piercing blue eyes, and the sweetest-looking mouth he’d ever seen.

      Which was terrible. He shouldn’t even be noticing this sort of thing about her. She was his new colleague, and for all he knew she could be married.

      Worse still, he found himself actually glancing at her left hand, to check.

      No ring. Not that that meant anything.

      She didn’t seem to notice, and simply held out her hand to shake his. ‘Welcome to Pond Lane, Marc.’

      When his palm touched hers, it felt like an electric shock.

      This really couldn’t be happening.

      But either it wasn’t the same for her, or she was a bit better than he was at ignoring the zing of attraction, because she said, ‘It’s really good of you to let me sit in on consultations with you this morning, especially as it’s your first day here. Leigh, the practice manager, is off today, but she left me all the details so I can set you up on the computer.’ She laughed. ‘Sam has this mad idea that because I’m the youngest doctor in the practice, it means I’m the one who’s best with computers.’

      ‘Are you?’ Marc asked.

      ‘Only because my brother’s a computer consultant and taught me a lot, to stop me ringing him up and wailing down the phone to him every time I got stuck when I was a student,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Shall we grab a coffee, then go to your room and make a start?’

      ‘Sure.’ Marc found himself warming to her. She was efficient and bubbly, with an overlay of common sense: it was a good combination, and he’d just bet her patients adored her.

      They headed for the staff kitchen, and Laurie switched the kettle on. ‘Do you prefer tea or coffee?’

      ‘Coffee’s great, thanks.’ Instant coffee, he noticed. A couple of years ago, he would’ve been a bit sniffy and insisted on bringing in a cafetière and a special blend of ground beans; and his suit for work would’ve been a designer label, his shirts hand-made. Nowadays, he knew there were more important things in life. And how he wished he’d been less shallow when he’d been younger. That he’d appreciated what he’d had.

      ‘Milk or sugar?’ she asked.

      ‘Just as it is for me, thanks.’

      She added a large slug of milk to her own mug, then shepherded him to his consulting room. Which looked incredibly bare: the only hint of colour was the plant on the windowsill. Compared to hers, which had had a child’s paintings on the walls and framed photographs on her desk, the room looked impersonal and slightly daunting.

      He’d have to change that, to help put his patients at ease. Though, even if all his photos hadn’t been packed away, he couldn’t quite face putting a photograph on his desk. This was a new start for him. No memories.

      There was also a state-of-the-art computer on his desk, he noticed.

      ‘It’s probably very similar to the system you used before, but this one does have a couple of quirks.’ She switched it on, and fished a note out of the file she carried. ‘This is your username and password.’

      And he noticed that when she talked him through the system, she let him press the keys rather than rattling through it and expecting him to watch what she did and take it all in. ‘You’re very good at this teaching stuff.’

      ‘Thank you. It’s something I like doing.’

      ‘Is that why you’re doing GP training?’

      She nodded. ‘Sam believes in job enrichment. Ricky—have you met Ricky yet?’ At his shake of the head, she said, ‘He’s not in today, but he has ALS training. We all have our special interests. One of my friends suggested being a GP trainer, because I was always good at explaining things when I was helping others revise for exams. I looked into it and talked to Sam, and an opportunity came up last year to start a course. It means fitting things about a bit—I’m at the university one morning a week in term-time—and my hours are a bit odd, but I’m enjoying it.’

      ‘Sounds good.’

      Marc had a lovely voice, and Laurie hoped his manner with patients lived up to it. The last locum at the practice had been terrible, speaking to patients as if they were five years old, and they’d all complained to Phyllis and asked not to have any more appointments with him.

      Though Marc was permanent rather than a locum. Given that he was moving here from London, Laurie had expected someone in his late forties or early fifties, wanting to exchange the bustle of life in the city for the much calmer pace of life in a small Norfolk town. Marc looked as if he was in his mid-thirties, a couple of years older than herself. And he was very easy on the eye, with hazel eyes behind wire-framed glasses, and dark hair, cut very short, which stuck up slightly on the top.

      She damped down the surge of attraction. This was ridiculous. So what if he happened to remind her slightly of a TV star she’d had a crush on for ages? He probably wasn’t single anyway; and, even if he was, she was very careful about relationships nowadays. No way was she giving Izzy a series of ‘uncles’ flitting in and out of her life in place of her absent father. Her little girl came first. Always would.

      Besides, given what had happened with Dean, she didn’t want to repeat her mistakes. Being single suited her just fine.

      ‘So who’s on your list this morning?’ she asked.

      He glanced at the screen. ‘My first patient’s Judy Reynolds.’

      ‘Ah.’

      Marc looked at her, frowning. ‘Is there anything I need to know?’

      ‘Only that she’s on my mental list for my pet project.’

      ‘Sam mentioned that.’

      ‘I thought he might.’ She smiled at him. ‘I’d better not make you late starting on your first day, but maybe we can talk about my project at break?’

      ‘Sure.’

      He pressed the button to call in his first patient, and a few moments later there was a knock at the door.

      ‘Come in,’ he called.

      A middle-aged woman walked in, and her eyes widened as she saw both Laurie and Marc sitting there.

      ‘Hello, Judy,’ Laurie said with a smile. ‘I hope you don’t mind me sitting in on your appointment with Dr Bailey?’

      ‘Is this all to do with your GP training thing?’ Judy asked.

      ‘Yes.’ Laurie smiled. ‘If anything, Dr Bailey’s senior to me—he’s been a GP for longer than I have.’

      ‘That’s fine. I don’t mind you sitting in.’

      ‘Thank you. Just pretend I’m not here,’ Laurie said.

      Judy looked at Marc. ‘So you’re not another locum, then?’

      ‘No, I’m here permanently.’

      ‘Right.’ She blew out a breath. ‘That last locum was terrible—he spoke to you as if you were a toddler.’

      Laurie didn’t say a word—the practice manager already knew how everyone felt about that particular locum, staff and patients alike—but she wanted to see how Marc dealt with the situation.

      ‘I’m sorry you had that kind of experience with him. But I’d like to assure you that that’s not the way I do things, Mrs Reynolds,’ Marc said. ‘How can I help?’

      ‘I’m probably wasting your time and I’m making a fuss over nothing, but I’m just—’ She sighed. ‘Well, I’m tired all the time. That locum sent me for blood tests, but I never heard anything back.’

      Marc