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She watched his eyes widen. 'I would say that I don't believe it.'

'You have to. I have persuaded her to let me make an appointment.'

'Brilliant!' he crowed. 'How did you do it?'

'I'm afraid that's where the catch comes in. I've said I'll take her, stay with her and bring her back. I've made the offer without getting your permission. I hope you don't mind.'

'Mind? Of course I don't. I'd like to know what you said to the old crab to make her agree.'

'She's just a sad and lonely old woman, Max. Her manner is a cover for pain, loneliness and poverty. The last of which I will look into if she'll let me. There must be benefits that she's not getting and I might be able to put her right about them.'

'Can I tell you something?' he said softly, and when she didn't reply he continued, 'You are the best thing that has ever happened to the practice, Fenella.' And to me, he was tempted to add, but they'd only just come round from the previous night's hiccup so maybe it was least said, soonest mended.

'And what is the other thing you have to tell me?' he asked with the good feeling still there.

'There was a woman at last night's meeting,' she said sombrely, and the tone of her voice told him that the telling of the good news was over. 'When the vicar announced that you wouldn't be there, she got up and walked out.'

'This morning she came here, shortly after you'd left on your rounds. She asked for you and when I told her you were out, she said to tell you that Sonya had been and she would be in touch.'

'I see,' he said soberly, and that was all.

'Who is she, Max?'

He sighed. 'She is the woman I was going to marry seven years ago, shortly after Will and I lost our parents. There was an important matter that we couldn't agree on and Sonya called the wedding off just days before it was due to take place. Then she took a flight to America where, as far as I know, she has been ever since. Can we leave it at that, Fenella?'

'Yes, of course,' she said hurriedly as the morning's earlier gloom returned.

Once back in her own room she slumped down behind the desk and thought about what Max had just told her. Did he still have feelings for this woman? she wondered. What could it have been that had caused their engagement to end? He was the most honourable man she'd ever met, but she imagined he could be implacable in certain circumstances.

So Sonya had made a move, Max thought with a grim smile. He'd wondered how long it would be. It seemed that she'd sought him out twice and he'd been absent both times. But she was a woman of determination. She wouldn't be put off for long and when eventually they did meet he might find out why she'd come back.

Maybe she'd decided that as Will would now be grown up, he, Max, wouldn't be so concerned about his welfare and they could take up where they had left off. But there was the strange name that she'd registered under. Who and where was Mr Milhench, if he wasn't with her?

Hopefully she had sought him out just to say hello. If that was the case, he would send up a prayer of thankfulness, but past experience had shown him that Sonya never did anything without a reason.

They were both
late finishing that evening as there'd been an urgent request for a visit just as they'd been about to leave. When one of the receptionists had passed on the message Max had said, 'Tell them we're on our way.' He turned to Fenella. 'I want you with me on this one. How much cancer have you seen?'

'Some. Not a lot.'

'The guy we're going to visit has got it bad, stomach cancer. It's just a matter of time. He's a strong fellow and a fighter, but it has a vicious hold on him. His wife has phoned to say that he is very swollen and in a lot of pain. It sounds as if it could be fluid. Whatever it is, there is no way I'm going to leave John Oakes in that state until morning. I wouldn't be able to sleep easy.'

Fenella nodded. He was the best, she thought. They didn't come any more caring. If she didn't make a good GP after working with Max then she never would.

When they arrived, the patient was sitting in an easy chair beside a window that overlooked the distant peaks and when he saw them he said, 'Hello, there, Max. Have you come to sort out my bellyache?'

'Hopefully, yes,' Max replied. 'You don't need to get undressed, John. Just lift up your shirt and ease your pants down while I feel around for a while. And then, if you don't mind, I'm going to ask my assistant, Dr Forbes, to examine you.'

Their patient must have been a big man at one time, Fenella thought, but now the flesh hung on him and his hair had gone, but his eyes were bright and the smile he had for her made her want to weep.

His wife was hovering and as Fenella gently felt his swollen stomach he said teasingly, 'I'd have asked you to send for the doctor before, Mary, if I'd known what a lovely assistant he had.'

'Get away with you,' she said with a tearful smile, and turned to Fenella. 'What is he like!'

'I'm going to ring the hospital and have you admitted,' Max told him. 'You're full of fluid. Once it's been drained off you'll feel much better. You should only be in a couple of days and if you give me a ring when you're home again, we'll be round to see you.'

Max took out his mobile phone and went out to the hall to make a call. He returned with a smile. 'The ambulance is on its way. I've also managed to get hold of your oncologist. He's going to start the draining process as soon as you get there.'

'Thanks, Max,
and
to Dr Forbes,' the sick man said. 'I might be looking a bit slimmer the next time you see me.'

They'd gone in Max's car as Ann had needed hers to get home, and when they left the Oakes residence he said sombrely, 'John
will
be slimmer when he comes home, but it will only be until the next time he fills up with fluid. I would so much like to make his life easier, but the only thing I can do is what I've just done, provide him with some temporary relief.'

Fenella put her hand over his where it was resting on the steering-wheel and gave it a squeeze. 'It was better than nothing, Max.'

'Yes, I suppose so. If I had to make a guess, I would say that John has got about a month. Did
you
think that fluid was the problem?'

'I wasn't sure as I haven't been involved with a terminally ill cancer patient before. It was a humbling experience.'

He nodded. 'Yes, indeed. John knows that he's dying and so does his wife. He's coping with it one day at a time as best he can, and in my book it's called courage. And now as I've kept you late, can I take you somewhere to eat? Or will Ann have a meal ready for you?'

'No. I didn't know how long I'd be so I told her not to bother. Mum will be on her way to see Simon by now.'

'Right, and Will has gone off somewhere with his friends. So what about The Falcon Hotel? It will be coming into view any second.'

'Mmm. Anywhere will do. I'm starving.'

The hotel had just started serving evening meals and they had no trouble finding a table.

'I wish I looked a bit smarter,' Fenella said as she looked around the elegant room. 'I've had these clothes on all day.'

Max smiled. 'You look fine. You always do. Just as long as you don't wear the sequinned T-shirt.'

She was studying the menu and looked up at him in surprise. 'How do you know I own something like that?'

'You were wearing it that night in the police station...and the gold chain. It was pulling across your throat and I loosened it.'

'You are amazing,' she said softly. 'I just wish I'd known you were there. Does anyone look out for you in the same way that you care for others? The scales don't seem very evenly balanced.'

'We have to take what life hands out to us, Fenella. Will and I had loving parents. They died. He was only young and I was all he had. I took on the role of father and brother. It never occurred to me to do otherwise. My relationship with Sonya foundered. It probably would have done in any case. So there you are. And if you're asking if I'm ever going to ask anyone to share my bed, I don't know. But if I ever do, the person in question will have my ring on her finger first.'

Fenella could feel her colour rising. Max had read her mind. She would have to be more subtle in future. Or else come right out with it.

They lingered over the meal, sometimes chatting, sometimes silent, and every time Fenella looked at Max she couldn't believe that in the early days of their acquaintance she hadn't liked him.

There were tired lines around his eyes and a fine sprinkling of silver in the dark thatch of his hair, but it didn't stop her from being aware of his strength, his vitality and the sexuality that made her wilt when he touched her. She was in love with him, she realised. Totally. Committedly. Did he feel the same about her?

They were the only people left in the dining room and Max got to his feet reluctantly. 'I think we'd better make a move before they throw us out.' She nodded, also not wanting their time together to end.

Outside, on the forecourt of the hotel, they observed each other over the top of his car and as their glances locked Max saw the message in her eyes.

'Don't look at me like that, Fenella.'

'I don't know what you mean.'

'Yes, you do,' he said firmly. 'We've got to work together, don't forget.'

'What has that got to do with anything? You're making excuses.'

'Maybe I am, but one of us has to hold onto our sanity.'

She went round to his side of the car and kissed him gently on the lips. 'That can be you, then,' she said softly. 'I'm going to carry on falling in love with you.'

'Fenella, will you, please, get into the car?' he commanded. 'It's been a lovely evening. Don't spoil it.'

'Spoil it! 'she exclaimed. 'Is that how you see my feelings for you?'

Without any further persuasion she slid into the passenger seat and gazed fixedly ahead.

Observing her set profile, he said patiently, 'I didn't mean it like that. My life is so bound up in the affairs of others I never seem to come up for air. I keep telling myself that I must do something about it, but each day is so full of things I can't put off.

'It was great to be able to idle a few hours away with you, but until Simon comes back that is how it's going to be. You have been heaven-sent, but the workload is still heavy.'

She sighed. 'Yes, I do know that. I'm sorry.'

'Don't be. You bring light into my life.'

The house was looming up and her mother's car was outside, which meant that their time together was at an end.

As she was opening the car door, Max said, 'I'll see you tomorrow, Dr Forbes...and thanks for a very pleasant evening.'

'The pleasure was all mine, Dr Hollister,' she told him gravely, and thought that could be the case.

As Fenella lay sleepless beneath the eaves, Max was climbing the stairs to where his solitary bed awaited, and when he thought about what he'd said to Fenella regarding sharing it, it seemed extremely supercilious now.

He hadn't meant it to be. He'd just wanted her to know that he didn't go in for casual romps and had ended up making himself sound like some sort of prude.

Yet it was how he felt and, though he hadn't put it into so many words, it was her that he'd had in mind. He'd been attracted to her from the moment she'd appeared before him to be interviewed for the job, and nothing had changed, except that his need of her was increasing all the time and instead of giving in to it he was fending her off. Using pressure of work as the excuse.

He must be insane, he thought as he stripped off and flung himself on top of the bedcovers, unaware that inside an old house on the hillside Fenella was just as restless and frustrated as he was.

The next morning at the practice neither gave any indication of their sleepless yearnings. They greeted each other coolly and for the rest of the day concentrated on the job.

Inside the surgery it was warm and airless because of the high temperature outside, and when Fenella had a brief moment to spare she stood looking out of the window at the rugged skyline.

'I wouldn't mind being up there at this moment. What do you say?' Max's voice said from behind her.

She turned slowly to face him and nodded. 'A breath of fresh air would be great,' she agreed. 'I might take a walk over the tops tonight.'

'Good idea,' he said, and left it at that.

That evening, when her mother had gone to visit Simon, who was to be discharged the next day, Fenella wandered restlessly around the house. There were lots of things she could be doing, but they were the mundane things of life, like tidying up, washing, ironing, weeding the garden, but with Max so much on her mind they had no appeal.

When his car pulled up in front of the cottage she couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was as if she'd willed him to appear. When she opened the door to him she told him jubilantly, 'I was wishing so hard that you would come. You must have picked up on my thoughts.'

'Well, something was pulling at me to come here,' he said easily, as she stepped back to let him in, 'but I didn't know you had special powers.' He was looking around him. 'Where's Ann? At the hospital?'

'Yes. It's Mum's last night visiting Simon there...and her last night living here. It will seem strange without her. I can see that you will be telling me to lock the doors then.'

'You bet,' he promised, and broke the silence that followed with, 'So have you got your walking shoes handy?'

'My walking shoes?'

'Yes. You said you'd like a walk along the tops, didn't you? And as it's still early evening, why don't we do that, and on our way back have supper at Battersby's Farm Restaurant? Beryl Battersby is the brain behind it and her husband, Ed, sees to the farming side of the business.'

'That sounds lovely,' Fenella told him, eyes sparkling at the suggestion. She would have Max to herself for a few hours, she thought happily, with sick patients and local crime put to one side for a while.