A Proposal to Remember

‘Testing me?’

‘Just looking out for my patients.’

He drained his glass. ‘And when I prove to you that I’m perfectly competent, do I get an apology?’

‘No, you get to see patients without me looking over your shoulder.’

‘You certainly know how to deliver an incentive.’ He put the empty glass down on the table. ‘It’s going to be a joy to work with you, Riggs.’

‘Follow the rules, McKenna, and we just might survive.’

CHAPTER FOUR

THE first thing Sam saw when he walked into the surgery the next morning was a sensational pair of legs. Slim, brown and long enough to make a man forget what was in his head.

For a moment he just looked, and then he reminded himself of the price attached to admiring those particular legs.

Anna was leaning over the reception desk to grab a pen and the movement revealed enough of her to heat his blood.

‘Good morning, Riggs. Nice skirt.’

He told himself that he could admire her legs without having to admire her as a person.

‘You’re late,’ she snapped, straightening up so fast she almost lost her balance. It gave him some satisfaction to see that he’d flustered her.

‘Not late.’ He dragged his gaze away from those legs and glanced at the clock. ‘On time. Punctual. And there’s a queue at your door.’

‘There’s always a queue,’ Anna said wearily, nodding at Glenda. ‘OK, let’s unlock the doors and get started.’

Sam took a good look at Glenda. Her hair wasn’t combed and she hadn’t bothered with lipstick. As long as he’d known her, Glenda had always worn lipstick. Something was definitely wrong. ‘Polly, my producer, wants to come and look round and discuss some ideas over our lunch-break. Are you free, Riggs?’

Anna balanced a pile of papers under one arm and reached for her coffee with the other. Her black hair hung down her back, as glossy and shiny as silk. With her slanting brown eyes, she reminded him of a sleek cat. ‘I don’t have time for a lunch-break. And neither will you if you’re intending to pull your weight.’

He ground his teeth and decided that even legs as good as those couldn’t make up for the sharp tongue and the bossy nature. ‘Not eating just shows poor time management.’

‘I didn’t say I didn’t eat. Just that I don’t take a lunch-break. That’s a luxury we can’t afford in the summer. If you want lunch-breaks, hang around until winter when the tourists leave.’

‘I’m meeting Polly and we’re starting filming this afternoon,’ he said calmly, wondering whether the urge to strangle her had always been this powerful or whether it had just got a great deal worse. ‘If you want to have some input, you might like to be there.’

She turned to face him, her head slightly tilted. ‘This is why it is never going to work. Before you arrived I was struggling to cope with the workload and now, thanks to your perpetual need to have your ego stoked, I also have to cope with advising you on where to put your camera.’

He clamped his jaw to prevent himself saying that he knew exactly where he wanted to put the camera at this precise moment.

‘OK, Riggs.’ He ran a hand along the back of his neck and exercised his temper control skills. ‘First of all, I know you’ve been struggling to cope but that’s because Dad has been limping along at half-pace for months. Now I’m here and I’m more than capable of picking up all his work and probably some of yours.’

‘I don’t need you to touch mine—’

‘I’m merely pointing out that I have the capacity to do so. The second point is that once we know what we’re doing, the filming is surprisingly unobtrusive. We’re filming normal, everyday surgeries. Despite what you think, nothing is staged for the cameras.’

‘It’ll probably take several takes to get your stitches straight.’

He wondered how many stitches it would take to sew her mouth up. He took a deep breath. ‘You think I’m going to undo a wound and do it up again?’

She shrugged. ‘How do I know to what lengths you’d go to make yourself look good?’

‘That’s why I’m inviting you to join this meeting.’ He kept his voice even. ‘Then you’ll know. You might even enjoy it.’

She looked at him and then nodded. ‘All right. I’ll listen in. But only because I don’t want things going on in my surgery that I don’t know about. And I have to do the house calls first.’