She resisted the temptation to lift a hand to her hair. She always wore her hair long and he knew it.
‘You know, it would make for riveting television if you let us film the two of you working together for the whole series.’ The voice of Polly came from behind them and they both turned. ‘There’s a tremendous chemistry between you. The room just pulses with energy whenever you’re together. And the best thing is that you two don’t even seem aware of it.’
Chemistry?
Anna gaped at her. ‘The sort of chemistry that causes an explosion,’ she muttered darkly, and Sam grinned.
‘I don’t think our Anna sees herself as a film star, Polly.’
The producer looked thoughtful. ‘Well, a lot of people are resistant to the thought of being filmed but once they get used to it they usually find they forget about the cameras and just get on with the job. That’s one of the reasons that these fly-on-the-wall documentaries are so successful. The viewers feel as though they’re genuinely part of what’s going on.’ The producer tipped her head on one side and narrowed her eyes. ‘Even without looking at what we just filmed, I can tell that you’re going to look fabulous on camera. Gorgeous.’
Anna glared at both of them. ‘I do not want to be filmed.’
‘Fine by me.’ Sam suppressed a yawn. ‘Personally I think it would be pretty hard to find your good side anyway.’
The smooth working relationship was gone. Back was the constant needling.
‘You are unbelievably shallow.’
Polly glanced between them and grinned. ‘If you’re both willing to suspend hostilities, the sandwiches are looking particularly tempting.’
‘Yeah, we’re ready.’ Sam strolled across the reception area and made for the stairs that led to the staffroom.
Aware that the producer was still staring at them in fascination, Anna followed more self-consciously.
Chemistry.
It was utterly ridiculous to suggest that she and Sam shared any sort of chemistry. And as for looking good on the camera—the whole idea was totally ridiculous.
‘It would be great if we could incorporate more of your accident and emergency skills, Sam,’ Polly was saying as Anna grabbed a cup of coffee and took her seat at the table. ‘I know we need the routine stuff, too, but a bit of that does get the adrenaline pumping.’
‘What accident and emergency skills?’ Anna helped herself to a sandwich. ‘Since when did you have accident and emergency skills?’ Then she remembered the calm, competent way he’d reacted to the crisis downstairs and something clicked in her brain. ‘What jobs have you been doing in London, McKenna?’
Polly smiled. ‘When he’s not doing his usual surgery and working for us, he does nights at the A and E department of…’ She named a busy London hospital and Anna put the sandwich back on her plate untouched, her eyes on Sam.
‘You’re working nights in an A and E department? Why?’
His eyes gleamed. ‘So that my medical skills don’t become as rusty as a garden fork, Riggs, that’s why. We see a range of conditions in the London practice but there’s no
thing like nights in A and E to hone your skills.’
She stared at him. ‘That explains why you were able to get that line into the child.’
‘I’ve done it a few times, yes.’
She glared at him. ‘You should have told me.’
‘You shouldn’t have assumed that I was useless.’
‘Now, now, children.’ Polly’s expression was amused. ‘It’s always fun to watch the two of you in action, but we’re already pushed for time so can we move on to the matter in hand? We need to discuss our plans for filming this summer.’
Anna bit hard into her sandwich and glared at Sam. But her anger with him for deliberately deceiving her was tinged with respect. The guy clearly knew what he was doing. And he was an impressive doctor.
It was just a shame that she wanted to strangle him.
That evening, despite the heat, Anna decided to go for a run on the beach. She always found exercise good for tension, and the tension in her life had rocketed ever since Sam had walked into her surgery.
Despite all their reassurances during the lunch-time meeting that the patients would love the idea of being ‘on the telly’, she still had serious reservations about filming. They’d agreed to seek permission from every patient but still Anna couldn’t quite imagine that people would want their lives exposed on television. For herself, she couldn’t think of anything worse. She liked her privacy too much and she never had been able to understand why some people craved public attention.