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      CONTENTS

       Cover

Dear Reader

       Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

       CHAPTER FOUR

       CHAPTER FIVE

       CHAPTER SIX

       CHAPTER SEVEN

       CHAPTER EIGHT

       CHAPTER NINE

       CHAPTER TEN

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

       CHAPTER TWELVE

       Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

      ‘DR FIELDING shouldn’t be long now. He’s running late tonight…again! I was just on my way home but if you’d like to wait in here then I’ll tell him you’ve arrived.’

      ‘Thank you.’

      Catherine Lewis looked around the room as the receptionist hurried away. It was quite a pleasant room, she decided, taking stock. Brookdale Surgery was sited in one of the old Victorian terraces that overlooked the park and the room had a typically spacious feel with its high ceiling and generous proportions.

      There were chairs lined up against the walls and a table in the centre stacked with magazines. A poinsettia in a glazed earthenware pot made a splash of colour against its polished surface. It looked exactly like the waiting room in a lot of GP’s surgeries, in fact—a little untidy and slightly the worse for wear. When she opened her own surgery, she would make sure the waiting room looked much better than this.

      Catherine walked to the window and looked out but there wasn’t much to see. It was the middle of October and dark outside. Pushing back the cuff of her suit jacket, she checked the time. Six forty-two. Her interview had been scheduled for six-thirty and although she had no other engagements that evening it was annoying to be kept waiting. She was always punctual both in her professional and her private life. To her mind, it was not only bad manners to keep people waiting but a sign of inefficiency. Recalling what the receptionist had said, it appeared that punctuality wasn’t one of Dr Fielding’s strong points. It made her wonder how they would get on.

      ‘Dr Lewis. I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting.’

      Catherine swung round when she heard the man’s voice. Her eyes were dazzled by the lights in the room so that she couldn’t see him clearly. She had a fleeting impression of height and breadth of shoulder as he came towards her. He stopped and held out his hand, his face breaking into a warm smile which immediately made her want to smile back. She was so surprised that she found herself giving in to the impulse.

      ‘I’m Matthew Fielding. We spoke on the phone the other day.’

      His fingers felt warm and slightly rough against the smoothness of hers. Catherine let her hand remain in his for a moment longer than politeness dictated before she realised what she was doing. She quickly withdrew her hand, curbing the urge to run it down her skirt to remove the slight tingling sensation. She cleared her throat, not sure she enjoyed the fact that she could still feel the impression Matthew Fielding’s fingers had left on hers.

      ‘I’m delighted to meet you, Dr Fielding.’ She smoothed her face into a suitable expression, pleased that she had managed to control the inane smile at last. She didn’t feel nervous but maybe she was. After all, this job was another step in the right direction, another rung to be climbed on the ladder towards her goal.

      The thought helped her focus on what was really important rather than the strange way she seemed to be behaving that night. She had made her plans a long time ago and not once had she veered from the route she had chosen—A levels, med school, experience in a variety of suitable general practices before she opened her own surgery. Now all she needed was a year here at Brookdale Surgery, a practice in an increasingly popular area of the city, then she would be ready to start looking for suitable premises…

      ‘So