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for the team and for their patients.

      ‘Our practice’s regular visit is on Thursdays, though obviously we pop in whenever we’re needed as well.’ Her grey eyes were very clear. ‘I visit The Beeches on my Monday afternoons off with Archie. He’s a therapy dog. I bring him to the surgery with me on Monday morning because I go straight from here to the nursing home.’

      ‘A therapy dog.’ He hadn’t expected that.

      ‘No doubt you disapprove of that, too,’ she said.

      He blew out a breath. Maybe he’d asked for that, because he’d reacted badly to the dog yesterday. But she’d been snippy with him, too. ‘No. I’ve seen studies showing that having a pet visiting can really help elderly people, especially those in residential care.’

      ‘Exactly. It helps the residents—even a small observational study by the manager at The Beeches last year showed that a visit from Archie helps with the residents’ moods and helps with their social interaction with the staff as well as each other. It gives the residents something to talk about other than their illness, and even the ones who don’t really hold a conversation any more smile when they see him. The residents all really look forward to Mondays. And obviously it’s done in a supervised environment, we know that none of the residents is allergic or afraid of dogs, and we’re very aware of infection control. There’s a policy at the home as well as here.’

      She’d just covered everything he’d brought up yesterday. Clearly what he’d said still rankled. He knew what he needed to do. ‘I apologise,’ he said, ‘for snapping at you yesterday.’

      She inclined her head in acknowledgement. ‘But you don’t like dogs.’

      Now she’d brought it up... ‘No. Obviously I’d never hurt one, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend time with one.’

      ‘I get that not everyone’s a dog person,’ Toni said. ‘But Archie is a genuinely nice dog. He’s passed a very thorough assessment—he can be stroked and handled by anyone and he’ll take treats gently and wait patiently. Plus he doesn’t jump up, paw people or lick them too much.’

      And Ben could guess exactly why that was part of the assessment. ‘Because elderly people have very frail, thin skin.’

      She smiled at him, then. A genuine smile. And Ben was shocked to realise that it made him feel as if the room had just lit up. This wasn’t good. He didn’t want to be attracted to anyone. His life was on an even keel again and he wanted it to stay that way.

      He needed to keep his thoughts on his job. ‘All right. I’ll go to the home at lunchtime, as soon as my surgery finishes,’ he promised.

      ‘Thank you.’

      Now she was smiling rather than scowling at him, Toni Butler was seriously pretty. She didn’t wear a ring on her left hand, but that meant nothing; she could still be in a serious relationship with someone without being married. He wasn’t going to ask and start the gossip mill working, either. She was his colleague. End of. And, even if she was single, he’d learned his lesson the hard way. Relationships were just too fragile, too easily broken. Like his heart. He’d only just finished putting himself back together after Karen and Patrick’s betrayal, and he had no intention of setting himself up for a repeat of all that heartache.

      * * *

      Toni was always a little bit suspicious of people who didn’t like dogs. She didn’t understand that mindset. But she knew she hadn’t really given Ben Mitchell a chance; she’d let herself react to him as if he was like Sean, expecting her to do things his way with no discussion, so she’d been combative with him rather than trying to find common ground, the way she normally would.

      Of course not all men were like her ex.

      But Ben was as self-assured as Sean had been, something that instinctively made her wary. Plus he was the first man since Sean who’d made her look twice. When he’d smiled back at her in the staff meeting and lost that brooding look, he’d been breathtakingly beautiful—green eyes, dark hair that flopped over his forehead, and an incredibly sensual mouth. He could have rivalled any film star. She really hadn’t expected to be so attracted to him.

      But she knew that romantic relationships never worked out for her, so she had no intention of acting on that attraction. A good working relationship was all they needed. End of.

      * * *

      After his shift, Ben tapped the address of The Beeches into his satnav and headed out to see the patients.

      When he introduced himself to Julia, the manager, she said, ‘Ah, yes. You must be the new doctor at the practice. How are you settling in?’

      ‘Fine, thanks. Nurse Butler said you had a patient who needed to be seen about a possible UTI, and it made sense for me to come and introduce myself because I’ll be seeing you on some of the regular Thursday morning visits,’ he said.

      ‘Good call. Thank you.’ She smiled at him.

      ‘I’d also like to say hello to Renée, even though her blood test results aren’t back yet,’ he said.

      ‘Of course. Toni’s filled you in on all the patients’ histories?’

      Yes, but it was useful to go over it again in case he’d missed anything. ‘I’m happy for you to tell me whatever you think I need to know,’ Ben said.

      After he’d seen the two patients Toni had been worried about, Ben made time to meet the charge nurse, who was responsible for the drug round, and introduced himself to all the residents who were in the lounge.

      ‘I agree with you about Renée. We’ll review her medication as soon as her bloods are back and ring you,’ he said to Julia in her office at the end of his visit. ‘And I agree with Toni that we should give Liza a low dose of antibiotics for the next six months to put a stop to the UTIs. I’ll get the prescriptions sorted out so they’ll be ready for collection later this afternoon.’

      ‘Thank you,’ Julia said. ‘Nice to meet you, Dr Mitchell.’

      ‘Ben,’ he said with a smile.

      Once he’d sorted out the prescriptions and some admin back at the surgery, he headed for the supermarket on the way home to pick up a couple of pints of milk. As he walked into the chiller aisle, he saw Toni putting a bottle of milk into her trolley.

      ‘Hello,’ he said.

      ‘Hi.’

      No dog, he noticed. But of course dogs weren’t usually allowed in supermarkets, so he stopped himself asking something clueless. Instead, he opted for polite small talk. ‘Doing your weekly grocery shop?’

      ‘My neighbour’s, actually,’ she said. ‘Shona came off her bike awkwardly three weeks ago and broke her arm.’

      ‘That’s kind of you to do her shopping.’

      Toni shrugged. ‘She’d do the same for me. Great Crowmell is the kind of place where people look out for each other.’ She smiled. ‘Right now she has Archie sprawled all over her lap, enjoying having a fuss made of him.’

      The dog. She was very much a dog person, and he really wasn’t. ‘Uh-huh.’

      She bit her lip. ‘You and I rather got off on the wrong foot yesterday. Look, if you’re not busy this evening, why don’t you come over for dinner? I’m a reasonable cook.’

      Awareness flickered through him, and he stifled it. She wasn’t asking him to dinner because she was attracted to him. She was asking him because she was trying to get their professional relationship onto an even keel. Which would be a good thing, and he’d accept purely on that basis. Because he really wasn’t interested in starting a relationship with anyone. Karen had hurt him deeply. He wasn’t letting anyone that close again, even if Toni was as nice as she seemed. ‘Thanks. Dinner would be great,’ he said.

      ‘You’re welcome to bring your partner, too, and any children,’

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