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that until you’re over this awful thing that has happened to you, I’m going to be around. And if you’re coming to work at the practice, we’re likely to be in each other’s company for some time to come.’

      Why did her heart lift at the thought of that? she wondered. She had only to observe him and the answer was there. Blake Pemberton made every other man she’d met seem insignificant, but there was nothing to say that she was having the same effect on him. If what he’d just said was correct, she was more in the waifs-and-strays category than that of the desirable woman.

      When he’d seen her safely inside the house, Blake said, ‘Shall we say midday tomorrow for you to meet the team at the Priory Practice?’

      ‘Yes,’ she agreed, adding as the memory of cold grey eyes came to mind, ‘Are you sure they won’t object to me joining them sideways, so to speak?’

      ‘My partners respect my judgement and will be only too relieved that we’re not going to be without a practice nurse for any length of time,’ he assured her. ‘The only problem would be if you weren’t up to the job, and somehow I don’t see that particular difficulty arising. You have references, of course?’

      ‘Yes. Though the ones from Australia might take some time to reach you. Unless you ask that they email them.’

      ‘No problem. We’ll sort that out. Lock up after I’ve gone. I can assure you again that you are safe here…and once you move into that house of mine you’ll feel even safer. It’s available as soon as you feel like making the transfer.’

      ‘Tomorrow?’ she suggested, wasting no time in taking him up on the offer.

      ‘Yes, if you like…tomorrow. I had it contract-cleaned after the last tenant, so it’s ready for you to move into any time.’ He was looking around him. ‘It’s furnished, by the way. Do I take it that the stuff in this place goes with the house?’

      ‘Yes. My father said that he’d put our furniture in storage, so I might as well leave it there.’

      She couldn’t believe it was happening. Earlier in the day she hadn’t been able to see where she was going to go from here, and now she had a job and a new place to live. Would she ever be out of his debt?

      But it seemed that Blake was still out to make her realise that he wasn’t expecting it to be permanent as he said, ‘Yes, leave it where it is. Then whenever you decide to leave us it will be there waiting.’

      So it was only the waif-and-stray treatment she was getting, Helena thought wryly. Within his pledge to protect the living while in police care and help bring justice for those who had met their ends through foul play, he was doing his best for another lost sheep…herself. And she wasn’t sure that was how she wanted it to be. He was seeing her at her worst. Lost, weepy and floundering.

      When this was over she would have to show him that there was another side to her. That she was her own person, independent, resilient and a good nurse. Suddenly it was vital that Blake should have a good opinion of her, and he was offering her the chance to do something towards that end by taking her on at the practice.

      With spirits lifting at the thought, she watched him go down the drive. When he reached his own front door he turned and waved, and as she waved back Helena knew she wanted him to be more than just someone who had befriended her in a time of trouble.

      * * *

      When Blake announced at the beginning of surgery the next morning that he’d found a replacement for the practice nurse who was leaving, Darren said, ‘Great stuff. What’s she like? Nice-looking, I hope.’

      Blake didn’t reply. His glance was on Maxine and he knew what was coming next.

      ‘And where have you so conveniently found a nurse at such short notice?’ she wanted to know.

      ‘You’ve already met her briefly,’ he said with bland pleasantness. ‘The woman who has just lost her father, Helena Harris. You saw her the other night when you called.’ Before she could interrupt he went on, ‘She’s been nursing in Australia for the last twelve months and had no sooner come home than her father died.’

      ‘Then it was obviously her lucky day when she met you, Blake,’ Maxine said frostily. ‘Don’t you think you’re rather overdoing the good-neighbour bit? First of all you have her staying with you and then you’re suggesting bringing her into the practice.’

      ‘None of us know when we may need a friend,’ he told her, without raising his voice. ‘It might happen to you one day, Maxine.’

      ‘That could be a bit tricky,’ Darren said, and found her cold gaze transferred to himself.

      ‘Helena is coming in to meet everyone at the end of morning surgery, so you’ll both be able to have a chat with her then. In the meantime, we have patients waiting to be seen,’ Blake said, ignoring the ever-present sparring between the two.

      He’d anticipated a cool reception when Maxine heard of his plans and that Darren would be his usual flippant self. But he wasn’t all that bothered about either of their reactions. If he discovered he’d made a mistake by offering Helena a job at the practice, he would take the blame.

      He had other concerns regarding her and the main one was that after going out of his way to befriend her, he’d sent out conflicting signals the night before by inferring that he wasn’t expecting anything permanent to come of their acquaintance when all the time she was never out of his thoughts.

      Was he so out of touch with the chemistry between the sexes that he felt the need to put up fences when it appeared from an unexpected source? he’d asked himself during a restless night.

      As someone who never did anything by halves, his love for Anna had been deep and strong. In the three years since her death he’d had no yearnings towards any other woman. Certainly not Maxine.

      Then out of the blue had come a young nurse with beautiful green eyes and russet hair. She was getting to him as no other woman had, and what was he doing? Encouraging the relationship one moment and the next stepping back from it.

      But the folks in the waiting room had their problems, too, and he was about to be confronted by them.

      Amongst them was a middle-aged woman suffering from blackouts for no apparent reason. Being the kind of patient loth to bring her concerns into the open, she’d been slow to seek a consultation, but after having hurt herself quite badly from the last fall she’d been persuaded to seek help.

      There were no signs of high blood pressure. It was rather low if anything. An examination of her eyes indicated no problems there. She wasn’t suffering from headaches. In every way she seemed to be in good health, though obviously she wasn’t. Blackouts were not something to be ignored and he referred her to the neurology department at the hospital.

      A woman in her twenties followed her into his consulting room. She had digestive problems that he’d felt were cause for alarm and he’d sent her to hospital for tests. The results were now back.

      They weren’t exactly life-threatening but they were not good. Dark eyes in a thin face were watching him apprehensively from the other side of the desk and, always reluctant to put the blight on the lives of the young, he gave her a sympathetic smile.

      ‘It is what I thought it might be, Samantha,’ he told her. ‘Coeliac disease or gluten enteropathy as it’s sometimes known. The type of biopsy they gave you at the hospital shows that you have a gluten problem. A failure to absorb the nutrients from wheat, rye, and other cereals.

      ‘All the unpleasant things that have been happening to you are the result of the illness. The anaemia, skin problems, poor bowel functioning and the rest should gradually disappear once you’re on a gluten-free diet.

      ‘With all other foods you should have no problem, but it will be essential to keep off wheat products. Other tests will follow to make sure that the diet is working, but I think that very soon you’re going to feel much better.’

      ‘So

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