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When Alice opened her eyes she looked around her warily and said weakly, 'So I didn't die.'

'No, you didn't,' Fenella assured her. 'Are you feeling any warmer?'

She nodded. 'Yes. I'm thawing out at last.'

'Do you remember having your leg X-rayed and it being put in a cast?' Fenella questioned. 'When you fell you fractured your tibia, one of the long bones in your leg.'

'Where's Dr Hollister?' Alice asked, as if a broken tibia was a daily occurrence. 'I thought you were going to marry
him.'

Fenella sighed. 'Chance would be a fine thing, but we're not here to talk about me. It is you that matters now, Alice. The doctor here said I could stay with you for a while, but also wants you to get some rest, so I'm going to go soon. But I'll be back tonight. Shall I go to your house and get you some things?'

'Yes, if you must,' she said, 'and see to it that you bring my best nightdresses. I've put them to one side for this sort of thing.'

* * *

When she arrived back at the practice Max was waiting to hear how Alice was and when Fenella said she intended going back that evening he said, 'I'll take you, but I can't pick you up before seven as I've promised to meet Sonya at the airport. She's due back from America today.'

'Hasn't she heard of taxis? Or does she still think you're here to dance to her tune?' she remarked snappily, having had the edge taken off spending some time alone with him.

'I have never danced to Sonya's tune,' he said coolly. 'If I had done we would have been married long ago. And, yes, I would think she has heard of taxis. It was
my
suggestion that I pick her up. Though why I should have to explain myself, I really don't know.'

He was on edge for some reason. Maybe it was because he didn't want Sonya back in the village again, reminding him of past griefs
and
butting into the future. Or Fenella thinking that he still had feelings for his ex-fiancée.

It had been a couple of nights ago that Sonya had phoned him from Florida and he'd offered to pick her up at the airport because she'd sounded in such low spirits. At the time he hadn't known that Alice was going to be in hospital and Fenella distraught.

'So am I going to pick you up or not?' he asked.

'No. Visiting will be half over by the time we get there if you can't pick me up until seven, I'll go on my own.'

He nodded. 'You have a point there. And, Fenella, I've already told you that I have no feelings either way for Sonya. She's just someone who has made a mess of things and needs a kind word.' On that note he went into his con- suiting room and shut the door without giving her the chance to say she was sorry.

Alice was looking better when Fenella arrived at the hospital that evening. She'd had some soup and other warm liquids and was looking more like herself, but Fenella was soon made aware that her gloomy side was uppermost.

'I'm not going into care,' she said tartly, without the subject having been discussed.

'I don't remember that being mentioned,' Fenella said.

'Not by you maybe, but a social worker has been hovering over me and I can see it in her eyes. All I need is a pair of crutches.'

'What caused you to fall?' she probed gently.

'My old slippers. I should have bought a new pair long ago. I tripped over my own feet. It wasn't a blackout or anything like that.'

'Why don't we wait and see what Dr Hollister has to say?'

'Where is he tonight?'

'He had something else on that prevented him from coming.'

'Oh, aye? Then who's that talking to the sister, or ward manager as we're supposed to call her.'

He had come after all Fenella was thinking as she looked up. She might have known he would, even though she'd been a pain earlier. It was no use protesting that she was a mature adult when she'd behaved like she had.

'Hi, there,' he said when he reached the bed. 'How are you feeling now?'

'Better,' Alice told him with her usual abruptness. 'Just as long as nobody tries to put me in a home.'

'Then it's up to you to co-operate with the staff here, Alice, and get better quickly. In the meantime, you'll have to see just how easy, or hard, it is for you to get about with the cast on your leg. And remember this, no one can put you into care without your consent.'

They stayed for a little while and then left her to settle down for the night in a happier frame of mind. The light was fading and as they walked to their cars in the dusk Fenella said, 'I'm sorry I was so unreasonable this afternoon, Max. Did Sonya arrive safely?'

'Yes, and there's no need to apologise. I wasn't at my best either. So shall we call it a truce?' He was gazing down on her in the light of a streetlamp. 'Alice is very fortunate to have you looking out for her. You've given her a reason for living, Fenella. Brought her out of her crusty old shell.'

'And I'm just as fortunate to have
you
in
my
life,' she told him. 'I just wish you felt the same way about me. Even when you found me in your bed it didn't raise your blood pressure, or anything else for that matter.'

His expression had tightened. 'And how would you know
that?
You were fast asleep in your crumpled black dress when I woke up.'

'You could have woken me up.'

'I'd rather the choice be mine when I sleep with someone.'

He wasn't going to tell her that he'd lain for ages looking down at her, adoring her, yet not willing to let himself make love to her under those circumstances.

'Ah! So that's it. You think I presume too much. I'll bear that in mind in future.'

'Now you are being ridiculous,' he told her, but it fell on deaf ears. Fenella was in her car, switching on the engine and pulling out of the car park, leaving him to make what he would of that.

In the days that followed the surgery was extra busy. It was coming up to October and the time for flu jabs. Also there was an increase in patients with diabetes, most of them overweight, and Max thought that the number of those who had it was beginning to assume epidemic proportions.

Gaynor had been tested quickly regarding the lump in her breast and once again it was benign. She'd been in to see them and had asked, 'Why do I keep getting these things?'

'It's often an hormonal thing,' Max had told her, with Fenella looking on. 'The problem could disappear once you've gone through menopause.'

When Gaynor had gone Fenella was about to follow her, ready to go back to her own room, but he called her back.

'About the party that Caroline's parents have invited us to on Saturday. Did her mother say any time to be there?' he asked.

'Yes. She said sevenish,' Fenella told him in chilly tones. 'I'll see you there.'

'So we're not going together?. You're still sulking?'

'I...am...not...sulking. It is not a habit of mine. I am just not presuming. ..anything.. .at all.'

'Fine, but I have to say that the mode doesn't suit you. I prefer it when you presume. How's Alice, by the way?' he asked, moving to a safer subject.

'She's been transferred to St George's Hospital for aftercare before being sent home.'

'And the leg?'

'She's mastered the crutches. I knew she would. Alice is a very determined woman. They'll be sending a carer out to her each day when she goes home and the district nurse will keep an eye on her. She'll have to put up with that, which I'm sure she will, just as long as she goes back to her cottage. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to those who are waiting to see me.'

'Feel free,' he said coolly, and went to the door to call in his next patient.

Will was back at university and each night when Max opened the door the house seemed empty. It didn't have to be. He had only to say the word and Fenella would be there. Bright and beautiful. Filling the place with her presence. So why wasn't he doing something about it?

He was a romantic, that was why. He wasn't in the market for any hole-in-the-corner sleeping together. It was time he made that clear and what better way than to tell her how he felt? If he could get through the frost barrier on Saturday night he would do just that and hope that she hadn't really given up on him.

Caroline and her family lived in what had once been stables and had been converted into a large detached house down a quiet lane not far from where Fenella lived.

As she dressed for the occasion on Saturday night, part of her was wishing that she hadn't accepted the invitation. She'd visualised Max being by her side at the gathering, which he would have been if she hadn't been so intent on keeping him at a distance.

But she couldn't overcome the feeling that he still saw her in the way that her mother had described her, young, vulnerable, easily led, and though he was attracted to her, he didn't want to get involved in something that he couldn't handle.

She knew he was happy with her performance at the practice, as long as he was there to supervise, and supposed she should be content with that, but she wasn't. She was in love with him. Wanted to live in his beautiful house with him, sleep with him in the bed that he'd told her was not for the uninvited, and give him children.

If he had been ready to put his life on hold for a young brother, what would he be like with a child of his own? she thought wistfully, but, as she'd told Alice, chance would be a fine thing.

It was not a night for the black dress or the wig, she told herself as she opened the wardrobe door. She hadn't got a lot of clothes to choose from, but hanging in front of her was the sequined T-shirt and tight jeans that she'd been wearing on the night he'd been called out to her at the police station. Dare she wear them as a reminder of the bond that had bound them ever since? The gold chain, the final touch, was in the drawer in front of her.

If she wore them, would Max get the message that she needed him as much now as she'd needed him then? No sooner had the idea come into her mind than she was ready to test it, and taking the clothes out of the wardrobe she put them on.

There were a lot of people at the party, a few that she knew and a lot that she didn't, but the atmosphere was warm and welcoming and now, with a drink in her hand, Fenella was talking to Caroline. She hadn't seen any signs of Max so far and was determined that she wasn't going to seek him out. If he wanted to be with her, he could find her.

'How's the arm?' she asked the girl who had almost died outside the surgery.

Caroline was young and shy, overcome by the numbers of those there, and the fact that she was the reason why they'd come.

'It's improving,' she said with rising colour, and slipped off the jacket she was wearing.

There was scarring at the top of her arm and her elbow looked slightly out of line, but she could move her fingers and was managing to hold a glass in her hand.

'I'm really grateful for what you did for me, Dr Forbes,' she said.

She smiled. 'My name's Fenella, and it was Dr Hollister who was in charge when we found you in the road. I was new at the practice and was scared stiff because of my lack of experience, but fortunately in him you had the best.'

'Is he coming tonight?'

'Er...yes...he is, as far as I know. Though I haven't seen him so far.'

At that moment Fenella heard Max's voice. He was standing at the front door, apologising to Caroline's mother for being late. 'I'm a police surgeon as well as a GP,' he was telling her, 'and I was called out on a case.'

'Wow!' someone said in a low voice from behind her, 'Who is
that?'

'It's Max Hollister, the local doctor, Genevieve,' was the answer, 'and don't get too excited. Max is very choosy.'

When she turned round Fenella saw two smartly dressed women in their thirties strolling towards where the drinks were. That was the first downbeat moment of the evening. The second was when her glance met Max's across the room as he saw her outfit. She saw his face darken, and the next thing he was coming across to where she stood.

'I don't believe what I'm seeing,' tie said in a low voice. 'I would have thought that you wouldn't ever want to be reminded of the last time you wore those clothes.'

She observed him defiantly. 'Can't you see that there might be a very different reason for me wanting to wear them?'

'No. I can't.' He looked around him. ' I've never seen you look anything but delightful, except for that one time. Do you honestly think I want to be reminded of it?'

So much for that, Fenella thought bleakly as he moved away and unbelievably started chatting to the two women who'd been discussing him.

If she could depart gracefully she would do, she thought miserably, but she hadn't been there long, and Caroline's mother had just invited everyone to help themselves to the appetising buffet that was laid out in the dining room.

After they'd eaten, with Max still in the company of Genevieve and her friend, Caroline's father got up to propose a toast and to her surprise it was to Max and herself.

'To Max Hollister and Fenella Forbes,' he said, 'the doctors from the surgery down the road who saved our daughter's life. Where are you both? Stand up and take a bow.'

In two strides Max was by her side, taking her hand, raising her to her feet, and as they stood side by side she thought that they had such rapport when it came to work, but after that there was nothing. She had expected him to understand why she'd worn the top and the trousers, but instead he'd been furious.

'Smile,' he was saying. 'For goodness' sake, don't let these nice people see that you're not enjoying yourself.'

She did as he'd asked and then fixed him with a glacial blue gaze. 'And whose fault would that be? Yours perhaps?'

He had been
intending to tell Fenella how much she meant to him, Max thought, and what had he done? Flown off the handle the moment he'd seen her in that outfit.