Free New Surgeon at Ashvale A&E by Joanna Neil Page A

career that she had left behind? How were they coping without her at the hospital? Had Samrecovered from his dismay at seeing her go? Even as she had teased him about not being on top of the staffing rota, she had been aware of a twinge of guilt. She had left the decision too much to the last minute, and now he was left to cope with the beleaguered department on his own. Would he be able to lift it out of the doldrums without help?
    Maybe she had been too hasty in giving it all up? A week or more of reflection had left her feeling regretful about the colleagues she had left behind and uncertain about which path to take to secure her future happiness.
    The doorbell rang, and Becky looked puzzled, her lips moving on a questioning sound as though she was asking who it could be.
    ‘It’s probably Craig, the vet, come to look at the pony,’ Ruby told her. ‘I asked him if he could spare the time to check him out…the ducks too, because, as you know, nothing is working out as it should just lately.’
    Becky frowned, and Ruby lightly ruffled her dark gold curls. ‘Don’t worry about it, poppet. Your aunty is not quite herself, but she’ll get better.’
    She stood up and went to answer the door, startled to discover that it wasn’t the vet who stood in the porch, but Sam Boyd, immaculately dressed as ever, though in slightly more casual attire, wearing perfectly fitting dark trousers, a crisp linen shirt in a pleasing shade of blue, and a soft suede jacket that he had left unzipped.
    ‘Oh,’ she said, her eyes widening. ‘This is a surprise. I thought you were the vet come to look at the animals.’
    He appeared to be confused for a moment, then lightly ran the palm of his hand over his chest. ‘No, it’s me, Sam, as far as I know. I never did take any veterinary exams. I always thought animals were way too unpredictable to make good patients. Cute, maybe, and loveable to a certain extent, but definitely not my calling.’
    ‘You’re incorrigible,’ she said, moving back from the door and ushering him inside the house. ‘Come in. Watch your step; there are hazards everywhere…toys, baby walker, linen baskets—I haven’t quite got the hang of this baby business yet.’
    ‘You haven’t?’
    ‘No.’
    He looked puzzled, and then that expression changed to a frown as he stepped around the baby-changing unit that partly blocked the hallway.
    ‘It’s too heavy for me to move by myself,’ she offered in explanation. ‘It’s solid wood, and the cupboard part of it is full of baby equipment. I suppose I really need to get around to emptying it at some point and put it where it would best fit. Someone dropped it off for me, and I couldn’t quite decide where it needed to go.’
    ‘Oh, I see. Well, I can always move it for you if you tell me where.’
    It was fairly obvious that he didn’t see at all, but Ruby ignored all that and ushered him into the large farmhouse kitchen. ‘Thanks. Maybe we could shift it together later. I’ve decided it can go in the utility room just off the kitchen.’ She waved a hand in the direction of the L-shaped annexe. ‘There’s a space just big enough for it by the wall.’
    She went over to the worktop at the side of the kitchen. ‘I was just about to make a pot of tea and grab a sandwich,’ she told him, picking up the kettle and taking it over to the sink. ‘Would you like something to eat and drink?’ He looked as though he could do with taking time out for a while, and whatever pressing problem had brought him here could probably wait while she brewed up.
    He was busy looking around the room as she spoke, absorbing its wide proportions, his glance drifting over the sturdy oak table and chairs and the homely touches in the colourful curtains and small items of linen that were lying around. Heseemed a trifle tense, out of place in this homely farmhouse, as though he was uncomfortable about something or other. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to come here to see her, but