Eva muttered under her breath about bossy, overbearing brothers, but Katie noticed that she knew not to actually argue with him. Sam’s mobile rang just as he was steering his sister to the door.
‘Yeah?’ he answered, and Katie watched his knuckles turn white as he gripped the phone harder and he stopped dead in his tracks.
‘No,’ he clipped. ‘No, Goodie, you stay there. Yeah, I understand that.’ He flicked a glance at Katie, closed his eyes, and then took a deep breath in through his nose. ‘I’ll sort it,’ he told her, coming out of his stasis and pushing Eva out of the house despite the fact she was still kissing and hugging Katie in a drunken farewell.
Once he’d shoved her unceremoniously into the car and slammed the door, he stalked around the front, and just as Katie thought he was about to jump in after her and drive off with no goodbye (this not being entirely out of character), he turned and started striding in her direction. His face was set in grim lines, his body rippling with tension, and Katie, feeling a little intimidated (he looked bloody furious), took a small step back from the doorway. But before she could get any further his arm had banded around her back, his other hand going to her jaw to tilt her head back, and his mouth was on hers. After a short, hard kiss, he pulled back and stared down at her, his face only inches away.
‘What do you do after I leave?’ he asked, and Katie blinked.
‘Um … it’s late but … I am pretty drunk so I don’t know … I might try and catch an episode ofGoggleboxor maybe even a cheekyBuffybefore I go to bed but –’
He gave her a gentle shake, cutting off her babbling. Instead of the annoyance she would expect from him in the face of her insistent verbal diarrhoea, he was sporting a soft look and very nearly smiling. ‘No, baby, after you close the door, what do you do?’
Katie was experiencing a brain seizure at the unexpected endearment falling from Sam’s lips and the way it was making her feel, so for several seconds she just stared up at him with her mouth open. He gave her another gentle shake, and this time his mouth did tilt up in a small smile.
‘You lock the front door, you lock the back door, you check the windows and you set the alarm,’ he told her. Katie nodded automatically.
‘What did I just say?’ he asked, and she realized she had been too busy watching his mouth move to register any information. After repeating himself twice over and making her do the same, Sam gave her another brief kiss, softer this time, before he stepped out of the house. As Katie was closing the door, she saw Eva waving frantically from the front seat of the truck, a wide excited smile lighting her face, having obviously witnessed the exchange between them. Katie rolled her eyes but couldn’t help giggling at Eva’s obvious enthusiasm. She gave Sam and Eva a small finger-wave before closing the door. Then, still a bit dazed, she wandered into the kitchen to put the kettle on.
‘Katie,’ Sam shouted through the door, causing her to jump about a mile in the air and nearly spill tea all over herself. ‘Locks!’ Katie nodded even though Sam couldn’t see her, and hustled over to the door. It was only after she locked the windows and back door and set the alarm that she heard Sam’s car start up.
*crakcach -posh
Chapter 17
Now, in a minute
Katie looked at the screen and groaned, letting her head fall heavily onto the table. Four patients waiting and five to ring back. Working in general practice with a hangover was extremely ill advised. The appointments were ten minutes each and the stream of patients was endless, not to mention all the interruptions throughout the surgeries. Being the only female GP didn’t help either: demand for her appointments was high. She heard the door to her room open but didn’t bother raising her head.
‘Ah now, cariad,’ Gweneth said, bustling into the room and depositing a steaming cup of tea in front of Katie, ‘this’ll perk you up. Rough night? I heard about Lady Mufflington. I’m so sorry, what a shock.’ Katie looked up at her and managed a weak smile.
‘’S’okay,’ she said; Gweneth’s kind eyes on her were making her throat feel tight again. ‘She was getting on anyway.’ She shrugged and took a sip of her tea, nearly spilling it all over herself when Gweneth crouched down and gave her a bone-crushing hug, which had the unfortunate effect of bringing tears to Katie’s eyes again.
‘Oh, this’ll cheer you up,’ Gweneth said bracingly. ‘There’s a man outside in reception for you.’
‘Um … Gweneth, I’m not sure that that’s entirely unusual. We do treat both sexes after all.’
‘No, I mean aman. A real man’s man.’ Katie smiled, thinking of Russell’s interpretation of a man’s man, and that Gweneth’s was likely to be the polar opposite. ‘He’s huge andlush.’ Her eyes had glazed over, a dreamy expression crossing her face. ‘So I asks him, “What’s occurring?” and he says he’s not a patient but he’s herefor you. About time you had a gentleman caller. Girl like you should be up to her neck in lush hunks if you ask me.’ Just then there was a soft knock on her door as it was pushed open, and Sam stepped into the room. Gweneth bugged her eyes out at Katie, nodding sideways frantically towards Sam with her head, her whole body stiff with excitement. Katie had to suppress an eye roll; the lack of thrills in the surgery must be at an all-time low if the appearance of one handsome man could stir things up so much.
‘Hey,’ Sam said to Katie, and then smiled at Gweneth, who was looking dangerously on the verge of passing out.
‘Thanks, Gweneth,’ Katie said, squeezing Gweneth’s hand and suppressing a nervous giggle. ‘I can take it from here I think.’
‘Tea?’ Gweneth asked Sam hopefully.
‘No thanks,’ he replied, and she slid reluctantly out of the room, but not before pointing between Sam and Katie behind his back, and bugging her eyes out again in silent communication. Quite what Gweneth thought Katie was supposed to do with Sam in the middle of the day when she had four patients waiting, Katie had no idea.
‘What’s going on?’ Katie asked, indicating for him to sit in one of the chairs.
‘Don’t worry,’ Sam said, shaking his head. ‘Won’t hold you up. Just wanted to let you know I was hanging around today. Got to show everyone how to use the security system, and Rob said you leave the practice at lunchtime for visits so I’m coming along for that as well.’
Katie frowned. ‘Come with me on visits? Sam, I don’t need a driver – they gave me a courtesy car whilst I wait for mine. Why on earth would he think –?’
‘Listen, honey,’ Sam cut in, and Katie blinked at yet another endearment. ‘Rob told me you’d think this was ridiculous, but I’ve got my orders and I’m going to carry them through. Not really much point arguing. Don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’ve got a good hundred pounds on you.’
‘K.K.’ Russell burst in through her door without knocking, as was his wont, and drew to an abrupt halt when he caught sight of Sam.
‘He’s here to go through the alarm system with us and some other … stuff.’
