Read Online Doctor January by Rhoda Baxter - Free Book Online Page A

questions.
    â€˜Thank you so much, Dan,’ Anna said. ‘It was great to meet you.’
    â€˜Let us know what your wife says,’ said Beth. She handed him a piece of paper with her and Anna’s e-mail addresses on. ‘I’m sure she won’t mind telling the world that she’s got a husband with looks as well as brains.’
    Dan smiled. ‘When you put it that way, I suppose she won’t.’ He looked back at his tree. ‘I’d better get back up there and install this thing. I’ll let you know what she says.’
    â€˜Do you need a leg up or something?’ said Beth, even though she wasn’t sure how you went about giving one.
    â€˜No need,’ said Dan. ‘I managed before.’ He looked at them. ‘Although you guys are making me a little self-conscious.’
    â€˜Sorry. We’ll be off.’ Beth started walking and Anna came after her. A few paces on, they turned to see Dan jump, grab a branch, walk his legs up the trunk and then haul himself up into the leaves.
    â€˜He was nice,’ said Beth.
    â€˜Shame he’s married,’ said Anna. ‘I wonder if he has a brother.’
    Anna followed Beth into the tea room. Hibs, who was reading the newspaper while eating his baguette, nodded at Anna and smiled at Beth. ‘So, how did you get on?’
    â€˜Pretty good, actually,’ said Anna, sliding into a chair opposite Hibs.
    Beth grinned. ‘It’s not every day a handsome man just falls out of a tree.’
    Hibs looked from one woman to the other. ‘Dare I ask?’
    â€˜We were walking along and this guy literally came down from a tree,’ said Anna. ‘Beth’s got photos to prove it.’
    Beth passed the camera over and Anna scooted round and stood by Hibs’s shoulder. As Anna leaned over, pressing the buttons on the camera, Beth felt a wave of annoyance. Anna had placed herself so that her breasts were right in Hibs’s eyeline. There was no need to help – Hibs was perfectly capable of handling the camera himself.
    She tried to concentrate on making tea, but the knowledge that Anna was flirting with Hibs made the hair on the back of her neck prickle. She fought the urge to turn around. The lab was the only place where Hibs didn’t turn on the charm – she and Vik were the only ones who got to see Hibs as he really was. It was, somehow, special. She didn’t mind sharing her home with Anna, but she didn’t want to have to share her work space and all her friends as well.
    She turned with Anna’s tea just in time to see Hibs’s gaze dart to Anna’s chest and back again. He caught Beth’s eye and had the decency to look embarrassed; then he turned back to the photos. ‘Hey, I know him. That’s the beetle guy from zoology.’
    â€˜That’s right.’ Beth thumped Anna’s tea down and held her hand out for the camera. Anna finally moved her breasts away from Hibs’s face.
    â€˜Did you just accost him in the park?’ Hibs asked as he picked up his baguette and bit into it.
    â€˜Yes,’ said Beth. She looked at the photo – there was a particularly good shot of him just dropping down from the tree. ‘He’s going to ask his wife if she minds him being in it.’
    â€˜I thought you only wanted single blokes.’
    â€˜What gave you that idea?’ said Anna.
    â€˜Well, you did.’ He looked at her.
    â€˜I personally prefer single men.’ Anna winked at him. ‘But for the calendar, any man will do, so long as he’s drop-dead gorgeous.’
    Hibs was staring at her, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. ‘Really? Did you find many?’
    â€˜There are some who just refuse to have their photo taken,’ said Anna. ‘Like you, for example.’
    â€˜Me?’
    â€˜Beth tells me you were … reluctant.’
    â€˜Did she now?’
    Beth was starting to feel left