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

out of the conversation. If they were going to continue flirting, she might have to excuse herself and go upstairs to the lab. ‘I did ask you,’ she said, trying not to sound peevish. ‘You said no.’
    â€˜I wonder why?’ said Anna. ‘Are you afraid you photograph badly?’
    â€˜No.’ Hibs finished his sandwich and balled up the cling film. ‘I just don’t want to be in the calendar.’
    â€˜That’s not very nice.’ Anna pouted.
    Hibs gave her a wicked smile. ‘Bite me.’
    â€˜Only if you ask, really, really nicely.’
    Beth looked from one to the other.
    Anna fancied Hibs. Hibs fancied Anna. They would end up together, briefly. Then they’d split up. Anna would be cross; Hibs would be unrepentant. Everything would be awkward. Beth sighed at the inevitability of it all.

Chapter Six
    Hibs put on the suit his parents had bought him for graduation and was pleased to find it still fit. He paced round his living room, wondering what to do between now and noon. Unable to think of anything, he decided to go into the lab.
    â€˜Morning.’ He threw his coat on his chair, went to his bench, pulled open his notepad and started transferring notes into his lab book. After a few minutes, he felt he was being watched. Looking up he found Beth and Vik standing at the entrance to the bay, staring at him.
    â€˜What?’ he said.
    â€˜You’re wearing a suit,’ said Beth, not quite looking him in the eye. ‘
Why
are you wearing a suit?’
    â€˜I’ve got a lunch date.’
    â€˜A lunch date that requires a suit?’ said Vik.
    â€˜Sort of.’ Hibs was enjoying himself. It wasn’t often he got admiring attention from Beth. He pressed his advantage. ‘I’m going to Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. That requires a suit.’
    â€˜Le Manoir, wow.’ Beth’s eyes were wide.
    She looked so impressed that Hibs decided that he would take her there one day. If he could find a decent excuse to take her out for a posh lunch. If she accepted. He looked away, the happy daydream punctured. She considered him a friend and nothing more. Most of the time she probably even forgot that he was male.
    â€˜So, who’s taking you for lunch in the most expensive restaurant in the area?’ said Beth. ‘It’s too pricey for normal people.’
    â€˜Winifred Tait. She’s a friend of the family.’ Hibs paused. ‘Well, sort of. She plays bridge with my mum.’
    The other two were both silent for a minute. ‘So, a little old lady is taking you to lunch at Le Manoir?’ said Vik, sounding puzzled.
    Hibs laughed. ‘Winifred Tait is no little old lady,’ he said. ‘She’d probably brain you with a stiletto heel if you called her that.’
    Beth narrowed her eyes and wandered off without saying anything.
    â€˜Why?’ said Vik.
    â€˜She likes me.’ Hibs grinned.
    â€˜Do you think she wants to get you drunk and have her wicked way with you?’ Vik leaned on his elbows – he always seemed to find Hibs’s relationships with woman fascinating.
    Hibs smiled. She didn’t bother to get him drunk when she wanted to have her wicked way with him. ‘No. She promised she wouldn’t.’ At the other end of the lab he could hear a clatter of computer keys. He guessed that was Beth Googling Winn. ‘Tait’s spelt T-A-I-T,’ he shouted down the lab.
    â€˜What do you mean, she promised she wouldn’t? You mean she tried it on once?’ Vik was still looking for gossip.
    Hibs grinned. ‘Taught me everything I know.’
    Vik gaped. ‘You shagged a little old lady?’
    â€˜I told you, she’s not a little old lady. She’s only about ten years older than me. And it was all a long time ago. I was eighteen.’
    There was a gasp from Beth. Hibs peered between the racks and could just make out the back of her head in front of the