Dr Mathieson's Daughter. Maggie Kingsley

realising from her expectant expression that she must have asked him something. ‘What did you just say?’

      ‘I asked—I asked—if you remembered that Nicole’s going round to her new friend Stephanie’s house for tea tonight,’ she said tightly. ‘But as usual, when it comes to talking about your daughter, you weren’t listening!’

      He groaned inwardly as Jane whirled angrily round on her heel and strode away. Damn Charlie Gordon. If the SHO hadn’t been wittering on about how nice Jane was, and what a terrific smile she had, he would have been paying attention to what she was saying, and not simply gazing at her.

      It had taken him three days after the fiasco of Nicole’s arrival to get Jane to say anything to him beyond an abrupt ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to any of his questions, and the last thing he wanted was to go through that again.

      Swiftly he hurried after her, catching up with her beside the whiteboard. ‘Jane, I’m sorry. I wasn’t being uncaring but I was thinking about something else. I was wondering…’ Think of something fast, Elliot, he told himself, and make it good. ‘I…I was trying to figure out if I could afford another bathroom.’

      ‘Yeah, right,’ she said tartly.

      ‘It’s true,’ he protested, crossing his fingers behind his back. ‘One bathroom isn’t really sufficient for the three of us, and I was wondering whether the cupboard in the hall could become an extra toilet.’

      She gazed at him suspiciously. ‘Why do I get the feeling you’re spinning me a line?’

      ‘Do I look like the kind of man who would?’ he exclaimed, opening his blue eyes very wide.

      ‘Absolutely one hundred per cent,’ she replied. ‘Elliot, I’ve known you for two years, seen how you operate, so cut the flannel. Were you really thinking about a bathroom?’

      He stared at her for a second, then his mouth turned up at the corners. ‘Actually, I was thinking what a very nice smile you had.’

      Her jaw dropped, then she began to laugh. ‘You’re impossible, you know that, don’t you? Expecting me to swallow a load of old baloney like that—’

      ‘It’s true—Scout’s honour.’

      ‘Elliot, you were never a Scout,’ she protested. ‘The kind of man every mother warns her daughter about, but never a Scout. Honestly, sometimes I don’t know why I put up with you!’

      ‘’Cos you like me?’ he suggested, his blue eyes sparkling.

      Oh, I do, she thought, laughing and shaking her head. I do, but I just wish you would use some of that charm of yours on your daughter for a change.

      To be fair to him, he’d certainly been making more of an effort, talking to Nicole about her new school, the things she was learning, but he was so stiff with her, so formal. It was obvious that all the little girl wanted was to be loved, and yet Elliot either couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see it.

      ‘Elliot…’

      The rest of what she’d been about to say died in her throat as the treatment-room doors opened, and a young woman stood there, dishevelled, wild-eyed and panic-stricken.

      ‘Please! Please, can somebody help me? My boyfriend. He’s out in the car. He has an allergy to almonds, and I think he’s dying!’

      Elliot reached for an Ambu-bag and was off at a run, with Jane and the young woman not far behind.