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'But I'm not juggling two men at once!' snapped Yona.

'If you say so!' he snapped back as Yona unlocked the car.

They drove home in a fraught and angry silence and Mike was out of the car almost before Yona had brought it to a stop in the underground garage at the flats. Then he leaned down to say, 'A relationship without trust is not worth having. Think about that!' He slammed the door with a force that rocked the heavy car, leaving Yona to watch him limp over to the lift, get in and disappear. Then she got out, locked the car and took the other lift to her own part of the building. She was stiff with misery.

After work the next day, Friday, Yona went to the supermarket near the flats to stock up for the week. She spotted Angie Bertram, Mike's next-door neighbour and Fran's devoted friend, queuing at the next checkout. The look she gave Yona was so murderous as to freeze the beginning of a smile on Yona's face. Thank heaven it's not me she lives next door to, thought Yona with a little shiver. I'd need to get the flat bomb-proofed.

To avoid a direct confrontation, Yona pretended to have forgotten something and went round the store again. Even so, she drove into the garage only seconds after Angie.

Again there was that murderous glance as their eyes met and then Angie came storming over. 'I hope you're proud of yourself!' she snarled.

Yona blinked in the face of such fury. 'And I hope you know what you mean by that, for I'm sure I don't!' she retorted bravely.

'Oh, very cool! But, then, your sort always is—or you wouldn't get away with it!'

'Get away with what?' asked Yona, although she could see now what Angie was driving at.

'Ruining people's lives—that's what! I always said he wasn't good enough for her, but he's what she wants and they were perfectly all right until
you
came. But your turn will come. His sort doesn't know how to be faithful!' Then she turned and stamped off towards the lifts before Yona could say another word. Just as well. Yona had no idea how to deal with such a hysterical outburst in somebody who wasn't a patient.

She thinks she's put me down, but wouldn't she be mad if she knew that she's actually cheered me up? thought Yona, going for the lift herself. She'd never have gone for me like that unless Mike really has put an end to Fran's hopes. She quickened her steps, desperate to see him and patch up last night's silly quarrel.

Once in her flat she dumped her shopping and went to the phone, but Mike's number was engaged. Trying again three minutes later, she got no reply. There was nothing for it but to put a note through his door. She scribbled a few disjointed lines, appealing for a meeting, and dashed out of the flat.

Mike stepped out of the lift as she rushed past it to the stairs. He called after her. She turned round, her heart thumping, and they stared at one another.

'I rang, but your number was engaged,' he said.

'I rang you—and so was yours.' They started to laugh as they realised how that had happened. Then they both started forward and fell into one another's arms, murmuring apologies between kisses until the whirring of the lift suggested an imminent audience. They made for the privacy of Yona's flat and as she shut them in Mike came straight to the point, asking, 'What went wrong last night?'

'I'd seen you outside the surgical block with Fran that morning—and you looked extremely friendly.'

'You silly girl,' he said tenderly.

'And as Ted keeps referring to Dr Melling as your prospective father-in-law, then—'

'Oh, does he?' Mike frowned. 'Then the sooner I set him straight, the better. I did tell Fran, you know. You've got to believe me!'

'But what exactly
did
you tell
her, Mike?'

'That I've only ever thought of her as a friend and that I'm now seriously attracted to you.'

'Plain enough, I'd have thought,' said Yona, while wondering why that seemed less than enough.

'Then why aren't you looking more cheerful?' he asked perceptively.

'Angie Bertram went for me in the garage tonight,' she said, rather than answer him directly.

'That figures. As I told you, she and Fran go way back.' He paused. 'You said she went for you. Surely you don't mean she physically attacked you?'

'Only with words. Among other things, she told me it would soon be my turn to be dumped as your sort is notoriously unfaithful.'

Mike found that extremely funny and his burst of laughter echoed round the living room.

'Can I take it that you haven't left a string of bleeding hearts along the way, then?' asked Yona when he'd calmed down.

'If I have, nobody told me,' he answered. 'There have been girls, of course, but, as I told you, nobody I felt seriously about—and Fran was definitely not one of them.

And don't tell me it hasn't been a bit like that for you, too, because I wouldn't believe you!'

'So we're starting more or less level, then,' said Yona.

'Never mind the start—it's the finish that interests me,' said Mike firmly, as he pulled her close with the usual unnerving results.

'Leave it,' he murmured when the phone rang soon after.

'I can't,' she said. 'It might be important.' Besides, she still couldn't rid herself of the idea that bed might be all he was interested in.

It was Meg Burnley on the line, wanting to know if Yona would like to spend Sunday with them if she'd nothing better to do.

'Thank you—that would be lovely, Meg,' she said, wondering if Ted had put her up to it in order to sort out his new assistant away from the hospital.

'What would you have me do?' she asked when Mike said she should have refused. 'Her husband is my boss after all. Besides, I love their company.'

'It's just that I'd told the Westons that we'd go to see them on Sunday. But, no matter, we'll go there tomorrow instead.'

'If it suits them.'

'Oh, it'll suit them,' he said easily. 'They're always glad to see me.'

'With your current female in tow?'

It was out before she knew what she was going to say, and he suspected her of needling him again. 'With or without,' he returned evenly. 'And I'm not going to quarrel with you again—no matter how much you provoke me. Though I really don't know why you want to.'

'I think I must be hungry,' said Yona, hoping she sounded pathetic. 'I didn't have time for lunch today.'

'Come to think of it, neither did I,' he said. 'Get your coat on—we're going over the road to Le Cafe du Pare.'

There, as on Monday, they had another good and unpretentious meal—and with no Angie there to curdle the milk this time. But Mike was not disposed to linger and he told the waiter they wouldn't be wanting coffee. 'Your place or mine?' he asked as they returned to the flats.

'That depends,' said Yona thoughtfully.

'On what?' he asked predictably.

'On which of us makes the best coffee?' she suggested after a tiny pause.

'You think I'm pushing too hard, don't you?' he asked acutely.

'Let's just say I'd not want you to run away with the idea that I'm just anybody's in return for a good dinner,' she admitted candidly.

She was sorry the minute she'd said it because the look in his eyes told her more plainly than words that she'd hit him hard.

'Oh, Mike—I'm so sorry! I didn't mean—'

'I think you did,' he interrupted quietly but forcefully, 'but you needn't worry. If I thought you were like that, I'd not want any more to do with you. The Nonie Burkes of this world hold no attraction for me.'

'Now I feel dreadful,' she said, both sounding and looking it.

'Good—that's how I meant you to feel,' he said. 'Shall I come up with you, or would you rather I went straight home?'

'Please come up. I'd really like it if you would,' she said earnestly.

So Yona made coffee and they talked, learning more about each other, like any two fairly newly acquainted people. At first. Inevitably, as the evening wore on, the space between them on Yona's comfy sofa got smaller and smaller until Mike could slip his arm around her shoulders. 'This is perfect,' he whispered. 'Don't you dare to tell me that it isn't.'

T can't,' she whispered back, because it was. And wasn't she a fool to hold back—not to trust him? What was the matter with her? 'You can stay if you like,' she whispered, thrilled at the answering fire in his eyes and then absurdly disappointed when after a momentary tightening of his arms around her body he drew away with a smothered groan and got awkwardly to his feet.

'If you say that to me the next time we're alone like this, I'll know you really mean it,' he said emotionally. 'God knows, the last thing I want is to pressure you into something you're not sure about. 'I'll ring you in the morning.'

He was gone almost before she'd realised he intended to leave.

As Mike had promised, he phoned Yona at nine next morning and arranged to pick her up at twelve. They were going to see the Westons.

'Is it far?' she asked when he'd directed her onto the city bypass.

'About four miles,' he returned. 'Just watch for a sign saying Griston Village.'

Hearing that, Yona expected something quaint in the country, but Griston had long ago been swallowed up by the city and the Westons lived in a modern house in a well-kept suburban street lined with grass and trees.

They, their three children and a contented-looking cat were lined up on the front step, waiting to welcome their guests.

Mike was obviously a great favourite with all the children, but the eldest—a boy—soon turned his attention to Yona. 'I thought you were Scotch,' he said, sounding disappointed.

'So I am,' she agreed. Billy was too young to know the difference between Scotch and Scots.

'But you're not wearing a kilt,' he reproved her severely.

'Girls only wear kilts for dancing,' she explained with a smile.

'That's not true,' said Billy firmly. 'My granny's got one. Can you play the bagpipes, then?'

'I'm afraid not,' she owned, sorry to be such a disappointment. 'But I can make Scotch pancakes—and I've seen the Loch Ness monster.'

'You haven't! Honest?' Her credibility as a Scot was restored.

'Cross my heart,' promised Yona. 'Mind you, my dad told me it was only a bit of an old tree, but I knew he was wrong. My brother saw it too.'

'She's seen Nessie! She's seen Nessie!' cried Billy, running into the house.

'You said the right thing there, Yona,' said Mary Weston, laughing. 'He's monster-mad and now there'll be no peace until we promise to take him to see it.'

'Maybe it wasn't the right thing, then,' suggested Yona, as Billy came rushing up to her with his bendy rubber monster. 'Yes, that's just how she looked, Billy, but she's ever so shy, you know. She hides if she thinks somebody is looking.'

'Mummy, can we—?'

'Yes, of course, darling—in the summer holidays. It wouldn't be a problem, not now we've got the caravan,' she assured Yona. 'It's the best way, really, with children. People aren't always kind to them in hotels.'

'Hardly a holiday for you, though,' surmised Yona.

'I love it,' claimed Mary. 'And John is very good about sharing the chores.'

'Mary adores her children,' Mike whispered in Yona's ear. 'And you've made a great hit with Billy. Well done!'

The pre-lunch drinks and the meal itself were all children-orchestrated, but afterwards John and Mike took them to play in the gardens while Yona helped Mary to clear away and wash up.

'Could you not do with a dishwasher?' asked Yona, thinking of the one in her little flat.

'It would be nice,' Mary admitted, 'but somehow there's always something needed for the children—and, anyway, I'm not exactly pressed for time.'

'You don't work, then?' Even as she asked, Yona realised what a silly question it was when Billy was the only one of school age.

Mary looked shocked. 'Oh, no! We'd always agreed that I'd give up when the children came—and so I did.'

'What did you do?' asked Yona, thinking it couldn't have been anything particularly exciting. 'I hope you weren't too keen,' she added, in case her question had sounded rather blunt.

'I was an infant teacher—and I loved it,' said Mary. 'But you can't have everything, can you? Not if you're a woman and a mother.'

No wonder Mike thinks the Westons are the perfect married couple, Yona found herself thinking. Mary is another Meg Burnley. 'That depends,' she said. 'Some jobs can't just be laid aside and picked up again years later when you feel like it. Mine, for instance.'

'Oh, I don't know,' Mary disagreed. 'Meg managed it. You know Meg Burnley, don't you? She went back half-time in school clinics as soon as their youngest started secondary school.'

Yona wondered if Mary understood the difference between routine basic inspections and high-tech specialised hospital medicine. 'And then she took a refresher course and now she's in general practice,' Mary added.

'So I understand. Your children are gorgeous—and so friendly and well behaved,' offered Yona, moving onto safer ground.

'Yes, they are good children, though I say it myself,' agreed Mary proudly. 'John says it's because they feel so secure with Mummy always here for them.'

'I think you're marvellous,' said Yona, really meaning that. 'I'm not sure I could be that unselfish.'

'Wait till you have your first one,' remarked Mary confidently, 'and then you'll soon see that selfishness doesn't come into it.'

When the dishes had been washed and put away, Mary took Yona into the garden to find the others. It was clear that the lives of both Westons revolved around their children and Yona wondered how they'd managed to get to the concert on Thursday evening.

'No problem,' answered Mary when Yona put the question. 'Fortunately, we live quite near to both sets of grandparents and they vie with each other to babysit. In fact, we'd be out every night if they had their way.' She broke off to call, 'Billy, stop that! You know Lucy hates getting her feet wet.'

'She'll be getting more than her feet wet soon—and so will all of us,' reckoned Mike, squinting up at a huge black cloud coming in fast from the west.

'Does it always rain at the weekends in Salchester?' asked Yona when they were indoors again.