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'Come on, Anna. It's too cold to hang about.' With an impatient gesture he pushed her into the front seat.

'Look here,' she began, as he settled himself beside her.

Quizzical blue-grey eyes were turned towards her and he leaned forward until his face was mere inches from her own. 'Yes, Nurse?' he mocked, and Anna felt like slapping him.

But he was not the sort of man you slapped. She felt sure he would seek instant retribution, so she refrained. 'You had no right to tell Doug I belonged to you!' she stormed.

'Did I say that? I didn't, you know. I simply pointed to you and his imagination did the rest,' Rick said smugly.

'Well, you had no right!' she repeated, her voice cracked and strained. To her horror she felt a tear coursing down her cheek and she turned away from him, not wanting him
to know she was crying.

'Anna?' His voice came hesitantly, then he gathered her into his arms and she lay there quietly, struggling to keep back the
tears, bu
t
they came all the same.

'Anna, you aren't crying are you? Not my tough little girl,' he said tenderly, and she was suddenly still in his arms.

How sweet and gentle he sounded, how kind. Almost as if he cared about her. With a sigh she wormed her way out of his embrace, then fished in her bag for a hankie. 'Sorry. I'm just tired, I guess.' Her voice was faint but controlled now, and he made no further comment.

Not only did he take her right to her home, he drove between the stone entrance posts and right up to the front door.

When she thanked him stiffly for the lift, he ran his index finger down the side of her cheek and she quivered, believing he was going to kiss her. Her eyes closed, but he made no move towards her.

'On Saturday you can come to tea at my bungalow,' he said instead, and her eyes flickered open.

'To tea?' she echoed, wondering why. Surely Beth was available at weekends?

'Mm. I'm having a few people in,' he went on, and she fought down her disappointment. They were not to be alone then.

He made arrangements to pick her up directly after lunch on Saturday then saw her to the door, waiting while she inserted her key into the lock.

That she ought
to
refuse his invitation she already knew. He had a nerve expecting her to fill a gap when it suited him! Probably Beth Sinclair was away and that was why he'd asked her—no,
ordered
her—to have tea with him. No matter. She knew quite well she would go.

Anna felt obliged to tell her mother about the invitation to tea but Jennifer did not appear interested. She fixed reproachful eyes on Anna and pointed out that she'd been told the relationship was over. Apart from that no more was said, but Anna felt the disapproval wafting across to her.

If only there was some way she could shake Mother out of her apathy. Mother might as well be dead for all the enjoyment she was getting from life. She had, after all, perhaps another twenty or more years to live.

Anna hardly slept that night. On top of her worry about her mother there was the morning to be faced—the dreaded ward report.

She was right to dread the report. It was a bad one, and she let out an audible gasp as she read it in Sister's office the next morning.

Sister Noakes sat opposite Anna, head bent as she twiddled with the cap of her fountain pen.

'Surely I'm not
that
bad,' Anna said plaintively, and Sister looked up, her expression disapproving.

'You aren't exactly bad, Nurse Curtis. But you are not exactly good, either,' she commented, her eyes cold as they rested on Anna's bright hair. 'I have marked you as average on most things,' she pointed out, and Anna's voice shook as she retorted,

'Where I'm not average you've marked me as below. And your comments leave no room for doubt that I'm
well
below!' She almost choked on the words but Sister showed no signs of emotion as she reached across and took the report from Anna's trembling fingers.

Sister signed it then passed the pen across to Anna. The student had to sign that she'd read and understood the report, also that she'd had an opportunity to discuss it. Space was left for the student nurse to make any other comments she thought relevant, particularly if she disagreed with the report.

Well, this student certainly disagreed! Anna thought stormily, as she signed the report and added a few pungent comments.

Sister gave a grim smile after she'd read Anna's comments then thanked her far all her assistance during her spell on Park Ward. She probably meant it sarcastically but Anna chose to take the remark at face value and said how much she had enjoyed men's
medical. That at least was true. She would miss the men, and most of the staff too, particularly Ruth Barratt who was. the sort of woman Anna would have liked for her mother. Ruth was someone who listened to everyone's troubles, letting nurses and patients alike pour out their sorrows.

Just talking about one's problems with a neutral observer made a difference, and Anna had briefly told Ruth about Dr Tester's interest in her. The auxiliary had already noticed the amount of attention the consultant was paying Anna so the news came as no surprise. Her advice was to let matters ride for a time and see how the relationship developed. As long as she made it clear to Dr Tester that she desired only his friendship he would have no cause to complain when she rebuffed any passionate advances he might make.

Anna had a date with him that same evening. He'd had a busy day so for a change he took her to the ballet—where he slept through the entire performance. He was apologetic afterwards but it didn't matter. She had so enjoyed the ballet that she might have been alone in the theatre, she certainly had not missed Paul's company! When he kissed her as they parted, Anna repeated Ruth Barratt's words to him, and he gave a heavy sigh. 'Only my friendship? Is that all you want, Anna?'

Anna was sure of it and said so, and he sighed again. Her lips quirked. He was a bit like Mother, making the most of every dramatic situation. 'All right. Friendship it shall be.' He sounded defeated but she hardened her heart. From now on it was what Anna Curtis wanted that mattered!

As
Saturday
afternoon approached Anna became more and more nervous. Did she actually want to have tea with him? The answer to that question was never in doubt! She needed his company, needed to feast her eyes upon his dear face, needed to feel the force of those beautiful blue-grey eyes. Yes, she would go.

It was a free weekend for her. On Monday she started two weeks in the Nurses' Training School when the ward reports would be dissected under the stern eye of Mrs Lucas, the Principal Tutor. That would be an ordeal, more of an ordeal than meeting these friends of Rick's. After her two weeks study block she was due to go to the children's ward. She could hardly wait. Then she would do nights on the same ward, after which she would have her much-needed holiday. By then it would be late spring . . .No, she corrected herself, mentally counting off the weeks. She would start nights in the middle of May. Why, her holiday wouldn't be until June! Three and a half months to wait.

Neat in her green woollen dress, Anna sat by the study window waiting for Rick to arrive. June. Jersey would be nice in June. Not too crowded, with room to move. If only she and Rick could be together in Jersey! They would stroll along by one of the bays, gazing down at the sandy beach below. Everywhere there would be the scent of flowers.

Rick would smile into her eyes and rain soft kisses upon her face. The lines on his dear face would deepen as he laughed down at her. Then he would whisper tender words of love. The sun would shine out of a cloudless blue sky, with not a shower in sight . . .

Anna now realised what she had been gazing at for the last few minutes. Rain. Big spots of rain pattered against the window-pane, and sadly she watched them slide down the window to lose themselves where the glass ended and the sill began. Rain was all she needed! So much for day-dreams.

When Rick arrived she was in a foul temper, her mood matched only by the weather, the angry lowering sky, the bare, dripping trees. There was no point in going out with him. She could see no future in their relationship. It was painfully obvious that he preferred Beth Sinclair, so why not cut her losses and refuse to have anything more to do with him?

With one smile from Rick her good intentions vanished like the sun. No matter how little she got from the friendship, Anna knew she couldn't keep away from him. He was worth the agony and all the heartache she suffered. To belong to such a man would be the ultimate joy. But even to enjoy his friendship for a little while was better than nothing, she conceded.

Rick was casually dressed in dark cords and a wind-cheater, his checked shirt open at the neck, exposing the strong, masculine column of his throat.

Her arms ached for him and she wanted to brush back the tendril of black hair which hung tantalisingly over his brow. It was damp with the rain and curled ever so slightly. Anna was enchanted with it. She'd never realised that his hair had a slight curl. She bit her lip, turning away so that he should not see the eagerness in her eyes. He would chuckle to himself.

She allowed him to help her into her jacket and asked who his other guests were.

Rick didn't answer until she was safely in the front seat of his car. 'Just one or two people I know,' he said mysteriously and Anna sat back, annoyed both with him for not telling her and with herself for asking. She ought not to have betrayed her curiosity. It gave him an unfair advantage.

The pretty bungalow welcomed them. At least Anna was almost sure it did. She had a better chance to see it this time. On her previous visit heated emotions had come between her and admiring the scenery!

It seemed deserted and she stopped, feeling mulish. No way was she going in if they were to be alone. The passionate interlude of last time was still fresh in her memory.

He frowned, the lines deepening at the corners of his mouth. Obeying an impulse Anna put her fingers on his lips.

'Don't frown, Rick. You'll get lines and wrinkles.' His eyes widened in amazement and, shocked at her temerity, Anna snatched her hand away as if she'd touched a red-hot poker. 'I . . .' she floundered, then the door was opened and a tall, grey-haired woman smiled at them.

Rick's steely fingers just above her elbow denied all resistance. Anna tried to return the woman's smile but could manage only a grimace.

The woman stared reprovingly at Rick. 'What
have
you been doing to the poor girl, Rick? I thought she wanted to come?'

Anna, mystified, began to protest that she
did
want to come, and the mystery was solved when Rick introduced them. The grey-haired woman was his mother. Anna smiled shyly, still baffled. Why he should want her to meet his mother she could not imagine, but no doubt there would be others present.

But the only other guest was Rick's father. When Anna met him she spotted the resemblance straight away, no one could doubt they were father and son. Rick resembled his mother not at all, but his father had similar blue-grey eyes, dark hair with not a trace of grey, and an upright, athletic build that many men half his age would have envied. In him Anna saw Rick at fifty-five or so, and her beaming smile left no doubt of her approval. Having one Rick around was heaven. Two of them was a bonus!

'Glad you approve, Anna.' Rick's voice in her ear made her jump and she coloured, wishing she had not appeared so enthusiastic. She must not get too friendly with his parents.

But it was hard not to be friendly with them, and Anna found herself half way through her life story before she realised. She broke off, discomfited. They must be bored to tears.

But his mother encouraged her to talk about her own mother, and Anna briefly mentioned the attack, the subsequent slow recovery, then Mother's lack of interest in living.

'It often happens, love,' Mrs Alexandre put in when Anna paused unhappily. 'We knew a woman just like that, didn't we, Fred? You remember Mrs Picot, don't you?'

Her husband smiled and nodded. His smile, the way it deepened the lines running from his nose to the corner of his mouth, was so much like Rick's that Anna had to lower her gaze, pretending an interest in the home-made rug under her feet.

Mrs Alexandre chatted on, and Anna smiled and nodded in what she hoped were appropriate places. Rick's parents were nice. They were so homely that it was a pleasure just to sit with them.

Rick was lucky to have parents like them and they were lucky to have a son like him. It brought home to her forcefully that she had no real family, only the memories of her beloved father to keep her going. She had always been more of a father's girl. Perhaps that was why she was unable to help her mother Overcome her apathy, persuade her to get on with living. She would try harder, Anna vowed, try and not accept defeat.

'Admiring the rug, are you?' Rick's husky voice spoke from the doorway. He wheeled in a trolley of tea and cakes and Anna laughed. About his waist was a tiny lace apron, the sort waitresses sometimes wore.

A pained expression crossed his craggy face, then he grinned. 'Pretty, isn't it? I was Waitress of the Year once!' he quipped.

Apart from the cakes, there were neat little sandwiches, vol-au-vents, and an enormous gateau, rich with chocolate and cherries. A Black Forest gateau! It was her favourite and she couldn't resist asking if Rick had made it.

'Him!' his mother said dryly, 'it will be a day when he makes anything! He can manage an omelette and that's it.'

'It's better than gateaux,' Rick pointed out. 'I could live on omelettes if I had to. Mother made it,' he went on, indicating the gateau.

'It's a hobby of mine,' Mrs Alexandre said. 'I make all the cakes for the guests.'