‘Yeah. Well, I’d better get back to the ward,’ said Mattias. ‘See you soon.’

Nico was left holding a silent phone and frowning.

His uneasy thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the kitchen door. When he answered, he found Hannah, holding a padded bag.

‘Hope I’m not imposing.’ Her coat hood framed her face. ‘I made this casserole for Nan and now she’s made things up with her boyfriend and he’s swept her off to a restaurant and as I need to talk to you anyway I thought we might share it. Unless you’ve eaten already.’

He stood back to let her in. ‘Thank you! Eating together would be great. The girls wanted cheese on toast for supper, which I didn’t fancy.’ Now here was Hannah with something that smelled delicious and suddenly he discovered an appetite.

She stepped inside, roses in her cheeks from the chill evening. ‘It’s in an insulated thingy so it’ll still be hot.’

‘I’ll warm plates,’ he said, unexpectedly soothed by the domestic feel to these arrangements. ‘Fancy a glass of wine?’

Hannah did and before long they were each sitting down steaming casserole and chilled chablis. Nico raised his glass to clink it with hers. ‘I’m never sure where British casserole ends and stew begins.’

‘Me neither,’ she admitted cheerfully, lifting her glass of gleaming white wine too. ‘Casserole sounds posher.’

‘Whatever you call it, it’s delicious,’ he said, tasting succulent beef that fell apart on his fork. It was nice to feel a normal kind of hungry.

She entertained him as they ate by telling him that her project at Carlysle Courtyard was her project no more. Though she was light and amusing, he was sure being publicly and shockingly shoved aside must have been distinctly unfunny.

‘That stinks!’ he complained, frowning.

The remnants of pain flashed in her eyes. ‘Cassie explained that Christopher was insensitive because he was so focused on the bloody son, Simeon – who waited till I’d handed over then asked me out to dinner.’

That Nico had more sympathy with. He was enjoying Hannah’s company himself, after all. ‘You refused?’

Her eyes twinkled. ‘Important date with a casserole.’ She indicated her plate with her fork and changed the subject to Nan Heather and how she hadn’t been speaking to her boyfriend until today.

He grinned. ‘If any ninety-year-old lady would be giving her boyfriend the run-around, it would be her.’

‘I’m afraid she felt he’d messed up. But he’s been sending gifts and today she suddenly phoned him. He’s invited her to stay at his house.’

‘Any idea why the change of heart?’ He wasn’t worried about the details of Nan Heather’s love life but he enjoyed watching Hannah as she talked.