Jenna automatically shook her head. ‘We can’t have a dog. Cl—’ She was about to say that Clive hated animals, but then she remembered that she wasn’t married to Clive any more. His opinion didn’t matter.

Glancing down at her left hand, she stared at the pale line on her finger that was the only remaining evidence that she’d once worn a ring. It still felt strange, seeing the finger bare. And it still brought a sting to the back of her throat.

‘Something wrong?’ His question made her jump.

‘No. I was just thinking about your little asthma patient and the dog.’

‘Right.’ His gaze locked onto hers and she looked away quickly, thinking that Ryan McKinley was nothing like the men she usually met during her working day. For a start he was about two decades younger than the GPs she’d worked with in her last practice. She tried to imagine any of them extracting a seriously injured girl from the wreck of a car during a storm without the help of paramedics—and failed. Ryan McKinley was a different breed of doctor. And then there was the fact that he was indecently good-looking. Sexy.

A different breed of man.

‘You look really stressed out.’ Ryan spoke quietly. ‘Is that Mrs Parker’s doing? Or is it being thrown in at the deep end?’

‘No! Not at all.’ Oh, God, he’d noticed that she was stressed. And the one thing she absolutely couldn’t afford to do was put a foot wrong in this job. ‘I love being thrown in at the deep end. Anyway, I didn’t ask why you were here. Did you want to talk to me? Is there something I can help you with, Dr McKinley?’ Please don’t let him say he’d changed his mind about hiring her.

‘I wondered if you could take some bloods for me.’ Ryan handed her a form, his eyes still on her face. ‘Callum is fifteen and he’s showing all the signs of glandular fever. I know you already have a full clinic, but I really need these results as soon as possible.’

‘Of course you do.’ As she took the form from him, Jenna’s fingers brushed against his. She immediately snatched her hand away, feeling as though she’d touched a live wire. ‘I’ll do them straight away.’ Without thinking, she rubbed her fingers, wondering whether she was doomed to overreact around this man.

‘He’s in the waiting room with his mum.’ Ryan was looking at her fingers, and Jenna swallowed and dropped her hands into her lap.

‘Fine. Great. I’ll call him.’

‘I appreciate it.’ There was a tension about him that hadn’t been there before. ‘Your bikes have been delivered, by the way. I had them taken straight to the cottage. They’ll be safe enough outside your front door.’