Country Lovers by Rebecca Shaw Page A

clucking and squawking going on from some Welsummer chickens. Fine, upstanding pedigree birds they were, and Dan was glad he’d taken precautions.
    By two o’clock he was back at the practice ready for lunch. The staff had known right from the day Dan began working there that, for some reason, he and Rhodri Hughes didn’t hit it off. Nothing specific, but there was always that sense of touchiness between them and for why, no one could make out. They were both first-rate vets, versatile, agreeable, pleasant with clients, skillful, but somehow they…and this lunchtime was no exception.
    â€œHey boyo! That’s my mug.”
    Dan examined the mug he was drinking from. “I thought this was mine.”
    â€œYours is like that, but the printing’s red on yours. That’s green so it’s mine.”
    â€œDoes it matter? Here, you have this—I’ve only taken a sip.” He handed the mug across the table.
    Rhodri shook his head. “No, thanks, not when you’ve been drinking from it. But remember in future.”
    Dan looked up at Rhodri, his face humorless. “Trouble is with bachelors, they get set in their ways.”
    Rhodri’s swarthy skin flushed and he remained silent. Dan wasn’t to know that last night he’d proposed another wedding date to Megan and been refused. To save himself from being taunted, Rhodri walked out of the staff room, taking his lunch with him and leaving Dan to eat alone.
    He decided to eat his lunch outside on the old bench by the back door. Damn that blasted man. Why did he let him get under his skin? Why couldn’t he just ignore him? Rhodri sank his teeth into a smoked salmon sandwich Kate had been out to buy for him, and brooded on his bachelor state, beginning by damning the domineering old man who’d kept such a tight rein on his unmarried daughter and ruined her life. Twice they’d named the day and twice her father had had a bad asthmatic attack, been rushed to hospital, and hovered at death’s door for days. Rhodri had convinced himself that the old man brought on the attacks himself. Could you do that with asthma? In his mind he trawled through friends and relatives for a doctor in the know, but realized he knew none.
    Rhodri had suggested that they marry secretly and tell her father afterward, when the deed was done, but Megan, being a straightforward, honest character, refused. She wanted her father to give her away. When she’d said this, Rhodri had replied, “But that’s archaic. You’ve been your own person for years; you don’t need anyone to give you away.” But Megan had stuck to her guns. “I want him to do just that, please; I know it’s only right. I’m sorry.”
    Maybe she didn’t want to marry him. Could it be her way of escaping life’s challenges? Rhodri kicked some loose gravel away from under his feet, opened the plastic casing of his slice of apple pie and began to eat it, but couldn’t taste it. He looked up at the hills beyond the practice car park and deep in his heart longed for the bleakness of the Welsh mountains. It was all too mild hereabouts, even the air he breathed wasn’t bracing enough, nor the landscape, nor the people.
    The back door opened and out came Kate. “Your extraction’s arrived, Rhodri. Sorry.”
    â€œOK. Just finishing my coffee. Ask Sarah One to get him ready.” Teeth extraction. Diseased teeth—all because the owner didn’t take enough care. Six out. No wonder the poor dog’s breath smelled. He crumpled up the sandwich wrapping, placed it neatly in the plastic casing that had held his apple pie, gulped down the last drop of coffee, examined his mug and questioned why he had made such a fuss of Dan’s using it. He’d have to apologize; no, he damn well wouldn’t. He wouldn’t give it another thought. Instead, he’d think about Megan and going out with her for a meal