Pretence of Love

Chloe Harrison works in a Derbyshire hospital as acting junior registrar to consultant Matthias Trevelyan. Between them is a degree of mutual antagonism: conscious of his watchful attention, she regards him with a distant but wary respect. She visited by her aunt, whose daughter Rosemary had broken up Chloe's engagement to Hamish Warren; told that her cousin, now Rosemary Warren, is returning to the area with her husband, Chloe explains that she herself is likely to be leaving to work elsewhere. Then a colleague collapses during a tricky operation and Chloe intervenes; expecting a reprimand from Matthias Trevelyan she is surprised when he offers her a more permanent job with the team. She is both pleased and happy, but on learning of Rosemary's conviction that Hamish is still in love with Chloe and that Chloe is in love with him, she goes back to Matthias to withdraw her acceptance. Matthias is less than sympathetic. She has accepted and must stand by her new agreement. Dismissive, he says that all Chloe has to do is to appear to be romantically interested in someone else and that he is perfectly willing to help her with such a pretence. Chloe can get on with her work, and her cousin will be reassured. Confident that this will not amount to any real involvement, she agrees.