A Christmas Knight Read Free

night, how people were cutting back on extras in the recession and riding lessons were expensive, and Bea had suggested that they should hold an open day to get people interested in the stables.
    But then Louisa had said something that slammed right through him. He wants to be a knight when he grows up. Yeah. Been there, done that, and the absolute worst had happened.
    Though that wasn’t her fault and he shouldn’t have taken it out on her.
    He’d apologise later, and hopefully she wouldn’t holdit against him if she was needed to work with his team in Resus.
    Riding lessons. For her son.
    Though she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. And there wasn’t a tell-tale band of pale skin on her finger to say she’d removed it for work. He’d looked. And he was cross with himself for looking.
    Dominic took another gulp of coffee, needing the bitter liquid to jolt some sense back into him. Louisa Austin was gorgeous, with beautiful grey eyes and long dark hair; she’d tied it back hygienically for work, but he could imagine what it looked like loose. Like waves of shiny silk. Her mouth was a perfect rosebud, and it sent a shiver of pure desire running through him, along with an insane urge to find out how it would feel against his own mouth. It had been a long, long time since he’d felt an attraction that strong and that immediate—and that was what had thrown him most.
    He knew that it would be pretty stupid to act on that attraction. He wasn’t in the market for a relationship; and, even if he was, Louisa had a son. Which meant that either she was already spoken for, despite the lack of a wedding ring, or she was a single parent who’d be wary of taking any risks in a relationship, for her child’s sake, and would want someone responsible in her life.
    Responsible .
    Right.
    Which was about as far from him as you could get: hadn’t he ruined his brother’s life, two years ago?
    He needed to get out of here. Now.
    â€˜No rest for the wicked,’ he said, striding over to the sink and rinsing out his mug. ‘If we’re to have any chance of meeting our targets today, I’d better get back out there and hope Resus stays quiet for the rest of the afternoon.Welcome to the team, Nurse Practitioner Austin.’ And he left the rest room before he could do anything ridiculous. Like asking her to have lunch with him tomorrow so they could get to know each other a little better.
    Â 
    The rest of Louisa’s shift turned out to be as busy as the morning, but she managed to get to the after-school club on time to meet Tyler.
    â€˜Hi, Mum.’ He gave her the shy smile that always made her melt.
    â€˜How was your day, honey?’ She gave him a hug.
    â€˜OK.’
    â€˜Best bit?’
    â€˜Lunch. We had pasta. It wasn’t as good as yours, though.’
    She really hoped that he hadn’t actually said that to the dinner ladies. She could still remember the time they’d had Sunday lunch at her best friend’s house and then, when asked if he’d enjoyed it, he’d very politely thanked Mel and gone on to tell her that her gravy was slimy and her potatoes weren’t nice and crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle like his mother’s were. Luckily Mel hadn’t taken it to heart, but Louisa had had to explain to Tyler that sometimes it was OK to tell a little fib so you didn’t hurt people’s feelings. And even after she’d finished explaining, he still didn’t get it. ‘Let’s go home and make dinner. Do you have any spellings or times tables I need to test you on?’
    â€˜No. Do you want to see the horse I drew at lunchtime?’ He had his sketchbook out of his schoolbag as soon as he’d put his seat belt on.
    She stared at the drawing in awe. ‘It’s beautiful, darling.’ The horse was drawn in painstaking detail, and was incredibly realistic. Tyler really did have a talent