A Christmas Knight Read Online Free PDF Page B

at what we can do nowadays,’ Louisasaid with a smile. ‘I’m going to put a couple of stitches in there, because it will heal better with less scarring.’ She stroked Julian’s hair. ‘I’m going to put some magic cream on your head now to stop it hurting. But to make the magic work even better, we’re going to have to sing a song. Do you know “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”?’
    â€˜Yes,’ the little boy said. ‘Tinkle tinkle.’
    â€˜And can you waggle your fingers like starlight?’ She demonstrated, and he copied her.
    â€˜Brilliant,’ she said. ‘And we’ll get Mummy to sing, too, shall we?’ From experience, Louisa knew that often parents needed as much distraction as toddlers. And Julian was giving a normal two-year-old’s verbal response, which made Louisa fairly sure that the worst of his injuries was the cut.
    Once the cream had numbed his skin, she got Mrs Livesey and Julian to sing with her, and gently but swiftly made sure the wound was perfectly clean, then sutured the cut.
    â€˜That was brilliant singing, sweetheart,’ she told the little boy. She glanced up at Mrs Livesey. ‘They’re dissolvable stitches, so you don’t have to worry about bringing him back to have them taken out. You need to keep an eye on him over the next couple of days; if he starts being sick, has a fit or is drowsy or just a bit unwell and you feel something’s not right, come straight back. A mother’s instinct is usually pretty sound and you know your child best.’ She smiled. ‘It’s a lot to take in, so I’ll give you a leaflet about head injuries.’
    â€˜And I have to keep him awake, right?’
    â€˜No, it’s perfectly safe to let Julian go to sleep—he’s going to be tired from crying and the stress of hurting himself. If you’re worried, try waking him after about an hour. I can tell you now, he’ll be pretty grumpy about it,but that’s normal. If you can’t wake him easily, that’s when you need to bring him back.’
    She answered a few more questions and, once Mrs Livesey was reassured, Louisa gave Julian a shiny ‘bravery’ sticker and called in her next patient.
    When she walked into the staff kitchen for a swift coffee break, Dominic was there.
    â€˜Good timing. The kettle’s hot.’ He smiled at her. ‘Want a coffee?’
    That smile was lethal, Louisa thought. Those dimples…no wonder her heart felt as if it had just done another of those odd little flips. But Dominic was her colleague. There wasn’t room in her life for him to be anything more than that. And, even if there was, she’d got it so badly wrong last time that she was wary of repeating her mistake. Handsome is as handsome does.
    She strove to sound normal. ‘Thanks, that’d be wonderful. Milk, no sugar, please.’
    â€˜Same as me.’ He paused. ‘How’s the little one you were giving stitches to?’
    â€˜He’s fine.’ She looked at him in surprise. ‘How do you know about that?’
    â€˜I was passing through Minors earlier, and I heard you singing a magic song.’
    She felt herself colour. ‘Um.’
    â€˜Hey, don’t be embarrassed. I’m all in favour of whatever it takes to make a child feel less frightened, and singing’s great. I learned three magic tricks when I was a student, precisely so I could make a child concentrate on something other than the reason they came in to see me.’
    â€˜Magic tricks?’
    He handed her a mug of coffee. ‘What’s this behind your ear?’ He touched her ear briefly; it was the lightest possible contact but it made Louisa very, very aware of him.When he brought his hand away again, he was flourishing a coin between his thumb and index finger—which he then proceeded to flip between his fingers, one by one.
    â€˜That’s very