Free A Christmas Knight by Kate Hardy Page B

‘They used wee!’
    Dominic couldn’t help laughing. ‘That’s gross, Ty!’
    â€˜I saw it on telly. And I looked it up in a book afterwards, so I know it’s true.’
    Just what Dominic would have done himself, at that age. Still smiling, he helped Tyler put most of the armour on.
    â€˜Wow, it’s heavy.’
    â€˜Because it’s eighteen-gauge steel,’ Dominic told him.
    â€˜Look, Mum, I’m a real knight,’ Tyler said when Dominic finished putting the armour on him, clearly delighted.
    â€˜Do you mind if I…?’ Louisa waved her mobile phone at Dominic, obviously keen to take a photograph of her son.
    â€˜Sure.’
    â€˜Are you going to wear your armour again?’ Tyler asked when Dominic had packed it away.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ Dominic said.
    â€˜Ty, you need to wash your hands before tea,’ Louisa reminded him. As the little boy scampered out to the bathroom, she said quietly, ‘Sorry about that.’
    â€˜I should’ve anticipated the question. And I could’ve lied and told him I didn’t have my harness any more.’
    â€˜But you don’t lie.’
    â€˜No, I don’t.’ Except for a lie of omission. He still hadn’t told her about the accident. He closed the lid of the trunk. ‘The pizza should be here any minute. Let’s go and sit down.’
    â€˜Is this your family?’ Tyler asked, looking at the photographs on the mantelpiece.
    â€˜My parents and my elder brother, Oliver,’ Dominic said. The photograph was just over two years old. When Oliver had still been at the top of his game, a brilliant surgeon and a brilliant horseman. Guilt flooded through him.
    â€˜Mum’s got a brother, too. I’d like a brother,’ Tyler said reflectively. ‘Or a little sister, even.’
    Dominic glanced at Louisa, who’d gone very still.
    Tyler shrugged. ‘But I guess Mum would have to get married before she could have a baby.’
    â€˜I’m fine as I am,’ Louisa said, though her voice sounded slightly hollow. ‘Those are nice dogs.’
    Dominic recognised the distraction technique for what it was.
    And, to his relief, it worked. ‘They’re way cool.’ Tyler looked longingly at the photograph. ‘I’d love a puppy. A wolfhound puppy. That’s what a knight would have.’
    â€˜We can’t have a dog while we’re renting. But if we buy a house next year, we might be able to have a dog,’ Louisa said, ruffling his hair. ‘But not a wolfhound. Something smaller.’
    â€˜Absolutely. Having lived with a big dog, I can tell you, if a Great Dane sneaks upstairs and settles on your bed in the crook of your knees, you always end up on the floor when he stretches out. Fudge here is a nightmare for pushing you out of bed,’ Dominic said lightly, and to his relief the strain in Louisa’s eyes eased.
    Well, now he knew what Tyler wanted. A house with a garden, a dog, and a family.
    But what did Louisa want? And—at heart—what did he really want?
    Yet he knew he wasn’t quite ready to find out the answers.

CHAPTER FIVE
    T HE following day found Louisa in Minors.
    â€˜I think I’ve got something in my eye,’ Tim Kershaw, her patient, said.
    Given how red and inflamed his eye was, she was fairly sure he was right.
    â€˜I did rinse my eye out, but it feels like I’ve got a boulder in there,’ he added with a grimace.
    A few questions elicited the information that he worked on a building site and he’d forgotten to put protective goggles on. To her relief, he didn’t wear contact lenses and he wasn’t allergic to any medication. ‘What I need to do is have a close look at your eye,’ she said. ‘I’m going to put some drops in—they’ll sting a bit, but then it’ll stop hurting and I can examine you properly.’
    Though the examination showed