A mom…just in time for Christmas?

Beautiful, bubbly nurse Lara King just can’t resist a little girl’s Christmas wish—for her daddy to be happy—so she steps in as the sexy ER consultant’s new live-in nanny!

Christian Blake lost his faith in love a long time ago, but now, as Lara fills his house with warmth and sparkle, he realizes that she’s his once-in-a-lifetime chance for happiness.

As the first snowflakes start to fall, he can only hope that Christmas will weave its magic and Lara will accept the special present waiting for her under the tree…

The Magic of Christmas

Sarah Morgan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CONTENTS

Cover

Back Cover Text

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘YOU’RE going to fall in love with a strong, handsome man, dear. And he’s going to propose to you on Christmas Day.’

‘I hate to disappoint you, but all the men I meet are either sick or injured and there’s no way I’m marrying any of them.’ Lara applied the last of the Steristrips to the woman’s leg and glanced at her patient with laughter in her eyes. ‘Anyway, the last thing I need right now is love.’

‘Everyone needs love.’

‘You sound exactly like my mother,’ Lara murmured, checking the wound one last time. ‘And I’m not disagreeing, I’m just saying that this is a bad time. I’ve resigned from my job and I’m going travelling in January. I’m visiting my brother. He’s been gone for six months and I miss him horribly.’

‘Yes, Australia is a long way.’

‘How do you know that he’s living in Australia?’ Startled, Lara looked up from the wound and her patient gave a placid smile.

‘I’m a psychic, dear. Seeing the future is what I do. I was on my way to do a Christmas party when I slipped. The pavements are very icy today.’ She drew her beaded scarf around her shoulders and studied Lara closely. ‘Your aura is red—the colour of strength and passion.’

‘Well, I have no objection to passion or to meeting a strong handsome man.’ Trying to work out how the woman could possibly know that her brother was living in Australia, Lara reached for a dressing. ‘I could do with a bit of excitement in my life. But no man, however gorgeous, is going to stop me going to Australia.’

‘Not stop, no. But you’ll be cutting your trip short. You won’t want to be without him.’

‘Thea, you have to stop this!’ Lara stared at her patient with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. ‘From the moment the paramedics brought you in, you’ve been predicting everyone’s future. You’ve already shocked Fran on Reception by telling her that she’s going to be pregnant by Christmas.’

‘Why is that shocking?’

‘Because she doesn’t even have a boyfriend! You have to admit that single to pregnant in less than a month is a bit of a leap even for the broad-minded.’ She carefully placed the dressing over the wound and secured it with a light compression bandage. ‘There. That’s done. You can go home.’

And so could she. It was her half-day and there was somewhere she needed to be.

‘I’m not going anywhere until I’ve read your palm. I want to repay your kindness to me. It’s the least I can do. I might be able to give you some clarity.’ The woman reached out and took Lara’s hand in a firm grip. ‘Let me see…’

Amused, Lara gave her hand a little tug. ‘My hand is going to tell you that I’m a single, overworked nurse who doesn’t have time for romance.’

‘Love often arrives when you’re not looking for it,’ Thea murmured, holding Lara’s palm in a firm grip. ‘Oh, my dear girl, you’re so lonely, aren’t you? You work so hard that you don’t have a social life, you’re tired all the time and deep down you dream of having a big, noisy family of your own. You can’t understand why everyone seems to be in a couple, apart from you. You’re asking yourself if you’re too fussy.’

Lara sat for a moment, trying not to be spooked by the accuracy of the woman’s assessment. She gave herself a mental shake. ‘I have bags under my eyes so it’s obvious that I’m tired. I’m a nurse in the busiest emergency department in London, so it’s obvious that I’m going to be working too hard to have a social life. It’s not rocket science. I don’t know how you found out about the ticket to Australia, but plenty of people go there so it was just a lucky guess.’

It had to have been a lucky guess.

Ignoring Lara’s brisk interjection, Thea continued to scrutinise her palm. ‘You’re dreading Christmas because this is the first year that the whole of your family won’t be together and you’re feeling sad about that.’

Lara felt her heart twist and she stood up suddenly and snatched her hand away. ‘Go back to your GP in five days to have the dressing taken off.’

Thea gave a gentle smile. ‘You’re wondering how I know so much about you, aren’t you? You’re telling yourself that I’m just a silly old lady talking mumbo-jumbo.’

‘Thea—’

‘What can I possibly know? But, you see, I do know. I can read the future. Wonderful things are going to happen to you this Christmas. A wonderful man. Four children.’

‘Four children?’Lara shook her head and started to laugh. ‘Well, that’s going to be relaxing.’

‘You have plenty to laugh about.’ Thea stood up and adjusted her coat. ‘Your future is with a strong, handsome man who is sexier than sin. Plenty of women have wanted him but you’re the one he’s going to spend his life with. Women are going to envy you.’

Lara washed her hands, wondering why she found the woman’s words so disturbing when it was all nonsense. ‘And where am I going to meet this gorgeous specimen of manhood?’ Keeping her tone light, she tugged paper towels out of the dispenser with more force than was necessary. ‘Will he be lying under my Christmas tree?’

‘Sometimes you have to look for love and sometimes it just finds you.’ Thea glanced around her with interest. ‘He’s already here, waiting for you around the corner.’

The door to the treatment room flew open and one of the emergency department sisters stuck her head into the room. ‘Lara? I need you in Resus right now. Are you nearly finished here or shall I find someone to take over?’

Resus? So much for her half-day.

Lara dropped the towel in the bin. ‘I’ve finished, Jane.’ She turned to Thea. ‘Do you need to call someone to give you a lift home?’

Thea reached calmly for her bag. ‘I booked a taxi when I woke up this morning. I knew I was going to fall so I thought I might as well arrange my transport home from hospital.’

Thoroughly unsettled, Lara just about managed a smile. ‘Right. Well…’ She cleared her throat. ‘You need to come back in five days to have that wound checked, or go to your GP. Don’t forget to keep that leg up.’

‘And don’t you forget what I said.’ Thea walked slowly towards the door, limping slightly. ‘Mr Right is waiting for you around the corner, in this very department. He’s the path to your happiness. I’ve seen it all in your palm.’

‘I’ll remember,’ Lara waited for Thea to leave the room and then followed Jane into the corridor.

‘What on earth was that about?’ Jane tucked her pen back into her pocket as they hurried towards Resus. ‘What’s supposed to be in your palm? Tell me it’s not MRSA. There shouldn’t be anything in your palm if you’re washing your hands properly.’

‘Apparently my palm holds the answers to my future. My patient was a psychic. She told Jack, the paramedic, that his wife is going to have a boy, even though the ultrasound has already confirmed it’s a girl. She told Fran that she’s going to be pregnant by Christmas, and apparently Mr Right, who just happens to be strong and handsome, is waiting for me around the corner.’ Lara glanced at her watch. ‘Unfortunately for my empty stomach, my future didn’t seem to include lunch and at the moment I’d swap a lifetime with Mr Right-around-the-corner for a decent meal.’

‘You’re going to meet Mr Right?’ Jane’s face brightened and Lara threw her an incredulous look.

‘Oh, yes, of course I am. After all, the emergency department is such a perfect setting for romance, don’t you think? I’ve always had a thing for violent drunks.’

Jane shrugged. ‘You can joke, but what is life without hope?’

‘I think it’s called reality. Oh, and apparently I’m going to have four children.’

‘Four?’

‘I know.’ Lara smiled and shook her head. ‘It’s enough to make a girl faint, isn’t it? The thought alone is enough to have me booking a spa day.’

Another ED sister hurried up to Jane, in search of the keys to the drug cupboard, and Jane unpinned them from her uniform, still talking to Lara. ‘Why are you so sceptical? Given that you’re off to Australia, this would be a very bad time for you to meet a man.’ She handed the keys to her colleague. ‘So it’s inevitable that you’re going to meet one. That’s the way life works.’

‘You’re a jaded cynic. And it doesn’t matter if I do meet a man because it usually takes me less than one date to spot all the reasons why we’d be totally miserable together.’

They walked quickly down the corridor together, weaving through patients who were making their way around the hospital.

‘You’re far too picky.’ Jane glanced at her. ‘What was wrong with that registrar from Paeds? I liked him.’

‘Too earnest. After a hard day working in the ED, I don’t want an exhausting date.’

‘So how about the physio with glasses? He adored you and he was really fit.’

‘He wanted me to meet his mother.’

‘That’s a good thing!’

‘Not after one date.’ Lara suppressed a yawn. ‘And he had a really wet mouth. I can’t have a long-term relationship with someone with a wet mouth.’

‘Lara.’Jane’s tone was exasperated. ‘You’ll never meet anyone if you don’t lower your standards.’

‘But that’s just it,’ Lara said softly, pausing for a moment. ‘When I eventually get married, I want it to be because I’m really in love, not because I’m desperate. My parents have just celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary and they’re still crazy about each other. That’s what I want. And I’m not going to get that if I settle for someone who irritates me.’

‘But you don’t give a man a chance! If you only date someone once or twice, how can you be sure that they’re not “the one”?’

‘Because if they’re driving me crackers after twenty minutes then it’s a fair assumption that we’re not going to make twenty years,’ Lara said dryly. ‘The truth is I’d rather be happily single than unhappily married. Anyway, enough of my loveless life. What’s happening in Resus?’

‘Young woman with chest pains and shortness of breath. And, if Mr Right is waiting round the corner, I don’t think it’s a match made in heaven because he certainly isn’t strong or handsome. Last time I looked he was twenty-two stone, covered in tattoos and completely stoned. I’ve already called Security.’

‘You see what I mean? I always attract the good ones. It’s the reason I’m single.’ Lara pushed open the doors of Resus and stopped dead, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes settled on the doctor on the other side of the room.

Christian Blake.

He was standing by the trolley, his head angled slightly as he listened to the patient talk. His hair was glossy dark, his eyes a deep blue and his body strong and powerful. He wore the same regulation scrub suit that everyone wore in the ED, but on him the usually unflattering garment looked as though it had been designed specifically to display his superior masculine attributes.

Lara allowed herself the luxury of a brief glance at his athletic physique and then she looked away.

He was the senior consultant. A colleague.

And he was also—

‘Why does he have to be married?’ Jane muttered in an undertone, and Lara gave an exaggerated sigh of regret.

‘Because the world is a cruel, hard place,’ she muttered back. ‘And, anyway, it doesn’t make any difference in my case, because men like him always trample over me as they rush to embrace the tall, blonde stick with the perfect hair who just happens to be standing behind me. And, if by some strange chance he did happen to notice me, it would take me less than a minute to start finding his faults because that’s what I do.’ With a fatalistic shrug she let the door swing shut behind her and walked into the room.

A strong, handsome man who is sexier than sin.

For some reason, the psychic’s words played on her mind and Lara’s heart performed a series of strange rhythms. Well, they certainly didn’t come any sexier than Christian. Ever since he’d taken up his post as senior consultant in the ED two months earlier, all the women in the hospital had been hoping and dreaming.

Except her.

She was about to embark on the trip of a lifetime.

Even if Christian hadn’t been married, she wouldn’t have been interested. But that didn’t stop her admiring him.

‘If you’re looking for perfection, I think you’ve just found it,’ Jane murmured, and Lara frowned at her as she slid past her into the room.

‘He’s married. If I want pain, I’ll just go ahead and remove my heart with a blunt scalpel and have done with it.’ She walked briskly across the resuscitation room. ‘Good afternoon, Dr Blake.’

He looked up, his gaze cool and assessing. ‘Lara, this is Ellen Bates.’ He spoke with characteristic brevity, delivering the necessary facts and nothing more. ‘She’s thirty-two years of age and complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath.’

He never showed the slightest flicker of emotion, Lara mused as she smiled at the patient and reached for a blood-pressure cuff. He gave nothing away. He’d been working in the emergency department for two months and during that time he’d shown no inclination to socialise with the staff or reveal intimate facts about himself. On one occasion his daughter had phoned the department, and that had been how they’d discovered that he was married with children. Apart from that one incident, nothing. He worked. He went home—no doubt, to his beautiful wife. Because Lara had absolutely no doubt that a man this impossibly handsome would have an equally impossibly beautiful wife.

The patient’s eyes were fixed on Christian’s face. ‘I was at the office Christmas lunch and then all of a sudden I started to feel terrible. Typical. The first time for ages I actually get to eat lunch and I’m ill. Usually I’m too busy working to bother.’

‘Has anything like this ever happened before?’

‘I do get palpitations occasionally,’ Ellen murmured, her face screwed up as she rubbed the flat of her hand against her chest. ‘But I’ve always assumed they’re caused by the amount of coffee and diet cola I consume. I’m a lawyer. I spend whole days in boring meetings and caffeine is the only thing that keeps me conscious.’

Lara quickly attached her to the machine and checked her observations. Seeing that Ellen’s pulse was two hundred, she glanced at Christian and he nodded to indicate that he’d seen the reading.

‘I want to get a line in and take some bloods.’

Knowing that they needed to check the patient’s blood oxygen level, Lara swiftly attached the necessary probe to Ellen’s finger and then picked up the IV tray. ‘Is there anyone you’d like me to call, Ellen?’

‘No one.’ Ellen didn’t look in her direction. Her eyes were occupied with studying the dark stubble that shaded Christian’s hard, angular jaw.

‘Can we check her sats, please, Lara?’ Christian slid the venflon into the vein and released the tourniquet.

‘Just doing it now.’ Lara adjusted the probe and watched the machine. ‘Sats are ninety-eight per cent.’

‘Good. These can go to the lab.’ He dropped the blood bottles onto the tray. ‘I’ll do the forms in a minute.’

Lara handed him some tape so that he could secure the venflon, her eyes still watching the pulse and blood-pressure readings. ‘She’s still tachycardic.’

Christian’s gaze followed hers and he moved the IV tray, reached for his stethoscope and hooked it into his ears.

‘I’m just going to listen to your chest, Ellen.’

Ellen lowered her eyelashes in an unmistakably flirtatious gesture. ‘Anytime. I suppose the one good thing about all this is having you leaning over me. I thought doctors as good-looking and sexy as you only appeared on television. Are you real or have they flown you in from Hollywood to perk up everyone’s Christmas?’

In the process of labelling blood bottles, Lara winced slightly at the patient’s less than subtle approach and glanced towards Christian, anticipating a cool putdown.

But he chose not to respond to the comment. He was probably used to female adulation, Lara thought to herself as she dropped the bottles into the bag and handed them to another nurse to take to the lab. He was so impossibly attractive he had to have been fending off desperately hopeful women all of his adult life.

She pulled the ECG machine closer to the trolley and tried to ignore the fact that Ellen was still flirting with Christian.

‘Do you play poker?’ Her voice was husky. ‘I bet you do. You have one of those faces that gives nothing away. Inscrutable. You must win millions. Oh, dear.’ She closed her eyes. ‘I feel horribly, horribly dizzy. And sadly I don’t think it’s anything to do with the fact that a gorgeous man is listening to my chest.’

Wondering whether she’d even noticed anyone other than Christian, Lara ripped open some pads. ‘I just need to attach these to your chest, Ellen, so that we can get a reading of your heart rate.’

Ellen didn’t look at her.

‘Pulse is two hundred and twenty,’ Lara said, her eyes flickering to the monitor as she swiftly and competently attached the electrodes to the patient. ‘Do you want me to call the cardiologists?’

Christian looped the stethoscope back around his neck and gave a swift nod. ‘Please.’

Ellen clutched his arm, her outward appearance of calm slipping. ‘Am I having a heart attack?’

‘We need to perform some tests before we make a diagnosis, but I don’t think you’re having a heart attack, Ellen.’ His gaze flickered to Lara just as she switched on the machine. ‘Are you ready to do a trace?’

‘Coming right up.’

Ellen gave a whimper and shifted on the trolley. ‘I feel all sweaty and clammy. Oh, God, something awful is happening, isn’t it? I knew I’d been working too hard lately.’

‘Try not to panic,’ Lara murmured, but Ellen didn’t even look in her direction. It was clear that all her hope for the future was fixed on Christian, who was studying the ECG machine. It purred softly as it produced a trace and he watched for a moment, his eyes narrowed. ‘Her ECG is showing regular narrow complex tachycardia with retrograde P waves.’

Interested, Lara leaned forward to take a closer look. ‘Mmm. There’s a shortened PR interval and a delta wave.’

Christian glanced at her in astonishment. ‘Yes,’ he murmured, ‘there is.’

‘So…’ Why was he staring at her? ‘Do you want to try adenosine or go straight for cardioversion?’ She knew that some doctors were reluctant to give adenosine in the emergency setting.

He was still staring. ‘We’ll give her 6 milligrams of adenosine by rapid IV push and see if we can get her back into sinus rhythm.’ He paused and she nodded to indicate that she understood that there was always the chance that the patient might develop a life-threatening arrhythmia.

‘So we’ll just have this within grabbing distance,’ she said quietly, moving the defibrillator next to the trolley.

Then she prepared the drug and handed it to Christian, who checked it and inserted the syringe into the venflon.

‘What’s happening?’ Ellen moaned, rubbing her hand over her chest. ‘What’s happening?’

‘Ellen, the conduction system of your heart isn’t working properly and your heart is being overstimulated. That’s why you’re feeling the way you are. The drug I’m giving you should prevent some of the electrical impulses getting through and slow the heart.’ Christian depressed the syringe to push the drug into the vein then dropped the empty syringe onto the tray next to him.

‘I’ll do you a rhythm strip,’ Lara said, programming the ECG machine and then standing to one side so that he could see the printout.

Ellen gave a sigh. ‘I’m feeling a bit better. But my face feels really hot.’

‘That’s a side effect of the drug we just gave you. Nothing to worry about.’ Christian’s gaze flickered to the monitor. ‘I’m going to refer you to the cardiologists, Ellen. They’ll want to do some more tests.’

‘Do you know what’s wrong?’

He looped the stethoscope back around his neck. ‘The electric currents that control your heart aren’t working properly. Put simply, they’re taking a short cut.’

‘I’m a lawyer. I don’t need the simple version.’

Christian studied her for a moment. ‘All right. Do you know anything about normal conduction pathways in the heart?’

‘No, but I’m a fast learner.’

Christian pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of his pocket and swiftly drew a diagram. ‘In the normal heart, electrical impulses start in the sinoatrial node in the right atrium—the atria are the chambers at the top of your heart—’ his pen flew over the page to illustrate his point ‘—and pass through the atrioventricular node to the ventricles in the bottom of your heart. The atrioventricular node limits the electrical activity that passes through to the ventricles and acts as a break on the heart rate. That’s what happens in the normal heart.’

Ellen looked at the drawing and gave a hollow laugh. ‘And that’s not me, right?’

‘Sometimes there’s an extra electrical pathway that bypasses the normal process and conducts electricity at a higher rate—there’s no filter, if you like. The result is that the heart can beat very quickly and that causes the symptoms you felt today.’

Lara studied the ECG again. ‘If she has an accessory pathway, why does the QRS complex look normal?’

‘Because ventricular depolarisation can occur through the normal pathway. It’s a combination of pre-excitation and normal conduction.’

‘You’ve lost me.’ Ellen sighed. ‘So how did I get this extra pathway? Was I born with it?’

‘Yes, it’s congenital. Some people have more than one. Basically it happens when the atria and the ventricles fail to separate completely.’

‘But why hasn’t it been picked up before?’

‘Because the majority of the time the normal pathway is used.’

‘And can it be fixed?’

‘Extremely successfully.’ Christian folded the ECG strip and attached it to the notes. ‘We’ll refer you to the cardiologists and they’ll carry out electrophysiological studies—basically, looking at the conduction of your heart.’

Ellen frowned. ‘And then?’

‘If they think you’re an appropriate candidate, then they may do something called radiofrequency ablation—to put it simply, they destroy the extra electrical pathway by sending an electric current through it.’

‘Sounds scary.’

‘Actually, it’s a very successful procedure. It takes a few hours and requires an overnight stay in hospital, but no more than that.’

Ellen gave a wan smile. ‘I’m not allowed time off in my job. Even sleeping is banned.’

‘Sounds familiar,’ Lara murmured, watching as Christian scribbled on the notes. Over the past two months, she’d developed enormous respect for him. No matter what the situation, he never lost his cool. He was focused and skilled and didn’t let emotion cloud his judgement.

Lara studied him for a moment, wondering whether he was even aware of Ellen’s advances.

As if to test the theory, the woman gave him a smile that was pure invitation. ‘If I’m in hospital, will you visit me? I never get to meet anyone except boring lawyers in my job. I bet you only ever meet boring nurses.’

‘That’s me,’ Lara said lightly, slipping the tourniquet back into her pocket. ‘Boring nurse.’

Ellen turned her head and looked at her, as if only now noticing that there was someone else in the room with Christian. Her eyes widened as she stared at Lara. ‘Boring maybe, but beautiful,’ she muttered with a faint smile. ‘How do you manage to look so good in that shapeless blue thing? I dress in designer wear from head to foot and I don’t manage to look as good as you. Who does your hair? It’s fabulous.’

‘My hair?’ Taken aback by the question, it took Lara a moment to answer. ‘No one. Most of the time I don’t even do it. I mean, I wake up with it looking like this. That’s when my job allows me the luxury of sleep, which isn’t often.’

Ellen gave a wry smile. ‘Your job sounds a lot like mine. Except that I don’t look a fraction as beautiful as you even after eleven undisturbed hours of sleep. Someone must do your colour. Those blonde streaks are gorgeous. So natural.’

‘That’s because they are natural,’ Lara muttered, wondering why she was discussing her hair with a patient. In the circumstances it seemed utterly bizarre. Any moment now they’d be talking about shoes. Bracing herself for a sharp comment from Christian about her lack of professionalism, her eyes slid in his direction and she found him studying her with a curiously intent look in his eyes.

As if it was the first time he’d seen her.

Awareness shimmered between them, as powerful as it was unexpected, and then he turned back to his patient, leaving Lara to cope with a frantically pumping heart and shaky knees.

It would have been hard to guess who, out of the two of them, was more shocked.

She didn’t gaze at married men.

And even if he wasn’t married, she still wouldn’t be interested. She had no interest in a relationship at this point in her life.

Ellen was concentrating her attention on Christian again. ‘So is that it, then? I see a cardiologist now?’

‘That’s right.’ His voice suddenly clipped, Christian picked up her chart and started to move away from the trolley, but she caught his arm.

‘Let me give you my number. If you’re at a loose end over Christmas, you can call me. I hate the festive season.You and I could console each other.’

Give the man a bodyguard, Lara thought wearily as Christian carefully extricated himself from Ellen’s grip.

‘I have your number on the notes in the event that the hospital needs to contact you about something,’ he said smoothly, and Ellen’s laugh was resigned.

‘You’re giving me the brush-off, but I suppose that was inevitable. Are you married? Well, of course you’re married, the truly gorgeous ones always are. Oh, well, my loss, handsome.’

Christian stilled and Lara held her breath, wondering if he was going to finally lose his cool and say something cutting. Or perhaps he’d produce a picture of his stunning wife and Ellen would spend the rest of Christmas feeling nauseated with jealousy. And it would be no more than she deserved for being so pushy. Just because the guy looked like a sex god, it didn’t mean he had to be harassed.

But Christian said nothing. In fact, the only suggestion that he’d even heard the question was the faint flicker of a muscle in his jaw. He lowered his head, scribbled something onto the chart and placed it with the rest of the notes. ‘The cardiologist is on his way down,’ he said evenly, as if he hadn’t just been propositioned by a patient. ‘He’s an excellent doctor and he’ll be more than happy to answer all the questions you have about your condition. Staff Nurse King? Nice job.’ He studied her for a moment longer than was necessary. ‘It’s your half-day, isn’t it? You should have gone home an hour ago.’

How did he know it was her half-day?

Astonished, Lara watched as he strode out of the room with a firm, confident stride.

He was Christian, the consultant. Christian, the doctor.

He never allowed the smallest glimpse of Christian, the man.

Which was probably why she hadn’t bothered looking for flaws.

CHAPTER TWO

‘ARE you excited, Daddy? Are you?’

Christian glanced down into the shining eyes of his seven-year-old daughter. Excited? ‘I’m extremely pleased that you’re so happy,’ he drawled softly, and she slid her hand into his.

‘I’m excited. This is the best day of my life. Will it be our turn soon? Will it? We’ve been waiting for ages. Do you think Father Christmas too busy to see us? Are we going to have to come back another time?’ Aggie was wearing a bright pink coat with matching gloves and her whole face was a smile as she chattered non-stop. The sound of a choir singing Christmas carols blared and crackled through loudspeakers and the dull ache in Christian’s head threatened to turn into a ghastly throb.

The morning had been hideously busy, and prising himself away from the department for a few hours had proved even harder than he’d anticipated.

‘He’s not too busy to see you, but there are lots of children waiting.’ He reached out with his free hand and gently stroked her blonde curls while he glanced along the queue, looking to see if he could track down one of the ‘fairies’ employed to occupy the children with small toys and sweets while they were waiting. He glanced at his older daughter, who was gazing into space. ‘You’re quiet, Chloe. Are you all right?’

She sent him a quick smile. ‘I’m fine, Daddy. Thanks.’

He looked at her, trying to work out the immediate problem. And there was a problem, he knew there was. He gritted his teeth. Until he’d had daughters, he’d thought he’d known a lot about women. ‘Is twelve too old to be seeing Father Christmas?’

Was he supposed to know these things?

Colour seeped into her cheeks. ‘It’s fine, Daddy.’

‘She has to see Father Christmas,’ Aggie announced, hopping from one leg to the other, ‘otherwise how is he ever going to know what she wants more than anything in the world?’

Chloe’s eyes slid to her sister. ‘Father Christmas can’t give you everything you want. He isn’t a miracle worker.’

‘Yes, he is. Try asking and see.’

Had he ever been that innocent or that optimistic?

Wondering whether it was age or life that had turned him into a cynic, Christian studied his eldest daughter’s tense profile. She stood quietly in the queue, a far-away look in her eyes. Her cheeks were pale and the skin beneath her eyes was shadowed, as if she wasn’t sleeping well. And she was far too quiet, as she so often was these days.

Tension ripped through him.

Could he have changed things? Could he have done things differently?

‘Have you made a list? I’ve made my list.’Aggie danced on the spot, her hand curled tightly around the piece of paper she’d been clutching since he’d collected her from school. ‘It’s a bit long but I’ve been good this year.’ She peeped cautiously up at her father. ‘Sort of…a lot of the time…’

Christian lifted an eyebrow. ‘You mean, if I ignore the flooded bathroom, the fire in the kitchen and the ketchup stains on your bedroom carpet?’

‘They were accidents.’

‘I know they were accidents.’ And he’d been working. He shuddered when he thought how much worse the ‘accidents’ could have been. ‘It doesn’t matter, sweetheart.’

‘It wasn’t exactly my fault, was it?’ Aggie frowned. ‘She should have been keeping an eye on me. Nanny TV.’

‘Nanny asleep-on-the-sofa,’ Chloe murmured, and Christian felt the tension increase dramatically.

Nanny TV. It was only after his daughters had started using that nickname that he’d realised just what the nanny had been doing all day. And it hadn’t been looking after his children.

‘She’s gone,’ he said grimly, a flash of anger exploding through his body. ‘The new nanny starts tomorrow.’

‘Another nanny?’ Aggie glanced at her sister. ‘What if she doesn’t like us?’

‘Of course she’ll like you.’ Christian frowned. ‘All nannies like children. That’s why they’re nannies.’

‘Nanny TV didn’t like children. She told me that I was more trouble than I was worth.’ Aggie smoothed her coat. ‘Do we have to have another nanny? We’re at school all day. Can’t we just come home with you in the evening?’

Chloe shook her head. ‘You know we can’t do that. Daddy has to work. He has a very important job. He can’t always leave at the same time every day. And then there are the nights and the holidays and all the things to be done around the house, like picking up the clothes you drop everywhere.’

Christian let out a long breath. ‘Chloe’s right, sweetheart. And, at the moment, my work is very busy.’ He didn’t even want to think about it. Even taking two hours off to take his daughters to see Father Christmas pricked at his conscience. His colleagues in the emergency department would be stretched to breaking point. But there was no way he was disappointing his children.

They’d had the year from hell.

He glanced at his watch again and then at the queue, which just didn’t seem to be moving.

Aggie tilted her head to one side. ‘Are there lots of broken people at the moment?’

Christian blinked at her description. ‘Yes—I suppose so. People have accidents—’

‘And you stick them back together again.’Aggie gave an understanding smile. ‘I know. I know you’re very clever. And you need to work, otherwise we wouldn’t have any money. Would we have to go to the workhouse?’

‘The workhouse?’

‘We’re learning about it in history. In Victorian times poor children sometimes went into the workhouse. I hope we don’t do that. I really like our new house and I love my bedroom. Will we be able to unpack soon?’

Christian opened his mouth and closed it again. Keeping up with the speed of his daughter’s conversation required a decent night’s sleep and he hadn’t had one of those for months. ‘We’re not poor, Aggie, and you won’t go into the workhouse. Workhouses were abolished a long time ago.’

‘What’s abolished?’

Chloe hushed her. ‘Stop asking questions, Aggie! All you do is ask questions and talk, talk, talk! It’s no wonder Nanny TV fell asleep on the sofa. She probably died of exhaustion, listening to your chatter!’

‘It’s fine to ask questions,’ Christian interjected swiftly, noticing Aggie’s lip wobble in response to her sister’s rebuke. ‘And abolish means to do away with something. And we’re not leaving our new house and we’ll finish unpacking the boxes as soon as I get a free minute—’ He broke off as the queue moved forward a little and then stopped again. His heart sank. ‘Aggie, how badly do you want to see Father Christmas?’

Aggie beamed. ‘More than anything. I think this is the happiest, most exciting day of my life. Thank you, Daddy, for bringing me here. It’s my dream.’

No chance of leaving, then, Christian thought wryly as he discreetly checked his watch. He cast a look at Chloe, worried about how quiet she was.

She intercepted his concerned glance and gave a brave smile. ‘It’s OK, Dad,’ she said in a faltering voice. ‘Everything is going to be OK. Our new house is lovely. We’re all going to have a great Christmas. As soon as I’ve broken up from school, I can start on those boxes. If Aggie would just stop talking for five minutes and help me, we’ll get it done really quickly.’

‘You’re amazing, do you know that?’ Unfailingly impressed by his daughter’s resilience, Christian reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘What do you want from Father Christmas, sweetheart?’

He would have given a lot to know, but Chloe didn’t reveal her feelings.

Did she talk to her friends?

He almost laughed. Who was he to criticise? He didn’t talk to anyone, either.

She looked at him now, her gaze clear and direct. ‘I want you to be happy again. I want you to have fun,’ she softly. ‘That’s what I want more than anything.’

Fun? Fun for himself wasn’t a priority. All he wanted was to see his daughters relaxed and happy. ‘I’m happy, Chlo. I’ve just been incredibly busy…’

Chloe nodded. ‘I know. It doesn’t matter. We’re doing fine. I know you’re busy.’

Too busy to laugh. Too busy to unpack the boxes in their new home. Too busy to see Father Christmas. Too busy to give his girls everything they needed.

Christian gritted his teeth, vowing to somehow make himself less busy.

‘It’s now!’Aggie jumped up and down like a yo-yo. ‘That fairy is waving to us. I think it’s our turn.’

* * *

Why on earth had she ever thought this would be a good idea?

Still recovering her breath after her mad dash from the hospital, Lara smoothed a hand over the glittering net and tulle that floated around her pink tights. It wasn’t that she minded the children. She loved the children. She loved the way they stood almost bursting with excitement as they waited, eyes shining, cheeks still pink from the cold. It was the parents that made her despair. She listened to them in the queue, scolding and snapping as if taking the kids to see Father Christmas was just another chore to be ticked off a long list.

Why did people have children if they found them so irritating?

Or maybe that was just one of the ironies of life. Once you had something, you no longer appreciated its value.

Engulfed by a sudden wave of nostalgia, she tried not to dwell on the fact that this would be the first time in her life that she wouldn’t be with her own family for Christmas. Her parents had decided to spend the festive period at their cottage in France and her brother was in Australia with his girlfriend.

And it was no good telling herself that she’d be joining him in a matter of weeks. It still felt wrong, not being with her family for Christmas.

Lara felt a flash of sadness.

Things were changing. Her family was changing. She was the only one who had stayed the same.

Would she ever find a man that she wanted to spend a lifetime with? Would she ever have her own children?

Two would be a nice number. Two little girls, exactly like the ones who were next in the queue. Even at a glance she could see that they were entirely different personalities. The elder was quiet and serious and the other was fizzing like a bottle of lemonade that had been shaken until it was ready to explode.

They were gorgeous.

She watched them for a moment with amusement and then looked at the father.

And froze in panic.

Oh, no, no no!

It was Christian Blake—looking nothing like his usual self, which was why she hadn’t immediately recognised him. Only an hour ago he’d been wearing a blue scrub suit and a distant, forbidding expression. Now there was no sign of the ruthlessly efficient consultant.

This afternoon he was definitely the man and not the doctor.

And an incredibly sexy man.

He’d swapped the scrub suit for a pair of jeans and a chunky sweater that brushed against his strong jaw. His boots looked comfortable and well worn and he wore a long black coat that seemed to emphasise his powerful physique. The younger of the two girls was clinging to his hand and leaping around like a kangaroo on a hot surface.

So not only was he married, he also had two perfect children. And they’d picked this particular day to see Father Christmas.

Pinned to the spot with shock, Lara stifled a whimper. What was she going to do? If her wings had been real, she would have flown up into the rafters and hidden from view.

She wasn’t supposed to be here.

But how would she have guessed that a consultant from her department would pick this day to bring his children to visit Santa in his grotto? She’d left him dealing with a patient with a fractured femur. What was he doing here?

Unsure what to do, she waited helplessly for the inevitable recognition. Perhaps her make-up disguised her features; perhaps she looked different in a tutu and tights; perhaps—

‘Hello again, Lara.’ His eyes—those sharp, sexy blue eyes that never missed anything—slid down her body, lingering on the bodice of her white tutu before sliding over the net and tulle to her shimmering tights.

Her entire body heated under his blatantly masculine scrutiny and Lara wondered which was more embarrassing—being caught moonlighting or being caught moonlighting half-naked. It was a step up from being caught pole-dancing, she thought weakly, but not much.

He dragged his gaze from her legs back to her eyes and they stood for a moment, staring at each other.

Lara opened her mouth to break the tense silence, but no sound came out. Even breathing seemed a challenge.

‘Daddy?’ The girl in the pink coat tugged at his hand. ‘Why are you staring at the fairy?’

Lara clutched at her wand. ‘Hi, there.’ Her voice sounded strangled. ‘I expect your dad is wondering whether I know any good spells. And I wish I did. I could do with a good disappearing spell right now. I don’t really mind who disappears—you or me. Either would be fine.’ Her feeble attempt at humour earned her a raised eyebrow and a sardonic glance that warned her of trouble.

Panic wrestled with humour and humour won. What were the chances of a consultant from the emergency department turning up to see Father Christmas in the middle of his working day?

Seeing the absurdity of it all, Lara started to laugh and the older girl looked at her with a question in her eyes.

‘Why are you laughing?’

Lara’s eyes twinkled. ‘Because fairies are happy people,’ she said huskily, wondering what would happen now. It was her afternoon off but she knew that her contract didn’t allow her to work elsewhere. Would she lose her job? She was leaving in a month, of course, but she needed every last penny she could accumulate.

Merry Christmas, Lara.

The little girl who had been holding Christian’s hand danced forward, her blonde curls bouncing around her face. ‘Is it our turn now? Is he ready for us?’

‘He’s ready.’ Ignoring Christian’s intimidating frown, Lara dropped onto her knees so that she could concentrate on the child. What was the point in worrying? She couldn’t change the fact that he’d seen her. She may as well get on with the job, which was to entertain the children. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Aggie. And this is my big sister, Chloe, and this is my dad. We’re sort of in a hurry because Daddy has to go back to work.’ She leaned forward, her voice a loud whisper. ‘My daddy is very clever. He’s a doctor and he mends people who break themselves.’

Mends people? Well aware of Christian’s skills in the resuscitation room, Lara decided that it wasn’t a bad description of his job. ‘Right…’ She cleared her throat. ‘In that case, we’d better get you in to see Father Christmas as fast as possible so that your dad can get back to work.’

Aggie reached out a hand and touched her wings. ‘Are you a real fairy?’

Lara smiled. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think you’re probably a girl dressed up as a fairy,’Aggie said slowly, ‘but you’re very pretty.’

‘Oh—well—thank you. That’s very sweet of you.’ For the second time in one day Lara was suddenly aware of Christian’s intent masculine appraisal and she blushed and waved a hand. ‘Isn’t life a weird thing? I go through twenty-five years with no one telling me I look good and suddenly I get told twice in one afternoon. It must be my lucky day. And Father Christmas is waiting. Go on through.’ She urged the children forward, intending to follow them, but strong fingers closed around her wrist, preventing her escape.

‘And just what,’ he demanded in a cool voice, ‘is an ED nurse doing dressed up as a fairy in a Christmas grotto? I think some explaining is in order, Staff Nurse King.’

His head was close to hers and she was suddenly engulfed by an explosion of awareness that astonished her. He’s married with two adorable kids, she reminded herself. What was the matter with her?

Reluctantly, she turned her head to look at him. His blue eyes held hers for a long moment and she felt the strength in her knees vanish. His eyelashes were long and thick and served to accentuate the sensuality of his amazing blue eyes. Strands of dark hair flopped over his forehead, the beginnings of stubble hazed his jaw and he looked nothing like the cool, forbidding consultant she was used to seeing at work.

Someone hand the man a stethoscope, she thought desperately. Anything to remind her who he was.

Lara forced herself to breathe evenly in an attempt to stabilise her churning insides. ‘It’s my afternoon off,’ she croaked, ‘and I thought I’d—I’d—’

‘Dress as a fairy?’

‘I can explain—sort of.’

‘You’re moonlighting.’

‘Not exactly moonlighting.’

‘You’re doing another job. Are you short of money?’ One eyebrow lifted in sardonic appraisal. ‘Sustaining a gambling habit?’

She giggled at the thought. ‘No! I’m saving to go travelling! And I love Christmas,’she confessed. ‘I love seeing the children’s faces and I don’t have any of my own, so I borrow other people’s.’

His eyes slid over her body, lingering on the revealing lines of the silky bodice, which she knew was barely decent. Only a few transparent pieces of net and tulle protected her from his scrutiny and she felt her whole body become warm.

Their eyes locked and for a moment neither of them spoke.

The entrance to the grotto felt oppressively hot and suddenly Lara couldn’t breathe properly.

‘Daddy?’ Breathless with excitement, Aggie appeared in the doorway. ‘Come on! It’s our turn!’

It took him a moment to answer. ‘Yes, sweetheart.’ Christian dragged his eyes from Lara’s and finally released his iron grip on her wrist. ‘Let’s see Father Christmas. We can talk about this later.’

‘We don’t need to,’ Lara muttered. ‘Honestly, as far as I’m concerned, we can consider the subject closed.’

But the look he shot in her direction indicated that he considered the subject to be far from closed.

Wishing her knees would stop shaking, she led him through to the grotto and laughed aloud at the look of naked incredulity that flickered across his handsome face as he took in the metres of red satin and tinsel and the fake snow. She’d had the same reaction when she’d first seen the interior of the grotto. But the children loved it. Aggie was already sitting next to Father Christmas, her eyes sparkling and her list in her hand.

‘Aggie, take your feet off the seat,’ Chloe murmured, but her little sister ignored her.

‘My feet are clean because these are my absolute bestest shoes.’

Chloe sighed. ‘It’s “best”, not “bestest”.’

Aggie ignored her. ‘My list is quite long so I hope you’re not in a hurry, although it doesn’t really matter if you are because I can talk very quickly.’ She snuggled a little closer to Father Christmas, her smile wide and her gaze trusting. ‘It’s not all for me. Some of it’s for other people. So I hope I can have a bit more time because I’m doing the talking for three and that’s a lot of people. Is that OK with you?’

Father Christmas blinked several times and his mouth twitched under his thick white beard. ‘That’s fine with me.’

‘I have a list here. Do you want to read or shall I just tell you?’

‘Aggie, just stop talking,’Chloe breathed, folding her arms across her chest and sending a mortified glance towards her father. ‘She never stops talking. No one else has a chance of speaking!’

Lara watched the girls and felt envy slide through her body. Christian Blake had a noisy, loving family. Two gorgeous children.

One day, she promised herself. One day maybe she’d find a man with no flaws and it would be her queuing to see Father Christmas with her two wonderful children.

Or four, she thought with humour, if the psychic turned out to be right. Mindful of the queue building outside, she stepped forward. ‘Let’s hear your list, Aggie.’

‘OK. Well, I’d really, really like a pet but I know I probably won’t get that because Daddy always says that, if I can’t even keep my bedroom tidy, how am I ever going to clean out a cage?’ Aggie peeped at her father hopefully but the measuring look that Christian gave her in return was sufficient for Lara to know that pets was a subject that had been discussed and dismissed on many occasions. ‘No pet, then,’Aggie murmured, subsiding in her seat, ‘but if I really can’t have a pet then there are other things…’ She read out a lengthy list, ignoring Chloe’s worried glance towards the clock on the wall. Then she handed the list to Father Christmas. ‘I’ll give you this so that you don’t have to remember it all in your head. It’s in order, but just to remind you, my best thing would be the bike. And help unpacking the rest of the boxes in my bedroom because since we moved to our new house I can’t find any of my favourite toys, which seems a terrible waste.’

Father Christmas nodded slowly. ‘Well, I think I got all that. What about your big sister? What does she need?’

Chloe flushed. ‘Nothing.’

‘Go on, Chlo,’ Christian urged quietly. ‘What do you want, sweetheart?’

Lara glanced towards him, surprised by the warmth of his voice. At work in the emergency department he delivered instructions and commands in a detached, almost cold tone. He was reassuring to patients when the situation demanded it, but no one would have described him as touchy-feely. In fact, some of her colleagues had commented that Christian Blake was a machine, completely incapable of feeling emotion.

But she knew now that they were wrong.

Christian Blake wasn’t incapable of feeling emotion.

‘I know what she wants,’ Aggie whispered, kneeling up on the seat so that she could whisper in Father Christmas’s ear. ‘What she wants is for Alex Gregg to ask her to dance at the school disco. Can you fix that?’

‘Aggie!’ Visibly embarrassed, Chloe turned to her father in horror. ‘Can’t you stop her talking? All she ever does is talk!’

Aggie’s eyes were wide. ‘You do want that, you know you do! And there’s something else.’ Undaunted by her sister’s quelling look, Aggie smiled happily up at Father Christmas. ‘Just one more thing, and it isn’t for me.’

Father Christmas stroked his beard. ‘Who is it for this time?’

‘My dad.’

Christian tensed. ‘Aggie, I don’t need anything,’ he said swiftly. ‘And that’s enough now. It’s someone else’s turn to talk to Father Christmas.’

‘No. It’s your turn but I know you won’t ask for yourself.’ Her chin set at a stubborn angle, Aggie turned back to Father Christmas. ‘Daddy needs a new wife. You see, our mummy left us.’

A shocked silence descended on the grotto.

Stunned by that unexpected revelation, Lara couldn’t speak or move.

Then Father Christmas cleared his throat. ‘She left you?’

‘Yes.’ Apparently unaware of the tension around her, Aggie continued. ‘So now we don’t have a mummy and that makes it really hard at home. We have nannies or housekeepers but they’re not the same and daddy works so hard in the hospital and that’s why we haven’t unpacked the boxes yet. What he needs is a miracle. I read about them in a book. A miracle is something amazing that changes everything. If I’m extra-good between now and Christmas, could I have a small miracle?’

Father Christmas appeared to have been struck dumb, so Lara stepped forward, blinking back the tears that had somehow sprung into her eyes.

‘The thing about life, Aggie,’ she said softly, trying to keep the choke out of her voice, ‘is that you never know where the next miracle is going to come from.’

‘Well, I don’t care where it comes from but I know it has to come soon. My friend Katherine at school—her mummy went to heaven and now she has a new mummy but I don’t know where she came from. I want to get Daddy a new wife. I want to do an advert like we do for the nannies, but he won’t do an advert.’

‘She needs to be gagged,’ Chloe muttered, shrinking against her father, her expression acutely embarrassed. ‘It’s the only way. I’m buying her a massive gag for Christmas. And it’s not coming off until she learns that silence is golden.’

Christian rubbed a hand over his face and gave a slow shake of his head, clearly struggling to calculate the best way of handling the situation.

‘What’s gagged?’Aggie looked puzzled, clearly oblivious to the tension that her innocent request had created. ‘I just want something nice for Daddy. What’s wrong with that?’

Expecting Christian to be furious by his daughter’s very frank and public admission, Lara stole a glance in his direction. But she didn’t see anger. Instead, she saw concern, gentleness and a touch of sadness. A lump settled in her throat as she watched him step forward and lift his little girl into his arms.

‘I don’t need a new wife. That isn’t the answer.’ His voice was soft and he stroked a hand over his little girl’s blonde curls. ‘And I don’t understand why you’d think that, Aggie. We’re doing fine, aren’t we? What’s wrong, sweetheart? What’s missing?’

‘It’s just that I don’t want you to be lonely. You need your own special friend,’Aggie whispered, sliding her arms round his neck. ‘Chloe has Anna and I have Katherine, but you don’t have anyone all for you. If you had a wife, then you’d have someone.’

Christian hesitated. ‘It isn’t that simple.’

‘You mean because of us? Mummy left because of us, didn’t she?’Aggie’s voice wobbled and she clung to her father like a monkey, her head on his shoulder. ‘It’s my fault because I talk so much. I do try not to talk but then I sort of want to burst.’

Lara blinked rapidly to try and clear the tears that threatened to obscure her vision. Should she leave the grotto? She knew that Christian Blake was a fiercely private man. He never, ever talked about anything personal. He must be horrified that his little daughter had made such a frank confession in front of a colleague.

But Christian wasn’t looking at her. In fact, he didn’t even seem aware of her presence. His only interest seemed to be in his little daughter and her feelings.

He hugged her tightly, holding her easily in his arms. ‘Aggie, sweetheart, that’s enough now. Father Christmas doesn’t need to know all the details of our life.’

‘Father Christmas doesn’t dish out wives and mothers.’ Chloe cast a worried glance towards her father and reached forward to grab Aggie. ‘I’ll take her. Come on, you. We’ve finished here. We need to go home because Daddy needs to go back to work.’

They posed for the obligatory photograph and then Chloe led Aggie outside.

Lara didn’t move.

She didn’t know what to do or what to say. She felt as if she’d been eavesdropping on a private conversation. As though she’d witnessed something that she shouldn’t have witnessed.

She’d assumed he was happily married. Everyone had assumed the same thing. There had been no hints that his private life was in turmoil.

Was he separated or divorced?

What had gone wrong?

‘Daddy!’ Chloe burst back into the grotto, her blonde hair flying around her face, her tone urgent. ‘You have to come now! There’s a sick girl out here. She was in the queue and then she sort of dropped to the floor and now she’s sort of shaking! You have to come!’

CHAPTER THREE

A SICK girl?

Lara glanced at Christian but he was already moving towards the grotto entrance, his response as swift and decisive as it would have been in the emergency department. ‘Lara. Come with me. Chloe? Keep an eye on your sister.’

He strode out of the grotto towards the little crowd that had gathered, his black coat swirling around his legs as he walked.

‘Someone, help us! Help us!’White with terror, the mother was on her knees by the little girl, trying to lift the child as her little body jerked. ‘Olivia? Olivia?’ The little girl’s body jerked and convulsed beneath her hands and the mother started to sob and scream. ‘She’s having some sort of fit.’

‘Don’t hold her. Don’t try and restrain her or you might hurt her. I’m a doctor.’ Christian dropped to his haunches and put a hand on the mother’s shoulder. ‘Lara, can you get these people away from here? We don’t need an audience.’ His voice was sharp and Lara immediately moved everyone back and then dropped to her knees next to him.

‘Someone is calling an ambulance.’

‘I need something to put underneath her. This floor is hard.’ Christian checked the child’s airway and swiftly they manoeuvred her into the recovery position.

The store manager hurried up, clutching a soft blanket. ‘Is this any use?’

‘Perfect.’ He slid it under the child’s body.

‘She’s very hot. It must be a febrile convulsion. Being wrapped up in warm layers in this store and standing in the queue, overheating,’ Lara murmured, touching the child’s forehead and glancing at the mother. ‘Has she been ill?’

‘She’s had a runny nose but nothing too bad, and she was desperate to see Father Christmas. I thought it would distract her.’

‘You’re right about the warm layers, Lara. We need to try and take some of them off, or at least open them up.’ Christian slid the coat from the little girl and opened her cardigan.

‘It’s freezing outside.’ The mother bit her lip. ‘I didn’t want her to get cold. She kept shivering.’

‘She has a temperature,’ Lara said gently, ‘and it’s important that we cool her down. Little children aren’t able to control their temperature in the way that adults do. How old is she?’

‘Eleven months. I forgot to give her Calpol in the rush to leave the house.’

‘Was she drowsy before the seizure?’

‘No. Just a bit cross. That’s why I thought it would cheer her up to come here. I did the wrong thing. I’m an awful mother.’ The mother’s face scrunched up and she started to cry. Chloe stepped forward and put a hand on her arm.

‘I think you’re a lovely mother. What a treat to bring her here. We’ve just been and it was brilliant. Try not to worry.’ Her voice was warm and confident. ‘My dad’s a doctor and he’ll fix it. He’s very clever and he always knows what to do when people are ill. Why don’t you write her name and age down on a piece of paper because the paramedics will need that when they arrive.’

Lara stared, taken aback by the girl’s poise and maturity, but Christian didn’t seem surprised. Instead, he glanced across at his elder daughter. ‘Chloe—go down to the main entrance and wait for the ambulance. You can tell the paramedics where to come to. It will save time. Tell Aggie to sit still and not run off anywhere.’

‘OK, Dad.’ Chloe hurried off and Christian turned back to the child.

‘The fit has stopped. Has this ever happened before?’

The mother finished scribbling on a piece of paper and shook her head. ‘Never.’

‘I think the fit was caused by her high temperature. Given that it’s the first time she’s responded in that way, it’s best if we take her to hospital to check her over. You say that she’s had a cold. Anything else? Ear infection? Bad throat? Off her food?’

‘None of those things. She was a bit fractious yesterday and then last night her temperature went up. But she’s been talking about Father Christmas all week and I thought she’d be fine.’

‘Let’s strip her down to her vest and nappy,’ Christian glanced up as the paramedics arrived with Chloe. ‘Hi, there, Jack.’

‘Dr Blake.’ The paramedic flashed him a friendly smile and put his bag down on the floor next to them. ‘I thought you were at the hospital today. Sneaking off to see Father Christmas?’

‘You know me.’ Christian gave a wry smile. ‘Can’t keep away.’ Now that the convulsion had stopped, he quickly examined the little girl. ‘This looks like a febrile convulsion, Jack. We’ll take her in, just so that the paeds can check her over properly and keep an eye on her for a while.’

‘Right. That girl of yours told us what to expect. She’s a cracker is your Chloe.’

‘This child needs to go into the unit. I’ve got no equipment with me so I can’t examine her properly and, anyway, she’s better off in hospital if this is her first febrile convulsion. Lara, can you call Paeds and warn them?’ He pulled a mobile phone out of his pocket and handed it to her while the paramedic looked on in surprise.

‘Lara! I didn’t recognise you.’ His gaze was startled. ‘What—? I mean, why—?’

‘Don’t ask,’ Christian advised dryly, checking the child’s pulse rate again. ‘She’s coming round. She will be drowsy for a while,’ he warned the mother and she gave a nod.

‘Will they do loads of tests?’ Her voice was a whisper and she looked shocked and terrified as her little girl was lifted onto the trolley. ‘Could she have meningitis or something? You read about it all the time and it terrifies me.’

‘She isn’t showing any signs of meningitis but she’ll be checked properly by a paediatrician when she gets to the hospital.’

Lara spoke to the paediatrician at the hospital and then handed the phone back to Christian. ‘They’re expecting her.’

‘Good.’He rose to his feet and slipped the phone back into his pocket while Lara stood there, wanting to help but not knowing how best to do it.

‘I can go in the ambulance with her if you like. You need to get your girls home.’

‘You’d risk walking into the emergency department dressed like a fairy?You’d never live it down.’

Lara smiled. ‘It’s fine. If anyone teases me, I can just turn them into a frog with my wand.’

‘We’ll take it from here,’ Jack said cheerfully. ‘We’ll see you back at the hospital.’

The paramedics left with the sick child and the mother, and the crowd that had gathered around them gradually dispersed.

Lara glanced across the room towards his children. Chloe was holding onto Aggie’s hand. ‘You have wonderful children, Dr Blake.’

‘Yes.’ He looked at them for a moment and then stirred. ‘I need to get back to the department. You know how busy it is at the moment.’

‘Do you want me to come in to work? Take the girls home for you? There must be something I can do.’ She wanted to do something. Wanted to say something. But they were standing in a busy department store, surrounded by Christmas shoppers.

Christian’s expression was guarded. ‘I don’t need help,’ he said quietly, ‘and I can take care of my girls.’

‘I’m sure you can. But who takes care of you, Christian?’The words flew from her mouth before she could stop them and he lifted an eyebrow.

‘I think I’m probably old enough to take care of myself.’

She flushed. ‘Everyone needs to be loved. Oh, God, I’m starting to sound like my mother. I’m just saying that you need to be looked after, too. Not that I’m trying to suggest that I…’ Her colour deepened as she realised how her words had sounded. ‘I didn’t exactly mean that I—’

‘Staff Nurse King.’ His voice was soft and the expression in his eyes was remote and discouraging. ‘Take my advice and quit now before you say anything else that you don’t mean.’

She held his gaze and awareness flared between them. The atmosphere crackled with tension and this time she was unable to defuse it by telling herself that he was married. ‘I could help you. I’d like to help,’ she said impulsively, and he was silent for a long moment, as if he didn’t know quite how to respond to her offer.

Finally he drew breath. ‘I’ll pretend we didn’t just have this conversation.’ He stepped back from her. ‘And I’ll pretend that I didn’t see you dressed as a fairy. If the chief executive decides to bring his grandchildren to see Father Christmas, I advise you to use those wings of yours and fly off somewhere where he can’t see you. I’ll see you back in the emergency department.’

* * *

The weather grew suddenly cold and the next week was horribly busy.

A week after her encounter with Christian in the grotto, Lara was doing a dressing in the treatment room when Jane stuck her head round the door. ‘Christian wants you in Resus, Lara.’ She gave an apologetic smile. ‘Listen to me! If I had a pound for every time I utter that phrase, I could retire somewhere hot and spend my life lying under a palm tree. I pointed out that there are actually other nurses in this department but apparently you’re the sharpest. It’s going to be awful when you leave. The rest of us will have to wake up and do some work.’

Lara wasn’t listening. Instead, she was trying to produce a reasonable explanation for the fact that her hands were shaking at the mere mention of Christian’s name. The meeting in Santa’s grotto had changed their relationship. For her, at least. She no longer saw Christian Blake as the slightly intimidating senior consultant, remote and out of reach. Married. Instead, she saw him as a warm, caring father. An incredibly sexy, single man…

Oh, for crying out loud, what was the matter with her? It didn’t matter if he was single and sexy. She was going to Australia.

And that was why she was thinking about him, of course.

Because she wasn’t in a position to begin a relationship with anyone and you always wanted what you couldn’t have.

Feeling the familiar rush of excitement at the thought of her proposed trip, she rationalised her feelings by reminding herself that the unobtainable was always more alluring.

Lara finished with the patient, washed her hands and followed Jane out into the corridor.

‘So what have we got this time?’

‘Twenty-five-year-old female cyclist hit black ice and collided with a car. She’d just had the office Christmas lunch so I think there might have been some alcohol involved. The ambulance is due in five minutes. But Christian wants you in there. Apparently you’re the most efficient nurse he’s ever worked with.’ Jane shrugged. ‘All I can say is the guy must have worked with some real duds.’

Lara laughed. ‘Thanks, boss. You’re a real boost to my confidence.’

She followed Jane into Resus, confident that her mind was back on the job. One swift glance towards Christian told her that he was well and truly back in his role of consultant—driven, confident and decisive.

No problem. Everything was fine.

And then he looked at her.

He was in conversation with the radiologist but his gaze settled on Lara and for a brief moment their eyes held and something passed between them—a wordless communication that made her body flare hot with awareness.

Christian didn’t falter in his instructions to the radiologist but Lara felt her mind go blank and for a brief, terrifying moment she couldn’t concentrate on a thing. She saw his eyes darken slightly and knew that he felt it, too. And sensed that the unexpected chemistry somehow irritated him.

Aware that her knees and hands were shaking, she bit back a whimper of frustration and turned her back on him, forcing herself to cut the connection.

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