A Christmas Knight (6 page)

She did as he suggested, and to her delight she knocked three pins down.

‘High five, sister,' he said with a grin, clapping his palm against hers.

She knocked another three down on her next go—again without her ball even touching the bumper bar.

‘See? Leave them up until you're really confident, but you can definitely do it,' he said. ‘All you needed was to believe in yourself.'

Her score still wasn't brilliant at the end of the night, but it was a personal best; and Louisa knew it was all thanks to Dominic.

 

After they'd eaten at the American diner next to the bowling alley, Dominic dropped off Jess and Ronnie, then drove to Louisa's house.

‘Would you like to come in for coffee?' she asked.

How could he resist the chance to spend just a little longer with her? ‘Thanks. That'd be nice.' But the house seemed silent when she opened the door. ‘I thought you said your parents were babysitting?' he asked.

‘They are. Tyler's staying with them tonight,' she explained.

Which meant that he and Louisa were alone.

And they could talk without worrying that what they said might be overheard or misconstrued.

He followed her into the kitchen and leaned against the table, watching her as she switched the kettle on and shook instant coffee into two mugs. Her movements were so graceful. She fascinated him.

‘I enjoyed tonight,' he said.

‘Me, too.' She busied herself adding milk, then finally pouring on the hot water.

‘Louisa.' He walked over to her and took her hand. ‘I might be speaking out of turn, here, but I can't get you out of my head. There's something about you that just draws me. And I'd like to start seeing you.'

Her eyes went wide. ‘Dominic. I…' She shook her head. ‘I don't date.'

‘Because of Tyler? I already know you come as a package. And I'm certainly not expecting you to get babysitters so you can see me. I like your son and I think he likes me—so I'd like to get to know you
both
better. We'll take it as slowly as you like.'

She bit her lip. ‘I haven't dated anyone since my marriage broke up.'

He needed to know. ‘Very long ago?'

‘Five years—Ty was three.'

‘Your ex met someone else?' Dominic guessed.

‘No.' She closed her eyes for a moment, then lifted her
chin; whatever had happened, clearly it was a huge, huge thing for her. ‘You know the “terrible twos”? Ty had them really, really badly. We didn't realise at the time that he had Asperger's. He couldn't tell us how he felt, why he needed everything to be in order—so he'd just scream. Most of the time it was something we couldn't do anything about…and he'd scream and he'd scream and he'd scream.' She sighed. ‘Jack couldn't cope with the tantrums. And when the nursery suggested we see someone, and the GP referred us to a paediatrician who told us that Ty has Asperger's…he couldn't handle that his son was a bit different.'

Dominic was truly shocked. ‘Jack left you because Tyler has Asperger's?'

‘He couldn't deal with it.' She sucked in a breath. ‘I might as well tell you the rest of it. Ty looks nothing like Jack—he takes after my side of the family. And Jack asked me if Tyler was actually his.'

Dominic couldn't quite take it in. ‘He accused you of having an affair?'

She closed her eyes. ‘I
didn't
have an affair.'

‘That goes without saying.' He realised his fists were clenched, and deliberately splayed his fingers. Apart from the fact that he had no idea where Louisa's ex lived, breaking the man's jaw wouldn't make things any better. ‘You're not the type to cheat. What on earth made him think that?'

‘It took me a long while to work it out.' She opened her eyes again. ‘I think he just wanted to be able to blame the genes on someone else. I'm glad that Ty didn't inherit his father's personality. Though Jack wasn't like that when I met him. I'm not that lousy a judge of character—at least, I don't think I am.'

‘You're not,' Dominic said. ‘But you see the good in people.' She saw the good in him. ‘What about his parents?
Surely they…?' His voice faded as he saw her expression tighten.

‘They sided with Jack. Which is why Tyler only knows one set of grandparents—
my
parents.' Her gaze connected with his. ‘Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you a sob story; I'm simply trying to explain why I don't date. Because I'm never going to put my son in a position where he can be rejected again.'

‘I can understand that.' He shook his head in disgust. ‘What kind of person would reject their own child? That's beyond me.'

‘Me, too.'

‘You're both better off without him.'

She gave him a wry smile. ‘You're telling me. I fell out of love with him the moment he told me why he was leaving. That's why I reverted to my maiden name—and I changed Tyler's at the same time.'

‘And your ex didn't mind?' No way would Dominic ever have let himself be cut out of his child's life.

‘He didn't want us,' she said simply. ‘It made life easier for him, because he could pretend he'd never had a child. So now you understand why I have to say no.'

‘I understand why you want to say no,' he said. ‘But I'm so aware of you. And sometimes I catch your eye at work or at the stables and I think it's the same for you, too. There's chemistry between us.'

‘Yes,' she admitted with a sigh. ‘But I can't possibly act on it.'

Though she hadn't loosened her hand from his. Which was a good sign. He drew her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it, very gently. ‘I like you, Louisa. And I happen to like your son. He's got a good heart and he's kind. Yes, he's very direct and he'll only talk about what he's interested in—if you try and head him off, he'll change
the subject right back. Some people would find that hard to deal with, but I'm used to that already because of Andy. It doesn't worry me.'

Her eyes were very clear. ‘Tyler likes you.'

‘Good.' He paused. And she'd admitted that she was attracted to him. ‘This thing between you and me—how about we keep it just between us, see where it takes us? And, as far as everyone else is concerned, we're just good friends.'

‘You mean, have a secret affair?'

‘No,' he said. ‘I don't mean anything tawdry or hole-in-the-corner. I mean we'll keep it to ourselves until we're sure what we're doing and we're ready to let other people know that we're seeing each other.'

‘Did she hurt you that much?'

He frowned. ‘Who?'

‘The woman who's made you wary of relationships.'

He shook his head. ‘It isn't what you think. I used to be—well, I guess I had a bit of a reputation. All my relationships were short and sweet, just for fun, but it was always mutual. I simply never met anyone who made me want to change that and settle down. And then…' Then he'd caused his brother to end up in a wheelchair. Everything had seemed different after that. ‘Life changed,' he said, knowing it was way too succinct but not quite ready to tell her the rest. ‘I decided to focus on my career. Except now I've met you, and I can't get you out of my head. And you make me want to try to be…' He paused, trying to think of the right word. ‘Different.'

‘Different, how?' she asked. ‘What's wrong with you as you are?'

A million things, Dominic thought. ‘It's complicated. And I don't really want to talk about it right now.' He knew he was being unreasonable; she'd opened up to him, so he
ought to do the same with her. But this was all so new. He wanted her to know him better before he told her about Oliver.

‘So this is just between you and me.'

This time, he knew, she wasn't saying no. ‘Just between you and me,' he echoed softly. He kissed the inside of her wrist, and his mouth tingled at the contact. He knew it affected her the same way, because he felt the shiver running through her. ‘Louisa.'

She cupped his face with her free hand. ‘I'm out of practice at this.'

‘That makes two of us.' He turned his head so he could kiss her palm.

‘Dominic…'

And then he was kissing her properly. A sweet, tender, exploring kiss that left them both shaking.

A tear slid down her face when he broke the kiss.

‘Don't cry, honey.' He wiped away the tear with the pad of his thumb.

‘I just…never expected this.'

‘Neither did I. Work and the stables were going to be my life. Until you walked into the restroom. That's why I was so rude to you—it threw me,' he said.

‘I thought you were being all formal and unapproachable.'

‘No. I was trying to keep some distance between us because there was this huge zing of attraction and I really, really didn't want to fall for you.'

‘Distance.' She gave him a pointed look, because his arms were still wrapped tightly round her.

‘Epic fail.' He kissed her again. ‘And
that
was because I need the practice.'

She laughed back. ‘That's the worst excuse I've ever
heard.' And then, just when he thought she was going to wriggle out of his arms, she kissed him.

Her mouth was sweet and soft and incredibly sensual, and that kiss blew his mind.

When she broke the kiss, he released her and took a step back. ‘Distance,' he said. ‘Because, even though I want to kiss you until neither of us can think straight, that's not a good idea. I'm not taking anything for granted, and we're most definitely not going to rush this. We're taking this slowly.'

‘Agreed.' She handed him a mug of coffee, and lifted her own mug in a toast. ‘To taking things slowly.'

‘And seeing where it takes us. And keeping it just between us, until we're ready.'

 

Over the next couple of weeks, Dominic and Louisa snatched coffee breaks or lunch breaks together at work, getting to know each other; and they saw each other more out of work, too. Dominic gave in to Tyler's request to join their swimming session, one Thursday evening, even though he knew it meant meeting her parents—which made everything feel much more serious.

‘Mum, Dad, this is Dominic Hurst—our friend,' Louisa introduced them. ‘He works with me at the hospital, and he sometimes works with Ty at the stables.'

Dominic was half expecting a grilling about his intentions towards Louisa, but Gillian and Matt Austin turned out to be absolutely lovely, and he found himself relaxing with them, to the point where he accepted the invitation to join them for fish and chips following the swimming session—and insisted on helping to wash up afterwards.

He wasn't quite ready for Louisa to meet his family—there was a lot he needed to tell her, first—but he did invite her and Tyler back to his flat for a pizza one evening.

‘Is that my picture?' Tyler asked, spying the framed sketch on the wall.

Dominic smiled. ‘You bet it is. It's a brilliant picture.'

The little boy seemed to swell with pride. ‘I drew Pegasus from memory.' He glanced around the room. ‘Do you keep your harness here?'

He'd known the little boy would ask that, given that Tyler had already drawn a copy of the photograph of him in his jousting kit, along with several other suits of armour. He'd even unlocked the box for the first time in months and checked that the plate hadn't rusted, so he wouldn't disappoint the boy. ‘Yes. Want to see it?' he asked.

‘Oh, cool!' The little boy's eyes were round with pleasure. Then he glanced at his mother, who'd raised an eyebrow. ‘I mean, yes, please.'

His enthusiasm made it easy for Dominic to unlock the box.

‘Oh, wow, that's amazing. I've only ever seen silver armour, even at museums,' Tyler said. He smiled. ‘Black armour's right for you. Like Edward the Black Prince. He was a champion jouster. Are you?'

‘I used to be.' When life had been different. But he didn't want to talk about that. Time for more distraction. ‘Want to try it on?'

‘Can I? Really?'

‘It'll be a bit big for you,' Dominic warned, ‘but sure. I'll be your squire and help you put it on. Did you know there are twenty-seven pieces in a set?'

Tyler nodded. ‘And the squire used to clean the armour with sand and vinegar. Do you know what they had to use if they didn't have any vinegar?' He glanced at his mother, then whispered gleefully in Dominic's ear, ‘They used wee!'

Dominic couldn't help laughing. ‘That's gross, Ty!'

‘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.

‘Wow, it's heavy.'

‘Because it's eighteen-gauge steel,' Dominic told him.

‘Look, Mum, I'm a real knight,' Tyler said when Dominic finished putting the armour on him, clearly delighted.

‘Do you mind if I…?' Louisa waved her mobile phone at Dominic, obviously keen to take a photograph of her son.

‘Sure.'

‘Are you going to wear your armour again?' Tyler asked when Dominic had packed it away.

‘I don't know,' Dominic said.

‘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.'

‘I should've anticipated the question. And I could've lied and told him I didn't have my harness any more.'

‘But you don't lie.'

‘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.'

‘Is this your family?' Tyler asked, looking at the photographs on the mantelpiece.