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‘No, not really. I suppose I’m more interested in the person than the disease.’ She smiled. ‘And I’m not serious enough to be a doctor. I’d crack a joke at the wrong moment.’
‘You’re serious enough when you need to be.’
She found his gaze distinctly unsettling. ‘I don’t have the necessary cool to do the job you do. When you’re with a patient, you’re very emotionally detached.’
‘My job is to deal with the immediate physical trauma.’
‘And you do it brilliantly. You’re a clever man, Dr Blake.’ She put the laryngoscope back on the tray, trying to understand the sudden tension in the atmosphere. They were just colleagues—nothing more. ‘So you should be relieved that you didn’t try and see Father Christmas in his grotto yesterday, because the queues were enough to make a grown man sob. How are your girls?’
He hesitated, as if he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the topic of conversation. ‘Excited about Christmas. We have a new nanny installed in our house so hopefully a few of those boxes might get unpacked soon.’
His oblique reference to Aggie’s impulsive confession in the grotto made her wonder if he was concerned about his privacy.
‘Listen, Christian, I hope you don’t feel awkward about last week. A little girl’s chat with Father Christmas should always be kept private. Just in case you’re worrying, I never repeat anything I hear in the grotto.’
He watched her. ‘I’m not worrying. It’s hard to keep anything private with Aggie around, as you’ve probably gathered.’
‘She’s adorable. You’re so lucky.’ Faint colour touched her cheeks. ‘Sorry. I mean, it’s obviously a very difficult time for you and—’
‘I know I’m lucky, Lara,’ he said softly. ‘I love my girls.’
‘Yes, that’s obvious.’ She gave a wistful sigh and then smiled at him. ‘It must be hard, moving house just before Christmas.’
‘We moved three months ago, just before I started this job. But with the demands of a new job and the endless nightmare of nannies, I haven’t had time to finish unpacking the boxes.’ He gave a self-deprecating smile. ‘But clearly it has to be a priority now that emptying boxes is on Aggie’s Christmas list.’
‘And what’s on your Christmas list, Dr Blake?’
‘Top of my list is a decent nanny. The current one has turned up to work five days in succession so that’s a start. If she turns out to be Mary Poppins then I’m going to have a happy Christmas.’
‘That doesn’t seem like a very exciting Christmas present for you.’
He studied her face for a long moment. ‘I don’t need exciting. What I need is to not worry about my children when I’m working.’
‘Yes. I can see that must be a worry. In fact, the whole thing must be a worry. ‘Do you know what you need, Christian?’
‘What’s that?’
‘Fun.’ She tilted her head and looked at him with laughter in her eyes. ‘You look like a man who is taking life much too seriously at the moment. What you need is fun.’
CHAPTER FOUR
FUN?
Why was everyone suddenly so obsessed with him having fun?
First Chloe, now Lara. Only, coming from Lara, the word fun took on an entirely different meaning.
When Chloe had used the word, he’d immediately thought of rowdy games of catch in the park, sledging in the snow on Hampstead Heath, playing Monopoly in front of the fire, with Aggie cheating. When Lara had used it, entirely different images had filled his brain.
Dangerous images.
He remembered her legs in the fairy cos
tume, long and slim, her body slender but with curves in all the right places.
She was getting under his skin, Christian thought grimly, struggling against the hot burn of lust that threatened to devour him.
It wasn’t going to happen.
