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‘Come on.’ She grabbed his hands and encouraged him to bounce, too.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Christy and Alessandro were finishing their meal in tense silence when there was an enormous cr
ash above them, followed by a plaintive yell.
‘Oh, no.’ Driven by her maternal instincts, Christy was out of her seat and up the stairs in record time, Alessandro right behind her.
In the bedroom they found Ben sobbing noisily on the carpet and Katy with her arms around him. She looked up when her parents entered. ‘Poor Ben. He bounced on the bed and…’ she gave a baffled shrug, her expression both innocent and mystified ‘… it must have broken or something. Unbelievable, the rubbish they sell you these days.’
‘The bed broke?’ Christy looked at the collapsed bed in horror and disbelief. ‘Oh, my goodness. It looks as though the frame has snapped right through. How did you—?’ And then she saw the blood on Ben’s cheek and dropped to her knees. All the training in the world didn’t prepare you properly for coping when your own child was injured, she thought frantically. ‘You’re bleeding. Alessandro, he’s bleeding.’
‘I see it.’ Calm and steady, Alessandro scooped his son into his arms and swept the aeroplane and Christy’s clothes off the chair so that he could sit down. ‘What’s happened to you?’
‘Katy told me to bounce,’ Ben hiccoughed, his face blotched with crying, ‘so I bounced, but when the bed broke I fell off and banged myself. It hurts.’
‘Where did you bang yourself?’ Alessandro ran strong fingers over the little boy’s arms and legs, hunting for damage—trying to find the source of the bleeding. He found it on the boy’s palm. ‘It’s fine. Just a scratch. He must have run his hand over his cheek. That’s why he has blood on his face.’
Christy stood there, heart thumping, relieved that Alessandro was there. She’d always been a wreck inside when either of the children had been ill or injured. She suddenly realised how much she’d missed his strength.
Still cuddling Ben, Alessandro threw a frowning glance at the bed. ‘That’s well and truly broken. You won’t be sleeping there tonight.’
Christy gave a tiny frown and turned to Katy. ‘I’ll have Ben’s room. Your brother can share with you.’
‘No way!’ Katy shrank back, her face a picture of exaggerated sibling horror. ‘He snores, fidgets and talks in his sleep. No way am I sleeping with a monster baby like him.’
Ben clutched at the front of Alessandro’s shirt and scowled at his sister. ‘I’m not a baby!’
Christy sighed. ‘Katy, there’s no other option.’
‘Yes, there is. If there’s sharing to be done, you can jolly well share with Dad. At least you’re married. I’m not sharing with my brother! That’s totally gross.’ And she stomped out of the room, ponytail swishing like a statement.
Alessandro stared after her with an expression of blatant masculine incomprehension. ‘Is she hormonal?’
Christy rubbed her aching forehead. ‘Hardly. She’s eleven years old.’
‘She’s acting like a teenager.’
‘She’s going through a difficult phase. She’s…’ Her eyes met his and the words tailed off. They both knew that if Katy was going through a difficult stage, it was probably their fault. Christy’s hand fell to her side. ‘On top of everything else, I suppose it isn’t exactly fair for her to have to share with her brother. She is getting to an age where privacy is important,’ she murmured, and Alessandro nodded agreement.
‘You can use our bedroom. I’ll take the sofa downstairs.’
Christy felt the heavy punch of disappointment deep inside her but smiled. ‘That’s very decent of you. Thanks.’
She didn’t care, she told herself. She didn’t care that he obviously couldn’t face the thought of sharing a room with her, let alone a bed. She didn’t care that he’d rather sleep on the sofa than be with her.
Once, they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other. They’d been like greedy, naughty teenagers seizing every opportunity to rip each other’s clothes off and feast. Now it seemed as if they couldn’t create enough distance.
‘How will Father Christmas come if Daddy’s sleeping downstairs?’ Ben’s anxious voice interrupted her thoughts. ‘We all know that he can’t come if anyone is there to see him.’ The sweet innocence of his question made her heart twist.
‘I… er… He…’ Christy fumbled for an answer that might work, casting a desperate look at Alessandro.
‘I’ll keep my eyes tightly shut for the whole night?’
Ben shook his head, his expression solemn. ‘That won’t work. If you’re awake, he knows.’
‘Well, Daddy’s under a lot of strain at the moment,’ Alessandro growled, ‘so I’m sure I’ll be asleep.’
Was he under strain? He always looked infuriatingly cool and relaxed, Christy mused as she studied his handsome face for clues. Perhaps those dark, brooding eyes were a little more shadowed than usual and the sexy mouth a little more grimly set.
