скачать книгу бесплатно
Her Real Family Christmas
Kate Hardy
Dr Stephanie Scott’s smile can light up a room and she certainly catches the eye of single dad and obstetric surgeon Daniel Conner! But getting close to him and his little girl isn’t an option for recently divorced and heartbroken Stephanie. She's long since felt she'll never fit into a family.But spending time with Daniel and his cute daughter Mia, opens Stephanie’s eyes to the possibility that her longed for wish – a family of her very own – might just come true this Christmas…
Praise for Kate Hardy (#u88177437-9d2c-54fc-8e54-2eb2f1d197ef):
‘A spellbinding tale about moving forward,
new beginnings and the redeeming power of love by an extraordinary writer whose books
I just cannot get enough of!’
—Cataromance.com on THE SPANISH DOCTOR’S LOVE-CHILD
‘A spellbinding novel which you will want to devour in a single sitting.’
—Cataromance.com on A CHRISTMAS NIGHT
Mia was thrilled to help choose not only the tree but the decorations, too. They spent half the afternoon putting the decorations on the tree, and Stephanie lifted her up so she could put the angel on the very top.
‘You’ve done a fantastic job. Thank you so much,’ Stephanie said, and kissed the tip of Mia’s nose.
Mia stared at her, then put her arms round Stephanie’s neck. ‘You kissed me.’
‘Is that OK?’ Had she gone too far?
Mia nodded. ‘But you only kiss people you love.’
‘Ye-es.’
‘I love you,’ Mia said, and kissed the end of Stephanie’s nose.
Stephanie had a huge lump in her throat as she whispered, ‘I love you, too.’
The little girl fell asleep on the sofa not long afterwards, clearly tired out. Stephanie gently put a blanket over her.
‘I ought to get her home,’ Daniel said.
Stephanie shook her head. ‘Don’t wake her just yet, Dan.’ She paused. ‘Well, now I have a tree, I really ought to have a Christmas party.’
‘The three of us?’ he asked.
‘I was thinking… is it too late to ask your family over for Christmas Eve?’
‘That’s a great idea,’ Dan said. ‘Call them.’
‘What, now?’
He smiled. ‘Yes, now.’
Dear Reader
I rather like stories where the hero and heroine teach each other to trust again and/or love again.
My heroine doesn’t think she’ll ever fit into a family because she’s never had one—except in-laws who didn’t ever accept her for who she was. This is where my hero and his daughter come in. They need to learn to love again and open their hearts—which is what she does for them.
This idea actually started last year, when I got my twice-yearly cold. It always turns into a horrible croupy cough, nobody in the house gets any sleep for about a week, and I can’t nag about homework because I lose my voice (that bit is popular and almost makes up for the lack of sleep). I was having a bit of a pity party on Facebook about it when one of my readers e-mailed me and suggested I got checked out for reactive airways. I looked up the condition (which I don’t have, by the way—I’m just prone to croup), and thought it would be a great way for my hero and heroine to meet… (A special thank you to Pat Amsden for the lightbulb moment.)
I also love writing about Christmas. The season’s one of my favourites, with its chance to spend some real quality time with my family. (And I admit I love all the sparkling lights and the special ornaments on the tree. And now my littlest is old enough she helps me find the perfect presents for her dad’s and brother’s stockings.) When my children were really small, one of our favourite Christmas traditions was taking them to see Santa. So I couldn’t resist getting my hero and heroine to take his daughter to see Santa—and that, of course, led to finding out what she really, really wanted for Christmas…
Oh, and then there are the scallops. My daughter and I discovered them while I was writing the book, played around with different ways of cooking them, and thought it should be this book’s recipe :) Enjoy!
I’m always delighted to hear from readers, so do come and visit me at www.katehardy.com
With love
Kate Hardy
Her Real
Family
Christmas
Kate Hardy
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
KATE HARDY lives in Norwich, in the east of England, with her husband, two young children, one bouncy spaniel, and too many books to count! When she’s not busy writing romance or researching local history she helps out at her children’s schools. She also loves cooking—spot the recipes sneaked into her books! (They’re also on her website, along with extracts and stories behind the books.) Writing for Mills & Boon
has been a dream come true for Kate—something she wanted to do ever since she was twelve. She’s been writing Medical Romances
for over ten years now and also writes for Mills & Boon
Romance. She says it’s the best of both worlds, because she gets to learn lots of new things when she’s researching the background to a book: add a touch of passion, drama and danger, a new gorgeous hero every time, and it’s the perfect job!
Kate’s always delighted to hear from readers, so do drop in to her website at www.katehardy.com
To Pat Amsden, with thanks for the lightbulb moment.
Table of Contents
Cover (#u7fdee20d-603b-52a2-9515-475ef56abe7d)
Praise for Kate Hardy
Excerpt (#ub8927743-e0ee-5377-b4dc-99b573d08050)
Dear Reader (#ua32868a5-fcb9-5bd6-97a8-770671f582fb)
Title Page (#udf353456-f2f1-58c2-a1ed-63bc6dc1f030)
About the Author (#ue2fd41b0-dd87-502c-a528-87464f0c0e9d)
Dedication (#uf37282c0-c947-56a5-9b94-cdbc5c8206d7)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u88177437-9d2c-54fc-8e54-2eb2f1d197ef)
‘IT’S ALL RIGHT, darling.’ Daniel stroked his daughter’s hair, and hoped that the panic seeping through his veins didn’t show in his voice. ‘Don’t try to talk. Just breathe. In for two, out for two. Good girl. And again. In for two, out for two.’
How could Mia have got so much worse in one short hour?
The old trick of a steamy bathroom helping to calm a child’s airways wasn’t working. She couldn’t stop coughing; and it was a horrible, barking, croupy cough. He’d just bet that if she were wired up to a pulse oximeter, her oxygen stats would be way too low.
He had to act. Now. He needed to take her to hospital.
Should he call an ambulance? No, it’d scare her too much. And in any case he could drive her there quicker than an ambulance could get to his house and back to the hospital.
Except that meant Mia would be on her own in the back of the car, in her seat, with nobody to hold her hand and calm her down. Sure, he could call his mum or his sister and they’d come straight over to help—but that would mean waiting for them to get to his house. And right now he didn’t think waiting was an option.
Not for the first time, Daniel wished he wasn’t a single dad. If that stupid, selfish elderly driver who’d mown down his wife on the footpath hadn’t been so stubborn and had taken a taxi that day, instead of driving a car she really hadn’t been capable of handling any more.
But wishing wasn’t going to bring Meg back. It was pointless and self-indulgent, and he was only letting himself wish it now because he was panicking that he’d let his daughter down. Panicking that he’d lose his precious girl because he hadn’t kept a close enough eye on her and realised how bad her symptoms were getting.
What kind of useless father was he?
What kind of useless doctor was he?
He scooped Mia up into his arms. ‘I think,’ he said softly, ‘we need to get you some special medicine for that cough. And we don’t have any indoors. So I need to take you to where I work, OK?’
Mia nodded, her brown eyes huge. So like Meg’s. Guilt spiked through him; right now he was letting Meg down as well as Mia.
‘Good girl. Let’s go.’ Daniel grabbed a blanket from her room on the way, along with her favourite teddy, and closed the front door behind him. ‘Daddy’s going to be driving so I can’t hold your hand, but Fred Bear’s going to give you a special cuddle for me so you don’t feel lonely, OK?’ He strapped her into her car seat, put Fred Bear into her arms, and arranged the blanket quickly so she wouldn’t get cold.
He talked to her all the way to the hospital. All the way from scooping her out of her car seat until they got to the reception of the emergency department. And, all the way, the only thing that he could hear from her was that dreadful deep cough.
To his relief, the triage nurse saw them immediately, and sent her straight through to the paediatric assessment unit.
The doctor on duty wasn’t one he knew, but that didn’t matter—just as long as she treated his daughter right now.
‘Hello, Mia. I’m Dr Stephanie Scott,’ the doctor said, crouching down so she was at the child’s height.
Mia managed the first syllable of a reply before she started coughing.
‘It’s OK, sweetheart, you don’t have to talk,’ Stephanie said. ‘I can hear exactly what’s wrong with you. What I’m going to do now is put a special mask on your face, which will help you breathe a bit better and not cough quite so much, and I’d also like to put a special sleeve on your finger. It won’t hurt. It just shines a light through your finger and tells me some numbers that will help me to make you feel better. Is that OK?’
The little girl nodded.
Daniel knew what Stephanie Scott was checking for when she put the oximeter on Mia’s finger: pulse and oxygen saturation. Good. Just what he would do.
Stephanie looked at the readings and smiled at the little girl. ‘That’s what I thought it would say. Mia, I’m going to give you some special medicine through another mask that will really help with that cough, and then I need to talk to Daddy for a little bit because I think he’s going to find it easier to talk to me than you are, right now. Is that OK with you?’
At the little girl’s nod, she glanced over at Daniel. ‘I’m going to give her a medicine called adrenalin—it will help a lot with her breathing. And I’m going to do it through a nebuliser so all she has to do is breathe it in. It looks a lot scarier than it is, but she’s going to be absolutely fine, OK?’
‘OK.’ Daniel was holding it together. Just. But he found himself relaxing as he watched her work. Stephanie Scott clearly knew what she was doing and she was really good with Mia, talking her through what she was doing as she hooked the little girl up to the nebuliser, and reassuring her all the while. And that smile—she had the kind of smile that lit up a room.
Daniel caught his thoughts and grimaced. What on earth was he doing, thinking about that sort of thing when his daughter was desperately ill? Especially when he hadn’t been involved with anyone since Meg’s death, four years ago, and had concentrated on his daughter and his job rather than his social life? Hot shame flooded through his cheeks, mingled with guilt. Right at that moment, he was at the end of his tether and his head felt as if it was going to implode under all the pressure.
‘Mr Connor?’ Stephanie asked.
He shook himself. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t catch what you said.’
‘I was asking if Mia has any family history of asthma or any kind of allergies.’
‘No, none.’
‘Does Mia wheeze at all or say her chest feels tight or hurts?’
