Page 38 of Trained Royal
“I’ll get it.”
Before Patrick could decline, Kieren was out of the room. Patrick couldn’t find the energy to chuckle. Instead, he leaned against the back of the sofa and stared at the ceiling. A throbbing sensation filled his wrist to the beat of his heart, and Patrick breathed through the agony. He’d had injuries before, and this one was just as unexpected as those had been.
Voices reached his ears, and his door opened.
“Patrick! What happened?” his mother asked, sweeping into the room with a pinched expression.
“I fell wrong, Mother. I’ll be fine.”
“Let me get some ice. Kieren, be a dear and call Dr Montgomery. His number should be in Patrick’s phone.” She disappeared through the door again, and Patrick closed his eyes.
“Do you want to call the doctor?” Kieren asked.
Patrick opened his eyes again. Kieren held the phone out to him. Instead of answering that question, he just gave Kieren the code to unlock his phone. He never used facial or fingerprint recognition for that. It would be too easy for someone to get hold of those things, or so he’d been told.
“Hi. Um, sorry. This is Kieren Young, Patrick’s bodyguard. There’s been an incident, and I think he may have sprained his wrist.”
There’s been an incident.If Patrick was a betting man, he would’ve placed money on Kieren blaming himself for thisincident.Not an accident like it was, but an incident. It took everything in him not to yell at the man, but he sent a glare across the distance that Kieren either ignored or didn’t see.
“Uh-huh. Yes, ice is on the way. Uh-huh. Okay. Does he not need to be seen by someone to make sure it’s nothing more serious? Do you want to speak to him? Are you sure? Uh-huh.” Kieren sighed. “Thank you.” He ended the call and exhaled again.
“What’s the verdict, doctor?” Patrick was concerned with Kieren’s colouring.
“Um, he said to ice it for twenty minutes every two to three hours and wrap it in a bandage or brace to stop it from moving too much, to begin with. Paracetamol or ibuprofen for the pain.”
Kieren twisted the phone between his fingers, and Patrick frowned. Were his hands trembling? Patrick couldn’t tell.
“Come sit with me.” Kieren shook his head. “Come—”
His words were interrupted by his mother’s return. “I have ice, a bandage and a sling for you to get comfortable with.” She held up her wares with a smile, faltering when she saw Kieren. She glanced at Patrick with a raised eyebrow, but he shook his head once, unable to give her an answer to the unasked question. “Kieren, could you help me, please?”
Kieren flinched but put the phone down and followed Victoria’s instructions. He settled beside Patrick, bringing a cushion to rest on Patrick’s lap. With his mother guiding him, Kieren methodically wrapped the bandage around Patrick’s wrist, rested it on the cushion and applied the ice. When Patrick sighed and sank back into the sofa as the pain eased a minute amount, Kieren rose and stepped away.
“Do you need anything else?” he said in a hoarse voice.
“Would you stay with him and keep an eye on him?” Victoria asked. “I would do it myself, but we have dinner with the French ambassador, and I don’t think it would be wise to cancel at such short notice.”
“I’ll be fine, Mother. Don’t worry.”
He’d finally realised what the problem with Kieren was. The trembling, the sweat beading on his forehead, the blood-drained face. Kieren was remembering his family, and Patrick didn’t want to be the cause of such emotional pain.
Kieren closed his eyes, then straightened. “Of course. If you need me to.” His reluctance was missing from his tone but not his demeanour.
“Thank you, dear. It would make me feel easier knowing someone was with him.”
“Kieren, go and rest. I’ll call one of my cousins. You don’t need to babysit me.”
Victoria raised her eyebrows. “That’s kind of his job description.” She snickered.
Patrick chuckled and groaned. “Yes, for when I’m outside, not here. It’s not in his job description to work when I’m home.”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind.” He glanced at Victoria. “Would I have time to get changed?”
Victoria smiled. “Of course! I have another hour before I must leave. That’s plenty of time.”
Kieren nodded his head and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
“Mother, what are you doing?”
