The Nanny Bargain. Glynna Kaye

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СКАЧАТЬ Cubby and Landon, why was he in need of an “inside line” to the household?

      “Sawyer, look.” Landon pointed at something inside the open door of a lower kitchenette cabinet. “That’s a mousetrap.”

      Wonderful.

      Sawyer squatted next to him. “Sure is, buddy. But there’s nothing in it, so that’s a good sign. Probably put there as a precaution since this apartment’s been empty for a while.”

      Did he believe that, or was he throwing out that reassurance for her benefit?

      “Let me see.” Cubby pushed his brother aside and squished in beside Sawyer to duck down and look, too. “Wouldn’t it be cool to see a mouse in it?”

      Sawyer cast an amused look in her direction. “You’d rather not, right?”

      “I could do without one.”

      Landon looked up hopefully as he wandered away to peek in the walk-in closet. “But we could catch it and keep it as a pet. We don’t have any pets.”

      “We don’t have pets because G’ma is ’lergic.” Cubby gave a solemn nod. “Maybe she’s ’lergic to mouses, too.”

      His twin sneered. “Nobody’s allergic to mice, stupid.”

      “Landon.” She caught the boy’s eye and shook her head. “Your brother isn’t stupid. Please don’t call him that.”

      He shrugged. “It’s scientifically proven mice aren’t big enough and don’t have enough dander to cause an allergic reaction.”

      Cubby frowned. “What’s dander?”

      “Icky stuff that gets in your hair.” Eyes widening and brows elevated, Landon lifted his hands over his head as he stalked toward his brother. “Creepy crawly stuff with hairy legs and tiny teeth.”

      Sawyer grabbed him and pulled him in close to noogie the top of his head. “And maybe you’re full of hot air.”

      The giggling boy pulled away.

      The teasing part she could live with, but the questionable “scientifically proven” bit, spoken with an air of authority, she’d have to be on the alert for.

      “Landon? Cubby?” a feminine voice called from the open doorway. “Time for breakfast.”

      “Good morning, Therese.” Tori smiled at the dark-haired, stylishly coifed woman dressed in wool slacks, a blue cashmere sweater and low pumps. From the information Sawyer had provided, she must be in her midseventies; Ray about that age, as well.

      “Good morning, Victoria—Tori.” As Cubby snatched up their new game from the top of the bed and the boys dashed past her to the kitchen, she leveled her gaze on Sawyer. “Good morning to you, too. Ray mentioned you’d stopped by. We haven’t seen you in quite a while.”

      “The Outpost keeps me hopping.”

      “The Outpost. Yes, I imagine so.” She turned again to Tori. “I’ll do my best to keep the boys out of your hair today. I imagine you’ll want to unpack and find a home for your things.”

      “That would be wonderful. Thanks.”

      “Have you had breakfast?”

      Tori noticed she didn’t include Sawyer in the query. “Before the crack of dawn, but thanks for asking.”

      “Do plan to join us for lunch. Eleven thirty.”

      “I’ll do that.”

      Still standing in the doorway, Therese briefly touched her fingertips to the door’s polished wood, then raised a delicate brow at Tori. “You do recall our house rules?”

      Ah, yes. The apartment door should remain open at all times when hosting male guests.

      “I do. Thank you.”

      While Tori hadn’t dated since Heath’s departure, she was in no hurry to again, so that wouldn’t be a problem. But although Sawyer’s unexpected presence wasn’t anything close to a date, she wasn’t convinced either Ray or Therese was particularly pleased with his putting in an appearance on her first day in their household.

      Which didn’t exactly reflect the lay of the land that Sawyer had led her to believe.

      * * *

      Leave it to Therese to put him in his place in front of Tori. But what had he expected? He’d made himself scarce, then here he came barging back into their lives bearing gifts right smack on the day they’d acquired a new—and attractive—nanny.

      No, not nanny. Childcare giver.

      When the twins’ grandmother departed, he snagged a couple of paper towels from the dispenser above the counter. “Let me get that mousetrap out of here. You’ll want to clean the cabinet and put stuff in there.”

      “But if there are mice...”

      He reached into the back of the cabinet with a paper towel and pulled out the trap. Inspected it. Wrapped it up, then stood. “The cheese is hardened. It’s been there for quite a while with no takers. Ray probably forgot it was under there.”

      She gave him a relieved smile. “That’s good.”

      He glanced at the door still open to the hallway, amused at Therese’s unsubtle allusion to “house rules”—as if she thought he’d attempt to put the moves on Tori if left alone behind closed doors?

      While Tori had called to let him know she’d applied for and then gotten the job, he hadn’t seen her since early last week, and she looked prettier this morning than he remembered. Pale blond hair framed her face, accentuating expressive eyes, and that smile she’d flashed in his direction a time or two made his breath catch. Was that why he’d shown up on her doorstep this morning with the excuse of dropping off a new game for the boys?

      He looked down at the wrapped mousetrap in his hand, then back at Tori. “I don’t suppose you noticed that Landon can stretch the truth if it suits his purposes?”

      Invented. Fabricated. Made-up. Nobody liked you to use the blunt word liar these days.

      “I did notice. To my knowledge, science hasn’t proven anything of the sort as he claimed. I have no doubt there are people who are allergic to mice.”

      “That’s something he’s gotten into since coming to live here. He cites studies or claims he saw it on some TV documentary. Makes it sound real legit. If you didn’t know better...well, you’d swallow it hook, line and sinker.”

      “Why do you think he does it?” She looked at him earnestly, as if expecting him to have all the answers.

      “I expect, for the most part, to buffalo his brother. There’s some competition there. Maybe he thinks he can win Therese’s and Ray’s approval, too.”

      “Do they call him on that behavior?”

      “I imagine they do when they catch СКАЧАТЬ