The Nanny Proposition. Rachel Bailey

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ me how to be a parent.”

      “You’re already her father.”

      “I might be her father, but parenting is not part of my skill set.” He shifted his weight to his other leg. Admitting a weakness so freely was tough, but he had to be completely honest if he wanted this to work. “I need to learn how to take care of a baby and bond with her. Circumstances mean I haven’t had time to prepare for this and I’m not willing for Bonnie to suffer while I’m catching up. You’d be something of a parenthood coach.”

      Bonnie’s grandparents had been furious that he’d been sent home with her, but he’d left them to their grief over losing Rebecca. He expected to hear from them soon about a bid for custody, and he’d deal with that when it happened. For now, he was focused on the immediate future. On being exactly what Bonnie needed.

      “I’m no expert,” Jenna said, shaking her head. “Many other people are more qualified for that. Agencies devoted to nannies and babysitters.”

      He glanced pointedly at his daughter, now sleeping soundly, then back to Jenna. “Bonnie seems to disagree.”

      “Getting a tired baby to sleep is one thing. I’m still working out so many other things as I go along through trial and error. Of course, I read books and articles.” She tucked a strand of blond hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear, somehow making the simple gesture elegant. “But sometimes I’m just guessing.”

      He shrugged. None of that worried him—he’d already assumed as much. “You’re many steps ahead of me. You’ll share what you know and I’ll pick it up as we go along. It won’t take long before I’ll know everything I need to know about babies.”

      Her eyebrows lifted to almost her hairline and she seemed uncertain about whether to laugh or not. She didn’t believe him. That was fine—she didn’t know him. He’d never shied from a challenge before, and this challenge was about his daughter. He wouldn’t fail.

      “So, you’ll take the job?”

      “Thing is, this is more than a job—it’s my home too.” She tapped her fingers against her lips, drawing his attention to their softly curved shape. “What will happen to me once you know all you need to know? I have a stable job and home for my daughter here, and I’m sure Dylan would replace me fairly quickly so I wouldn’t be able to come back.”

      “Even when you’ve finished coaching me in the role of parent, I’ll still need a nanny, at least until she goes to school. You won’t be kicked out on the street.”

      She chewed on her lip, and he could see her mind going at a hundred miles an hour, thinking through all the possibilities. He liked that trait in his daughter’s nanny. Hell, he liked that trait in anyone.

      Jenna rubbed a delicate finger across her forehead. “Can I think about it?”

      “I’d prefer you didn’t. As you can see, I’m on my way home now. I only stopped in here to drop Dylan off and I wanted to try and settle her before the drive out of town. I’d like you to come with me and help with the feeding and bathing from the start.”

      “Now?” she asked, blue eyes widening.

      “Pack a bag and we’ll pick up Meg on the way. I’ll send a moving company over to grab the rest of your things tomorrow.”

      “Hey, what about me?” Dylan asked, looking at them in bewilderment.

      Liam waved the concern away with a flick of his wrist. “I’m sure you’ll survive without a housekeeper until you can get an agency to send over a temp.” He turned back to Jenna. “You’ll take it?”

      She lifted a hand to circle her throat, looking from him to Dylan and back again. “But—”

      “Don’t overanalyze it, Jenna. I have a job vacancy and you’re qualified to fill it. I’ll match the wage Dylan is paying you with a twenty percent raise, and the job comes with accommodation. Best of all, you can keep your baby with you during the day instead of having her in day care. Just say yes. Go on—” he smiled “—you know you want to. Say yes.”

      Her eyes flicked back to his brother. “Go on,” Dylan said, clearly resigned to being housekeeper-less in the short term. “If you want the job, take it. I’ll be fine. My brother and my niece need you more than I do right now.”

      “Yes,” she said, then bit down on her lip, as if surprised at herself. Then more firmly, “Yes.”

      “Excellent.” Liam stood, ready to leave now the solution could be put into place. “How long will you take to pack a bag?”

      “If you give me your address, I can throw a few things together and catch a cab over in about an hour.”

      “I’ll wait.” He wanted her there when he and Bonnie arrived home. He was pretty sure Bonnie would need changing or feeding or both. “You and Meg can come with me and the movers can do everything else.”

      “Now,” she said, a touch of wonder in her voice. “Okay, I’ll go and pack a couple of bags as quickly as I can.”

      Liam let out a long breath as he watched his new nanny head down the hallway. There was something beautiful in the way she moved—he could watch her just walk all day. Having her under the same roof would be no hardship.

      Before he could let that thought take hold, he gave himself a mental shake. He had bigger issues than attraction to a beautiful woman. In fact, attraction would be downright problematic. Now that he’d solved the problem of what to do with Bonnie, he wouldn’t jeopardize that solution by acting like a teenager ruled by his hormones. He knew how to behave himself, knew what needed to be off-limits. Nothing would jeopardize this plan.

      Everything was going to be all right.

      He glanced down at Bonnie, sleeping in his arms. No, everything would be better than all right. He’d make sure of it.

       Two

      The trip in Liam’s Jeep to his home in San Juan Capistrano was awkwardly silent after Meg’s babble as she played with a crinkly toy in the back subsided and she eventually dozed off. By the time Jenna had finished packing a couple of bags of her and Meg’s things, Bonnie had been hungry so they’d fed her before setting off. Now the baby was asleep too.

      Behind the shield of her sunglasses, Jenna sneaked a look at her new employer. He sat tall in the driver’s seat—she knew he had an inch or two on Dylan’s six feet—and faint frown lines streaked across his forehead. Those lines were absent from his brother’s face. But minor differences to his brothers didn’t come close to explaining why it was this brother who’d always caught her eye. Why on those rare occasions his gaze had fallen on her at Dylan’s apartment over the year, her heart had beaten that little bit faster.

      What did she really know about him—well, besides that he was a man used to getting his own way? She’d been swept along by the speed with which he’d acted. She was used to autocratic people—not only was her mother a ruling monarch, but her father and siblings were all princes and princesses who were used to having people, including her, obey them.

      She’d needed that job with Dylan, the settledness of it, the security of it for her and her daughter, yet here she СКАЧАТЬ