The Millionaires' Club: David, Clint & Travis. Kathie DeNosky

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СКАЧАТЬ ticked past, Marissa realized she was staring at him with her mouth open. Dumbstruck by his offer, she was momentarily speechless. “Triple my salary?” she repeated finally.

      “Yes. You seem to know how to deal with a baby and I don’t. I need help.”

      If it had been anyone else on earth, Marissa would have sent him packing, but for the better part of seventeen years of her twenty-eight-year-old life, she had had a schoolgirl crush on David Sorrenson. Once again, she was speechless. Work for him? Triple her salary?

      “This is sort of sudden. Do you mean to come to your house every day?”

      “No. I mean to live in my house and care for Autumn daily.”

      “Oh!” Live in David Sorrenson’s house? “Be still my beating heart,” she whispered.

      “What’s that?” he asked sharply, studying her even more closely.

      Her brain began to function again. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. My folks are out of the country, and I take care of my grandmother and my younger sisters.”

      “Maybe they can all move to my house. How old are your sisters?”

      “My grandmother won’t move,” she replied, thinking he had the most sinfully seductive eyes she had ever seen. Cool, clear green with a thick fringe of long, black lashes. “Greta is a junior in college, and Dallas is a senior in high school.”

      “The junior in college is old enough to take care of your grandma and your youngest sister.”

      “Well, that’s true,” Marissa reasoned. “When do you want someone to go to work for you?”

      “This morning.”

      Again she stared at him. The man’s mind must have slipped a cog in the past few years. Although, physically, he still looked extremely well put together. Those were very broad shoulders. “I have a job. I can’t walk out on the store.”

      “I’ll pay you to walk out. I’ll talk to the manager and straighten it out with him,” David said decisively. “I’ll give you an extra thousand-dollar bonus to leave your job this morning.”

      “A thousand dollars? Just like that?” She stared at him, still stunned by his sudden offer and his snap decisions.

      “Just like that. I’m desperate,” he replied.

      “I’m beginning to believe you are.” Her head swam now. He had stepped into her world and turned it upside down. Triple her salary. Live with David Sorrenson. A thousand dollars. She had heard the man had retired from Air Force Special Operations. He was independently wealthy, living on his ranch. There were two or three women in town whom he had been seen with—wealthy, sophisticated beauties. Marissa hadn’t heard any remarks about his mental condition. Or that he had a baby.

      Triple her salary. A thousand dollars. Live in his house. The offer spun in her thoughts repeatedly. That last thing—live in his house—she knew she should avoid, because that was the road to heartbreak. As distraught as he was and as rumpled and unshaved and uncombed, he was still a hunk. But weird. On the other hand, enjoy the moment, she thought.

      “I don’t know about leaving my job right this minute,” she replied cautiously, her mind racing over the possibilities. “This is a drastic decision. I think you and I need to sit down and discuss your offer.”

      “Okay. Tell the manager that you’re taking a break and we’ll go confer about the nanny job. It’ll be very temporary, probably only a day or two at the most.”

      “A day? Then you don’t really need a nanny.”

      “Oh, yes, I do!” he snapped. “I can’t go through another night like last night. Actually, I don’t want to go another hour without help.”

      The man was unhinged, but nonetheless, for the money he was offering, she was interested.

      “We do need to discuss this,” she said, leading him out of the employees’ break room and going back to her station.

      “We can go to the Royal Diner to talk. Have you had breakfast?”

      “No, I didn’t eat breakfast this morning,” she replied, dazed by what was happening and barely thinking about breakfast.

      “Want me to tell your manager?” David asked, looking around the store.

      “Oh, no!” she gasped, imagining her supervisor’s reaction to all this. “I’ll tell him. You take Autumn.”

      “No,” David replied in a no-nonsense, take-charge voice. “You hold Autumn and keep feeding her because she’s happy. I’ll tell the manager and square it with him and I’ll drive. What’s your manager’s name?”

      “Jerry Vickerson, and his office is in the southeast corner of the store.”

      “I’ll be right back, Marissa Wilder. Don’t go away,” David ordered, giving her a look that immobilized her as he started to walk away. “And when I get back, I need to buy a baby carrier for her before I leave the store. I don’t care about the price. You pick it out.”

      Turning to stride away, he combed his fingers through his hair and squared his shoulders.

      “Baby Autumn, you have a very decisive, persuasive caretaker. Where’s your mommy, sweetie?” A nanny with triple her current salary. Wow. It wasn’t going to do her 401K any good, but to take care of this little baby would be wonderful. To live at David Sorrenson’s would be—exciting? Heartbreaking, most likely. She probably would spend half her time fantasizing about him. Although, his behavior this morning hadn’t made him too adorable. Still, the man had gotten what he wanted in no time flat.

      As she cuddled the baby close against her, Marissa hummed to herself while she selected a carrier. She remembered the brown paper sack David had had in his hand and picked up a pretty pink diaper bag with teddy bears on it.

      In minutes he came striding back. “It’s settled. Your job is terminated. You can have it back whenever this nanny job ends—which may be soon.”

      She stared at him in amazement. Her boss was just a step away from being a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge to his employees. To have him suddenly become so cooperative surprised her, and she wondered what incentive David Sorrenson had offered her boss.

      “All right,” she said cautiously. “I picked out this carrier and here’s a diaper bag. You look as if you need one,” she said, eyeing the paper sack.

      “Oh, yeah, I do. Good.” He pulled out his wallet and glanced at the price tags. “That’s good. I’ll transfer this stuff from the sack to the bag and then, when we get to my car, we’ll put Autumn into the carrier. I’m using a borrowed one that I need to return.”

      Marissa rang up his purchase with one hand, completing the transaction and watching him empty the sack and toss it into the trash.

      “Do you want to get your things and leave your name tag?” David asked. “I told your manager I would bring you back later to pick up your paycheck. He said he would have it ready in an hour.”

      She realized David СКАЧАТЬ