Mother in Training. Marie Ferrarella

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СКАЧАТЬ need a nanny.” He heard Emily giggling again. “The kids need a nanny,” he corrected. “And you need a job. Seeing as how you got fired doing me a favor, the least I can do is hire you.” He paused, then added the required coda. “If you want the job.” The last thing he wanted was for her to feel that he was trying to railroad her, or pressure her into agreeing. He might be desperate, but she had to want to do this.

      Zooey narrowed her eyes, trying to absorb what he was saying. He’d always struck her as being a cautious man, someone who believed in belts and suspenders. Normally, she found that a turnoff. But there was something about Jack Lever, not to mention his looks, that negated all that.

      “You’ll pay me to watch your kids?”

      “It’s a little more complex than that, but yes.”

      Zooey looked at him guilelessly. “Sure.”

      He really hadn’t expected such a quick response from her. All the women he’d previously interviewed for the job had told him they would have to think about it when he made an offer. And they’d wanted to know what benefits would be coming to them. Zooey seemed to be the last word in spontaneity. Patricia would have loved her.

      “You don’t want to think about it?”

      Zooey waved her hand dismissively. “Thinking only clutters things up.” And then she hesitated slightly. “One thing, though.”

      Conditions. She was going to cite conditions, he thought. Jack braced himself. “Yes?”

      A slight flush entered her cheeks. She looked at him uncomfortably. “Could you give me an advance on my salary?” He gazed at her quizzically, compelling her to explain the reason behind the request. “I sort of owe a couple of months back rent and the landlord is threatening me with eviction.”

      From out of nowhere, another impulsive thought came to Jack. He supposed that once the gates were unlocked, it seemed easier for the next idea to make its way through.

      He refrained from asking her the important question outright, preferring to build up to it. “Do you like where you live?”

      The elevator had reached the fourth level. Zooey got out behind Jack and Emily. A sea of cars were parked here.

      Like was the wrong word, she thought, reflecting on his question. She didn’t like the apartment, she made do with it. Because she had to.

      “It’s all I can afford right now,” she admitted. “More than I can afford,” she corrected, thinking of the amount she was in arrears. A whimsical smile played on her lips as she added, “But that’ll change.”

      Did she have a plan, or was that just one of those optimistic, throwaway lines he knew even now she was prone to? “It can change right now if you’d like.”

      Zooey’s smile faded just a tad as she looked at him. A tiny bit of wariness appeared. She was not a suspicious person by nature—far from it. For the most part, she was willing to take things at face value and roll with the punches.

      But she was also not reckless, no matter what her father had accused her of that last day when they’d had their big argument, just before she’d taken her things and walked out, severing family ties as cavalierly as if they were fashioned out of paper ribbons.

      “How?” she asked now.

      “You can move in with me. With us,” Jack quickly corrected, in case she was getting the wrong idea. “As a nanny.” He moved Emily forward to underscore his meaning. “There’s a guest room downstairs with its own bath and sitting area. From what you mentioned, it’s larger than your apartment.”

      She rolled his words over in her head. It wasn’t that she minded jumping into things. She just minded jumping into the wrong things.

      But this didn’t have that feel to it.

      Zooey inclined her head. “That way I could be on call twenty-four–seven.”

      “Yes.” And then he realized that might be the deal breaker. “No.” He shook his head. “I didn’t mean—”

      Zooey couldn’t help the grin that rose to her lips. Here he was, a high-priced criminal lawyer, actually tripping over his tongue. Probably a whole new experience for him.

      He looked rather sweet when he was flustered, she thought.

      She was quick to put him out of his misery. “That’s all right, Jack. I don’t mind being on call twenty-four–seven. That makes me more like part of the family instead of the hired help.”

      Jack wasn’t all that sure he wanted to convey that kind of message to Zooey. Right now, he had all the family he could handle. More, really, he thought, glancing at the deceptively peaceful-looking boy she held in her arms.

      But as Jack opened his mouth to correct the mistaken impression, something cautioned him not to say anything that might put her off. He was, after all, in a rather desperate situation, and he wanted this young woman—the woman his children had taken to like catnip—to accept the job he was offering her. At least temporarily.

      If things wound up not working out, at the very least he was buying himself some time to find another suitable candidate for the job. And if things did work out, well, so much the better. There was little he hated more than having to sit there, interviewing a parade of nannies and trying to ascertain whether or not they were dependable. So far, every one he’d hired had turned out to be all wrong for his children. Neither Emily nor Jackie ever liked who he wound up picking.

      This was the first time they had approved.

      And he had a gut feeling about Zooey. He had no idea why, but he did. She was the right one for the job.

      Emily was becoming impatient, tugging on his hand. He pretended not to notice. His attention was focused on Zooey. “So does that mean you’ll take the job?”

      She wasn’t attempting to play coy, she just wanted him to know the facts. “Seems like neither one of us has much choice in the matter right now, Jack. You’ve got your back against the wall and so do I.”

      She smiled down at Emily. The little girl seemed to be hanging on every word. In a way, Emily reminded Zooey of herself at that age. As the oldest, she’d been privy to her parents’ adult world in a way none of her siblings ever had. There was no doubt in her mind that Emily understood what was going on to a far greater extent than her father thought she did.

      Zooey winked at the little girl before looking up at Jack. “Lucky for both of us I enjoy kids.”

      As a rule, Jack liked having all his i’s dotted and his t’s crossed. She still hadn’t actually given him an answer. “Then you’ll take the job?”

      He was a little anal, she thought. But that was all right. As a father, he was entitled to be, she supposed. “Yes, I’ll take it.” And then she looked at him, a whimsical smile playing on her lips. “By the way, how much does the job pay?”

      She was being cavalier, he thought. Her attitude about money might have been why she’d found herself in financial straits to begin with. He was annoyed with himself for not having told her the amount right up front. He told her now, then added, “According to the last nanny, that’s not nearly enough.”

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