passed between them, stealing Reese’s breath.
“Nick?” Both of them turned in the direction of his mother-in-law’s voice. The interruption had spoiled a conversation she’d been enjoying, and something else had passed between them, too, that Reese wasn’t prepared to think about just yet. “We’d like to talk to you for a minute please.”
Her brittle words expressed in that demanding tone meant she’d heard them laughing together. Reese feared it had been like an affront to her sensibilities. This was awful. Nick shouldn’t have come into the kitchen with her.
“Of course, Anne.” He glanced back at Reese. “Excuse me. Why don’t you call down and order sandwiches and salad for us. Have them set up our lunch on the terrace. Cesar knows what I like.”
“All right.” Reaching for the phone, she gave Nick’s order to the kitchen and asked them to add a pot of coffee. The waiter was to bring their lunch up to the patio table.
Relieved to be alone at last, Reese tidied away the things she’d used in the kitchen until it was once again spotless, then she walked out to the terrace, the only safe place in the apartment at the moment. While she waited for the food to come, she looked through the telescope. Once she’d made some adjustments, she had a bird’s-eye view of one part of the Big Apple. Starting tomorrow she’d take Jamie out exploring in the stroller. Central Park was only two blocks away.
Last year she and Pam had come to New York for a few days on the train, but they’d been short on time and money. They’d ended up seeing one Broadway show and spent two days visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That was it. The equivalent of a grain of sand in the middle of the Sahara.
“Ms. Chamberlain?” She lifted her head from the eyepiece and discovered a uniformed waiter with dark hair transferring plates from a cart to the table. His black eyes played over her with obvious male interest. He was probably in his early twenties. “I know I haven’t seen you before. I’m Toni.”
“Hello.”
“I understand you’re the new nanny.”
“That’s right.”
“I work here Thursdays through the weekend.”
“Do you like it?”
He grinned. “I do now. If you want anything, call down to the kitchen when I’m on duty and ask for me.”
“I believe we have everything we need,” a deep, masculine voice answered for her. Nick had come out on the terrace, surprising both of them. He had an aura that could be intimidating. Just now he sounded vaguely dismissive.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Wainwright.” Toni took hold of the cart and left the terrace without delay.
“Was he bothering you, Reese?”
She shook her head. “He was being friendly. That’s all.” She walked over to the table with its large white umbrella and sat down beneath it. “Are your in-laws still here?”
He took a seat opposite her. “No. After Jamie went to sleep, they left to meet friends for lunch. Otherwise I would have invited them to have a meal with us.”
“Do you think this visit has helped them?”
Nick took the covers off their dishes. She hadn’t had a club sandwich in years. “I’m sure it didn’t, but there wasn’t anything they could voice a complaint about. It’s apparent that with you here, everything’s under control.”
But Reese knew they had made scathing remarks about her. If the looks Mrs. Hirst had given Reese in the kitchen could inflict damage, she would have been vaporized in an instant.
“Earlier Walter told me Anne was…fragile,” Nick added, as if he were choosing his words carefully. “After the way they both behaved today, I can see they’re still not happy with the idea of my bringing Jamie home. I should have made the break sooner.”
Reese sensed he was in a brooding mood. “It’s hard to make decisions when you’re grieving.”
“You have some knowledge of it?” He’d posed the mild question while devouring his sandwich.
“My fiancé and I broke up at Christmas. It hit me very hard, but I couldn’t compare it to your loss. When you have a child born into the world, you don’t expect to have to carry on without your wife.”
A bleak look entered his eyes. “Erica was in good health until she went into the hospital. Her labor wasn’t normal. By the time she got there, the placenta had torn and she’d lost too much blood faster than they could replenish it. The doctor performed a Cesarian before Jamie got into trouble.”
“Thank heaven for that,” she whispered. “He’s a little angel.”
He studied her through a veiled gaze. “Does that mean you’re not ready to back out of our contract yet?”
“If you knew me better, you’d realize I’d never do that, but I’m assuming your in-laws don’t have much faith in me. From their perspective I suppose it’s understandable.”
“I’m very pleased you’re here to help with Jamie, so let’s not worry about them. As you said, when a person is in mourning, their emotions are in turmoil. Nothing would help them but to have Erica back.”
Nick was talking about himself, too, obviously. Reese didn’t know how he was functioning. The best thing to do was change the subject.
“I’ve been thinking. How do you feel about my taking Jamie out and about in the stroller tomorrow? Just short little forays at first. Depending on how he does, maybe longer ones.”
“That’s fine. Later today we’ll program your cell phone so you can call me or Paul at any time. When you want to take Jamie farther afield, arrange it with him. He’ll drive you to spots where you can explore to your heart’s content. I’ll give you a remote to the penthouse to keep all the time. All I ask is that you check in with Albert coming and going. It’s for your safety.”
In other words, with Nick’s kind of money he would be a natural target if someone decided to arrange a kidnapping. Only now was she beginning to realize what an enormous responsibility she’d taken on. “I’ll be extremely careful with him, Nick.”
“I have no doubt of it.” He finished his salad. “I’ll open a bank account for you first thing in the morning so you’ll have funds to draw on.”
“Thank you.”
“We haven’t discussed your hours yet. If I can depend on you Monday through Friday until five every day, then you can be free to do as you wish the rest of the time. How does that sound?”
Incredibly generous. “I couldn’t ask for a more perfect arrangement. But please feel free to depend on me if something comes up in the evening or on a weekend and you need my help.”
“If that should happen, I’ll pay you overtime.”
“That won’t be necessary. Being allowed to live here in such luxury with all my meals paid for is like another salary in itself. I wouldn’t dream of taking more money than we agreed on.” She helped herself to the salad.
