while they simply looked at each other. A strange warmth pooled inside Annie. Josh seemed to look at her—and really see her—for the first time. Then he swallowed hard and yanked open the bottom drawer.
Annie rushed ahead. “Anyway, unlike all the other young women in the settlement, Mr. Ingalls, I’m only interested in the welfare of your children. That’s why I’d make a perfect nanny.”
Josh pulled a ledger from the drawer. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” she declared, standing straighter.
“You’ve had experience as a nanny?”
To tell him the truth would end all chances of her getting the job—and the increase in her pay.
“Certainly,” Annie said. Surely having two younger sisters and tending an endless number of nieces, nephews and cousins qualified her to look after small children—even the unruly Ingalls children.
He sank further into his chair, studying her at his leisure. Annie felt her skin heat and tried desperately to think of something else to say.
“Tell me about yourself, Miss Martin,” Josh said at long last. “You and your family.”
A cold chill passed through Annie. Her and her family. Why hadn’t she thought ahead enough to realize he’d want this information? Why had she even come in here and asked for the job?
Then it occurred to Annie that if he was asking, that meant he didn’t already know. But how could that be? How could he not have heard about her and her family? Was it possible the gossip hadn’t spread to the Ingalls farm?
Apparently, it hadn’t.
“My mother was widowed several years ago,” Annie said, choosing her words carefully. “We moved here a few weeks ago to live with my cousin. My cousin is Angus Martin. He owns the farm that adjoins your property just down the road. Have…have you heard of my family, Mr. Ingalls?”
Josh simply waved his hand, anxious, it seemed, to get on to other matters. No, apparently, he didn’t know about her family—or at least, what was being said about them. Annie heaved a quiet sigh of relief.
“I know Angus Martin. Good man,” Josh said, as if that were enough. He considered her again. “And you have no interest here but that of the children?”
“Just your children,” Annie said. The children and the salary that came with them.
“All right, you’re the new nanny.”
Annie’s eyes widened. Had he just declared her the children’s nanny? Had she heard him correctly?
“You start immediately. Go find Mrs. Flanders and tell her I said so.” Josh flipped the ledger open, sparing her a glance. “That’s all.”
She’d come here thinking she was about to be fired, and somehow she’d ended up the nanny—to the worst-behaved children in the settlement.
“If I could ask, Mr. Ingalls, about the wages?”
He scribbled in his ledger, then flipped it around for her to see. “I trust this will be adequate compensation, Miss Martin?”
Annie’s knees nearly gave out as she gazed at the salary he’d written beside her name. More money than she’d ever imagined!
The future opened up to her, full and blessed. Now she could help her mother with expenses. And her youngest sister—she’d make everything happen for her.
All that money, for simply taking care of children. True, Annie didn’t know much about children, but it couldn’t be very difficult. Even the wild Ingalls brood.
“Provided, of course, that you do a good job,” Josh told her.
Annie’s enthusiasm cooled a little. “No need to concern yourself, Mr. Ingalls.”
“So, we have a deal?”
Annie opened her mouth to agree, but the words wouldn’t come out. At that moment, gazing at Josh, something inside her warned her away. It was dangerous here in the Ingalls home…with Josh Ingalls. Not on a physical level. It was something different. Something deeper. Something she couldn’t reason out, could only sense.
Josh rubbed his forehead. “Miss Martin, I don’t have all day to wait around for your answer.”
Would she be a fool to turn down such a generous offer? Or a fool to accept?
Annie didn’t know for sure. Thoughts, odd feelings, ricocheted through her. But in the end, her family—her sister—made up her mind.
“Very well, Mr. Ingalls,” she said. “I’ll accept the position as nanny.”
Josh rose from his desk and waved his hand at her vaguely. “Go home and get whatever you need. I’ll send a wagon with you for your things.”
“My things?”
“Of course. You’ll be living here from now on.”
“Living here?” A hot surge shot through Annie. “Here?”
“Is that a problem?” The tiniest hint of a grin tugged at Josh’s lips. “Does the size of my…house…frighten you?”
Heat crept up Annie’s neck and bloomed in her cheeks. Josh seemed as stunned as she by what he’d said. He turned abruptly and left the room.
Annie sagged against his desk. Leave her home? Her family? Move here? With Josh Ingalls? And all those unruly children?
Good gracious, what had she gotten herself into?
Chapter Three
“You’re going to live there? Really? Oh, how exciting!”
“Yes…exciting.” Annie managed to put some enthusiasm into her words for the benefit of her younger sister. At age thirteen, Camille still viewed life as an adventure, of sorts, even after all their family had been through these past few years.
Camille perched on the edge of the feather mattress in the small bedroom all three sisters shared in their cousin’s house.
“Tell me what it’s like,” she said. “The Ingalls house, I mean. Is it as beautiful as everyone says? I’ll bet there’s a library.”
Scooping clothes from the bureau and placing them in her trunk, Annie smiled. “Oh, Camille, you should see.”
She sprang from the bed. “Could I? Do you think? Could I come over sometime?”
Annie considered it for a moment. As an employee in the Ingalls house, she would be allowed to have a guest occasionally, wouldn’t she? She wasn’t sure. She’d never worked at this sort of job before, never known anyone who had.
“I don’t see why not,” Annie finally told her.
“What did Mama say about your job?” Camille
