darling.”
He tilted his head and smiled at her. “The flowers are red,” he said.
Grateful beyond words that he’d chosen to change the subject before she collapsed in yet another soggy heap of tears, Nicole said teasingly, “What, all of them?”
“And yellow and purple.” He tugged on her hand. “And pink and black and purple.”
“Black?” she echoed, allowing him to lead her out of the French doors and into the sunlight. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen black flowers before. Show them to me.”
“There are no black flowers, Tom,” the Commander chastised. “You mustn’t tell untruths.”
Oh, please! Nicole rolled her eyes and wondered if the man had any memory at all of being young and full of wonder at a world whose magic was limited only by the scope of imagination.
“Purple,” Tommy said obligingly. “Very purple. I prefer purple flowers.”
“You prefer?” Nicole laughed for what seemed the first time in years.
“He uses some very adult words at times,” the Commander said. “Then, for no reason, he suddenly reverts to baby talk which I must admit I find annoying.”
You would, she thought. You’d prefer him to take a giant leap from infancy to adulthood, with nothing in between to cushion the transition. “They all do, Commander, at this age. It’s not uncommon and he’ll stop a lot sooner if we don’t make a big deal about it.”
“You might be right, I suppose.”
“I am right,” she assured him. “Trust me, I’ve handled enough four-year-olds to know.”
He inclined his head in what she supposed was agreement and removed a key from a ring he withdrew from his pocket. “I’ll leave the two of you to become better acquainted. If you’d like to go down to the beach, there are steps at the end of the property but you’ll need this to get through the gate. Please be sure you lock it behind you when you come back. I don’t want the boy going down there unsupervised. The tides are treacherous.”
He stood on the patio and watched them a moment or two then turned back to the house at the sound of a woman’s voice, too silvery to be Janet’s, calling his name. Nicole heard the deep rumble of his response and a waterfall of feminine laughter drift out on the still air. Who was the visitor? she wondered. The woman in his life?
She hoped so. The more he was occupied with other affairs, the less time he would have to interfere in her relationship with Tommy.
She looked down at the child by her side and felt her heart swell with love. He was blond and blue-eyed, like his mother. His skin was soft and fine, his cheeks pink, his sturdy little legs slightly suntanned.
Nicole wanted to hug him fiercely to her, to kiss him and tell him that she loved him, but reminded herself that although she knew everything about him, he knew nothing of her. Such a display of affection would make him uneasy and the last thing she wanted was for the Commander to pick up on that and decide she wasn’t suited to the job, after all.
They came to the gate, set in a brick wall at the cliff’s edge. There were a hundred and eighty-eight steps leading down the other side, winding under trees bent by winter gales into weird and wonderful shapes, and protected on each side by a split cedar railing.
When they reached the bottom, Tommy tugged his hand free and raced away from her across the sand, sheer exuberance in every line of his perfect little body.
“I will take care of him, Arlene,” Nicole whispered, never taking her eyes off him. “You and I were robbed of twenty-five years of knowing we were sisters but I will make sure your son never forgets you. Your baby will be safe with me.”
It was the most sacred promise she’d ever made, one she’d hold to no matter what the cost.
CHAPTER TWO
“WELL, you’ve finally come back!”
Still blinded by the sun’s glare, it took Nicole a moment or two to discern the owner of the amused voice that greeted her when she and Tommy returned to the library.
She squinted at the figure reclining in one of two leather wing chairs beside a fireplace heaped with dried peony blossoms. “Were we gone very long?”
“Pierce is about ready to call out the National Guard.” The woman was elegantly thin and quite startlingly beautiful. “Being thrust into instant fatherhood has made him very nervous. He’s afraid you’ve kidnapped the boy.”
“I’m sorry if I worried you.”
“Oh, you didn’t worry me,” the woman assured her. “But Pierce is taking his guardianship responsibilities very seriously and seems to feel he has to be on patrol twenty-four hours a day. Are you going to take the job?”
“If it’s offered to me, yes.”
“I’m sure it will be.” The woman ran a speculative hazel gaze over Nicole, from her head to her toes and back again. “You certainly have my vote.”
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure. You’ve got that look of durability about you that the job requires, although you do dress somewhat more stylishly than I’d have thought suitable.” She yawned delicately. “Better you than me, is all I can say.”
“You don’t care for children?” Nicole asked, feeling a bit like a Clydesdale horse being assessed for working stamina.
“Of course I do—at a distance. But I certainly don’t want them planting their sticky little paws all over my good clothes. I’d look out for that rather nice skirt, if I were you. It won’t last half an hour in this place.”
“I see.” Protective instincts on full alert, Nicole drew Tommy to her and stroked his hair. “Where is the Commander?”
“Having a word with Miss Janet. We won’t be here for dinner, which I daresay will displease her no end.”
“I see,” Nicole said again, not at all sure she liked what she was, in fact, seeing. From her expression and tone, it was clear the woman cared for Janet about as much as she cared for children, which wasn’t much.
The silence which ensued might have grown a little awkward had it not been broken by the sound of footsteps marching down the hall. A moment later, the Commander reappeared.
“Oh, here you are, sweets.” The woman rose up in a swirl of rose-patterned silk and went to meet him, chucking Tommy under the chin as she passed by. She was tall, perhaps five feet nine or ten, most of which seemed apportioned to her legs, which were enviable. “Your Nanny’s come back and our little boy’s quite safe, aren’t you, Thomas?”
The Commander smiled tightly. “It never occurred to me he wasn’t, Louise. I take it you’ve introduced yourself to Miss Bennett?”
“Not formally.” Louise slipped her arm through his and fluttered her long lashes. “But we’ve chatted and I think she’ll be wonderful for the job,
