my cousin’s daughter who came here this afternoon looking for me, and I’ll give you the recommendation you need to get hired.”
Kristen shook her head. “I don’t think I could do that. It’s dishonest.”
“Then pack your bags and take yourself back to Texas without these babies. Without getting to know these babies,” she added emphatically. “Without even really seeing these babies. Because there’s no way Grant is going to let you within ten miles of them if he discovers your ultimate goal is to take these kids two thousand miles away.”
When Grant opened the door of the nursery and he saw Mrs. Romani and Kristen with their heads bent low in whispered conversation, he knew he hadn’t misinterpreted, misrepresented or even misjudged how attractive Kristen was. Her feathery blond hair cascaded around her shoulders, and though her lovely green eyes were intense and serious, they sparkled with warmth. Desire hit him like a punch in the stomach.
Again.
As if he had timed it, Evan slapped him on the back, jolting him back to reality. “So, how are things going up here?”
“Great,” Mrs. Romani said, smiling.
“Fine,” Kristen said, nodding her head in agreement.
“No problem with the kids?”
“Sleeping like babies,” Mrs. Romani said, then laughed at her own joke. “By the way,” she added, sliding a quick glance at Kristen. “In all the confusion, we forgot to explain that Kristen is my cousin’s daughter. She came here to visit but when I explained that you guys could use some permanent help with the kids, she volunteered. So, if you want her, you’ve got yourself a nanny.”
Grant watched his brother’s eyes, widen in surprise. “Hey, that’s terrific,” Evan said.
But Grant suppressed a sigh of despair. Wonderful. This was just wonderful. Now he knew why all his alarm bells went off when he started talking with Kristen. She was related to the woman who couldn’t keep a civil tone with him for two sentences even though they lived in the same house and he paid her a damned nice salary. Now he’d have two Romani women in his household. Two women to snip at him and yip at him and yell at him.
“No.”
Everybody looked at him.
“No?” Evan echoed stupefied.
“It’s never a good policy to have relatives working this closely together,” he said, feeling a quick stab of regret when he turned his gaze to Kristen and her beautiful green eyes met his. She was so pretty that he could have happily sighed with pleasure just looking at her. Her pale peaches-and-cream skin invited a touch. He could vividly imagine how wonderful the soft curves of her body would feel pressed against him.
And he knew he didn’t want to refuse to hire her because she was Mrs. Romani’s cousin’s daughter. That was just a convenient excuse. The truth was he didn’t want to hire her because he was attracted to her and if she worked for him he would be up against this wicked temptation all day long…twenty-four, seven.
“Look, Grant,” Mrs. Romani gruffly commanded. “Kristen needs this job. Could you put your feelings aside for a few weeks and let her show you that she can be a good nanny?”
Fighting a grimace, Grant recognized Mrs. Romani didn’t know how close to the truth she was. Could he put his feelings aside for a few weeks?
As a gentleman, and a man who also desperately needed help with his three kids, he had to.
“Then if she doesn’t work out,” Mrs. Romani continued as Grant dragged himself out of his thoughts and back into the real world, “she’ll leave and you can find somebody else.”
“She can stay,” Grant said, trying not to sound magnanimous and sanctimonious, and subduing his own apprehension. He couldn’t do anything about the fact that Kristen was ravishing, but he could conquer the vulnerability and yearnings that sprung up watching Chas get married. And he would, damn it, he would.
Unfortunately even as he said the words that granted his permission, he realized that since Mrs. Romani had the maid’s quarters on the first floor, this woman to whom he found himself unreasonably attracted would now be sleeping two doors down the hall.
Before he strode out of the room, he thanked God they didn’t have to share a bathroom. If he caught her in the bathtub, surrounded by bubbles…
Well, he just didn’t want to go there.
Chapter Two
After the wedding guests had gone, Mrs. Romani showed Kristen to her room, and Kristen took the opportunity to change out of her dress and into jeans and a sweater. When she returned downstairs, she discovered the triplets had been fed a light snack. But before she panicked about not knowing what a nanny should be doing, Grant announced it was time to take the girls upstairs and get them ready for bed.
Kristen climbed the elegant spiral stairway behind Grant, Evan and Claire, the bridesmaid in the autumn-orange dress who Kristen learned was Evan’s wife. She wasn’t exactly sure why it took four people to dress two babies for bed, and she was even more confused about why they weren’t getting Cody ready for bed, but she also wasn’t about to question anything. The less she said, the better. Since caring for babies was supposed to come naturally, she didn’t think the Brewsters would notice her lack of experience with kids as long as she kept her wits about her, but one out-of-place question or comment could give her away.
When she realized how crafty and cautious she would have to be to keep this charade going, she wondered if Mrs. Romani’s plan was the best way to handle integrating herself into the Brewster family. Though her intentions were good, she also knew what she was doing wasn’t honest. Unfortunately now that the wheels were in motion, she was stuck. Until she ingratiated herself to these people, revealing who she was could actually backfire and make it look like she was nothing more than a liar and a sneak. She had to stick this out for as long as it took to show them she was a good person, not someone prone to charades, trickery and lying.
Grant opened the nursery door and Evan and Claire followed him into the rainbow strewn room. Nervous, and out of her element, Kristen hung behind.
“Isn’t this a lovely nursery?” Claire said as she walked over to Kristen and casually slid one of the children into her arms, apparently thinking Kristen wouldn’t be so bold as to do something without permission. “This is Annie. She’s Chas’s child.”
Feeling the softness of the baby’s skin, smelling the sweet scent of baby powder, and looking into green eyes exactly like Angela’s, Kristen felt emotions so strong and so deep she struggled to control them. She cleared her throat, and focused her attention on what Claire had said. “Chas’s child?” she asked quietly.
Evan swung the little boy off the changing table and playfully tossed him to Claire, as he said, “Claire, here, came up with the bright idea that we’d need to do something a little out of the ordinary to make sure each child got special attention. So, we each took responsibility for one child. Cody is ours,” he said, pointing to the little boy Claire held. “Responsibility for Annie belongs to Chas, and Grant cares for Taylor,” he added, nodding toward the dark-haired little girl sitting on Grant’s lap.
When she looked at the beautiful baby, Kristen wondered how her fair-haired,
