hand over her mouth in shock. Annie wouldn’t forget that look—ever.
* * *
The door in the kitchen from the utility room opened, and Ian glanced at Annie entering the house. Dressed in jeans and a black turtleneck, she looked more relaxed since the scare with Joshua earlier. Her shoulder-length blond hair framed her face and emphasized her expressive dark brown eyes. She wasn’t classically beautiful, but she was cute and pert. And those eyes were so appealing and mesmerizing.
Suddenly he realized he was staring at her. He dropped his attention to the pot on the stove and stirred the sauce. “I hope you’re hungry. I think I went overboard.”
Annie inhaled and smiled. “It smells delicious. Italian?” She bridged the distance between them. “Spaghetti. I love it. From scratch?”
“Yes, that’s the only way. It’s one meal all of my kids will eat. That’s not the case with a lot of food. Their palate hasn’t expanded much beyond pizza, macaroni and cheese and hamburgers.”
“I saw some hope the last few years with the Hansen children.”
“Oh, good. I have something to look forward to. There are a lot of recipes I’d like to try, but I know they won’t go over with my kids.” Ian continued to stir the sauce.
“I have a niece who is five and loves snow crabs. She will crack the shells and eat them until you think there couldn’t possibly be any more room in her stomach. I’m usually right there with her, but the last time she kept going when I couldn’t eat another bite.”
Ian laughed. Annie was easy to talk to, nothing like the other nannies. Earlier, when she’d caught Joshua, she’d been calm and efficient. He remembered when the second nanny had freaked out when Jeremy was cutting up an apple and sliced his finger. Thank goodness he’d been home to take care of the wound because the woman had frozen when she’d seen the blood then yelled for him. He imagined Annie would have handled it and had the bleeding stopped before he came into the kitchen.
Ian put the spaghetti noodles on to cook then glanced around to make sure everything else was ready.
Those beautiful eyes connected with his. “Can I help you? Set the table?”
“It’s already set in the dining room.” Ian swung back to the stove, stirring the sauce when he didn’t need to. He had to do something. Looking at her was distracting.
“Do you usually eat in the dining room?”
“No—” he waved toward the table that sat six in the alcove “—usually in here, but this is a special occasion. We’re welcoming you to our home. I want this evening to be a nice calm one. Now, if only my children cooperate, it might be.”
“The least I can do is help you carry the food to the table.”
Ian made sure he had eye contact with Annie then said, smiling, “What part of ‘you are our guest’ do you not understand? Guests are supposed to relax and enjoy themselves. Nothing more than that.”
A grin twitched at the corners of her mouth. “Aye, aye, sir. I’ve got that. It’s awfully quiet. Where are the children?”
Ian frowned. “Come to think of it, Jade was the last one in here. That was fifteen minutes ago. I haven’t heard a peep out of them since.” He walked to the intercom and pressed a button. “Time for dinner, everyone. Don’t forget to wash your hands.”
“I like that. Does it work?”
“Yes. Saves me yelling or going in search of them, if you meant the intercom. Otherwise, not always about washing their hands.”
A few minutes later, the first to appear in the kitchen was Jade quickly followed by Jasmine, exact replicas of each other down to the clothes they wore. “You two can help put the food on the table. Where’s Joshua? He was with you in the den doing his homework.”
Jasmine put her hand on her waist. “He was coloring. He doesn’t have any homework.”
“You and I know that, but since you, Jade and Jeremy do, he thinks he should. Did you leave him in there alone with the crayons?”
“No, he left to go to the bathroom.”
“How long ago?”
Jade looked at the ceiling and tapped her chin. “I guess a while ago.”
“Jade, Jasmine, this is Annie, your new nanny.” Ian turned off the oven then headed for the hallway. “Annie, would you remove the pasta when it’s done? I’ll be back after I find Joshua. He marches to his own music.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll help your girls get everything on the table.”
Ian paused at the doorway, started to tell her she didn’t have to and then decided instead that he’d give her an extra day of pay. He was afraid she would earn every bit of the money and more by the end of the evening. For starters, his daughters dressing alike didn’t bode well.
Ian went to the downstairs bathroom and checked for Joshua. It was too clean and neat for Joshua to have been there. He mounted the stairs two at a time. He knew Joshua was still in the house because he’d set the alarm to beep twice when someone opened an outside door. The last time it had gone off was when Annie had come in.
The children’s bathroom on the second floor was empty, so Ian made his way to the one connected to his bedroom. No Joshua. He returned to the hall and looked into his youngest son’s room. Empty.
Maybe he got outside somehow. Giggles wafted to him. He marched down the hallway to where Aunt Louise used to stay and turned the knob. More laughter pealed. Quickly Ian crossed to the bathroom and found Joshua in the big tub, washing himself.
Sitting in a foot of water, Joshua beamed up at him. “I’m washing my hands.”
“I see. Why did you come in here?”
“I miss Aunt Louise. Jeremy was asleep, so I came in here. Is Annie here?”
Joshua’s sometimes-disconnected thoughts could be hard to follow. “Yes, she is and hungry.” Ian held a towel open for his son. “Time to get out, get dressed and come downstairs.” At least this time Joshua had taken off his clothes before getting into the bath.
Joshua jumped up, splashing the water, and stepped out onto the tile floor. “Okie dokie.”
Ian waited at the doorway for his youngest to dress himself. When Joshua ran past him and toward the stairs, Ian made a detour to Jeremy’s room and knocked on the door. No answer. He decided to make sure Jeremy was there, so he pushed the door open and found his eldest curled on the bed, his eyes closed.
Ian sat next to Jeremy and shook his shoulder to wake him up.
His son’s arms lashed out at Ian. “Get away.” Blinking rapidly, Jeremy pushed away as if he was coming out of a nightmare and didn’t know where he was.
“What’s wrong? A bad dream?”
Jeremy looked around him, then lowered his head.
“Dinner is ready.” Ian spied Joshua
