Dream Wedding(123)

Don’t be a fool, she told herself. He might be more real to her, but she was still just the nanny to him. He never thought of her as a woman, someone who might interest him.

Ryan glanced out the window. “I guess we’re done with Halloween for this year.” He looked at his watch. “It’s after ten. I should probably let you get to bed.”

She nodded, thinking that she should make her way upstairs. Morning came early when there was a two-year-old in the house.

“I don’t suppose you’d care to join me for a quick drink,” he offered.

Cassie opened her mouth to tell him that wasn’t a good idea. Not with the way her body had gone on alert, every cell tingling with breathless anticipation. But her legs were suddenly heavy and the stairs looked too tall to climb right now. It was just a drink, she argued with herself. What could it hurt?

“That would be nice,” she said.

He rose to his feet, then started toward the study he’d taken over as his office. “I think there’s some brandy in here,” he called over his shoulder.

Cassie trailed after him. It was just a drink, she repeated silently. Nothing significant. It didn’t mean his feelings about her had changed. Oh, but she wanted it to mean something, she thought to herself as heat and excitement raced through her. Brandy. They were going to have a glass of brandy together. She thought people only did that in the movies.

She followed him toward the back of the house. While he opened the sliding doors that concealed the bar area in the study, she settled onto a corner of the dark blue leather sofa against the wall opposite the bay window.

A large desk dominated the room. Ryan had brought in a new fax machine, a printer, some other computer equipment she didn’t recognize and three filing cabinets. There were thick overnight envelopes on his desk and stacks of paper on nearly every free surface.

Ryan poured brandy into two glasses, then carried them over to the sofa. “I haven’t had this before,” he said as he handed her the quarter-full snifter. “But John always had excellent taste. I’m sure you’ll like it.” He touched his glass to hers.

He acted as if she did this sort of thing all the time, she thought with some amazement. No way she was going to tell him that she was more of a beer and white wine kind of girl. Cassie didn’t think she’d ever tasted brandy before in her life. While Ryan sat down on the opposite end of the sofa, she took a first, tentative sip.

The liquid burned her tongue and her throat, but not in a bad way. It really was exactly like what she’d read about in books—she could feel the fire all the way down to her stomach.

“What do you think?” he asked.

She gave him a smile. “I like it.” She took another sip and tried to act as if she did this regularly.

Ryan set his drink on the glass coffee table in front of the couch. “I have something I’ve been meaning to mention before, but there hasn’t been a good time until now.”

He paused and Cassie’s stomach sunk like a stone. What? Was he going to tell her he was dissatisfied with her work? Did he know about her infatuation and did that make him angry? Was it—“It’s about Joel,” he said.

She blinked. “Joel?” That didn’t make sense. “What about him?”

Ryan angled toward her and rested his hand along the back of the sofa. “You don’t see him very much. I’m concerned that your job is interfering with your relationship.” He leaned toward her slightly. “I appreciate how great you are with Sasha. You obviously adore her and the feeling is mutual. You work long hours. Again, you have my thanks, but I don’t want your personal life to suffer.” He gave a quick smile. “If I’m saying this all wrong, please forgive me. To be honest, I’ve never had this conversation with an employee before in my life.”

She wasn’t sure what to say. Part of her thought it was really nice that he was concerned about her relationship with Joel. An equal part of her was annoyed that he was concerned about her relationship with Joel. Couldn’t the man have even the tiniest hint of jealousy or envy? She sighed. As everyone had pointed out to her, she wasn’t his type. He saw her as the hired help, someone to keep happy and treat fairly.

“You’re very sweet to worry,” she said calmly, knowing he would be confused if she told him what she was thinking. Maybe confused was putting it mildly. He would probably be stunned…and not in a good way. “But there’s no reason for alarm. I’ve been seeing Joel as much as ever.”

He frowned. “You’ve only gone out a couple of times a week since you’ve come to work for me.”