The Nanny Proposition(4)

The trip in Liam’s Jeep to his home in San Juan Capistrano was awkwardly silent after Meg’s babble as she played with a crinkly toy in the back subsided and she eventually dozed off. By the time Jenna had finished packing a couple of bags of her and Meg’s things, Bonnie had been hungry so they’d fed her before setting off. Now the baby was asleep too.

Behind the shield of her sunglasses, Jenna sneaked a look at her new employer. He sat tall in the driver’s seat—she knew he had an inch or two on Dylan’s six feet—and faint frown lines streaked across his forehead. Those lines were absent from his brother’s face. But minor differences to his brothers didn’t come close to explaining why it was this brother who’d always caught her eye. Why on those rare occasions his gaze had fallen on her at Dylan’s apartment over the year, her heart had beaten that little bit faster.

What did she really know about him—well, besides that he was a man used to getting his own way? She’d been swept along by the speed with which he’d acted. She was used to autocratic people—not only was her mother a ruling monarch, but her father and siblings were all princes and princesses who were used to having people, including her, obey them.

She’d needed that job with Dylan, the settledness of it, the security of it for her and her daughter, yet here she was after only a matter of hours, minutes really, being relocated to Liam’s house. Why had she let that happen?

As hard to resist as he was, she knew it was Bonnie’s plight that called to her. And Liam’s reaction to his new daughter—he was bumbling with his inexperience but so very protective and determined to do the best by the baby.

Most people had nine months to get used to the idea of parenthood. While she’d fed Bonnie at Dylan’s apartment, Liam had admitted he’d had less than twenty-four hours since being thrust into the role of instant father.

And it was her job to help him acclimatize. Time to step into her role.

“I’m assuming you don’t have any baby supplies at home?” she said, breaking the silence.

“Supplies?” He shoved one hand through his hair, then gripped the wheel again. “I have the car seat Dylan had fitted and the hospital gave me some things.”

“Oh, well that will do for a start, but you’ll need much more than that.”

“I will?” he asked, his dark brows drawing together above aviator sunglasses.

“Yes.” She fished around in her handbag, found a pen and scrap of paper and started making notes. They’d need everything from bedding to clothing to kitchen supplies.... “She’ll need a few pieces of furniture besides a crib. A chest of drawers or a cupboard for her clothes, and maybe a chair we can put in her room for night feeds. But we can use whatever you have.”

“I’ll show you around and you can take what you need from other rooms.” His voice was deep and business-like, as if he was organizing the logistics for a project. “Put everything else on your list and I’ll get a baby shop to deliver.”

“We don’t need all of this right away,” she said, looking down at the crumpled bit of paper in her hand. It was going to be a big delivery to get everything at once—she’d bought Meg’s things slowly, in batches. “With some things, we can make do or she can use Meg’s.”

“Don’t be shy about ordering new things for her. If Bonnie needs it, she gets it.”

“Okay. We’re going to need formula, diapers, bottles, a sterilizer, a crib, crib sheets, blankets, a diaper bag—”

Liam held up a hand. “What’s a diaper bag? Don’t they arrive in a bag?”

“It’s to put all her baby supplies in when we take her out. Actually,” she said, making a note, “we’d better get two.” She scanned to find her place in the list. “Monitor, high chair, baby wash, booties, onesies—”

Liam stopped her again. “All of this for one seven-pound baby?” he asked incredulously. “Seriously?”

She held back a smile. “Amazing, isn’t it? And this is just to start.”

She kept reading, and though his eyes were hidden behind his dark sunglasses and he didn’t interrupt her again, she sensed his air of bemusement.

When they pulled up in front of the house, Jenna was surprised. She’d expected something sleek and modern, like Dylan’s penthouse, but this was older and rambling. Two stories high, tall windows with sashed curtains, wide verandas of varnished wood and the air of a family home.

Liam parked in front of the main door, under a portico, and jumped out.

They unbuckled the babies and Jenna followed Liam into the house, she carrying an instantly awake and perky Meg, and Liam carrying a still-sleeping Bonnie in one strong arm.

The house was spacious and open plan, with living areas connected by archways. The whole was decorated in neutrals with splashes of color, like the burnt orange rugs on the tiled floor and olive green cushions on the sofa. It was sophisticated but much more relaxed than Dylan’s apartment. More of a home. Jenna smiled. Bonnie would love growing up here.

A woman appeared through one of the archways, tall, silent and grim-faced.

Liam glanced up and nodded at the woman. “There you are, Katherine.”

“Do you need something, Mr. Hawke?” she asked, moving very few facial muscles in the action.

“Just to introduce you to our newcomers.” He held an encompassing arm out in their direction. “Jenna, this is Katherine, my housekeeper. Katherine, this is Jenna and her baby, Meg. As I mentioned on the phone, Jenna is going to be Bonnie’s nanny. I’m not really sure how these things work. I understand babies create a lot of washing and mess, so you’ll need to work together. Perhaps you also can take on a part-timer to help with the extra workload.”

Katherine didn’t spare Jenna a glance. “I told you I could take care of the little one, Mr. Hawke.”

Liam didn’t seem fazed. “You already have a full-time job, Katherine. You’re essential to this household, and I won’t have you overburdened.”

Katherine sniffed, appearing to be partially mollified. “I assume there will be one extra for dinner?”

Liam nodded. “And for all meals now, thank you.”

“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” Still without acknowledging Jenna, Katherine turned and left.

Jenna watched the other woman leave. She hadn’t been so thoroughly snubbed since she was twelve and her sister Eva had told her she was too babyish to come to her fourteenth birthday party.

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked.

“That’s just Katherine,” he said and shrugged casually. “She’s run this place like a captain runs a ship for eight years and I’d be lost without her, but she can be a little...territorial.”

Territorial was one word. Rude was another. “But you said she couldn’t do both jobs anyway.”

“Knowing Katherine,” he said with the hint of a smile, “she would have liked to have made that decision for herself, then been the one who hired the new nanny.”

Oh, good. That promised to play out well. Jenna took a breath and changed the subject. “Have you lived here long?”

“Since I was eleven. My parents bought it as a little farmhouse, not much more than a shack really, but it was the land they wanted. As the business grew, we added rooms.” He looked around at the house as if it were an old friend. “I bought it from my parents five years ago when they wanted to retire and move off the farm. It is a good arrangement—they moved to a nice apartment in the city with no maintenance, and I can live here next to my work.”

She followed his gaze, taking in all the tasteful elegance that oozed money. “It’s hard to imagine this place as a shack.”

“The original structure is now storerooms off the laundry. But for now, I’ll show you the bedrooms I thought we could use as the nurseries.”

“You’re thinking of giving them their own nursery each?”

He put the keys to the Jeep and his sunglasses on a hall stand, then readjusted Bonnie to hold her closer before turning back to face Jenna. “If we don’t, Bonnie will wake Meg when it’s time for her night feeds and we’ll end up having to get two babies back to sleep.”

“It would be great if they could have their own rooms—I just wasn’t sure how much space you had. I thought Meg might sleep in with me.”

“Up here,” he said as he walked up a staircase, “is the main bedroom wing. My bedroom is this one at the end.” He opened a door and she peeked in to see a huge room decorated in strong browns and cream with a forest green wall behind the bed. Being at the end of the wing, it had windows on three sides that showcased amazing panoramic views of the San Juan Capistrano countryside.

He strode back down the hallway to the first room and ushered her in. “This is one of the guest bedrooms. There are three along this hall. I was thinking you could have this one. Then the next room for Meg, and the one beside mine for Bonnie.”

The rooms were sumptuously decorated, each in a different color. The room that was to be hers had been done in lavender and wheat, with a satin comforter on the four-poster bed and a series of beautifully framed close-up shots of purple irises on the wall. It was gorgeous but didn’t seem either Liam’s or Katherine’s style.