The elevator dinged, signaling its arrival, and they got in.
Distracted, Kate spoke a mile a minute about what she and Libby were going to do tomorrow night. Libby threw in some suggestions of her own and Adrian began to wish he was able to stay and hang out with them instead of going to work.
He needed help.
George gave him a meaningful look. No hiding his reaction from his best friend. Of course George wouldn't approve – Adrian didn't approve either. He would have to make sure he spent as little time as possible with Libby, but it shouldn't be too hard. He'd managed it with Emily.
The elevator dinged and they all got out. Libby interrupted Kate mid-sentence. "My room's the other way. We'll talk more tomorrow."
"Definitely." Kate turned to Adrian. "We have to walk her to her door."
Adrian bit back a curse. He had promised Kate he would but hadn't thought he'd ever have to. "Of course."
"Oh, you don't have to do that." Libby put up a hand as if to stop them.
"I did promise," Adrian answered. He said goodbye to George and followed Libby and Kate down the deserted corridor, trying to ignore the swing of Libby's hips and the shape of her bottom in her jeans.
Christ. He was doing it again.
Libby stopped and fumbled in her purse for her room card. She slipped it into the gap and the door clicked open. Holding it ajar, she turned back to them. "Thank you for walking me to my room."
"No prob," Kate said.
"My pleasure, ma'am." It wasn't every day he walked a pretty lady to her door.
Libby reddened. "I'll see you tomorrow evening," she said to Kate.
"I'll get Uncle Ade to write down the chocolate recipe for you," Kate said.
Libby smiled at Adrian and it hit him in the chest like an arrow. That smile was something. So open and friendly. "Goodnight."
"Night."
She closed the door and he let out the breath he'd been holding. Kate took his hand and they walked down the corridor to their room.
"Libby's so nice," Kate said. "I'm so glad she's going to be my nanny. We're going to have a great time."
Listening to Kate and Libby chat, Adrian was sure they would have fun. They had clicked and there was nothing forced or faked with Libby.
He was the one having issues.
He needed to get the image of Libby's butt in those jeans out of his head.
Then everything would be fine.
He hoped.
***
Libby double-checked she had everything she needed for an evening with Kate, and then checked everything again.
This was ridiculous. She was prepared and ready to go. Why was she procrastinating?
It was Adrian. The way he'd looked at her last night, the cheetah look that said he wanted to devour her, had her blood hot even now. How was she supposed to behave? No one, not even Clint, had ever looked at her that way.
She was an adult and she'd behave as one. Kate was her main focus and anything else was inappropriate. She would go over, listen to Adrian's instructions and then he would leave and she and Kate would have an adventure.
The hotel had returned all her washing, so she was dressed in regular jeans, T-shirt and jacket. On her feet she had flats. Nothing inappropriate there.
She retrieved her hotel card from its place and walked the short distance down the hallway to Adrian's suite. She let out a deep breath and knocked.
Kate opened the door almost instantly, as if she'd been waiting for her. "Come in, come in."
Libby followed her through to the living area. Kate's laptop was already set up and humming.
"Don't think Libby arriving is going to get you out of drying up."
Libby turned to Adrian at the sink of the kitchenette, his hands in the soapy water washing dishes. A lovely homely image. She hadn't ever seen her father washing up. It had been her job to stack the dishwasher and wash any remaining dishes. She wasn't sure why Adrian would be doing the dishes when the hotel staff would do anything he left on the sink.
"No, Uncle Ade." Kate wandered over as Adrian dried his hands on the tea towel and handed it to her.
"We may have left the lunch dishes for a while." He was sheepish.
"I always do," Libby admitted, ignoring the warm flush she felt at Adrian's cute confession.
Adrian took a purse from the table and handed it to her. "This is your cookie jar money," he said. "It's for groceries and any activities you do with Kate. I'll top it up each week, but tell me if you need any more."
"Do you want me to keep receipts of my purchases?"
He hesitated. "Yes, please."
Libby mentally reviewed the list of questions she'd written down. "Is there anything Kate's not allowed to do?"
"Not particularly. If you go to the movies, choose movies suitable for her age."
"Finished." Kate threw the tea towel on the bench and walked over.
Adrian raised an eyebrow at her and she went to hang the tea towel up with a sigh. Libby smothered a smile.
"You'll need to get some more groceries and snack foods, because we're running low. You might like to talk to Kate about what you both want to eat."
Adrian's cell rang. "Be right there." He turned to Kate. "That's my ride, kiddo."
Kate giggled. "Have fun, Uncle Ade. I'll see you in the morning." She gave him a kiss.
Adrian lifted his gear bag. "Behave yourself." He turned to Libby. "You've still got George's number?"
Libby nodded.
"Good. I'll see you later."
Libby smiled at him as he walked out of the room. When he was gone she let out a sigh of relief.
"You ready to start writing?" Kate asked.
Libby opened the purse she held, checked inside and gasped. More money than she earned in a week. She wasn't going to run out anytime soon. "How about we work out dinner first?"
"Let's get room service again!"
Libby laughed. "Your uncle has given me orders to cook you healthy meals. I'll be in trouble if I ignore him on the first day." She walked over to the small fridge. "Let's see what we've got to work with."
Inside there was half a carton of milk, a couple of eggs and some jam. Not a whole lot. She opened the cupboards until she found a box of cereal, half a loaf of bread and some Cup-A-Soup packets. "I think we need to go shopping."
Kate glowered. "Emily always took me shopping. I don't like it."
"We need to get some food so we can eat, but that doesn't mean we can't make an adventure of it. What's your favorite food?"
"Spaghetti."
Libby was relieved. She cooked so rarely, but she could manage spaghetti. "Have you ever made spaghetti before?"'
"Nope."
"Then I think we need to head to a bookshop first, get a couple of recipe books and decide what we want to cook for the next few days and get our supplies." Libby paused. "We'll need writing rations as well."
"Writing rations?"
"The types of food you can prepare quick smart when you don't want to stop writing but need to eat."
"I get it. We need to get lots of those." Kate said.
"Get your jacket then and let's go."
***
Libby had already found the nearest supermarket and bookshop, so they headed into town, stopping at the bookshop first.
Kate browsed the cookbooks, oohing and aahing over the food until she settled on an Italian cookbook and a basic cookbook. Then she chose the meals she wanted to make and wrote down the ingredients in her notebook.
On the way to the supermarket they passed a Vietnamese restaurant. The rich coriander scents wafting out smelled delicious.
"Mmm, we should have got a Vietnamese cookbook," Kate said.
Libby agreed. It did smell fabulous. She would have to take Kate out for Vietnamese at some stage on the tour.
At the supermarket Kate insisted on pushing the trolley and going up and down every aisle, choosing the ingredients and writing rations they needed. Libby had to stop her when the trolley began to fill.
"We don't want to buy too much, because we have to be able to carry it back to the hotel," she explained, taking a couple of items out. "And we need to make sure we stick to budget."
"Why? Uncle Ade will always give us more money if we need it."
"Just because he's got a lot of money doesn't mean we should spend it. He's given us a very generous amount and to go over would be inconsiderate."
"When I'm older, I'm going to be a writer and be rich."
Libby laughed. "Most writers are lucky if they earn enough to live on, Kate. There are only a few who make a lot of money. If you want to be rich, you should choose a different profession."
Kate frowned. "Don't you make lots of money?"
Libby shook her head. "I work part time as well as writing." And even then, her budget was tight. She'd learned how to be frugal after leaving home at eighteen. She'd been determined not to ask her parents for any help and they hadn't offered any. Her father had even refused to pay for her arts degree at university because it was a waste of money.