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“Oh, I am. You’re going to help me clean.”
“No way,” Paris mumbled. Pippa and Penny looked as if they were going to revolt, too.
“I’ll tell you what. We’ll make a game of it. And your reward for helping will be a visit to Fiesta. What do you think?”
“We can really visit Fiesta?” Pippa asked.
“Sure. I’m certain she’d like the company. I’ll put each chore on a slip of paper in a bowl. We’ll draw them out one at a time. When we finish one, we draw another and start on that. How does that sound?”
Penny asked, “Can we switch papers if we don’t like what we get?”
“If you can find someone willing to switch with you,” Emma agreed.
“Can we put on music?” Pippa asked.
“I have a playlist on my phone, or if you have a radio we can find a station you all like.”
Penny and Pippa seemed enthused. Paris didn’t. In fact, as they went about their chores, then stopped to make lunch with food in the stocked refrigerator, and eventually finished vacuuming and dusting, Paris seemed unnaturally quiet compared to her more vibrant sisters. Emma wasn’t exactly sure what to do about that. How would one get through to an eleven-year-old?
To Emma’s surprise, Daniel’s vehicle came rolling into the driveway around four o’clock. After he came in the door, Pippa ran to him and jumped into his arms. He hugged her and then set her down, but she was already chattering. “Emma says we can go see Fiesta since we finished the chores.”
“She did, did she?” Daniel asked.
Emma stepped forward. Daniel’s face was blank and she couldn’t tell if he approved or not. “The girls helped me clean and dust, so I told them we could go see Fiesta. Do you want to come along?”
“Give me five minutes to change. We can take my SUV because we’ll all fit.”
True to his word, Daniel was back in five minutes in jeans and a red T-shirt. Emma felt that tingle inside of her when their gazes met. She couldn’t help but notice his muscles under the T-shirt, his long legs, the way his hair fell over his brow.
Before she could notice anything else, she said, “Are we ready?”
They all piled into Daniel’s SUV, with Emma sitting in the front and Daniel’s daughters in the back. At first silence reigned but then Penny informed her dad, “Emma says we need to dust at least once a week. If we don’t, we might sneeze and get a runny nose.”
Daniel chuckled and glanced at Emma. “I know dusting is important, but it’s the last thing on my to-do list every week.”
“I can certainly understand that,” Emma responded. “I’m sure you’d rather spend the time with your daughters.”
“The thing is,” Daniel said in a lower voice, “sometimes work interferes with that, too.”
Soon Pippa was telling Daniel about the music they’d played while they were working and how they’d danced to it. Then she amended, “Penny and me did. Paris didn’t dance. She didn’t sing along, either.”
Yes, Emma needed to talk to Daniel about Paris—about more than her quietness.
Once they’d parked in the shelter’s parking lot, all three girls jumped out of the car and ran inside.
“I don’t think they really want to be here, do you?” Daniel asked with a grin.
Emma unfastened her seat belt. Maybe the time to talk was now, when they were alone.
“That’s the most excitement I’ve seen from Paris all day. She seems to really care about Fiesta. But there’s more going on than her being quiet and reserved. I was a bit worried at lunchtime. I made sandwiches for them all but Paris only ate the lettuce and the ham and left the bread.”
“She believes she has to watch her diet,” Daniel said.
That didn’t sound right to Emma. A girl Paris’s age who kept active shouldn’t need to watch what she ate, especially not if the food was good for her. However, Daniel didn’t seem concerned, so maybe she should let the issue drop.
Daniel unfastened his seat belt and Emma couldn’t help but notice he had large hands and brown hair on his way-too-masculine forearms. She switched her thoughts away from Daniel and back to Paris. “Paris was quiet all day. As Pippa said, she didn’t join in while we were enjoying ourselves. I know maybe she’s just quiet but I also wondered if she doesn’t like another woman in the house.”
Now Daniel turned to look at Emma. His jaw was set and his eyes held no warmth. “Nannies, housekeepers and babysitters have never bothered Paris, and basically, that’s what I’ve hired you to be. Not a dietician or a psychologist. Just be their nanny, Emma, and we’ll all get along just fine.”
When Daniel opened his door to climb out, Emma told herself she shouldn’t feel hurt. However, she did feel put in her place. She knew exactly what she had to do about that.
* * *
Emma waited until that evening, when Daniel’s daughters were in bed on the second floor, to do what she had to do. Leaving her suite, she didn’t hesitate to go to Daniel’s office. The door was partially open and she rapped on it, making sure she had a good grip on her tablet in her other hand.
“Come in,” Daniel called, with obvious surprise in his voice. “Are you a night owl, too?” he asked with a smile, apparently forgetting the annoyance he’d seemed to feel toward her that afternoon.
“No, not a night owl. I just wanted to talk to you without the girls around.”
He stood, his eyebrows raised in question. “Are you feeling overwhelmed already?”
She came just inside the door and stood her ground. “No, I don’t feel overwhelmed, but I do have a question.”
“Ask away,” he said in that deep baritone that practically made her toes curl.
She swallowed hard and held up her tablet. “I’d like to know exactly what my nanny duties are. I wouldn’t want to overstep the boundaries again.”
Daniel’s expression changed. At first it was stoic and then understanding seemed to dawn on his face. “Emma—” he began.
However, she made herself clear again. “I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings.”
Daniel took a few steps closer to her. He was standing right in front of her. She noticed the curling chest hair at his neck in the V of his shirt, the way the shirt was tucked into his slim waist, the way his belt buckle hit a spot just below his navel.
“I’m sorry that your feelings were hurt with what I said about Paris. I don’t want you worrying about her. That’s not your job, it’s mine.”
“I’m probably going to be spending more time with her than you will,” Emma reminded him.
He grimaced. “I know that, and every day I wake up planning to spend more time with them and something interferes. It’s usually work-related, and I feel guilty.”
“As long as you do the best you can and love them, you shouldn’t feel guilty.”
He ran his hand up and down the back of his neck. “I guess I wasn’t raised that way. My father and mother taught me a sense of responsibility. They were strict but usually fair. That’s ingrained in me.”
“And you want to raise your daughters the same way.”
“Not exactly the same way. I’d like to be less rigid.”
“I don’t think you’re rigid,” Emma said.
He laughed. “You’ve only spent a short time with me and the girls.”
“Yes, but I noticed how caring you were about Fiesta. And today when I suggested you go along with us to the shelter, you readily agreed. There’s nothing rigid in that.”
Daniel was looking down at her so intently that her breath caught. In fact, she had the vague impression that he was leaning toward her and she was leaning toward him. If she raised her head and he bent his—
“No.”
She hadn’t realized she’d said it out loud until Daniel asked, “No?”
She cleared her throat and prattled, “No parent knows if he’s doing exactly the right thing. But this is your family, and you are the one who decides how it’s run. And I want to make sure I follow your rules. So can you tell me what my duties are?”
Then she was going to run back to her room and lock herself in. There were too many vibrations between her and this man, too much chemistry, and she was not going to do anything impulsive. She’d promised herself that, the day she’d found herself in Spring Forest, North Carolina, with no place to go and no one to help.
Daniel didn’t step away but he did lift his hand with one finger raised. “Look after Paris, Penny and Pippa’s physical needs. If a problem crops up or you think there’s something to worry about, I do want you to tell me.”
“You didn’t appreciate me telling you about Paris,” she reminded him.
“I know.” He rubbed his fingers across his jaw—a very chiseled jaw, with a small cleft in the center. “I think I acted defensively because I’ve noticed the same things, but I don’t know what to do about her. She’s not eating as much as she should for a girl of her age. She wants to take part in summer swim-team activities so she doesn’t gain weight.”
“Are you going to let her be part of the team?”
“Yes, and that’s something I’d like you to schedule. I negotiated with her. She’s also to choose one of the camps at the community college. They have them for kids every summer. I’ll give you their website address and maybe you can set that up, too. So the second point on my list of your duties would be arranging activities and chauffeuring them back and forth from the camps to home.”
“When you say camps, do you mean like camping outside in tents?”
He chuckled. “No, not at all, though I suppose there is one that does that. These are educational camps. Someone qualified teaches them. The college accepts only so many children in each camp so the girls might not get their favorites. It’s late to sign them up. Just do the best you can with it. I’ll print out the info you need and give it to you in the morning.”
She pointed to her tablet, where she’d typed in what he’d said. “That’s only two duties.”
“Chauffeuring is going to take up a good bit of your time. The third duty would be to keep the house in order, but that’s a lower priority. If the girls would rather do some activity and you want to do it with them, I’d rather you do that than clean. They’re off school for the summer and have a few chores to do. But mostly I want them to enjoy it. If actually cleaning the house becomes a problem, I’ll hire someone to do that.”
She was close enough to Daniel that she could easily see the lines around his eyes. Were those lines from looking into the sun or from laughing with his girls? From working too hard, poring over legal papers? Or from his divorce? That was too personal to comment on so she thought about the next thing she wanted to ask him. “I’d like to still volunteer at the shelter, if you think that’s possible.”
“I want you to make time for that if that’s what you want to do. When I’m home, don’t feel you have to spend time with my daughters. If there’s something else you’d rather do, even if it’s just reading in your room, then that’s what you should do. I don’t want to be rigid with you, either, Emma.”
She felt her face getting warm because they were gazing into each other’s eyes. Her heart seemed to be beating so loud she wondered if he could hear it. He had a look on his face that made her want to move closer to him, but she didn’t. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
Starting tomorrow she’d ignore his attractiveness. She’d try to forget what she felt for him and his life here without his ex-wife and with his girls to raise on his own. Starting tomorrow, she’d truly be starting over. That’s exactly what she wanted.
Chapter Four (#ud3f0bcf4-6a70-5172-bf3a-f6101191ec99)
Emma was surprised the following day when her cell phone buzzed and she saw the caller was Rebekah.
She answered. “Hi, Rebekah. Do you want me to come in? I could probably do an evening shift. I’m working as a nanny for Daniel Sutton now.”
“So you got the job! Congratulations.”
“I moved in yesterday. What can I help you with?”
“I’d like to talk to you about Fiesta. She needs more TLC than the shelter workers can give her. The vet examined her again when we saw her limping. He thinks her back leg was injured at some time. It has healed as much as it’s going to—it still could bother her, though. And the worst part is, she’s not eating as she should. She needs nourishment for herself and those kittens. Is there any way you could take her?”
“I just don’t know. I’d have to talk to everyone here about Fiesta. Daniel isn’t too keen on bringing a pregnant cat in.”
“I understand. See what you can do and then give me a call.”
“Thank you, Rebekah. For everything.”
When Emma put her cell phone back in her pocket, Pippa, Penny and even Paris were standing there looking up at her.
Should she tell them or shouldn’t she?
Paris was the first to speak. “You mentioned Fiesta. Is something wrong?”
“You look upset,” Penny added.
Pippa took hold of Emma’s hand. That simple gesture brought tears to her eyes.
“The situation is that Fiesta needs extra care. The vet says she’s not eating like she should. I’m not sure what to do. Do you think any of your friends would want to take in a pregnant cat?”
Penny jumped up and down. “We want to take her in. We want Fiesta.”
“Your dad doesn’t,” Emma reminded them.
“But if we ask him real nice, he might. And if you back us up, that would clinch it,” Paris added.
Emma wasn’t sure that Paris’s plan was the route to take, but the three girls cared about the cat and she did, too. There was no harm in asking. At least that’s what she thought...until they asked.
* * *
That night no one said anything until after they’d finished dinner. Daniel had appreciated the meat loaf, macaroni and cheese and green beans. They both watched Paris as she nibbled, a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
When Emma served fresh strawberries over vanilla ice cream, Daniel grinned at her. “I haven’t had anything like this in a long time.”
“Then enjoy it,” she said as Pippa, Penny and Paris all gazed at her as if asking, “Can we ask him now?”
Emma gave a little nod.
As the oldest, Paris started. “Dad, we want to talk to you about something.”
He took another bite of ice cream. “Sure. Anything.”
Penny chimed in next. “Emma got a phone call today and it upset her. It upset us, too, when she told us about it.”
Daniel’s gaze shot to Emma’s. “Did you have bad news from home?”
“No,” Emma said softly. “It was Rebekah from the shelter. Fiesta is having a few problems.”
Pippa explained exactly what those problems were. As she did, Daniel frowned, and then he scowled. That scowl was meant for Emma.
