Professor and the Nanny (Silhouette Romance) (8 page)

“I did give him credit,” Nate protested. “I’ve never made any secret of how grateful I am to him for hiring you to be my nurse-companion. Of how much I depended on you.”

Brittany thought about that for a few moments. “Could it be that was why he let me go? That he felt you were getting too dependent on me? I know he wants you to be independent for as long as possible.”

“Even if that’s true, it’s no excuse,” Nate stated flatly. “You were giving me the best possible care, but you weren’t smothering me with it. He’ll never find anyone better than you to look after me and Danny, and what’s more he knows it. He’s been ornery as a rodeo bull ever since you left. He’s cranky, and impatient, and impossible to live with.”

He raised his head and looked at her. “The last straw was last night when he told me he’d decided to hire a woman named Jessica Warren as a live-in nanny for Danny and caregiver for me. No way!” he exploded. “If he tries that I’ll bring the baby and come over here and live with you.”

Startled, Brittany opened her mouth to protest just as she heard footsteps pounding up the stairs and a knock on the door.

It was Ethan. “Brittany, are you there?”

“Come on in,” she called. “The door’s not locked.”

Ethan opened it and strode into the room Brittany called an apartment. He located them both immediately, Nate sitting in the comfortable chair and Brittany perched on the arm with one of her arms across his shoulders. A bolt of jealousy tore through Ethan. He’d sell his soul to be the man she was caressing, but he quickly pushed that unworthy thought aside. Damned if he was going to be so petty as to be jealous of his own father!

Ethan was carrying Danny, and the minute the child spied
her he started to squirm and cried, “Ma-ma, Ma-ma.” Brittany practically tumbled off the chair onto the floor and Danny wiggled loose from Ethan and waddled across the room, his little arms held out as he threw himself at Brittany and landed in her open arms.

They hugged and kissed and then Brittany began to cry. Not ladylike weeping, but huge, choking sobs that racked her whole body.

Ethan had to restrain himself from going to her. He’d never seen such an emotional reunion. Danny climbed all over her and kept repeating, “Ma-ma, Ma-ma,” while they clung to each other as if they were afraid someone was going to separate them again.

But Danny wasn’t even her child, Ethan pondered. Was it really possible that she could love another woman’s baby as deeply as if he were her own?

Nate and Ethan just stood by and watched quietly until Brittany finally started to get herself under control and hiccuped as she rubbed one forearm across her streaming face. Ethan handed her his clean handkerchief, but before she could use it Danny put his little hands on her wet cheeks, wrinkled up his little face and said, “Ma-ma cry?”

By that time Nate was sniffling, too, and even Ethan had trouble holding back. There were times when he wished it was all right for men to cry, but he guessed someone had to keep his wits about him, and he’d had a lot of experience at that.

It was no wonder he had so much trouble keeping his relationship with Brittany in perspective. Apparently she was irresistible to all men from ages two to ninety-two and beyond.

Both Nate and Danny had been impossible ever since he’d let her go. Nate was able to articulate what was bothering him. He wanted his nurse back and he wasn’t going to accept a substitute, but Danny was something else again. He’d been
doing a lot of whining and calling for his “ma-ma,” but Ethan had thought he meant Hannah.

Obviously he was wrong. When his son called for “Ma-ma” he wanted Brittany. It must be true that just giving birth doesn’t make a woman a mother. It takes emotional bonding as well.

However, Ethan was sure that Hannah wouldn’t be pleased if she ever found out that Danny was calling Brittany “Ma-ma.” She may not want the bother of raising a child, but she was very possessive of anything she considered hers, and Brittany seemed to have cast some kind of spell over his whole family.

Ethan couldn’t keep his gaze off Brittany. He’d never seen her so disheveled, nor so beautiful. Her glorious dark brown hair hung tousled and free from the center part to her shoulders. Mascara smeared her grass-green eyes and made little rivulets that trickled down her face.

He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her, tell her how much he’d missed her, how badly he wanted her, but if he did that he wouldn’t be able to stop until he’d made commitments he didn’t want to make. It wasn’t fair to any of them to start something he couldn’t, wouldn’t finish.

Oh, he could make love to her, all right. Right here on the floor if he didn’t keep a tight rein on his control, but good sex wasn’t enough and they both knew it.

She was wearing a wrinkled white lab coat over green scrubs, which must mean she was working. A feeling of loss flooded over him. Well, what had he expected? Of course she was working. Anyone as skilled and as compassionate as she would be in great demand in the medical field.

He sighed. If only she were older and he less jaded!

Finally, when Brittany had wiped her face and everyone had calmed down a reasonable amount, Ethan turned to Nate and said, “Are you satisfied, Dad, now that you’ve managed to get all of us riled up?”

Ethan realized that was unfair as soon as he’d said it, but he was still wrung out from all the emotionalizing that had been going on ever since he’d arrived home and found Nate not there.

“It wouldn’t have been necessary if you hadn’t treated me like an idiot child,” Nate shot back.

Brittany, who was still sitting cross-legged on the floor with Danny in her lap, spoke up. “All right, you two, enough of that. We’ll never get anywhere if you can’t be civil to each other.”

Ethan, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, nodded. “You’re right. I apologize, Dad, but you scare the hell out of me when you take off like that. Why didn’t you come to me and tell me what was bothering you?”

“I did,” Nate insisted. “You wouldn’t pay any attention to me. Just kept saying we didn’t need a medical assistant anymore, we needed a nanny-housekeeper. Brittany can do that, whatever it is. She’d be a great nanny, and anybody can keep house.

“As long as I’ve got your attention, though, I’ll tell you one thing I won’t do. I won’t agree to letting that Warren woman live in my house.”

“But why?” Ethan asked, exasperation thick in his tone. “What did she do to you?”

“She didn’t do anything to me,” Nate admitted, “but she doesn’t like kids and I’m not gonna let you hire her to take care of my grandchild.”

Ethan had almost reached the end of his rope. What was Nate talking about? Jessica Warren had seemed to be the motherly type, and she was certainly experienced after raising four children of her own.

“Why do you say she doesn’t like kids?” he asked. “You only saw her for less than an hour the day she came to the house for an interview. It seemed to me she was very efficient.”

“As a housekeeper, yes,” Nate agreed, “but Danny was cross that day, remember?”

Ethan thought back and remembered that his son had been pretty cranky. He’d whined and pulled at Ethan to be held, but nineteen-month-old children frequently had bad days.

“I remember, but—”

“Well, do you also remember that you got an important phone call in the middle of the interview and you put Danny in the playpen in the family room and took the call in the library?”

“Yes. So?” Ethan asked impatiently.

“Danny didn’t like being left behind, and he tuned up full volume and howled in earnest,” Nate said. “I was in the breakfast room and headed toward the family room to see what was the matter. When I got there she was standing at the playpen with her back to me shouting at the baby.”

Ethan was shocked. This was the first time Nate had mentioned this episode!

Before Ethan could ask questions Nate continued. “I can even tell you exactly what she said. She said, “Shut up, you spoiled brat! What you need is a whole lot of discipline and I’ll see to it you get that once you’re in my charge.”

Ethan was appalled. Was this the truth or was his dad making it up? He’d never known Nate to lie to him before, but could he be hallucinating?

No, Ethan wouldn’t even consider that. If Nate said it happened then it happened. He wasn’t hallucinatory! Still, he had some explaining to do.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Ethan asked.

Nate shrugged. “I wasn’t sure you’d believe me. She was puttin’ on a real good show for you, braggin’ about her little grandchildren and tellin’ you how much she loved them. To tell you the truth, I thought you had better sense than to hire her. I could tell the minute she came in the door she was a phony. I’ve seen her type before.”

Ethan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, figuratively speaking, of course. Now that it had been pointed out to him, he could see that Nate was right, wily Ms. Warren had managed to put something over on him.

Oh, he would have caught it once she started living with them, but then he’d have to start all over again in his search for a nanny, not to mention the damage the woman might have done to Danny’s little psyche in the meantime.

He sighed and admitted defeat. “Okay, Dad, I admit I was too eager to find a sitter and not careful enough about whom I chose, but you have some explaining to do, too. We’ll discuss that later, but now, do you trust me to ask Brittany to come back and work for us without messing it up, or do you prefer to do it?”

Ethan saw the ghost of a smile on Nate’s lips. “You’re the one who fired her so you owe her an apology. Just try not to screw it up and drive her further away.”

Ethan laughed. All of a sudden he felt good. No, make that
great
. It was as if a heavy black cloud had been lifted, letting the sunshine in. He’d missed Brittany to the very depth of his being but hadn’t been able to admit it. Not even to himself. Instead he’d blamed his foul mood on the weather, Nate and Danny’s equally foul moods, and his unrewarding search for domestic help.

Now, if he was extremely lucky and didn’t botch everything again, he was going to get her back. He might even consider admitting to himself that he was hopelessly in love with her, but that would take a lot more soul-searching. He’d thought he was in love with Hannah and he’d served years in purgatory for his mistake in judgment.

He wasn’t going through that again, but he and Brittany could get to know each other and see how things worked out.

Ethan walked across the room and hunkered down in front of Brittany and Danny. She had a wary look in those tear-drenched
eyes, and he felt like a bully for making her cry like that.

He reached out and took one of her hands in his. “Brittany…”

His throat was raspy and he cleared it and started again. “Brittany, if I give you my firstborn will you come and live with us full-time?”

She hesitated, and for a moment he was afraid she was going to refuse but then she smiled. “Will you toss in Nate, too?”

She’d been teasing him! “Done,” he said quickly.

Nate tried hard to look insulted. “Well hell, you could have thought it over a few minutes before giving me away.” His eyes danced with glee.

“I was afraid she’d change her mind,” he explained with a chuckle.

Turning his attention to Brittany, he said, “Now that we’ve got that straightened out we’ll have to discuss your salary and what your duties will be. Why don’t you come home with us? We’ll have dinner and talk about it.”

She looked as if she might be going to refuse, and he quickly reached out and poked his son’s round little belly with his finger, making the child giggle. “Besides, I don’t want to set this one off again by trying to take him away from you.”

That seemed to be the right answer. She laughed and squeezed the little guy. “Well, if you’re going to put it like that, how can I refuse? First, though, I’ve got to take a quick shower and get into some clean clothes. You all go on ahead and I’ll catch up with you shortly.”

Ethan would have agreed to anything to see her beautiful face light up the way it had now.

Ethan and Nate left, and Brittany gathered up clothes and towels and made her way to the bathroom at the end of the hall that was shared by all six tenants in the four upstairs
studio apartments. She locked the door and undressed as she ran hot water for her shower.

Her hands still trembled, and she felt as if she’d been run through a wringer. She was both embarrassed and ashamed at the way she’d broken down when Danny ran to her calling her “Ma-ma.” She hadn’t cried in the week since Ethan had fired her but had obviously been storing up all that grief inside. When it finally broke loose it was a deluge.

Nate and his family had caught her completely off guard and she was still trying to adjust. What she couldn’t figure out was what did the Thorpe men want of her? Nate needed a nurse, Danny needed a nanny, and Ethan apparently needed a housekeeper-mediator.

The three jobs together sounded suspiciously like the duties of a wife, except that Ethan had made it plain that another wife was the last thing he wanted.

She picked up her dirty clothes and stuffed them in the plastic bag she’d brought, then stepped under the shower. Ooo-oh, that felt good! The water ran off her hair and was blessedly cool on her overheated skin. Her shampoo and body gel were the same fragrance and when she closed her eyes she could see fields of colorful wildflowers.

She suspected that Ethan didn’t really want her at all but had been coerced into taking her back by his dad and his baby son. She wasn’t enthusiastic about returning under those conditions, but she couldn’t let Nate and Danny down.

There was one thing she was sure of, though. If she went back to work for Ethan there would be no more hanky-panky! Not that she knew exactly what that term implied. It had been her grandfather’s phrase, but she suspected it meant “making out.”

On second thought, she wasn’t sure she knew exactly what that meant, either. Was it just “fooling around” or did it include sex?

Well, whatever, there wasn’t going to be any of it if she moved into Ethan’s house!

She turned off the shower and patted herself dry with her thick towel, then stepped out of the shower stall and hurriedly dressed in the clean forest-green shorts and T-shirt she’d brought to the bathroom with her. It was one of her newer outfits and—