The Nanny's Plan

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, yes.” Her head bobbed. “He just wanted to say hi. I told him I’d call him later. I was only on the phone for a minute or two, but—” she grimaced “—Benjamin and Jeremiah were out of the house like a flash. I’ll try not to let it happen again.” She turned to leave.

“Wait.” His fingers slid over her forearm. “You really looked contemplative a second ago. You obviously had something on your mind. And I’d like to know what it was.”

What would it hurt to tell him? Anyone could have had the same reaction to all that he’d revealed.

“I was just overwhelmed by the very idea of it,” she said. “The thought of creating something original. Something that, well—” she decided Benjamin’s words had been perfect “—no one else in the whole world has ever seen.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

His tone was low. Soothing as a cool hand against a warm brow. Her skin tingled as if he were actually stroking her face with his fingertips.

“Just a little plant sex.”

Pierce’s green eyes glittered mischievously…and Amy burst out laughing.

Later that night Amy was unable to sleep, so she crept down the darkened hallway and into the bathroom. The origin of this edginess jittering through her was unknown, but there was nothing that a good long soak couldn’t cure.

She’d already taken her hair down and had given it a good brush when she’d gotten ready for bed. Twisting the length of it, she pinned it up so it wouldn’t get wet. Then she turned on the taps and adjusted the water temperature.

Untying the sash of her robe, she shrugged it off and let it fall in a heap to the floor. She tugged her nightgown over her head, pulled off her panties and then stepped into the bathtub.

She’d had an exhausting day. Maybe her problem was that she was simply overtired.

When she’d suggested to the boys that they make cupcakes, Benjamin and Jeremiah had eagerly gathered the eggs, the flour, the sugar and the cooking utensils. By the time they had finished the job, though, the kitchen had been a mess. She’d packed up some sandwiches, fruit, juice and a few cupcakes, and they had gone outside in the backyard for a picnic. Then they had spent the entire afternoon running among the trees and shrubs.

But time and again, Amy had found her gaze drifting to the greenhouse. Pierce had intruded on her thoughts every few moments, and her mind had been bombarded by all sorts of questions.

How had he earned the money to build such an impressive business setup? Did a plant scientist command that kind of income? There were acres and acres of ground here on the shores of the Delaware Bay. He had a small laboratory and a huge greenhouse in which he performed his experiments on plants. And his house was beautiful. A dream home, really. His private library was stocked with all sorts of books on botany. Shelves of them, floor to ceiling.

She closed her eyes, and immediately her mind was filled with the image of his sparkling green gaze. His features had grown animated when he’d talked to his nephews—to her—about his work. He was an intense man. An intelligent man. An incredibly handsome man.

He was tall and sturdy. Built like a well-honed athlete rather than a scientist.

That thought made her smile. What kind of body would a scientist-type have? She’d never really thought about it before. But she could easily imagine that a man who was so focused on research and experiments would be stuck in the library with his nose in a book, or in the lab bent over a microscope. But Pierce looked tanned and healthy. His muscles were toned—she’d seen that for herself today as he’d lifted the watering pail.

The faucet gurgled, the warm water that filled the tub caressing her skin as it rose higher and higher. It was so easy to envision the tickle of the water replaced by Pierce’s touch, his fingertips stroking her flesh ever so lightly.

Yes, he was the most handsome man she’d ever met in her life. However, she’d been surprised this morning to discover just how fascinated she was by his intellect. Normally she tended to avoid people who held titles and diplomas, people who had letters of educational distinction after their names. But when Pierce had talked about his work, she’d felt…drawn to him.

She sighed and thought of his perfect mouth, wondered what it would feel like on hers, imagined what his lips would taste like. Suddenly in her mind’s eye she saw his tapered fingers, and then with very little conjuring she could almost feel his touch on her skin. His flesh was hot against her own. She envisioned placing her hand on the back of his, guiding his palm over her taut stomach, up toward her breasts until his fingertips were snuggled between them.

Again she sighed, and her back arched languidly in the heated bathwater.

Then her eyes opened wide. She blinked, and then she sat up so quickly that water sloshed onto the floor. What was she doing? Had she lost her mind?

Avoiding these kinds of situations, these kinds of feelings, had been her number one priority for years. Wasn’t it sensual urges just like the ones floating around in her head that had caused her friends to ruin their lives?

Amy had watched as, one by one, her friends had fallen in love, gotten married and then gotten themselves pregnant. Sometimes not even in that order. But regardless of how they had gone about falling into the trap, they still had fallen. Right into the deadly snare.

Stuck for life in that small Podunk town. Never going anywhere. Never experiencing anything. That was the future her friends back in Lebo had relegated themselves to.

Oh, she’d allowed herself to date back home. She’d go out with a guy a time or two, maybe even three if he didn’t appeal to her too much. But once she got that bug…the moment she felt that first inkling that the relationship might develop into something beyond cordial, she’d nip it right in the bud.

She’d broken a heart or two back in Kansas. But that couldn’t be helped. She had a plan for her life.

The loofah sponge she snatched up felt rough against her fingers. She squirted some bath gel onto its surface and began scrubbing her skin in tiny circular motions.

A slight panic began to roil in her as Pierce’s face loomed in her brain, his green eyes tempting her, his perfect mouth enticing her.

She wasn’t going to ruin her plan, darn it! She’d just finished training as a flight attendant. She’d succeeded in getting out. She’d escaped the trap. She had a whole world to see. A slew of experiences to…well, to experience.

She wasn’t going to let a little sexual urge get in her way.

Amy, a small voice in the back of her mind intoned, just because you’re attracted to Pierce Kincaid doesn’t mean you have to act on it. Control. That’s all it takes. You can certainly ignore this temptation for the couple of months it will take for Jeremiah and Benjamin’s parents to return.

Pierce would never be interested in her, anyway—of that she was sure. Not unless she began to sprout stems and leaves and big, fat flower blossoms.

“And there’s little chance of that happening,” she murmured to herself.

She inhaled deeply, let the air leave her in a rush. She relaxed. Control slowly returned.

Perception really was everything.

If she chose to perceive this situation as safe and nonthreatening to her life plan, then that’s exactly what it would become.

And heaven knew she didn’t need to worry about Pierce noticing her as anything more than the temporary nanny who was caring for his nephews. No, she had no worries there.

Pierce lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling. Ten minutes ago, he’d heard the water running in the bathroom down the hall. Evidently unable to sleep, Amy must have decided to have a bath.

At first he’d fought his imagination. He’d tried to ignore the image his brain conjured up of her slipping out of her nightgown, shimmying out of her lacy undergarments. But the more he attempted to disregard the inappropriate thoughts, the stronger and more persistent they seemed to become.

He “saw” her lift one milky foot, then the other, to step into the tub, and then his mind’s eye watched as she eased her delectable body down into the water. Sweat broke out on his brow and his pulse skittered. Pierce kicked the sheet aside in an attempt to cool the fever rushing through him.

This was wrong. He’d decided a long time ago that his work was more important than anything else. Anything else.

He didn’t want to think of Amy in a sexual manner—no, these thoughts were softer, fuzzier, and could only be described as a sensual manner. But whatever manner they were, he didn’t want this. Not when he knew nothing could ever come of it. Nothing lasting, that was.

He rolled over onto his side, punched the pillow, shifted to a comfortable position and willed sleep to come. And when that didn’t work, he prayed for release from this sweet agony.

However, all too soon he found himself on his back once again, staring at the ceiling…dreaming of the naked nanny.

Chapter Three

Sitting down at his work table in the lab, Pierce picked up a pen with the intention of recording the seedling growth measurement in his data notebook. But the exact number of centimeters dissolved from his mind as if it had been spun candy on his tongue.

But he’d just measured the darned things.

He tossed down the pen and went back to the seedling tray with his calibrated ruler in hand.

As he leaned over the tray of delicate sprouts, eyes the color of toasted cinnamon loomed in his mind. He straightened, his head tilting slightly to the side unwittingly as he pondered the color of Amy’s hair. It was light brown, of course, but that just seemed too ordinary a description and left him searching for a truer one. There were blond strands that brought out a…a hue that was almost…butterscotch.

He smiled. That was it. Butterscotch.

Pierce went back to the worktable, set down the ruler, picked up his pen—and promptly discovered that he hadn’t even taken the seedling’s measurements.

Dropping the pen, he scrubbed at his face with both hands. Work had gone slowly all day. He had been preoccupied.

With Amy.

Last night his imagination had been stirred to a near frenzy as he’d envisioned her in the tub, the heated water lapping against her creamy flesh—

This was ridiculous. He heaved a sigh and snapped off the light on the table. It was time for him to get away from the lab for a while. He looked at his wristwatch and saw that once again he’d missed dinner with the boys.

He placed the tray of seedlings into the containment chamber, closed the data books and replaced them on the shelves. Tomorrow was another day. Maybe it would be one in which his head was clearer, his mind more focused.

The sky was dark when he locked the door of his lab and made his way across the lawn. He entered through the French doors at the back of the house and locked up behind himself. He could hear the muffled sounds of the television.

“Hi, boys,” he called when he reached the family room. Then he directed his eyes to Amy. “Hi.”

A smile invaded his face, his entire being.

And when she smiled back, he actually went buoyant inside.

“Hungry?” she asked. “You worked through dinner.” One corner of her mouth quirked. “Again.”

His nerve endings trilled and heat curled low in his gut at the sexy sight she made sitting there grinning at him…showing concern for him.

“I am, actually. Hungry, I mean.”

For food? a tiny voice whispered from the back of his head. Or for Amy?

In a flash, all the fervor pulsing through him turned dour. He’d already told himself that he shouldn’t be toying with this attraction he felt for the nanny, hadn’t he? He wasn’t fit relationship material. He knew that. Had figured it out long ago.

“Come on, then,” she told him, pushing herself up from the sofa. “I’ll fix you something.” She looked at the twins. “I’ll bring you back some popcorn and juice—would you like that?”

Both boys gave her an enthusiastic answer.

Softly she said, “Let’s go.”

Why hadn’t he spoken up? Why hadn’t he told her he was perfectly capable of finding himself something to eat?

Because he wanted to follow her gently swaying fanny into the kitchen, that’s why.

Amy placed a bag of popcorn into the microwave oven and pushed the buttons to turn it on. As she pulled down glasses for the boys’ drinks, she told Pierce, “Benjamin and Jeremiah asked for soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight. There’s soup left. And it will only take me a minute or two to grill a sandwich for you. Will that be okay?”

“That will be fine.”

She poured juice into the glasses and set a bowl on the counter for the popcorn. Then she went to the fridge and took out the container of leftover soup, the cheese and the butter. She pulled two slices of sourdough bread from the package.

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