The Nanny Clause

“You need a job, and I need a nanny-slash-housekeeper.”

Emma studied him for a long moment, and he saw wariness in her eyes. He didn’t blame her.

“Since my last nanny left, my sister Shannon has been watching the girls when I need her to. But the problem is... I’m taking advantage of her. She has a three-year-old and it’s hard for her to watch her toddler and my three kids. With the girls out of school now, she’s coming over to my house to watch them. She does her best, but it’s too much to ask her to keep track of everything going on in my house and in hers, too. Paris called me yesterday, and I had to run home to settle a few issues. My daughters are more important to me than any work, but I have to work to sustain us all. I’ve interviewed people for the nanny position,” he went on, “and I just can’t find anyone I like.”

“Why me?” Emma asked, maybe looking a bit interested now.

“Because from the first day I walked in here with Paris, Pippa and Penny, they related to you. You’re compassionate and caring and seem to be able to handle them better than I do. I know expertise when I see it.”

“I’ve never been a nanny. I was an office manager.”

“If you throw in compassion, kindness and firmness, there’s not much difference between an office manager and a nanny, don’t you think?”

Emma smiled at his wry tone. “I don’t know, Daniel...”

He handed her the paper in his hand. “This is a list of my references. You can check them all.”

When she still seemed hesitant, he added, “The job includes room and board. There’s an in-law suite. You’d have privacy when you need it.”

Emma studied the paper. “I’ll check your references and I’ll think about your offer. That’s all I can tell you right now.”

“At least you didn’t say no, so that’s progress for me.” He grinned at her, hoping she’d realize he was an okay guy.

They couldn’t shake on it since they hadn’t made a deal yet, but he nodded. “We have a little time before we have to be at Shannon’s for lunch. Maybe you could spend it with my daughters?”

With no hesitation whatsoever, Emma nodded to the dog room. “I suggest we play with the beagle puppies with the girls.”

Knowing that could be a bonding experience, he opened the door to the room and let Emma precede him inside.

* * *

Standing in the cleaned-up and almost spotless kitchen on Monday, Daniel realized how happy he was that Emma had agreed to be his daughters’ nanny. She’d called him last evening to accept his offer. Daniel was ready for her...at least, he thought he was. The girls certainly were. Pippa and Penny were dancing all around, chattering with excitement. Paris wasn’t as noisy but she didn’t have a solemn look on her face, either.

He’d made sure there weren’t any dirty dishes in the sink. He’d made sure the great room was as straightened up as it could be. He’d told his daughters to at least give the room a half hour after Emma arrived before they messed it up again.

They’d laughed. They hadn’t thought he was serious.

He’d looked out the front Palladian windows for at least the tenth time when his cell phone buzzed. Taking it from his belt, he was concerned it was Emma telling him she’d changed her mind. But it wasn’t. It was his sister.

Without preamble, she said, “I still think you’re crazy to hire a stranger.”

He could imagine Shannon’s red curls flying and her lips, which were usually turned up in a smile, pointing downward.

“Good morning to you, too, sis.”

“You should have used an agency.”

“As I told you before, I tried an agency. The applicants they sent never could have kept up with the girls. You know how much energy they have.”

His sister was silent until she said, “Yes, they have energy, but they need it to be channeled in the right way. What makes you think this woman can do that? It’s not like she was a schoolteacher or worked in day care.”

“Working with animals is like working in day care,” he muttered.

“Don’t try to snow me,” Shannon protested.

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll invite you to dinner as soon as Emma’s settled in. How would that be?”

“Sooner,” Shannon demanded.

“You know, you always were a bossy kid sister.”

“And you were always a know-it-all older brother.”

They both laughed. Thank goodness they could laugh. It kept them sane when the world turned upside down.

Suddenly he heard a car in the driveway. It was a compact blue sporty model. Just like Emma, he supposed—full of class and energy. “I gotta go. She’s here.”

“You can always call me if she doesn’t work out.”

“Bye, Shannon.” He ended the call and replaced his phone on its dock.

He watched as Emma stepped out of her car. He felt his pulse race a little faster as first one bare leg appeared and then the other. As she closed the driver’s-side door, his breath actually caught. She’d worn pale pink shorts—a respectable length—and a puff-sleeved gauzy white blouse. Her curly hair blew in the wind. He noticed her sandals had little jewel-like beads on them. Pippa would love that.

Emma stepped to the back door of the sedan and pulled out a messenger bag.

He told his daughters, “I’m going to help Emma bring her things in.” He hurried out the front door and down the walk then took the side path to the driveway. When Emma saw him, she smiled.

That smile.

Maybe he’d made a huge mistake. He was attracted to her even more than he’d realized.

On the other hand, he needed a nanny. He’d keep that attraction in check.

“Welcome to the Sutton abode.” As soon as he said it, he thought it sounded lame.

Emma didn’t seem to notice. “It’s good to be here. You can’t imagine how thankful I am that I found a job.”

“If you have other suitcases, the girls can help.”

The smile left Emma’s face. “One suitcase.”

He knew Lydia never went anywhere, even for just a weekend, without three suitcases. This was Emma’s life...in one suitcase?

His thoughts must have shown on his face. “I suppose you’re wondering why I didn’t bring many belongings to North Carolina.”

“You travel light?” he joked.

Silence fell over them until a mower at a neighbor’s house started up. Then Emma responded, “I impulsively moved to Spring Forest, intending to have other items shipped later. But since I only had a small studio apartment, that just didn’t happen. I wanted to wait until I was settled somewhere.”

“Is taking this position another impulsive decision on your part?” After all, he had to ask questions if he wanted to get to know her and her personality. That was important when he saw her interacting with his girls. It was the only way he’d know if this was going to work out. He had to be protective of his daughters.

“I’m not sure how impulsive it is,” she said, looking directly into his eyes. “I made this decision out of necessity. I needed a job and I really didn’t want to return to Pennsylvania.”

When she didn’t explain further, he decided to let the discussion go for now. There would be time aplenty to get to know Emma Alvarez. After all, they would both be living under the same roof.

* * *

A short time later, after Daniel reluctantly left for work, Pippa, Penny and Paris took Emma on a tour of the house. It was a large house with a covered entry in the front leading into the foyer. The room to the left, the girls explained, was Daniel’s home office. It was easy to see that when Emma peeked in. Across the foyer on the right was the living room. Straight ahead Emma could see the great room with a vaulted ceiling. There was also a stairway that led upstairs.

The kitchen and the dining room were off the great room and there was a mudroom and a laundry room, as well as a bathroom.

Penny looked at her older sister, Paris, and said, “Let’s show her her room.”

Emma was anxious to see where she’d be staying.

The girls led her down the hall past Daniel’s study and turned left. When Emma stepped inside, she realized the suite resembled a studio apartment. There was a double bed, a sitting area and a kitchenette. A full bath off the room meant she’d have complete privacy if she wanted it. When she was done for the day and came in here for the night, there was no reason for her to have to go into the rest of the house. She liked that, and already felt more comfortable about being here. The house was in order but Emma could easily see it needed a good dusting and a sweeper run over the carpet.

She asked Paris, “How long has it been since your nanny left?”

“Two weeks,” Paris responded but didn’t explain further.

“The first thing we need to do,” Emma told them, “is to clean. Can you show me where the cleaning supplies are?”

“I thought you were going to spend time with us,” Penny complained.

“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.

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