Nanny and the Beast

If Sophia made a big deal of being close to him, she’d only succeed in allowing him to see…well, that this was a big deal to her.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, picked her up and twirled her around in a circle. “What was it you said?” Michael’s chocolaty eyes lit. “That my parents would be dancing-a-jig happy?”

“I knew they’d be pleased.” Sophia hoped the breathlessness she heard in her words was a figment of her freaked-out imagination.

“If you hadn’t spoken up,” he whispered, “I don’t know how long I’d have waited to tell them they had a granddaughter.”

“I can see that.” She sighed, swiftly getting caught up in the vortex that seemed to spin crazily around them.

“I want you to know how grateful I am.”

She was going to utter his name sharply. She was going to plant her hand on his chest. She was going to lean away from him.

But she did none of those things.

Dear Reader,

This month seems to be all about change. Just as our heroines are about to have some fabulous makeovers, Silhouette Romance will be undergoing some changes over the next months that we believe will make this classic line even more relevant to your challenging lives. Of course, you’ll still find some of your favorite SR authors and favorite themes, but look for some new names, more international settings and even more emotional reads.

Over the next few months the company is also focusing attention on the new direction and package for Harlequin Romance. We believe that the blend of authors and stories coming in that line will thrill readers and satisfy every emotion.

Just like our heroines, my responsibilities will be changing, as I will be working on Harlequin NEXT. Please know how much I have enjoyed sharing these heartwarming, aspirational reads with you.

With all best wishes,

Ann Leslie Tuttle

Associate Senior Editor

Nanny and the Beast

Donna Clayton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Joy with love

To Dad

You have shown me the meaning of joyful and wholehearted dedication to God and family;

You have fostered my faith; And you continue to teach me, by flawless example, how to be a loving and supportive parent.

Thank you.

Books by Donna Clayton

Silhouette Romance

Mountain Laurel #720

Taking Love in Stride #781

Return of the Runaway Bride #999

Wife for a While #1039

Nanny and the Professor #1066

Fortune’s Bride #1118

Daddy Down the Aisle #1162

*Miss Maxwell Becomes a Mom #1211

*Nanny in the Nick of Time #1217

*Beauty and the Bachelor Dad #1223

†The Stand-By Significant Other #1284

†Who’s the Father of Jenny’s Baby? #1302

The Boss and the Beauty #1342

His Ten-Year-Old Secret #1373

Her Dream Come True #1399

Adopted Dad #1417

His Wild Young Bride #1441

**The Nanny Proposal #1477

**The Doctor’s Medicine Woman #1483

**Rachel and the M.D. #1489

Who Will Father My Baby? #1507

In Pursuit of a Princess #1582

††The Sheriff’s 6-Year-Old Secret #1623

††The Doctor’s Pregnant Proposal #1635

††Thunder in the Night #1647

The Nanny’s Plan #1701

Because of Baby #1723

Bound by Honor #1797

Nanny and the Beast #1828

Silhouette Books

The Coltons

Close Proximity

Logan’s Legacy

Royal Seduction

DONNA CLAYTON

is a bestselling, award-winning author. She and her husband divide their time between homes in northern Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. They have two sons. Donna also writes women’s fiction as Donna Fasano.

Please write to Donna care of Silhouette Books. She’d love to hear from you!

Dear Reader,

Nannies (and stories featuring nannies) have always held a place near and dear to my heart. You see, my sister-in-law, Joy, trained and worked as a nanny. From her, I learned that the amazing women (and, I’m sure, a few men) who choose to become nannies have a special love for and devotion to children.

Joy was born and raised in a small town in Kansas. She left Lebo to attend nanny school and earned her certification. Joy then moved to Washington, D.C., where she lived with and worked for a family with two children. She loved her job and was dedicated to those children. After a few years, she met my brother and is currently experiencing her very own “happily ever after.”

Joy’s experience as a nanny prepared her to become the most nurturing of mothers. Her children are loving and mannerly and kind and smart as can be! She’s done an amazing job of raising them, and I hope she knows how very proud I am of the job she has done. I also hope she knows how much I love her and that I’m happy to call her sister. (Thanks for answering all my nanny questions, Joy!)

I hope all of you enjoy reading Sophia’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

All the best,

Donna Clayton

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter One

“It’s him! It’s him! He just pulled up out front.”

Sophia Stanton refused to let the tension in Karen’s voice rattle her. Her part-time assistant was easily flustered.

“Him?” Sophia asked, placing her pen on the desktop and glancing toward the doorway. “Him who?”

Karen’s eyes widened and her voice lowered to a whisper. “The Beast.” She reached up and plucked at the short, spiky locks behind her ear. Then she craned her neck to look out the front window. “He just took his baby out of the back of his SUV.” She sucked in a tight breath. “And Lily just got out, too. Her face is four shades of red.”

Sophia stifled a groan. She didn’t need more aggravation this morning; two of her girls had called in sick and replacements were yet to be found. But knowing the track record of Mr. Michael Taylor, aka “The Beast,” she steeled herself for the worst.

When it came to providing care for his month-old daughter, the man seemed impossible to please. He’d fired two of Sophia’s nannies in the past three weeks. The young women had come back to the office reporting that he was demanding and inflexible, so much so that everyone at The Nanny Place was certain he must sport horns and a spiked tail. One thing was certain—Mr. Taylor was fast becoming a beastly pain in Sophia’s butt.

“Okay,” Sophia told Karen, inhaling deeply to prepare herself. “Let’s just stay calm. Keep Lily out there with you, and show him in here immediately. And then I need for you to get in touch with Terry. Ask her if she’s able to cover for Isabel today.”

“Terry lives below the canal,” Karen reminded her. “She’ll never reach the city in time for Mrs. Schaffer to get to work on time.”

“I’ll call and explain.” Sophia gathered up the paperwork on her desk and set it to one side. The Beast would be here any second. “And I’ll find someone to fill in for Paula, too. Just as soon as I take care of this problem.”

Karen tugged at her hair again, the pen curled between her fingers nearly poking her chin. “They’re here.” Trepidation rippled through her whisper. “Good luck,” she added, before disappearing from the doorway.

Sophia stood, smoothed her hand over the skirt of her dark suit and then paused long enough to take one more deep breath, the kind she’d learned in her yoga class. Her instructor swore yoga could help in every aspect of her life and right now she was willing to take all the help she could get.

Michael Taylor didn’t just walk in to her office, he stormed in, closing the door firmly behind him. Anger honed his handsome features and seemed out of sync with the awkward gentleness with which he cradled his baby girl.

His most striking feature was his gaze. Those deep brown eyes flashed with extreme intensity—irritation, yes, but something else, too, some powerful force emanating from within. He had the kind of good looks and trim, athletic body that made a sensible woman think thoughts she shouldn’t, and consider doing things she normally wouldn’t. Sophia wouldn’t have been the least surprised to learn that females who passed him on the street routinely broke out into appreciative wolf whistles.

“Good morning, Mr. Taylor,” Sophia greeted, infusing a bright friendliness into her voice while completely ignoring the palpable ire radiating off the man.

“There’s not much good about it, I’m afraid.” Annoyance sharpened every word.

Oh, yeah, women might whistle for his attention, but all they’d get for their trouble was a rumbling growl.

“I fired Lily this morning,” he told her.

Sophia wanted to swear, but held her tongue. He was a client and she had to do her best to please him. Her mind raced. Did she even have anyone else willing to work for the man?

“We need to fix the problem I’ve been having with the nannies you’re sending me, Ms. Stanton, and we need to fix it now.”

A sigh of frustration gathered in Sophia’s chest, but she didn’t allow it to escape with any kind of real force. “Of course we do. And we will, I assure you.” Then she asked, “What did Lily do?”

“It’s what she didn’t do. She didn’t follow the rules. It’s not as if my needs are difficult to meet. But I do insist that any nanny working for me will follow the damn rules.”

The Damn Rules was an apt description, Sophia thought. Apparently, there were literally pages of them, and they covered every conceivable notion when it came to his daughter’s care. There was even a dress code for the nannies. It wasn’t enough that the young women she’d sent him were highly trained in childcare. Michael Taylor wanted them to look and dress and act a certain way. To better focus on the childcare, is what she’d heard. Demanding such a thing was his prerogative, she guessed. However, no woman wanted to be told she couldn’t wear nail polish or eye shadow or dangly earrings, or that her skirt had to hang below her knees, or that her hair had to be pulled back in a bun. A bun! Buns went out with pixie bobs, for goodness sake. What was he running? A Catholic grade school? It was ridiculous.

“First off,” he continued, “I take exception to the fact that the nannies you’re sending me are barely out of their teens. How can girls—” the emphasis he placed on the word made Sophia want to cringe “—with so little life experience make sound, common-sense judgments in day-to-day circumstances, let alone emergency situations? I’m supposed to trust them with my daughter?”

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Taylor.” Although she understood his fears—he was a new father—she felt she had to stand up for her employees. “Both of them—” Lily flashed into Sophia’s mind, and she instantly corrected herself. “All three of the nannies you’ve fired this month have been thoroughly trained. They have earned a childcare diploma from an accredited nanny school as well as a medical safety certificate. That’s the only way they qualify to register at The Nanny Place. I complete the background checks myself. Your daughter has been in capable hands—”

“I manage people for a living,” he interrupted. “I have seen, firsthand, that training isn’t always enough. A healthy dose of life experience goes a long way in helping people make sensible decisions when they’re faced with even the most mundane choices. I’ll take a forty-year-old with firm common sense over a green Gen-Xer any day of the week. The girls you’ve sent me need just that—a healthy dose of life experience. I don’t want them acquiring it at the sake of Hailey’s well-being.”

“But—”

“No,” he interrupted. “No buts. I want you to send me someone older. Someone wiser. Lily has worked for me for three days. She knows the daily schedule we keep. Yet she stepped into the shower just five minutes before I was supposed to leave for work. I want you to send me someone who can follow a simple schedule.”

Sophia silently groaned. Lily was going to get an earful from her.

“I want someone with professionalism,” he continued, “and experience. Someone who’s lived long enough to have gained some practical knowledge of what it takes to care for an infant. A motherly type. Better yet, a grandmotherly type.”

“Sounds like you want a Mrs. Doubtfire.” The joking sarcasm rolled off her tongue before she’d had a chance to stop it.

He went dead silent for a moment, staring at her. Then the harsh angles of his face softened and he chuckled. He actually laughed. The sexy, delicious rumble was completely unexpected. Some sort of strange electricity shot through her body, scrambling her thoughts. This was a side of The Beast she’d never experienced. She blinked a couple of times in quick succession, and then gathered her wits as quickly as she could. Fostering the lighthearted moment seemed a good idea.

“Um, Mr. Taylor, you do know that, although she was great with children, she was a middle-aged man in drag? A fictional character created by some Hollywood screenwriter.”

“Of course, I do.”

His amusement was gone as quickly as it had come. But the humming current he’d cause to flutter through her lingered with irritating tenacity.

“I think I’ve made my needs quite clear,” he told her. “If you’re unable to provide what I’m asking, then that can only mean that your business motto is a sham. I don’t mind telling you that I’m not happy, and I seriously think we ought to consider parting ways. I’ll have to find a nanny on my own.”

“Hold on just a second,” Sophia said. Her mind raced. “Backing out of our contract is a little extreme, isn’t it?”

She’d read that a satisfied customer might express his or her opinion about a company to approximately fifty friends, relatives and casual acquaintances, whereas a disgruntled one could be expected to complain to many times that.

“I don’t think so. You’ve had three chances to send a nanny that would meet my approval. You’ve failed three times.”

He sure didn’t have a problem speaking his mind, now, did he?

She hadn’t faced this kind of fiasco since opening the doors of The Nanny Place. No one had ever called her a failure before. To the contrary, Delaware Today magazine had awarded her business the title of “Best childcare in the city of Wilmington” for the last two years running.

“What you don’t seem to understand,” Sophia stressed, putting every effort into coming up with a swift recovery, “is that when women reach that ‘older, wiser’ stage you’ve described, they’re either ready to settle down and have children of their own—”

She shook her head, unable to believe the words tumbling out of her mouth. They had a jarring, sexist ring to them, but that couldn’t be helped. She needed an argument. Any argument.

“Or they’re ready to retire, do some traveling, take a cruise, enjoy their golden years. Or their own grandchildren. I only have two women over the age of twenty-five registered at The Nanny Place. Both are grandmothers in their mid-to-late fifties and they’re on long-term assignments with families in Wilmington.”

He glanced down at his sleeping daughter, and then leveled his gaze at Sophia. Calmly, he said, “So you’re telling me the bottom line is I’m going to remain an unsatisfied client?”

Discontent crackled in the air as he waited for her response and Sophia fought the urge to squirm. Damn it! The man wasn’t going to best her.

“I intend to make sure you are very satisfied, Mr. Taylor,” she blurted out. Heat suffused her face when she realized what she’d said and how those words could very easily be misconstrued. Ignoring the embarrassment she felt, she plowed full steam ahead. “Even if I’m the one who has to come do the job,” she heard herself say.

His brows arched the slightest bit and he absently smoothed his fingers down the short length of his daughter’s milky arm. “Now there’s a good idea.” He nodded slowly, evidently liking the notion more with each passing second.

Her comment had been merely meant to assure him she honestly intended to find him the perfect nanny, and she wouldn’t stop trying until she’d succeeded. Apparently, he hadn’t taken it that way. Not at all. A sense of panic washed over her. “Mr. Taylor—”

“You’re certainly older than twenty-five,” he mused, his fingers toying with the edge of the baby blanket.

She bristled. He made her sound downright matronly.

“And the fact that you’re running your own business tells me that you’ve got intellect and common sense. Two important characteristics for the person I want caring for my daughter.”

He was clearly warming up to this surprising turn of events. She opened her mouth to speak.

“If you spend a few weeks getting to know Hailey,” he said, not giving her a chance to restate what she’d actually intended, “getting to know me, getting to know our situation and our needs, you’d be better equipped to find the kind of nanny I’m looking for.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to say “but…but,” to backpedal herself out of the tight space she’d inadvertently talked herself into. She couldn’t do this! She had a business to run. She wasn’t a nanny. She was the administrator.

Oh, she’d had all the proper training and she even took over childcare duties once in a while when the rare problem or an emergency cropped up, so she was fully capable of—

“I usually take dead silence to have negative meaning,” he said, studying her intently. “Should I assume you aren’t going to honor your guarantee? And that your motto of ‘no client left unsatisfied’ is simply a string of meaningless words?” He lifted a shoulder. “If that’s the case, then I have no choice but to cancel our contract as of this moment.”

“Wait. I’m not saying any of that,” she sputtered. “I’m also not saying I won’t do it. I’m just thinking things through. Working out the logistics.”

Her mind whirled; other than scheduling appointments with prospective clients and handling a few glitches that arose, there wasn’t a whole lot Sophia couldn’t take care of with her cell phone. And her assistant, Karen, had been asking—no, begging—to go full-time since coming to work for her, but up until now Sophia had only needed help in the office during the busy morning hours.

“I hope you’re thinking fast,” he persisted, “because I don’t have all day.” He tenderly shifted his daughter to his other arm and checked his watch. “In fact, I have to be at the office in forty-five minutes.”

Darn! He wasn’t going to give her an inch. She gritted her teeth. All he was worried about was himself. What about her business? What about the people depending on her?

But how else was she going to make Michael Taylor happy, at this point, other than to take over as his daughter’s nanny for the few weeks, as he was demanding?

Keeping him happy would mean keeping her pristine business reputation. That was very important to her. She prided herself on the fact that not one client, past or present, had a single grievance against her or The Nanny Place. Oh, there were small insignificant matters that surfaced from time to time between the nannies and their employers, but there hadn’t been even one instance where Sophia hadn’t been able to straighten everything out, and make everyone concerned content and happy. She refused to allow this man to mar her perfect record.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it. If you’ll let me sort a few things out here, I can be at your place in forty-five minutes.”

“Excellent. Less than forty-five minutes, actually. I’ll head home and wait for you.” He turned toward the door.

“Hold it,” she said, an idea popping into her head. “Why don’t you just leave Hailey with me now? I can use your carseat to get her back to your place. That way you won’t be late for work, and I can take my time getting things settled here.”

Seemed like a perfectly good plan to her, but evidently he didn’t think so.

“Won’t work.” His tone brooked no argument. “We still have to go over the rules and Hailey’s schedule. They’re at my place. Typed out in black and white. I’d also feel more comfortable if I had the chance to show you around. Make you acquainted with where things are.”

That did make sense, she thought.

“You have my address?” he asked.

“Yes, of course.” She hurried around him and opened the door. This was happening much too fast. She followed him out to the reception area where she noticed that Lily stood stewing near Karen’s desk. Her hair was still damp from that ill-fated shower she’d taken this morning. Karen looked as if she expected something horrible to happen at any moment. Sophia quickly added, “I’ll have my assistant download driving directions to your home from the ’Net, Mr. Taylor. No problem.”

As soon as Sophia spoke the words, Karen’s head dipped and her fingers flew over her computer keyboard.

His back was to Sophia as he walked across the room and headed for the door. His pin-striped dress shirt accentuated his broad shoulders, and his navy trousers cuddled a firm butt. He paused and turned to face Sophia, and her gaze darted up to where it belonged—his face.

Again, he checked his watch. “I’ll see you soon, Ms. Stanton.”

She nodded once, and then he was out the door. She continued to stare as he stepped off the curb, her gaze inadvertently traveling down the full length of him.

Her spine straightened and she blinked. She was going to have to hustle to get everything done here at the office. She made a quick mental list; a short talk with Lily, then give Karen instructions, a couple of phone calls, a quick stop in the powder room and she’d be out the door.

“Lily said he fired her.” Karen’s eyes were wide.

“It was so unfair,” Lily chimed in.

Karen shifted in her chair. “Who are you going to send this time, Sophia? Do we have anyone left who isn’t afraid of that guy?”

“We most certainly do,” Sophia murmured, her gaze continuing to linger on Michael Taylor. The morning sunlight burnished his tawny hair. Why she was standing here wasting time baffled her, yet there was something about the man that made it hard to tear her eyes away.

“Well, who?”

Ignoring her assistant’s question, Sophia turned her attention to Lily. “What happened this morning? How could you get yourself fired after only three days?”

Lily’s chin tipped upward.

Sophia lifted her hands in frustration. “He said you showered late. That you couldn’t keep to the schedule.”

“This had nothing to do with his precious schedule,” Lily spat out. “This was about that stupid robe rule. I wasn’t wearing mine this morning.”

“He has a rule about wearing a robe?” Karen asked. “That’s a new one, isn’t it?”

“He added it the second day I worked for him. He has rules for everything,” Lily complained. “Rules for when his daughter eats, when she sleeps. What music is played in the house. What books are read and when. There are pages and pages of rules. And he keeps adding to them.”

Sophia had heard it all before from the other nannies who had cared for Michael Taylor’s daughter.

“And the ones dictating our dress code are the worst. I wanted to flip on the bitch-switch several times, Sophia. But I controlled myself.” Lily turned her eyes to Karen. “And even though it cost me that job, I refused to say I was sorry this morning. Heck, I was just being me.”

Obvious rebellion tinged Lily’s voice. Sophia crossed her arms. “And what exactly does that mean?”