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Out of Hours Enticing the Nanny
The Nanny and the CEO
Rebecca Winters
Nanny to the Billionaire’s Son
Barbara McMahon
Not Just the Nanny
Christie Ridgway
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
The Nanny and the CEO
About the Author
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
Nanny to the Billionaire’s Son
About the Author
Dedication
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Not Just the Nanny
About the Author
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
Copyright
The Nanny and the CEO
REBECCA WINTERS, whose family of four children has now swelled to include three beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. With canyons and high alpine meadows full of wild flowers, she never runs out of places to explore. They, plus her favourite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her Mills & Boon romance novels, because writing is her passion, along with ® her family and church. Rebecca loves to hear from her readers. If you wish to e-mail her, please visit her website at:www.rebeccawinters-author.com.
To my wonderful parents, who made life wonderful all the time and gave me every opportunity to find my life, just as the Mother Superior at the convent helped Maria to find hers
CHAPTER ONE
“MS. CHAMBERLAIN? You’re next. Second door on the left.”
“Thank you.”
Reese got up from the chair and walked past the woman at the front desk to reach the hall. At ten o’clock in the morning, the East 59th Street Employment Agency in New York’s east side was already packed with people needing a job. She’d asked around and had learned it was one of the most reputable agencies in the city. The place reminded her of her dentist’s office filled with patients back home in Nebraska.
She had no idea what one wore for an interview to be a nanny. After changing outfits several times she’d opted for a yellow tailored, short-sleeved blouse and skirt, the kind she’d worn to the initial interview on Wednesday. This was her only callback in three days. If she didn’t get hired today, she would have to fly home tomorrow, the last thing she wanted to do.
Her father owned a lumberyard and could always give her a job if she couldn’t find anything that suited her, but it wouldn’t pay her the kind of money she needed. Worse, she didn’t relish the idea of seeing Jeremy again, but it would be inevitable because her ex-fiancé happened to work as a loan officer at the bank where her dad did business. Word would get around she was back.
“Come in, Ms. Chamberlain.”
“Hello, again, Mr. Lloyd.” He was the man who’d taken her initial application.
“Let me introduce you to Mrs. Tribe. She’s the private secretary to a Mr. Nicholas Wainwright here in New York and has been looking for the right nanny for her employer. I’ll leave you two alone for a few minutes.”
The smart-looking brunette woman wearing a professional business suit was probably in her early fifties. “Please sit down. Reese, is it?”
“Yes.”
The other woman cocked her head. “You have excellent references. From your application it’s apparent you’re a student and a scholar. Since you’re single and have no experience taking care of other people’s children, why did you apply to be a nanny?”
Reese could lie, but she had a feeling this woman would see right through her. “I need to earn as much money as possible this summer so I can stay in school until graduation. My academic scholarship doesn’t cover housing and food. Even those of us born in fly-over-country have heard a nanny’s job in New York can pay very well, so I thought I’d try for a position.” Hopefully that explanation was frank enough for her.
“Taking care of children is exceptionally hard work. I know because I raised two of my own.”
Reese smiled. “I’ve never been married, but I’m the oldest in the family of six children and did a lot of babysitting over the years. I was fourteen when my youngest sister was born. My mother had to stay in bed, so I helped with the baby. It was like playing house. My sister was adorable and I loved it. But,” she said as she sighed, “that was twelve years ago. Still, taking care of children is like learning to tie your shoes, don’t you think? Once you’ve figured it out, you never forget.”
The other woman eyed her shrewdly while she nodded. “I agree.”
“How many children do they have?” Please don’t let the number be more than three. Although Reese wouldn’t turn it down if the money was good enough.
“Mr. Wainwright is a widower with a ten-week-old baby boy named Jamie.”
The news concerning the circumstances came as a sobering revelation to Reese. She’d assumed she might end up working for a couple with several children, that is if she were ever offered a job. “Then he’s still grieving for his wife.” She shook her head. “How sad for him and his little boy, who’ll never know his mother.”
Reese got a swelling in her throat just thinking of her own wonderful mom still remarkably young and vital, probably the same age as Mrs. Tribe.
“It’s a tragic loss for both of them. Mr. Wainwright has arranged for a nanny who’s been with another family to start working for him, but she can’t come until September. Because you only wanted summer work, that’s one of the reasons I was interested in your application.”
One of the reasons? She’d aroused Reese’s curiosity. “What were the others?”
“You didn’t name an unrealistic salary. Finally, one of your professors at Wharton told me you’ve been on full academic scholarship there. Good for you. An opportunity like that only comes to a very elite group of graduate students. It means you’re going to have a brilliant career in business one day.”
To run her own brokerage firm was Reese’s goal for the future. “That’s my dream.”
The dream that had torn her and Jeremy apart.
Jeremy had been fine about her finishing up her undergraduate work at the University of Nebraska, but the scholarship to Wharton had meant a big move to Pennsylvania. The insinuation that she was too ambitious led to the core of the problem eating at him. Jeremy hadn’t wanted a future-executive for a wife. In return Reese realized she’d had a lucky escape from a future-controlling-husband. Their breakup had been painful at the time, but the hurt was going away. She didn’t want him back. Therein lay the proof.
Mrs. Tribe sat back in her chair and studied Reese. “It was my dream, too, but I didn’t get the kind of grades I saw on your transcripts. Another of your professors told me he sees a touch of genius in you. I liked hearing that about you.”
Reese couldn’t imagine which professor that was. “You’ve made my day.”
“Likewise,” she murmured, sounding surprised by her own thoughts. “Provided you feel good about the situation after seeing the baby and discussing Mr. Wainwright’s expectations of you in that regard, I think you’ll do fine for the position. Of course the final decision will be up to him.”
Reese could hardly believe she’d gotten this far in the interview. “I don’t know how to thank you, Mrs. Tribe. I promise I won’t let him, or you, down. Do you have a picture of the baby?”
A frown marred her brow. “I don’t, but you’ll be meeting him and his father this afternoon. Where have you been staying since you left Philadelphia?”
“At the Chelsea Star Hotel on West 30th.”
“You did say you were available immediately?”
“Yes!” The dormitory bed cost her fifty dollars a night. She couldn’t afford to stay in New York after today.
“That’s good. If he decides to go with my recommendation and names a fee that’s satisfactory to you, then he’ll want you to start today.”
“What should I wear to the interview? Do I need some kind of uniform? This is completely new to me.”
“To both of us,” came her honest response. “Wear what you have on. If he has other suggestions, he’ll tell you.”
“Does he have a pet?”
“As far as I know he’s never mentioned one. Are you allergic?”
“No. I just thought if he did, I could pick up some cat or doggie treats at the store. You know. To make friends right off?”
The woman smiled. “I like the way you think, Ms. Chamberlain.”
“Of course the baby’s going to be another story,” Reese murmured. “After having his daddy’s exclusive attention, it will take time to win him around.”
Mrs. Tribe paused before speaking. “Actually, since his birth, he’s been looked after by his maternal grandparents.”
“Are they still living with Mr. Wainwright?”
“No. The Hirsts live in White Plains. An hour away in heavy traffic.”
So did that mean he hadn’t been with his son for the last couple of months? No…that couldn’t be right. Now that he was getting a nanny, they’d probably just left to go back home.
“I see. Does Jamie have paternal grandparents, too?”
“Yes. At the moment they’re away on a trip,” came the vague response.
Reese came from a large family. Both sets of grandparents were still alive and always around. She had seven aunts and uncles. Last count there were twenty-eight cousins. With her siblings, including the next oldest, Carrie, who was married and had two children under three, that brought the number to thirty-four. She wondered if her employer had any brothers and sisters or other family.
“You’ve been with Mr. Wainwright a long time. Is there anything of importance I should know ahead of time?”
“He’s punctual.”
“I’ll remember that.” Reese got to her feet. “I won’t take any more of your time. Thank you for this opportunity, Mrs. Tribe.”
“It’s been my pleasure. A limo will be sent for you at one o’clock.”
“I’ll be waiting outside in front. Oh—one more question. What does Mr. Wainwright do for a living?”
The other woman’s eyebrows lifted. “Since you’re at Wharton, I thought you might have already made the connection or I would have told you. He’s the CEO at Sherborne-Wainwright & Co. on Broadway. Good luck.”
“Thank you,” Reese murmured in shock.
He was that Wainwright?
It was one of the most prestigious brokerage firms in New York, if not the top one with roots that went back a couple of hundred years. The revelation stunned her on many levels. Somehow she’d imagined the man who ran the whole thing to be in his late forties or early fifties. It usually took that long to rise to those heights.
Of course it wasn’t impossible for him to have a new baby, but she was still surprised. Maybe it had been his second wife he’d lost and she’d been a young mother. No one was exempt from pain in this life.
Nick Wainwright stood at the side of the grave. In loving memory of Erica Woodward Hirst Wainwright.
Thirty-two years old was too young to die.
“I’m sorry I neglected you so much it led to our divorce, Erica. Before we separated, I never thought for one moment you might be pregnant with our child, or that you’d lose your life during the delivery. My heart grieves for our little boy who needs his mother. It was your dying wish I raise him, but I feared I wouldn’t know how to be a good father to him. That’s why I let your parents take care of him this long, but now I’m ready. I swear I’ll do everything in my power to be a better father to him than I was a husband to you. If you’re listening, I just wanted you to know I vow to keep that promise.”
After putting fresh flowers against the headstone, Nick walked swiftly to the limo waiting for him in the distance. He hadn’t been here since the funeral. The visit filled him with sorrow for what had gone wrong, but with the decision made to take Jamie home, it felt right to have come to her grave first.
This early in the morning there was only his chauffeur, Paul, to see his tall, dark lone figure get in the back wearing a pale blue summer suit and tie. As he closed the rear door his eyes flicked to the newest state-of-the-art infant car seat he’d had delivered. Before the morning was out, he’d be taking his ten-week-old boy back to the city with him.
“Let’s head over to my in-laws.”
His middle-aged driver nodded and started the car. Paul had worked for Nick’s dad, back when Nick had been in his early teens. Now that his father was semiretired and Nick had been put in as head of the firm, he’d inherited Paul. Over the years the two of them had become good friends.
Once they left the White Plains cemetery where members of the prominent Hirst family had been buried for the past one hundred and fifty years, he sat back rubbing his hand over his face. In a few minutes there was going to be a scene, but he’d been preparing himself for it.
Prior to the baby’s birth, Nick hadn’t lived with Erica over the nine months of her pregnancy. Her death had come as a tremendous shock to him. Though he’d allowed her parents to take the baby home from the hospital, he hadn’t intended on it lasting for more than several weeks. In that amount of time he’d planned to find live-in help for the baby. Because of his guilt over the way their marriage had fallen apart, he’d let the situation go on too long.
When Nick had phoned the pediatrician in White Plains who’d been called in at the time of delivery, he’d informed Nick that if he hoped to bond with his son, he shouldn’t wait any longer to parent him on a full-time basis.
The doctor gave Nick the name of Dr. Hebert Wells, a highly recommended pediatrician who had a clinic on New York’s upper west side and could take over Jamie’s care. Then he wished him luck.
Following that conversation, Nick had phoned his attorney and explained what he wanted to do. The other man had contacted the Hirsts’ attorney to let them know Nick was ready to take over his responsibilities as a father and would be coming for Jamie to take him home.
Erica’s parents had wanted Nick to wait until the nanny they’d lined up would be available. They wanted control over the way their only grandchild—a future Hirst who would carry on the family tradition—would be raised. That meant having equal input over everything, the kind of children he associated with and where he would attend school from the beginning through college.
But Nick wasn’t willing to wait any longer. Through their attorneys he promised to consult them on certain matters and bring Jamie to White Plains for visits, but deep down he knew nothing he said would reassure them. Time would have to take care of the problem.
Nick’s family, who lived on Long Island, wanted control of their only grandchild, too. But they were at the family villa in Cannes with friends at the moment, confident Nick would do what had to be done to keep his in-laws pacified.
“Erica’s parents seem willing to keep him for now,” his mother exclaimed. “It would be better if you let Jamie stay with them for the next year anyway. You can go on visiting him when you have the time. It’s the best arrangement under the circumstances.”
Nick knew the script by heart. His own parents had already found another suitable woman for Nick to meet when he was ready. They saw nothing wrong in letting Erica’s parents oversee Jamie’s care, a sort of consolation prize to remove their guilt by association with the son who’d divorced “the catch of the season.”
Their attitude came as no surprise to Nick. He’d been an only child, raised in virtual luxury by a whole staff of people other than his own parents. What they never understood was that it had been a lonely life, one that had caused him great pain. He didn’t want that for Jamie. But deep down he felt nervous as hell.
Though Nick might have been the whiz kid who’d risen to the top of Sherborne-Wainwright, a two-hundred-year-old family investment brokerage, he didn’t quite know what to do with Jamie. The world of a two-and-half-month-old baby was anathema to him.
He’d visited him every Saturday, but was an unwelcome visitor as far as Erica’s family was concerned. They had a well-trained, well-vetted staff, plus a private nurse to see to Jamie’s every need.
Weather permitting, he would carry the baby outside to the English garden where he could get away from the officious woman in her white uniform. Otherwise Nick remained in the nursery, but he was superfluous in the help department. The staff had everything covered ahead of time. That in itself made it impossible for him to get close to his son.
As the old Georgian colonial estate came into sight and they passed through the outer gate, Nick determined everything was going to change, starting now. He alighted from the back of the limo. “I won’t be long, Paul.”
The slightly balding family man smiled. “I’m looking forward to seeing him. He’s bigger every time we come.”
That was the problem. Jamie was changing and growing with each passing day and Nick wasn’t here to see it happen. The commuting had to stop so the fathering could begin.
Before he reached the gleaming white front door, Erica’s father opened it. Walter had a full head of frosted brown hair and a golfer’s physique. Erica’s parents were handsome people, but his father-in-law’s glowering expression brought out Nick’s temper, which he did his best to keep under control.
“Walter?”
“Before I let you in, I want you to know Anne’s in a highly emotional state.”
“You think I’m not aware of that?”
The older man grimaced. “She asked me to tell yo—”
“I know it by heart, Walter,” he broke in. “Though I can’t go back and change the past, I intend to do the right thing for our son. I told that to Erica when I stopped at the cemetery a little while ago.”
Walter’s eyes flickered as if he were surprised by the admission. After a slight hesitation he said, “Come in the dayroom. The nurse has Jamie ready for you.”
“Thank you.”
After three years of marriage—the last year spent in separation while the divorce was being finalized—his in-law’s home was full of ghosts from the past. In the beginning his wedding to Erica had been happy enough. Everyone claimed the lovely Hirst daughter was the catch of the season, but time proved they weren’t meant for each other, and she’d spent a lot of her time here rather than the city.
There’d been unmet expectations and disappointments on both sides. The sameness of their existence had become so severe, they’d drifted apart. The last time they’d been intimate, it had been a halfhearted attempt on his part to rekindle what they’d lost, but the spark was gone.
He followed his father-in-law through the house until they came to the dayroom, a contemporary addition that had been constructed after Erica had moved back with them. No doubt to keep her busy with something to do while she waited for the baby to come.
Anne’s series of decorators had filled it with pots of flowers and rattan couches covered in bright prints of pink and orange. The floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked several acres of garden and manicured lawns that were green and smooth as velvet.
His mother-in-law sat in one of the chairs, stiff as a piece of petrified wood. Nick’s gaze flew to his son, who was lying in the fancy baby carriage. He’d been dressed for travel and was wide-awake.
Nick had no complaints about Jamie’s care, but couldn’t wait to take him away because he’d be damned if he would allow history to repeat itself for one more day. Nick had been emotionally neglected by his parents. Erica had suffered the same fate though she could never admit it and preferred living in denial.
There’d been a lot of damage done. He wasn’t about to commit the same crime where Jamie was concerned.
“Hello, Anne.”
She couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
Nick walked over to the carriage, still awed by the fact that he was a father, that he and Erica were responsible for Jamie’s existence.
The baby had inherited Nick’s long, lean body and black hair, but Nick saw hints of Erica’s nose and bone structure in his face. She’d been an attractive, slim brunette of medium height like Anne.
“Hi, sport. Remember me?” Nick leaned over and grasped Jamie’s tiny hand. One look at Nick and the baby breathed a little faster with excitement. He wrapped his fingers around Nick’s index finger. The next thing he knew it went to his mouth, always to the mouth, causing Nick to chuckle.
So far his eyes were a muddy color and would probably go brown like his and Erica’s. No doubt they would fill with tears when he took Jamie away and the baby discovered himself in strange surroundings. Better get this over quick.
Seizing the moment, he lifted the baby and propped him against his shoulder. “Come on, son. We’re going to take a little ride in the car with Paul. Would you like that?”
Walter handed him the quilt and a diaper bag. His eyes sent a message to Nick that he’d better live up to his promises. “The nurse printed out Jamie’s routine and the things you’ll need after you get to your apartment.”
“I can’t thank you enough for watching over Jamie until now. I promise I’ll bring him back next Saturday for a visit.”
“We’ll expect you.” But Walter couldn’t get Anne to lift her head.
“Anytime either of you wants to see him, just come by the apartment. If I’m at work, the nanny will let you in.”
Anne’s head flew back, revealing a face devoid of animation. “Barbara Cosgriff can’t let their nanny come to you until September. There’s no reason to take our grandson yet.” The reproach in her voice was palpable.
“There’s every reason, Anne. I miss my son and am engaging someone else until then.”
“Who?” she demanded.
“I’m not sure yet. My secretary has been interviewing applicants all week. By tomorrow I expect she’ll have found several for me to talk to personally. She’ll do a thorough vetting. That woman is worth her weight in gold and has never let me down yet.”
“What does she know about being a nanny?”
“Though I realize you can’t comprehend it, she’s been an exceptional working mother for me and that has never changed since she came to work eight years ago. It tells me she’ll know what to look for. Keep in mind that the nanny she finds will only be with me three months until the Cosgriffs’ nanny becomes free.”
That was what he was saying now, yet in fact he had no idea if he would hire the Cosgriffs’ nanny at all! But that revelation could keep for another day. “I plan to work shorter hours this summer, so it won’t be as if Jamie’s alone with her twelve hours a day.”
“If you’d taken more time off to travel with Erica, you could have saved your marriage.”
No. Nothing could have saved it, Anne. But to get into a postmortem with her at this stage would be futile.
“Your penthouse isn’t suited to having a baby there, but somehow you insisted on Erica living there with you so you could be close to your work. She needed a real home where she could entertain.”
His temper flared again, but he managed to keep it contained. “She made it into a place where she could invite her friends after the opera and the ballet. I offered to buy Sedgewick Manor in the Hamptons for her, but she preferred to stay with you because she said it suited her better. Jamie and I will manage.”
Nick didn’t know how yet, but he’d figure it out. He kissed the baby’s silky head. “Thank the nurse for the notes. I’m sure I’ll need to refer to them until I get used to the routine.”
She kept her hands tightly clasped in her lap. “The nurse said he’ll be ready for another bottle when he goes down for his nap at noon.”
“That’s good to know. We’ll be back at the apartment by then.” Hopefully at that point Nick would have heard from Leah Tribe about the new nanny.
“See you next Saturday. Remember you can call anytime.”
Nick turned and walked through the house with his son, still disbelieving this day had come and he was leaving the whole dreadful past behind. It was like tearing off a straitjacket.
When Paul saw him, he got out of the limo. Together they put Jamie in his new car seat. Nick could have done it without Paul’s help, but he was grateful for it because it would probably have taken Nick half a dozen tries to get the confounded thing right.
The older man studied his tiny features for a minute. “I see a lot of you in him, Nick. He’s a fine-looking boy.”
“Blame that on his mother.”
Paul patted his shoulder. “I’ll drive carefully.”
“I’m not worried.”
He put the diaper bag on the opposite seat, then sat next to Jamie and fastened his own seat belt. As they started down the driveway, he looked around but only saw the closed front door of Hirst Hollow. It symbolized a closed life because both sets of parents had been emotionally unavailable.
You should have done this sooner, Wainwright.
But it was too late for more regrets. He needed to let the past go and concentrate on Jamie. When he looked down, he caught the baby staring at him.
Nick smiled and put out his hand so he’d grab it. His little fingers took hold with surprising strength. No tears yet. They hadn’t been gone long enough for Jamie to miss the familiar faces of his nurse and grandparents.
He fought down the anger generated by his own lack of action up to now. Mired in guilt, he’d been slow to pull himself out of a depression that had its inception long before Erica’s death. His estrangement from her had been one thing, but to realize his son barely knew him twisted his gut.
A chance remark by a client last week had wakened him out of his morose stupor. “With your wife gone, that new baby of yours must be a real joy to you. There’s nothing like a child to make the pain go away.” The comment made him realize he could be a good father.
Once his client had left the office, Nick had got on the phone to his attorney and let him know he planned to bring Jamie home where he belonged. After setting things in motion, he’d called in Leah to help him start looking for a nanny.
Nick studied the little scrap of humanity strapped in the infant seat next to him. Jamie was his son. Flesh of his flesh. It pained him he’d waited this long to go get him. Emotion grabbed him by the throat.
“I know this is a brand-new experience for you, sport. It is for me, too. You have no idea. I’m more the baby than you are right now and frankly, I’m terrified. You’re going to help me out, aren’t you?”
For answer, Jamie gave him a big yawn. A laugh escaped Nick’s throat. He’d never been responsible for anyone before. Except that wasn’t exactly true. When he’d taken on a wife, he’d promised to love her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death do us part.
He sucked in his breath. He’d only done the for-richer part right. But now that he had Jamie, he realized he’d been given a second chance and planned to do all of it right.
Nick had come along late in life, his parents’ only child. No siblings to play with. They hadn’t allowed him a pet because both his parents didn’t want to deal with one. It was too hard, they said, when they went on vacation.
He had two cousins, Hannah and Greg, the children of his father’s oldest brother. They rarely played together. It wasn’t until after he and Greg were taken into the firm that he got to know him better. In Nick’s loneliness growing up, he could see why he’d turned to books. Over time he’d found solace in his studies and work.
Erica had been a socialite wife like her mother, like Nick’s. One eternal round of beautiful people enjoying their financially comfortable, beautiful lives. Not until Nick was part of the firm did his own father take an interest in him because he had a head for finances. But by then the damage had been done. They didn’t have that emotional connection he’d hungered for from childhood.
He caught Jamie’s busy feet with one hand and squeezed gently before letting them go again. Nick would be damned if he let the same thing happen to him and his son. Unfortunately two and a half months had already slipped by. Precious time that couldn’t be recovered.
While they drove on, he opened the diaper bag and pulled out the instructions. Besides sending along some supplies, the nurse had left exact notes on her routine with Jamie, how much formula he needed, how often, nap times, that kind of thing.
He’d already arranged for the department store to deliver a crib and a new infant car seat that had come yesterday. As he thought over the list of things still to be done, his cell phone rang. Glad to see it was his secretary, he answered.
“Leah? Any success yet?”
“I’ve found someone I believe will suit you and the baby.”
A Mary Poppins type only existed on film. “As long as she likes children and is a real motherly type and not some cardboard creation, I bow to your wisdom.”
“I’ll let you be the judge. She knows she hasn’t been hired yet. I told her a limo would be by to pick her up at one o’clock so you could meet her and make a final decision.”
“She can start today?”
“Yes. She needs a job badly.”
Excellent. “What’s her name?”
“Reese Chamberlain.”
“Tell me more about her.”
“If you don’t mind, Nick, I’ve decided to take a leaf out of your book. You once told me you prefer to attack a new project without listening to any other voices first while you formed your own opinion. I think that’s a good philosophy, especially in this case. She’ll be standing in front of the Chelsea Star Hotel on West 30th.”
Ms. Chamberlain really was in financial difficulty if she’d had to stay there.
“Tell Paul to look for the woman in yellow,” Leah added.
“You’re being very mysterious, if not cryptic. Give me something to go on.”
“I’ll wager she’s not like anyone you ever met.”
“That sounds promising.”
“I hoped it would.”
He made a sound in his throat. “Are you still accusing me of being a cynic?”
“I wouldn’t do that. If I’ve made a mistake, call me later and let me know so I can keep looking for the right person.”
“Do me a favor and phone Ms. Chamberlain. If she can be ready in forty-five minutes, we’ll pick her up on the way to the apartment.”
“She might not be available before time, but I’ll see what I can do and get back to you.” She clicked off.
Nick pocketed his phone, wanting to approve of Leah’s assessment of the woman because there was no time to lose. Establishing a routine for the baby with the new nanny ASAP meant he’d sleep better nights. Any more weeks spent with his grandparents and Jamie would think the nurse in the starched uniform was his mother. Heaven forbid.
CHAPTER TWO
REESE had barely reached the hotel when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID and her stomach clenched. She might have known this job was too good to be true. Better to brave the bad news now and get it over with before she left for the airport. She couldn’t afford to pay for another night here.
“Mrs. Tribe?”
“Ms. Chamberlain? I’m glad you answered. I’ve spoken with Mr. Wainwright. He’s on a tight schedule and would like you to be out in front of the hotel in approximately forty minutes. Is that possible?”
She breathed a huge sigh of relief. “No problem at all.”
“That’s fine then. I’ll let him know. Good luck to you.”
“Thank you again.”
After hanging up, she hurried to the dorm she’d shared with three other women. The one with Gothic piercings and purple streaks in her hair was still there stuffing everything on the bed into her backpack. She flicked Reese a glance. “How’d that interview go, honey?” Her Southern drawl was unmistakable.
“I think I got the job, but there’s one more test to pass.”
“I’d rather blow my brains out than be a nanny. They couldn’t pay me enough.”
Reese decided a response wasn’t necessary. She only had a few items to pack in her suitcase and got busy.
The woman finished packing her things and turned to Reese. “It’s been nice meeting you, honey. Y’all be careful now.”
“You, too. Good luck finding your boyfriend.”
“I’m going to need it.” The door closed. Peace at last.
Reese went to the restroom to freshen up. One look in the mirror and she decided to put her hair back in a ponytail. Babies loved to tug on loose strands. Hers would be better confined. With the heat already building outside, messy limp hair and a flushed face wouldn’t make the best impression. She had the kind of skin that splotched when the temperature soared.
After applying a fresh coat of lipstick, she left the bathroom, anxious to get this final interview over. With her purse and briefcase in one hand, and her suitcase in the other, she went downstairs to the lobby to check out. Unfortunately other guests anxious to get out sightseeing had the same idea. She had to wait in line.
There was a small crisis behind the desk. The computers were down. If the problem didn’t get resolved fast, Reese was going to be late. Five minutes went by. She made the decision to go outside. Of course it meant losing her place in line. If her ride had come, she would ask the driver to wait while she settled her account.
Sure enough a black limo with smoked glass had pulled up in front. As she hurried toward it, a uniformed chauffeur of middle age got out. “Ms. Chamberlain?”
“Yes. I’m sorry if you’ve been waiting. I’m still in line to pay my bill. Could I leave my suitcase with you? I’ll run back inside. I shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Take your time.”
“Thank you.”
Ten minutes later she rushed back outside. The driver opened the rear door of the limo for her so she could get in.
“Oh—”
“Oh” was right, Nick thought to himself as the longlegged, ash-blonde female took the seat opposite him and Jamie. She brought a flowery fragrance into the limo with her. What was she? Twenty-five, twenty-six?
Her modest blouse and skirt couldn’t hide the curves of a body well put together. She had to be five-eight in her bone-colored sandals and was so different from the image he had in mind of a plump, fortyish maternal type, he couldn’t imagine what Leah had been thinking.
Maybe the wrong person had gotten in the limo, but she was wearing yellow.
“You’re Reese Chamberlain?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Nicholas Wainwright.”
Her light blue eyes flared as if in surprise. “How do you do,” she said in a slightly husky voice that for no particular reason appealed to him. When she saw the baby who’d fallen asleep, her eyes sparkled with life. She leaned toward Jamie, seemingly oblivious to Nick. “Oh—look how darling! All that black hair and those long, silky lashes against his cheeks.”
Her gaze finally darted to Nick’s. “I’m sorry to have kept you. Mrs. Tribe warned me you were a punctual man, and now I’ve already committed my first sin. But the computers were down at the hotel and I had to wait in line until they could check me out.”
No New Yorker here or anything close. Midwest maybe? “So my driver explained. We’re not in a hurry. Jamie’s being very cooperative.”
“He’s a wonderful boy.” When her eyes lifted, he could see they’d darkened with emotion. “I’m so sorry about your loss. If you decide to hire me, I promise to do everything I can to make your son as secure and happy as possible until your permanent nanny comes to live with you.”
Either she was the greatest actress alive, or this was her true self. Leah was a shrewd judge of character. Something had to have appealed to his secretary for her to pick a woman whose age and looks were totally wrong for the position. She appeared too healthy to be a model, yet had the right bones and height. All Walter and Anne had to do—or anyone else for that matter—was get a glimpse of her and…
The limo was already working its way through traffic. Paul would have them deposited at the front of the apartment before long. Nick needed more information so he could decide if he would send her back to the hotel before they ever got out of the car.
“Room and board aside, what kind of salary were you expecting, Ms. Chamberlain?”
She named a figure below what he’d anticipated she would ask for. “Does that sound all right to you?”
“It’s fine,” he muttered, bemused by everything that came out of her mouth. “Tell me what happens when you leave me in September?”
“I’ll move back to Philadelphia.”
His dark brows lifted. “Another nanny position?”
She studied him with a puzzled expression. “No. I’ll be in school again. I guess Mrs. Tribe failed to mention that to you.”
Something had been going on with Leah he didn’t understand. Without all the facts, he was at a loss. “She probably did, but I’m afraid I’ve been preoccupied with the arrangements for my son.”
“Of course. She said your in-laws have been helping out. There’s nothing like family coming to the rescue in a crisis. The baby will probably have a hard time with me at first, always looking for you or his grandparents. Were you thinking of giving me a trial run? I’ll do whatever. And please don’t worry. If you decide to look for someone else, I have a backup plan.”
He blinked in surprise. “I thought you needed a job.”
“I do, but if all else fails, I’ll fly home and my father will let me work for him this summer. It isn’t what I want to do,” she added, sounding far away, “but as I told you, there’s nothing like family in an emergency. Dad’s a sweetheart.”
What had Leah said? I’ll wager she’s not like anyone you ever met.
“Where is home?”
“Lincoln, Nebraska.”
So Nick was right. “What does your father do for a living?”
“He owns a lumberyard. I’ve helped in the office before.”
“You’re a long way from home. I presume college brought you to the East Coast.”
“That’s right. I’m a business major.”
Nick’s black brows furrowed. “Have you ever been a nanny?”
“No,” she said forthrightly, “but I come from a large family and have done my share of tending children.”
“Your mother worked, too?”
A gentle laugh escaped. “Oh, she worked—but not outside the home. Being the mother of six children is like running a major corporation. She’s been on call 24/7 since I was born.” Her eyes wandered to Jamie. “There’s nothing sweeter than a new baby. All they really need is lots of love between eating and sleeping.”
Suddenly the door opened. Paul stood there, reminding Nick they’d arrived. He’d been so engrossed in the conversation he hadn’t noticed the limo had stopped. Unless he could come up with a compelling reason not to hire her right now, taking her upstairs would be as good as a fait accompli.
While he hesitated, a piercing siren filled the air, the kind that sent an alarm through your body. It was so loud it woke Jamie, who came awake startled and crying. Before Nick could turn to get the baby’s straps undone, Ms. Chamberlain had already accomplished it and plucked him out of the car seat.
In an instant she had him cuddled against her shoulder. She’d moved too fast for it to be anything more than her natural instinct to comfort. “Did that mean old siren scare you?” Her hand shaped the back of his head. “It scared me, too, but it’s all right.” She rocked him, giving him kisses until his frightened cries turned into whimpers.
“Sorry,” she said, flicking her gaze to Nick. “I didn’t mean to grab him, but that siren made me jump and it was easier for me to dive for him than you. His heart is pounding like a jackhammer.” She started to hand the baby to Nick, but he shook his head.
“He seems perfectly happy where he is for the moment.”
With those words it appeared he’d sealed his own fate. Still bemused by what had happened, he turned to an oddly silent Paul who’d already pulled the diaper bag and her suitcase out of the limo.
The baby was gorgeous. He had the overall look and coloring of his dark, striking father, but it was apparent his mother had been a beauty in her own right. No wonder Mr. Wainwright seemed to brood even as he spoke to Reese. She hadn’t the slightest idea how long he and his wife had been married. What mattered was that she’d only been dead ten weeks.
Reese had undergone her own crushing pain when Jeremy had broken their engagement, but at least they hadn’t been married or had a child. She didn’t even want to think about the white-hot pain Jamie’s father must still be in. Reese couldn’t figure out how he was coping.
There was nothing she could do to alleviate his anguish. But if given the chance, she would love his little boy and make him feel secure during the hours his father was at work. By the time fall came and the new nanny took over, his daddy would have put more of his grief behind him.
Last Christmas Reese had been in agony over her split with Jeremy, but six months had gone by and she was still alive and functioning better these days. Though it would take Mr. Wainwright longer to heal, she was living proof that you didn’t die of a broken heart. But he wouldn’t want to hear those words right now so she wouldn’t say them.
“Shall we go up?”
His deep voice broke into her reverie. She turned her head, surprised he’d already gotten out of the limo. Reese took a quick second breath because it appeared he wasn’t about to send her away yet. Feeling the baby cling to her had made the whole situation real for the first time. She discovered she wanted this job very much.
“Jamie seems to have quieted down,” she commented.
“Thanks to you.” The comment warmed her before he reached for his son. Though he was tiny compared to his father, they looked so right together in their matching colored suits. She surmised Mr. Wainwright was in his early to mid-thirties although age was hard to tell and could add years when one was grieving.
Realizing she would become morose if she kept thinking about it, she stepped out of the limo with her purse, determined to put on a bright face for Jamie. That was her job after all. She followed his father inside a prewar brick-and-limestone building. Evidently there’d been massive renovations because the interior exuded luxury. They entered the elevator and rode to the fourteenth floor.
When the doors opened, she glimpsed a penthouse the public only got to see from inside the pages of Architecture Digest. The apartment itself was a piece of modern sculpture with its tall curving walls and a sweeping loft where she glimpsed a library of books and statuary. At every turn she was surprised by a bronze étagère of Mesoamerican artifacts here or a cubist painting there.
Impressions of Old World antiques, objets d’art and moiré silk period pieces flew at her like colors through a prism. There was a grand piano and a set of gorgeous Japanese screens in one section. Everywhere she looked, her gaze fastened on some treasure. A grouping of eighteenth-century furniture faced the fireplace. She wouldn’t know where to begin describing the layout or furnishings of this Park Avenue address.
Months ago she’d seen an article with pictures in the Times of a condo something like this one that had just sold for thirty million dollars. She supposed his wealth could have come through his business endeavors.
But his breeding gave her the sense that he’d been born into the kind of family whose wealth had been one of the mainstays of Wall Street for generations. Mrs. Tribe hadn’t let on. If Reese had been in her place, she wouldn’t have, either.
“Since you’re from Nebraska and the wide-open spaces, you’ll probably find the area out here more to your liking.”
She followed him across the living room’s velvety Oriental rugs to the span of rounded arched windows reminiscent of the Italian masters. He opened some sliding doors. When she stepped out on the terrace, she felt as if she’d entered a park complete with trees, hedges, a pool,and tubs of flowering plants placed around with an artistic flare.
As she walked to the edge, she had an unimpeded view of Park Avenue down to the Helmsley building. The whole thing was incredible. “I would imagine after a hard day at the office, this is your favorite room, too.” She saw a telescope set up at one end beyond the patio furniture. When Jamie was old enough, he’d be enthralled by everything he could see through it from this angle.
“It can be pleasant if it’s not too hot. I can’t say I’ve spent that much time out here lately, but I do use the gym every morning. It’s on the upper deck of my terrace. You’ll see the stairs. You’re welcome to work out if you want.”
“Thank you.”
She sensed he was in a dark mood. Lines bracketed his mouth. “Let’s go back inside. I’ll let you pick the bedroom you’d like, but perhaps you’d like to freshen up first. The guest bathroom is through that door.”
“Thank you. I’m pretty sure Jamie’s diaper needs to be changed. Could we go to the nursery first?”
He shot her an intense glance. “For now there’s only a crib in my bedroom that was delivered yesterday. I haven’t decided where he should sleep yet.”
So Jamie had been at his grandparents’ from the start. Why? “I see. Well, let me wash my hands first.” She slipped inside the bathroom that looked more like an arboretum with plants and flowers. After washing and drying her hands, Reese joined him just inside the sliding doors and trailed her employer through the fabulous apartment to the master bedroom with a decidedly all-male look.
It had been decorated along straight lines and contemporary furniture with accents of greens and blues. Some graphics on the walls. No frills, no sense of femininity. Above all, no family pictures. Too painful a reminder? Maybe he kept them in the living room and she hadn’t noticed.
The walnut crib stood at the end of the king-size bed. It had a crib sheet but no padding. The diaper bag had been put in the room along with her suitcase. Without hesitation she reached inside the bag for a diaper. Along with a dozen of them it contained a twelve-hour supply of small, individual bottles of formula, another stretchy outfit, a shirt and a receiving blanket. She pulled it out and spread it over the top of the bed.
“If you’ll lay him on this, we’ll change him.”
He walked over and put Jamie down. “Okay, sport. This is going to be a new experience for all of us.”
Mr. Wainwright wouldn’t be the first man who’d never changed a diaper. “The baby’s so happy with you, why don’t you undo his outfit. We’ll work on this together.”
Reese smiled to herself to see the good-looking, well-dressed executive bending over his son to perform something he’d never done before. He seemed more human suddenly and even more attractive.
It took him a minute to undo all the snaps and free his legs. Reese undid the tabs on the diaper. “Lift his legs.” When he did, she drew the old one away and slid in the new one. “Okay. Lower him and put up the front, then fasten it with these side tabs.”
The baby’s body was in perpetual motion. You could hear him breathing fast with animation. “He likes all this attention, don’t you.” She couldn’t resist kissing his tummy after his father had finished. In truth her physical awareness of Mr. Wainwright had caught her off guard.
“Great job, Daddy. You did it so fast, he didn’t have a chance to get you wet.” His quiet chuckle pleased and surprised her. She’d like to hear that sound more often, then chastised herself for having any thoughts of a personal nature about him.
“While you finish dressing him, I’ll get rid of this.” She took the soiled diaper and headed for a door she could see across the room, thinking it was the bathroom, but it led to an office where he could work at home. “Oops. Wrong room.”
“The bathroom’s behind me. I didn’t realize it was your destination.” By now he was holding Jamie against his shoulder again. They really did look gorgeous together.
Reese averted her eyes and moved past him before opening the door to the elegant bathroom. She put the diaper on the marble counter, madly compiling a mental list of all the things they would need to make his apartment baby friendly.
After washing her hands, she came out again and said, “Do you know my whole family could fit in there comfortably?” His lips twitched. When they did that, he didn’t look as stressed and was too attractive by far. “How many bedrooms are there besides this one?”
“There’s one across the hall from my room, and one at the other end of the apartment.”
“I’ve been thinking…Would it be possible to move your office to that other bedroom, or to somewhere else in the apartment entirely?”
He cocked his dark head. “Anything’s possible.”
“It’s just that your office is the perfect size for a nursery because it has a door leading into your room as well as the hall. If you put Jamie in there, he’d be close to you. I assume that’s what you want. As for me, I could stay across the hall where I could hear him, too. I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, I didn’t like being isolated from my parents.”
He stared at her so hard, she couldn’t imagine what was going through his mind, but it made her worry she might have overstepped her bounds. “What do you think?” she prodded quietly.
“It’s a brilliant idea, one I would never have thought of.”
“Oh, good.” Reese was amazed he would admit something like that. Most men had too much pride. She liked that quality about him very much. To her alarm, she realized, there wasn’t anything about this man she didn’t like.
Why hadn’t his wife fixed up a nursery before the baby was born? Had they lived somewhere else? Maybe he’d only recently moved in here, but why hadn’t he brought everything for the baby with him?
Whatever the answer, you would have thought his wife would have taken on the job of getting prepared for a baby, but she was gone now. All he had was Reese.
“I tell you what. If you want to stay here with Jamie, maybe you could ask your driver to take me to a store where I can get all the things we need in one stop? It’ll take a limo to bring back everything we require in a single trip.”
When he didn’t respond she said, “Or else I’ll make a list for you and you buy everything while I tend the baby? Later we can move furniture and get everything set up. It’s kind of fun to do together. Jamie can watch us. He’s very bright and alert. By tonight we’ll have this place transformed and he’ll know he’s home with his daddy.”
She watched him reach in his pocket for his cell phone. “I’ll call Paul and tell him to meet you out in front. He’ll take you to a place where I have an account. Buy whatever we need. When you get back, the concierge will arrange to get everything upstairs.”
To not have to worry about money would be a first in her life. Since it was for Jamie, she would take his father at his word and enjoy her shopping spree.
“After you’ve returned I’ll ask the chef to send up a meal for us. Are you allergic to anything?”
Chefs, a doorman, a concierge, no ceiling on expenditures— One could get used to this instantly.
“No, but thank you for asking. Are there certain foods you can’t tolerate, Mr. Wainwright?”
“No.”
“What about the baby?”
“So far no problems that I know of.”
“Thank goodness. Excuse me for a minute while I freshen up in my bedroom.”
She reached for the suitcase and briefcase and carried them across the hall to the other bedroom done in an opulent Mediterranean decor. It had its own ornate en suite bathroom with two sinks. She would use one of them to bathe Jamie. Afterward she couldn’t wait to wrap him up in the plush lavender towels hanging from a row of gilded hooks.
Reese looked around, incredulous that this was happening. Her thoughts darted to her employer. How was is it possible she’d be sleeping across the hall from the most fabulous man she’d ever met in her life?
After Ms. Chamberlain left the apartment, Nick fed the baby another bottle. He’d watched the nurse burp Jamie and had gotten that part down right. Once Jamie fell asleep, Nick laid him in the center of the bed and put the quilt over him. In the process he noticed the time on his watch. It was after three. The day had gotten away from him completely.
He reached for his cell phone and called the office. “Uncle Stan?”
“Where have you been? I need to discuss the Grayson merger with you. I’ve run into a snag and want your help.”
“I’m aware of that, but it won’t be possible today or tomorrow. Can’t you talk to Uncle Phil?”
“He’s at the dentist getting a new crown this afternoon.”
“Then ask Greg.”
“He doesn’t know all the ins and outs. It’s too tricky for him.”
“Nevertheless I can’t come in the office until Monday.”
“That might be too late, Nicky.” His father’s younger brother had always been an alarmist.
“Sorry, but it can’t be helped.”
“Since when? I don’t understand.”
No. He wouldn’t. His uncle and aunt had been childless. “Today I brought Jamie home for good.”
There was a deafening silence. “I thought he—”
“He’s been with his grandparents too long as it is,” he broke in.
“But how will you manage?”
So far…better than Nick had thought possible. “I’ve hired a nanny.” A totally feminine, beautiful, unexpected young woman. The image of her clutching Jamie to her while they were still in the limo—as if she was the mother—refused to leave his mind.
“I had no idea you’d even been looking for one. Your father never said a word.”
“He and Mother were already in Cannes when I made the decision.”
“I hear a decent one is almost impossible to come by. Is she over forty?”
His patience was running out. “Why do you ask?”
“Because anyone younger who still has their eyesight will do whatever it takes to get set up with you.”
If Nick had inherited a cynical gene, it had to have come from his uncle. But in this case he wasn’t worried. Leah would have done a thorough check of Ms. Chamberlain’s background. He paid his secretary a salary that ensured mistakes like the one his uncle was talking about didn’t happen.
“See you on Monday, Uncle Stan,” Nick muttered before clicking off. Now to get busy dismantling his office. But before he did that, he changed out of his suit into something more comfortable.
To his relief, Jamie slept through the next two hours. By the time the concierge rang him at five and told him he was on his way up with Ms. Chamberlain, Nick had just wheeled the baby crib into the empty room.
He walked through the apartment to the entry and opened the door. Soon his nanny emerged from the elevator carrying bags in both hands. As she passed by him she said, “Merry Christmas.” She was intriguing and amusing at the same time.
Behind her came the concierge pushing a dolly loaded with cartons. Paul brought up the rear with more bags. He winked at Nick, who was still reacting to her comment. “This bag goes in the kitchen. Then we have one more load,” he whispered before heading for the other room.
“You’ve done the work of a thousand—” she exclaimed to Nick after the men had filed back out of the new nursery. “Jamie’s going to love this room once we’ve whipped it into shape. How’s he doing so far?”
She had such a vivacious personality, Nick was mesmerized. No wonder Leah had picked her. Ms. Chamberlain had to have stood out a hundred miles from any of the other nanny candidates.
“He’s still asleep on my bed.”
“I’ll just wash my hands and peek in on him.”
“While you do that I’ll ask the kitchen to send up our dinner.” He made the call, then started looking through the bags, curious to see what she’d purchased for one tiny baby. In a minute the concierge came through with even more cartons.
“Have fun putting all this together, Mr. Wainwright. Leave the empty boxes outside in the hall and I’ll pick them up.”
Nick thanked him and walked him out in time to ask the waiter to set up their dinner in the dining room. Halfway back to his bedroom he met her in the hall carrying Jamie in her arms. “This little guy was awake. I guess he could hear the noise and started to fuss. He needed a diaper change and let me handle it, but I think he wanted you to do the honors.”
“Well, now that the deed is done, our food is ready in the dining room.”
“That sounds good. If you’ll open the carton that says baby swing, we can set it up in there and he can watch you while we eat. It will be perfect for him when we go out on the terrace during the day.”
He hadn’t seen one of those at the Hirsts’. “You want to swing?” Nick gave him a kiss on the cheek before heading into the nursery. Reese followed him and waited while he opened the carton.
“There should be some batteries taped to the inside of the lid.”
“Batteries?”
“They make it swing and play music at the same time.”
Though he moved millions of dollars around on paper every day, the world of a baby and all its attendant necessities had passed him by completely. Whether his boy needed a swing or not, he had one now. Thankfully it wasn’t as difficult to put together as installing the base of the infant car seat in the limo. It had taken him several attempts before he’d managed to do it right.
“Let’s go try this out.”
“Your daddy’s a genius to assemble it so fast, Jamie.”
“Don’t speak too soon in case it goes crashing down, taking my son with it.”
“We’re not worried.”
He stared into her shimmering blue eyes, dumbfounded over Leah’s find. “Then you should be.”
CHAPTER THREE
WHEN Nick looked at her like that, Reese’s heart began thudding for reasons she didn’t dare explore right now.
She followed him back to the living room. The floor-to-ceiling French doors at the end had been opened to reveal a dining room that took her breath. First came the chandelier of Czechoslovakian glass. One of this kind and size was a museum piece. She thought the same thing of the massive Italian provincial hutch that lined the far wall.
Its shelving held handblown Venetian glass and stunning pieces of china no longer made. On the opposite wall was a long European hunt board with its distinctive stylized pheasants and peacocks. A still-life oil painting of fruits hung above it.
The window featured tapestries with tassels pulled halfway down depicting various pastoral scenes. When she could tear her gaze away, it fell on the rectangular table of dark oak dominating the room. She counted sixteen chairs around. The exquisite woodwork was complemented by the upholstery fabric, a blend of rich green and cream striping on velvet.
Two candelabras with lighted tapers flanked a breathtaking centerpiece of fresh flowers including creamy lilies and roses interspersed with greenery. The top of the beautifully carved table had such a highly polished surface, everything gleamed. Two places nearest the doors had been set where their dinner awaited them.
She finally looked at her employer. “I’m afraid whoever dreamed up this masterpiece of a room didn’t have that swing in mind.” He’d set it on a gorgeous Persian rug at the corner of the table.
“I have to give my wife credit for much of the apartment’s decor.”
So they had lived here together. How painful this must be for him. “She had incomparable taste.”
He took the baby from her and fastened him in the seat. “Let’s see if he likes this.” When he pressed the button, it started to swing and played “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.” Jamie looked at his father. The baby acted happy and it brought a ghost of a smile to his father’s lips.
Mr. Wainwright’s eyes unexpectedly narrowed on her features. “Your contribution to the room keeps it from feeling like a museum. Shall we eat?”
Reese could imagine the apartment felt that way to him with his other half gone out of his life. But he had his adorable son staring up at him in wonder, as if his father was the whole world to him. That had to compensate for his loss.
Leaving him to sit at the head of the table, she took her place at the side just as the song changed to another nursery rhyme. It played a medley of ten tunes.
He removed the covers from their plates, sending a mouthwatering aroma through the room. “Help yourself to coffee or tea.”
“Thank you, but I’ll just have water.” She poured herself a glass from the pitcher and drank a little before starting in on her food. “This roast chicken is delicious.”
“I’ll tell the chef. He was plucked from a five-star hotel in Paris.”
“The chicken or the chef?”
His deep laugh disarmed her. “Touché.”
She laughed with him. “It explains the buttery taste I love. I’m afraid I’m as bad as Julia Child. We think alike. Butter is the building block for good food.”
His dark eyes flicked to hers. The candlelight reflecting in them made the irises look more brown than black. Until now she hadn’t been able to decide their exact shade. “You eat a lot of it out in Nebraska, do you?”
“We Cornhuskers never heard of cholesterol,” she teased, laying it on a little thick. “In truth, all of us healthy farm girls thrive on it.”
One dark brow shot up. “If I offended you, I didn’t mean to.”
She smiled. “I know you didn’t. I was just having fun.”
“That’s a refreshing quality of yours, Reese. Mind if I call you that?”
His genuine warmth came as a surprise. She hadn’t expected a truly successful, wealthy CEO like him to be so well-rounded. It was probably that quality as much as his brilliant mind that drew people to him and made him such a paragon.
“To be honest, I hate being called Ms. Chamberlain, Mr. Wainwright.”
He smiled. “If that was more funning on your part, I still get the hint. Call me Nick.”
“Thank you. I was afraid it wouldn’t happen for a while.”
Another chuckle ensued. “Am I that impossible?”
Reese was already too addicted to his potent charisma. “Not at all, but I’d like Jamie to know I have a first name. Ms. Chamberlain is kind of heavy for a ten-week-old.” She put her fork down. “Speaking of the baby, I know it looks like I bought out the store, but everything I purchased was for a reason. Of course I’ll take anything back you don’t like or find necessary.”
“I’ll reserve judgment until tomorrow. We’ve worked hard enough today and need an early night.”
“The only thing we ought to do before turning in is to fix up Jamie’s crib.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, but it needs a mattress cover under the fitted sheet and a bumper pad to go around the edges so he won’t hurt his head against the bars. And I bought a cute little mobile with farm animals that plays tunes. Anything with bright colors and he’ll reach for it.”
He glanced down at Jamie. “You know what, sport? I have a feeling Reese is going to spoil you rotten.”
“That’s the plan,” she interjected. “You can’t spoil babies enough because they’re too cute.” She leaned over to cup his cheek.
“Would you like dessert?” he murmured.
She felt his dark gaze on her, making her so aware of him, it sent heat to her face. “I don’t think I have room for any, thank you. The dinner was wonderful.”
Reese started to get up from the table, ready to take the dishes into the kitchen. She assumed it lay beyond the door at the other end of the dining room. But he said, “Leave everything for the waiter. He lets himself in and out. So do the maids.”
“I didn’t realize.” She remained in place.
“When you need a wash done for you or the baby, just put it in a laundry bag on the counter in your bathroom. You’ll find them in the cupboard beneath the sinks. If you need pressing or tailoring done, phone them to indicate what you want.”
She left her napkin next to her plate. “Do you always have your meals brought up?”
“No. Most of the time I eat out. Occasionally I fix something in the kitchen and sit at the island. While you’re here, feel free to order whatever you want from downstairs. All you have to do is pick up the house phone and dial one for the chef’s office, or two for maid service. They come in every morning. Your job is to take care of Jamie, nothing else.”
“Understood.”
“You’re welcome to fix your own meals whether I’m home or not. Tomorrow there’ll be time for you to look around the pantry and compile a list of groceries you’d like to have on hand. Dial three for the concierge. Give him the list and he’ll see they’re delivered.”
He pushed himself away from the table and stood up to take the baby out of the swing. “Come on, Jamie. Let’s see how long it takes your old man to put that mobile together.”
“You’ve been given a reprieve on that one,” Reese said, bringing up the rear. “The only thing you have to do is fasten it to the end of the crib and turn on the music. There’s a small sack of batteries somewhere, but give me a minute to make up the crib first.”
He moved fast on those long, powerful legs. She had to hurry to keep up with him. When they reached the nursery, she found the item for him, then quickly got busy. After she’d tied the last part of the bumper pad, she reached for Jamie.
“I’ll feed him while you set up the mobile.”
She darted into Nick’s bedroom and got a bottle of formula out of the diaper bag, sat down on the end of his bed and fed Jamie.
“You’re a hungry boy.” He drank noisily. His burps were noisy, too, making her laugh. When he’d drained his bottle, she wandered back into the nursery where she found Nick watching the mobile turn while it played a song.
He glanced at her as she walked in. “I know I didn’t have one of these when I was growing up.”
She nuzzled Jamie’s neck. “I think you’re going to like what your daddy just put up.” When she lowered him to the mattress, the tune drew his attention, as did the plush animals going around and around.
“Look, Nick—his cute little body is squiggling with excitement. He loves it!”
“I think you’re right.” When she looked up, their eyes caught and held. The intensity of his gaze made it difficult to breathe. “If you want to call it an early night, go ahead. I’ll get up with him during the night. Tomorrow will be soon enough to take care of everything else and set up a schedule.”
Then he looked back at Jamie with so much love, Reese was spellbound. She got the hint. He wanted time alone with his son. Nothing could be more natural or more reassuring to Jamie who, would be spending tonight in brand-new surroundings.
“I’ll say good-night then and see both of you in the morning.” As she reached the door, she turned around. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I’m very grateful. He’s a precious boy.”
Without waiting for a response, Reese slipped out of the nursery to the bedroom across the hall. After taking a shower and getting ready for bed, she climbed under the covers and reached for her cell phone to call her parents. It was an hour earlier in Lincoln.
“Reese? I’ve been hoping you’d call, honey.”
“Sorry about that, Mom, but I’ve been so busy today, this has been my first chance to call. I’ve gotten myself a nanny job.”
“Of course I’m happy for you, but everyone misses you.”
“I miss them, but with the salary I’ll be making here, I can concentrate my time on studying for the Series 7 and the Series 65. I have to take the test at the end of July before classes start again at the end of August. It shouldn’t be a problem putting in the hours I need and still work around the baby’s schedule.” But she needed to get busy right away, which didn’t give her much breathing room.
“You only have one child to look after?”
“Yes. He’s ten weeks old. Oh, Mom, Jamie’s the most beautiful child you ever saw.” That was because his father was the most arresting male Reese had ever laid eyes on in her life. The byplay of muscles beneath his T-shirt revealed a fit masculine body. Working out in his gym on the roof every day was the reason he was so buff.
“What are his parents like? I hope they’re nice. Do you think you’ll all get along?”
Reese bit her lip. “There’s just the father. His wife died during the birth.”
“Oh, no—”
“It’s very sad.”
“What’s his name?”
“Nick Wainwright. He’s the CEO at Sherborne-Wainwright. It’s the kind of brokerage company every student at Wharton would kill for in order to be able to work there. Would you believe I’ve been installed in his penthouse on Park Avenue? If Jackie Onassis were alive today, she would gobble it up in a second.”
Her mom chuckled. “Be serious.”
“I am. Who ever dreamed I’d be an honest-to-goodness nanny in a household like his?”
“How old is he?”
“It’s hard to tell. Thirty-three, thirty-four maybe.”
“Well…you’ve got a terrific head on those shoulders and broke off with Jeremy for a reason. I don’t have to worry about you losing sight of your career plans just yet, do I?”
“Nothing could make me do that.”
“I believe you. Destiny has already singled out my brilliant daughter for something special. Tell me more about this financial prince of Park Avenue.”
“Mom—” Reese laughed. “Financial prince…what a thing to say.”
“Tell me the truth. Is he as gorgeous as Jackie’s son was?”
Her mother would keel over if she ever got a look at Jamie’s father. “There are no words.”
“Well. Coming from you, that says it all.”
Reese was afraid it did.
“Still, if I know my daughter, you won’t let anything get in the way of your goal. I happen to know you’re going to be a big name to contend with in the business world one day.”
Reese’s eyelids prickled. “Thanks for believing in me, Mom.”
“Oh, I do! Just don’t let those mothering instincts make you too attached to the baby. It can happen.”
Reese knew it was one of the hazards of the job, but she’d deal with it. Jamie was an adorable little boy and it would be so easy to get attached to him, but Reese reminded herself that she would only be here for three months. “I love you. Give Dad and everyone else my love. I’ll call you soon.”
Once she’d hung up, she checked her phone messages. One was from her roommate, Pam, who’d gone home to Florida for the summer. Reese would call her sometime tomorrow.
The other call came from her study partner, Rich Bonner. He’d asked her to phone him back as soon as she could. He’d flown home to California for a break before returning to Philadelphia. Like her, he was preparing for his exams. They’d done a lot of studying together. Reese knew that Rich wanted more than just a platonic friendship with her, but she wasn’t interested, not that way.
If she didn’t return his call for a while, he’d hopefully get the hint. One of the problems with Rich was that he was highly competitive. As long as they remained friends, he had to be nice to her when she got higher grades than he did.
But Reese wagered that if she were ever to become his girlfriend, he’d start telling her how to live her life. Heaven forbid if she landed a better job than he did after graduation. Worse, what if she were married to him and he expected her to stay at home? Another control freak like Jeremy. Help. No more of that, please.
With a sigh, she turned off the lamp at the bedside and pulled the covers over her. Having taken Nick at his word that he would be getting up with the baby, she’d closed the bedroom door. Starting tomorrow night she’d put the new baby monitor in her room so she could hear him cry.
The day had been long and she felt physically exhausted, but exhilarated, too, because she’d found the kind of job she’d been hoping for, never dreaming it really existed. Now she didn’t have to go home. Instead she could make the kind of money her father wouldn’t be able to pay her by her staying right here in New York.
All she had to do was look after one little baby in surroundings only an exclusive group of people would ever know about or see. When Reese had mentioned Jackie Kennedy to her mom, she’d also been thinking of her son John Jr.’s Tribeca apartment.
It must have been over ten years ago she’d seen a few pictures of the interior following his death when she’d been a teenager. From what she remembered, it wasn’t nearly on the same scale of splendor as Mr. Wainwright’s fantastic residence. The architectural design for making the most of the light was nothing short of breathtaking.
Like the man himself. Breathtaking.
“Good morning, Reese.” Nick put his newspaper down on the glass-top patio table. He’d seen her ponytail swinging as she’d stepped out on the terrace and closed the sliding door. In a modest pale orange top and jeans that still managed to cling to her womanly figure, he was going to have difficulty keeping his eyes off her.
“So this is where you are.” She walked right over and hunkered down in front of Jamie, who was strapped in the swing wide-awake. He liked the motion, but Nick hadn’t turned on the music yet. “I’ve been looking for you.” She kissed his cheek and neck. “Hey—you’re wearing a nightgown. Do you have any idea how cute you look?”
Jamie transferred his attention to her while he took little breaths as if he recognized her. Naturally he did. Nick could have been blindfolded but would still know her by her scent. It reminded him of wildflowers. This time she kissed his son’s tummy, causing him to smile. “Did you sleep through the night like a good boy?”
“He had a bottle at two-thirty and only woke up again at seven-thirty.”
“Well, good for you.” She tickled his chin and got him to laugh out loud. “Five hours is terrific. The sixty-four-thousand-dollar questions is, how’s Dad?” She shot Nick a direct glance. The iridescent blue of her eyes was an extraordinary color.
“Dad’s all right for an old man. What about you?”
“I got a wonderful sleep and now I’m ready to help put that nursery together.”
“Not before you eat breakfast or you’ll hurt Cesar’s feelings.”
“Chef Cesar?” she teased.
“That’s right. He made a crab omelet in your honor with plenty of butter.”
“Did you hear that, Jamie? I guess I’d better eat it while it’s still hot.” She sat down opposite Nick and removed the cover on her plate. “Croissants, too?” Her gaze darted to the baby, who followed her movements while she ate. “We’re going to have to go for a long walk in the stroller to work off the pounds I can already feel going on. But that’s okay because this food is too good to resist.”
Nick couldn’t imagine her ever having that kind of a problem. “Coffee?”
“Please.”
To his dismay he discovered Reese had another quality he liked besides her ability to have fun. She enjoyed everything and ate her meal with real pleasure. No female of his acquaintance did that, certainly not Erica, who was constantly watching her figure.
He found Reese a woman devoid of self-consciousness. For some men, it might be off-putting, but for Nick it had the opposite effect…a fact that troubled him more than a little bit. She was his nanny for heaven’s sake!
After finishing her coffee, she looked across at him with a definite smile in her eyes. “Before we put our shoulders to the wheel—is there anything I should be worried about in the Wall Street Journal this morning?”
He chuckled. “Not unless you’ve been following news on the euro.”
“Is it good or bad?”
Her question surprised him for the simple reason he couldn’t imagine it being of interest to her, but she was being polite so he would return the compliment. “Overnight it staged a late surge in U.S. trading, rebounding sharply against the dollar. As a result it unwound the ‘carry’ trades and sent the Australian dollar and Brazilian real plunging.”
Her well-shaped brows knit together. “Is that a critical situation in your eyes?”
“No, but it has some global economists rattled.”
“Well, if you’re not upset, then I’m certainly not going to be.” She got to her feet. “If you don’t mind, I’ll carry him back to my bedroom and give him a quick bath. Then we’re all yours.”
Nick had no idea what to make of her. But as he watched her disappear with Jamie, he decided it didn’t matter because his son appeared to be in the best of hands. Yesterday morning he couldn’t have foreseen the changes that had already taken place since he’d picked her up in front of the hotel.
He gathered up the swing and headed for the nursery. After putting it in the corner, some impulse had him walking across the hall to her room. She’d left all the doors open, so he continued on through. When he reached the bathroom, the sight that greeted him brought a lump to his throat.
Reese had filled one of the sinks with water. While she cradled the back of Jamie’s head in the water, she washed his scalp and talked to him in soothing tones. His son was mesmerized. Slowly she rinsed off the baby shampoo, then took a bar of baby soap and washed his limbs. With the greatest tenderness she turned him over and washed his back. He made little cooing sounds Nick felt resonate in his body.
Without conscious thought he reached for one of the towels and held it up for her. Their eyes met for an instant. She said, “While you dry him off, I’ll find him a new outfit to put on.”
Nick cuddled his boy to him, uncaring that he was still wet. He smelled so sweet. As he felt Jamie burrow into his neck, a feeling of love flowed through him so intense, he was staggered by it.
“What do you think?” she asked when he appeared in the doorway to the nursery, holding up three outfits. “The white with the tiger, the green with the fish or the navy with the Snoopy?”
“Maybe we should let Jamie decide.” He turned him around in his arms and walked over to her. “I wonder which one he’ll go for.”
She laughed in anticipation, watching him closely. “His eyes keep looking at the dog.”
“Every boy should have one,” Nick declared. “Snoopy it is.”
“Did you have a dog?”
“No. What about you?”
“We went through three before I left home.”
Reese had the diaper ready. Nick lowered his son in the crib and put it on with no hesitation this time. She handed him the one-piece fitted suit with no legs. After he’d snapped it, he picked him up again.
“Let me brush his hair and then he’s ready for the day.” As she lifted her arm, it brushed against Nick’s. An unconscious thing to be sure, the lightest of touches. But he’d felt her warmth against his skin and the next thing he knew it had swamped his sensitized body.
He hadn’t been intimate with a woman since the last time he’d slept with Erica. That was the reason for this total physical reaction. It had to be.
“First things first,” she declared. “There’s a diaper pail around here somewhere with a scented deodorizer. Ah—” She opened one of the cartons. “Just what we need.” After lining it, in went the diaper. Then she lifted her head, causing her ponytail to swish like quicksilver. “Where do you want the crib to go?”
He struggled to concentrate. “How about the far wall. The sun won’t reach him there when the shutters are open, and it will leave both doorways free.”
“Perfect.” She moved things out of the way so she could roll it into position across the hardwood floor.
Nick settled Jamie back in his swing and they got to work opening all the boxes. While he put the stroller together, she stacked diapers, baby wipes, powder, baby cream, lotion and ear swabs in the changing-table compartments. After watching her bathe the baby with nonallergenic products, he realized there was a reason for everything she’d bought.
“I’m glad you took the Oriental rug away. I can’t wait for you to see the baby furniture,” she said as he reached for one of the bigger cartons.
Curious himself, Nick opened the box and discovered a child’s antique white dresser with olive-green trim and a Winnie the Pooh hand-painted over the drawers. The next box held a child’s chair in the shape of Piglet. A big Eyeore dominated the oval hook rug. In another carton he found a lamp whose base was shaped like a honey pot. The last carton was the biggest. When he opened it, he found an adult rocking chair with Owl as the motif.
“That’s so you can sit in here and feed him while you rock him to sleep.” She’d thought of everything. The set charmed him. She charmed him.
He took all the boxes out of the apartment and piled them in the hall. When he came back, Reese had placed the furniture around and had put a soft, furry Winnie the Pooh in one corner of his crib.
“You’ve turned this room into the Hundred Acre Wood. I like it.”
She whirled around with an anxious look on her face. “Honestly?”
“I doubt there’s another nursery more inviting. Jamie will grow up loving to be in here. Thank you for helping me.” She was an amazing person who had the knack of making everything exciting.
“I haven’t had so much fun in years.”
Neither had he. The ramifications of that admission were beginning to haunt him. “It’s noon. We need a break.”
Reese nodded. “I think your son is ready for another bottle.” She finished putting the outfits she’d bought into the dresser drawers.
“As soon as I wash my hands, I’ll be right back to try out the rocker with him.”
When Nick returned a few minutes later he found her putting more things on top of the dresser. Besides a large, colorfully illustrated edition of Winnie the Pooh, plus a leather-bound book that said Baby’s Memories, she’d added a pacifier, a couple of rattles, some infant painkiller, a baby thermometer, his little brush and a box of tissues.
In an incredibly short period of time she’d written Jamie’s signature on the face of his apartment. Now it was their home, father and son.
At the thought of what would have happened if he hadn’t hired her, he experienced real terror because it had opened up an old window of time. For a moment he’d glimpsed the painful gray emptiness of yesterday. He wanted that window closed forever so he wouldn’t have to know those emotions again.
Needing to feel his son’s wiggly body, he drew him out of the swing and they sat down in the rocker. Reese had put the bottle of formula next to it. While Nick fed him, she placed a burp cloth over his shoulder. He felt her gaze and could tell something was on that fascinating mind of hers. “I’ll be right back.”
Before long she returned with her phone and started snapping pictures of him and Jamie, of the room itself. “I’ll get these photos made into prints and start his scrapbook. My mom kept one for each of us and I still look at mine. When you get time, give me any photos you’d like to add.”
“I’ll do that.” When he’d separated from Erica, he’d instructed the maids to put the wedding album and photos in the dresser drawer of the bedroom at the other end of the hall.
“While you’re at it, if you have his birth certificate and the picture they took of him at the hospital, I could add it,” Reese suggested. “There’s a family tree in his book where I can put in pictures of you and his mother, and his grandparents. After he’s older, he’ll pore over them for hours.”
Nick smiled as the ideas rolled from her. She seemed to really care about Jamie and his future. She was remarkable.
“Later on I’ll see what I can dig up.”
“Good.” She took one more picture of the stuffed animal in the bed. “We’ll call his baby book The Penthouse at Pooh Corner.”
Nick broke into laughter. He couldn’t help it, even though it startled Jamie, who fussed for a minute before settling down again. Her way of putting things was a never-ending source of delight.
In the doorway to the hall she said, “You two deserve some quality time together so I’m going to leave you alone. While you’re feeding him, would you mind if I took a tour of your apartment?”
“This is your home for the next three months. I want you to treat it as such.”
“Thank you.”
Actually Reese’s request was an excuse to go back to her room. She’d have all summer to admire the treasures in Nick’s home and much preferred to do it when she had the apartment to herself.
The important thing here was to give him time alone with Jamie. Tomorrow he’d have to go back to work. Today was a gift he could enjoy with that adorable little boy who was an absolute dream to take care of.
For the moment she needed to acquaint herself with his kitchen. The disposable bottles of formula the nurse had sent in the diaper bag would be gone in another couple of feedings. Reese had bought the same brand of powdered formula and a set of bottles yesterday. She needed to run them through the dishwasher.
When she reached the fantasy kitchen, she wished Julia Child had been with her so she could hear her go into ecstasy. Now there was a chopping block befitting a piece of veal she could slap down and pound the life out of before she turned it into mouthwatering escalope de veau.
While Reese was still in a bemused state, the house phone rang. It sounded so loud, she jumped in surprise and hurried to pick it up for fear it would wake Jamie, who was probably asleep by now.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Chamberlain? This is Albert, the concierge.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you for your help yesterday, Albert.”
“That was quite a collection of things you bought. How’s the nursery coming along?”
“We’ve got it all put together.”
“That sounds like Mr. Wainwright. Does the work of ten without thinking about it. I’m calling because his in-laws have arrived and want to come up. Is he available to talk to?”
Reese was pretty sure Nick wasn’t expecting anyone, but that wasn’t for her to decide. “Just a moment and I’ll tell him to pick up the phone.” She put the receiver down and hurried through the apartment to the nursery.
The baby had finished his bottle and lay against Nick’s shoulder with his little eyelids fluttering. Reese hated to disturb them, but she had no choice. She walked around in front of him. He raised those dark eyes to her face in question.
“Albert is on the phone. He says your in-laws are downstairs and want to come up,” she mouthed the words.
Nick brushed his lips against the baby’s head before getting to his feet in one lithe male move. “I’ll talk to him from the phone in my bedroom.”
After he left with Jamie, she walked back to the kitchen. The second she heard Nick’s deep voice, she hung up the phone.
The bottles were still waiting. She removed the packaging before loading them in the dishwasher. The lids and nipples fit inside the little basket.
Beneath the kitchen sink she found a box of dishwasher detergent that hadn’t been used yet. She undid the seal and poured some in the dispenser. Pretty soon she had the machine going on the wash/dry cycle.
While she waited, she opened the canister of powdered formula and read the directions. Once the items were dry and sterilized, she measured enough instant formula into each, before adding the required amount of water.
Nick chose that moment to bring an attractive, well-dressed older couple into the kitchen. “Sorry. I was just making up Jamie’s formula.” She wiped her hands with a clean cloth.
Nick’s eyes glimmered with some emotion she couldn’t put a name to. “No problem. Reese Chamberlain? I’d like you to meet Jamie’s grandparents, Anne and Walter Hirst. They wanted to be introduced.”
“Of course.” She walked over to shake their hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Pulsuz fraqment bitdi.
