Bringing Up Babies. SUSAN MEIER
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of her face, Lily Andersen had the kind of beauty that could stop traffic. She wore a baby-blue sweater that wasn’t designed to accent her bosom, but did anyway, and modest jeans covering a perfect derriere and long legs.
“We’re looking for a nanny, but we plan to interview a lot of people,” he said, gently discouraging her because he couldn’t imagine this woman caring for triplet babies who required nearly round-the-clock care. “For first interviews I’m only asking a few preliminary questions. Suitable candidates will be called back for a second interview.”
Lily nodded her understanding. Chas motioned to the right, directing her down the hall to the den, praising the heavens as he followed behind her. Watching her hips move he acknowledged that nature had truly outdone itself when it created this woman. For a good ten seconds he wished she really did want to play mother to three motherless children, but he squelched that wish because it was selfish. Right now his top priority had to be the health, safety and well-being of the children.
Besides, he couldn’t have a relationship with her, anyway. First, if he hired her, she’d be his employee. Second, if he hired her, she’d be living in his house. Both circumstances spelled trouble.
Taking another look at the subtle swing of her hips, Chas sighed. It was a fun fantasy while it had lasted.
“Second door on the right,” he said.
She turned and smiled. “Thank you.”
Chas instructed Lily to take a seat as he rounded the old, worn desk that had once been his father’s to sit on the battered burgundy leather chair behind it. Professionally, as if he had interviewed nannies a million times, he reached for his legal pad and pen. “You said your name was Lily Anderson,” he said, writing the information at the top of the page.
“That’s right. Lily Andersen. A-N-D-E-R-S-E-N, not O-N.”
Chas glanced up and smiled. “E-N,” he repeated, making the note, though he knew the record would be worthless. When she discovered the job was caring for triplets, not one child, she would probably run in the other direction, but more than that, he’d already figured out he couldn’t seriously consider her a candidate to care for Taylor, Cody and Antoinette, whom they called Annie, unless she had excellent credentials. Tamping down the thought that it would be nice to simply look at this woman twenty-four hours a day, he knew her ability to attend to the children was the real bottom line.
“Where are you from, Lily?”
“Wisconsin.”
That stopped him. “You’re an awfully long way from home.”
She shrugged carelessly. “I know. I was feeling stifled by my family and decided to get away.”
“To Pennsylvania?” he asked incredulously.
She grinned charmingly, innocently. “Why not?”
Confused, Chas only stared at her. If she were running away, he’d expect a woman of her good looks to choose a place like Los Angeles or New York, a place where she might be able to put those good looks to work as an actress or model.
“I love Pennsylvania,” she continued. “You have beautiful mountains and fabulous trees. For a mid-Atlantic state, Pennsylvania has kept a lot of its rural appeal. I could probably live here happily forever.”
The flowing, melodious tones of her lovely voice lulled him into a warm, comfortable state and he found himself gazing at her like a love-sick puppy. She was beautiful, her voice was soft and sexy, and she had an absolutely perfect figure….
Call him a chauvinist, but a man had to know the limits of his endurance, and Chas knew his. Having this woman living with him in this house wasn’t going to work.
He almost felt bad for rejecting her for a problem that was his, not hers—then he realized the problem could be hers. Rather than believe she wanted to live in the middle of nowhere, it made more sense to think she was on her way to the big city, needed money, saw the Brewster ad, decided she could make quick, easy cash and stopped to try to get the job.
Well, that was the end of that. He didn’t have to worry about being overwhelmingly attracted to her anymore. Not only was she too beautiful to run after three screaming, hungry babies, who demanded full-time attention, but she was a transient. There was no way he’d introduce the children to a nanny who would desert them after a few weeks, or even a few months. Given the way they’d been shuffled around, these kids needed someone more permanent.
He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I certainly love Pennsylvania, too,” he said, then pretended to consult some notes. He would ask a few more general questions as a formality, then, with a clear conscience, he’d send her on her way. “Tell me about your child-care experience.”
“Who cares about her child-care experience?” Grant, Chas’s oldest brother, said from the door of the den. Cradling their baby brother and two sisters in his well-muscled forearms, dark-haired, bearded Grant walked into the room. “For some reason or another, Chas, I get the impression you’ve forgotten we’re desperate. At this point, I’m willing to take anybody.”
“Oh, my gosh!” Lily exclaimed, jumping from her chair. “Aren’t they the most adorable babies!”
All three of the kids wore one-piece rompers. The girls’ were solid pink with a bunny appliqué on the chest. Cody’s was gray with a multicolored train. Cody and Annie had sandy hair and light green eyes, but Taylor had dark hair and brown eyes. Looking at the eight-month-old triplets the way a stranger would, Chas had to admit that, yes, they were adorable.
“Don’t let their looks deceive you,” he said, aware that he was behaving like a man dousing water on the fire, but also knowing it was for the best. These kids needed more than a temporary nanny. “At three o’clock in the afternoon, well rested from their naps, they seem adorable. At three o’clock in the morning, hungry and wanting to play rather than sleep, they are as far from adorable as you can get.”
“Oh, they are not!” Lily said, taking Taylor from Grant’s outstretched arms. “Look at you,” she said, brushing her cheek against Taylor’s in a gesture of complete fascination with the little girl with the dark hair and eyes like Grant’s. “You’re just precious.”
“They’re all precious and wonderful,” Grant said as he slid Cody and Annie into the play yard set up in the den for Chas’s convenience when he had to work. “And surprisingly easy to care for.”
Chas’s eyes bugged out in astonishment. “You’re lying,” he said without thinking.
Grant glared at him. “These children are a joy to have around.”
“These children are family,” Chas said. “And I love all three of them dearly, but they are not always a joy to have around.”
Grant thrust his chin in Lily’s direction, then tried to send Chas a message with his eyes.
Chas frowned and shook his head.
“Well, they’re beautiful children,” Lily said, stroking Cody’s cheek while she balanced Taylor on her hip. “And they appear to be very well behaved.” She smiled at Grant, then Chas. “Whose babies are they?”
Chas looked at Grant. Grant looked at Chas. Finally Chas said, “They belonged to our father and stepmother, both of whom died recently. Grant and I, along with our brother, Evan, were granted custody.”
“Oh, so the three of you live in this house?” Lily questioned innocently.
“No, our brother Evan got married over the weekend. He’s on his honeymoon,” Grant said.
“Which leaves the two of you as guardians for the kids,” Lily surmised, glancing from brother to brother.
Chas shook his head. “No. We recognized that each child needed individualized attention, and we’ve all more or less adopted a child to be our own. The kids stay together all day, then in the evening I take care of Annie, Evan and Claire will have Cody, and Grant