Romancing The Nanny. Cindy Kirk
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teenager. The intense feelings took him by surprise. But feeling crazy was one thing. Acting crazy something else entirely.
This was Amy, after all.
“Dan?” she prompted, her voice sounding oddly breathless. “Hot cocoa?”
He shook his head. “I’m not in the mood.”
Not for hot cocoa, anyway.
Amy met his gaze and her cheeks darkened to a deep rose. For a second he had the sinking feeling she could read his thoughts.
“Suit yourself,” she said with a slight smile. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you change your mind.”
After she left, Dan checked Emma one last time before heading for the stairs. This morning, he hadn’t a care in the world. Now, he was lusting after his daughter’s nanny and he had nothing but worries.
As he approached the kitchen, he could hear Amy humming. The Broadway show tune sung a trifle off-key told him more than words that he hadn’t completely screwed up. At least not yet.
The last remnants of tension eased from his shoulders and Dan decided that maybe he was in the mood for that cup of hot cocoa after all.
Chapter Four
“I understand you’re upset about your neighbor dying in that car accident,” Dan said in a soothing tone, his fingers tightening around the receiver. He’d been sympathetic for the first twenty minutes of his mother-in-law’s call, but his patience was wearing thin. For the last half hour she’d talked nonstop about George, her neighbor, and how he wouldn’t have died if he’d heeded her advice and not ridden his bike after dark.
It didn’t help that Dan had had a particularly crummy weekend. Amy had gone out with Steven on Friday night and Emma had been cranky.
Today he’d thought they’d all go in-line skating down by the lake after breakfast and maybe catch some lunch at Navy Pier, but once again Amy had plans with Steven. Dan couldn’t help but wonder if she was deliberately avoiding him…
“—Emma’s welfare.”
Dan realized with a start that while his thoughts had been wandering, Gwen had continued to ramble.
“What did you say about Emma?” He relaxed his hold on the phone. There was nothing he liked better than talking about Emma with her doting grandparents. In fact, he’d tried to steer the conversation around to Emma several times in the last thirty minutes but Gwen had been too focused on her neighbor.
“I said you need to make sure that your will names us as Emma’s guardians if anything happens to you.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me.” Dan forced a halfhearted laugh.
“We all think that,” Gwen said. “But George didn’t plan to die and neither did my daughter.”
Though Gwen had never come right out and said it, Dan knew she blamed him for Tess’s death. Tess wouldn’t have gotten pregnant a second time if he hadn’t been so adamant about wanting another child.
“I’ve already made provisions for Emma,” Dan said.
A moment of stunned silence filled the phone line.
“I’m surprised your mother would agree,” Gwen said. “What with having a new husband and all.”
“Actually my mother didn’t think she’d have the stamina for a young child.” Dan had been disappointed but he’d appreciated his mom’s candor. “A friend here in Chicago has agreed to raise Emma if something happens to me.”
After his mother had said no, Dan had approached Amy and she’d seemed touched by the offer.
“A friend?” Gwen’s voice rose. “Who is this person? Have I met him?”
Dan hesitated. Gwen had been wealthy her entire life and in her mind a nanny was a servant and as such would never be considered an appropriate guardian for her only grandchild.
“Emma belongs with family,” Gwen continued when Dan didn’t respond. It wasn’t so much what she said as how she said it that reminded him of Tess. Spunky Tess, who used to lift her chin and show him her stubborn face when they disagreed.
Some of his irritation dissolved in the remembrance. Gwen and Phil had loved their daughter and they loved Emma. Unfortunately they could be harsh and unyielding in their views and he had no doubt, given time and opportunity, they’d end up crushing Emma’s gentle spirit.
Even now, he had to monitor their interactions with his daughter. They compared Emma to Tess at every opportunity and Emma always came up lacking.
“My mind is made up,” Dan said. “I’m not going to change it.”
“Well, if anything happens, this friend of yours will have a fight on his hands.” His mother-in-law’s voice turned frosty. “We will not let our granddaughter be taken from us. And I happen to know that family is always given extra weight in custody issues.”
Dan’s knuckles turned white at her obvious disregard for his wishes.
C’mon, Dan. I know she can be difficult, but be nice to them. Please. For me.
The memory of Tess’s familiar plea stopped his sharp retort. Instead Dan forced a conciliatory tone.
“Gwen, it’s been great talking to you but I need to go.” He ignored her murmur of protest. “Be sure and tell Phil hello.”
Dan clicked off before she could get another word out. Though he had a thousand and one things to do, he didn’t move a muscle. He sat staring at the phone, cursing his mother-in-law’s high-handedness and wondering what in the world he was going to do now.
Dan sat at the kitchen table and tried to read the paper, but his gaze kept straying to Amy. She’d returned from her afternoon with Steven in a lighthearted mood. Her skin was rosy from the sun and her green eyes sparkled like emeralds. She looked, he thought, uncommonly pretty today.
When she leaned over to put the casserole in the oven, he found himself staring at her smooth thighs and the rounded curves of her breasts.
Dan inhaled a deep, steady breath. This had to stop. He really hated that his gaze lingered on those long, supple legs. And he didn’t like noticing the way her shirt clung to every curve or just how nice those curves were.
This was all Jake’s fault, he thought irritably. If he hadn’t mentioned Amy dating, Dan wouldn’t have looked at her in that way at all. For three years she’d been his daughter’s nanny. Now, all of a sudden, he’d realized she was a woman, too.
Oblivious to the turmoil her shapeliness was causing, Amy closed the lower oven door and turned. “Have I told you how much I love this double oven?”
Her cotton top accentuated her full, generous breasts, and for a fleeting moment Dan found himself wondering what she’d look like naked. His mouth went dry and it took everything he had to return her smile and concentrate on the question. “Only about a million times.”
She laughed. “I think you’re exaggerating just a bit.”
The sound of her laughter made him smile. Maybe he was exaggerating, but Dan had no doubt the reason she’d been so content in his household had a lot to do with the kitchen. Last year he’d had the entire area redone and Amy had supervised the construction. Since she used it the most, it had only made sense she should have input into the final product.
She’d been so thrilled with the results that when the last contractor had walked out the door, in a moment of pure joy she’d thrown her arms around Dan’s neck and given him a hug. He hadn’t given it a second thought. Afterward she’d been embarrassed, but he’d understood. She’d just been given her dream kitchen on a silver platter.
But it wasn’t really her kitchen, was it?
Maybe