The Diamond Bride. Carole Mortimer
Читать онлайн книгу.
notice he took of it he might have been as unaware of it as his daughter.
Or so Annie thought...
Jessica was seated between the two of them, and Rufus had to lean forward to speak to Annie. ‘Enjoying yourself?’ he asked, still with that repressed humour.
She had been wishing the meal over, at least her own and Jessica’s part in it. The young girl usually retired to bed when the coffee and port stage was reached. Although that might be different tonight, as her father was here...
As for enjoying the meal...! Celia was at her most haughty, while Davina, a tall, elegant blonde, flirted shamelessly with Rufus at every opportunity, and Anthony—well, Anthony seemed lost in his own reverie, paying little attention to any of them. This Annie was relieved about; the last thing she wanted was to give Rufus any more ammunition to fire at herself and Anthony!
‘Very much, thank you,’ she returned primly.
He gave that wolfish grin at her politeness. ‘Liar!’ he rejoined quietly.
She met his gaze unflinchingly. ‘I was referring to the food, of course.’
Once again she was taken aback when he threw back his head and gave a throaty laugh of pure enjoyment, those lines she had noticed earlier beside his eyes and mouth proving to be laughter lines—evidence that this man laughed a lot. And she didn’t think it was always at other people; somehow she sensed that he had the ability to laugh at himself too. This man was an enigma, a chameleon, one moment distant and forbidding, the next full of humour. It could take a lifetime to know such a man—
Annie broke off her thoughts with a guilty glance in Anthony’s direction, once again affected by his good looks, the way he smiled across at her conspiratorially, almost as if he had sensed her confusion—although not, thank goodness, the reason for it. She doubted he would smile at her in that way if he realised exactly what she had been thinking about his brother!
‘Would you care to share the joke with us, Annie?’ Celia Diamond’s mildly arrogant voice broke in on her thoughts. ‘I’m sure we could all do with some light amusement,’ she added dryly—showing she was far from immune to the awkwardness of the evening.
But as she and the rest of the family, and the tension that existed between them with Rufus’s presence, were the subject of that light amusement Annie somehow didn’t think the other woman would be at all happy to share the joke!
Annie shot Rufus a look that clearly cried ‘help’—although, even knowing Rufus’s sense of humour as little as she did, she had a feeling he might just enjoy sitting back and watching her squirm!
‘It was just a little anecdote about Jessica that Annie wished to share with me.’ Thankfully, Rufus did come to her rescue. ‘Speaking of which,’ he added, with an affectionate wink at his daughter, ‘I think it’s time Jess went up to bed. No protests, young lady,’ he added with gentle reproof as he sensed that was exactly what she was about to give him. ‘You’re going to need plenty of sleep if you’re going to attempt to beat me at chess tomorrow.’
This was the first indication Annie had had that the child played chess; she seemed very young to have mastered such a complicated game. Nevertheless Annie had stood up to leave quickly enough herself at Rufus’s first suggestion of it; this evening couldn’t end quickly enough as far as she was concerned!
Although Rufus’s next comment warned her that, for her at least, it was far from over...!
‘Carry on and have coffee without me,’ he told his family as he easily swung Jessica back up into his arms. ‘Once we have Jessica settled for the night, I intend talking to Annie for a while.’
It wasn’t the easy dismissal of her own coffee that bothered her, nor even Rufus’s casual grouping of the two of them, but that innocuous-sounding mention of ‘talking to Annie for a while’...
What did Rufus want to talk to her about? The fact that she was the new nanny to his daughter? Or something else...?
CHAPTER THREE
‘THESE are excellent references.’ Rufus put the two letters he had just read down on the desk in front of him, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘They must have been sorry to lose you at the kindergarten.’
It was a statement, not a question, Annie knew that—because Brenda Thompson, the person in charge of the kindergarten, had clearly said so in her letter of reference.
They were in Rufus Diamond’s study, a spacious room furnished with heavy mahogany furniture; it was next to the library, and Annie hadn’t even known it was here, let alone entered it before. Not that this particularly surprised her. Clifftop House was an enormous place, with two completely self-contained wings at either end of it. One housed the servants who lived in, the other appeared to be unused, and there were dozens of rooms that Annie had never been into.
Rufus had kissed his daughter goodnight once they were upstairs, leaving Annie to prepare the little girl for bed and informing her that he would see her downstairs in his study as soon as she had finished what she was doing. Annie had had to ask Jessica for directions to her father’s study.
As she sat across the desk from him now, it was as if those moments of humour between them earlier had never happened. She felt like one of the children at the home, hauled before Mrs James for some misdemeanour or other! Not that she ever had been. Keep your head down and stay out of trouble—that had been her motto. It had seemed to work quite well—
‘Excellent references,’ Rufus repeated slowly, the removal of his jacket and loosening of his bow-tie not making him look any more approachable. ‘But they actually tell me very little about you. Who are you? Where are your family? Are you likely to leave at a moment’s notice. too?’ he added grimly, obviously thinking of the absent Margaret. ‘I think I have a right to ask these questions; after all, you are in charge of my daughter on a day-to-day basis.’
Annie agreed with him, knew she would be the same if her own daughter’s welfare were at stake. And yet, from Rufus Diamond, these questions seemed an intrusion. It was totally illogical, but she found she didn’t want to tell him any more about herself than she had to.
‘I’m Annie Fletcher. And I’m your typical Orphan Annie,’ she added self-derisively. ‘I have no family that I’m aware of. And I wouldn’t leave here, or Jessica, without giving you a good reason—and time enough to find a replacement!’
His mouth twisted. ‘I believe Margaret told me the same thing.’
She shrugged. ‘You’ll have to take that up with Margaret; I never met her.’ Jessica had been without a nanny for almost a week when Annie had arrived two months ago. ‘All I can say is that I won’t do the same thing.’
‘Take it or leave it, hmm?’ Rufus said shrewdly.
‘I didn’t mean that at all,’ Annie defended quietly, hot colour in her cheeks. ‘Of course you don’t have to take it or leave it; you’re my employer, and you’re perfectly within your rights to want certain assurances. I seriously doubt I would ever choose to leave Jessica.’ Her expression softened as she spoke of the child.
Dark eyes assessed her questioningly. ‘You’re fond of my daughter?’
‘Very.’ She didn’t take offence at the question—not this one—although she felt sure there were plenty of others Rufus Diamond could and would ask that would be very offensive indeed!
‘And just how fond of my brother are you?’
That was one of them! It wasn’t altogether unexpected, though; she had known since the three of them met in the hallway earlier that Rufus would have to make some reference to it. She wasn’t disappointed!
‘I like all the family,’ she said evasively.
Rufus’s mouth thinned. ‘Even Celia?’ he queried. The other woman could be extremely haughty, and Annie knew now she considered her a servant. But at