The Nanny Solution. SUSAN MEIER
she danced with a handsome, sophisticated man like Jake Malloy!
“Maybe that’s my problem. Maybe I’ve been nice too long.”
Caro said only “Hmm” as she glanced over her shoulder.
Following the direction of Caro’s gaze, Hannah saw that the baby had awakened and had nestled his face into Jake’s neck.
Max said, “Looks like that little boy is very happy to be with his daddy.”
“Yes, it does,” Caro agreed. “And it looks like his daddy is also very happy to be with him.”
Hannah frowned, wondering if the universe hadn’t hiccuped or something. First, she realized the “niceness” she thought her best trait had probably been what was keeping her from becoming more sophisticated, then playboy Jake Malloy actually looked as though he loved being a father. From the way he walked around the patio showing off his baby to his guests, it was clear he loved the little boy and was proud of him.
Troy returned to the table and said, “That’s one cute little boy.”
“He is beautiful,” Sadie said, joining her husband. “And he loves his daddy. The only problem is that Jake travels a lot for Troy.”
Max shrugged. “So?”
“So, he’s got a trip planned this week.” Sadie leaned forward. “He’s going to Paris, then Belgium.”
“Oh!” Caro gasped. “He’s so lucky.”
“He won’t be so lucky if he doesn’t find a nanny,” Jake’s mother said as she and Jake’s new stepfather, broad-shouldered investment counselor, Larry Simmons, walked to the table.
“Maybe we can help at the day care,” Caro said at the same time that Jake, holding his adorable little boy, approached the gathering group.
Hannah had to admit the infant was sweet. Chubby-cheeked, with red hair, he didn’t look a thing like his father, but apparently Jake didn’t care. He held him as if he were his most prized possession.
“Jake,” Caro continued, “I’m glad you’re here. Your mother mentioned that you have to go out of town, and I suggested that maybe the day care could help out with Dixon. Aunt Sadie is back now. Her chemotherapy is over and she’s nearly healthy as a horse. I’m working with her for backup.”
“Thank you,” Jake said, “but I think I need a nanny. My mother could easily watch the baby during the day like the day care, but won’t be able to stay overnight,” he added, casting a meaningful glance at his mother and her new husband. “So, it’s overnight care I need. Somebody who can get up in the middle of the night with him, that kind of thing.”
Caro said, “Why not hire Hannah?”
Hannah gaped at her older sister. “What?”
Caro smiled. “Well, the baby can’t stay overnight at the day care and you’re not working. It’s not like you don’t need the money. I seem to recall some school loans that aren’t yet paid off.”
Ready to make an apology and an excuse for not being able to be his nanny, Hannah looked at Jake. But the oddest notion hit her. He needed a nanny, but she also needed something he had in abundance. Sophistication. If she were to live with him, even just to see how he lived, maybe she could change. She didn’t exactly think sophistication would magically rub off on her, but she did have to start somewhere and seeing how the other half lived was definitely a good way.
“That might work,” she said cautiously, and caught Jake’s gaze. Again she felt the sizzle that always seemed to happen when their eyes locked. But, damn it, she didn’t care. They might be attracted to each other, but he would never date her. One look at the woman he chose to be the mother of his son proved Hannah was not his type. And she would never date him. She knew when she was out of her league.
And she needed this. Tonight, she’d realized that her sisters had become a hundred times more sophisticated than she was. If she didn’t catch up, she wouldn’t fit into her own family.
Please, she tried to say with her eyes, since that seemed to be her best form of communication with Jake. Please, hire me.
Chapter Two
He should have told her no. Actually, he could have ignored her. She hadn’t really asked the question with words, only with her eyes, so he could have easily pretended he hadn’t seen. But something wouldn’t let him. Caught in the gaze of those innocent green orbs, Jake found himself saying the word okay….
And then instantly decided he had to be absolutely insane. There was too much of a sexual attraction cracking between him and Hannah for them to be living under the same roof. As the person who cared for Dixon at night, Hannah wouldn’t just be part of his household, she would be sleeping right down the hall from his own damned bedroom. It absolutely, positively, definitely would not work. Yet, once he said okay, his fate seemed sealed. Her sisters began to chatter. Troy started outlining details of her salary and benefits, and that was that.
Because of day-care commitments, Hannah couldn’t start working for him until Monday morning, but Jake suddenly saw he could work that to his advantage. Instead of having his newly married mother help him and Dixon through the weekend, he decided he and his son would rough it and prove to everyone he could handle the baby himself.
Though he’d never had the baby at his house—only visited him at Felicity’s, he and his mother had decorated a nursery and bought the appropriate baby furniture, so he had enough stuff and enough experience that he wasn’t a complete idiot. Once he proved he could care for the baby alone, then even though Hannah would have to care for Dixon during the day when Jake was on trips, she wouldn’t have to stay overnight when he was home. They wouldn’t be sleeping a few doors down the hall from each other.
It seemed like an easy way to get himself out of his dilemma of living with a woman who held an unexpected sexual appeal for him. But when the baby threw up on Jake’s clean shirt after his Saturday morning feeding, and cried nonstop for no apparent reason all Sunday night, Jake knew he couldn’t handle Dixon alone. More than that, though, he suddenly found it easy to remember he was a grown man who had overcome sexual attractions before. This time he had the added incentive of knowing this particular woman was the baby sister—not just a sister but the baby sister—of his best friend. And if that wasn’t enough, at a quarter to four Monday morning, he had to change one of “those” diapers.
When the doorbell rang at seven o’clock, Jake was done cursing his stupidity and was praising the heavens that his best friend had a sister who could help him.
“Hi! Good morning!” he eagerly said as he opened his front door to Hannah, who stood on his porch holding a suitcase and an overnight case. No woman ever looked as good to him as she did at that moment. Not because of her thick blond hair. Not because of the dimple he saw when she smiled at him. Not even because her green eyes were sexy and alluring, but because he never again wanted to change another diaper.
“Hi,” Hannah said, smiling at him as she entered his foyer. She glanced around at the thick cherry-wood trim, the crystal chandelier and the heavy desk that decorated his foyer, looking naive and innocent and so incredibly beautiful that Jake felt his breath catch.
With the memory of his weekend of baby trouble ebbing away, and feeling like his normal self again, Jake couldn’t help but notice how naturally pretty she was. Though the youngest Evans daughter had inherited the light hair, porcelain skin and full pink lips of her mother’s family, she had also inherited the long, dark lashes from her father’s side. She wouldn’t need make up. Her figure was so perfect, she could make a sack look like Vera Wang.
Jake’s breathing sharpened and pinpricks of awareness began to spike on his skin, but he stopped them in their tracks with the reminder of the diaper.
“Where’s the baby?”
“He’s still upstairs. Not awake yet.”