Nanny for the Millionaire's Twins

by Susan Meier

  Chance pulled his keys from his jeans pocket again. He caught Tory’s gaze. “Watch the kids.”

  She nodded, as relief washed over her. Hopefully, he and his mom would chitchat long enough that she could figure out a way to quit gracefully since their mothers were friends. He didn’t want her and she didn’t want to work for him. This wasn’t rocket science. But she also wouldn’t put her mom or Gwen in an uncomfortable position over a failed nanny assignment.

  After they left, Tory relaxed and roamed the cottage. She’d been so preoccupied with Chance and the cereal, that she hadn’t really taken a good look at the house. The three bedrooms were in the back, but the living space had an open floor plan. Standing in the yellow kitchen with maple cabinets, beige ceramic tile floor and brown and beige granite countertops, she could see the entire family room and the mini-library/reading area behind it. A table and chairs sat off to the left of the kitchen in a little space that looked like a sunroom because of all the windows.

  It was the perfect home for a young family—or newlyweds. She ran her hand along the granite countertop. She should be married right now. Living in a cute little house like this. Raising her own babies. But one day…one hour… No, one minute had changed everything. Instead of being married, being a mom, or having a career, she spent hours on end in a hospital room, talking to a fiancé who couldn’t talk back.

  She wasn’t even really sure he could hear her.

  Forcing herself out of her dark mood, she walked to the sitting area with the oversize leather sofa and recliners and big-screen TV, and turned in a circle. For a “cottage” this was unbelievable.

  “So now you’re dancing?”

  She spun to face Chance as he walked in the front door. “I was just exploring a bit.” Pressing her hand to her galloping heart, she tried to level her breathing. “I thought you were visiting with your mom.”

  “I’m not leaving my babies indefinitely with a stranger.”

  “I’m not a stranger. Our mothers are friends. Plus, I’ve been living with your mom, working with the household staff for a week.”

  “And one would think you would have learned your place.”

  She sucked in a breath. Oh, boy. The moment of truth. She might not have to figure out how to quit gracefully. He might fire her before she could.

  He motioned for her to sit on the sofa. “You and I need to talk.”

  Resigned, she walked over and sat on the couch as he’d requested.

  He plopped down on one of the recliners. “You crossed a line when you questioned me about the kids’ nap time.”

  She winced. “Technically, I didn’t question you. I said, ‘oh, dear.’”

  “Which is worse. You might as well have come right out and said, ‘Hey, Chance. You’re doing everything wrong.’”

  “Sorry.”

  “These are my kids. I’ve spent two weeks with them all by myself. And though I’m not perfect, I don’t want to be constantly reminded that I don’t always know what I’m doing.”

  Her head snapped up. He didn’t know what he was doing? He had twins and he didn’t know what he was doing?

  “I didn’t hire a nanny because I want my kids to be raised by me. But I’m willing to give you a shot because quite honestly I could use some help. Plus, I’m not staying here forever. Only for a visit.”

  Only for a visit? Her attention perked up even more. If he wasn’t staying forever, only for a visit, then this job was temporary. She wasn’t making a life decision or a life choice or even abandoning Jason. She was working temporarily.

  Giddy relief swamped her.

  “But I have to tell you, if you’re going to criticize me, we can end this right now.”

  With her situation in perspective, she studied him as all the puzzle pieces of his situation began to fall into place in her head. Gwen had told her that the twins’ mother had left his babies with him, saying she didn’t want them back—which explained his trust issues. He didn’t want a nanny. He wanted to raise these kids on his own. Admirable. But he didn’t know how. And because he was sort of failing he was supersensitive.

  He wasn’t a grouch. Just a supersensitive daddy who needed somebody to help him.

  Suddenly being that person didn’t seem so god-awful.

  “Are we clear?”

  Crystal. “Yes.”

  “Great.” Even as he said the word, one of the babies began to cry. He rose from his seat.

  Tory also rose. Okay. She might not be quitting. But the job was far from perfect. She still wasn’t sure she could advise him without insulting him.

  Walking to the nursery he said, “Here’s the only reason I might not—and I stress might not—mind having you around. I can’t seem to get Sam and Cindy to sleep for more than twenty minutes, and when they get up they’re like little cats climbing all over me. I don’t get a minute’s peace.”

  “You’ve been holding these kids for two weeks?”

  “Sort of. Sometimes they play on the floor.”

  “What about your job?”

  “I own a construction company so I could pretty much do what I wanted for the first week. But once I realized I had my hands full with the kids, I turned everything over to my general manager.”

  She carefully caught his gaze. His blue eyes were no longer angry, but cautious. “You can’t live like that forever.”

  He sniffed a laugh. “No kidding.”

  “Yet, you don’t want a nanny.”

  “I don’t want to be like my dad.”

  “He never had time for you?”

  He sighed, ran his fingers through his short dark hair. “These kids are just adjusting to losing their mom. I can’t leave them too.”

  Gorgeous or not, grouchy or not, deep down inside Chance Montgomery was a nice guy. And he genuinely loved his kids. Surely she could put her own problems on hold long enough to help him. Especially when she needed to earn a little money as much as he needed assistance with his kids.

  She cautiously said, “So you want suggestions about some things?”

  He sighed. “When I ask? Yes.”

  “Are you asking?”

  His sigh turned into a growl. “The fact that you think I should be asking means I should be, so, yes, I’m asking.”

  “I didn’t see a baby swing or a walker in your car—”

  “A walker?” His brow furrowed and he looked at her as if she were crazy. “Like an old person’s walker?”

  If he hadn’t been so serious, she might have laughed. But if he didn’t even know what a swing and a walker were, then chances were he hadn’t forgotten to pack them for this trip. He didn’t have them. Which heaped another layer of trouble onto his already troubled daddyhood.

  Not wanting to insult him, she carefully said, “A walker is a seat with wheels that you put your babies in. It helps them learn to walk, but it also entertains them.”

  “You mean they don’t have to spend every waking minute crawling on me?”

  His hopeful tone broke her heart. “Nope.”

  “And I suppose the swing is something every bit as useful?”

  She winced then nodded. “I’m amazed your ex-wife didn’t give you those things when she gave you the kids.”

  “Liliah wasn’t my wife. She isn’t going to be anybody’s wife. And as you can see, she took real well to mothering too.”

  He turned and headed for the nursery and Tory squeezed her eyes shut in misery.

  Just when it looked like they might have been starting to get along, she said something stupid.

  This was never going to work.

  CHAPTER TWO

  REACHING IN TO lift Sam out of his crib, Chance stopped the anger rolling through him. He shouldn’t be surprised that Liliah hadn’t given him all the things the kids needed. But with a screaming baby on his shoulder and a woman who seemed to know what she was doing standing right behind him, this wasn’t the time to let his brain tumble to his anger with Liliah.

  “So why do you think the
y woke up?”

  Tory walked to Cindy’s crib. Chance’s sobbing little girl raised her arms, begging to be held. “Did they sleep on the drive here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. So they probably just nodded off after you fed them because their tummies were full. They don’t need a nap.” She lifted Cindy out of her crib. “Hey, sweetie.”

  Cindy’s sobbing subsided, and Chance watched as a look of wonder transformed Tory’s features. Her brown eyes lit with joy, and for the first time in weeks he felt himself begin to relax. Not only did she know what to do, but she truly seemed to love babies. Maybe a nanny wasn’t such a bad idea after all?

  “So they want to play?”

  She rubbed her cheek against Cindy’s. “Probably.”

  But as soon as she said the word, she winced. “You know, with these two up, and us really not having a whole heck of a lot of toys or anything to entertain them, maybe we should take a drive into town and get some supplies.”

  “Like that walker thing?”

  “And a play yard and swings.”

  New guilt welled up in him. He was such an idiot. Couldn’t he at least have thought of some of this stuff? Was he that dumb that he couldn’t draw some commonsense conclusions?

  No. Actually, he wasn’t dumb as much as tired. So tired from being up most of the night every night for the past two weeks that he hadn’t been thinking straight.

  “If we get them what they need and even a few toys, we’ll be able to tire them out, and they’ll actually sleep for longer stretches of time.” She smiled tentatively. “They’re old enough that we might even be able to train them to sleep through the night.”

  He looked longingly at her. “Really?”

  She laughed and the soft sound hit him right in the gut. He told himself that was only because he wanted to be able to laugh again too. But she was pretty. Maybe even prettier than the women he used to date because she didn’t seem to be wearing makeup. She didn’t need it.

  “Yeah. So grab your wallet and I’ll get the diaper bag and we’ll make a quick run to the store.”

  Thinking only of a full night’s sleep, Chance buckled the kids in their car seats and headed for the mall on the outskirts of town. When they arrived, he flicked the switch signaling a turn into the mall parking lot, but Tory tapped his forearm and pointed at the discount department store.

  “Let’s go there. The quality is as good and you’ll spend less money.”

  He did as she asked but as they got the kids out of the SUV, he sneaked a peek across the backseat at her. Usually, most of the women he met flirted outrageously with him and were impressed by his money. This one barely tolerated him and was now showing him how to save rather than spend?

  Of course, she was an employee.

  She wasn’t interested in him as a man, or potential date, just as a boss.

  That gave him a tug of something he couldn’t quite identify. He suspected it was disappointment. But at this point he’d much rather have somebody good with the kids, than somebody to sleep with.

  He almost laughed. Having two babies to care for certainly changed a man’s priorities.

  Automatic doors welcomed them into the store. Tory instructed him to get a cart and put Sam in the baby seat. Then she got a cart and put Cindy in that baby seat. They strolled past the rows and rows of everything from clothes and underwear to home goods and gardening tools until they came to the baby section.

  She stopped her cart. “The most important things today are two walkers, two baby swings, a stroller for twins and one really strong play yard.”

  “Play yard?” She’d mentioned that before, but he didn’t know what it was.

  “Back in the day, moms called them playpens. We’ve gotten more politically correct and call them play yards now. It’s a square thing like a box with mesh walls that you put the babies in so that they can play together but not crawl around and get into trouble.”

  He said, “Ah,” and watched as she loaded a compact box into his cart. “I take it there’s going to be some assembly required.”

  She winced. “Unfortunately. Maybe we can call Robert?” she said, referring to the groundskeeper.

  He gaped at her. “I worked in construction for ten years before I started my own company, and even then I had to work with the crew sometimes.” For some unknown reason his chest puffed out with pride. “I think I can handle putting together a playpen.”

  “Play yard,” she corrected, as she loaded another big box into his cart.

  “Play yard.”

  Unexpected happiness stole over him, loosened his tight chest, relaxed his stiff muscles. Not only would he get a reasonable night’s sleep tonight, but his kids would be well cared for.

  Not that he was a bad dad. If effort alone counted, he was daddy of the year. But effort hadn’t counted. Otherwise, he’d have known about the walker, play yard and swing.

  He paid for the purchases and loaded them into his SUV as Tory put first Cindy, then Sam, into their car seats. She explained more about the walker as they drove home. When they arrived, she had him assemble the swings as she popped two jars of baby food and fed the kids, using highchairs his mother had bought for the kitchen.

  He had the swings together by the time she was done feeding and then cleaning up the kids, and they slid both inside. She wound what looked to be a music box for each one and voilà, suddenly both kids were swinging and happy.

  “Wow. That is amazing.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t know about swings.”

  He gaped at her. “Who was I going to ask? I’ve only been talking to my mom again for a week and when she found out I had kids she just wanted me to come home.”

  “And she’d hired you a nanny.”

  “And she’d hired a nanny.”

  “So maybe your mom’s a lot smarter than you give her credit for?”

  He laughed.

  She smiled.

  And the room got quiet. The only sound was the music coming from the boxes and the creak of the kids’ swings. The happiness and relief Chance had been feeling suddenly disappeared and were replaced by tightness and anticipation. He liked her.

  He struggled with a sigh. Of course he liked her! She was helping him with his kids. And she was beautiful and he hadn’t been around a woman “that way” since Liliah—which, counting her pregnancy was fifteen months ago. Fifteen months without a date? Sheesh. Liliah had really done a number on him.

  But because she had, he wasn’t interested in a relationship. If he was going to have a woman in his life, it would strictly be for fun. No more potential heartaches. No more bitter fights. Just…fun. And a smart man didn’t get involved with his nanny just for fun.

  Especially not when he desperately needed her.

  He moved his gaze away from hers and pointed at the swing. “So they’re good for what? Twenty minutes in this thing?”

  “They can actually stay in longer. I’ve heard of moms letting their kids nap in there.”

  “It’s like a miracle.”

  “Well, spending hours in a swing can’t be good for a baby’s back. But once they’re out of the swing—” She bent and grabbed some plastic toys. “You put them in the play yard with a few of these and see what happens. Lots of times babies will entertain themselves if you let them.”

  He took a breath, said the word that had been choking in his chest all afternoon. “Thanks.”

  She glanced up at him with a smile. “You’re welcome.”

  But her smile quickly faded. So did his. Those male feelings swept over him again. She was so pretty. And the babies were so quiet, he felt like himself again. A man. Not just a daddy. She was attracted to him. He knew she was attracted to him. Her face told the story. It would be perfectly natural to start flirting right now…

  He stopped his thoughts. Stepped back.

  He’d already thought all this out. He didn’t want a relationship. He absolutely wasn’t going let another woman get close enough to hu
rt him—or the twins. And if he had no intention of getting close, then the only thing flirting would lead to was a fling.

  That was just wrong.

  He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. “Your supper never did come down from the main house.”

  She took a pace back too. “I know.” She cleared her throat. “Think you’ll be okay while I go up and check on that?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. We’re good. In fact, if you want to stay up there and eat, you go ahead.”

  “Okay.” She pivoted and all but ran to the front door.

  He scrubbed his hand down his face. If he really wanted to keep himself in line around the nanny, he didn’t need to formulate a plan for the place of women in his life. All he had to do was remember how badly his last relationship had turned out. The pain of realizing he’d been used. The pain of discovering Liliah wanted nothing to do with his babies. She had been a boatload of trouble and drama.

  He frowned. Liliah had been a boatload of drama and trouble. And that was probably why Tory was so attractive to him. She was Liliah’s polar opposite. Nice, sweet and kind to his babies, Tory didn’t bring an ounce of drama to his life.

  But, after Liliah, even if Tory were his soul mate, a relationship wasn’t worth risking his trouble-free, drama-free household. And being involved with the nanny would certainly bring drama.

  He’d had his share of drama with Liliah.

  He didn’t want any more. No matter what form it took.

  * * *

  The next morning, Tory carried both babies into the kitchen. She slid them into their highchairs and began mixing cereal. “So, I take it everybody slept well.”

  Cindy giggled and Sam yelped.

  “Hey, hey, Sammy! I get it. You’re hungry. And I’m hurrying. But there’s only one of me. So you have to be patient.”

  She took the two bowls of cereal to the table, pulled out a chair and arranged it between both highchairs. “Okay. It’s just us now. So everybody has to be on best behavior.”