She swung toward him. Strands of golden hair had come loose from the neat chignon at the nape of her neck and lay against her cheek. What if he went to her and tucked those errant strands behind her ear?
“Do you know what would be appropriate?”
He blinked. “Sorry. Appropriate for…?”
“For me to wear.”
Lace. Black lace against her creamy skin. Or maybe pale pink. The shade you’d see inside a seashell on a Caribbean beach. Yes. Definitely. Soft, delicate pink against that soft, lovely body.
Was he losing his mind?
“Of course not,” he snapped. “How would I know what you should wear?”
“You have employed a nanny before this, have you not?”
He thought of the long line of useless females who’d filed through his life the last months, flashed on the one who’d worn his shirt and that thong…
“Just buy regular clothes. Casual stuff. Jeans. Cotton tees. Whatever you’d wear to care for a baby, like other nannies.”
“I am not like other nannies.”
He knew that. Oh, he knew that…
Linc yanked his wallet from his pocket. Tossed a credit card on the bed.
“Leave Jenny with Mrs. Hollowell in the morning,” he said gruffly. “Go to the park. Look around. You’re bound to see other nannies. See what they’re wearing and then go shopping.”
“I do not need you to buy my clothes.”
He ground his teeth together with enough force to have sent his dentist running from the room.
“And I,” he said, “do not need you to argue over everything. Besides, this isn’t a gift. I’ll take the money out of your pay.”
“That will be acceptable.”
“Damned right, it will,” Linc said, and then, because he wanted to cross the room, haul his impossible, intractable, infuriating new nanny into his arms and kiss her until that look of superiority gave way to one of passion, he turned on his heel and strode away.
* * *
Linc had always worked late, played hard, spent little time at home.
He saw no need to change that.
His days were long. So were his evenings. Longer than usual. With things under control at home, he was giving his little black book one hell of a workout, even though he found himself ending his evenings by giving his dates chaste kisses on their upturned faces and pretending he didn’t notice their looks of surprise and disappointment.
Well, hell, that was what happened when a man worked hard. It had nothing to do with the fact that Ana was living under his roof. Why would it? He hardly ever saw her, and when he did they spent a couple of minutes discussing Jenny and then each of them moved on.
He was pleased.
He’d made a wise move, hiring her. Mrs. Hollowell said she was a lovely young woman. Jenny cooed and smiled and squealed with delight. He could hear her in the mornings, could hear Ana laughing with her.
Ana had a terrific laugh. Husky. Sexy.
Not that he cared.
What mattered was that the baby was thriving and nights were peaceful again. No sobs, no screams, no shrieks. Just blessed silence.
What woke him, instead, were his dreams, hot and disturbing and, dammit, ridiculously adolescent. Well, he was human. Having a good-looking woman sleeping one floor down was a little distracting. Once he’d figured that out, he worked his little black book even harder—and left another half-dozen puzzled, unhappy women in his wake.
The first weeks of her employment rushed by. She hadn’t even asked for a day off. She seemed content, spending all her time with Jenny, who loved her. His housekeeper loved her. The doormen and the concierge loved her. Ana was Mary Poppins come to life.
Impossible, a voice inside Linc whispered slyly.
She was, as his lawyer had so succinctly put it, spectacular. And she was filled with passion. That kiss in the garden. The kiss in his office. When would she show her true colors? He kept waiting for the other shoe to fall.
One morning during the third week, Linc picked up the phone to make a quick call before he left for his office. He heard Ana’s voice, speaking in Portuguese, and then her low, sexy laugh.
“Oh,” he said, “sorry,” and hung up the phone.
Who had she been talking to? He frowned, adjusted his tie, grabbed his wallet and went briskly down the stairs and out the door.
That was her business, not his.
* * *
By noon, it was driving him crazy.
Who did she know in New York? Better still, who did she know who spoke Portuguese? He knew she hadn’t been calling home. She’d bought a cell phone expressly for calls to and from Brazil, and made a point of telling him her father didn’t know about her job as Jenny’s nanny.
“And you are not to say anything of it, should you speak to him, senhor,” she’d added in a tone of voice that made him want to point out that he did not take orders from her…except he wanted to do it by hauling her into his arms and showing her exactly who was boss.
And he wasn’t like that.
Certainly he wasn’t.
By midafternoon, he was pacing his office. Enough, he thought, reached for the phone and dialed home.
The phone rang a long time. Then Ana answered, sounded rushed. “Hello?”
“It’s me,” Linc said.
“Yes. What is it, please, Senhor Aldridge? We are in the middle of something. I am very busy.”
Not rushed. Breathless. And there was a hint of suppressed laughter in her voice.
Linc tapped a pencil against the edge of his desk. “Very busy with what?”
“I have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
“I am permitted visitors, am I not?”
“Where is Mrs. Hollowell?”
“She left early. She had a dental appointment. Senhor, if you are done, I am—”
“Busy. Yeah. So you said.” Linc’s voice roughened. “Who is this visitor? And where is my niece?”
“The visitor is a friend. And Jenny is, of course, right here with us.”
Linc hung up the phone. He thought about who might visit a woman who knew nobody in New York. He thought about that phone call. He thought about Jenny, right there with…
Us.
Twenty minutes later, he stepped out of his private elevator, marched through the foyer and heard his nanny’s soft, uninhibited laughter coming from the great room.
“Oh,” she said, “bébe, you are incredible! When did you learn to do that?”
Linc tossed his briefcase in the general direction of a table and ran.
“What in hell do you think you’re—”
Ana, seated cross-legged on the carpet, looked up in surprise. But mostly the surprise was Linc’s.
His nanny did, indeed, have a visitor. Another young woman—dark-haired, in jeans and sneakers and cotton shirt. And another baby, sitting in the vee of the girl’s legs, just as his niece was seated in the vee of Ana’s, grinning and clapping her chubby hands.
“—doing?” Linc finished lamely, and felt his face burn.
Ana’s blue eyes narrowed as if the scene he’d expected to find was painted in garish detail across his forehead. The other girl looked from one face to the other, then scrambled to her feet with her charge in her arms.
“Thanks for the coffee, Ana,” she said in heavily accented English.
“You are welcome,” Ana said, her gaze never leaving Linc’s.
“See you tomorrow, at the playground?”
Ana didn’t answer for a long minute. Then she shrugged. “Perhaps.”
Linc ran his hand through his hair. “Listen,” he said, “Ana, your friend doesn’t have to leave. I mean, I didn’t intend to—”
He was talking to an empty room. Ana’s visitor and her charge were gone, and Ana and Jenny were halfway up the stairs.
“Ana. Ana! Dammit, wait!” Linc called as he hurried after her. “Okay. So I was wrong. I’m sorry, all right?”
The nursery door
slammed shut in his face. He thought about kicking it open, then decided he’d done enough stupid things for one day.
Ana would get over it.
Besides, what was there to apologize for? She lived under his roof. She took care of his niece. He had the absolute right to hold her responsible for her actions.
She’d taken a lover in Rio.
Why, sooner or later, wouldn’t she take one here?
CHAPTER FIVE
ANA avoided him.
She spoke when spoken to, answered questions about Jenny and saw to it their paths hardly crossed.
Why would he want anything more?
Because, he decided after another couple of weeks, because this woman was his employee. He didn’t like her attitude. Her behavior was insolent. It was time to put an end to the nonsense.
Friday afternoon, he told his PA to cancel a three o’clock meeting, phone his dinner date and tell her he might be a little late.
Then he headed home.
Ana was in the great room with Jenny. They were sitting on the carpet, playing a game that seemed to involve Jenny giggling while Ana gently tugged her to a sitting position.
“Good girl,” Ana crooned. “That’s my pequena preciosa.”
Jenny spotted him first. “Baa baa baa,” she said, and shot him a huge grin.
Ana looked up and stopped smiling. “You’re early, senhor,” she said coolly, and rose to her feet.
She was wearing one of what he supposed she’d call her nanny outfits, suitable for a midsummer day. Cropped trousers, a loose-fitting T-shirt, sandals. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail; her face was makeup free.
She looked about as sexy as a stick. Then why this sudden knot in his gut?
“Jenny and I will be out of your way as soon as I’ve collected her toys.”
“Ana.” Linc hesitated. He’d come home angry, wanting a confrontation. Now he knew what he wanted was to offer what she deserved. An apology. “Ana,” he said, “I’m sorry.”
“There is no need to apologize. You are, of course, free to come into your own home whenever you wish. I should not have brought Jenny in here.”
“No! I mean, it’s fine that you’re here with Jenny.” Linc took a breath. “What I’m saying is that I’m sorry about what happened that day you—you had your friend here.”
“There is no reason to apologize for that, either.”
What she meant was, it was too late.
“Yeah, there is.” Linc took a step toward her. “See, I had some, ah, some unfortunate experiences with a couple of the nannies who took care of Jenny before you came along.”
“I am sorry to hear it.”
Her accent was growing heavier. It made him smile. He’d noticed that about her, that her perfect English always became a shade too perfect when she was angry.
“I have said something amusing?”
“No,” Linc said quickly, “not at all.”
“Whatever your experiences with the others, you had no reason to distrust me.”
You had a lover, he almost said. But so what? Her personal life was none of his affair. Besides, she was right. He had no reason to distrust her. He had no reason to keep remembering the way she felt in his arms, either, the warmth of her body, the sweetness of her mouth.
“You’re right,” he said quietly.
“I would never bring a man here. How could you think I would?”
“That’s why I’m apologizing. I know you wouldn’t get involved with a man.”
Her eyes became as cold as the Arctic. “I did not say that.”
“Sure you did. You said—”
“I said I would never bring a man here, but my life is my own, senhor. I did not come thousands of miles to let you take over where my father left off.”
“Is that why you left Rio? Because your father found out about your lover and wanted you to stop seeing him?”
She looked at him as if he’d lost his sanity. Hell, maybe he had. Hadn’t he just told himself her personal life was none of his business?
“Are you dissatisfied with my work?”
“What? No. No, not at all. I just—”
“Then I see no reason for this conversation.”
Ana picked up the baby, turned her back to him and started briskly from the room. Dammit, he’d started to tell her he was sorry for how he’d behaved. Instead, he’d insulted her all over again.
“Ana!”
She stood still, though she kept her back to him.
“Yes, senhor?”
“I really am sorry. For what happened last time. For now. For screwing up every time I open my mouth.”
Would she respond? Or would she walk away. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until she swung toward him.
“I am sorry, too. Perhaps I am—What is the word?—stubbly?”
“Stub…” Linc grinned. “Prickly.”
“Prickly,” she said, nodding in agreement. “So, I accept your apology.”
“Good.” He hesitated. “The thing is, we might get along better if we knew more about each other.”
“Certainly. I can give you a copy of my résumé.”
“I didn’t mean…” He hesitated again. “Are you, uh, are you satisfied, being here? I mean, I know you didn’t come to New York to become a nanny.”
“I’m happy being with Jenny.”
And are you happy being with me? The words were on the tip of his tongue. Hell, maybe he really was crazy.
“Good,” he said briskly. “She’s certainly happy with you. You’re wonderful with her.”
Ana smiled. “She’s a joy. Did you know she can roll over?”
“No,” Linc said, following her lead, carefully stepping back from the thin ice that had appeared under his feet moments ago. “Really?”
“If I put her on her tummy in her play yard, she rolls onto her back.” She paused. “If you want to come upstairs with us, she’ll show you.”
Turn aside an olive branch? He might be nuts but he wasn’t stupid.
“Great idea,” he said. “Lead the way.”
He followed her up the stairs. Ana put Jenny in the play yard and the baby rolled right onto her back.
“Baa baa baa,” she chortled.
Linc grinned. “Baa baa baa to you, too, kid.”
“She’s a very special little girl,” Ana said, smiling.
“Yeah. She’s really something. Kathryn would be…” He frowned, swallowed past the lump that had suddenly risen in his throat and turned to the door. “Well. I don’t want to keep you guys from your routine, so—”
“It must be terrible,” Ana said softly. “Losing someone you loved as you loved your sister.”
Linc nodded. “Kath was one in a million.”
A light hand fell on his shoulder. “So is her daughter.” Ana hesitated. “Lincoln? It’s Jenny’s bathtime. Would you like to stay and help?”
Lincoln. She’d called him Lincoln for the very first time. Linc cleared his throat.
“You sure I won’t be in the way?”
She smiled. “You won’t be in the way if I put you to work.”
He smiled back. “Just point me in the right direction and step back.”
* * *
Clearly, he was going to be second in command.
Linc took off his jacket. Rolled back his sleeves. Held Jenny while Ana put on an oversized apron and filled the baby tub.
She did the actual bathing, though he got as wet as if he’d been part of the procedure. Jenny, it seemed, was great at slapping at the water and giggling.
“All done,” Ana said, and that was his clue to wrap the baby in a big towel and dry her during an improvised game of peek-a-boo that sent her into fits of laughter.
“She loves to play,” Ana said proudly, and it occurred to him that he didn’t know as much as he should about his niece.
It was definitely time to change that.
Ana dressed Jenny in a pair of pajamas with little yellow ducks all over them.
Then she looked up at Linc.
“Thank you for your help.”
“I enjoyed it.”
She smiled. “You’re soaked, Lincoln. I should have offered you an apron.”
“No problem.”
“Well—”
“So,” he said briskly, “what’s next?”
“Next? Oh.” Her face pinkened. “With Jenny, you mean? Well, I’m going to take her down to the kitchen and feed her.”
“Fine. Give me five minutes to get out of this wet stuff and I’ll meet you there.”
“Oh, but that isn’t—”
“I think it is,” Linc said quietly. “It only just hit me that I don’t know a lot about my niece, and I should.”
* * *
Jenny was eating something noxious-looking when he came down.
“Mashed banana and Pablum,” Ana said, trying not to laugh at his expression. “And be careful, Lincoln. Babies are very good at reading faces.”
“Yum-yum,” he said bravely.
Jenny flashed him a gummy smile.
When the banana-and-whatever was all gone, Linc took the baby in his arms and fed her her bottle. Her eyelids were drooping by the time she’d reached the final inch.
Ana held out her arms. “I’ll put her to bed,” she whispered.
Linc nodded. He followed Ana into the hall, watched as she started up the steps. The evening was at an end. He was grateful it had worked out well. After all, it was easier to get along with an employee than not to get along with her…
“Ana?”
Ana turned. His heart seemed to rise into his throat. How beautiful she was. How right she looked, with the baby asleep against her breast.
“Ana.” He cleared his throat. “Mrs. Hollowell’s sure to have left something for supper.”
“Oh, she did. There’s cold chicken and a salad, and—”
“How about having supper with me?”
An eternity seemed to pass. Ana touched the tip of her tongue to her lips. “Don’t you have dinner plans?”
“None,” he said blithely, and made a mental note to have his PA send his would-be date a couple of dozen long-stemmed roses in the morning.
“Still, Lincoln—”
“I figured you could bring me up to speed on what’s new with Jenny.”
“Oh. Of course. I’ll be right down.”
Linc hurried back into the kitchen. Should they eat here or in the dining room? Summer still gripped the city so building a fire on the hearth in the great room’s massive stone fireplace would be—
The Playboy’s Unexpected Bride Page 5