She gasped as it came into view—it was absolutely stunning, a grand, stately residence that wouldn’t look out of place in Europe. It had a classical stone façade and its imposing three stories looked more like an English manor house than something just an hour’s drive north of Manhattan.
Maria gulped, suddenly feeling very nervous. The Scotts had been wealthy, but not on a scale like this. This house—mansion, really—reeked of money, both old and new, and a whole different world than any Maria had ever been exposed to before.
She said a quick prayer as she parked the car in the circular drive in front of the house. Taking a moment to calm her nerves, she breathed deeply before getting out of the car. With shoulders back and chin lifted, Maria walked up to the door decorated with an elegant wreath and rang the bell. Maria Berger, the Reverend Mother would be so disappointed that you’re intimidated by a display of wealth, so snap out of it!
Feeling marginally better, Maria felt her assurance flag a little when the door was opened by someone who looked just like a butler straight out of a British period drama. Of course a house like this would have a butler.
Feeling like she should apologize for coming to the front door and not the back, Maria said hesitantly, “Hello, I’m Maria Berger, and I believe you’re expecting me.”
“Yes, of course, Miss Berger. Please do come in,” the butler said with a small smile, stepping aside to let her enter.
Maria stepped through the door and nearly gasped—if she thought the house was gorgeous from the outside, it didn’t compare to the interior. The large entry hall had a soaring ceiling from which hung a beautiful Venetian crystal chandelier, and a wide, marble imperial staircase led to the second floor. Light streamed in from skylights built into the high, beautifully molded ceiling; the skylights combined with the light-colored walls gave the entire space an even airier feel.
The floor was tiled in black and white polished marble in a checker pattern. Stunning artwork hung on the walls and elegant antiques were carefully arranged around the hall, including a towering grandfather clock. A massive, fifteen-foot Scotch Pine Christmas tree dominated the space, trimmed with exquisite, delicate-looking ornaments. It did not look like a tree decorated by a family with four children. The overall effect was grand, beautiful and cold, more like a museum rather than a family home. She wondered if the cool grandeur of the entry hall was to deliberately intimidate—if so, it was definitely effective.
“Maria, I’m so glad you beat the storm!” a cheerful voice called out. It was Matt Drake, and Maria was glad to see a familiar face and smiled at him brightly.
“Mr. Drake, it’s lovely to see you again. I am too—I’m glad I decided to leave Boston right after mass this morning. I was afraid traffic would be heavy and I didn’t want to be late.”
She reached out and shook Matt’s hand. She immediately felt more relaxed—Matt had an open and friendly manner that had come across even on the phone during her first interview. His warmth and friendliness had been even more apparent when they met in person. She guessed him to be in his early thirties, with light brown hair and warm brown eyes, and good-looking in a non-assuming way. She was sure his boyish charm was the perfect mask for his shrewd mind.
“Call me Matt, please—you’ll be a member of the household soon enough,” Matt said with a disarming grin.
Maria chuckled. “Well, not quite, I’ve yet to even meet Mr. Trentham or Meggie and the other children. I’m sure they’ll have some questions for me. I don’t want to make any assumptions that they’ll like me before I’m officially hired.”
“Well, I can honestly say that you’re by far the best candidate I interviewed, and Gabriel usually trusts my judgment when it comes to hiring nannies—you’re the third one I’ve vetted in four years. And the previous two nannies turned out fine even if they each had to leave for different reasons. So it really will be just a formality, don’t worry.
He’s actually leaving for the airport soon—he has business in Chicago for the next two days, unless everything is cancelled because of the storm.” Matt grimaced at the thought.
Maria relaxed a bit at Matt’s reassurance. “When do I meet with him then? Before he leaves I assume?”
“Yes, I’m to bring you to his study in just a few minutes—he’s finishing up a phone call right now. Would you like anything to drink or to freshen up, Maria?”
Maria nodded gratefully. “I’d love to freshen up a bit—I didn’t stop on the way here. And please, call me Ria—most people do.”
Matt’s smile suddenly froze on his face. He blinked and then the expression was gone. Maria wondered what could have caused that reaction.
“Ria, huh? That’s a lovely nickname. Let me show you to the powder room.”
As Maria walked away, Matt’s smile slid off his face. Ria, Ria! Could it be her? Nothing in the background check he’d run on Maria Berger would have turned up a one-night stand from the summer, of course. She definitely fit the description given to him by Gabriel, but of all the crazy coincidences, who would have thought she’d literally show up on his doorstep, and the timing couldn’t have been worse!
Matt winced when he thought about Olivia—if this was indeed the Ria that Gabriel had practically torn apart Boston searching for, they were all in for some interesting times. Matt’s eyes suddenly widened—Gabriel obviously had no idea of Maria’s previous occupation before she became a nanny—was there time to warn him…?
Even as he impulsively stepped in the direction of Gabriel’s office, he heard Maria’s footsteps approach. Too late, dammit. Oh well, Gabriel will just have to deal with it.
Matt grimaced quickly when he thought of Gabriel’s probable reaction and replaced it with a guileless smile as he turned back to Maria. He looked at her with a new appreciation, seeing her short, bright golden locks, bluer than blue eyes, her tall, slim, gently curved figure clad conservatively in a soft gray sweater set and a charcoal wool pencil skirt paired with dark tights and black ankle boots with a modest heel.
Despite the demure clothes, Maria was a knockout—if he wasn’t quite happily gay, he’d be tempted to make a play for her himself. But thinking of Gabriel’s foul temper after his unsuccessful attempts at locating the mysterious Ria, he hastily changed his mind. He valued his job—and his life—too much to even consider poaching on anything Gabriel considered his. And without a doubt, Gabriel considered Ria his.
As he looked at Maria’s lovely smiling face, he wondered how she’d feel about that.
MARIA NERVOUSLY PULLED AT HER cardigan as Matt knocked on the door. Butterflies had started fluttering in again on the short walk to Mr. Trentham’s home office. She knew it was normal to have nerves—she really wanted the job, after all—but it wasn’t so much the forthcoming interview as the speculative look on Matt’s face as she returned from the powder room before he quickly erased it that had her on edge.
Matt had been nothing but purely professional in their previous interactions, so she’d never thought he was personally interested in her. She hoped she was wrong, and she’d simply misread the appraising glance he’d given her—she would have never accepted this position if she thought there was an even a remote chance he’d be interested in her that way.
“Come in,” came the curt reply in a crisp, beautifully resonant voice, and the butterflies in her stomach suddenly started doing cartwheels and backflips. His voice was so familiar…
“Gabriel, Maria Berger has arrived,” Matt announced and Maria took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway, and immediately froze, her feet glued to the spot. Her heart was in her throat as she stared at the man rising from his imposing mahogany desk, his hand outstretched towards her.
‘Hello, Miss Berger, I’m Gabriel Trentham. I’m glad to finally meet you, Matt has been nothing but enthusi—“
The words suddenly stopped as she met the dark blue eyes of the man she’d spent the most unforgettable night of her life with. A man she’d never thought she’d ever see again.
>
“Ria?” he finally said in a hoarse voice, his skin pale beneath his tanned skin. Slowly, he stepped away from his desk, walking steadily towards her until he stopped, his body nearly brushing hers. She could only stare at him, utterly speechless, her mind still scrambling from shock as his hand came up and delicately touched her cheek, fingers trailing down to brush against her mouth. She trembled as heat flared at his touch, memories of that night careening through her, of his talented, elegant fingers learning every single inch of her body, of his mouth, that shockingly carnal mouth and sensual lips…
Maria stared, entranced, as that mouth came closer and closer and he gently tipped her chin up. Distantly, she heard Matt say, “Right, well, it looks like you two have lots to discuss so I’ll just leave you to get reacquainted and if anyone needs me I’ll be in my hopefully sound-proof office with my door securely shut, bye now!” And then a soft click as the door was firmly closed.
Her eyes fluttered shut at the first caress of his lips against hers and she gasped against his mouth as every nerve in her body tingled to life. With a groan, Gabriel deepened the kiss, his tongue demanding entrance to her mouth. She complied eagerly, parting her lips and stroking his tongue with her own as he swept in. Her hands came up to clutch his hair and she could feel his arms around her holding her close, his hands dropping to cup her bottom and lift her up so their groins aligned. She could feel him hard and throbbing directly against her mound and she squirmed, pleasure racing through her. She felt herself becoming wet, her panties getting damp.
Memories of his thick cock stretching her, plunging deep inside caused her pussy to contract and she whimpered at the empty ache at her center, wanting desperately to feel him there again, filling her to overflowing. She tried to raise her legs so she could wrap them around his hips but her slim skirt frustrated her attempts. One of his hands left her bottom to fumble at the back button and zipper of her skirt, and she thought, oh, yes, eager to get rid of the layers separating them, and then, oh, no! as the reality of what they were doing intruded.
With a gasp, she tore her mouth away from his and pushed them apart, nearly stumbling as her knees weakened. She kept her hands against his chest when he tried to pull her back and she could feel his pounding heart and the warmth of his hard muscles beneath her hands. She took a deep breath to try to steady her own heaving chest and blurted out, “We can’t do this.”
Gabriel stared at her, his mouth wet from their kiss and hectic color along his cheekbones, his skin pulled taut over them with arousal. “Why not?”
“Because I’m going to be your daughter’s nanny! It’s so wrong on every level and besides,” she gasped as realization hit, “you’re engaged!”
A stab of something that felt very much like pain mixed with jealousy went through her at the thought of him belonging to another woman.
He blinked and then closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair, disordering its perfectly combed waves. He turned away from her and grasped the edge of his desk, his hands gripping it so tightly his knuckles showed white.
She stared at him, letting her eyes trace his body, clad in a well-cut, obviously hideously expensive navy pin-striped suit. He’d been wearing a similar suit but in fine black wool the night they met and he was even handsomer than she remembered, if that was even possible.
She and Sophie had gone to the hotel bar that first night after hitting some night clubs, hoping to find someone more suitable for Maria’s needs there, and she’d noticed him at the piano immediately, his strong, elegantly chiseled features concentrating only on the beautiful music that his incredibly skilled hands were producing. His dark hair was lightly grayed at his temples and swept ruthlessly off his face, and even sitting at the piano she could tell his body was strong and fit—there was no doubt he was a man in the prime of his maturity and made every single guy she’d met in her quest the past week seem like a boy. He was unquestionably way out of her league and she’d resisted when Sophie encouraged her to go up to him.
But she came back the next night, this time without Sophie in tow and dressed more like her normal self and not in clubbing attire, hoping only to see him again. She’d been happy to find him in the same lounge and content just to look at him and listen to him play.
She’d found him completely compelling, something in her responding to him even before they’d spoken a word with each other. It might have been the hint of sadness surrounding him, a solitary quality in him that she’d recognized in herself.
Whatever the reason, all she knew was that she’d never felt this kind of attraction before, an overwhelming physical hunger combined with a feeling of kinship, of connection.
She’d been surprised when other men had flirted with her that night, men she might have seriously considered another time, but all she’d felt was irritation that they’d pulled her attention away from the man at the piano.
It wasn’t until it seemed that he was done for the evening that the idea to approach him popped into her mind, and once it did, she knew there was no one else she wanted for her first time. The shock had been him accepting her clumsy advance. She still didn’t know why he’d said yes.
He finally turned to face her and Maria nearly took a step back at the fierce, forbidding anger on his face.
“Why did you sneak away in the morning?”
She flushed, remembering waking up naked in his arms, sore between her legs and in other intimate parts of her body and quietly scrambling around for her clothes, wanting only to leave before he woke up. “The night was over—I thought you’d want me gone before things got awkward after you woke up.”
He looked thunderous. “Are you telling me that you thought it was just a casual one-night stand?”
“Well, yes, isn’t that what it was?” Maria was confused—isn’t that what all men expected when a strange woman picked them up in a bar?
“So you gave your virginity to me and didn’t expect anything else?” Did he seem even more upset at her answer?
“No, of course not—I just wanted to sleep with you. Remember, I wasn’t even going to tell you it was my first time.” She tried to laugh to lighten the mood, but it came out sounding strained and false. “I may have been inexperienced, but even I know that orgasms, no matter how many or good, don’t equal a relationship.”
If anything, his expression got even darker at her quip.
“Why are you so upset? I would have thought I’d done exactly what you wanted.”
“Is it so hard to believe that I wanted to see you again after that night? I woke up, expecting to see you and couldn’t believe you’d just left—I was afraid something had happened to you! I spent weeks searching Boston for you.”
The thought that he wanted to see her again left Maria breathless.
“You did?” she squeaked. “I was staying with a friend until my job started—I left Boston for Connecticut just a few days later.” She didn’t tell him how much she regretted leaving him without some kind of note, but she woke up after that incredible night wanting him again, not just sexually but emotionally, and those feelings were so strong and overwhelming she didn’t know how to deal with them.
So she reacted the only way she could in her panicked state—she ran. The fact that he’d also wanted more after their night together left her reeling—with joy, because the night had been as meaningful to him as it had been to her, but with despair too, because it was all too late—he was now committed to another woman.
Maria felt her shoulders slump before she straightened them and lifted her chin. She looked directly at Gabriel and kept her voice steady as she said, “Obviously it’s impossible for me to work for you now. Thank you for the opportunity—I’m sorry that you’ll have to look for another nanny.”
Gabriel stiffened and narrowed his eyes at her. She wondered absently if he’d ever been in the military because he had the “displeased commanding officer talking to idiot junior officer” demeanor down pat.
“Another nanny? I don’
t think that will be necessary.”
She blinked at him. “You really think it’s a good idea for me to stay considering our history? You haven’t even formally interviewed me yet.”
“Fine, let’s have the interview then,” Gabriel snapped and stalked around back to his chair, grabbing a piece of paper she assumed was her CV off his desk. “So you were with your last family for five months? Why did you decide to leave them?”
“Mr. Scott was being transferred to Japan, and although they wanted me to go with them, I decided not to,” she replied promptly, determined to act as professionally as possible under the circumstances.
“And that was your first live-in situation? The lack of a readily available social life didn’t bother you? The Scotts lived near Greenwich—you may have noticed on your drive here that this is a more isolated location than your previous position,” Gabriel remarked coolly, watching her carefully.
Maria hesitated for a moment before responding. “No, the lack of a social life didn’t bother me. I don’t mind a quiet life.”
“Is that because you already have a boyfriend who plans on visiting you? Should I be letting my housekeeper know to expect another guest?” he drawled.
She refused to be baited. “No sir, I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“So are you planning on using your days off to go into the city and find more random hook-ups there? I seem to recall you saying how much you wanted to explore Manhattan,” he sneered.
Maria flushed and her temper started to climb. There was no doubt he was deliberately trying to provoke her. “Despite what you may think, I don’t make it a habit to do random hook-ups—you know very well you were my first!”
“Well it has been six months since we were last together—how do I know you aren’t in the habit now? I wouldn’t want to expose my children to possibly immoral behavior from their caretaker,” he said insultingly.
She stood up, her temper definitely on fire now. How could he be so awful! “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you’re the only man I’ve ever slept with and I’m having major regrets about that right now!”
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