Supernanny meets her match...
Savannah Williams loves being a nanny—but her assignment for single dad Declan Murdock is her most challenging yet. Not only is his daughter unruly, but Declan is her ex, whom she’s spent seven lonely years trying to forget....
After Declan’s ex-wife took him for a ride, he’s maintained a suave, in-control persona. Yet seeing Savannah again lights up Declan’s world.
And he begins to wonder whether his real mistake was letting her go....
The Nanny Handbook
How to be the perfect Vacation Nannies employee:
1. Do make the most of the jet-set locations worldwide, wherever you might be working.
2. Do call on all your training and make sure the children you’re caring for have the best vacation, too.
3. And the most important rule to remember: however attractive he may be, don’t fall for your employer….
Join sisters Stacey and Savannah Williams as they set up Vacation Nannies, combining their love for children with a desire to see the world!
Travel to the Costa Blanca with Stacey in book one, where the stunning Spanish scenery isn’t the only thing that catches her eye... But can gorgeous single dad Luis Aldivista offer her a world that is so special she’d never miss her dream job?
The Nanny and the Boss’s Twins
March 2012
In book two, follow Savannah to San Francisco and the Sierra Nevada mountains as she faces her most challenging assignment yet—three weeks hiking with her ex and his rebellious teenage daughter!
The Nanny Who Kissed Her Boss
April 2012
Praise for Barbara McMahon
“A fresh spin on some tried-and-true plot elements makes this story work beautifully—and its outspoken, honest heroine is a delight”
—RT Book Reviews on
The Daredevil Tycoon
“Well-rounded characters—particularly Rashid—and a gorgeous setting make this fantasyromance very appealing.”
—RT Book Reviews on
Accidentally the Sheikh’s Wife (4 stars)
“McMahon has a charming story of love’s salvation and its boundless rewards.”
—RT Book Reviews on
Firefighter’s Doorstep Baby (4½ stars)
Barbara McMahon
The Nanny Who Kissed Her Boss
Barbara McMahon was born and raised in the southern U.S., but settled in California after spending a year flying around the world for an international airline. She settled down to raise a family and work for a computer firm, and began writing when her children started school. Now, feeling fortunate to have been able to realize a long-held dream of quitting her day job and writing full-time, she and her husband have moved to the Sierra Nevada of California, where she finds her desire to write is stronger than ever. With the beauty of the mountains visible from her windows, and the pace of life slower than that of the hectic San Francisco Bay Area, where they previously resided, she finds more time than ever to think up stories and characters and share them with others through writing.
Barbara loves to hear from readers. You can reach her at P.O. Box 977, Pioneer, CA 95666-0977, U.S.A. Readers can also contact Barbara at her website, www.barbaramcmahon.com.
Books by Barbara McMahon
THE NANNY AND THE BOSS’S TWINS*
FROM DAREDEVIL TO DEVOTED DADDY
ANGEL OF SMOKY HOLLOW
FIREFIGHTER’S DOORSTEP BABY**
*The Nanny Handbook
**The Brides of Bella Rosa
Other titles by this author available in ebook format.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ONE
Savannah Williams rolled over on her right side and pulled the covers over her head. It was morning, she could tell by the bright sunlight flooding her bedroom. But she was not ready to get up. She’d arrived home late last night after the airplane trip from hell. It had routed her all over the United States and got her to New York long after midnight when she’d been up before dawn on the west coast to make that first flight.
The apartment was quiet. Her sister was on assignment. She relaxed and tried to fall back asleep. Why hadn’t she put a blackout shade on the window? She just wanted a few more hours of rest.
The ring of the phone jarred.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” She threw back the sheet and stalked to the living room where the apartment phone was ringing. She’d turned off her cell, so naturally this phone had to ring.
“It better be good,” she snapped into the receiver when she snatched it up.
“Good morning, Savannah. It’s Stephanie. Did you have a good trip?” The cheerful voice was not what Savannah wanted to hear this early.
“The cruise was okay except it snowed two days. So much for lying on the deck while the children napped. And the two darling dears of Dr. and Mrs. Lightower were not the angels the parents purported them to be. I was never so thankful to end an assignment. Talk about spoiled brats! The flight home—or should I say the flights home—were horrible. I was routed from Alaska to LA to Dallas then Chicago, then I swear I thought I was going to be sent through Atlanta, but fortunately bad weather kept that airport off the schedule, so I got sent to Boston before ending up in New York at two o’clock in the morning!” She was practically yelling the last, but only heard Stephanie’s giggles in the background. So much for sympathy.
“I was trying to sleep in,” she grumbled.
“Oh, poor you. Go back to sleep in a minute. You have a new assignment and the client actually postponed his trip to make sure it coincided with your availability. This one’s right up your alley—one child, a teenager. Parents are divorced, mother has custody. However, the teen is with her father now and will be for the summer apparently. Could be a bonding experience for them, I suppose.”
“What could?” Savannah asked. She was growing wider awake the longer Stephanie kept her on the phone. For what? She was off the clock and wanted to catch up on sleep and fun before taking another assignment from Vacation Nannies.
“Backpacking in the High Sierras,” Stephanie said.
Savannah stared out the window to the sliver of a view of the Hudson River she and her sister enjoyed from their apartment. Glass and concrete and that tiny sliver compared to endless vistas of mountain ranges? Clear blue sky instead of the heavy layer of smog over New York?
But backpacking?
“How come Stacey gets to lounge around at the beach on the Med and I’m stuck lugging a heavy backpack on a trail where there won’t even be hot and cold running water?”
“Luck of the draw. Plus you’re our resident expert on troublesome teens.”
“Oh, joy, another challenge. When do we meet?” she asked. Rule number one of Vacation Nannies was that both parties had
to agree to the assignment. Which usually worked to make sure the match between nanny and children was harmonious, but she had seriously been off with the Lightower children. Who expected them to behave so nicely at the initial meeting and then turn into terrors? Not that she hadn’t been able to cope, but the carefree cruise she’d anticipated had not been the case.
“Friday. If everything goes okay, you’ll depart next week and be gone three weeks.”
“How old’s the teen?” Savannah had specialized in adolescent behavior when getting her degree in education. She had a special bond for children who had reached the whacked-out stage of teenagedom, which included recalcitrant and defiant behavior.
“She’s fourteen. Lives here in New York.”
Savannah could hear papers being turned over, Stephanie was obviously referring to interview notes. She plopped down on the sofa, giving up any thought of going back to sleep until later. “Never mind giving me all the info. I’ll be by later to look at the file. Anything else I should know?”
“Do you have hiking boots?”
“Of course, remember my trip to the Adirondacks last fall? It was a glorious week tramping round the forest and enjoying at all the colorful foliage. The pair I got then are well worn in. How cold is it in the High Sierras in June?”
“Check the national weather outlook. I’ll confirm you’ll be there on Friday at eleven. Oh, and, Savannah…” Stephanie sounded hesitant.
Savannah sat up at her tone.
“What?”
“The dad is Declan Murdock.”
Savannah frowned, almost hearing Stephanie holding her breath after delivering that bombshell.
“I’m not going,” she said. Declan Murdock. It had been seven years since she’d seen him. Seven lonely years of trying to forget the man she’d loved with all the fresh bright hope of first love—and who had dumped her so unceremoniously.
“He asked especially for you.”
“That’s hard to believe.” And was like a knife twisting in her. He’d left her because of Jacey. Now he wanted her to watch her while he was off doing what—oh yeah, backpacking. What had happened to Jacey’s mother? They were divorced—again?
“Why backpacking in the mountains? Why isn’t he just sticking around New York while he has Jacey? They could see shows, visit museums, go to the shore. Bond in New York.”
“I don’t inquire as to why our clients do things. Friday morning at his office. I think you know where.” Stephanie hung up before Savannah could utter another word.
She slammed down the phone. “For this I had to get up early?”
Declan Murdock. She hadn’t seen him in years, hadn’t thought about him in—well, at least maybe one year. She wished she could say she’d forgotten him as fast as he’d probably forgotten her. But she’d been incredibly hurt by their parting. She’d been dreaming of a wedding and he’d been lured back to his ex-wife because of a daughter he hadn’t known existed.
For the longest time she’d gone over everything, replaying in her mind every word he’d uttered at that final meeting, trying to see where things could have gone differently.
“Water long under the bridge,” she muttered, going to get coffee to jump-start her brain. Did Stephanie really think she’d take the job? Be alone with Declan and his daughter for three weeks?
“Why not ask me to plunge a knife into my heart to begin with. It would be just as painful,” she mumbled, watching the coffeemaker drizzle the brew into the carafe. Divorced, Stephanie had said. So when had that happened? What about Declan’s determination to make a go of his marriage for the sake of a daughter he’d just discovered?
No one would blame her for turning down a request for an assignment from the man who had broken her heart. The man against whom she had judged all other men ever since—and had usually found them lacking.
Maybe she should have asked the Lightowers to extend her services—even the horrible brats looked better than facing Declan again.
Taking her coffee, she went back to the sofa and gazed out the window. She wondered if he’d aged much. She’d learned how successful his sporting goods chain had become. Everything he touched seemed golden.
Divorced. Her curiosity got the better of her. Dare she risk her peace of mind by seeing him again? Any feelings she’d had for him seven years ago had evaporated. She’d become much more wary, much more cynical about men’s intentions.
And how could she watch his daughter—the reason he’d left her. She’d been so in love, and she’d thought he had, as well. How could he so easily have tossed that love aside to marry Margo—or rather to remarry her when she’d shown up years after their divorce saying Declan was a father. He’d had the paternity tests done and had then been convinced he needed to marry Jacey’s mother again and build a strong family unit.
Forget about the college student who had adored him. Forget about the plans and dreams they’d had. Once he’d uttered the fateful words, Savannah had wished him well and left the coffee shop, tears not falling until she was home.
So what had happened to his precious plans that had brought him full circle back into her life?
Curiosity won. She’d go to the interview. It wouldn’t go well, she already knew that. But the reputation of Vacation Nannies was on the line. She didn’t want him bad- mouthing the company because of personal feelings. Feelings that should have died seven years ago.
“That did die seven years ago!” she repeated aloud. “I’m so over you, Declan Murdock.”
* * *
Friday, Savannah dressed with care. She was no longer the college student dating an up-and-coming businessman. She went with the most trendy outfit she had, and spiked her short hair the way she liked it. Her outfit was the fourth she’d tried on this morning, wanting to get just the right look of successful businesswoman and capable nanny. The navy slacks, white blouse and sassy scarf declared her achievement.
He’d done well, she’d learned a couple of years ago. Well, so had she and her sister. Maybe not on the scale he’d reached, but wildly prosperous. She and Stacey had planned their business long before they were able to start it. The one course she especially wanted to take in her senior year in college was Start-ups on a Shoestring—taught by visiting guest lecturer Declan Murdock shortly after he began his sporting goods company. She’d hung on his every word. First for what she could learn about business, then for what she could learn about the man himself. When he’d asked her out, she’d gone. There were rules at the college against faculty dating students but as a guest lecturer, he wasn’t really faculty.
Only a few years older than she, he’d captured her imagination and fired her enthusiasm about her business model for Vacation Nannies. Before long the business talk had turned personal and by Christmas that year she’d fallen in love. She remembered their talk about surfing together off the coast of Maine, the fun she’d had slugging a softball out of the park to his wild cheering, the thrill of roller-blading in Central Park together. Visiting museums and art galleries when the weather was bad, lost in a world of two despite the crowded places.
She shook off the memories. She was an accomplished businesswoman in her own right. She would see him, refuse the job and that would be that.
She gave the cabdriver the address. Savan
nah knew exactly where the company headquarters was for Murdock Sports. She’d met him there many evenings, to give them more time together. She didn’t want to remember, but ever since Stephanie’s call the memories had flooded in.
At least she had the teensy consolation that she wasn’t still some lovestruck idiot pining for a man who’d married a woman he didn’t love for the sake of a daughter who had been kept from him the first seven years of her life.
Maybe he’d say or do something so outlandish at the interview she could instantly say no. Highly unlikely, but she lived in hope. Truth was, she could turn down the assignment for no reason at all. She didn’t answer to him.
But Vacation Nannies thrived on referrals. He probably moved in such rarified air these days he could give their company a big boost.
Three weeks was a mere twenty-one days. She could do anything for a short time.
The first thing Savannah noticed when she stepped into the building was the major renovations since she’d last been there. The reception area was larger and very upscale. Most suitable to the image of a very successful company. Let the public believe you’re highly successful, and you’ll be highly successful, had been one of his axioms. So his business instincts had been right on. He was a huge success. Despite her heartbreak, she’d picked up some information over the years from the local business news. If nothing else, she’d learned solid business techniques and how to focus on the main goal from Declan’s class.
Add the fact that the address of Vacation Nannies made a major impression on clients, also thanks to Declan. Granted she sometimes thought they paid way too much for the tiny offices they had, but the clientele they drew demanded the very best.
Savannah gave her name to the receptionist and was asked to wait. No hardship since she’d put off the interview entirely if she could. But there was no other nanny as suitable from their company so Stephanie had explained to her when she’d showed up at the office to read the file before the interview. The most important thing was to keep up the reputation of Vacation Nannies.
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