“We’ve been hiding,” she said unnecessarily, her manner instantly guarded compared to how she’d been with the boys.
Her eyes skimmed past Eric and landed on Helena. Her smile seemed forced. Then, she looked at Alex, and her blue eyes flew wide as she stared at him. His lips curled in sardonic amusement. Her appraisal was brazen. She made no efforts to disguise her interest, running her clear gaze from his thick black hair to his broad shoulders, and lower still, down the length of his muscular frame. He saw the way her delicate neck bunched as she swallowed, and he liked it. He enjoyed her confusion, for it was an obvious sign that she was affected by him.
“Thios!” John launched himself forward and wrapped his arms around his uncle’s legs. Ian followed suit, more tentative but obviously loaded with affection. And the spell was broken. She took a step back to visibly separate herself from him, and the feelings that were coursing through her.
“Soph, this is my brother-in-law Alessandros Petrides.” Alex noticed the shortened version of her name with a jolt of disapproval. He smothered his scowl.
Sophie had heard of him, of course. Who hadn’t? The self-made billionaire who was as renowned for his successes in the boardroom as the bedroom.
Only Sophie hadn’t made the connection between Helena and this man. Now that she looked at them, she could see a similarity in their features, and certainly in their bearing. But how could she have guessed that Helena was related to a man such as this? Her mouth was dry, her throat suddenly thick and constricted.
“Hello.” A tiny noise, husky and sultry, Alex felt yet another pull of curiosity.
He extended a hand, and told himself he was practicing a convention rather than seeking an excuse to touch her. Sophie acted on autopilot, sliding her own small hand into his. The gesture of greeting sparked an unwelcome flash of desire in his blood stream. She was warm and soft. Her eyes flashed with confusion and she quickly pulled her hand back, eyeing her employers with a guilty flush.
“Pleased to meet you,” she husked hurriedly. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, the boys and I have an adventure …”
He cut her off easily, and enjoyed the way pink colour spread into her cheeks. “I should like to spend time with my nephews.”
“Oh, of course.” Sophie blinked. It was obvious that this thought had never occurred to her. For some reason, she hadn’t pictured Alessandros as the kind of man who would enjoy spending time with children.
“Eric, why do you not take my sister out for the evening. Sophie and I will manage the children.”
Eric hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then nodded. “Yes, a good idea. Helena? Can you get ready quickly?”
Helena was visibly pleased. Her face lifted in relief as she nodded. “Of course!”
And she did. No longer than ten minutes later, Helena and Eric pulled the door shut behind them, leaving Alex, Sophie and two excitable young children in the hallway.
“What have you brought for us, thios?”
Alex’s laugh sent darts of emotion down Sophie’s back. “John,” she employed a serious tone despite her amusement. “We don’t ask for gifts. It is bad mannered.”
“Oh.” A petulant lower lip jutted out. “But Thios Alex always brings us things.”
She crouched down and took both of his hands in hers, ignoring the way Alex’s gaze made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. “Isn’t it enough of a gift that he’s come to see you?” She smiled at Ian, softening her admonishment with a kind expression. “Come. We don’t want your uncle to think you care only for what gifts he might carry.”
Alex was, grudgingly, impressed by the lesson she was bestowing. Though he and Helena had grown up with nothing, those years were far behind them. It had been a long time since Helena had enjoyed great personal wealth, and he had silently feared that his nephews were being raised with a great appreciation for possessions.
“Now, why don’t you take your uncle upstairs while I fix your tea.”
“Tea is what they call dinner in ‘Strarlia.” Ian explained, his expression serious.
Sophie stood and the self-consciousness returned when she looked at Alex. “Their rooms are the second and third to the right,” she said, nodding at the stairs.
Alex’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. No, his eyes were softly calculating. “Boys,” he spoke without removing his gaze from her face. “Go to your rooms. I will be along in a moment.”
Ian moved quickly but John was preparing to mount a complaint. “Now, John.” Alex murmured, his eyes dropping to her full lips, and then lower still, to the skin at her décolletage.
Sophie swallowed nervously. “You don’t need to help me.”
“No,” he agreed with a firmness to his voice. “But I would like to.”
Two pink spots appeared in Sophie’s cheeks. It was on the tip of her tongue to object but she thought better of it at the last minute. This was her employer’s brother, and also a very powerful man. He was a guest in the house, and she was staff. It was certainly not her place to tell him to leave her alone.
“Fine,” she muttered, her smile tight. “The kitchen’s…”
“It is not necessary for you to tell me where things are in the house. I have been here before.”
Her flush deepened. “Not since I’ve worked here.”
“And how long is that?”
Sophie lifted her eyes to his face and then looked away again instantly. “Nine months.”
A long time. Almost a year. “You are very young.”
“I’m twenty four,” she bristled defensively.
“I am surprised my sister hired a nanny with such little experience.”
His tone rankled. “I beg your pardon, you have no idea what my experience is.”
“At twenty four, it can not be vast,” he pointed out with a sardonic lift of his brow.
“If you say so.” It was a curtly dismissive rejoinder that surprised them both. To cover her embarrassment, Sophie lifted a frying pan onto the stove and lit the ignition, then added some oil to it. She’d diced the chicken earlier and she pulled it from the fridge now, adding it to the oil with a sizzle.
Alex didn’t take up one of the seats across the kitchen, but instead propped his hip against the island bench. He was too close. Too big, too intimidating and far too unnerving. “What is your experience?”
Sophie lifted a spoon from the frying pan and shifted the chicken around. “Why do I feel like I’m being interviewed?”
“My nephews are of great value to me. It is natural that I would take an interest in their caregiver.”
“Their parents are their caregivers,” she clarified. “And they also take a great interest in me.”
Yes, he thought with a cynical lift of his lips. How much interest though?
“You’ve worked privately as a nanny?”
“Yes.” Her cheeks flushed. “I worked for two years for a family in Sydney before deciding to come to London.” It was a slight fudging of the facts, but this man hardly needed to know the ins and outs of that emotionally stressful time in her life.
“And this was your first post in England?”
“No.” She shook her head. “For two months I travelled with the Prime Minister’s family. He had various commitments abroad and I was hired in addition to their usual staff. When they returned, he made certain to help me find a good placement.”
“Hence you came to work for Helena.”
“And Eric, yes.” Her smile was indulgent. “It was actually Eric who hired me. He knows the prime minister, and when he emailed Eric, the response was instant. Helena was …” She lowered her eyes, biting back the words she’d been about to say. Whether that was from loyalty to his sister or out of guilt at backstabbing her to him, Alex couldn’t have said for sure.
“Helena was?” He prompted with the appearance of curiosity.
“Helena had her hands full. The boys are very high-octane, as you know. It’s not unusual for four year olds, especially boys, but
the fact they’re twins – they egg one another on.”
“And my sister is not maternal?” He queried, voicing his own private feelings in the form of a question.
“Of course she is!” Sophie contradicted, genuine surprise in her eyes. “She’s a lovely mother, and the boys adore her. One doesn’t need to enjoy going to the park and playing chase and reading stories to be maternal.”
“Or hiding under the sofa?” He prompted, reaching forward and pulling a piece of dust from her hair. She watched as he eyed it and then dropped it to the floor.
“Exactly. I enjoy that stuff. I love playing with the boys.”
“It is your job to enjoy it.”
“It is my job because I enjoy it,” she corrected. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t.”
“How long will you stay?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t made up my mind yet.” And besides the fact she hardly knew this man, she found herself speaking with honest uncertainty. “One of the hardest things about my job is leaving the children. In order to do this properly, you have to fall in love with them.”
“With only the children?” He prompted, thinking of his brother in law and the suddenly very strong likelihood that he’d formed a crush on this stunning young Australian.
“Well, with the family.” She shrugged; her shoulders were slender and vulnerable somehow. “I love them, but I’ll leave them at some point. And miss them all like crazy.” She flicked a smile at him.
His expression was difficult to interpret. He was someone who kept his feelings perfectly concealed.
“Eric works long hours.”
“He’s making an effort to curtail that.” Another guilty flush. “It’s better for the children that he be around more.”
“Is it? Why?”
Sophie sighed. “It just is. I see this time and time again. Many families who employ nannies have one parent – or both – who is frequently out of the home. I know that’s the demands of jobs, but for the small time when children are young, they benefit enormously from having parents who are present.”
“I see,” he prompted silkily. If she knew him better, she might have detected the dark note to his voice. But she did not. At that stage, Sophie took Alessandros Petrides at face value.
“Yes. As I explained to Eric, he is well-thought of enough to shape his career around his family for a time.”
“And Eric listened to this?” Alex said, disbelief rich in his chest.
“Yes. Well,” she laughed. “He’s trying. He’s a workaholic, you know, but he makes a point of reading to the kids a couple of nights a week, even if he then has to go back to the office.”
“And my sister?”
Sophie’s shoulders squared defensively. But what was she defending? Her right to be alone with Eric? Or his sister? “What about her?”
“She doesn’t join you?”
“Helena spends more time with the children than Eric. She doesn’t need to make such a point to carve out special blocks of time.” She turned away from him and stirred the chicken again, then added some greens to the same pan.
“I presume you had references? Or did Eric hire you on the spot?”
“I told you,” she couldn’t flatten the offended sound from her words, “I was recommended personally by the Prime Minister. Prior to taking the role within his family, I was thoroughly background checked.” She turned around to face him again, holding the spoon in front of her like a shield. “Why are you asking me these questions? Have I done something to offend you?”
Alex’s smile was pure, sexy amusement “Not yet,” he shrugged cryptically.
Sophie stared at him in confusion. “The twins will be waiting for you.”
“Yes,” he agreed, then continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “And what do you do, Sophie, when you are not minding my nephews and defending my sister?”
She shrugged, then removed the pan from the heat. “I exist in a state of stasis.” She blinked her long lashes at him in an obvious gesture of sarcasm, and then shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude. But you were …”
“Being rude first?” He finished the sentence for her, and she broke out in a genuine smile.
“Yeah. Something like that.” She tipped the stir-fry into a pair of Thomas the Tank Engine bowls.
She was bewitchingly charming. Was it possible Eric had fallen under her spell? Could he have thrown caution to the wind and engaged in the kind of affair that would break Helena’s heart? Not only was it possible, Alex was becoming increasingly convinced that it was highly likely. Despite Eric’s political aspirations, Alex suspected Sophie was just the kind of woman who could make him forget everything he owed to himself and his wife.
“Would you please go and get the boys?”
He was still for a moment, lost in thought, and then he nodded, moving from the kitchen. It gave Sophie an opportunity to study him surreptitiously, as he cut across the expansive lounge area and headed to the stairs. He moved with an almost predatory grace. He was silent and stealthy, and yet even then, simply strolling across the ground floor of this Kensington townhouse, he moved with a barely concealed power and strength that made her heart race.
“Get a grip!” Sophie whispered. The incantation cheered her, as it always did. Those three words had been uttered by their mother, ad infinitum, whenever she’d needed to call on inner strength. As a result, all three Henderson sisters used the same phrase whenever they needed to shake themselves out of an annoying mindset.
It served as a reminder to find calm, and also as a talisman of their mother. In the five years since losing her, Sophie wasn’t sure a day had passed in which she hadn’t thought of Meredith Henderson.
“Are these what you were looking for?” Alex appeared with two boys at his heels, and grouped together like that, Sophie couldn’t help but gasp.
Her young charges were so like their uncle! Perhaps that explained why one look at Alex had filled her with a cumbersome sense of familiarity? It wasn’t a physical thing, so much as that he reminded her of the children she’d come to love dearly. For he was indeed the grown-up version of these two beautiful little beings. Six eyes, dark and almond shaped, stared at her, their similarities now impossible to miss.
“Sit up, darlings. I’ve made your favourite.”
“Oh, goody yum.” John scampered into his seat and Ian followed suit, slightly less enthusiastic in his appraisal of the meal that they regularly requested.
“And if you are very good, and make sure you eat all that yummy kale, there’ll be a lolly after dinner.”
“Bribing the children with sweets?” Alex queried sotto voce.
Sophie grinned and nodded, her heart thrilling at the idea of his disapproval – though she couldn’t have said why.
“They’re just vitamin lollies, Thios,” Ian countered. Though he was little, he didn’t miss a thing.
“I see.”
Sophie sat across from the boys, and indicated with a wave of her hand that Alex was welcome to join them.
His presence made the large space feel constrained somehow. Or perhaps that was just the way his leg brushed against hers beneath the table. She jerked away, not caring that it was an unmistakable gesture of innocence.
She fixed the children with an assessing gaze and then leaned forward. “Fork, darling one.” She turned to Alex, ignoring the way her heart began to palpitate in her chest. “John loves to use his fingers. We’re working on it, aren’t we?”
Alex found it difficult to fault Sophie’s credentials as a nanny, at least. She was attentive, affectionate, kind, patient and thorough, not letting either boy leave the table until both had finished their meals, and urging a form of conversation between the two without being overbearing. Though Alessandros had very little experience with children, he had eaten in enough restaurants and witnessed the appalling behaviour of this generation to be impressed. Though he preferred to give his sister some of the credit, he wasn’t sure that was deserved.
/>
More seamless supervising as the boys were washed, their teeth were cleaned and they were wrangled into bed.
“But daddy was going to read to us!” Ian said darkly, his eyes moist from unshed tears.
“I know, darling, but daddy and mummy are out discussing grown up things.” Alex studied her from the door. Her voice quivered a little, but she didn’t otherwise betray any emotional response to the fact that Eric and Helena were enjoying a romantic evening.
Was that because she didn’t feel anything? Or because she was so assured of her place in Eric’s affections that she didn’t care?
Helena’s notion had been so easily dismissed before he’d met her. But now?
Coldness gripped his heart. How could Eric live under the same roof as this woman and not notice her numerous charms?
As he watched, Sophie’s face lifted towards the door and her eyes lanced his. His stomach clenched with desire, hot and undeniable.
He was used to the effect he had on women, but it was unusual for a woman to stir those same feelings of powerless attraction in him. In fact, he prided himself on his ability to remain detached from almost any situation.
Helena was, of course, an example. Seven years his junior, he loved her almost as a daughter, rather than a sister. She had always been young for her age, and he bore boundless maturity brought on by the responsibilities that had dogged him almost from birth.
He listened as she read to the boys, her voice mesmerising and intoxicating in equal measure. The story was one he hadn’t heard; then again, why would he have? Even as children, no one had whispered sweet stories to them as they fell asleep. And as a grown man, he had little time or interest in books.
John was asleep before she’d finished, and Ian was not long behind.
Sophie finished the story though, and then gently closed the pages and stood. She kissed first Ian, and then John, before settling their sheets over their little shoulders.
Billionaire Brides: An Anthology Page 20
