Winning the Nanny's Heart

by Shirley Jump

  Adding Up To Family

  Figures, not families, were her forte. Yet somehow CPA Katie Williams found herself accepting single dad Sam Millwright’s desperate job offer to help care for his two young children. She took the job...temporarily. Because losing her heart to this love-starved family was definitely off the books.

  Sam knew Katie was different from her first day on the job. In just a short while, the new nanny had coaxed a smile from his sullen daughter and got his silent son to speak. And she awakened a part of the widower’s heart he’d long since locked away. Still, Katie planned to leave—and Sam knew if he stood any chance of convincing her to stay, he had to show the temporary nanny that they could have a permanent future...together!

  “Would you consider...being the nanny?”

  “I don’t have much experience,” Katie said.

  “I’ve got some flexibility in my schedule, and the kids are gone half the day at school, so it won’t be much time. I know they can be...overwhelming sometimes. Especially when they’re armed with finger paint and a hose.” He grinned.

  Sam’s smile was a little lopsided, with a slight dimple in his left cheek. She liked his smile. Liked it a lot. Wouldn’t mind seeing it more often. And if he was going to be around to help with the kids... Was she seriously considering this job?

  Her gaze traveled again to Libby, then to Henry, dwarfed by an oversize chair in the living room.

  A feeling tugged at something deep inside of Katie, something she hadn’t even been sure existed until she’d walked into this house and met these children. This man.

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

  THE BARLOW BROTHERS:

  Nothing tames a Southern man faster...

  than true love!

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for returning to Stone Gap, North Carolina, for more of the Barlow brothers! As soon as I wrote Colton’s book (The Firefighter’s Family Secret, June 2016), I knew I wanted to meet his sister, Katie. From the first line of her book where she talks about running away, I liked her. And I loved writing about Sam Millwright’s heartbroken but wonderful kids.

  Because I have two grown kids of my own, I love writing about young children. It takes me back to those days when mine were small and we spent our afternoons building blanket forts and baking cookies. In fact, most of my favorite books that I’ve written have kids in them. I think there’s just something about the vulnerability and honesty of a child that really draws me in as a reader, and makes me root twice as hard for the happily-ever-after.

  In Winning the Nanny’s Heart, readers get a peek at Della Barlow’s new bed-and-breakfast, The Stone Gap Inn. This is the setting for an important moment in Sam and Katie’s romance, and one of my favorites in the story! I’d love to hear what your favorite Stone Gap moments are. Stop by my Facebook author page at Facebook.com/shirleyjump.author or send me a tweet on Twitter, @shirleyjump, and share your thoughts. I love to hear from my readers!

  Shirley Jump

  Winning the Nanny’s Heart

  Shirley Jump

  New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Shirley Jump spends her days writing romance so she can avoid the towering stack of dirty dishes, eat copious amounts of chocolate and reward herself with trips to the mall. Visit her website at shirleyjump.com for author news and a booklist, and follow her at Facebook.com/shirleyjump.author for giveaways and deep discussions about important things like chocolate and shoes.

  Books by Shirley Jump

  Harlequin Special Edition

  The Barlow Brothers

  The Firefighter’s Family Secret

  The Tycoon’s Proposal

  The Instant Family Man

  The Homecoming Queen Gets Her Man

  Harlequin Romance

  The Christmas Baby Surprise

  The Matchmaker’s Happy Ending

  Mistletoe Kisses with the Billionaire

  Return of the Last McKenna

  How the Playboy Got Serious

  One Day to Find a Husband

  Family Christmas in Riverbend

  The Princess Test

  How to Lasso a Cowboy

  Midnight Kiss, New Year Wish

  If the Red Slipper Fits...

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010002

  To my awesome, supersmart editor Susan Litman, who has made every one of The Barlow Brothers books better and stronger.

  Working with her has been an honor and a pleasure.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Wild Horse Springs by Jodi Thomas

  Chapter One

  The first time Katie Williams ran away from home, she was eight years old.

  She packed her Barbie backpack with a clean T-shirt, a handful of granola bars and three stuffed animals (because she couldn’t possibly choose between Rabbit, Harvey and Willard), then set out into the world. Well, not the world, really, just the end of Seventh Street, where the alley met the back of the park. She’d settled into the dark, tight space under the stairs for the slide, and told herself she wasn’t scared.

  Her brother, Colton, found her an hour later, hungry and weepy and cold. “I was gonna make pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, Piglet,” he’d said, as if it were just another ordinary Tuesday. “And nobody wants to miss out on pancakes.” He wrapped her in the thick fleeced comfort of his sweatshirt, then carried her home piggyback. While he walked, his back hunched under her weight, he told her a story about a brave princess who lived in a castle high on a hill, with an ogre for a friend. Colton had carried her straight to her room, deposited Katie in her squeaky twin bed and bundled her under the thin blankets. He paused, then let out a sigh.

  She did it again, Colton had said.

  It wasn’t even a question. Katie nodded, afraid to say the words out loud. To tell her brother how their mother had lashed out at Katie again, for a sin no more egregious than asking if there was anything for supper. In those days, their mother drank more than she ate, and for whatever reason, had taken her anger out on Katie more than Colton.

  Colton had given her a nod of understanding, a hug and a whisper in her ear, You’re a good kid. Don’t ever forget that. He’d talked to her until her tears dried up and then he’d tucked her into her bed, and left her with a sandwich he’d sneaked out of the kitchen.

  She supposed it was kind of ironic that almost twenty years later, she was running away from home again, but this time toward her brother. And once again, he didn’t ask a single question when she showed up on his doorstep late in the afternoon in a tiny quaint town in North Carolina.

  “Hey,” she said, when sh
e walked into the Stone Gap Fire Department and found Colton standing by Engine No. 1, polishing the chrome. “I’m here.”

  He stopped working, tossed the rag onto the counter and grinned at her. “Hey yourself, Piglet.” She’d never escaped his childhood nickname for her, but that was okay. “’Bout time you showed up.”

  She propped a fist on her hip and gave her six-foot-two brother a well-practiced look of annoyance. He was seven inches taller than her and looked ten times stronger in his dark blue uniform. But that didn’t stop her from teasing him. “Just because you call and invite me to come visit you doesn’t mean I’m going to rush on down here.”

  “I don’t know why not. Seeing as how I’m your favorite person and all.” His grin widened and he stepped forward, opening his arms and dragging her into a hug before she could protest. “Even if you are my annoying little sister.”

  Katie drew back and squared her shoulders. She could have leaned into Colton’s hug forever, but if she did that, she was afraid the fragile hold she had on her emotions would crumble, and then she’d be a sobbing mess. If there was one thing Katie didn’t do, it was cave to emotions. She hadn’t gotten to be a partner at one of the largest accounting firms in Atlanta by acting weak. And she wasn’t going to get through the next couple weeks without staying strong.

  After that, she should be fine. Or at least that was what she had told herself the whole way here. Two weeks, she’d decided, was long enough to find a new job, a new life, a new everything. And maybe, just maybe, stop hurting.

  “All right, so now I’m here,” she said, brushing her bangs off her forehead, as if that action could brush the worry away from her mind, too. “You want to show me around this town you’ve raved so much about?”

  Truth be told, Colton had done far more raving about Rachel Morris, the girl he was engaged to. He was clearly head over heels for the wedding planner he’d met a few months ago. He’d taken a job at the local fire department, and from what Katie could tell from his texts and phone calls, settled right into Stone Gap like he was born here. She shouldn’t have been surprised—Colton was the kind of guy who fit in anywhere, even with the half brothers he’d recently met. Katie, on the other hand, had never had the same kind of ease around people. Maybe it was from doing such a left-brained job, or maybe it was just that Colton had enough charm for the two of them combined.

  “I can’t leave now, sis, sorry. I just started my shift and I’m on the clock for a full twenty-four,” he said. “But why don’t you head over to the Stone Gap Inn, and I’ll meet you there tomorrow night at suppertime? Tell Della I sent you. I stayed there until I rented a house in town. It’s awesome. If anyone knows how to be a hostess, it’s Della. She’s my dad’s wife, and I guarantee she’s going to make you feel like a long lost member of the family.”

  Katie wasn’t so sure about that. Right now, all she wanted was a room to herself and some time to think. “Sounds like a plan. Say...six o’clock?”

  “On the dot.” Then he winked. “More or less. You know you have to give me a ten-minute window, in either direction.”

  She rolled your eyes at him. “I swear, you do that on purpose.”

  Colton draped an arm over her shoulders and started walking her back to her car. “You are just a tiny bit too uptight, Piglet. Learn to loosen up. Run late once in a while. Get messy. Your life will be ten times more fun that way.”

  “And your life would be ten times easier if you just got a little more organized and on time.”

  Colton chuckled. “See you tomorrow, sis.”

  Katie climbed into her car and started the engine. She waved goodbye to her brother, then drove two miles away from downtown Stone Gap before turning on a pretty side street lined with trees. She’d been in town only for an hour and already knew her way around—such a difference from the crazy congestion of Atlanta. Okay, so she’d also studied a Google map of the town before making the drive from Atlanta, and written down the directions to the B and B after Colton had referred her to it when she’d broached the idea of visiting. But overall, Stone Gap was easy—easy to drive through, easy to enjoy.

  This was what she wanted and needed, she told herself. A quiet, picturesque seaside town where she could...forget. Move on. Take some time to process this, the doctor had told her. Don’t expect to bounce right back into your normal life. You’ve had a loss, and you need time to deal with it.

  But how did one “process” a miscarriage? Katie’s hand strayed to her belly, as if touching the place where the baby had been would change anything. Everything about her life was different now, had been for two months. Two months where she had buried her feelings and told herself she was okay. Then had a major meltdown at work, and lost the firm’s two biggest clients. All in one day. The next day, her boss had sat her down and told her maybe it would be best for all involved if she moved on, a pretty little euphemism for being fired. Except Katie wasn’t sure what to do next. How to move forward or move on.

  For one brief moment—a handful of weeks, really—Katie had dared to consider a different life from the one she’d been living. She’d dreamed of detouring from the careful career path she’d been on. Quitting her job, because working eighty hours a week didn’t jibe with being a mom, and maybe going out on her own or working at a smaller firm. She’d flipped through baby magazines and surfed nursery design websites. She’d even set up a Pinterest account, thinking she’d want a way to organize and save all the things she had found.

  And then one morning she’d woken up in pain, her stomach curling in against her like a fist, and she’d known, in that innate way a woman reads the whispers of her body. Later that day, the doctor had confirmed the wrenching truth Katie already knew.

  The baby, the different life, the dream, were all gone. She laid a hand on her stomach and could almost hear it echoing inside. Katie had wanted to roll into a ball in that hospital bed and cry, but instead, she’d gotten dressed, checked out and gone to work.

  Because she thought that would help her forget.

  It hadn’t.

  And now, here she was, in a town not much bigger than a postage stamp, looking for...peace. A direction. She’d start, she decided, small. At the Stone Gap Inn.

  She pulled into the driveway of the address Colton had given her and looked up at the two-story white antebellum-style house before her. A long, columned front porch greeted visitors like a smile, anchored by a swing on one end and two comfy rocking chairs on the other. A rainbow of flowers flanked the walkway, leading a happy march up to a bright red front door. Katie half expected a girl in a corset and hoopskirt to step onto the porch and offer visitors some sweet tea.

  Just as she rang the bell, the front door opened and a curvy red-haired woman in a floral apron greeted her with a wide smile. “Why, hello! You must be Colton’s sister. He called me and told me you were on your way. I’m Della.” She put out her hand and shook with Katie. “Della Barlow. I own this bed-and-breakfast, and run it with my best friend, Mavis.”

  It was a fast, breathless, friendly introduction that rushed over Katie like a wave. “Uh, hi. Yes, I’m Colton’s younger sister and he said he made a reservation for me?”

  “He did indeed. Come right in.” Della waved her in, and waited a beat while Katie stood in the foyer, mouth agape, and took in the grand staircase that zippered up the middle of the house.

  It was like walking into the pages of Gone with the Wind. The staircase curved in at the center, with white risers marrying the wood treads and a carved railing that formed a graceful swoop up to the second floor. On the main floor, a formal parlor sat to the left, with a pair of vanilla love seats sitting on either side of an upright piano. Long, satiny cream drapes framed the floor-to-ceiling windows and a small rolltop desk against the far wall. The dining room was on the right, dominated by a long mahogany table with a wide spray of bright pink and white flowers at its ce
nter. The coffered ceiling provided the perfect backdrop to an elaborate chandelier filled with teardrop crystals. Shades of whites, creams and soft pastels filled every room, as inviting as sinking into a cloud. Katie loved it immediately.

  “Welcome to the Stone Gap Inn,” Della said, as she walked up the stairs with Katie right behind. “We just opened a few months ago, so we might still have a hiccup or two. The house was abandoned for years before Mavis and I bought it. It still had strong bones, though, being pre–Civil War, one of the few that survived those years. My husband and sons helped renovate it, along with some help from my wonderful soon-to-be daughter-in-law, who restores old houses. They all worked on it, top to bottom, but we kept as many period details as we could. Don’t worry, though, we made sure all the plumbing and electricity is modern, along with Wi-Fi and satellite TV in each of the rooms.”

  Katie laughed. “It sounds perfect. In fact, it looks perfect. The house is stunning.”

  “Thank you. We love it, and so far, our guests have, too. They’ve all been so grateful to have a place to stay, ever since the original hotel in town closed up. The owner retired, moved to Minnesota to be near his grandkids, but was gracious enough to send all his customers to us. He said a B and B fits Stone Gap better, and I might be biased, but I happen to agree.”

  “I do, too,” Katie said. “This place seems perfect for a small seaside town.”

  “Thank you. Mavis and I were looking for something to keep us busy in our golden years, and the way business has been going, we got our wish.” Della laughed. “Anyway, I put you in the Charlotte Room,” she said, opening a door as she spoke. “I hope you like it.”

  If Katie could have dreamed up a perfect bedroom, this would have been it. Pale green, bright white and accents of butter yellow made the room feel like a garden. A canopy bed dominated the space, looking more like a cloud than a place to sleep. Piles of pillows cascaded down the center of a thick white comforter. A low bench sat at the foot of the bed, with a basket filled with fluffy towels and soaps and bath salts on one end, a tray with mini bottles of water and a bowl of fresh fruit on the other. A ceiling-high armoire sat between the windows, and a thick white terry-cloth robe hung inside, just begging someone to slip it on, curl up in the armchair in the corner and read one of the books piled in the small bookcase.