His gaze searched hers, his frown of concern replaced with sensual awareness. His eyes narrowed; his hands tightened on her shoulders and he lowered his head. She waited, breathless, unable to tear her gaze from his.
Rufus bounded back into the room, barking as the babies greeted him with shrieks of delight.
For one brief moment, the two adults remained frozen.
Charlene thought she caught a flicker of frustration in Nick’s eyes before he stepped back, releasing her.
“Rufus, down.” His voice was deeper, gravelly.
She bent to unlatch Jessie from the stroller.
“Time for the girls’ morning snack.” Charlene knew she was blatantly using the babies as an excuse, but she needed to put space between herself and Nick.
If this morning was any example of how successfully she could handle her attraction to Nick, she was in big trouble.
Chapter Six
T he following day was Sunday and the hours flew by. Caring for the triplets left little time for more personal discussions. Charlene was relieved when Nick seemed more than willing to keep conversation in neutral territory and far away from any deeply personal or potentially intimate subjects.
After Nick left for the office on Monday, Charlene felt tension drain out of her body like air from a punctured balloon. She had an entire day ahead of her to shore up her defenses and come to terms with the desire she’d read in Nick’s eyes on Saturday. She wasn’t sure it would be long enough.
Not that she hadn’t been trying to do so every hour since it happened. She just wasn’t having a lot of success.
Improbable as it seemed, Nick was attracted to her.
She couldn’t mistake or deny what she’d seen in his eyes. What she didn’t know was whether he’d feel the same for any female he’d been thrown into daily contact with. Their situation—sharing a house, sharing the care of the triplets—was tailor-made to promote intimacy.
As she and Melissa cared for the triplets, Charlene pondered the question. By noon, she’d decided that Nick was only reacting as any male would in their situation.
It’s not me, she decided. Living in each other’s pockets for a week had created a false attraction. Probably like survivors of a shipwreck who are stuck in the same lifeboat together.
Unwelcome though it was, she had to conclude that if she wanted to keep her heart intact, she had to ignore any shivers of longing she might feel for Nick.
The triplets were tucked into their high chairs in the big kitchen while she and Melissa monitored them as they tried to eat lunch. They missed their mouths more often than not, and it was a toss-up as to whether there was more food on the girls’ faces, hair and clothes than in their stomachs. The women laughed as much as Jessie and Jenny when Jackie bent over and slurped applesauce directly from her bowl.
When she lifted her head, her mouth, chin, cheeks and the tip of her nose were covered with applesauce.
Jessie and Jenny shrieked and instantly copied Jackie, making smacking noises.
Charlene rolled her eyes and collected the dispenser of wipes from next to the sink and carried them back to the counter, holding the box out for Melissa to extract several before she removed three herself and set the box down within reach.
The phone rang as she and Melissa were removing sticky applesauce and peas from the squirming little girls.
“I’ll get that.” Melissa tossed stained towelettes in the trash and lifted the phone to her ear. “Fortune residence.” She paused, listening. “Yes, she is, just a moment.” She handed the phone to Charlene. “It’s for you.”
Surprised, she mouthed, “Who is it?” but Melissa only shrugged.
“Hello?”
“Charlene? This is Kate.”
Hearing her friend and former coworker’s voice instantly had Charlene smiling with surprise and delight. The swift exchange of hellos and how are yous made her realize how insulated she’d been over the last week. She hadn’t even taken time to let Kate know she was back in town.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked, curious.
“I called your mom and she gave me this number. Meet me for coffee,” Kate demanded. “You’ve got to tell me why you’re in Red Rock!”
“I can’t—I’m working.” She listened as Kate protested. Melissa looked up from wiping Jackie’s fingers and lifted an inquiring brow. “No, really, I can’t.”
“If you want to go out, I can handle things here after the girls go down for their nap,” Melissa said.
“Hold on a second, Kate.” Charlene covered the mouthpiece with one hand. “Are you sure, Melissa?”
“Absolutely,” the housekeeper said firmly. “You haven’t been away from the babies since you got here. You should get out of the house. Go meet your friend.”
“All right.” She confirmed a time with Kate and rang off. “Thanks so much, Melissa. Kate and I used to work together. It’ll be so nice to chat and catch up.”
“No problem,” Melissa assured her.
An hour later, Charlene and Kate sat at a table in the back of the neighborhood coffee shop. The café was nearly empty, the lunch rush over.
“I can’t believe you didn’t call me. When did you come back to Red Rock?” Kate asked.
“About a week ago, maybe a bit more. Days and nights are just a blur. I’ve been seriously sleep deprived up until a couple of days ago and I haven’t caught up yet.”
Kate’s dark brows zoomed upward. “Why? What are you doing—or shouldn’t I ask?”
“I’m working as a nanny.”
Kate stared at her blankly. “A nanny? You left a perfectly good job at the hospital to babysit?”
Charlene chuckled and sipped her iced tea. “Hearing you put it in those terms, it does sound pretty illogical, doesn’t it?”
“You think?” Kate rolled her eyes. “Why did you do it?”
Charlene spent the next few moments reciting the sequence of events leading to her accepting Nick’s job offer. When she was done, Kate was speechless.
“So, here I am.” Charlene waved her hand, indicating the café’s interior and the greater world of Red Rock beyond the glass windows. “Back in Red Rock. And working as a nanny.”
“I’m not sure where to start,” Kate told her. “I’ve got a dozen questions. Let’s get right to the big item on my list.” She glanced around the sparsely populated café then leaned forward, elbows on the table, and whispered. “Is Nicholas Fortune as drop-dead gorgeous as rumor says he is?”
Charlene almost choked on her coffee. She leaned toward her friend and whispered back, “Yes. Definitely.”
“Ah.” Kate’s dark eyes twinkled. “I knew there was more to this story than your needing to find a job superquick.”
Charlene told her about the bonus offer, grinning as her friend’s eyes widened and she gasped.
“Geez, why didn’t I meet him first?” Kate groaned. “I’d work as a nanny for that kind of money. That’s amazing.”
“That’s what I thought. I couldn’t afford not to take the job. And given how desperate I was to get out of my mom and Lloyd’s way, the bonus was just icing on an already great cake.”
“What are you going to do with all that money—stash it in a 401K?”
“Part of it, probably. I might go back to school for my master’s.”
“Great idea,” Kate said, nodding with enthusiasm. “So nice to have options. Have I mentioned that I’m green with envy?” She added. “Daily contact with the gorgeous Nick Fortune, and you’re making incredible money for this gig. Life surely couldn’t get any better.”
Unless Nick is interested in me for more than my babysitting skills. Charlene didn’t voice the thought aloud. She didn’t want anyone, even Kate, speculating about her feelings for Nick. She didn’t doubt they’d remain unspoken by her and unacknowledged by him.
“We should celebrate,” Kate went on, obviously unaware of Charlene’s lack of comment.
“We are celebrating.” Charlene lifted h
er tea and saluted her friend.
“No, no—we need to celebrate with champagne and a night on the town.”
“I’d love to—but I don’t have any nights off.”
“What? That’s not right.”
“I’m the triplets’ primary caretaker during evenings and overnight. I can take a little time off during the day when Melissa is at the house, but not at night.”
“That’s got to be illegal. Aren’t employers required to give an employee set times for coffee breaks, lunch, dinner, et cetera?”
“I’m sure they do, but this isn’t a normal work situation. In fact, the job is only temporary. Once the girls’ aunt is found and she arrives to take custody of them, my job will be finished. And I don’t mind working long hours.”
As she said the words, Charlene realized that when Lana arrived to collect the triplets, she would have to say goodbye—to both the girls and to Nick.
And no amount of bonus money was going to make it easier to walk away.
At the very moment Charlene was joining Kate for coffee at the café, Nick’s cell phone rang across town just as he returned to his office after lunch. A quick glance at Caller ID had him grinning.
“Hey, J.R., what’s up?” Nick greeted his older brother enthusiastically. The rest of the world might use his given name of William, but to his close friends and family he was always J.R.
“Not much. How’s it going in Texasville? Are you wearing a ten-gallon hat yet?”
Nick laughed at his older brother’s teasing. “I told you when I left L.A.—I don’t think I’m the John Wayne type.”
“Too bad,” J. R. Fortune drawled. “Women love cowboys.”
“Yeah,” Nick said wryly. “So I’ve heard.”
“How’s the new job?”
“I’m still settling in, but it’s going well.”
“And what about life in a small town? How’s that working for you?”
“A few challenges, but that only makes life more interesting, right?” Nick said, carefully noncommittal.
“What kind of challenges?” J.R.’s tone told Nick that his attempt at evading his brother’s question hadn’t worked. J.R. knew him too well.
“Hasn’t Darr told you?”
“I haven’t talked to Darr. He called and left a message—I returned the call and got his machine. We keep missing each other.”
“Then you haven’t heard I’ve become a father.”
The statement was met with dead silence.
“Uh, you want to explain that?” J.R. said finally, his voice carefully neutral.
“I’m the guardian of three baby girls—one-year-old triplets.”
J.R.’s swift, drawn-out expletive was a testament to his shock. It wasn’t often J.R. was caught off guard.
“First of all, they’re not mine,” Nick said, taking pity on his brother. “Not by blood, anyway—they’re Stan and Amy’s little girls. I have temporary custody until the estate’s attorney locates Amy’s sister, then she’ll take them.”
“Damn.”
For the next few moments, Nick and J.R. had a nearly word-for-word repeat of his conversation with Darr.
“You’re the last person I’d expect someone to leave their kids to,” J.R. said finally. “Especially little girls. And especially three of them at a time. How the hell are you taking care of them, anyway? I can’t see you changing diapers. Did you hire staff?”
“My housekeeper went from part-time to full-time, and I hired a nanny.”
Something in his voice must have given him away, because J.R. pounced on the comment.
“Yeah? What’s she like?”
Irritated, Nick swung around in his chair and glared at the window in front of him. “That’s the same question Darr asked me. She’s female. She takes care of the kids. What else is there?”
“Yeah, right.” J.R.’s drawl held a wealth of disbelief. “If there wasn’t something else, you wouldn’t care if I asked.”
“She’s female,” Nick repeated. “She has red hair. She’s around twenty-five, maybe twenty-six. And she’s beautiful.” He bit off the words.
“And she’s living in your house?”
“Yeah, she lives in the house.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t be so touchy. Did I ask you if you were sleeping with her?”
“No,” Nick growled. “But you were thinking it.”
“Well, maybe,” J.R. conceded, amusement coloring his tone. “But if our roles were reversed, you’d be wondering the same thing about me.”
“I’m her boss,” Nick said wearily. “She’s a…very nice, very young woman.”
“Well, that’s good. If she’s going to take care of your best friend’s kids, then she needs to be an up-standing citizen. How does Rufus feel about her?”
“He’s crazy about her.” Nick half-grinned, remembering the goofy, adoring expression on the big Lab’s face when Charlene rubbed his ears and said good-night. “The feeling seems to be mutual.”
“She sounds like Mom.”
His brother’s voice held a deep note of affection. Nick considered the comment. “Yeah, she’s a lot like Mom.”
Molly Fortune had been a tomboy, and her easygoing, fun-loving nature made her a much-loved member of the sprawling Fortune family. Her death two years earlier had left her husband and sons grief-stricken.
“Then you’d better marry her,” J.R. said.
“Marry her?” Nick sat upright. “I said she’s beautiful. I didn’t say I wanted to marry her. Where’d that come from?”
“Any woman that reminds you of Mom has to be serious marriage material.”
“Yeah, but I’m not serious about marriage.”
“Not in the past,” J.R.’s voice held amusement. “That was before you met the beautiful red-haired nanny.”
“Doesn’t matter. Even if I was the type to consider marriage, Charlene is too young for me—and way too smart.”
“I get the age difference thing, although I don’t agree with it. But what do you mean, she’s too smart?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t asked her how many college degrees she has, but it wouldn’t matter. What she’s got doesn’t come with a degree.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She’s very intuitive—she knows a lot about people. I haven’t seen anyone yet that doesn’t love her at first sight, including my dog.” And that idiot ex-fiancé of hers, Nick thought. Despite Barry’s hostile attitude, Nick was sure he hadn’t misread the possessive vibes from Charlene’s ex-boyfriend.
“All the more reason to marry her.”
“I’m not getting married. I’m not serious about the nanny. Besides,” he continued, “I’m her boss. She’s strictly off-limits as long as she’s working for me.” Nick refused to consider the possibility of keeping Charlene in his life permanently. But thinking about how much he wanted her only drove him crazy with frustration.
“Sounds to me like you’re blowing smoke,” J.R. said. “Who are you trying to convince? Me? Or you.”
“Let’s change the subject. What’s new with you?”
“I’m actually planning a trip to Red Rock—not sure when, but fairly soon. I’m thinking of making a few changes in my life, and since you and Darr like Texas so much, I thought I’d check it out.”
“Damn, that’s great news. Have you told Darr?”
“No, I haven’t been able to reach him, remember?”
“Well, keep trying. If I see him, I’ll tell him to call you. It would be great to have you living here.”
“No promises,” J.R. said. “I’ll let you know when I have a firm date to visit. I want to meet your nanny—see if she really is anything like Mom. If you’re really not interested, maybe I will be.”
Nick ground his teeth but let the comment pass. Arguing with J.R. would only convince him that Nick was serious about Charlene.
And I’m not. Not even close.
Some small portion of his brain whispered that he was suffering from seriou
s denial, but Nick refused to listen.
With both Charlene and Nick determined to keep their relationship strictly platonic and each other at arm’s length, the next few days went by uneventfully. They focused on the girls while they were awake and retreated to their own rooms when the babies napped or went to sleep in the evening. Since the triplets were now consistently sleeping through the night, there were no more middle-of-the-night encounters in the babies’ room.
On Thursday morning, Charlene woke early. It was still dark outside her window, the eastern sky only faintly beginning to brighten with dawn. Unable to fall back to sleep, she tossed and turned for another half hour before throwing back the covers and rising to take a quick shower, dress and apply light makeup. Moving quietly into the hall, she eased open the door to the triplets’ room and peeked inside to find the three sleeping soundly. Certain she had an hour or two of uninterrupted quiet before the girls woke and her day began in earnest, she tiptoed down the stairs and into the kitchen.
She halted abruptly just inside the doorway.
The rich smell of brewing coffee filled the room, lit only by the small light over the stove. Nick stood next to the coffeemaker, his hips leaning against the countertop, arms crossed over his bare chest. Faded Levis covered his long legs, his feet bare on the tile floor. The muscled width of his chest was smooth, with only a narrow strip of black hair that started at his belly button and arrowed downward, disappearing beneath the low-slung waistband of his jeans. His shoulders and biceps, chest and abs were California tanned, padded with toned muscles that shifted and flexed when he moved.
He looked up and saw her. His eyelids lowered, shielding his eyes behind the thick screen of black lashes and making it impossible for her to read his expression.
“Morning.” His voice was rusty, gravelly with sleep. His dark hair was tousled and damp, as if he’d rubbed it dry with a towel after his morning shower, then ran his fingers through it before heading for the kitchen and caffeine.
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