The Playboy and the Nanny

by Anne McAllister

  "I see. And then what do you do? Teach me my numbers? Help my tie my shoes?"

  "I do whatever needs to be done," Mari said. "Manners, in this case, I should think."

  A grin slashed across his dark features. "Ouch." But he shoved himself up further to get in position to take the tray. The duvet covering him slipped another inch or so, and Mari's eyes shifted in that direction. The look Nikos gave her was silently amused.

  She prayed he wouldn't comment, though. It was one thing to acknowledge "sizzle." It was another to want to rip the covers off him and study his naked form!

  Just how she knew he was naked under that duvet, she didn't want to think. She couldn't recall ever thinking about Ward's state of dress or undress, even when she'd brought him breakfast in bed during his occasional weekend visits to The Folly, her aunts' old Victorian house.

  "No coffee?" Nikos asked hopefully as she set the tray on his lap. "Or am I getting cocoa instead?"

  "I...I'll get you some coffee," Mari said quickly. "Anything else?"

  He raised one dark brow. ' 'You?''

  She fled.

  With her hair pulled back into a ponytail and no makeup on her face, Mari Lewis still looked like a bit player in Sister Act when she carried that boiled egg and those ridiculous toast fingers into his room. At least she was dressed more informally in a pair of slacks and a scoop-neck rose-colored T-shirt.

  To match her rose-colored glasses, Nikos thought as he picked up his fork and poked at the egg. He hadn't had a boiled egg in years. His mother was the last person to ever make him a boiled egg, and he thought he must have been about ten at the time.

  He felt about ten right now. Stubborn and cranky and up to no good.

  He stabbed the egg. His stomach growled. Damn it. He gritted his teeth, feeling betrayed by his body as well as by everything else. He set down his fork. Glared at the egg. Glared at the toast. Glared at the door through which Mari Lewis had departed.

  His stomach growled again. Reluctantly, irritably, he picked up his fork and took a bite.

  The egg was good. The toast was crisp and golden, lightly buttered. Perfection. Hell! He ate them both in moments.

  His only solace was that Mari Lewis appeared equally astonished at the empty tray when she came back with the coffee.

  "Would you like another?" she asked. "I didn't give you very much. I'm used to cooking for smaller appetites."

  He was tempted to say something smart, but she hadn't spoken mockingly, so he didn't either. Actually, the egg and toast had hit the spot. His father's cook, Alana, who had sent down meals, did an excellent job, but she tended to make exotic things that very pregnant women had cravings for and their very wealthy husbands felt inclined to indulge.

  Nikos didn't mind the meals she sent down—it was better than having to fix his own—but there was something oddly comforting about the stupid boiled egg and toast.

  It was a nice thing to eat when you felt like hell.

  He felt like hell.

  He hadn't slept much last night Being thwarted never did much for his ability to get a good night's sleep. And his father's latest salvo had made him fume and toss and turn for hours. And just when he'd finally got to sleep Claudia had called.

  He'd spent an hour on the phone with her. And after that he hadn't been able to sleep. Consequently, his headache, which on normal days stayed pretty controllable, was already nagging at his temples. He couldn't do much for it. But his stomach was another matter.

  "I wouldn't mind another egg," he allowed now.

  "Or two?" Mari Lewis asked.

  He hesitated. Then, "Two," he agreed gruffly. "And some more toast," he added as she turned back toward the kitchen. "I would have expected you to do toy soldier toast men actually," he gibed.

  "I do," she said, "for good little boys."

  He stuck out his tongue at her.

  She laughed.

  Her whole face lit up when she laughed. Her blue-green eyes sparkled and the few freckles on her cheeks seemed almost to dance, and her mouth looked more kissable than ever. Nikos felt a very strong urge to do just that. And he would—the next time she got close enough.

  "Two pieces of toast," he answered her. "Please."

  The word came out unbidden, though it didn't surprise him really. He was generally more polite than he'd been to Mari Lewis. Not that she didn't deserve a little shortness, as agent of his father's misplaced behavior modification program!

  She grinned delightedly, as if she'd won a round, and he frowned fiercely at her. It didn't stop her smiling. And he had to wait until she'd gone into the other room to close his eyes and rub his aching head.

  His eyes were still closed a few minutes later when she returned.

  "Here you go." A clean dish materialized in front of him with two more perfectly done boiled eggs. Beside it, with a flourish, she set a plate of toast fingers—cut like toy soldiers.

  Nikos goggled at them, then at her.

  Mari Lewis smiled impishly at him. "You said please," she said, before darting out of his reach.

  Damn, but he wanted to kiss her!

  "Is he a nice little boy, darling?" Aunt Emmaline asked.

  And how am I supposed to answer that? Mari wondered. She bent her bare toes over the rung of the kitchen stool and glanced over her shoulder toward the bedroom where she'd left Nikos and his toast and eggs minutes before. Fine as long as he stayed right where he was, she thought. But she glanced over her shoulder every few seconds, it seemed, to make sure he did. She'd had the definite impression that if he'd been able to, he would have grabbed her when she'd brought him that toast and eggs.

  And then what would he have done? she wondered. Kissed her?

  There was that possibility. And that's bad?

  Of course it was. There was Claudia, after all.

  Whoa! Wait just a minute. You aren't angling to marry him, only to kiss him, to discover the extent of your own passion. Well, in that case...

  But even so, she thought she needed a little more time, a little more space, a little more preparation. She didn't want to be caught off-guard the way she had been the first time.

  ' 'Mari? Are you there? Do we have a bad connection? I asked you about Nikos."

  "He's, um...fine," she fumbled. "Most of the time."

  "Not as badly behaved as you'd feared?"

  "Different than I'd feared." That was certainly the truth!

  "But you can handle him," Aunt Em said with her perennial confidence. "Did you say his father was a widower?"

  Aunt Em was always on the lookout for Ward's replacement. She'd never thought he was good enough for her niece. After Shelley, Mari had no trouble agreeing with her.

  "His father is remarried," she explained. "And the little boy's name is Alex."

  "Alex?" This was Aunt Bett on the extension. "I thought you said his name was Nikos."

  "I thought it was. I...was mistaken." But she wasn't about to make the mistake of telling her aunts anything about the true nature of her job! They fussed about her enough. One word about the real Nikos Costanides and the fussing would reach a new level altogether.

  "I get Thursday off." She changed the subject. "I'll be around to see you then." Their house on Orient Point was about an hour's drive from the Costanides place.

  "Will you be bringing Alex?" Aunt Em asked eagerly.

  ' 'No,'' Mari said.' 'Days off imply just that, Aunt Em. I don't have to bring him."

  "Bring whom? Where?" a masculine voice said right behind her.

  Mari jumped a foot. She jerked around to see Nikos leaning on his crutches and regarding her with amusement from the hallway. Damn it! How could he walk so soundlessly when he was using a cast and crutches, for heaven's sake?

  She put her hand over the receiver. "This is a private conversation!"

  "It's a pack of lies," he said genially. "Who're you talking to?"

  "It is not!" Mari defended herself.

  "Is that the Utile boy's father?" Aunt Em asked. "What a ni
ce strong voice he has."

  Mari removed her hand, since it wasn't doing any good anyway. "Isn't it?" Mari said. Then to Nikos, she hissed, "None of your business. Go away."

  "If I'm your business, you're mine, sweetheart. Give me the phone. I'll tell the truth."

  "No!" She had no intention of giving him the phone and letting him talk to her aunts! She should have waited to call them. But she'd promised them that she would call once she got settled in. They had known she wouldn't call the first night, but they did worry, so she wanted to let them know all was well—even if it wasn't!

  Nikos cocked his head and grinned coaxingly. "Please?" He said the word mockingly, and she wished she'd never given him those damned toy soldier toast fingers!

  "I have to go now," she said quickly to her aunts. "He's misbehaving."

  "Begin as you mean to go on," Aunt Em advised.

  "Spare the rod, spoil the child," Aunt Bett intoned.

  "Oh, yes," Mari agreed. "I'll call you later." She hung up and stood to face him. He wasn't more than four inches taller than she was, yet he seemed so much bigger. And so very...male. She ran her tongue over her lips.

  Nikos didn't stop grinning. "Misbehaving, am I?"

  "Badly," Mari affirmed. "My aunt thinks I should take a switch to you."

  He lifted a brow. "Kinky, is she?"

  Mari felt her cheeks flame. "She's a very proper eighty-one-year-old lady with strict ideas of how children should be raised."

  Nikos still grinned. "I'd like to meet her."

  "Not on your life! Have you finished with your breakfast?"

  "Yes. But I couldn't manage the tray and the crutches."

  "You don't need to bring it in. I'll come and get it You should stay in bed."

  "I'm not that much of an invalid."

  "Perhaps not. But you didn't get much sleep, did you?"

  He frowned. "How did you know that?"

  "I heard the phone. I picked it up and—" She stopped, not wanting to admit hearing the lilting English voice of the woman who'd called him.

  "Oh, Claudia." A sort of wry smile touched his face. "She thinks I've got insomnia so she never cares when she calls."

  So Claudia was his girlfriend. It must be a pretty intense relationship if she felt free enough to call him at any hour of the day or night "And Claudia is...?" she ventured, hoping mat he would expand on that.

  "Important" he said firmly. "Whenever she calls, you get me, understand?"

  Mari blinked at die firmness of his tone. She swallowed, then nodded her head. "Of course."

  "Even if I'm in the shower. Especially if I'm in the shower." A grin flashed across his face.

  Mari felt her cheeks turning red. How dare he come on to her when he was talking about another woman!

  The phone rang just then and she said frostily, "In this case, I won't need to get you at all." And she brushed past him to go get the tray, leaving him to answer it.

  "Costanides," Nikos growled into the receiver. There was a second's pause, then, "Go to hell," he said to whoever was on the other end, and slammed the receiver down.

  "Not Claudia?" Mari asked over her shoulder.

  "Your esteemed employer," he said through his teeth.

  The phone rang again.

  Nikos ignored it. It rang again. And again. "I'm not answering it." He fitted his crutches beneath his arms and hobbled away from the phone. "He's your boss, not mine."

  Mari stared at him, then at the phone. She didn't much want to answer it, either. She didn't want to hear any more lectures from Stavros on respect. And she didn't need him looking over her shoulder every second. She didn't particularly want to answer the phone in front of Nikos, either. But she knew Stavros well enough to know that he'd keep right on ringing until someone answered it.

  She stalked over and snatched it up. "Yes?"

  "Ah, Miss Lewis," Stavros's unmistakable Greek-accented English rasped in her ear. "And how are things today?"

  Man's teeth came together. "They were fine."

  She saw Nikos stiffen and stop at her tone. He turned to look at her.

  "He is behaving badly already?" Stavros's voice became angry. "I did not think—! He has always been good to women! Despite everything else, he has shown them respect! But to you he is—!"

  "He's fine, Mr. Costanides," Mari cut in. "But I can't focus on him if you're calling me all the time. I need time with him. Alone. Without your interference."

  There was stunned silence on the other end of the line.

  Nikos broke into a grin. Mari glared at him.

  "Respect is—"

  "Respect is something that takes time to develop, Mr. Costanides," she said as evenly as she could. "Especially when you've wasted opportunities to develop it over the years."

  "I appreciate your concern. But please, let me do my job."

  "Yes, yes. Your job. You— "

  "I need you to give us space. Time."

  "Privacy," Nikos murmured with a wicked grin on his face.

  Mari turned her back on him. "You reward his worst behaviour, Mr. Costanides. If you constantly check up on us and fuss about every little thing..."

  "Fuss? I? Fuss?" Stavros sounded outraged.

  "Get upset," Mari corrected herself. Clearly the self-concept of a sixty-year-old Greek patriarch did not include "fussing." "I appreciate your concern, Mr. Costanides, but I really must handle Nikos on my own."

  Over her shoulder, she could hear the soft sound of Nikos applauding. She stiffened her back, and her resolve not to turn around and look at him.

  "I only try to help," Stavros said, wounded.

  "Then give me the space I need. And silent support."

  "Silent?"

  "Silent," Mari repeated firmly.

  She got silence. She wasn't sure about the support. But finally, about the time she thought she was listening to dead air, Stavros said worriedly, "He is treating you all right?"

  "He is treating me fine." That was, if she ignored his more flagrantly teasing remarks, he was treating her fine.

  "You're sure?"

  "I'm positive, Mr. Costanides." She wanted to hang up. She wanted to say, Oh, for heaven's sake, leave me alone.

  She didn't, because she knew if she did, he would be over here in five minutes, sticking his nose in, making things fifty times worse. She had no idea if she could do what he wanted or not. But she knew quite well he couldn't do it with his methods. If he had been able to, he'd have managed it years ago.

  "You will call if you need me?"

  "Certainly."

  "You don't take disrespect?"

  "Of course not."

  He made a harumphing sound, one that said he wasn't quite convinced, but... "Very well, Miss Lewis. I give you space."

  "Thank you, Mr. Costanides." She started to hang up.

  "We will see you at lunchtime."

  "We won't be here at lunchtime."

  "Not here? But—"

  "Nikos and I need time together. Alone," Mari said as quietly as she could, all the while moving as far away from the man standing in the hall behind her as she could.

  Obviously, from the gleeful, "Hear, hear," coming from Nikos, she hadn't moved far enough. She turned and glared.

  Nikos grinned unrepentantly.

  "I have to go, Mr. Costanides. There are matters here that need my attention."

  "Nikos? Is he—?"

  "Goodbye, Mr. Costanides. I'll call you in a few days."

  "Days?" she heard him begin to sputter, but she didn't stop to listen to anymore. She hung up. She faced Nikos and dared him to tease her now.

  He regarded her solemnly. The grin he'd been wearing had vanished when she put the receiver down, and his brows hiked up beneath the fringe of disheveled dark hair that straggled across his forehead.

  "Whoa," he said, and he sounded not sarcastic or teasing, but almost respectful. "Guess you told him."

  "I said what had to be said."

  "And what no one else has ever dared say befor
e," Nikos said drily.

  "You appear to have told him a few less than palatable things over the years," Mari pointed out. "I can't believe I'm the first person to thwart him."

  "Maybe not. But you might be the first one he's listened to."

  "We don't know that he's listened yet, do we?" Mari said, a little apprehensive that Stavros might at this very moment be striding across the grass that separated the big house from Nikos's small cottage.

  As if he'd read her mind, Nikos cratered his way over to the window and tipped the blind aside so he could look up at his father's house. "Nobody coming," he said. "And no cannons being aimed in our direction."

  Mari managed a smile. "That's good news, I suppose." She felt a little weak in the knees now that the conversation was over.

  "So, where are we going?" Nikos asked.

  "What?"

  "You told him we weren't going to be here at lunch-time," he reminded her. "I wondered where we were going to be."

  "Oh. Right." She smiled a little guiltily. "I don't know. I just knew that putting the two of you together right now wasn't going to accomplish anything."

  "It would make him mad." Nikos didn't look as if that would dismay him at all.

  "Which is not what I want to do, even if you do," Mari said sharply. "But I suppose you're right. We should go somewhere. Would you like to go for a drive?"

  Nikos smiled and shifted on his crutches, stretching slightly. It ought to have looked as if he was adjusting something that annoyed him, instead it seemed to her a decidedly sexy stretch. He was still bare-chested, which gave her quite a lot of uncovered masculine flesh to study. But when he stretched his shorts dropped another inch and she got even more!

  "I'd like that very much." And it sounded less as if he'd said the words and more as if he'd actually purred them!

  She'd stuck up for him!

  He couldn't believe it. In his entire life, only one person had ever stuck up for Nikos with his father—his mother.

  Like a lioness protecting her cub, Angelika Costanides had fought with her husband again and again—rejecting his father's seemingly endless demands that he change schools, move to Greece, study at a particular university, take certain courses, work in the family business, marry the right woman.

  "He is not you!" Angelika said over and over. "Let him alone!"