Careful, a little voice reminded her. This could backfire. Appear too sophisticated and you’ll arouse suspicion. You don’t need anyone asking awkward questions. Forget the designer silk, the Italian dinner dress, the sequins and the beads. They shriek money you’re not supposed to have.
Heeding the advice, she chose a plain cream sundress cinched at the waist with a broad satin belt. Her grandmother’s sapphire earrings would have added a nice touch of contrast, but it seemed safer to rely for decoration on the tan she’d acquired and the plain string of pearls which had been her parents’ graduation gift.
“Lovely,” Janet said, appearing uninvited at her door with Tommy in tow. “I’ve always liked it when you do up your hair on top of your head like that, with those bits of curls hanging loose.”
Nicole took a last look in the mirror. “You think I’ll do?”
“You’ll stop traffic,” Janet assured her.
She didn’t quite do that, but she did put a dent in the buzz of conversation when she came downstairs with Tommy clinging to her hand. People wandering through the front hall turned to watch as she threaded her way among them and went in search of Pierce. Some of them smiled, a few greeted her but most commented to each other.
“That’s the child...”
“Pierce was named legal guardian...the nearest living relative, you know...”
Not quite, Nicole thought.
“She must be the nanny. I heard he’d hired one...”
“...no one knows much about her...new to town, I understand. Came from down east somewhere...”
“Young, isn’t she?”
“Young and beautiful... I expected a much older woman...”
Once upon a time, Nicole would have moved easily in such a gathering. Her parents were wealthy; they entertained often and well. From her mother she had learned to compile an elegant menu, from her father to know the difference between a wine that was merely excellent and one that was magnificent. But tonight she felt like Cinderella, afraid that her disguise would slip and reveal her for the impostor she was.
The guests’ curiosity, though not unkindly meant, burned holes in her and made her wish she’d stuck to her original outfit of the serviceable blouse and skirt. She didn’t want to stand out in the crowd or be the focus of interest; she wanted to fade quietly into the background, a nondescript accessory unworthy of notice.
“I was beginning to think you were going to stand me up.” Suddenly Pierce was looming in front of her, blocking her path.
She saw him inspecting her, saw the approval in his eyes as they took note of her hair, the pearls at her throat, the low-cut square neckline of her dress which revealed only the merest hint of cleavage but which, under his scrutiny, struck her as gapingly indecent.
“Here’s Tommy,” she said, thrusting the child at his uncle and preparing to bolt back the way she’d come. “I’ll leave you to introduce him to everybody.”
“Not so fast.” He caught her elbow and guided her toward the library where most of the guests seemed to have congregated. “You’re part of the package, remember? I want people to meet you, too.”
“I’d really much rather—”
“How about a drink?” He collared a waiter and pressed a glass of champagne in her hand.
“No, really, Pierce, I’d just as soon not. I’m here in a working capacity.”
“Consider yourself off-duty then.” He placed the flat of his hand against her back, just above the top of her dress, and urged her forward. His flesh lay warm against hers, an unnerving reminder of how it had felt when he’d touched her intimately that other time.
Involuntarily, she shrank from the contact.
“Relax, Nicole,” he murmured. “We’re surrounded by people. Your virtue’s safe.”
More’s the pity! she thought. “It never occurred to me to think otherwise,” she said, holding her head high and stalking through the claustrophobic confines of the library to the garden.
Quite a crowd had gathered there already, clustered in sociable groups on the lawns and patios. When Pierce appeared with Tommy, the guests converged on him, full of sympathetic cluckings like so many old hens.
“Most of you know Tom,” he said, drawing Nicole forward when she tried to shrink into the background, “but I don’t think you’ve met the woman who’s responsible for putting the smile back on his face. This is his nanny, Nicole Bennett.”
They nodded and smiled, shook her hand and welcomed her, told her what a fine job she was doing and how lucky Pierce was to have found her. She smiled back and endured their kindness the best way she knew how, all too aware that Louise recognized her whipped cream sundress for the expensive garment it was. She eyed Nicole with the same suspicion she’d have regarded a black widow spider.
Ignoring her, Nicole watched as Tommy dealt with his first cocktail party. Small wonder the women melted at the sight of him. He looked adorable in his navy shorts and red and white striped shirt. His hair had bleached in the sun, making his blue eyes even more beautiful, and his skin shone with health and cleanliness.
She saw him smile, heard him say “Hi,” in his sweet little boy’s voice, watched him cling to Pierce’s hand when well-meaning strangers tried to hug him, and felt her heart overflow with love.
He was, she decided, worth every last lie she’d had to tell. She’d tell them all again in a heartbeat if it meant her being able to be near him like this.
She had no idea someone was studying her just as closely until a vaguely familiar voice said quietly, “Your obvious affection for Arlene’s son is quite remarkable. If one didn’t know better, one might almost think you were related to him.”
Shocked, she spun around and found herself face to face with the woman she’d met in the restaurant, the day she’d spent the afternoon at the market in the park. The woman who’d been Arlene’s best friend.
“My goodness!” she stammered, the panic that was never far from the surface rising up to confound her further. “It’s you!”
“Indeed it is, and the name’s Alice Holt,” Arlene’s friend replied. “May I say I find it a quite amazing coincidence that we should meet again here, of all places, in the home where my late friend’s son is now living? I think we should talk about that, don’t you?”
Before she could answer, Nicole sensed herself being watched from another source. Glancing up, she saw Louise standing in the open doorway of the library, her beautiful hazel eyes blazing with anger and suspicion. Waving aside a waiter who stopped to speak to her, she stepped out onto the patio and strode purposefully forward.
So this was how it was going to end, Nicole thought, closing her eyes. With her cornered and exposed as a liar in front of half the population of Morningside. So much for the lies having been worth it. After this, she’d be lucky if she spent another night under the same roof with Tommy, let alone be allowed to look after him.
CHAPTER SIX
“I DON’T believe Commander Pierce expects you to engage his guests in conversation, Miss Bennett,” Louise said coldly, assessing Nicole’s pearls. “I rather think he’d prefer it if you were to wait in the nursery until he’s ready to send for you.”
“You’re mistaken on two counts, Louise,” Arlene’s friend interrupted. “I’m the one who engaged Miss Bennett in conversation and I don’t think Pierce minds at all. Here he comes now, in fact, so why don’t we ask him?”
“That’s not necessary,” Louise began, but Arlene’s friend wasn’t easily stopped once she’d engaged gears.
“Pierce,” she called out, “I’m having a lovely chat with Miss Bennett. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Why would I?” His smile was charmingly relaxed. “Keep her down here as long as you can, Alice. She won’t believe me when I tell her she’s a welcome addition to the party, but she might listen to you.”
“But what about Tommy?” Desperate to escape, Nicole scanned the garden, looking for him. “I don’t see him anywhere.”
“He was headin
g for the house, the last I saw of him,” Pierce said. “Said something about checking up on Peaches.”
“Dear God! First the nanny, now the dog! What’s next, I wonder?” Louise muttered, sotto voce.
Distracted by a couple of late arrivals, Pierce appeared not to have heard. “Who invited the Mayor, for Pete’s sake?”
“I did, of course.” All smiles in less time than it took to blink, Louise slipped her arm through Pierce’s and drew him toward the newcomers. “He’s a powerful man to have in your corner, sweetie, should you ever need one, and I happen to know he’s also in the market for a new house.”
“And a good thing he showed up when he did,” Alice remarked dryly. “Our esteemed hostess was about to lose it at the thought of being upstaged by a dog.”
As if to give credence to Louise’s misgivings, however, Peaches came skidding out of the library just then. Delighted at being freed from confinement in the laundry room, the puppy charged madly across the lawn, weaving an erratic path between guests with Tommy in gleeful pursuit. Tables wobbled precariously, one of the maids serving canapes almost ended up wearing them, and there were subdued shrieks from more than one quarter at the trail of spattered champagne left in the duo’s wake.
“Please excuse me,” Nicole said to Alice. “I think I’d better take charge of this before things get really out of hand.”
“By all means.” Alice’s eyes were full of speculation—or was it certainty? “But we must talk later, my dear, when things have settled down.”
“Yes.” Nicole said, afraid Arlene’s friend had jumped to some all-too-accurate conclusions and knowing, if that were so, that she must be persuaded to keep them to herself, at least for the time being. “I think we must. Tommy goes to bed at seven and I’ll be in my suite as soon as he’s settled for the night. It’s the third door to the left at the top of the stairs, right next to the nursery.”
“Excellent. At least there we’ll be assured of privacy and - can talk without fear of being overheard. Meanwhile...” With an amused nod, Alice indicated the flurry of commotion taking place on the lawn. “...somewhere in that crowd there’s a small boy and a dog bent on creating mayhem, so don’t let me keep you.”
Grateful for the reprieve, no matter how temporary, Nicole set out to corral her charges. She finally ran Peaches to earth on the deck outside the kitchen. Pierce had a firm grip on her collar, but of her nephew there was no sign.
“I’m sorry about this,” Nicole panted. “I should have kept a closer eye on Tommy. We’d made sure the dog was shut in the laundry room before the party began and it just never occurred to me he’d decide to let her out like that.”
Pierce squatted down to fondle the puppy’s ears. “No real harm’s been done. I’ve agreed she can stay out as long as she’s not running wild and upsetting people. Tom’s inside now, looking for her leash.”
Nicole could only imagine how Louise would react to that news. “Miss Trent is right, you know, Pierce. This is a very elegant affair, and I’m not sure having a puppy on the scene is appropriate.”
“I’m not a hundred per cent certain myself,” he admitted, “but Tom persuaded me otherwise.” He looked up, his blue eyes alight with wry amusement. “When I suggested putting her back in the laundry room, he flung himself down on the deck here and threw a tantrum. Frankly, I’d have agreed to let her dance in the middle of the buffet table if that’s what it had taken to shut him up.”
“I was afraid something like that might happen,” Nicole said, trying to ignore the way his gaze fused with hers, alive with unspoken reminders of the last time she’d been alone with him in the night and nothing but the rising moon to witness the exchange. “This sort of event at the end of a long, hot day is a bit more than a four-year-old can handle with equanimity.”
“And what about you, Nicole?” Pierce asked softly. “How’s your equanimity holding up?”
Her knees threatened to buckle under the probing intensity of his regard. But it wasn’t love that charged the air with sudden electricity, it was unadorned lust, she told herself, choosing the ugly word in the hope that it would tarnish the emotions swirling between him and her. But nothing soothed the clenching need inside her, the stabbing, involuntary spasm so well hidden from the naked eye.
“My equanimity,” she said shakily, “is holding up well enough that I could have dealt with Tommy. You should have stayed with your guests and left me to look after all this. That’s why I’m here after all.”
“I would have, but you were deep in conversation with Alice Holt. It was easier to handle things myself.” Without warning, Pierce reached up and grasped her hand. His touch sent a flush of heat shooting from her toes to her cheeks. “And just for the record, Nicole, you’re here because I want you here. Can we please forget that ugly scene in the library, the other day? You’ve got to know that I value you far too much ever to put a dollar value on what you’ve brought to Tom’s life—and to mine.”
He sounded so sincere, it would have been easy to convince herself that he meant more than he said, that he needed her, wanted her, in a way that had nothing to do with Tommy.
The trouble was, everything came back to Tommy in ways Pierce couldn’t possibly begin to guess and Nicole had the sinking feeling that the story she’d so painstakingly woven about herself was starting to unravel. Once that happened, it was a matter of time only before Pierce realized he’d been duped from the start.
How anxious would he then be for her company? How willing to believe that she hadn’t deliberately set out to seduce him in order to further her own ends? If only she hadn’t agreed to join him for that drink by the pool...or, failing that, if only she hadn’t worn the daring swimsuit that had been an invitation to trouble all by itself.
Regret for so many things drew an involuntary sigh from her. Misreading her response in some way, Pierce pulled her closer and dropped a kiss on the back of her hand, a brief, impulsive tenderness that moved her inexpressibly. “You look lovely tonight, Nicole. I’ve wanted to tell you that from the minute you came downstairs.”
Behind him and a little to his right, where the vine-covered pergola curved around the side of the house away from the kitchen, a movement caught Nicole’s attention. Louise stood watching their exchange, her emerald taffeta dress well camouflaged by the leaves. Her expression gave away nothing of what she was feeling but her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.
“You belong with your guests, Pierce,” Nicole said, hurriedly withdrawing her hand. “Leave Peaches with me and go back to your party.”
She knew, from the way his brows drew together in a frown, that he was about to argue the point but she didn’t give him the chance. Seizing the puppy, she fled into the kitchen. It was twenty minutes to seven already. In less than an hour she’d be facing Alice Holt. She didn’t need a second confrontation with Louise. One showdown a day was enough.
Straightening up, Pierce massaged the small of his back where the old spinal injury still caught him unawares at times, and wondered what he’d said or done to send her scurrying off like that.
Hell, at times like this, he missed the Navy. Not because he was all that fond of war but because, compared to civilian life, service at sea was uncomplicated. Rules were laid down and adhered to, expectations were clear. There were no hidden meanings, no ambiguities, no subtle signals. Communication was straightforward and aboveboard. He understood men and how their minds worked.
Women, on the other hand, baffled him.
He wasn’t a stupid man. He’d had his share of women and knew they found him attractive enough. Yet he never quite connected with them at some level and it had always been with a certain sense of relief that he’d returned from furlough to a life virtually free of feminine interference. Love, romantic love at least, had been a non-issue, something to be dealt with at a more convenient time.
When he’d suddenly found himself standing in as father to a four-year-old, he’d thought, fool that he was, that by hiring a n
anny, he’d be making life easier for everyone. But from the minute she’d set foot in the house, Nicole had brought him nothing but complications.
He didn’t understand her, he didn’t know how to deal with her. She turned his orderly life upside-down and usurped his authority every chance she could. Yet despite all that, the damnable fact remained: he enjoyed every minute of aggravation she brought to his life.
He found himself watching her—spying on her, for crying out loud!—as she interacted with Tom. He was blown away by her patience and tenderness with the boy. He’d even gone so far as to wonder how she’d be with a child of her own, with a baby. His baby. The image that had swum into his mind at that held a fascination he couldn’t dismiss. And that was about as contrary to what he’d expected, the day he’d hired her, as it was possible to get.
He’d wrestled with the problem for days, afraid to trust his feelings. Was it love he felt for her—or need? After all, he’d gone thirty-five years without contemplating marriage. Was it likely he’d decide in favor of it in the space of a month or two, or had his feelings more to do with convenience?
No, more than that was involved and he might as well face up to the fact. Whatever else his shortcomings, he prided himself on preserving his integrity. He neither understood nor tolerated deception, not in himself or other people.
“Well, for heaven’s sake, I’ve run you to earth at last and just look at you! You’re covered in dog hair.” Louise’s husky reproach floated out of the dusk, a reminder that Nicole wasn’t his only complication. Sooner, rather than later, he was going to have to spell things out for Louise.
He buried a sigh. “It comes with the territory, Louise. We’ve got a pup living in the house now. What brings you back here? You don’t normally frequent the kitchen porch.”
“I just told you, I was looking for you,” she said, dabbing at her nose with a tissue. “You’re not being very sociable, Pierce. Our guests are wondering what they’ve done to drive you into hiding.”
A Nanny in the Family Page 10
