Page 24 of Baby Nanny

“She doesn’t speak at all,” Annalise reminded him. “Maybe Madam can help change that.”

He couldn’t allow the forlorn hope to sway him. “And the barking. Do you know how much it’ll cost to replace the windows broken by that creature’s barking?”

“I have it on excellent authority that you can afford it.” She gazed up at him with eyes capable of melting even his heart of stone. “Please, Jack. Please, can we keep her?”

His niece deserted the dog and flung herself against him, wrapping her arms around his legs and squeezing for all she was worth. “Aw, hell,” he muttered.

“I take it we have a dog?” Annalise asked.

“That isn’t a dog.”

“Elephant… Dog… Chocolate-and-ginger-ale factory…” She shrugged. “Is she ours?”

He blew out a sigh. “I don’t see that I have a choice. Looks like we’ve just adopted a Madam.”

Chapter 6

Looking back,Jack realized that Madam’s arrival in their lives changed everything. Much to his relief, he discovered that she was definitely housebroken. Unfortunately, she was also a total klutz.

“I’m going to owe Taye a fortune in repairs,” he complained to Annalise as he swept up the latest Madam mayhem. “That tail of hers should be registered as a deadly weapon.”

“You can’t fool me, Mason,” Annalise replied. She held the dustpan for him, then emptied the remains of the lamp into the trash can. “Admit it. You adore Madam.”

He glanced toward the living room where Isabella and the dog were curled up on the couch together. “What I adore is the change in Isabella since Madam arrived.”

To his concern, tears welled up in Annalise’s eyes. “She’s blossomed, hasn’t she?”

“Oh, yeah.” He wished he’d been able to bring about such a notable change in his niece, but he’d take it however it happened. The important thing was Isabella’s recovery. “I’ve also sicced my PI on the boys who dumped her. When I track them down , Iintend to explain the error of their ways in terms they won’t ever forget.”

“Good.” She glared with unexpected ruthlessness. “I don’t suppose you have the power to arrange for them to volunteer at their local animal shelter? Maybe that will underscore the lesson.”

“Trust me. I’ll find a way to make it happen.” He grimaced, turning his attention to more immediate matters. “Now all Ihave to do is figure out how to keep that four-legged disaster from laying waste to my home.”

She caught her lip between her teeth , afrown forming between her eyebrows. “What are you going to do?”

“I’ve already done it.” He’d given the matter a lot of thought before reaching a decision and calling his housekeeper with instructions. “I asked Sara to arrange to have most of the furniture and antiques put into storage for the time being.”

Annalise gave him an odd look. “Generations of Mason antiques? You’d put them in storage so Isabella can have a dog?”

“Hell, yes. Trust me, it’ll make a vast improvement. That place isn’t kid friendly, let alone dog friendly . Ishould have made the change when Isabella first came to live with me.” He took the trash can from her and carried it into the kitchen. “I can remember tiptoeing around that mausoleum when my grandmother lived there, afraid if I breathed wrong I might break some Louis the Umpteenth or Early American Irreplaceable. That’s no way for a little girl to live.”

“No,” Annalise agreed softly . Awobbly smile broke across her face. “It’s not. Thank you for putting her best interests first.”

“Of course I’m putting her best interests first,” he retorted, insulted. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”

“At first, perhaps.” She offered a self-conscious shrug. “You do have a reputation, Jack. And it’s not the sort that suggests you’d be indulgent toward the vagaries of a child . Ihave to admit I was concerned when I read you’d taken custody of your niece.”

He stiffened. “Were you?”

She must have realized she hadn’t made the most tactful remark because she winced. “You felt duty bound to take her in, didn’t you?”

He couldn’t deny it. “Yes.”

He watched her choose her words with care. “Some in your position might believe that giving Isabella a home fulfilled that duty . Amore unfeeling man would turn her over to a nanny with a clear conscience and go back to business as usual.”

An arctic wind blew across his soul. “Most who know me would describe me as just that sort of man. It’s who my father raised me to be.” Why couldn’t she see that? Couldn’t she sense the coldness in him, the absence of any ability to love? He was driven to ask, needed to see himself through her eyes. “What makes you think I’m not like that?”

She grinned, her eyes full of warm, golden sunshine. “I’ve had an opportunity to get to know you. Just in the short time we’ve been together , Ican tell you’re not that sort of man.”

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